Evening star., 1909-05-18
HIS ILLNESS WAS BRIEF
Long Career Overlapped That Of
Thackeray and Dickens.
MASTER OF ANALYSIS AND WIT
Was No Mean Poet-Abandoned
Law to Write in His Young
Manhood.

had caused deep ana widespread regret.
1t had been generally feared that at his
great age-he was past eighty-one-the
chances of recovery were slight.
Sir Thomas Barlow. the kings physi-
clan, after a consultation as late as yes
terday, had said:
Mr.. Meredith's condition is serious.
but there is no reason why he should not
rally"
Meredith's regular physician, however.
had later found the patients condition so
precarious that he was passing the night
at the writer's cottage at Boxhill.
The immediate cause of death was heart
failure, following grave symptoms that
developed early in the evening. Mr.. Mere
dith's illness began May IA. He steadily
declined since that time
Abandoned Law to Write.
George Meredith, although his reputa-
tion on this side of the Atlantic is of
comparatively recent growth, bridged the
years between the great group of Victo-
rian novelists and the present day.
His great novel. 'The Ordeal of Richard
Feverel.' came out in 1850, the year of
rays "Virginians," and Dickens Tale of
Two Cities His last book, "A Reading
Of Life and Other Poems." was publish
ed in 1901.
Hampshire. England, of Welsh and Irish
parentage. He was early left an orphan,
and was educated till he was fifteen In
Germany, where he received influences
that cOlored much of his earlier work.
His guardian intended him for the law,
but as soon as he could control his own
fortunes he abandoned the law for jour-
nalism and literature.
For time his life was of the hardest.
He lived in London weighed down by
debts, contracted by others, and it is said
that for whole year he was forced to
subsist on hardly anything but oatmeal.
First Work in Verse.
He first appeared in print with a poem,
"Chillianwallah." published in 1S49 in
Chambers Journal. Two years later he
published book of poems, dedicated to
Thomas Love Peacock, the father of his
first wife.
Then for time he abandoned poetry,
and wrote in 1856 a strange Oriental ex-
1t was an imitation Of an eastern tale,
and written with all the wealth of inn
agery and abundance of metaphor pecu-
liar to earlier writer's.
A year later appeared "Farina,'' a
graceful love tale of medieval Cologne.
but it was not till 1859 that he produced
work, ''The Ordeal Of Richard Feverel,
that showed to those who could appreciate
1t that a new master of English prose
had arisen.
Strangely enough, as it now seems. the
book passed at the time almost unnoticed.
The London Times reviewed 1t with high
appreciation, but most even of the literary
world were not attracted by 1t. Yet even
today half a century after it was given
to the world, it retains it's freshness and
strength. 1t contained some of the most
closely observed characters that it's au-
thor ever invented, and the acute analysis
narrow pedantry of Sir Austin showed
Meredith's skillful touch and keen in
sight at its best.
Early Critics Unmerciful.
Evan Harrington" came next, in 1861,
and then, barking back to poetry. the
author issued volume OF verse. Mod
ern Love, and Other POEMS" This called
forth warm praise from such masters as
Swinburne and Browning, but the ordi-
nary critics of the time abused it unmer-
cifully.
Perhaps the difficulty of diction which
marks all his writings repelled them.
They could not appreciate that the author
was seeking to express the fullest possi-
BILE meaning in every word he used, and
that he cared little for conventionality
If he fould the exact shade Of sense he
was striving to convey.
Two other novels followed. ''Sandra
Belloni' and "Rhoda Fleming, in 1864
and 1856. and then he went to the Aus
tro-Italian war as correspondent for the
London Morning Post. He did not. how
ever, waste his time, and he used the
observations of this trip as material for
his next novel, "Vittoria.
Meanwhile his first wife had died. leav-
ing him one son. and for time he took
up his residence with Swinburne and
Rossetti in Cheyne Walk. Chelsea. The
story goes that the housekeeping of the
latter was too erratc for his tastes, and
he soon removed to Boxhill in Surrey.
where he lived out the remainder of his
days.
His next works, In order Of succession,
were Adventures of Harry Richmond .
1871; -Beauchamp's Career" 1876: The
Egoist,'' 1870. and THE Tragic Come
dians,' 1881. OF these, the most ia
nous in "The Egoist.'
In it Meredith has dissected with mer-
CHESS pen and marvellous skill the sell
fishness of man and the narrow, self
absorption of him who can think that
the world has been created entirely for
his own enjoyment AS the relations of
Sir Willoughby Patterne and Clara Mid
dleton are drawn, the ingrained mean
ness of the former is pictured with
mordant criticism and the most subtle
analysis.
Moreover. the writer who could paint
proved that he was equally happy In
depicting the self-seeking affection of
the middle-aged.
Novels of Marriage State.
Between 1885 and 1895 appeared four
novels which dealt with the problems Of
marriage. Diana of the Crossways''
was published in 1885. 'One of the Con-
querors'' in 1891, Lord Ormont and His
Aminta" in 1894, and THE Amazing Mar
riage" In 1895.
They show that Meredith had been con-
cerned for many years with the problems
of the married state, but 1t is not clear
that he intended to approve OF the Idea
of the trial marriage, which one of his
characters advocates in "One of the Con-
Querors.' He asked, however. that his
readers consider carefully the question of
the indissoluble union and to refuse to
accept it as an unquestiOned ideal.
Mr.. Meredith's later verse consisted OF
Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth"
1883; Ballads and Poems of Tragic
Life" 1887; "A Reading of Earth. 1887.
which was republished with additions in
1901. In 1885 he published in one volume
three novelettes. THE Tale of Chloe"
The House on the Beach and THE
Case of Gen. Opie and Lady Camper"
and in 1897 appeared his Essay on the
Comedy and the Uses of the Comic
Spirit" He also issued In 1898 his "Odes
In Contribution to the Song of French
History"
OF late years he lived quietly at Box
hill. His second wife had died in 1886,
leaving a son and daughter. He kept
himself in almost complete seclusion.
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