New-York tribune., 1908-08-06

Miss Katharine Prescott worn1eey. the well
known author and translator. was a native OF
England She was born at Ipswich. Suffolk. on
January Il. 1881. the second daughter of Ralph Ran
dolph and Caroline Preble worraeley But al
though born abroad, she of American descent.
Her father, a Virginian by birth and grandson
of Attorney General Edmund Randolph, was an ad-
nifraI in the British navy. and her mother was a
niece of Commodore Edward Preble. who is called
the founder of the United States navy. She came
TO this country while girl and was living at New
port. r. L. when the Civil War broke out and she
took an active part in the work of the United
States Sanitary Commission After she had served
on the hospital transports the James and the
Pamunkey rivers she made superintendent OF
nursing at 1he Lowell General Hospital at Forts
mouth Grove. R I. which under the control
of the surgeon general Of the United States. She
wrote letters while engaged in the relief work of
the Sanitary Commission IN the course of the
Peninsula campaign of 1862 which published
by the Massachusetts, Comrnandery OF the Loyal
Legion under the title 1.-THE Other Side of the
War" She published history Of the United States
Sanitary Commission In 1853. In 1899 she rewrote
her wartime experiences under the title THE Cruel
Side Of War
In the intervening years she had devoted herself
to literary work largely translating from the
French She rendered into English some Of the
works OF Alexandra Dumas, the elder. but her
chief claim to fame rests her important trans
lation Of the works of Honore de Balzac. in forty
volumes, including q life of Balzac, which ap-
peared from 1888 to 1897. II is recognized the
standard English version of the works of the great
novelist She translated the dramatic works of
Moliere, in six volumes which appeared in 1892
Between 1898 and 1901 there appeared in twenty vol
her translation of the Duo de Saint-Siu1on;
Versailles Historical Memoirs In 1892 she trans
lated two of the works Of Alphonse Daudet, Tar
tarn." in two volumes. and Kings in Exile" in
two volumes
At the time when Miss Wormeleys translation
of Balzac completed writer in The Tribune
said this OF her work:
conscientious and impartial comparison OF Miss
Wormeev's translations with those of her prede-
cessors and present rivals must leave conviction
thst for accuracy sympathy discretion and edito-
rial Judgment she stands alone She nterposed
nothing between Bazac and the English reader.
nothing than the thin veil which the best OF
is clear. supple, animated and bears sufficient col
but if II is not the style OF Balzac, which Eng
sh prose could not pretend TO be, it is at any rate
the most satisfactory equivalent which we know.
Miss Worneley's sister. Mrs. Mary Elizabeth
WorTneley Latrner who was born eight years before
her and died in 1904. the author of several
works and a series of familiar histories Of the chief
European countries. a younger sister, Mrs. Ariane
Randolph Wormeley Curtis, wrote THE Coming
Woman; or, the Spirit of rs. parlor play, which
had considerable vogue in its day. The three sis
ters the joint authors Of ''Recollections Of
Ralph Randolph Worneey. Rear Admiral r N.
Written Down by His Three Daughters" which
was published in 1873 Miss worrneIey had her
summer home In Jackson. N H. for many years,
and spent her winters in Newport but of late she
lived at her New Hampshire home most Of the
time