Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-08
AUTHOR OF "ROBERr ELsMERE.,
An Unknown Novelist Who Has Sud-
denly Sprung Into Fame.


There is not much doubt that until within
the last fve or six months Mrs. Humphrey
Ward was unknown save to the few. Even
80 short time ago as 1885 her name found
no place among the "Women Of the Day."
It is quite as certain that during these Ave
or six months not many English novelists
have been SO much talked about and dis
cussed. With Robert Elsmere," or perhaps,
to be more exact, with Mr.. Gladstone's re-
view Of it in the Nineteenh Centsuy, Mrs.
Ward sprang into notoriety. To those who
had no knowledge of her personally her book
made it clear that she was one who not
only knew her Oxford well, but was intimate
with Oxford life and Oxford people and Oxford
traditions. 1t was, therefore, no surprise to
learn that before she became Mrs. Ward she
was a Miss Arnold and that she is the grand
daughter of DIR. Arnold, Of Rugby, the niece Of
Matthew Arnold and the daughter Of Thos
Arnold, the editor Of many old books, the
writer Of 'erhe Encyclopaedia Britannica" arti-
Gle on English literature and the author Of q
well-known manual Of English Literature, !"
Thos. Arnold, it will be remembered. became
Roman Catholic, and for a while he was
professor in the university at Dublin and also
at the oratory school in Birmingham. But he
finally settled down to literary life in Oxford.
In 1872 Miss Arnold married Thos. Humphrey
Ward, an Oxford man, and at that time q tutor
of Brasenose College. Since then Mr.. Ward
has given up his tutorship, and is now the art
verse, popularity known as Wards English Po-
cts, !" Il perhaps the best in existence. Mr.. and
Mrs. Ward live in one of the large old-fash-
toned houses in Russell Square, near the British
Museum. The Bloomsbury squares are 80
quiet and pretty, and the houses 80 comforts
bic and airy, and the neighborhood so COM
paratively convenient, that one wonders why
so many have deserted this pas Of Lon
don for the out-of-the-way corners Of Ken
sington and Bayswater. However, the
Wards can still count among their neigh
bors Miss Christina Rossetti and VIM. Michael
Rossetti. Whoever does not know his Blooms
bury has but to turn to "Robert Elsmere,"
where he will find the description of Bedford
square, the London home Of the Elsmeres and
but two minutes walk from Mrs. Wards own
Ward have found for themselves q summer
house in Surrey, surely one Of the prettiest
counties in all England. The place they have
bought is near Haslemere, where Tennyson
lives several months of the year, and where
Mrs. Gilchrist, the friend of Dante Rossetti
and Walt Whitman, wrote many Of the letters
which have lately been given to the world.
Mrs. Ward has published two or three other
books less famous than "Robert Elsmere,' but
none appeared until after she had been married
for several years. The first was '.Milly and
oily" a story for children, illustrated by Mrs.
|
certain parts Of England is already shown IN
this very simple little tale. Her child hero and
heroine come from Oxfordshire, and their sum-
mer journey, of which this story is the record
is to the lake country where Robert Elsmere
first met Catherine. A good deal Of Mrs. Wards
personality can be learned from her books.
"Milly and Oily" was published in 1881. In
1884 it was followed by her first novel, Miss
Bretherton," which made some talk at the
time because the heroine, an actress, in GER
tain ways suggested Miss Mary Anderson.
There was just enough similarity to give peo-
pie chance to gossip. Many passages in
Miss Breetherton" clearly reveal Mrs. Wards
great reverence for and sympathy with French
genius and French ideals. 1t was this proba-
bly, that led her to the translation Of AmieIs
journal Intime," published in 1885, The
journal is of immense interest to all who
care for psychological problems and struggles,
but it is a book pre-eminently for the few.
Even Matthew Arnold's criticism of it in one Of
the English magazines could not make the
translation popular. Besides her mastery Of
the French language, shown by this work, 1t is
said that Mrs. Ward knows more about early
Spanish literature than almost any woman lv-
ing. OF "Robert Elsmere' we have already
spoken. 1t has been reviewed in almost every
paper and magazine, and it bids fair to be as
widely read in America as in England.