Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-03-23
A FORGOTTEN NOVELIST.

FORGOTTEN NONELlsI'
The resurrection of dead and well-nigh
forgotten writer's is a somewhat singular
feature of the literary movement of the day.
Even though we have Howells and James
aud the rest of them, the public seems to
turn with good deal of zest and perhaps
some salts faction to the writers OF an earlier
day-a day which though by no means esthe-
tic and by no means given to minute de-
lineatons of character, and whose philoso-
ply did not dream Of an infinitesimal frac-
ton of the things in heaven and earth now
considered indispensable to the literary
mans outfit, nevertheless had more virile
force and human passion that whole cycle
of such times as these. The new revival OF
old books is not characterized by any great
degree of discrimination. In England, the
forgotten literature of half dozen centuries
is being dug up and brought to the surface.
In this country, it is actually proposed to
reyiyify n. p. Willis, whom We supposed
was ms dead as any literary man could be :;
and after that It would not be at all surpris-
ing TO hear that some entcrprising publisher
was about to bring out in new edition that
stately old ouarto in which is embalmed
loci Barlow's "Columbiad," and follow it
I'M with the republication Of host more of
the FORGOTTEN folios, quartos and octavos Of
our green and salad days.
But in the vast quantity OF quartz that
has been brought to the surface
there is n good deal of gold, after all. An
cspecially noteworthy instance is that of the
case of Mrs. Ann Radcliffe, whose works
Time and Mutability had crowded into the
grave and covered with their Hic jaeet.
They did not make workmanlke job of it,
however. and now the books are emerging
from their narrow and dusty quarters, and it
looks as if the new generation would weep
over them as did its grandmothers before
them Sixty wears have passed away since
Mrs. Radcliffe died, and ninety years since
the publication of her most famous novel.
The Mysteries of Udolpho." Mrs. Radcliffe
was born in 1854, and her first novel Gas
ties of Athlin and Dunbayne' came out in
1889, and was SO well received that the next
year she followed it with "A Siclian ROM
ance." In 1891 was published her 30
nance of the Forest" in 1893 "Udolpho."
Later she published a volume of travels in
Holland, and in 1897 her last book
1.-THE Italian" She then ceased writing
although he life did not end until more than
u quarter Of century later. Her books
were immensely popular, and for her ''Ital-
ian" she received one thousand pounds-the
largest sum ever Maid for the copyright of q
novel I'D to that time. She stopped writing
as Sir Walter Scott said, ''like an actress in
full possession of her applauded powers, she
chose to retreat from the stage in the full
blaze of her fame" One of her stories,
"Gaston de Blondevile," a collection of her
poems, were published after her DEATH Sir
Walter said of her: 1.-THE praise may be
claimed for Mrs. Radcliffe of having been
the first to introduce into her prose fic,ions
beautiful and fanciful tone of natural de-
.crip,ion and imnressiye narrative. which
had hitherto bccn exclusively apnlied to
poetrv. FIELDING. Richardson. smollet
even wa,no,o ,bouob wiring u,on
an IMAGINATIVE sub;ec, arc decidedlv
prose authors Mrs Radcliffe has n
title TO be considered as the first poet
ess of romantic fction-tbat ia If actual
rbv,bm sbo,, not h. deemed essentio, to
noe,rvn And in his life If her he said that
"she has taken the lend in a line of compos,.
,ion annea,ing IN those nowerfu, and gen.
cral SOURCES If ;n,eres, latent sense of
sunorra,uro, owo and crr;oo;,v CONCERNING
wb,,ovor 10 hidden and ,rvs,or;ors. and II
oho hos hoo, oro. I'll, .,,o.oh.a i, ,,;s
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exc.,led Or avon ooro,,odr
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ooodinn roodorse ond i, oonor. ,ho whole
oro,nJ IT, :. :. A. paao,ga,s
, Iii. m. -. =, 49,
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aro hrovo and Tho ha,o,"as ~. ,a.u,;,,,, .nd
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dio,arro ia oor.,an,iv s,;,,od ord rnn.,,ra,
ond nono ~ tho ,,o,oo,o,s ,,,L =, nj, ,;ro
ao,raI hrmon ho;nns Tho noro,. o,o o..,;Io
os two noas and tho m,oh,rorr ia ,ho sano