The life and literary remains of Barbara Hofland

Dedication

TO

THE LADY MILDRED HOPE.

Madam,

Preface

A correspondence with the estimable lady who is the subject of this Memoir, which extended over a period of about twenty years, the enjoyment of her cordial friendship, an intimate acquaintance with her writings, and a warm appreciation of her character, have qualified me, perhaps, in some measure, for the task I have undertaken. But although it has been in many respects a labour of love, I was reluctant to venture upon its performance, lest I should fail in doing justice to one whose memory has such high claims upon our regard, as well from the large contributions she made to the literature of our country, — humble it might be in its rank, but in its influence

Vlll ' PREFACE.

most important, — as from her social and domestic virtues, and her intellectual accomplishments.

Mrs. Hofland had, at her decease, completed the fortieth year of her authorship. She produced during that period upwards of sixty different works; many of which have been translated into nearly all the languages of Europe. Of the English editions alone, it is estimated that upwards of three hundred thousand copies have been disposed of by the London publishers ; while in the United States of America the sale of reprints is understood to have been proportionably large.

The "Life and Literary Remains" of so popular a writer ought to possess a deep interest for that generation from which she has so lately departed, and on which she has shed some halo, and conferred much benefit.

My only regret is, that it has not fallen into abler hands to discharge this duty. I did, however, offer the materials in my pos-

PREFACE. IX

session to one who was by her literary attainments, if not by her personal acquaintance with Mrs. Holland, much more capable than I could pretend to be, of performing this duty creditably and efficiently; but it was urged upon me in preference ; and, notwithstanding a due sense of my deficiencies, I could not, under all the circumstances, shrink from the undertaking.

In carrying it out, I have confined myself, as much as possible, within the strictest limits of legitimate biography, though the letters and papers at my disposal would have enabled me to extend it considerably, had I been disposed to travel much out of the boundaries of Mrs. Hofland's literary life.

That the subject of this Memoir was an extraordinary person — -that her numerous works have gained extensive popularity, have exercised a potent moral influence, and will, many of them at least, go down to a distant posterity — cannot, I think, be questioned; and it is natural to conclude from these considerations, that those whom she has

PREFACE.

already so much interested by her works, would be glad to know something of her character and life, and might be entertained, if not instructed, by such of her literary remains as have never yet been made public.

" It were chimerical," says Swift, " to write for posterity, of whose taste we cannot make any judgment, and whose applause we can never enjoy." But this chimera, if it really be one, never influenced the mind of our authoress. Her motive was too pure, her object too elevated, for such an apprehension to be conceived. It was the principle of moral goodness, rather than the gratification of ambition, which constantly inspired and actuated her literary efforts; and it is this which constitutes their charm, and was the secret of their success.

The volume is, moreover, an humble tribute to the memory of one who deserves to be ranked among the worthies of her country.

My best acknowledgments are due to Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, and also to Mr. Alfred

PREFACE. XI

J. Roberts, of Hammersmith, for having placed at my disposal several documents, which have contributed materially to the interest of the volume ; and I must beg those kind friends to accept this public expression of my warmest thanks.

T. R.

London, S, Peter's Day, 1849.

The following is a list of Mrs. Holland's publications, many of which have become standard works in the walk of literature to which they belong :

Little Dramas for Young People, from English History ; La Fete de la Eose ; A Season at Harrogate ; Clergyman's Widow ; Officer's "Widow ; Says she to her Neighbour, What ? 4 vols. ; The Sisters ; Northern Travellers; Patience and Perseverance, 4 vols.; Panorama of Europe ; Merchant's Widow ; Visit to London, or Emily and her Friends, 4 vols.; Ellen, the Teacher, 2 vols. ; A Father as he should be ; Barbadoes Girl ; Blind Farmer and his Children ; Son of a Genius ; Good Grandmother and her Offspring ; Abbess of Valtiera, 4 vols. ; Tales of the Manor, 4 vols. ;

Xll

Tales of the Priory, 4 vols. ; Captives in India, 3 vols. ; The Czarina, 3 vols. ; King's Son, 3 vols. ; Hildebrand, 3 vols.; Alfred Campbell; Alfred, the Young Pilgrim; Decision ; Energy ; Farewell Tales ; Fortitude ; Humility ; Integrity ; Moderation ; Patience ; Reflection ; Self-Denial ; Young Cadet ; Adelaide ; Affectionate Brothers ; Alicia and her Aunt ; Daughter-in-Law ; Elizabeth, and her Three Beggar-Boys ; Godmother's Tales; Rich Boys and Poor Boys; Stolen Boy, an Indian Tale ; William and his Uncle Ben ; Young Northern Traveller; Young Crusoe; Beatrice; Daughter of a Genius ; Theodore, or the Crusaders ; The Unloved One ; Africa Described ; Emily's Reward, or a Holiday Trip to Paris.

Chapter I

Pre-eminence of England in Female Writers — their value and importance — literature as a profession — Mrs. Hofland — her birth-place — "classic Sheffield" — her early character and person — marriage with Mr. Hoole — early widowhood — loss of property — publication of poems— opens a boarding-school — commences writing tales — "The Clergyman's Widow" — meets with Mr. Hofland — her second mariage. - 1

Chapter II

Removal to London — necessity for the pursuit of literature as a profession — "The Son of a Genius" — Hofland's progress as an artist — industry of Mrs. Hofland as a writer — anecdotes of her advancing career — the late Duke of Marlborough's patronage of the Hoflands, and the troubles it entailed on them —"The White Knights"— Mrs. Hofland's description of, and Poems thereon— her opinion of poetry — specimens — " Albert and Bertha", a dramatic sketch — " Lines suggested by an Engraving" — " Sonnet on seeing a View of the Great Pyramid". - - 25

XIV CONTENTS.

Chapter III

Acquaintance with the world of literature and art — sketches of society — literary coteries — annoyance produced by being discovered as their reporter — aversion to notoriety — her accomplishments as a talker — the Art of Conversation. - - - 50

Chapter IV

Henry Neele — her warm friendship for him — his distressing death — shock to the Hoflands — biographical sketch of the deceased by Mrs. Honand — her epistolary powers — the lakes of Cumberland — her admiration of their scenery — Lines to the Cumberland rocks — her account of the lakes — a poetical tribute. 74

Chapter V

The Rev. Frederick Hoole — the object of affectionate, yet painful, solicitude with his mother — his last illness and death — Mrs. Honand's affecting account of it — her consolations — her deep but unostentatious piety — illustrated in an essay on November, and the " Fall of the leaf " 100

Chapter VI

Mrs. Honand and the world of letters — her select circle — letters relative thereto — her generosity and charity towards sister poets — brother poets — " Sheffield and its poets" - - - - 118

CONTENTS. XV

Chapter VII

Mrs. Holland's attachment to art — her high opinion of her husband's pictures — not appreciated by him — his visits tp the great — "A Husband's Welcome Home" — her^ qualifications for judging of art — her interest in artists — biographical sketch of one — a romance in real life. - - - - 137

Chapter VIII

Mrs. Hofland's partiality for a country life — Holland as an angler — Sonnet on Angling — retirement at Richmond — state of society in London and the country — her novel of "The Unloved One" — her own criticism — unpublished tale, " The Village Florist" — further specimens of her poetry — Lines on the Queen's Marriage, the Princess Royal, Prince Albert, and the Queen Dowager. - - - 156

Chapter IX

Fresh afflictions — Mr. Hofland's illness and death — his character as an artist — devotion to angling — love of the picturesque — the poet Wordsworth — sympathy with Mrs. Hofland — excursion to Paris — her last work — visit to her friends in Yorkshire—return to Richmond. - - - - - 190

XVI CONTENTS.

Chapter X

Warnings of her latter end — attachment to her late husband's pictures — her last work — sonnets — resumes her habit of writing — sad accident — last illness — death — neglected by the clergy — opinions of her works — Mrs. Hall's estimate of her character — monument in Richmond churchyard. - 203

THE

LIFE AND LITERARY REMAINS

BARBAEA HOFLAND,

Chapter I

pre-eminence of england in female writers

their value and importance — literature as a

profession — mrs. hofland — her birth-place

"classic Sheffield" — her early character

and person marriage with mr. hoole early

widowhood loss of property publication of

poems opens a boarding-school — commences

writing tales " the clergyman's widow "

meets with mr. hofland her second mar- RIAGE.

The female writers of no other country have ever, perhaps, been so justly distinguished, or so warmly appreciated, as those of England. There may have been greater heroines in other lands : many such are named in classic records; as, for instance, the women whom Plutarch mentions as having made the warriors of their besieged city blush because of its dishonourable surrender ; or those who, during the civil war in Gaul, threw themselves between the contending armies, and having effected a reconciliation, were afterwards honoured by being called to the councils of the State, and made arbitrators to the neighbouring nations ; or, those Carthagenian women, more heroic still, who, during one of the Punic wars, cut off their hair to make bow-strings for the archers. In a still higher and holier sense, the eminence of women in deeds of heroism has often been most signal. A group of pious women surrounded the Saviour's cross, when every man, save the beloved disciple, had forsaken Him and fled. By women, the Christian religion was carried to the thrones of emperors and kings ; and the annals of martyrdom abound with the names of devoted women who sealed the truth with their blood. These are instances of female eminence, concerning which other countries may dispute with us for the palm. But in literature, — in authorship, — we look in vain elsewhere for anything which can surpass, or even equal, the efforts of Englishwomen. There may have been greater wits among the women of other lands, as those of France, perhaps ; but in the sterling merits of literature, and for the real honours of authorship, our countrywomen may

BARBARA HOFLAND. o

vie with the sisterhood of any nation, or of any age.

Few of these have been more distinguished than Hannah More, who has declared, that among the talents, for the application of which her sex are peculiarly ^accountable, there is one, whose importance they cannot rate too highly, and that is influence ; the general state of civilized society depending very greatly upon the prevailing habits and opinions of women. And, doubtless, this is quite true. But how can their opinions be so effectually propagated as by books ? Hannah More has herself, by her own publications, given a practical answer to this question. She has, in one place, expressed an anxious hope, that in a country where her sex enjoy the advantages of a liberal education, of just legislation, pure religion, and all the endearing satisfaction of equal, virtuous, and social intercourse, women will not content themselves with captivating man merely for a day, when they can be successfully labouring for all time, and even for eternity : and it is undeniable that there is no more forcible, no more certain means, of facilitating such an object, than by the powers of authorship.

To no class of public writers will Dr. Johnson's remarks apply with greater truth, than to the generality of our literary countrywomen, when he says, that " the task of our present writers requires, together with that learning which is to be gained from books, that experience which can never be attained by solitary diligence, but must arise from general converse and accurate observation of the living world. Their performances have, as Horace expresses it, plus oneris quantum Venice minus, little indulgence, and therefore more difficulty. They are engaged on portraits, of which every one knows the original, and can detect any deviation from exactness of resemblance. "Other writings," he adds, "are safe, except from the malice of learning, but these are in danger from every common reader ; as the slipper, ill-executed, was censured by a shoemaker who happened to stop in his way at the Venus of Apelles." Such writings are so much devoted to the familiar objects of life, whether material or ideal, that while they address themselves to all, all who read are capable of criticizing, though perhaps not always of appreciating them.

Nor does that " admirable partition of qualities between the sexes", which has lately been remarked upon, and illustrated in one of the ablest of the transatlantic reviews, substantially oppose itself to this estimate of female writers. " The Author of our being," it is there observed, " has distributed to each, with a wisdom that challenges our unbounded admiration. Man is strong; woman is beautiful. Man is daring and confident ; woman is diffident and unassuming. Man is great in action ; womanrin suffering. Man shines abroad ; woman at home. Man talks to convince ; woman to persuade and please. Man has a rugged heart ; woman a soft and tender one. Man prevents misery ; woman relieves it. Man has science ; woman taste. Man has judgment; woman sensibility. Man is a being of justice ; woman an angel of mercy." Now, the power of woman to " persuade and please", her pre-eminence in suffering, her diffidence and modesty, her taste and sensibility, her mercy and pity, — these are qualities which peculiarly fit her as well to instruct as to delight the world, — a knowledge of which she is gradually acquiring, even while she " shines at home", in discharging the quiet duties of her own social circle.

A celebrated Englishwoman of the last century — an elegant writer, as well as a distinguished wit — has, in her own case, afforded many proofs of these statements ; though, strange to say, she would have denied their practical application in others, whether of her own sex or not, if the occupation of literature had to be adopted as a profession. Yet, our literary history will show, that to very many of our most gifted female writers this has been absolutely unavoidable. Lady Mary Wortley Montague was, undoubtedly, a brilliant exception; she had the rare fortune to be born to riches and independence. Yet hear what that extraordinary woman says upon this subject: — " The greatest virtue, justice, and the most distinguishing prerogative of mankind, — writing, when duly executed, do honour to human nature; but when degenerated into trades, are the most contemptible ways of getting bread" Such was the monstrous affectation of literary independence and virtue, which one of the most distinguished of our countrywomen, as an epistolary writer and a poet, was so prejudiced as to express — in an age, however, when the claims of women to literary distinction w r ere less acknowledged than they have been since, and when the profession of letters was perhaps less understood ; or, at any rate, less appreciated than it is at present.

The subject of our memoir was certainly one who pursued the path of letters as a profession. With her, writing had, in sad truth, " degenerated into a trade", and was made a " way of getting bread"! Yet, so far from being "one of the most contemptible ways", she made it one of the most honourable to herself, as it was unquestionably most useful to others. Lady Montague's notions, however, were not confined, a century ago, \o ithe rich and the great. Oliver Goldsmith (who, if not a contemporary of Lady Mary, followed closely in her track) acknowledges, that "a man who should write for bread, and honestly confess that he did it," — and we may reasonably conclude that the objection would apply with redoubled force to a woman, — "might as well send his manuscript to fire the baker's oven ; not one creature would read him ; all must be court-bred poets, or pretend, at least, to be court-bred, who can expect to please." We wonder how many — or, rather, how few — of the most splendid of those productions of genius and learning, of which our country has so much reason to be proud, would ever have seen the light, had their authors been deterred by the idea of the exercise of their talents " degenerating into a trade", and of its being " the most contemptible way of getting bread"!

She, whose life is now to engage our attention, had not perhaps the brilliancy, and certainly she had not the ostentation, which such women as Lady Mary Wortley Montague have displayed :

" Her's was an unobtrusive blaze, Content in lowly shades to shine."

Yet she was ever found exerting her faculties in works of religion and virtue, and in a way to " do honour to", by ennobling, human nature.

Mrs. Hofland was a native of Sheffield, — of " classic Sheffield", as Lord Byron sneeringly styled it, in connexion with another of its- worthies, James Montgomery the poet,* who on one occasion, publicly and eloquently repelled this ungenerous taunt upon the place of his adoption, where he had from his youth up found a home, and gained reputation, and competency, and " troops of friends". He said : — " The term classic operates like a spell upon our imagination. Without our affixing to it any definite meaning, we associate with it all that is splendid, beautiful, and excellent, in the surviving pages of ancient authors, as well as all that is venerable, sublime, and almost superhuman, in the relics of Egyptian,

* u O'er his lost works let classic /Sheffield weep : May no rude hand disturb their early sleep." —

Greek, and Roman architecture and sculpture, the severest and most enduring of manual labours. In these, for the present at least, let the writers and builders stand alone and unrivalled. They were the few; but what is the condition of the many in the renowned regions whence we have derived those treasures of literature, and in which we inherit (as common property to all who have minds to admire them) the wreck of those stupendous structures of human art ? So far as the epithet ' classic' is an accommodated word, employed by a kind of literary courtesy to designate superiority of intellect and knowledge, I am bold to affirm that Sheffield is as * classic' as Egypt was in the age of Sesostris ; as Greece was in the days of Homer; and as Rome was at any period between her foundation and the close of the third Punic war."

Then, after exhibiting in detail the contrast between Sheffield and those famous places of antiquity, whose names have become immortalized by means of their "classic'' associations, and stating, that this humble corner of the kingdom had within the present generation given birth to four men,* each of whom might in their

* Salt, in botany ; Sylvester, in experimental philosophy ; Hunter, in antiquities ; and, last and greatest of all, Chantrey, in sculpture.

respective professions be placed in the first rank of Britons, — Mr. Montgomery thus concluded, — " I should not have done justice to my theme this day, after contending that the people of Sheffield might bear away the palm of general knowledge from the most enlightened nations of old, if I had not shown by these examples of our illustrious contemporaries, that Hallamshire* is as capable of giving birth to men of genius, as were Egypt, Greece, and Rome when literature and philosophy flourished among their privileged orders". He might have added, "of women of genius" too, of whom Mrs. Hofland was undoubtedly one ; though at the time of those allusions (a quarter of a century ago), she had certainly not attained the full meridian of her fame.

Barbara Hofland was born in the year 1770. Her maiden name was Wreaks. Her father was the principal partner in an extensive manufactory of the staple products of the place ; but he died when she was very young, and her mother marrying again soon afterwards, the little "Barbara" was consigned to the fostering care of a maiden

* The name of the district of which Sheffield is the centre and capital.

aunt, who brought her up with parental attention, growing more attached to her interesting charge, as time developed the glowing feelings of her young heart, and the rich graces of her expanding mind ; in which she did not fail to discern the virtues and the talents-which distinguished their possessor in after life. Nor was she, when she grew up to womanhood, without many personal attractions. I have met with those who knew her well at that time, and who have described her to me as, though not what would be called decidedly handsome* yet extremely prepossessing; the intelligence of her countenance, the beauty of her complexion, and the symmetry of her figure, combining to form a most agreeable and attractive person.

a The feeling heart, simplicity of life, And elegance and taste : the faultless form, Shap'd by the hand of harmony ; the cheek, Where the live crimson, through the native white, Soft-shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom."

This description of the poet has been applied to the subject of my memoir, as she was remembered when Barbara Wreaks, even when at the not very youthful age of twenty-six she entered into the holy estate of matrimony.

The gentleman upon whom she bestowed her hand, Mr. T. Bradshawe Hoole, was much esteemed in her native town for his high character and worthiness ; and their union gave promise of much happiness. He was the junior partner in an extensive firm of Sheffield merchants, whose transactions were chiefly with foreign countries, and to whom he was a great acquisition, as well from his steadiness and business habits, as from his acquaintance with several of the languages of continental Europe. But their happiness, which had been enhanced by the birth of a daughter, in the first year of their union, and of a son in the year following, was pot destined to continue. Two short years of domestic bliss were all that she was now permitted to know. Her dear and devoted husband was suddenly seized with rapid consumption; her firstborn sickened and died; and in a little while she was unhappily left a widow, at the early age of twenty-eight, her infant son being then but four months old. Nor did the melancholy change thus overshadowing her career terminate with these bereavements. Her severe affliction was aggravated and extended by the failure of the house in which her departed husband was a partner. The political vicissitudes which at the close of the last century disturbed and depressed so many of the continental states had brought ruin on most of the foreign customers of the firm, which thereby became bankrupt, and swept away by its fall the whole of the property upon which the unfortunate widow and her child had to depend for subsistence. Some time afterwards, property was bequeathed to the child, %j his grandfather, which would have amounted to a handsome fortune by the time he came of age ; but this also was lost by a similar calamity to that which had befallen his father's firm : the surviving trustee, into whose hands it passed, became insolvent shortly before the period when his trust would have expired, and all his ward's property was involved in his ruin.

The circumstances of the young widow were now such as to demand her utmost efforts to provide for the maintenance of herself and child. Her first expedient was the publication of a volume of poems. Almost from early youth she had indulged her poetic fancy in the composition of various fugitive pieces ; and at the suggestion of her friends these were now collected, and the proposal announced to publish them by subscription. This was her first public essay as an authoress, and it was in all respects such as must have encouraged her to turn her thoughts to literature as a source of emolument. Much

14 LIFE AND LITERARY REMAINS OP

of its success, however, was doubtless owing to the high esteem in which she was held by an extensive circle of friends ; though among the subscribers to her little volume, — who numbered upwards of two thousand, — were many who from their rank in life must have been actuated by higher and more public motives; those, perhaps, of sympathy for the widow and the fatherless, combined with the feeling of regard for that literary accomplishment for which she had already, even beyond her own immediate circle, acquired in some degree a flattering reputation. Her volume was entitled, Poems by Barbara Hoole, and was dedicated to the Countess Fitzwilliam, by her ladyship's kind permission; the head, and several members, of the house of Wentworth being subscribers to the work.

" I never list presume to Parnass' hill, But piping low in shade of lowly grove, I play to please myself, albeit ill."

These lines of Spenser formed the appropriate motto she adopted for her title-page. They were most characteristic of her feelings, and well expressed the modesty and diffidence of her disposition. This was manifested also in the preface, or. advertisement, of her book. " The author of the following poems/' she observes, " most gratefully acknowledges the kindness of her friends, and the liberality of the public. Her subscription list is nearly unexampled in numbers and respectability : it has Exceeded her hopes, and crow r ned her wishes.'" And then, after alluding to some errors and omissions in the list, she modestly adds : — " Concerning the poems themselves, it becomes her to be silent. It is well known in the circle of her acquaintance, that they have not been printed from motives of ambition or ostentation : she therefore, requests that they may be judged with an indulgence rather worthy of the generosity of her readers, than due to their merits."

She had, indeed, formed a just estimate of their quality, which was not such, it must be confessed, as would have deserved of itself the large and liberal and distinguished patronage awarded to them. Some fair poetic imagery they undoubtedly contain, with abundance of purest sentiment, and some fine thoughts; but, as a whole, they want the talent which has been displayed in her prose works ; and they could not be said to indicate the possession of those literary abilities which she in after years put forth.

Some of the poems contain touching allusions to those things which could not fail to be deare to her widowed heart ; as, for instance, the following : —

THE WIDOW TO HER INFANT IN THE CRADLE.

Blossom of hope ! whose cherub-smile Can all thy mother's woes beguile ; Sweet bud of comfort ! in whose face Her sorrowing eye delights to trace Through every feature, opening fair, An image of thy father there.

Ah ! gentle germ of joy unborn, Pale beam of an o'er-shadow'd morn, How shall thy mother's soul express Her hope, her fear, her soft distress, As, bending o'er thy cradled form, She deprecates life's future storm, And prays, with all a parent's fears, For blessings on thine early years : Ah ! babe beloved ! condemned to bloom A floweret on thy father's tomb ; Unmindful thou, that sorrow's power Hath mark'd thee from life's earliest hour ; Reckless of many a bitter tear That flow'd upon thy father's bier, And many a briny torrent shed Upon thine own unconscious head : Yet, while thy little cheek hath prest Thy hapless mother's throbbing breast,

No tongue could urge a plea like thine, To soothe a breaking heart like mine ; Pour thro' the breast so sweet a charm, And e'en despair's fell pang disarm.

Lo ! on the hoary rock, whose rugged breast Hath braved the pelting storms of many a year,

Eve's brilliant sunbeams sink in lovely rest, And tinge the purple clouds that linger near.

Sweet scenes of wonder, scenes of beauty, cease ;

Ye charm the eye, but can your powers impart The long-lost vision of returning peace,

The long-lost raptures of a widow'd heart ]

Ah ! no ; in vain your mighty rocks arise,

Your soft streams murmur in the pensive ear ;

Like them, my drooping heart more deeply sighs, Like them, dissolves in many an anxious tear.

The feeling here evinced is most natural, most maternal, — it evidently comes from the heart ; nor is the language in which it is expressed devoid of force, though it may be deficient in poetry. Yet, of the poetic influence she was sensible in all its depth, and all its warmth ; as witness the following commencement of an Invocation to Poetry : —