1918.] Memoir of the Life and Writings of Lady Morgan. appease the people, sending troops of soldiers and guards to cause them to retire into the fields againe, where they were watch'd all this night. I left them pretty quiet, and came home sufficiently weary and broken. Their spirits thus a little calmed, and the affright abated, they now began to repaire into the suburbs about the Citty, where such as had friends or opportunity got shelter for the present, to which his Majesty's Proclamation also invited them. 139 Sept. 13. I presented his Majesty with a survey of the ruines, and a plot for a new Citty*, with a discourse on it, whereupon after dinner his Majesty sent for me into the Queene's bed-chamber, her Majesty and the Duke onely being present; they examin'd each particular, and discours'd on them for neere an houre, seeming to be extremely pleas'd with what I had so early thought on. MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF LADY MORGAN. WHATEVER theorists may imagine or philosophers assert, respecting the proper sphere of woman's activity, it is a fact past all contradiction that literature stands indebted to the female sex for its richest possessions in the department of imaginative composition. The naturalist will readily admit, that the softer sex is conspicuous for a more refined susceptibility and a more vivacious mobility of fibre, than the soi-disant superior animal. The senses of women are more acute, their apprehension quicker, their interest in observation more intense, their feelings more prompt, and their affections warmer, than those of men. In works, therefore, of pure imagination they are peculiarly calculated to excel. A richer glow of fancy, a deeper pathos, a greater warmth of colouring, and, above all, a more captivating grace and delicacy of thought and expression are the natural attributes of beings thus constituted; while all that belongs to the heart and the tender passions must be considered as most especially within their domain and jurisdiction. The literature of our own country is singularly distinguished by the number and brilliancy of the gems, which female * Mr. Evelyn, in a letter to Sir Samuel Tuke dated 27 September, speaking of the removal of the Change to Gresham College, says, "The rest of the City and Suburbs is peopled with new shops, the same noise, business, and commerce, not to say vanity. I presented his Majesty with my own conceptions, which was the second, within two days after the conflagration, but Dr. Wren got the start of me. We often coincided." Part of the plan was to lessen the declivities, and to fill up the shore of the river to lowwater mark. genius has set in its crown. In the works of Cowley, Inchbald, Ratcliffe, Smith, Lec, Edgeworth, Tighe, the subject of the present memoir, &c. &c. &c. may be found an exuberance of fancy, a vivacity of wit, a deep strain of feeling, a masculine philosophy, and a rich harmony of language, sufficient to form the entire intellectual capital of other less favoured nations. The biography, therefore, of these distinguished females possesses an interest beyond what is merely personal; it furnishes documents for determining the accidental and concurrent causes, which have developed so much intellectual superiority, and by betraying the agency that has elevated so many females beyond that dull routine of mediocrity to which the vanity of man has subjected the sex in general, it opens a new path to the investigation of genius itself. For the productions of Lady MORGAN, the world, as she has herself hinted,* is indebted to that great parent of exertion, necessity. In the earlier period of her school education, she is said to have exhibited alternately a taste for music and for painting, which held out the most flattering promises of future eminence-promises which, by giving a bias to her industry, and concentrating her exer tions upon those arts, might have impeded the intellectual culture necessary to literary eminence, and have dictated to her other paths to emolument and distinction. But before the arrival of the epoch of life, in which taste and genius build a superstructure upon the bases of well-grounded intruction and * See Preface to the first edition of "France." 140 Memoir of the Life and Writings of Lady Morgan. - practical effort in the arts, domestic misfortunes threw her upon her own exertions for support, and determined the necessity for adopting pursuits in which natural talent is more immediately available, and expensive preparation and protracted mechanical labour are less necessary to success. Her father, the late Robert Owenson, was grandson of Sir Crofton, the representative of an ancient protestant family which settled in Connaught, in the reign of Elizabeth. By an imprudent connection with a beautiful and once celebrated actress, he became early in life infected with the dramatic mania; and having afterwards married a respect able English woman, in the possession of a good life income, he purchased a share in one of the royal theatres of the Irish capital, and became joint proprietor of the establishment with the celebrated Mr. Ryder. He was afterwards sole proprietor of one of the metropolitan theatres, but resigned on Mr. Daly's obtaining an exclusive patent upon an equivalent being guaranteed to him (we believe) by act of parliament. Mr. Owenson afterwards embarked in the double speculation of mercantile and theatrical concerns: he became a wine-merchant, and built some theatres in the country, particularly the beautiful edifice at Kilkenny. In both these careers he proved unsuccessful; and under the pressure of difficulties, originating in these causes, the literary talent of Miss Owenson developed itself, accompanied by an energy of mind and an unvanquishable elasticity of spirit that, spurning dependence and disdaining compromise, was neither to be depressed by misfortune nor unbent by pleasure. Young, unexperienced, unacquainted with the world, and removed from the scene of observation, Miss Owenson drew entirely from her own resources. Her first printed novel (for we have reason to believe she did not publish her earliest efforts) was too decided an imitation of a known model: but in the course of her labours she gradually acquired a greater originality; and in the "Wild Irish Girl" succeeded in creating a genus of composition exclusively her own, and to which we are, perhaps, indebted for that delightful series of national tales, now universally attributed to Walter Scott. The success which attended this publication, and that of the "Novice of St. Dominick," which preceded it, introduced Miss Owenson at once into the highest tircle of English and Irish fashion, and [Sept. 1, afforded her opportunities of observation that gave a vast and sudden expansion to her ideas, and greatly increased her powers as a novelist. In the more unfavourable epochs of her life, a natural repugnance to the vulgar, the dull, the vitious, and the uninstructing, in a great measure secluded her from society; and, except within the narrow limits of a few personal friends, she maintained little or no intercourse with the world, till she came forth herself one of its ornaments. This circumstance explains the ideal cast of her earlier compositions, the richness and abundance of her sentimental reflections, the romance of her heroines, and at the same time the paucity of her remarks on life, the "unreal mockery" and improbability of her story, and a certain hazarding of situation and character, which a person of more experience would have been careful to avoid. Another circumstance, which has materially contributed to give their peculiar features to the productions of this lady, was a long residence in some of the wildest and most classical scenes of Ireland, which, while they stored her fancy with picturesque and romantic images, afforded a primitive race of inhabitants, whose antique customs, fiery passions, and calamitous history, supplied her with materials for interesting moral combinations, and for striking dramatic narrative. Previous to the composition of the "Wild Irish Girl," Miss Owenson and her sister had been kindly received by their relations, Sir Maltby and Lady Crofton, at their ancient and hospitable seat in the county of Sligo, situated on the wild shores of the Atlantic ocean. To her residence in this mansion Miss Owenson makes grateful allusion in her "Patriotic Sketches." The progress of civilization in Europe has left but few sites adapted to fictitious narration. The uniformity which fashion casts over the exterior of polished manners, and the protection which established governments hold out to the lives and fortunes of the citizens, circumscribe at the same time the range of adventure and the latitude of personal peculiarity, admissible into the " tale of real life," On the other hand, the romance of feudal superstition and of baronial oppres sion, with its ghosts, dungeons, and trap doors was exhausted before the epoch of Miss Owenson's first appearance as a writer. In the rude and uncultivated scenery of Ireland, in the isolation of its inhabitants, and in the surprising chances and changes of its domestic warfare, a 1818.] Memoir of the Life and Writings of Lady Morgan. resource awaited the novelist for escaping the satiety and insipidity of the common romance; and guided by her taste, her genius, and her national affections, she eagerly availed herself of it; for while composing the "Wild Irish Girl," and the Patriotic Sketches," at the seat of Sir Maltby Crofton, she embodied in those works the picturesque beauties and simple but characteristic manners of the district and population by which she was surrounded. The poetry and music of Ireland are of the wildest and most melancholy cast; and they are admirably calculated for awakening enthusiasm, quickening the imagination, and engendering a contemplative and kindling temperament in the mind. From her earliest infancy, Miss Owenson's memory was stored with the legendary lore of the land, and her ear formed to its plaintive minor melodies, whose abrupt modulations attain to effects "beyond the reach of art," and find a way to the soul unknown, perhaps, even to the Mozarts and the Pacsiellos of a more flourishing period of the science. Often, while yet a child, and seated upon her parent's knees, her imagination, it is said, was purposely excited and her feelings roused by these great instruments of emotion; and the gushing tears flowed abundantly in sympathy with the fictitious sufferer, or responsive to the pathos of the national air. While the friends of the infant were thus taking delight in playing with a sensibility they helped to nurture, they were not aware how far they gave character to the genius and determination to the fortune of the future woman. The influence of the national music on Miss Owenson's mind may be inferred to have been considerable, from the circumstance that at an early age she had noted down and arranged some of the best Irish airs, which she adapted to English words, and published in London. These were, perhaps, the first published specimens of Irish minstrelsy, and they suggested to Moore the idea of his splendid work, (as he has himself liberally acknowledged,) which, in making the melodies of his country known to Europe, has added a new and unrivalled wreath to the garland of English poesy. The ardour and perseverance which are so essentially necessary to literary success, are prominently conspicuous in the character of Lady Morgan, in all the relations of life. As her conceptions are clear, so have her volitions been decided and her affections warm. In the strug 141 gles of adversity, and in the still more The sphere of female action is necessarily circumscribed, and it rarely happens that a woman's virtues are available beyond the little circle of her domestic relations. The civic crown, more especially, is not often within the reach of the softer sex; but an instance occurred to the subject of this memoir, in which she was enabled to save a human life, and to restore to society a lost but repentant offender. A poor fellow, a letter carrier, of good general character, the father of a large family, was induced, in a moment of extreme distress, to open, a letter committed to his charge, and to 142 Memoir of the Life and Writings of Lady Morgan, possess himself of a small sum of money, in the intention of restoring it in a few days to the owner. For this offence he was condemned to die. In the court in which he was tried, a scene of the deepest distress was exhibited by the presence and anguish of his aged father, his wife, and her helpless infants; but the crime was one of those which society never pardons. In such cases cupidity and apprehension are alike interested in striking terror, and mercy and hope must be silent at their bidding. From the gloom of the condemned cell this unfortunate criminal, like the drowning wretch who grasps at a straw, appealed to the imaginary influence of a popular writer; and the claim was irresistible to one whose domestic affections were the mainsprings of her being. On the receipt of his letter, Miss Owenson addressed herself to the different barristers of her acquaintance; but the reply she received was uniform. The crime was unpardonable, the man's fate was sealed, and interference could only expose her to mortification and defeat. Unintimidated by these dispiriting reports, she applied directly to Baron Smith, the presiding judge on the trial; and that amiable individual, rejoicing to have so good a pretext for tempering the rigour of justice, directed her to the foreman of the jury, with the promise, that if a recommendation to mercy could be procured from them, he would, in consequence of the conviction resting on circumstantial evidence, back it with his sanction. Miss Owenson saw the foreman of the jury, induced him to assemble the jurymen, and to sign the recommendation. She then drew up a memorial to the Duke of Richmond, the head of the Irish government, and, in one word, procured a commutation of the sentence to perpetual transportation. It is pleasurable to add, that on arriving at New South Wales, the reprieved man became an industrious and honest member of society, and supports his family in independence and comfort. A circumstance not dissimilar in its event, and even more romantic in the details, occurred to the immortal Jenner, who was the means of saving a youth taken prisoner under Miranda, and condemned to certain death under the horrible form of perpetual slavery on the military works of a Spanish American fortress. The recollection of such anecdotes is a source of the purest satisfaction. They tend to raise the literary character; they do honour to human nature, and they re [Sept. 1, lieve the dark shade, which almost uniformly obscures the political history of the species. In the year 1811, when on a visit to the Marquis of Abercorn, in the north of Ireland, Miss Owenson became acquainted with Sir Charles Morgan, a physician, and Fellow of the London College, then in attendance upon Lord Hamilton. A congeniality of tastes soon led to a matrimonial connection. Since her marriage, Lady Morgan has chiefly resided at Dublin, where her house is the centre of whatever taste, literature, and refinement is to be found in the Irish metropolis. The cultivation which peculiarly marks the higher ranks of British society, ensured her an introduction into the upper circles of England and Ireland; but she owes perhaps the place she holds as much to her peculiar talent for conversation, and what the French call, esprit de société, as to her professional eminence. It was in a great measure to these qualities that she was indebted for the boundless access she obtained to the saloons of Paris. Speak. ing French with a facility not usual among our countrymen, her peculiar powers had full play in that capital, where agreeability is the most dire.t passport to social intercourse. The family of Lady Morgan is not new to literature: her father, who was a near relation to Oliver Goldsmith, was by him introduced, early in life, to the Garricks, the Johnsons, and other eniinent men of that day. His musical talents were of the first order, and notwithstanding their high culture, were strongly tinctured with the peculiar character of the national school. lle wrote also very many songs for the stage, distinguished for their breadth of hu mour and brilliant wit: but he is most known to the literary world by his celebrated Dermody. The extraordinary generous protection of the unfortunately history of this miracle of precocious talent and wayward eccentricity is well known. Mr. Owenson found him mixing colours for the scene painters at the theatre, in the most abject penury. On discovering his talents, this gentleman, with that prompt, uncalculating warmth of heart, which forms so brilliant a feature in the Irish character, took him at once into the bosom of his family, clothed and educated him, and by making his case known to the public, and especially to the celebrated Dr. Young, Bishop of Clonfert, Mr. O.'s near relation, he was the instrument for procuring |