Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1872-10-10
ALEYA. GAZETTE & VIRGINIA ADvERTISl
From the American Athenaum.

The question is often asked, but never an
Swered and although We do not pretend to
be in Il position to uuvail the mysterious per-
Sonage who shelters herself behind this nom de
plume we may yet throw some light on the
matter. 1t is but a few years ago-say four
that the English public began to take an inter-
eSt in the ua,ne Que or two spicy tales,
written III hashy and grandiloQuent style that
was not yet without certain fascination and
power, began to attract the attention of the
reading public in the pages Of a well-knowu
London magazine. The novelcttes were all of
Que character and sui geneiis Nothing like
them had been seen before, and there was
about them splendid rush of words and
sound of tropes and figures, OF learned illusions
and pot-house slang that carried the reader
along in spite of himself The plots were al
ways of love, with gods for heroes and demi
reps for hcroines, They We're also well con-
ccved and artstically developed with great
poiup of rhetoric and cynical eplgrammatic
contempt for Mrs Grundy and religion, aud
most things respectable, that gave them a Pc
culiar piquancy OF flavor The heroes were
masculine, Godlike, and after the Guy Living
stone school. They uprooted trees, tore
dowr houses, defeated armies, spouted Greek,
and understood MIR. Browning's ''Sordello."
Passion, falsely called love- was the prime
agent in these tales-passion after the fashion
of Mr. Swiuburne, and not after the type Of
Scott's "Rebecca.. But with all their faults;
these bizar.e and exciting productions It OK,
and people began to look anxouSly for every.
thing that bore the signature Of "Ouida." ln
combined the imaginative power of Va
theck with more than the sensational
ism of Miss Braddon and the muscular
ity of Guy Livingstone and much of the cy uic-
ism of Foltaire and the spaslnodic elOpueuce
of Charles Reade. Naturally, the work produ-
ccd sensation, and caused quite tiutter among
literary circles. Every one was asking who
"Quda' was, and no one could answer. The
editor of the magazine for which she had writ
ten. and publisher of her new novel, we're each
applied to in vain. the truth being that they
were as ignorant Of the real name as the pub
lic Meanwhile, the great unknown Was busy
at her desk, and book after book came out with
extraordinary speed. Of these perhaps the
most famous was ''Chandos;' the most infa-
nous, narrative supposed to be spoken by
peared in the Broadway Magazine, including
ioDgish one, entitled 'Coquette," which led to
the author being appointed editor of that
monthly At this moment her productions
have larger number of readers, though not
larger sale, than those of any living novelist.
We say. mot larger sale because many
who read these works are ashamed to purchase
them They have been noticed, some Of them
not unfavoraby, in such superfue reviews as
the Saturday and the Pail Mall Gazette, and
have gone through more editions than we care
to count. Yet, in spite of this publicity, the
real name of the author is still secret.
All that is known is, that an old French gentle
man takes the manuscript to the publisher
transacts all the business arrangements receives
the moneys, aud there the matter ends. He
is merely the agent, it is asserted, the father OF
the author who maintains strict incognito;
and is, of course, lady. People who pro
tess to know more about it thaa we do assert
that she is young, handsome, and of good ex-
traction; and the mystery which puzzles every
one is how she has contrived to learn so much
of fast life and fast talk in the dens and hells
of Lcndon and Paris Messrs Lippiucott 4
Go. have new novel by "Quida" ready for
publication, which is sure to command large
and immediate sale. This is all we know at
present about the creator of "Chandos, and
forty years hence no one will care to know any
thing.