Woman's Work in English Fiction, from the Restoration to the Mid-Victorian Period
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Woman's Work in English Fiction
From the Restoration to the Mid-Victorian Period
By Clara H. Whitmore, A.M.
G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press 1910
COPYRIGHT, 1909 BY CLARA H. WHITMORE The Knickerbocker Press, New York
PREFACE
The writings of many of the women considered in this volume have sunkinto an oblivion from which their intrinsic merit should have preservedthem. This is partly due to the fact that nearly all the books onliterature have been written from a man's stand-point. While in otherarts the tastes of men and women vary little, the choice of novels is toa large degree determined by sex. Many men who acknowledgeunhesitatingly that Jane Austen is superior as an artist to Smollett,will find more pleasure in the breezy adventures of _Roderick Random_than in the drawing-room atmosphere of _Emma_; while no woman can read anovel of Smollett's without loathing, although she must acknowledge thatthe Scottish writer is a man of genius.
This book is written from a woman's viewpoint. Wherever my own judgmenthas been different from the generally accepted one, as in the estimateof some famous heroines, the point in question has been submitted toother women, and not recorded unless it met with the approval of alarge number of women of cultivated taste.
This work was first undertaken at the suggestion of Dr. E. CharltonBlack of Boston University for a Master's thesis, and it was due to hisappreciative words that it was enlarged into book form. I also wish tothank Professor Ker of London University, and Dr. Henry A. Beers and Dr.Wilbur L. Cross of Yale University for the help which I obtained fromthem while a student in their classes. It is with the deepest sense ofgratitude that I acknowledge the assistance given to me in this work byMr. Charles Welsh, at whose suggestion the scope of the book wasenlarged, and many parts strengthened. I wish especially to thank himfor calling my attention to _The Cheap Repository_ of Hannah More, andto the literary value of Maria Edgeworth's stories for children.
It is my only hope that this book may in a small measure fill a wantwhich a school-girl recently expressed to me: "Our Club wanted to studyabout women, but we have searched the libraries and found nothing."
C. H. W.
CONTENTS
PAGE CHAPTER I. MARGARET CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE (1624-1674)-- APHRA BEHN (1640-1689)--MARY MANLEY (1672-1724) 1
CHAPTER II. SARAH FIELDING (1710-1768)--ELIZA HAYWOOD (1693-1756)-- CHARLOTTE LENNOX (1720-1766)--FRANCES SHERIDAN (1724-1766) 24
CHAPTER III. FRANCES BURNEY (1752-1840) 45
CHAPTER IV. HANNAH MORE (1745-1833) 62
CHAPTER V. CHARLOTTE SMITH (1749-1806)--ELIZABETH INCHBALD (1753-1821) 73
CHAPTER VI. CLARA REEVE (1725-1803)--ANN RADCLIFFE (1764-1822)--SOPHIA LEE (1750-1824)--HARRIET LEE (1766-1851) 88
CHAPTER VII. MARIA EDGEWORTH (1767-1849)--LADY MORGAN (1783-1859) 111
CHAPTER VIII. ELIZABETH HAMILTON (1758-1816)--ANNA PORTER (1780-1832)--JANE PORTER (1776-1850) 133
CHAPTER IX. AMELIA OPIE (1769-1853)--MARY BRUNTON (1778-1818) 149
CHAPTER X. JANE AUSTEN (1775-1817) 157
CHAPTER XI. SUSAN EDMONSTONE FERRIER (1782-1854)--MARY RUSSELL MITFORD (1787-1855)--ANNA MARIA HALL (1800-1881) 179
CHAPTER XII. LADY CAROLINE LAMB (1785-1828)--MARY SHELLEY (1797-1851) 200
CHAPTER XIII. CATHERINE GRACE FRANCES GORE (1799-1861)--ANNA ELIZA BRAY (1790-1883) 216
CHAPTER XIV. JULIA PARDOE (1806-1862)--FRANCES TROLLOPE (1780-1863)-- HARRIET MARTINEAU (1802-1876) 231
CHAPTER XV. EMILY BRONTE (1818-1848)--ANNE BRONTE (1820-1849)-- CHARLOTTE BRONTE (1816-1855) 247
CHAPTER XVI. ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL (1810-1865) 274
CONCLUSION 293
INDEX 297
WOMAN'S WORK IN ENGLISH FICTION