The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-04 00:00:00

t.

The death of Mrs. Gore will excite a lively f
of regret in a great number of readers, who
i
debted `to her for many a pleasant hour. Sh
on Tuesday last at Linwood, Lyndhurst, aftikse
week of severe suffering. Of her personal history, T
little more is known to the public than that she was'''.
the wife of Charles Arthur Gore, of the Ist Life
Guards ; that at the time of her death she had
attained the age of 61; and that she was one of the
most brilliant women of her time, whose talk over-
flowed with epigram and jest, and whose most com-
monplace remarks were more witty than the best
wit of others. Her literary career is better known,
although she departs from among us at the time
when it is least appreciated. Her descriptions of
fashionable life are not so highly estimated now as
they were when that species of novel had a certain
amount of originality, nor as they will be hereafter,
when, through the mere lapse of time, her descrip-
tions will attain somewhat of the dignity al histos
rival pictures. For the moment we are tired of
fashionable novels, and inclined perhaps to under-
rate the great mistress of the art. But if any one
will sit down quietly to consider what Mrs. Gore
has done, and how she has done it, he cannot escape
having a very exalted opinion of herpowers. In the
first place, he wilt be struck with the mass of her
writings. She has written from 60 to 70 different
works, extending to nearly 200 volumes. It is a
little library in itself. Her various publications fol-
lowed one another with inconceivable rapidity •
sometimes at the rate of one volume a month. A.
catalogue of her books—most of them written at
utmost speed—would fill this column. But the
most remarkable point of all this fertility is that in
the 200 volumes there is scarcely to be found one
dull page. Mrs. Gore's wit was inexhaustible. It
might not always be wit of the highest order, but
it was certainly not that cheap wit which is ob-
tained in any quantity from the torture of words.
For the most part it took the form of simile ; but
her comparisons were so subtle and her allusions so
swift that she kept the reader's attention at a very
highleve of activity. Whether she wrote a poem
or a play, a
novel or a sketch, the composition was
always above mediocrity. And then for the matter
--it was interesting while it was new, and it will
be interesting again when it is old. Some futhro
Macaulay will turn to her pages for a perfect pic-
ture of life as we find it in, the upper crust of
society. Every phase`of it which it was possible
for a woman to handle she has depicted with a
minute fidelity which has all the merit of a first-rate
collection of photographs. What can be more
lifelike and true, not to speak of brilliancy, then
such novels as " Cecil" and " The Hamiltons," in.
which she displays to the height all her happy art
cf pourtraying character and describing manners?
Such tales as these will always find readers ; but,
though we mention them as among her masterpieces,
one may take at random any of her works, from her
first, " Theresa Marchmoat," published in 1823, to
her last, which, we believe, was "The Two Aristo-
cracies," with the certainty of finding in them clear-
cut portraiture, the most lively narrative, and wit
in profusion. It has been objected that she adopts
with too much sympathy the tone of the society
which she paints, and that her ideal of life is not
lofty enough. This is buf a disparaging method of
stating a fact which from another point of view may
be regarded as a merit. Most women are apt to
take the high poetical view of things, and to mea-
sure mankind by a constant reference to this
standard, so that their heroes and heroines are either
angels or devils. Their aspirations are very beauti-
ful, but they are also very deceptive ; and Mrs.
Gore avoided them in order to teach the homespun,
useful lesson of contentment. She took men and
women as they are, and the tenour of her philosophy
is that good and evil, happiness and misery,
are very evenly distributed in this world. The man.
of domestic habits fancies himself, as he sits by his
fireside among his children, better than his neigh-
bours and happier than a king. The king among
his courtiers fancies himself a god, and wonders how
the poor man can be happy eating bread and cheese
with his squalling children. It is a world of com-
pensations, and M rs. Gore had the good sense to
take it as it is, sympathising with high life as other
writers have sympathised with low life. Whether
she were right or wrong, however, in this, the
general effect is that her pictures aro all the more
faithful, and have thus a permanent historical value
over and above the mere pleasure which they are
capable of affording. Her works will often here-
after be referred to as those of the best novel
writer of her class and the wittiest woman of her
age.-7irnes.

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