The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-05-14


forty-three years ago. The story ru
that her father and mother, being
harmonious in their domestic relation
"a separated during her girlhood-he col
te' ing to the Continent and she remainil
: in England.
'n Ouida's youth was passed in variol
g countries, so that she may be said
y have no particular nationality. 81
- speaks fluently French, Italian and Gre
Al a man, as well as her native tongue, an
= writes those foreign languages wit
g facility. She has often declared th'
:, she had no childhood, and indeed n
youth; for her experiences were III
n pleasant and forced her very early int
: a kind of morbid maturity. For year
she has been overfowing with cynicisT
9 and bitterness, disliking men and dis
! trusting women, and giving the most uI
= pleasant pictures Of fashionable society
indicating that selfishness, rascality an,
wantonness are the distinguishing trait
of humanity. She is even more of
: misogynist than a misanthrope, for sh
never allows an opportunity to pass with
! ! out arranging her own sex at the steTI
bar of her warped judgment.
TO read Ouida's late novels one would
form the same idea of society ON the
; Continent to-day that one would have
formed of France had he lived in the
time of the Regent, PHILIPPE d Orleans, Of
of England during the reign of Charles
Ii. Her representatives are repulsive,
but she VOWS they are strictly true, not
even exaggerated for the sake of fiction
Doubtless there is always more or less
corruption in society which claims to be
the best, but the corruption is rather
exceptional than general, while Ouida
portrays it exactly the reverse.
THE PLAN OF HER NOVELS.
She is very prolific writer. She has
produced in the twenty years that have
passed since "Held in Bondage" ap-
peared some thirty-fve novels, besides
any number of magazine articles and
contributions to the newspapers 1t may
well be said that her pen is never idle.
| IF it were her literary reputation would
stand higher, for she frequently repeats
herself and ia obviously careless in con-
struction, incident and the development
of her characters which are decidedly
prone to resemble one another. She
almost invariably introduces two Or
three rich, bad, brutal, men and several
handsome, artificial, impure, mercenary,
completely selfish women, all of them
occupying exalted social positions, in
salient contrast with a preternaturally
good, noble, self-sacrifieing woman, who
Is commonly prosecuted and whom no.
body understands.
The celebrated authoress lives in
handsome villa outside the gates, fur
nished and decorated handsomely and
extensively. 1t is full of pictures, en-
cravings, statuettes, bronzes, books and
all sorts of brica-brac, for which she has
great fondness and fine.taste. If she has
little love of her own kind, she loves
dogs. horses, cats, birds and animals
generally, having in her house many
pets. She often says that they are
neither pei fidious nor ungrateful, and
that to call man dog, as most men
are constituted is compliment that he
seldom merits She drives out daily, |
when the weather is pleasant, and is
usually accompanied by two or three
dogs.
Everybody in and about Florence |
knows her by sight. She is rather a |
striking figure, being tall and we'll
formed and having a strong, remember
able face, with light eyes and an abund-
ance of yellow hair. She dresses hand |
somely and extensively, but in an un-
conventional manner and not always in |
good taste. At times she is overloaded |
with color and ornaments, and then
again she is simple in attire to point
of severity. 1t would seem that she en-
ioys attracting attention and making a
sensation, although she preteRds other
wise. An American artist here calls her
a feminine imitator of Byron, for whom
she cherishes an enthusiastic admiration.
She also adores Heinrich Heine and |
Leopard, which shows that the bent OF
her mind is sombre and cynical. In |
fact, most of her literary tastes are what I
would be denominated unhealthful. Her
views of life are not cheerful, and her
is generally marred by an
expression Of unamiability. What has
made her bitter nobody knows. 1t is
due partly to temperament and partly to
Her early life has prob
ably been such as to sour her, Moreover,
she is an idealist and, consequently,
doomed to disappointment in all her re-
lations with the world.
The poor are very much attached to
Ouida, which is natural, as she is very
kind to them personally and pecuniarlly.
She gives freely and largely in charity,
and she is said never to hear OF case OF
indigence and suffering which she does
not try to relieve. On the whole, she APP
pears to be strong, earnest, generous,
honorable, pure-minded woman, whose
faults are mostly on the surface. She
believes she does muSh s50a ~ exposing
the weakness and meannesses and vices
of society, and by presenting patterns OF
men and women who put the common
creatures of life to shame. She travels
a good deal, spending six or seven
months here, and the rest of the year in
France and England. She has few
friends who are devoted to her, and for
them and to them she is goodness itself
With all her talents and successes she is
and is inwardly solitary
and unsatisied soul.
THE PROFITS OF HER PEN.
If Ouida's book (she derived her pen
name from the childish pronunciation
by her little niece of her first name,
which is Louisa de la Ramee) are not
quite appreciated by the critics, they are
by her publishers, for they
sell largely and rapidly. Her first novel,
"Held in Bondage" brought her, /
understand $1,000, and she now gets at
least SIC, 900 for every new work in three
volumes that she writes. She has grown
so popular within the last eight or ten
years that she can make very favorable
terms with publishers, and she never
neglects, it is said, her own interests.
Moths and "Friendship" have been
exceedingly profitable, yielding her to
date respectively $4,000 and $4,000,
and are still in demand.
The fact that her stories are reputed
to be wicked gives them a zest with
many young women, not few of whom
have. am told, been sorely disappointed
in them in this respect. They may have
been thought to be allied in some man
ner to the grossly indelicate ste ries of
Crebillon, Louvet and other French
authors of past age, who revelled in
minute descriptions of interdicted things.
Nothing could be much further from
the fact. Ouida. is reported to have
made from $250,0O0 to 100000 by her
writings, and her ElOney has been so well
invested that her income is estimated at
$4,000 year, considered very large in |
Italy. When to this is added her annual
earnings by the pen, it is not strange
that she is counted here as very rich.
Same Old Story.