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The Heroines of George Meredith

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The Heroines of George Meredith HEROINES OF GEORGE MEREDITH TH E H E RO I N ES O F GEO RGE M E R E D I TH WITH TWENTY MINIATU RES IN COLOU RS H E R BE RT BE D FO R D H OD D ER AND STOUGH TO N IL L USTRATION S THE COU NTESS LIVIA (fro m T/ze Ama z ing M a rriage) F R ONT I SPI E CE FROM THE ORDEAL OF RICHARD PEVEREL C Y I . LU M Rs . B II . ELLA MOUNT FROM EVAN HARRIN GTON III . CAROLINE H E IV . LOUISA (T COUNTESS DE SALDAR) C Y V . ROSE JO EL N SANDRA BELLONI I L L USTRATIONS P AG E FROM RHODA FLEMIN G H VII . R ODA D AII LI A VIII . V IX . MARGARET LO ELL FROM VITTORIA PI AVE NI X . LAURA FROM TH E ADVENTU RES OF HARRY RICHMOND TH E P XI . LITTLE RIN CESS OTTILIA FROM BEAU CHAM P ’ S CAREER E C R OI SNEL XII . REN E DE FROM THE EGOI ST C XIII . LARA MIDDLETON LJE T I T I A XIV . DALE ILL USTRATIONS PAGE FROM DIANA O F THE CROSSWAYS W W CK XV . DIANA AR I L Y D UNSTANE XVI . AD FROM ONE OF OU R CON ! U ERORS C XVII . NESTA VI TORIA FROM LORD ORMONT AND HI S AMINTA XVIII . AMINTA 1 5 2 FROM THE AMAZ IN G MARRIAGE H XIX . CARINT IA JANE 1 6 0 TH E V XX . COUNTESS LI IA FRONTISP IEC E I N T R O D U C T I O N ' ’ Geo r e M erea it/z s H /Ie ia rzce to Femin ism g g . OMEN have us back to the conditions o f the primitive man , or y shoot us higher than lea se the topmost star . But it is as we p . u s fo r Let them tell what we are to them ; us , they ’ f o f f : are our back and ront li e the poet s Lesbia , the ’ poet s Beatrice ; ours is the Choice . And were it proved that some o f the bright things are in the pay o f o f Darkness , with the stamp his coin on their palms , and that some are the very angels we hear o f th e sung , not the less might we say that y find u s n . us out , they have by our leani gs They are f to us what we hold o best or worst within . ' Tfi e E o zst So wrote George Meredith in g , in a chapter devoted to the excogitations o f that amaz ing person in an incredible position . It is a chapter illustrative o f the Meredithia n method o f plumbing GEORGE MEREDITH ’ S HEROINES f o f Tfi a re to the eelings the man through woman . ey ’ ’ ' ' ’ s fwfia t w e /zo/a o aeri a n a w rst w ztfi zrz u f o . Meredith s men are o f suffi ciently diverse metal to flash us splendid contrasts when brought strikingly together ; fi but at a deliberate review we nd that , with scarcely ’ an exception , Meredith s man is conditioned by his i women ; and through them , and through his relat ons with them (in the widest sense o f the word) is he propounded and revealed to us . They are to him the scientist ’ s lamp before which he must pass that it may Shadow forth fo r u s all that is best and worst Within him . ’ Meredith s whole- hearted allegiance to the cause o r o f feminism cannot but excite u utmost admiration . It w a s with him no trumpet to be blown fo r the sake o f demanding o r o f retaining his hold upon o ur attention ; nor need we a sk ourselves whether it was that he regarded its furtherance in the light o fa duty l t D u o o n e o e o e a l h e w a . ty s tir s, l v g s y His enthusiasm carries us along with him ; he touches us , he convinces us ; and it is because he is fs o s o . himsel deeply touched , desperately convinced ’ H a mme rto n s tf e r e In Mr . J . A . deligh ul book (G o g ' / M er ea it/z in An ew ate a n d Cr iticism) he writes “ Since the little printer o f Salisbury Square e n chained the whole feminine world o f his time with his GEORGE MEREDITH ’ S HEROINES Pamela and his Clarissa , no novelist has rivalled Meredith R in the appeal to femininity . ichardson most faith fully interpreted the contemporary feminine Character f Meredith has sought to breathe into woman a larger li e . And indeed Meredith has created fo r us women o fa larger f li e : they cannot be matched outside Shakespeare . They are a distinguished company that has been aptly termed “ o f by James Thomson , the poet , the aristocracy the ” o f imagination , and with them , as with all the greatest - o fth e the wonder people imagination , we scarcely need o ur close eyes , and we have them with us , more real than reality . “ I have not studied women more closely than I have “ ff men , wrote Meredith , but with more a ection , a deeper interest in their enfranchisement and develop ” Fo r ment . him they were nearer than men to Nature . His men are marvellous studies , and splendidly true to ’ f hi s li e ; but uncanny insight into the women s minds , and his intuitive understa nding both o ftheir feelings and o f - o f the secret well springs their actions , compel us to s regard them a the fr uit o fhis highest inspiration . Her heart was at the head o fher thoughts and led the file , is a penetrating description that he applies to one o f our best fli e n ds— not necessarily in the camp o f the Amaz on advance- guard— and that strikes upon a broad truth with a clarion ring that proclaims him master o fthe secret o fthe essential difference between th e mind GEORGE MEREDITH ’ S HEROINES o f a o f wom n and the mind man . There is something it in Tfi e P r irzeesr F o r o a n n o t un de velo t ma n w m is p , Bu t e e o u w e a e h e r a s th e ma n div rs ; c ld m k , S e e o e e e a n : e a e o n w t l v w r sl i his d r st b d is this , N o t e to e b ut e in ffe e n e . lik lik , lik di r c Ye t in th e l o n g y e ars like r m ust th e y g ro w ; Th e ma n be o e o f o an sh e o f ma n m r w m , ; H e a n in e e n e a n d in o a e g i sw t ss m r l h ight , N o r l o se th e wre stli n g th e w s th a t th ro w th e w o rld ; Sh e e n a e a n o r fa in C a a e m t l br dth , il hildw rd c r , No r lo se th e childlike in th e l a rge r min d ; T a t th e a s h e se t e se f to man ill l st h r l , r L ike p e rfe ct m usic u n t o n o ble wo ds . ’ in a fi er in es Tée Woo g a n tfie Ma ting of ir H o . ’ ITH Tennyson s subtly sweet music in our ears , we naturally throw a glance into the flower o f se e garden the Meredith heroines , to which o f set f f them hersel to man , like per ect music unto noble ” fi words . One is distressed to nd the survey proving , as i o f we progress , a heartbreak ng one and even with them whom such a phrase might honestly be written , and whose history , as we know it , records them truly mated , the ordeals through which they have been compelled to pass on their road to happiness are too deeply and tra gically impressed upon our memory fo r us to tolerate o f the idea their perpension in a summary . GEORGE MEREDITH ’ S HEROINES mentioned . This then , is how we may recognise true lovers “ o f the First all , a humility common to the two , enraptured reflection o feach in respect to the nature o f f ff the other , delight in seeing that nature un old itsel reely , f o f o r ear touching it lest it should be shaken lessened , ’ the feeling that one s o w n nature is o fsmall account and is o n e that the nobler that which contemplates . The o f o n e true lover loves the very soul his adored , loves it fo r in her and her sake , loves it distinct and sometimes f a s if wholly apart rom her , by that means he could see ” f sh e r her more per ectly as is , delighting in her va iety .
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