Enid Huws Jones' 'Mrs. Humphry Ward' 1973

 

William Heinemann first edition - 1973

I already have a biography of Mrs. Humphry Ward (see Blog of 28th December, 2022) but saw this on the Internet for £5 and swooped. It is a much slighter book than John Sutherland's and it skates over certain less positive aspects of the Ward family. Both biographers acknowledge their debt to Mrs. Mary Moorman, granddaughter of Mrs. Humphry Ward, but Sutherland, writing just four years' before her death, may have  been given a freer rein. Enid Jones also paid tribute to the support of other family members. She lived in Mary Ward House, where her husband was first Principal of the National Institute for Social Work Training. I read Jones' biography on the train to and from London last week (an appalling experience - the journey not the reading). Walking from St. Pancras to the bookshops of Marchmont Street, I turned off my usual route to go down Tavistock Place to view and take photographs of the building, still a leading Conference Centre and Exhibition Venue. Mary (Mrs. Humphry) Ward would surely be proud and delighted that, 100 years' after her death, her project was alive and thriving.

In the March sunshine

Jones is capable of useful insight: The bonds of Mary Ward's life, at forty-six, were now inescapable: wife, mother, society hostess, lady of the big house, modern philanthropist, and always inexhaustibly the writer, driven surely by an inner compulsion as well as by financial need. In her self-image she was a woman of letters who spared time for good works. Yet it was through her good works, perhaps, that her more permanent creations would emerge. and did not spare her subject: A reader who finds his way today [1973]...is astonished that serious critics once admired Mrs Humphry Ward as a mistress of English prose. There is the occasional shrewd phrase, the nostalgic descriptive passage like those minor Victorian landscapes seen today in a Bond Street window, and judged 'rather nice'. Manuscripts and printed drafts are evidence of laborious revision and abridgement; didactic passages are sacrificed, whole episodes are dropped...even in her most splendid period the slovenliness of the great slogger leaves open pot-holes in the macadam of her prose. She did not write by ear...characters are built up from their social externals...Mary Ward's contemporaries liked her style; if they complained, it was of her didacticism, her characterization, and ultimately of her values.

However, one needs to go to John Sutherland for a more rounded version of Mary's life and the effect of her father's self-centredness and near-cruelty of her as a young girl - he gets off lightly in Jones' account; of her husband's sponging on her for decades, to finance his picture-buying near mania; of her son's selfish mediocrity; of her own constant battle with ill-health (sometimes psychosomatic but mostly real). 

I have a contemporary newspaper review of Jones' biography - by one Stephen Corrin. He regards it as an excellent short life, (presenting) a fascinating picture of the high-minded do-gooder (who) wrote those heavily didactic novels, all of them so solidly earnest as to "relieve their readers from any reproach of wasting their time on trifles"...her unique subject, whom she aptly describes as a "shrewd organiser of the kingdom of heaven on earth." Well, that's not a bad epitaph.

G.P.R. James' 'The Woodman; A Romance' 1849

 

T.C. Newby first edition - 1849

I have now read two of G.P.R. James' Romances in a row - and I like them! The Woodman's subtitle is The Times of Richard III and it contains pretty accurate portraits of both the Last Plantagenet and his nemesis, Henry Tudor.

Richard himself muses on his past - whose cradle was a corslet, his nursery a bloody fight, his schools Hexham, and Barnet, and Tewkesbury, his pedagogues York, and Salisbury, and Warwick and Edward.

James follows the traditional charges levied at Richard. He has Bishop Morton telling Iola, now the hatred of the reigning king has pursued me, because he knew right well, that I would raise my voice against the wrong he did his brother's children; and, much later in the novel, will you Chartley, even for the hand of Iola, become the labouring, straining serf of him who slew your royal master's children, slaughtered innocent babes, spilt the blood of his own house?

The author adds his own summary of the monarch. ...as great a man perhaps as a bad man can ever be. He was mighty as a soldier, mighty as a politician, almost sublime in the vast wide-stretching reach of his subtlety. Through life he had played a game almost against all odds; and he had won every stake. He had seen those, who stood between him and the light, swept away; he had contrived to remove obstacle after obstacle; he had crushed or aided to crush all the enemies of his house; he had imposed the silence of death, or the chains of exile, upon all personal opponents...because he was ambitious, and all things gave place to ambition, we have no right to conclude that his heart was without feelings even of a gentle and a kindly nature. Ambition was the idol; and to it the heart sacrificed its children. James gets across the heartbreak for Richard and Queen Anne over the loss of their son Edward; but he also dissects Richard's ruthless plan to marry his niece Elizabeth once he realises his wife is mortally ill - we must foresee events, Ratcliffe.

Henry Tudor is also realistically (and accurately?) portrayed. Morton communes with himself in exile: better a cold and greedy prince upon the throne, than a murdering usurper... James realistically describes the treacherous background within which Tudor struggles in both Brittany and France and the calculating character of the exile, but who can also show kindness when it does not harm his self-interest.

Edward IV is also summed up well (through the mouth of the Woodman): a man of many high qualities, and also of many great vices; brave, courteous, graceful, and good-humoured; lewd, idle, insincere, and cruel; a consummate general, a short seeing statesman, a bad king, a heartless kinsman, a man of pleasant converse, and a devoted friend. Not a bad summary.

Lord Stanley is sympathetically drawn, as are several other characters, such as the Lady Abbess of Atherston, the merriest little abbess in the world; only the fictitious Lord Fulmer comes across as a first-class rotter, as does the slimy Sir Charles Weinants. Sam the piper, the injured ex-soldier plying his trade for sustenance; Ibn Ayoub, the Arab servant of Lord Chartley; Sir William Arden, Chartley's closest buddy; and Sir Edward Hungerford, a foppish character, like a kingfisher, you are better known by your feathers than your voice; all stand up to reality's scrutiny.

Much of the action takes place in the area around Atherstone and Tamworth; thus, it is conveniently near the denouement on the field of Bosworth. James starts his chapter on the battle by writing, Shakespeare made a mistake (about the weather!); but he, too, gets one thing wrong, when he writes the whole force of Richmond moved down the hill - Henry's forces fought on flat ground.

James allows several shafts against the late medieval Roman Catholic Church: perhaps there have been few ages in the world's history, more grossly superstitious than those which immediately preceded the reformation. The process of darkening the human mind, in which alone the errors of the church of Rome can be maintained, had been going on for so many centuries, that it had almost reached completeness...in England especially, every false, abominable, and idolatrous dogma was more sternly and clearly defined, in order to prevent the escape of the Wicliffites through any ambiguity of language. One could almost think this was Sir Walter Scott or Thomas Gaspey, or me for that matter!, writing such lines. In fact, both the heroine Iola, her close companion Constance and, potentially, the hero Lord Chartley (whose uncle, a previous Lord Chartley, fought for Lancaster at Barnet and was killed there), subscribe to the late Lollard movement. Iola attends a secret meeting of a group of some thirty Lollards near Tamworth and Sam the piper describes it to the Woodman: where the songs seemed pure and holy; for ever and anon, they praised God's name and gave him honour and glory. They prayed too, but in the English tongue...and, though people, no doubt, would call the meeting Lollardy, I liked it well.

There are a few loose ends, inevitable in a rather rushed final chapter. Do Sir William Arden (saved by the bell at Bosworth from Richard's decreed beheading!) and Constance marry? The gruff old soldier deserved the bride he had wooed from the first, although he was caught upon the road, stealing a nun (Constance) from a convent...! However, to be fair, it concentrates on the person holding the title of the three volumes - the 'Woodman', who proves to be far more important than one of that trade. I guessed who he was as soon as a titled lady came looking...

I am by no means a literary critic, but I feel that Sir Walter Scott would not have been ashamed to have written The Woodman. If James had taken one of his publisher's advice and written just half of his output, perhaps he would have ranked higher in a posthumous pantheon. Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Hardy (who recalled them with pleasure), Walter Savage Landor, Allan Cunningham, even Thackeray towards the end of his life, all praised and enjoyed reading James' novels. Sir Walter Scott and Washington Irving encouraged James' earliest work, as did John Wilson ('Christopher North'). He also has another admirer in me - and I shall read more of him soon! 

A final thought - from G.P.R. James - The grave of a woman's first life is her marriage contract. One could say the same about men's!

G.P.R. James' 'Agincourt; A Romance' 1844

 

Richard Bentley first edition - 1844

George Payne Rainsford James (1799 or 1801! - 1860), usually known as G.P.R. James, produced nearly 100 works between 1828 and 1859. Scarcely a year went by that he failed to produce at least one novel, most of them three-deckers. This excessive production was fatal to his permanent reputation, but to his contemporaries he remained a popular writer. So famous was he for his literary proclivity that in The Comic Times of 31st August 1850, the following pasquins appeared:

BIRTHS.

"On the 7th, Mr. G.P.R. James of his 136th offspring. The little stranger, which is a tripod, we are sorry to say, is not doing very well."

ADVERTISEMENTS.

"Mr. Newby begs to announce the following new work in the press:

In Three Volumes.

The Old Oak Chest (made out of his own head),

by G.P.R. James, Esq." 

Rather cruel; but it must be admitted (like Sir Walter) the author should have been subjected to severe pruning. Once again, it was the result of the three-decker requirements. There is an equally uneven biography of James - The Solitary Horseman by S.M. Ellis (The Cayme Press, 1927), published in a limited edition of 800 copies. Ellis started to write it in 1912, but various difficulties, including the War, caused it to be laid aside... I have a copy and the biographer certainly details the main thread of James' life, but has very little to say about the books themselves, or their quality. 

Inevitably James was baited in Punch, but not as often as Bulwer Lytton or Ainsworth. The humorists included Thackeray - And what Briton can read without enjoyment the works of James, so admirable for terseness. Another satirist put a series of questions to James, which ended, How long do you intend to keep on writing such stuff? The author could well have replied: As long as the public pays me to do so... for he usually received £500 or more for each of his romances. 

I have quite a few of G.P.R. James' works:

Novels in First Edition:

1838:    The Robber (3 vols) 

1844:    Agincourt (3 vols.)

1844:    Arabella Stuart (3 vols.)

1845:    The Smuggler (3 vols.)

1848:    Gowrie

1849:    The Woodman (3 vols.) 

also

The Works of G.P.R. James:

1844:    Vol. II        Mary of Burgundy

1845:    Vol. III       The Huguenot

1847:    Vol. XIV    Forest Days

1848:    Vol. XVI    De L'Orme

1848:    Vol. XVII   Gowrie

1849:    Vol. XXI    Castelnau

Harper & Brothers:

1857:    Leonora D'Orco

1858:    Peqinillo: A Tale

1858:    Agnes Sorel. A Novel

Routledge's Sixpenny Series:

1882:    The Brigand or Corse de Leon

1887:    The Smuggler

Non-Fiction in First Edition:

1830:    The History of Chivalry

1836:    A History of the Life of Edward the Black Prince (2 vols.)-0

I read The Smuggler some years ago and have just bought the novel in its three-decker first edition - I will be returning to it soon. But, first I thought I would read Agincourt and then The Woodman. Rather like Major Michel's Henry of Monmouth, the actual battle takes up a tiny portion of the Tale. It commences in true Jamesian style with a dark night, a lonely road, woods and streams, and two travellers. Ellis entitled his biography of James, The Solitary Horseman. Thackeray it was who really branded this literary trade-mark upon James in his burlesque, Barbazure, By G.P.R. Jeames, Esq., etc. In six of James' 57 romances, "a solitary horseman" appears in the first chapter and in two others he delays his arrival until the second; "two cavaliers" caracole in the first chapters of three books and in the second of another. James seems to have taken Thackeray's satire to heart, as in the twenty or more stories he wrote afterwards there is ne'er a sign of horsemen at the start!

The two Agincourt riders play pivotal roles in the story. The first introduces himself to the other as Hal of Hadnock, who turns out to be Prince Hal on his way to his sick father, Henry IV, in London. The second, is Richard of Woodville, the hero of the story. The story has shades of Ivanhoe every so often - the old hall at Dunbury (Rotherwood), the tall powerful old man, Sir Philip Beauchamp (Cedric), Isabel Beauchamp  (Rowena/Rebecca) whose hair was as black as jet, her skin soft and clear...her eyes were of a deep clear blue...with long fingers tapering to a point, showed in every line the high Norman blood of her race. In addition there is a fascinating, wilful cousin, Catherine Beauchamp who is also destined to play an integral part in the plot. She is murdered not far into Volume One - or is she?! There is the inevitable baddie - Simeon of Roydon, a distant cousin, whose smooth exterior was but a shell containing a less pleasant core...there was an occasional quiver of the lower lip, as if words which might be dangerous were restrained with difficulty...In addition, there is Sir Henry Dacre, who is betrothed to Catherine but really loves Isabella; Richard of Woodville loves Mary Markham (her surname is yet another 'disguise'), the third woman in the hall. Are you following?

The story moves from Dunbury to London, to Burgundy and then to France. It takes on board other well-rounded characters - Sir Philip de Morgan, England's representative in Ghent; Sir John Grey, exiled under Henry IV, and father to Mary 'Markham', who takes his time in accepting Richard of Woodville as a potential son-in-law; the Count of Charolois and his father, the Duke of Burgundy, also figure in the tale. Ella Brune, whose father is killed by Simeon of Roydon's horse and who is helped by Richard of Woodville, becomes fiercely attached (in love with) the latter - again, shades of Rebecca and Ivanhoe? It is thanks to her that Richard survives more than one 'scrape'. Ned Dyram, a servant foisted on Richard by King Henry V, proves an absolute rotter (he ruthlessly pursues Ella) and inevitably links up with Simeon to try and destroy Richard.. 

There are glimpses of humour. Near the fine chaste cross at Charing, - which stood hard by the spot where the grand libel upon British taste, called Trafalgar Square, now stands...

Yes, James loves to dwell on descriptions of nature and the dress of the period; like Scott and others of the 19th century, he takes a paragraph when a couple of sentences would do and far too unlikely coincidences help the plot along. But I find him a good companion of a winter evening and am already engaged in The Woodman.

Thomas Gaspey's 'The Lollards' 1822

 

Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown

first edition - 1822

This three-decker was published anonymously, but the title pages gave clues as to the author, by listing his previous works: The Mystery, or Forty Years ago and Calthorpe, or Fallen Fortunes. Those in the know would have pointed to Thomas Gaspey (1788-1871) as the progenitor. 

Gaspey was a Parliamentary reporter on the Morning Post, where he also contributed dramatic reviews and reports on treason trials. He stayed with the newspaper for sixteen years before becoming a sub-editor at the Courier, a government paper. In 1828 he bought a share in the Sunday Times, where he raised it as a literary and dramatic organ. He died, aged 83, at his home at Shooter's Hill. Two of his sons were also involved in literary works. Gaspey was again to write on Lord Cobham - who played a vital role in this novel - when he published The Life and Times of the Good Lord Cobham (1843)

The Preface is useful, as it gives the reader the authorial intention: The author, - the compiler, perhaps, he should rather call himself, has supplied from imagination what he considered necessary to give them [correct scenes]  connexion; but generally he has kept as closely as possible to history. Gaspey then went on to reveal his sources - Maitland, Pennant, Malcolm, Douce, Henry, Beckmann, Baker, Monstrelet, Hollingshed, and Grose (I have only heard of three of them) - are responsible for most of the historical facts and local representations. The author also explains why he thinks there were printed works around as early as 1415.

I am very partial to John Wycliffe and the Lollards for several reasons. One can trace a journey over the centuries to Methodism; Lutterworth is not far from Ashby de la Zouch and my semi-adopted area of England; and I admire his/their role is highlighting and castigating the malign influence of the Roman Catholic Church in medieval times. Gaspey sets the scene well - in fact, the first piece of dialogue does not occur until page 41 in Volume I. He gives us not only a compelling account/appraisal of Oldcastle (Lord Cobham) but also of the recently appointed (1414) Archbishop of Canterbury - Henry Chicheley (c.1364-1443). The latter, portrayed as a fierce opponent of Lollardy and intimately involved in the death by burning of Cobham on 14 December 1417, is also given a few scruples. At least the latter makes it to page 138 of the final volume. 

Oldcastle being burnt for heresy

The story follows the fictitious sons of Oldcastle and Lord Charlton of Powys (1370-1421), who was responsible for capturing the former on his estates in Herefordshire and who was able to claim a hefty reward, much to the chagrin of his 'son'.  Scenes are set in Prague and Constance, where Jan Hus is tried, condemned and burnt, much to the horror of Oldcastle's 'son' and 'daughter'. Once again, the reader gets the feeling that the story was 'stretched' rather to fit the requirements of the [in]famous three-decker, and there are various meanderings in both England and France, before true love for most of the characters ends happily. This includes King Henry V, who is again portrayed sensitively ( his shock at seeing Catherine of France's beauty is well described!) It was unusual to read of Agincourt, that the scene was set after the battle and vibrantly described the carnage and suffering - arms, legs and heads were scattered in every direction, in frightful confusion. One feels the regular descriptions of the London streets and buildings could, perhaps, have been cut. 

So, Edward and Alice Oldcastle; Matilda and Sir Thomas Venables; Octavius, son of Lord Powys; Eugene De Marle, Madam D'Aumont and Baron de Chlume wend their fictitious way through the actualité of 1413 to 1417, occasionally helped by extremely unlikely coincidences, and quite skilfully guided by the author. At least William Whittington M.P., the elder brother of the famous Sir Richard ('Dick') was really who the author says he was!

There was one nice touch of black humour, which is worth repeating: ...Holywell, they took their way to the far-famed spring said to have been furnished by the intrepid virtue of St. Winifred, whose sanctified career, according to the legend, was not to be terminated even by the process of beheading, which in other cases has furnished a very efficient check to the finest enthusiasm.