Delphi Complete Works of Elizabeth Gaskell

by Elizabeth Gaskell

  Dr. Ward says: “ The plot of ‘ Sylvia’s Lovers ‘ turns on the doings of the press- gang towards the close of last century. She stayed at Whitby (here called Monks- haven) to study the character of the place, and personally consulted such authorities as Sir Charles Napier and General Perronet Thompson on the history of impressment. In its earlier portions the story maintains itself at the writer’s highest level; the local colouring is true and vivid, the pathetic charm of the innocent Sylvia is admirably contrasted by the free humour of the figures of her father and his man Kester, although the effect is rather marred by the coincidences introduced to insure a symmetrical conclusion.”

  “Cousin Phillis,” too, was published in this same year. It is a story well worth reading, for it contains, as some one has expressed it, a combination of the sunniest humour with the tenderest pathos. Early in 1865 appeared the “Grey Woman,” which we shall speak about later. Her last work, “ Wives and Daughters,” was an unfinished production. The story appeared in the Covnhill Magazine, and was finished by the editor of that magazine. He says: “ Here the story is broken off, and it can never be finished. What promised to be the crowning work of a life is a memorial of death. A few days longer, and it would have been a triumphal column, crowned with a capital of festal leaves and flowers; now it is another sort of column — one of those sad white pillars which stand broken in the churchyard.” It is an extremely good story, and should be read by every one. Here, again, we get a great deal of the life of old Knutsford, though some no doubt will regard it as a faithful picture of life in any small country town.

  “The Towers,” we are convinced, is Tatton Hall; the park, the lake, the school just outside the gates, the gates themselves, all are exactly as we may see them now.

  Out of the proceeds of one of her works she bought a house called “ Holy- bourne,” at Alton in Hampshire, thinking that it would be a very nice surprise-gift to her husband. She was staying there with her daughters engaged in writing “ Wives and Daughters,” when quite suddenly one evening she died of heart disease. She was carried away without a moment’s warning (according to the epitaph) while conversing with her daughters, and was buried in the graveyard of Brook Street Chapel, Knutsford.

  The funeral sermon was preached in Cross Street Chapel, Manchester, by the Rev. James Drummond, B.A. (now Dr. Drummond).

  On the front page the following words may be found: —

  “This sermon is offered by his colleague and his congregation to the Rev. William Gaskell, M.A., and dedicated to the memory of Elizabeth Cleghorn his wife, whose genius as a writer has endeared her to the public, and whose constant affection and thoughtful kindness will be ever held in loving remembrance by those who shared her friendship, or needed her help.”

  It is much to be regretted that no satisfactory portrait of Mrs. Gaskell exists. The best, which is described as the least unpleasing picture, is that drawn by the late George Richmond, a copy of which appears in Miss Hamilton’s “ Women Writers.” (See Frontispiece.)

  Besides the works already mentioned, Mrs. Gaskell wrote a large number of short stories, some of which it will be necessary for us to speak about. One of them, written in that light, humorous vein which gained for her “ Cranford” an immediate popularity, seems to us almost to excel “Cranford” itself. It is a little story of about seventy pages, and yet it contains so many well-defined plots, its characters are so well drawn, that it seems to us to be equal at least to her best work. It is full of fun from beginning to end. We refer to “ Mr. Harrison’s Confessions.” Edna Lyall, writing on May 20th, 1895, says of this: “ I agree with you in thinking ‘ Mr. Harrison’s Confessions’ one of her very best short stories.” Also Miss Frances H. Low, writing in the Fortnightly Review of October 1899 on “ Mrs. Gaskell’s Short Tales,’ says: “ Some of the tales, notably ‘ Cousin Phillis’ and ‘ The Crooked Branch,’ the one for grace and perfection of workmanship, the other for powerful and dramatic presentation, have never been surpassed by any of the longer novels written by Mrs. Gaskell. And there is another story, ‘ Mr. Harrison’s Confessions,’ which, infinitely slighter and lighter, both in motive and execution, is of peculiar significance, inasmuch as it reveals the same spontaneity and freshness, the same abundance and flow of that humour, with its almost Lamblike radiance and soft beneficence, that pervade ‘ Cranford,’ and render it a unique achievement from a woman’s pen.”

  A young doctor (Mr. Harrison) came to Duncombe (i.e. Knutsford) to assist the aged Mr. Morgan, and to receive, in return for his services, a certain proportion of the profits. Acting on the advice of Mr. Morgan, he strove to acquire “ an attentive, anxious politeness, combining ease and grace with a tender regard and interest,” and, as a natural consequence, so ably was he helped by the gossip and exaggeration which at that time exisited in this ancient town, that in a few months he was supposed to be engaged to three different ladies at one and the same time. The delightful little mistakes are intensely amusing. Here is one of them: —

  “One day Miss Caroline told me she thought she had a weakness about the heart, and would be glad if I would bring my stethoscope the next time, which I accordingly did; and, while I was on my knees listening to the pulsations, one of the young ladies came in. She said, ‘ Oh, dear! I never! I beg your pardon, ma’am,’ and scuttled out. When I went down I saw two or three of the girls peeping out of the half-closed schoolroom door; but they shut it immediately, and I heard them laughing.”

  Among other characters we have the bland Mr. Morgan; the gossipy, mischief- making Miss Horsman; Sophy, the vicar’s daughter, a grand and noble character; Mrs. Munton, who did not get out much, but whose room was the centre of the gossip of Duncombe, rather deaf, but very fond of talking; Miss Tomkinson, severe, gaunt, tall, and masculine-looking; and the sentimental Miss Caroline, with her “ Oh, sister, how can you? “ when Miss Tomkinson came out with any of her startling speeches.

  Again in “ My Lady Ludlow” there are many humorous passages to be found which remind us of ‘‘Cranford.” There is no doubt in our mind that Miss Galindo, that most interesting and amusing character, lived in Knutsford. There is no doubt also that she honoured her friend, Lady Ludlow.

  “If Lady Ludlow,” she said one day, “ ever honours me by asking for my right hand, I’ll cut it off, and wrap the stump up so tidily she shall never find out it bleeds “

  Miss Galindo was nearly an authoress once, but she found when she sat down to write she had nothing to say.

  Here is an instance of her hatred towards Dissenters: —

  ‘“A Baptist baker!’ I exclaimed. I had never seen a Dissenter to my knowledge; but, having always heard them spoken of with horror, I looked upon them almost as if they were rhinoceroses. I wanted to see a live Dissenter, I believe, and yet I wished it were over. I was almost suprised when I heard that any of them were engaged in such peaceful oocupations as baking.”

  There is a great similarity between the characters of Miss Galindo and Miss Jenkins, and the lemon-stain incident might have taken place in the case of Miss Jenkins just as well as in the case of Miss Galindo.

  “Miss Galindo was dressed in her best gown, I am sure; but I had never seen anything like it except in a picture, it was so old-fashioned. . She wore a white muslin apron, delicately embroidered, and put on a little crookedly, in order, as she told us, even Lady Ludlow, before the evening was over, to conceal a spot whence the colour had been discharged by a lemon stain.”

  “This crookedness had an odd effect, especially when I saw that it was intentional; indeed, she was so anxious about her apron’s right adjustment in the wrong place that she told us straight out why she wore it so, and asked her ladyship if the spot was properly hidden, at the same time lifting up her apron and showing her how large it was.”

  Lady Ludlow, whose invitations were like royal commands, did not believe in the established order of society being disturbed. The children in the elementary schools, she feared, would gain too much knowledge. Her posi
tion may be summed up in a sentence: “Making religion and education common — vulgarising them, as it were — is a bad thing for a nation.” After making this speech we are not surprised, though we cannot help Heeling amused, to hear her say, when she had been told that Harry Gregson had fallen from a tree and broken his thigh-bone, and is like to be a cripple for life: “ Harry Gregson! that black-eyed lad who read my letter? It all comes from over-education.”

  “The Grey Woman” and “A Dark Night’s Work” are among the best of her short stories. Their weirdness and their rapid and telling descriptive power, while they are the chief, are not the only striking characteristics, for they contain well-drawn characters, whom but to know is to love. We refer more particularly to the faithful Amante of the former, and to the equally faithful Dixon and the noble Ellinor of the latter work.

  Mrs. Gaskell’s reputation as a writer of fiction was made upon the publication of her first work, “ Mary Barton “; but she was not only successful in her longer stories, “ North and South,” “ Wives and Daughters,” “ Cranford,” and “ Ruth,” but also in her shorter ones. She was a successful short-story writer. “ The Doom of the Griffiths,” “ Half a Lifetime Ago,” “Lois the Witch” (much on the lines of Whittier’s “ The Witch’s Daughter “), “ Right at Last,” “ The Manchester Marriage “ (which closely resembles the plot of Tennyson’s “Enoch Arden “), and “ The Well of Pen Morfa,” are each and all worthy of mention. In “Lizzie Leigh” and “ Libbie Marsh’s Three Eras” we catch glimpses of the intimate acquaintance which Mrs. Gaskell must have had with the poor and outcast and down-trodden. She knew their difficulties, and sympathised with them in all their troubles. Here we see the beautiful, tender, loving sympathy shown by the poor towards each other. She found heroes and heroines in daily life, and it is because of this fact that such stories as these are treasured in the minds of the poor more especially, among whom they are destined to produce a great and lasting good.

  None of her works, whether great or small, were written without a purpose, and that purpose was always educative. She was a keen observer of manners and customs, and a profound student of human nature. Nothing escaped her eye. She not only pointed to the faults and follies of man and womankind. She did more than this. She found the good qualities inherent in every individual. She saw character and love beneath un- amiable outward appearances. She had a thorough hatred of cant and hypocrisy, and gossip and slander were alike under her ban. There is a good and high moral tone in all her writings. She did not believe in perpetual condemnation, but thought, and rightly too, that those who were stricken or had fallen should receive the help and sympathy which would assist them to regain their position as useful and honourable members of society.

  Remorse for past misconduct shown in strict devotion to some difficult task may be traced in “ The Well of Pen Morfa,” where Nest’s unloving demeanour towards her mother is in some way atoned for, after she feels her mother’s great loss, by befriending a poor half-witted woman. Also in “ Ruth,” where the heroine devotes herself to nursing the sick; and in “The Poor Clare,” where the aged Bridget, after having uttered a curse upon Mr. Gisborne, which fell upon the head of her own daughter, joined the Convent of the Poor Clares, and attended to the wants of the sick and needy. Mrs. Gaskell was very observant. She remembered everything she had seen or heard, and turned it to advantage. If there is one thing more apparent than any other in her writings, it is her tender, loving sympathy with the poor. She understood their ways, and listened feelingly to their wants.

  Dr. Ward says: “ Mrs. Gaskell had at one time been very beautiful; her head is a remarkably fine one in the portraits preserved of her, and her hand was always thought perfect. She had great conversational gifts, and the letters in her ‘ Life of Charlotte Bronte’ show her to have been a charming correspondent. The singular refinement of her manners was noticed by all who became acquainted with her.”

  Mrs. H. Beecher Stowe said of her in “ Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands,” “ She has a very lovely, gentle face, and looks capable of all the pathos that her writings show.”

  To readers of The Moorland Cottage “ it will be unnecessary to remark that she loved the children. Her honesty of purpose, her love of justice, her truthfulness offended the tender susceptibilities of some of her readers. The Athenaum, for instance, of November i8, 1865, called “ Ruth “ a powerful tale, though based upon a mistake; and said that in “ North and South “ the author’s intense but prejudiced desire to right what is wrong found utterance. But we have testimony which we believe is far more just and much more weighty. The Pall Mall Gazette of about the same date says: “ Her books will be studied in years to come both for their merits of style and incident, and as a faithful picture of good English life and sound English manners, beyond the incidents of class or fashion. She will be herself remembered with affectionate regret by all who knew her as a most genial and delightful lady, who gave light and comfort to her home, and pleasure to every society she entered.” The Comhill Magazine said of her: “ It is unnecessary to demonstrate to those who know what is and what is not true literature that Mrs. Gaskell was gifted with some of the choicest faculties bestowed upon mankind; that these grew into greater strength and ripened into greater beauty in the decline of her days, and that she has enriched us with some of the truest, purest works of fiction in the language. And she was herself what her works show her to have been — a wise, good woman.”

  She wrote for Household Words, the Comhill Magazine, and All the Year Round, and was also a contributor to the columns of the Daily News. Edna Lyall declares Mrs. Gaskell to be her favourite novelist. “She is quite my favourite author, and I can read her books over and over again.” In “ Women Novelists of Queen Victoria’s Reign,”

  Edna Lyall further says of the works of Mrs. Gaskell: “ They are not only consummate works of art, full of literary charm, perfect in style, and rich with the most delightful humour and pathos — they are books from which that morbid lingering over the loathsome details of vice, those sensuous descriptions of sin too rife in the novels of the present day, are altogether excluded. Not that the stories are namby-pamby or unreal in any sense; they are wholly free from the horrid prudery, the Pharisaical temper, which makes a merit of walking through life in blinkers, and refuses to know of anything that can shock the respectable. Mrs. Gaskell was too genuine an artist to fall either into this error or into the error of bad taste and want of reserve. She drew life with utter reverence; she held the highest of all ideals, and she dared to be true.” Also in a letter which we received in July 1898 from Edna Lyall, she says: “ You will be amused to hear that six weeks ago, on the evening after I had undergone an operation for abscess in the ear, the only book I cared for them to read to me was ‘ Cranford.’ One never wearies of its quiet humour.”1 George Eliot wrote in 1859 thanking her for her “sweet, encouraging words,” and addng, “ While the question of my powers was still undecided for me, I was conscious that my feeling towards life and art had some affinity with the feelings which had inspired ‘ Cranford’ and the earlier chapters of ‘ Mary Barton.’“ Charles Dickens, when he thought of starting Household Words, wrote to the effect that there was no living English writer whose aid he would desire to enlist so much as the authoress of “ Mary Barton.” Charlotte Bronte postponed the publication of “Villette” so that it might not interfere with the welcome which she hoped would be accorded to “ Ruth.” 2 Thomas Arnold, in his “ Manual of

  1 Speaking of a visit to Ruskin, Blanche Atkinson in “ Ruskin’s Social Experiment at Barmouth “ says: “He was smiling happily over the book he was reading when we went in to see him. It was ‘ Cranford,’ the ever fresh, and he spoke of it with warm admiration.”

  2 Madame Mohl, writing to Madame Scherer, said: “If you bad known what a heart she had. But no one did. She was a singularly happy person, and her happiness expressed itself in an inexhaustible flow of high spirits.”

  English Literature,” says: “
Mrs. Gaskell is one of the most distinguished female novelists of this century, and this, in an age which has produced Jane Austen and George Eliot, is no slight praise.” George Sand observed to Lord Houghton: “Mrs. Gaskell has done what neither I nor any other female author can accomplish — she has written novels which excite the deepest interest in men of the world, and yet which every girl will be the better for reading.” Mr. Herbert Paul in an article in the A’me- teenth Century of May 1897, entitled “The Apotheosis of the Novel,” says: “ If in creative power and imaginative range she hardly ranks with Dickens or Thackeray, with George Eliot or Charlotte Bronte, she is one of the most charming and exquisite writers of English fiction that have ever lived. In the grace of her style and the quaintness of her humour she reminds one of Charles Lamb. But Mrs. Gaskell’s admirers, including the whole educated portion of the English- speaking world, usually prefer her still life to her scenes of action. ‘ Cranford ‘ is in their eyes pure and perfect gem. Mrs. Gaskell’s popularity, never of quite the widest sort, has not waned. With the numerous novel readers whose single desire is to kill time she does not rank high. For these she does not paint in sufficiently glaring colours. To appreciate Mrs. Gaskell one must have a real love of literature. To care about her at all one must have some liking for it. But that is almost the only limit upon the circle of her readers. The art is never obtruded, though it is always there.”

  With all this testimony, this weight of evidence, what have we to say of her place in literature? It is sufficient for us that her works have done a vast amount of good in the past, and we doubt not are destined to do even more in the future.

  MEMORIALS OF MRS. GASKELL