Part 28
“If you ask for the normal type of English novel in the highest degree of perfection to which it ever attained, I should certainly be inclined to say take _Mary Barton_, _North and South_, _Sylvia’s Lovers_, and _Wives and Daughters_. Not one of them altogether or entirely attained to the perfection of which Mrs. Gaskell herself was capable. But they fully and adequately reveal her power and likewise her intention of subordinating herself in some degree to a form of the potentialities and limitations of which alike, it seems to me, she had an intuition surpassing the utmost efforts of any of her greater contemporaries.” (Introduction to _Sylvia’s Lovers_, 1910.)
Lady Ritchie
“Mrs. Gaskell put herself into her stories; her emotions, her amusements all poured out from a full heart, and she retold the experience of her own loyal work among the poor, of her playtime among the well-to-do. And as she knew more and more she told better and better what she had lived through. She told the story of those she had known, of those she had loved—so, at least, it seems to some readers, coming after long years and re-reading more critically, perhaps, with new admiration. Another fact about her is that she faced the many hard problems of her life’s experience—faced them boldly, and set the example of writing to the point. It has been followed by how many with half her knowledge and insight, and without her generous purpose, taking grim subjects for art’s sake rather than for humanity’s sake, as she did.” (_Blackstick Papers_, 1908.)
Frederick Greenwood
“The kindly spirit which thinks no ill looks out of her pages irradiate; and while we read them, we breathe the purer intelligence that prefers to deal with emotions and passions which have a living root in minds within the pale of salvation, and not with those that rot without it. This spirit is more especially declared in _Cousin Phillis_ and _Wives and Daughters_—their author’s latest works; they seem to show that for her the end of life was not descent among the clods of the valley, but ascent into the purer air of the heaven-aspiring hills.
“We are saying nothing of the merely intellectual qualities displayed in these later works. Twenty years to come, that may be thought the more important question of the two; in the presence of her grave we cannot think so; but it is true, all the same, that as mere works of art and observation, these later novels of Mrs. Gaskell’s are among the finest of our time. There is a scene in _Cousin Phillis_—where Holman, making hay with his men, ends the day with a psalm—which is not excelled as a picture in all modern fiction; and the same may be said of that chapter of this last story in which Roger smokes a pipe with the Squire after the quarrel with Osborne. There is little in either of these scenes, or in a score of others which succeed each other like gems in a cabinet, which the ordinary novel-maker could ‘seize.’ There is no ‘material’ for _him_ in half a dozen farming men singing hymns in a field, or a discontented old gentleman smoking tobacco with his son; still less could he avail himself of the miseries of a little girl sent to be happy in a fine house full of fine people; but it is just in such things as these that true genius appears brightest and most unapproachable.” (_Cornhill Magazine_, 1865.)
Miss Catherine J. Hamilton
“For purity of tone, earnestness of spirit, depth of pathos, and lightness of touch, Mrs. Gaskell has not left her superior in fiction.
“One who knew her said: ‘She was what her books show her to have been, a wise, good woman.’
“She was even more than wise or good, she had that true poetic feeling which exalts whatever it touches, and makes nothing common or unclean. She had that clear insight which sees all and believes in the best.” (_Women Writers_, Second Series.)
Richard D. Graham
“Mrs. Gaskell through all the toils and excitements of authorship remained a true woman in the sweetest and worthiest meaning of the name. In all the ordinary relations of life she was admirable, neglecting no social or domestic duty, shrinking from every attempt to lionise her, and charming no less by her personal attractions and the grace of her manner, than by the sweetness of her disposition.” (_The Masters of Victorian Literature._)
Edna Lyall
“Of all the novelists of Queen Victoria’s reign there is not one to whom the present writer turns with such a sense of love and gratitude as to Mrs. Gaskell. This feeling is undoubtedly shared by thousands of men and women, for about all the novels there is that wonderful sense of sympathy, that broad human interest which appeals to readers of every description.”
(_Women Novelists of Queen Victoria’s Reign._)
G. Barnett Smith
“We were struck in reading her various volumes with this fact—that there is really less in them than there is in most other authors which she herself could wish to be altered. In fact, there is no purer author in modern times. And what has she lost by being pure? Has she failed to give a fair representation of any class of human beings whom she professes to depict? Not one; and her work stands now as an excellent model for those who would avoid the tendencies of the sensuous school, and would seek another basis upon which to acquire a reputation which should have some chances of durability. The author of _Wives and Daughters_ will never cease to hold a high place in our regard. Could she do so we should despair for the future of fiction in England. Hers was one of those spirits which led the way to a purer day.” (_Cornhill Magazine, February, 1874._)
Clement K. Shorter
“Mrs. Gaskell as an artist has clearly used other experiences than those that Knutsford offered, and, transmuting all through her kindly and generous nature, has given us the delightful pure idyll (_Cranford_) that we know, the most tenderly humorous book that our literature has seen since Goldsmith wrote. One of the great distinctions of Mrs. Gaskell is in the kindliness of her humour; she is, strange to say, the only woman novelist who is entirely kindly, benevolently humorous.… This benevolent humour of Mrs. Gaskell is to be found in all her books, and it is to be found above all in _Cranford_.” (Introduction to _Cranford_. The World’s Classics, 1906.)
Bibliography
Bibliography of Mrs. Gaskell’s Works in Chronological Order
1837. Sketches among the Poor. _Blackwood’s Magazine._ January.
1840. Clopton Hall. _Howitt’s Visits to Remarkable Places._
1847. Libbie Marsh’s Three Eras. _Howitt’s Journal_, I.
Sexton’s Hero. _Howitt’s Journal_, II.
1848. Christmas Storms and Sunshine. _Howitt’s Journal_, III.
MARY BARTON. A tale of Manchester Life. 2 vols. London. Chapman & Hall. Fifth Edition 1854; German Edition 1849; French Translation 1856. Has been published by at least a dozen publishers since the copyright ran out.
1849. Hand and Heart. _Sunday School Penny Magazine._
1850. Lizzie Leigh. _Household Words._ March 30.
Well of Pen Morfa. _Household Words._ November 16 and 23.
The Heart of John Middleton. _Household Words._ December 28.
THE MOORLAND COTTAGE. Chapman & Hall. Republished in 1892.
1851. Mr. Harrison’s Confessions. _Ladies’ Companion._ February, March, April.
Disappearances. _Household Words._ June 7.
Cranford. _Household Words._ December 13, 1851, to May, 1853.
1852. The Schah’s English Gardener. _Household Words._ June 19.
The Old Nurse’s Story. _Household Words._ Christmas Number.
Bessy’s Troubles at Home. _Sunday School Penny Magazine._ January.
1853. Cumberland Sheep-shearers. _Household Words._ January 22.
CRANFORD. Chapman & Hall. 1 vol.
Cheap editions 1853-5; French Translation 1856; German Translation 1857. Republished by more than twenty publishers in England and America since the copyright ran out.
Morton Hall. _Household Words._ November 19 and 26.
Traits and Stories of Huguenots. _Household Words._ December 10.
My French Master. _Household Words._ December 17 and 24.
The Squire’s Story. _Household Words._ Christmas Number.
Introduction to The Scholar’s Story. _Household Words._ Christmas Number.
RUTH, a novel. Chapman & Hall. 3 vols. Third Edition 1855; American Edition 1855; French Translation 1856. Published by three other publishers in 1857 1861, 1872. Reissued after the copyright ceased by three different publishers.
1854. Modern Greek Songs. _Household Words._ February 25.
Company Manners. _Household Words._ May 20.
North and South. _Household Words._ September 2, 1854, to January 27, 1855.
LIZZIE LEIGH. Chapman and Hall. 1 vol. German Edition 1855.
1855. An Accused Race. _Household Words._ August 25.
Half a Lifetime Ago. _Household Words._ October 6, 13, 20.
NORTH AND SOUTH. Chapman & Hall. 2 vols. Second Edition 1855; Fourth Edition 1859; American Edition 1864; French Edition 1859. Reissued by two publishers after the copyright ran out.
1856. The Poor Chare. _Household Words._ December 13 and 27.
1857. LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË. Smith, Elder & Co. 2 vols. Third Edition revised and corrected 1857; American Edition 1857; Cheap Edition 1860; French Edition 1877. After the copyright ran out it was reissued in the Haworth Edition in 1900 with introduction and notes by Clement Shorter. Thornton Edition with introduction by B. W. Willett and notes by Temple Scott, 1901. Republished by three other publishers.
Edited MABEL VAUGHAN by Miss Cummins and wrote Preface. Sampson Low & Co.
1858. Doom of the Griffiths. _Harper’s Magazine._ January.
My Lady Ludlow. _Household Words._ June 19 to September 25.
Right at Last (under title of Sin of a Father). _Household Words._ November 27.
The Half Brothers. _Dublin University Magazine._ November.
Manchester Marriage. _Household Words._ Christmas Number.
1859. Lois the Witch. _All the Year Round._ October 8 and 22.
The Ghost in the Garden Room. _All the Year Round._ Christmas Number. (Reprinted under title of The Crooked Branch.)
ROUND THE SOFA. London: Sampson Low & Co. 2 vols. French Translation 1860; Second French Edition 1865.
1860. RIGHT AT LAST AND OTHER TALES. Sampson Low & Co. American Edition Harper & Brothers.
Curious if True. _Cornhill Magazine._ February.
1861. The Grey Woman. _All the Year Round._ January 5, 12, 19.
MY LADY LUDLOW AND OTHER TALES. London: Sampson Low & Co. New Edition 1866; American Edition 1867.
1862. Six Weeks at Heppenheim. _Cornhill Magazine._ May.
Preface to GARIBALDI AT CAPRERA. Macmillan & Co.
1863. A Dark Night’s Work. _All the Year Round._ January 24 to March 21.
A DARK NIGHT’S WORK. German Translation 1865; English Editions published 1863 and 1871. Smith, Elder & Co.
An Italian Institution. _All the Year Round._ March 21.
The Cage at Cranford. _All the Year Round._ November 28.
Cousin Phillis. _Cornhill Magazine._ November, 1863, to February, 1864.
Crowley Castle. _All the Year Round._ Christmas Number.
SYLVIA’S LOVERS. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 3 vols. German Translation 1864; French Translation 1865. Since the copyright ran out it has been republished in a cheap edition.
Robert Gould Shaw. _Macmillan’s Magazine._ December.
1864. French Life. _Fraser’s Magazine._ April, May, June.
Wives and Daughters. _Cornhill Magazine._ August, 1864, to January, 1866.
1865. COUSIN PHILLIS AND OTHER TALES. London: Smith, Elder & Co. French Translation 1866; German Edition 1867.
THE GREEN WOMAN AND OTHER TALES. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
1866. WIVES AND DAUGHTERS. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 3 vols. American Edition 1866; German Translation 1867; French Translation 1868.
1906. Two Fragments of Ghost Stories printed for the first time in COUSIN PHILLIS, Knutsford Edition.
Short poem “On Visiting the Grave of my Stillborn Little Girl,” written in 1836 and published for the first time in the biographical introduction to MARY BARTON, Knutsford Edition.
Collected Editions of Mrs. Gaskell’s Works
First Collected Edition, 1872-3. 7 vols. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
_Novels and Tales_, 1878-82. 7 vols. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
_Novels and Tales_, new edition, 1891-2.
i. Wives and Daughters. ii. North and South. iii. Sylvia’s Lovers. iv. Cranford and Other Tales. v. Mary Barton and Other Tales. vi. Ruth and Other Tales. vii. Lizzie Leigh and Other Tales.
_Novels and Tales_, 1892-4. 8 vols. Pocket Edition. Smith, Elder & Co.
i. Wives and Daughters. ii. North and South. iii. Sylvia’s Lovers. iv. Cranford and Other Tales. v. Mary Barton and Other Tales. vi. Ruth and Other Tales. vii. A Dark Night’s Work and Other Tales. viii. My Lady Ludlow and Other Tales.
_Works_, 1906. 8 vols. Knutsford Edition edited by Dr. A. W. Ward, with an introduction to each volume.
i. Mary Barton and Other Tales. ii. Cranford and Other Tales. iii. Ruth and Other Tales. iv. North and South. v. My Lady Ludlow and Other Tales. vi. Sylvia’s Lovers, etc. vii. Cousin Phillis and Other Tales. viii. Wives and Daughters.
_Works_, 1906-10. The World’s Classics. London: H. Frowde; edited by Clement K. Shorter, with an introduction to each volume.
i. Mary Barton. ii. Ruth. iii. Cranford and Other Tales. iv. North and South. v. Sylvia’s Lovers. vi. Wives and Daughters. vii. Cousin Phillis and Other Tales.
_Works_, 1906. Everyman’s Library. London: J. M. Dent & Co.; edited by Ernest Rhys.
i. Cranford, with forewords. ii. Life of Charlotte Brontë, with an introduction by May Sinclair. iii. Sylvia’s Lovers, with an introduction by Mrs. Ellis H. Chadwick.
_Works_, 1909. The Queen’s Treasures Series. London: G. Bell & Sons.
i. Cousin Phillis, with preface by Thomas Seccombe. ii. Sylvia’s Lovers, with preface by Thomas Seccombe.
A fuller biography of Mrs. Gaskell’s works may be found in _Mrs. Gaskell: Haunts, Homes, and Stories_, by Mrs. Ellis H. Chadwick (Pitman).
Iconography
1829. Marble Bust of Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson, sculptured by David Dunbar, Edinburgh.
1832. Miniature of Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson, painted by Thompson, Edinburgh.
1851. Drawing by George Richmond, R.A.
1864. Drawing by Samuel Laurence.
1864. Photograph by Alexander McGlashon, Edinburgh.
1907. Bronze Medallion in the Gaskell Tower, Knutsford, by Cavaliere Achille, Rome. Copied from Edinburgh Photograph.
1895. Marble Replica of Edinburgh Bust by Hamo Thorneycroft in the Christie Library, Manchester University.
1910. Stone Replica of Manchester bust in Gaskell Tower, Knutsford.
WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH
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=For Her Namesake. An Anthology of Poetical Addresses by Devout Lovers to Gentle Maidens.= Edited by STEPHEN LANGTON.
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I.—ON CATS
A Policy towards Cats—The State and the Cat—On the Purring of Cats—The Black Cat and Christopher Wren.
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On a Great Novel—On Burns and Bacchanalian Verse—The Country House—The Truth of Midnight.
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‘Chopin Villa’—The Spell of Old Music—On Handel’s Largo—The Sea in Music—Of Fauns and Oboes.
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The Decay of Melodrama—Micromania—Little Jim—The Okapi and the Financier—Inspiration of Grandfathers—The Goatherds—The Sport of War—An Indian Saint—On Waterproof Skins—Confessions of a Juror—On Faddists—On Great Families—A Remonstrance with Moralists—On Cycling in London—The Modern Peep-show.
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The Literature of the People—Dicta of the Poor—More Dicta of the Poor—Village Theology—The Labourer’s Listlessness—The Humours of Parish Visiting—Thrift on Fifteen Shillings a Week—A Goodly Heritage—Professor Jack’s ‘Mad Shepherd’s’—A Sunday Dinner Table.
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=A Modern Outlook. Studies of English and American Tendencies.= _By_ J. A. HOBSON. Crown 8vo. =5s. net.=
CONTENTS
LIFE AND LETTERS
The Lost Art of Conversation—Co-Partnership in Nature—The Population Question among Books—The Compensations of Stupidity—A Go as-you-please Philosophy—A Plea for Controversy—A Puritan Document—The Grip of the Specialist—The Confession of Mr Wells—To the Memory of Thomas Paine—The Case of Samuel Butler.
THE WOMAN OF THE FUTURE
The Woman of the Future—The Sex War—The Alarm of Motherhood—The Business of Marriage.
AMERICAN TRAITS
The Genius of Lincoln—The Autocrat—A Critic of America—The American Woman—The Spirit of American Humour—Is America Heading for Aristocracy?—The Romance of America—The Boom-Child.
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE
The Church for the People—An Anglican Bishop—The Faith of Free Thought—The Churches and the Social Soul.
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=The Forward in Love. An Improbable Comedy.= _By_ RICHARD BIRD. =6s.=
SHORT STORIES
=The Hermit of Dreams.= _By_ THE HON. MRS LINDSAY. With Three Drawings by CLAUDE SHEPPERSON. Beth, Incense and Myrrh, The Trembling of the Scales, The Story of Innocent Heart, Mary Had a Little Lamb. Crown 8vo. =3s. 6d. net.=
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