The Novels of Ge or ge M e r e dit h : A S t u d y E L M E R JA M E S B A IL E Y NEW Y ORK CHARLE S SC RIB NER ’ S SONS I 9 0 7 ‘ O R SS 1 4 N EW 0 G NG E a RecalVOd 5 a N o G mes OCT 1 9 3 90? 000m m ! em 9 /g l Gt rszA fl fz 1 0 B Y CO P Y R IGH T , 9 7 , ’ CH AR LE S S CRIB NE R S S ONS i h e ctob e r 1 9 0 7 P ub l s d O , AL G ERN ON SIDNEY CRAPSE Y r O ur s poke n i n pr ote s t e m ai ns . ” A young ge n er ation r e gps . M E RE DITH : The E m pty P ur s e . C O N T E N T S I INTRO D UCTIO N m e g Com pen sa tion in Liter a r y R enown Th e Pr oba ble ’ P e r m a n e n ce of Me r e dith s Fa m e — Th e P er iods of H is Ca r eer II TH E APPRE NTICE ’ Mer edith s E a r ly Life Liter a r y Con ditions in Ni ne “ te enth Ce ntur y E ngla n d befor e 1 860— Th e P oem s “ of 1 85 1 The Sha vi ng of Sh a gpa t Fa r ina III TH E JO UR NE YMAN Ass im ila te d Influen ce s Th e O r d e a 1 of R i cha r d “ “ Fe ver el E v a n H a r r i n g t o n — S a n dr a B ellon i Vittor ia Rhoda Flem ing IV TH E MASTE R -WO RKMAN “ The P er iod of Fr ee In venti on The Adventur es of ” “ ’ ” H a r r y Richm on d B e a u cham p s Ca r e er “ “ ” “ Shor t Stor ie s The Egoist The Tr a gi c Com e di a ns V TH E MASTE R -WO RKMAN “ Th e Per i od of Con ce ntr a te d Inte r e st Dia n a of th e “ “ Cr osswa y s O ne of O ur Conq uer or s Lor d ” “ O r m ont a n d H is Am inta — Th e Am a zing Ma r ” r ia ge — Th e Mer edith School VI ’ L st of th e a r a cter s in Mer e t s No e s W t a n A i Ch di h v l , i h Enum er a tion of th e Cha pter s in Whi ch they a ppea r T H E N O V E L S O F G E O R G E M E R E D I T H : A S T U D Y INTRODUCTION CO M P ENS ATIO N IN LITERAR Y R ENO WN— T H E PRO B ’ ABLE P ERMANENCE O F MERED ITH S FAME— TH E P I D I A ER O S O F H S C R EER . TH E fame which comes to an author is no less a result of the action of moral la w than is the glory w of a general , the reno n of a statesman , or the beati fica tion O f - a martyr . Long ago the clear eyed Greeks perceived that although Fortune dealt out her O f gifts with sovereign disregard merit or desert , she was sooner or later followed by Nemesis , the god dess of due proportion , who ruthlessly shattered such prosperity a s seemed even moderately beyond v the mean . In the long run , the alternating mo e ment set up by repeated visitations of the two deities , satisfied the mind of Justice ; and the balance in her steady hand fell to rest . As forces , however, Fortune , Nemesis , and Justice did not become power less with the passing O i Athens and Rome . On the contrary , still existing, they were renamed by later 2 THE NOVELS OF GEORGE MEREDITH generations ; and the law O f their harmonious inter play was restated for the benefit of those who had ears to hear . Because of this evolution of expres we sion , therefore , no longer talk with the Greek f philosophers of Nemesis, but we find no di ficulty whatever in speaking with Emerson and Browning of Compensation . Nor is this law or principle , in so far as it has to f . do with literary fame , di ficult of statement Baldly : a t expressed , it is this The duration of attention tracted is in dir ect ratio to the time consumed in . In awakening adequate appreciation other words , if renown is the growth of a night , its continuance will be hardly more than for a day ; b ut if it is slow in coming to maturity , it is likely to be persistent , m and in some cases permanent . A man , for exa ple , writes a story which is immediately looked upon as the greatest novel of the year ; soon it is advertised as being in its tenth , its twelfth , or possibly its six n h tee t edition . For a time it heads the list of best ’ selling books ; then it runs the gauntlet of women s Clubs ; and finally it rushes comet- like on its par abolie course from our sight . On the other hand , - - should a serious minded , high purposed author pro duce a book which must needs be read with the mind as well as the eye , his readers , at first . are almost “ ” certain to be few, barely the remnant , perhaps . Nevertheless , if the work is deserving , the audience ’ steadily widens ; and the author s writing gradually ’ ceases to be confused with his wife s , if she happens - to be a blue stocking, or with the weaker pro d uctions of some m a n ' whos e pseudonymous name INTRODUCTION 3 m isleads those who read as they run . Such a writer , furthermore , is occasionally forced to pass through the purgatory of having a club formed for the purpose of studying his work . But even this agony enters as a factor into the problem of due compensation , for if an author withstands that test of his power , the ellipticity of his orbit is in all proba bility computable ; and although he may disappear from sight or even from memory for a time , he is likely , in none the less , to return at intervals with an ever creasing Splendor of renown . What Homer was to those who heard him recite his poems , no one now can ever know ; but critics were not wanting even among the Greeks , who proved beyond a shadow of doubt , that the blind poet of the . seven cities was altogether lighter than, vanity Even s a tisfa c in recent time , it has been shown to the tion of not a few , that no such man as Homer ever lived ; yet the Iliad and the Odyssey remain , and by the many the iconoclastic critics are r e membered chiefly because they raised their un shamed hands against a master . Dante , indeed , had literary recognition in his life-time ; for as he moved O f through the streets Ravenna , not only did the nobility pay him a certain forced respect , but simple minded mothers gathered their children about them , -f and whispered in trembling awe that the stern aced , silent man had looked upon the suff erings of those who writhed in the torments of Hell . Yet when Fortune tardily sought out one of the greatest of the - children of men , she found that , over weary with the Of ’ climbing others stairs , he could draw no comfort 4 THE NOVELS OF GEORGE MEREDITH from the high regard which she was then willing to wa . s bestow Shakespeare , too , no very great man in the sight of his friends at the Mermaid Tavern ; and the best reply which Dryden and Pope could give to ’ “ Sh a ks e a r Milton s inquiry , What needs my p for his honoured bones ? ” was to emasculate the most virile n work which the literary world has know . There is little question about these great men now, how ever , for Fame has crowned their work ; and in She compensation for her delay , has made the wreath immortal . In the narrower field O f English fiction the work O f ing the law is no less evident and sure . We are in the habit of assuming that Scott, and Thackeray , and Dickens , and possibly George Eliot, are our greatest novelists ; and conseq uentlyf ew of us stop to realize , even if we know, that G . P . R . James , and m u h Lever, and Bulwer were , at one time , very c more eagerly read , and their enduring fame much more earnestly prophesied . It cannot , of course , be held with truth that our greater novelists received ’ no recognition in their day . Indeed , Scott s con temporary popularity and present renown would seem to be an exception to the rule , if it could be proved that more than a very small number of those who now feel compelled to buy his books and to speak glibly of his characters , ever sit down even to cut the leaves of their purchase .