Novel 272: Catherine Crowe, The Adventures of a Beauty (1852)

 

John Everett Millais, The Farmer's Daughter

 

A farmer’s daughter secretly marries a baronet’s heir.

For Crowe, see Novel 023.

“There are few writers who possess an equal ability with Mrs. Crowe, of throwing her characters into complications, and dextrously disentangling them.” Bentley’s Miscellany, January, 1852

It may be “enjoyed as one enjoys the feats of a conjuror who can make a card fly out of the pack into a gentleman’s pocket or a lady’s reticule, and restore it to its proper place.” Westminster Review, April, 1852

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https://archive.org/details/10892458.1980.emory.edu

Novel 270: Annie Edwardes, A Blue-Stocking (1877)

 

James Jacques Joseph Tissot, Boarding the Yacht

 

In Jersey, a gentleman rescues a young widow’s child from drowning.

For Edwardes, see Novels 158 and 212.

“Mrs. Edwardes is at her best in this book.  It has . . . the quiet humour which we have missed in her later works.” Spectator, October 20, 1877

“It is pleasant, bright, and inoffensive.” Saturday Review, November 24, 1877

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https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph014766163

Novel 269: Frances Milton Trollope, The Vicar of Wrexhill (1837)

 

James Jacques Joseph Tissot, In Church

 

A widow falls under the spell of an Evangelical clergyman.

Here is another novel by Trollope, for whom see Novels 029, 079, 138, 189, 190, and 191.

“This is certainly the best novel that Mrs. Trollope has produced, as regards dramatic execution and development of character.  It . . . shows how the highest and best feelings of our nature may be turned by evil guidance and misdirected enthusiasm.” Literary Gazette, September 16, 1837

“Never has the affectation of piety been more mercilessly lashed. . . .  Her object—a laudable one, as every one must admit, has been to show the pernicious effects of sectarian bigotry. . . .  This, Mrs. Trollope has done with unexampled vigour and ability.” Sunday Times, September 17, 1837

A contrasting view:

“To invent a succession of domestic atrocities, and then fasten them upon a particular class of religionists, proves nothing but that the author is an exceedingly illogical and absurd person. . . .  In truth this work is very disagreeable. . . .  Every thing in it is represented in excess . . . ; and the spirit of the whole is that of a perverse and tortuous mind, full of venom. . . .  Other authors contrive to get out of themselves—to lose themselves in the fiction. . . .  Mrs. Trollope never does this; she is always present to us in her books; we feel her influence in the bitter taunt, the vulgar spleen, the ill-natured reproof, the scurrilous criticism, and the giggling cant of good-breeding.” Court Magazine and Monthly Critic, October 1837

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v.1 https://archive.org/details/vicarofwrexhill01trol

v.2 https://archive.org/details/vicarofwrexhill02trol

v.3 https://archive.org/details/vicarofwrexhill03trol

Novel 265: Annie Carruthers, The Pet of the Consulate (1882)

 

James Jacques Joseph Tissot, Young Ladies Looking at Japanese Objects

 

To escape the drudgery of teaching in Chicago, a young lady exchanges identities with a friend, then becomes engaged and moves to Japan.

Nothing seems to be known of Annie Carruthers, who published another novel or two after this one, without much apparent success.  And yet (if one forgives the improbable plot twists, and ignores the admiring descriptions of the heroine’s fabulous outfits that laughably intrude at the most dramatic moments) it is altogether good, depicting a bad marriage made worse by the setting of a claustrophobic European outpost in Hakodate, Japan.

“A worldly, sensible, and rather cynical story, sufficiently well told to be read with pleasure, . . . really above average in merit, and something more than simply readable.” Athenaeum, April 15, 1882

“Some portions of the book are interesting as giving a faithful view of the life of the isolated English settlement” in Japan. Academy, April 22, 1882

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https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph014138903 (Right-click (or control-click, if you have a Mac) on the “view digitized copy” links to download the novel’s three volumes in pdf form)

Novel 262: Edward Dutton Cook, Over Head and Ears (1868)

 

Helen Allingham, At the Cottage Door

 

A wealthy solicitor’s son is secretly engaged to be married.

Here is another clever and lively novel by Cook, for whom see Novels 040, 111, and 166.

“Much of the painting it contains is not inferior to Mr. Trollope’s. . . . The novel has scarcely any poor work in it, and no bad, trashy work.” Spectator, October 3, 1868

“Mr. Cook has done a new and somewhat daring thing” in his plot, and “has, moreover, achieved this new and somewhat daring thing in a style and with a completeness of success that . . . put him amongst our best living novelists.  This high praise is given . . . after cool reconsideration of the numerous merits of the story;  its skilful construction, uniform freshness and sprightliness of diction, wholesomeness of interest, and . . . the unconstrained humour of its somewhat superficial but thoroughly truthful delineations of character.” Athenaeum, October 10, 1868

A contrasting view:

“Mr. Cook stands just outside the circle of penny romanticists—one half-penny beyond them, so to speak. . .  It would be difficult to imagine a slighter story, yet Mr. Cook spins and spins with a hundred-spider power, and clothes the poor bit of plot in three volumes. . . . The thing is a literary cobweb. . .  one of the most vicious specimens of the porous, no-thinking, windy school of novelists that we have seen for many a day.   A course of such reading would in a few years materially increase the amount of national imbecility.” London Review, October 21, 1868

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v.1 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_00000005B16A

v.2 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_000000059BCE

v.3 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_0000000369A8

Novel 261: Charlotte Yonge, Hopes and Fears (1860)

 

James Sant, Mary Fothergill and her children Richard and Mary

 

A woman devotes her life to a former lover’s orphan children.

Here is another novel by Yonge (see Novels 003, 053, 103, 155, 210) who, in the matter of character delineation, is, I will recklessly assert, the greatest of all novelists ever.

“Miss Yonge has . . . been remarkably successful in sustaining to the end the interest of the story, and we do not often meet with a novel in which it is less easy to predict beforehand what will become of each of the principal characters.” Literary Gazette, November 3, 1860

“The union of a chivalrous sense of honor with a keen perception of the ludicrous, and of dainty literary tastes with strictly High-Church principles, and the fondness alike for practical duties and errant fancies, seem as essential to the character of the author of ‘Hopes and Fears’ as to that of the heroine. Novel readers . . . will find the story full . . . of the same quiet humour and the same high moral principles” as all Yonge’s novels. North American Review, April, 1861

A constrasting view:

“Without the help of a genealogical tree, we are completely at a loss to understand the plot of the story, for we are carried through no less than four generations of one family, and are favoured with the history of all their relations, connexions and friends. Moreover . . . nearly every person mentioned in the book is known by a very unfair number of nicknames, which only makes confusion worse confounded. . . . The moral of the story seems to prove (whether intentionally or not we cannot say) that if children are duly instructed in religious principles, and receive a careful education they will probably turn out good-for-nothing, worthless characters; but if sufficiently neglected . . . there is every hope that they may ultimately become praiseworthy and valuable members of society, even, perhaps, zealous, hard-working High-Church clergymen.” Athenaeum, November 3, 1860

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v.1 https://archive.org/details/hopesfearsorscen01yong

v.2 https://archive.org/details/hopesfearsorscen02yong

Novel 258, Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick, The Professor’s Legacy (1905)

 

George Goodwin Kilburne, A Young Woman at a Piano

 

A wealthy English scientist is appointed guardian to his late German collaborator’s beautiful daughter, who is otherwise at the mercy of a scheming aunt.

Here is another novel by Sidgwick (see Novels 082, 142, 200), vivid and well crafted as usual.

“Reticent and light of touch as our author is, you are never allowed to forget how deep are the depths of passion that lie beneath this humorous, shrewd surface-play.  ‘The Professor’s Legacy,’ in fact, is one of the most interesting and well-told novels of the season, and it should be one of the most popular.” Academy, October 28, 1905

“The tale is a good one in its quiet way, told with much humor and much excellent character study.  The scenes too, shifting from a German university town to a country place in England, afford an opportunity for varied pictures of life and manners.” New York Times, November 25, 1905

“Her sharply contrasted and clear-cut portraits of various social types are done with admirable verve.” Spectator, December 15, 1905

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https://archive.org/details/professorslegac00sidggoog

Novel 257: Robert Grant, The Confessions of a Frivolous Girl (1880)

 

William Merritt Chase, Portrait of Miss Frances V. Earle

 

A New York heiress is courted by various young men.

Robert Grant (1852-1940) wrote some fifteen novels, of which the last appeared in 1931.  This was his first, a light-hearted representation of the sad quandaries facing a fashionable young woman of the period.

“Mr. Grant writes without affectation, and appears to know New York society well; his book is decidedly attractive and lively.” Athenaeum, October 29, 1881

“The naïve account which the young lady gives of her triumphs is exceedingly amusing. . . . Very lifelike and amusing are her incidental sketches of the four gentlemen who specially honour her by their preference.” Spectator, November 5, 1881

A contrasting view:

“It is a long time since we met with a book—if, indeed, this is not entirely by itself—which credited our fair American cousins with so much vulgarity and so many little petty intrigues.” Academy, February 26, 1881

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https://archive.org/details/confessionsoffri00gran