CHAPTER IX
Amelia Opie. Mary Brunton
Every novel that touches upon the life of its generation naturally incourse of time becomes historical. These novels should be preserved, notnecessarily for their literary excellence, but because they bear theimprint of an age. Such are the novels of Amelia Opie and Mary Brunton.
Mrs. Opie, then Miss Alderson, left her quiet home in Norwich to visitLondon at the height of the furor occasioned by the French Revolution.The literary circles in which she was received were discussing excitedlythe rights of men and women, and the beauties of life lived according tothe dictates of nature. Among these enthusiasts, Miss Alderson met MaryWollstonecraft, the author of _Vindication of the Rights of Woman_, andesteemed her highly. Her own imagination did not, however, yield to theintoxication of a life of perfect freedom, a dream which wrecked thelife of Mary Wollstonecraft.
There is no sadder biography than that of Mary Wollstonecraft. In Paris,she met Gilbert Imlay, an American, with whom she fell in love. When hewished to marry her, she refused to permit him to make her his wife,because she had family debts to pay, and she was unwilling to have himlegally responsible for them. But she had read the books of Rousseau,and had been deeply impressed with the thought that marriage is abondage, not needed by true love. She took the name of Imlay, and passedfor his wife, but the marriage was not sanctioned either by the churchor by law. After the birth of a daughter, Imlay deserted her. At firstshe tried to commit suicide, and there is the sad picture of thistalented woman walking about in the drenching rain, and then throwingherself from the bridge at Putney. She was rescued, and a little over ayear later became the wife of William Godwin.
The life-story of Mary Wollstonecraft suggested to Amelia Opie the novelof _Adeline Mowbray, or the Mother and Daughter_, which was not writtenuntil after the death of the original.
It is a tender pathetic story. Mrs. Mowbray, the mother of Adeline,believed by her neighbours to be a genius, is interested in new theoriesof education, and, while writing a book on that subject, occasionallyexperiments with Adeline, although she neglects her for the most part.In spite of this Adeline grows up beautiful and pure, totally ignorantof the world and its wickedness. Her mother often quoted in her presencethe book of a Mr. Glenmurray, in which he proves marriage to be atyranny and a profanation of the sacred ties of love. Adeline iscaptivated by the enthusiastic ideals of the young author. There is afine contrast in character and motive, where Adeline is entertaining Mr.Glenmurray, the high-minded writer, and Sir Patrick O'Carrol, a man ofmany gallantries. Sir Patrick is shocked to meet at her home the manwhose theories have banished him from respectable society. Adeline,innocent of any low interpretation that may be put upon her words, makesthe frank avowal that, in her opinion, marriage is a shameless tie, andthat love and honour are all that should bind men and women. Sir Patrickheartily agrees with her sentiments, and as a consequence accosts herwith a freedom repugnant to her, although she hardly understands itsimport, while Glenmurray sits by gloomily, resolving to warn her inprivate that the opinions she had expressed were better confined in thepresent dark state of the public mind to a select and discriminatingcircle. After they leave Adeline, Glenmurray, as the outcome of thismeeting, had the satisfaction of fighting a duel with Sir Patrick,contrary to the tenets of his own book.
But when, to escape the advances of Sir Patrick, Adeline places herselfunder the protection of Glenmurray, who ardently loves her, he urges herto marry him. This she refuses to do, and encourages him to show theworld the truth and beauty of his teachings. Glenmurray, a man ofsensitive nature, suffers more than Adeline from the indignities sheconstantly receives when she frankly says she is Mr. Glenmurray'scompanion, not his wife. He takes her from place to place to avoid them,for he realises that the world censures her, while it excuses him. ButAdeline is so happy in her love for him, and in her faith in histeachings, that she endures every humiliation with the faith of theearly Christian martyrs. When he urges her, as he so often does, tomarry him, he reads in her eyes only grief that he will not gladlysuffer for what he believes to be right, and desists rather than painher. But his death is hastened by the harassing thought that her wholefuture is blighted by his teachings. As he says to her just before hisdeath:
"Had not I, with the heedless vanity of youth, given to the world thecrude conceptions of four-and-twenty, you might at this moment have beenthe idol of a respectable society; and I, equally respected, have beenthe husband of your heart; while happiness would perhaps have kept thatfatal disease at bay, of which anxiety has facilitated the approach."
It is a beautiful love story, but the hero and heroine were of too finea fibre to stand alone against the world. After the death of Glenmurray,the interest flags. The conclusion is weak, not at all worthy of thebeginning. Love of every variety has been the theme of poets andnovelists, but there is no love story more beautiful for itsself-sacrificing devotion to principle and to each other, than the fewpages of this novel which tell of the unsanctioned married life of thehigh-minded idealist and his bride.
Mrs. Opie wrote _Simple Tales_ and _Tales of Real Life_. They are forthe most part pathetic stories in which unhappiness in the family circleis caused either by undue sternness of a parent, the unfilial conduct ofa son or daughter, or a misunderstanding between husband and wife. Thefeelings of the characters are often minutely described. A firm faith inthe underlying goodness of human nature is shown throughout all thesetales, and all teach love and forbearance.
* * * * *
Mary Brunton like Mrs. Opie wrote to improve the ethical ideals of hergeneration. In the books of that day the theory was often advanced thatyoung men must sow their wild oats, and that men were more pleasing tothe ladies for a few vices. Her first novel, _Self-Control_, was writtento contradict this doctrine. In a letter to Joanna Baillie, Mrs. Bruntonwrote:
"I merely intended to show the power of the religious principle inbestowing self-command, and to bear testimony against a maxim as immoralas indelicate, that a reformed rake makes the best husband."
Laura, the heroine of _Self-Control_, ardently loved a man of rank andfashion. When she learned of his amours, her love turned first to grief,then to disgust. Stung by her abhorrence, he attempted to seduce her toconquer her pride. The purity of the heroine triumphs. She meets a manwhom she esteems and afterwards marries. Many of Laura's adventuresborder on the improbable, but her emotions are truthfully depicted.
This was a bolder novel than appears on the surface. Long before thisthe wicked heroine had been banished from fiction. The leading lady mustbe virtuous to keep the love of the hero. Richardson laid down that lawof the novel. Mary Brunton asserted the same rule for the hero, andmaintained that a gentleman, handsome, noble, accomplished, could notretain the love of a pure woman, if he were not virtuous.
The book gave rise to heated discussions. Two gentlemen had a violentdispute over it: one said it ought to be burnt by the common hangman;the other, that it ought to be written in letters of gold. Beyond itsethical import, the novel has no literary value.
The kind reception given to _Self-Control_ led the author to begin hersecond novel, _Discipline_. This was intended to show how the mind mustbe trained by suffering before it can hope for true enjoyment whenself-control is lacking. Mary Brunton had read Miss Edgeworth'sdescription of the Irish people with pleasure; so she planned to setforth in this novel the manners of the Scottish Highlands and of theOrkneys, where she herself had been born. But before it was finished,_Waverley_ was published. There the Scottish Highlands stood forth on alarge canvas, distinct and truthful, and Mrs. Brunton realised at oncehow weak her own attempts were compared with Scott's masterly work. Herinterest in her book flagged, although it was published in December ofthat year. Some of the Highland scenes are interesting becauseaccurately described, and her account of a mad-house in Edinburgh issaid to be an exact representation of an asylum for the insane in thatcity.
Mrs. Brunton died before her thir
d novel, _Emmeline_, was finished. Herhusband, the Reverend Alexander Brunton, professor of OrientalLanguages at Edinburgh University, published the fragment of it with hermemoirs after her death. The aim of this novel was to show how littlechance of happiness there is when a divorced woman marries her seducer.It only shows the inability of Emmeline to live down her past shame andthe unhappiness which follows the married pair.
In the novels of Mrs. Opie and Mary Brunton the standard of conduct isthe same as to-day. Both men and women are expected to lead uprightlives, with true regard for the happiness of those about them. In_Self-Control_ the hero refuses to fight a duel with the villain who hasinjured him, and forgives him with a true Christian spirit. To be sure,there are still seductions, and the world of fashion is without a heart.But conduct which the former generation would have regarded with a smileis here denominated SIN, and that which they named Prudery shines forthas VIRTUE. The problems of life which these novels discuss are the same,as we have said, which agitate the world to-day.
Woman's Work in English Fiction, from the Restoration to the Mid-Victorian Period Page 10
