Woman's Work in English Fiction, from the Restoration to the Mid-Victorian Period

by Clara Helen Whitmore

  CHAPTER XII

  Lady Caroline Lamb. Mrs. Shelley

  It is impossible to comprehend the Byronic craze which swept cool-headedEngland off her feet during the regency. _Childe Harold_ was thefashion, and many a hero of romance, even down to the time of_Pendennis_, aped his fashions. Disraeli and Bulwer were among hisdisciples. Bulwer's early novels, _Falkland_ and _Pelham_, wereinfluenced by him; and _Vivian Grey_ and _Venetia_ might have been theoffspring of Byron's prose brain, so completely was Disraeli under hisinfluence at the time.

  The poorest of the novels of this class, but the one which gives themost intimate picture of Byron, is _Glenarvon_, by Lady Caroline Lamb.Its hero is Byron. The plot follows the outlines of her own life, andall the characters were counterparts of living people whom she knew.Calantha, the heroine, representing Lady Caroline, is married to LordAvondale, or William Lamb, better known as Lord Melbourne, at one timePremier of England. Lord and Lady Avondale are very happy, untilGlenarvon, "the spirit of evil," appears and dazzles Calantha. Twiceshe is about to elope with him, but the thought of her husband andchildren keeps her back. They part, and for a time tender _billets-doux_pass between them, until Calantha receives a cruel letter fromGlenarvon, in which he bids her leave him in peace. Other well-knownpeople appeared in the book. Lord Holland was the Great Nabob, LadyHolland was the Princess of Madagascar, and Samuel Rogers was the YellowHyena or the Pale Poet. The novel had also a moral purpose; it wasintended to show the danger of a life devoted to pleasure and fashion.

  Of course the book made a sensation. Lady Caroline Lamb, the daughter ofEarl Bessborough, the granddaughter of Earl Spencer, related to nearlyall the great houses of England, had all her life followed every impulseof a too susceptible imagination. Her infatuation for Lord Byron hadlong been a theme for gossip throughout London. She invited himconstantly to her home; went to assemblies in his carriage; and, if hewere invited to parties to which she was not, walked the streets to meethim; she confided to every chance acquaintance that she was dying oflove for him. Yet, as one reads of this affair, one suspects that thisdevotion was nothing more than the infatuation of a high-strung naturefor the hero of a romance. In writing to a friend about her husband,she says, "He was privy to my affair with Lord Byron and laughed at it."On her death-bed she said of her husband, "But remember, the only noblefellow I ever met with was William Lamb."

  A month after her death, Lord Melbourne wrote a sketch of her life forthe _Literary Gazette_. In this he said:

  "Her character it is difficult to analyse, because, owing to the extremesusceptibility of her imagination, and the unhesitating and rapid mannerin which she followed its impulses, her conduct was one perpetualkaleidoscope of changes.... To the poor she was invariablycharitable--she was more: in spite of her ordinary thoughtlessness ofself, for them she had consideration as well as generosity, and delicacyno less than relief. For her friends she had a ready and active love;for her enemies no hatred: never perhaps was there a human being who hadless malevolence; as all her errors hurt only herself, so againstherself only were levelled her accusation and reproach."

  How far Byron was in earnest in this tragicomedy is more difficult todetermine. In one letter to her he writes: "I was and am yours, freelyand entirely, to obey, to honour, to love, and fly with you, where,when, and how yourself might and may determine." That Byron was piquedwhen he read the book, his letter to Moore proves: "By the way, Isuppose you have seen _Glenarvon_. It seems to me if the authoress hadwritten the truth--the whole truth--the romance would not only have beenmore romantic, but more entertaining. As for the likeness, the picturecan't be good; I did not sit long enough." It was not pleasing to LordByron's vanity to appear in her book as the spirit of evil, beside herhusband, a high-minded gentleman, ready to sacrifice for his friendseverything "but his honour and integrity."

  Notwithstanding the humorous elements in the connection of Lord Byronand Lady Caroline Lamb, the story is pathetic. His poetic personalityattracted her as the light does the poor moth. Disraeli caricatured herin the character of Mrs. Felix Lorraine in _Vivian Grey_, and introducedher into _Venetia_ under the title of Lady Monteagle, where he made muchof her love for the poet Cadurcis, otherwise Lord Byron.

  Lady Caroline Lamb wrote two other novels, but they are of no value. Inher third, _Ada Reis_, considered her best, she introduced Bulwer as thegood spirit.

  The little poem written by Lady Caroline Lamb on the day fixed for herdeparture from Brocket Hall, after it had been decided that she was tolive in retirement away from her husband and son, shows tenderness andpoetic feeling:

  They dance--they sing--they bless the day, I weep the while--and well I may: Husband, nor child, to greet me come, Without a friend--without a home: I sit beneath my favourite tree, Sing then, my little birds, to me, In music, love, and liberty.

  At the time that the British public was smiling graciously, even if alittle humorously, upon Lady Caroline Lamb, and was lionising LordByron, it spurned from its presence with the greatest disdain Percy andMary Shelley. Even after the death of Shelley, when Mary returned toLondon with herself and son to support, it received her as the prodigaldaughter for whom the crumbs from the rich man's table must suffice.

  Mary Shelley had inherited from her mother the world's frown. MaryWollstonecraft Godwin had been, the greater part of her life, atvariance with society. She was the author, as has been said, of the_Vindication of the Rights of Woman_, and had for a long time been anopponent of marriage, chiefly because the civil laws pertaining to itdeprived both husband and wife of their proper liberty. Her bitterexperience with Imlay had, however, so modified her views on thislatter subject that she became the wife of William Godwin a short timebefore the birth of their daughter Mary, who in after years became Mrs.Shelley. Although her mother died at her birth, Mary Godwin was deeplyimbued with her theories of life. She had read her books, and had oftenheard her father express the same views concerning the bondage ofmarriage and its uselessness. Her elopement with Shelley while his wifeHarriet was still living gains a certain sanction from the fact that sheplighted her troth to him at her mother's grave. After the sad death ofHarriet, however, Shelley and Mary Godwin conceded to the world'sopinion, and were legally married. But the anger of society was notappeased, and, even after both had become famous, it continued to ignorethe poet Shelley and his gifted wife.

  At the age of nineteen Mrs. Shelley was led to write her first novel.Mr. and Mrs. Shelley and Byron were spending the summer of 1816 in themountains of Switzerland. Continuous rain kept them in-doors, where theypassed the time in reading ghost stories. At the suggestion of Byron,each one agreed to write a blood-curdling tale. It is one of the strangefreaks of invention that this young girl succeeded where Shelley andByron failed. Byron wrote a fragment of a story which was printed with_Mazeppa_. Shelley also began a story, but when he had reduced hischaracters to a most pitiable condition, he wearied of them and coulddevise no way to bring the tale to a fitting conclusion. After listeningto a conversation between the two poets upon the possibilities ofscience discovering the secrets of life, the story known as_Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus_ shaped itself in Mary's mind.

  _Frankenstein_ is one of those novels that defy the critic. Everyonerecognises that the letters written by Captain Walton to his sister inwhich he tells of his meeting with Frankenstein, and repeats to her thestory he has just heard from his guest, makes an awkward introduction tothe real narrative. Yet all this part about Captain Walton and his crewwas added at the suggestion of Shelley after the rest of the story hadbeen written. But the narrative of Frankenstein is so powerful, so real,that, once read, it can never be forgotten. Mrs. Shelley wrote in theintroduction of the edition of 1839 that, before writing it, she wastrying to think of a story, "one that would speak to the mysteriousfears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror--one to make the readerdread to look round, to curdle the blood and quicken the beatings of theheart." That she has done this the experience of every reader willprove.r />
  But the story has a greater hold on the imagination than this alonewould give it. The monster created by Frankenstein is closely related toour own human nature. "My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of loveand sympathy," he says, "and, when wrenched by misery to vice andhatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture,such as you cannot even imagine." There is a wonderful blending of goodand evil in this demon, and, while the magnitude of his crimes makes usshudder, his wrongs and his loneliness awaken our pity. "The fallenangel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man hadfriends and associates in his desolation; I am quite alone," the monstercomplains to his creator. Who can forget the scene where he watchesFrankenstein at work making for him the companion that he had promised?Perhaps sadder than the story of the monster is that of Frankenstein,who, led by a desire to widen human knowledge, finds that the fulfilmentof his lofty ambition has brought only a curse to mankind.

  In 1823, Mary Shelley published a second novel, _Valperga_, so namedfrom a castle and small independent territory near Lucca. CastruccioCastracani, whose life Machiavelli has told, is the hero of the story.The greatest soldier and satirist of his times, the man of the novel isconsidered inferior to the man of history. Mrs. Shelley had readbroadly before beginning the book, and she has described minutely thecustoms of the age about which she is writing. Shelley pronounced it "aliving and moving picture of an age almost forgotten."

  The interest centres in the two heroines, Euthanasia, Countess ofValperga, and Beatrice, Prophetess of Ferrara. Strong, intellectual, andpassionate, not until the time of George Eliot did women of this typebecome prominent in fiction. Euthanasia, a Guelph and a Florentine, witha soul "adapted for the reception of all good," was betrothed to theyouth Castruccio, whom she at that time loved. Later, when his characterdeteriorated under the influence of selfish ambition, she ceased to lovehim, and said, "He cast off humanity, honesty, honourable feeling, allthat I prize." Castruccio belonged to the Ghibelines, so that the storyof their love is intertwined with the struggle between these two partiesin Italy.

  But more beautiful than the intellectual character of Euthanasia, is thespiritual one of Beatrice, the adopted daughter of the bishop ofFerrara, who is regarded with feelings of reverence by her countrymen,because of her prophetic powers. Pure and deeply religious, she acceptedall the suggestions of her mind as a message from God. When Castrucciocame to Ferrara and was entertained by the bishop as the prince andliberator of his country, she believed that together they couldaccomplish much for her beloved country: "She prayed to the Virgin toinspire her; and, again giving herself up to reverie, she wove a subtleweb, whose materials she believed heavenly, but which were indeed stolenfrom the glowing wings of love." No wonder she believed the dictates ofher own heart, she whose words the superstition of the age had so oftendeclared miraculous. She was barely seventeen and she loved for thefirst time. How pathetic is her disillusionment when Castruccio bade herfarewell for a season, as he was about to leave Ferrara. She hadbelieved that the Holy Spirit had brought Castruccio to her that by theunion of his manly qualities and her divine attributes some great workmight be fulfilled. But as he left her, he spoke only of earthlyhappiness:

  "It was her heart, her whole soul she had given; her understanding, herprophetic powers, all the little universe that with her ardent spiritshe grasped and possessed, she had surrendered, fully, and withoutreserve; but, alas! the most worthless part alone had been accepted, andthe rest cast as dust upon the winds."

  Afterwards, when she wandered forth a beggar, and was rescued byEuthanasia, she exclaimed to her:

  "You either worship a useless shadow, or a fiend in the clothing of aGod."

  The daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft could fully sympathise withBeatrice. In the grief, almost madness, with which Beatrice realises herself-deception, there are traces of Frankenstein. Perhaps no problemplucked from the tree of good and evil was so ever-present to MaryShelley as why misery so often follows an obedience to the highestdictates of the soul. Both her father and mother had experienced this;and she and Shelley had tasted of the same bitter fruit. In the analysisof Beatrice's emotions Mrs. Shelley shows herself akin to CharlotteBronte.

  Three years after the death of Shelley, she published _The Last Man_. Itrelates to England in the year 2073 when, the king having abdicated histhrone, England had become a republic. Soon after this, however apestilence fell upon the people, which drove them upon the continent,where they travelled southward, until only one man remained. The plot isclumsy; the characters are abstractions.

  But the feelings of the author, written in clear letters on every page,are a valuable addition to the history of the poet Shelley and his wife.Besides her fresh sorrow for her husband, Byron had died only the yearbefore. Her mind was brooding on the days the three had spent together.Her grief was too recent to be shaken from her mind or lost sight of inher imaginative work. Shelley, and the scenes she had looked on withhim, the conversations between him and his friends, creep in on everypage. Lionel Verney, the Last Man, is the supposed narrator of thestory. He thus describes Adrian, the son of the king: "A tall, slim,fair boy, with a physiognomy expressive of the excess of sensibility andrefinement, stood before me; the morning sunbeams tinged with gold hissilken hair, and spread light and glory over his beaming countenance ...he seemed like an inspired musician, who struck, with unerring skill,the 'lyre of mind,' and produced thence divinest harmony.... His slightframe was over informed by the soul that dwelt within.... He was gay asa lark carrolling from its skiey tower.... The young and inexperienceddid not understand the lofty severity of his moral views, and dislikedhim as a being different from themselves." Shelley, of course, was theoriginal of this picture. Lord Byron suggested the character of LordRaymond: "The earth was spread out as a highway for him; the heavensbuilt up as a canopy for him." "Every trait spoke predominate self-will;his smile was pleasing, though disdain too often curled his lips--lipswhich to female eyes were the very throne of beauty and love.... Thusfull of contradictions, unbending yet haughty, gentle yet fierce,tender and again neglectful, he by some strange art found easy entranceto the admiration and affection of women; now caressing and nowtyrannising over them according to his mood, but in every change adespot."

  A large part of the three volumes is taken up with a characterisation ofAdrian and Lord Raymond, the latter of whom falls when fighting for theGreeks. How impossible it was for her to rid her mind of her own sorrowis shown at the end of the third volume, where Adrian is drowned, andLionel Verney is left alone. He thus says of his friend:

  "All I had possessed of this world's goods, of happiness, knowledge, orvirtue--I owed to him. He had, in his person, his intellect, and rarequalities, given a glory to my life, which without him it had neverknown. Beyond all other beings he had taught me that goodness, pure andsimple, can be an attribute of man."

  Mrs. Shelley made the great mistake of writing this novel in the firstperson. _The Last Man_, who is telling the story, although he has thename of Lionel, is most assuredly of the female sex. The friendshipbetween him and Adrian is not the friendship of man for man, but ratherthe love of man and woman.

  Mrs. Shelley's next novel, _Lodore_, written in 1835, thirteen yearsafter the death of her husband, had a better outlined plot and moredefinite characters. But again it echoes the past. Lord Byron's unhappymarried relations and Shelley's troubles with Harriet are blended in thestory, Lord Byron furnishing the character in some respects of LordLodore, while his wife, Cornelia Santerre, resembles both Harriet andLady Byron. Lady Santerre, the mother of Cornelia, augments the troublebetween Lord and Lady Lodore, and, contrary to the evident intentions ofthe writer, the reader's sympathies are largely with Cornelia and LadySanterre. When Lodore wishes Cornelia to go to America to save him fromdisgrace, Lady Santerre objects to her daughter's accompanying him:

  "He will soon grow tired of playing the tragic hero on a stagesurrounded by no spectators; he will discover the folly of his conduct;he will re
turn, and plead for forgiveness, and feel that he is toofortunate in a wife who has preserved her own conduct free from censureand remark while he has made himself a laughing-stock to all."

  These words strangely bring to mind Lord Byron as having evoked them.

  Again Lady Lodore's letter to her husband at the time of his departureto America reminds one of Lady Byron:

  "If heaven have blessings for the coldly egotistical, the unfeelingdespot, may those blessings be yours; but do not dare to interfere withemotions too pure, too disinterested for you ever to understand. Give memy child, and fear neither my interference nor resentment."

  Lady Lodore's character changes in the book, and becomes more like thatof Harriet Shelley. As Mrs. Shelley wrote, fragments of the pastevidently came into her mind and influenced her pen, and her originalconception of the characters was forgotten. Clorinda, the beautiful,eloquent, and passionate Neapolitan, was drawn from Emilia Viviani, whohad suggested to Shelley his poem _Epipsychidion_, while both HoratioSaville, who had "no thought but for the nobler creations of the soul,and the discernment of the sublime laws of God and nature," and hiscousin Villiers, also an enthusiastic worshipper of nature, possessedmany of Shelley's qualities.

  Besides two other novels of no value, _Perkin Warbeck_ and _Falkner_,Mrs. Shelley wrote numerous short stories for the annuals, at that timeso much in vogue. In 1891, these were collected and edited with anappreciative criticism by Sir Richard Garnett. Many of them have theintensity and sustained interest of Frankenstein.

  After the death of her husband, grief and trouble dimmed Mrs. Shelley'simagination. But the pale student Frankenstein, the monster he created,and the beautiful priestess, Beatrice, three strong conceptions, testifyto the genius of Mary Shelley.