Chapter XV: Her Works (2)

“She is the first really historical character who has appeared on the literary horizon of this particular series, her predecessors having been limited to purely literary women. This brilliant little biography is strongly written. Unlike preceding writers—German, French, and English—on the same subject, the author does not hastily pass over the details of the Platonic relations that existed between the Countess and the celebrated Italian poet ‘Alfieri.’ In this biography the details of that passionate friendship are given with a fidelity to truth, and a knowledge of its nature, that is based upon the strictest and most conscientious investigation, and access to means heretofore unattainable to other biographers. The history of this friendship is not only exceedingly interesting, but it presents a fascinating psychological study to those who are interested in the metaphysical aspect of human nature. The book is almost as much of a biography of ‘Alfieri’ as it is of the wife of the Pretender, who expected to become the Queen of England.”—_Hartford Times._

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MESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS.

Famous Women Series.

GEORGE ELIOT.

BY MATHILDE BLIND.

One vol. 16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.

“Messrs. Roberts Brothers begin a series of Biographies of Famous Women with a life of George Eliot, by Mathilde Blind. The idea of the series is an excellent one, and the reputation of its publishers is a guarantee for its adequate execution. This book contains about three hundred pages in open type, and not only collects and condenses the main facts that are known in regard to the history of George Eliot, but supplies other material from personal research. It is agreeably written, and with a good idea of proportion in a memoir of its size. The critical study of its subject’s works, which is made in the order of their appearance, is particularly well done. In fact, good taste and good judgment pervade the memoir throughout.”—_Saturday Evening Gazette._

“Miss Blind’s little book is written with admirable good taste and judgment, and with notable self-restraint. It does not weary the reader with critical discursiveness, nor with attempts to search out high-flown meanings and recondite oracles in the plain ‘yea’ and ‘nay’ of life. It is a graceful and unpretentious little biography, and tells all that need be told concerning one of the greatest writers of the time. It is a deeply interesting if not fascinating woman whom Miss Blind presents,” says the New York _Tribune_.

“Miss Blind’s little biographical study of George Eliot is written with sympathy and good taste, and is very welcome. It gives us a graphic if not elaborate sketch of the personality and development of the great novelist, is particularly full and authentic concerning her earlier years, tells enough of the leading motives in her work to give the general reader a lucid idea of the true drift and purpose of her art, and analyzes carefully her various writings, with no attempt at profound criticism or fine writing, but with appreciation, insight, and a clear grasp of those underlying psychological principles which are so closely interwoven in every production that came from her pen.”—_Traveller._

“The lives of few great writers have attracted more curiosity and speculation than that of George Eliot. Had she only lived earlier in the century she might easily have become the centre of a mythos. As it is, many of the anecdotes commonly repeated about her are made up largely of fable. It is, therefore, well, before it is too late, to reduce the true story of her career to the lowest terms, and this service has been well done by the author of the present volume.”—_Philadelphia Press._

Sold by all booksellers, or mailed, post-paid, on receipt of
price, by the publishers, ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON.

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_Messrs. Roberts Brothers’ Publications._

FAMOUS WOMEN SERIES.

EMILY BRONTË.

BY A. MARY F. ROBINSON.

One vol. 16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.

“Miss Robinson has written a fascinating biography.… Emily Brontë is interesting, not because she wrote ‘Wuthering Heights,’ but because of her brave, baffled, human life, so lonely, so full of pain, but with a great hope shining beyond all the darkness, and a passionate defiance in bearing more than the burdens that were laid upon her. The story of the three sisters is infinitely sad, but it is the ennobling sadness that belongs to large natures cramped and striving for freedom to heroic, almost desperate, work, with little or no result. The author of this intensely interesting, sympathetic, and eloquent biography, is a young lady and a poet, to whom a place is given in a recent anthology of living English poets, which is supposed to contain only the best poems of the best writers.”—_Boston Daily Advertiser._

“Miss Robinson had many excellent qualifications for the task she has performed in this little volume, among which may be named, an enthusiastic interest in her subject and a real sympathy with Emily Brontë’s sad and heroic life. ‘To represent her as she was,’ says Miss Robinson, ‘would be her noblest and most fitting monument.’ … Emily Brontë here becomes well known to us and, in one sense, this should be praise enough for any biography.”—_New York Times._

“The biographer who finds such material before him as the lives and characters of the Brontë family need have no anxiety as to the interest of his work. Characters not only strong but so uniquely strong, genius so supreme, misfortunes so overwhelming, set in its scenery so forlornly picturesque, could not fail to attract all readers, if told even in the most prosaic language. When we add to this, that Miss Robinson has told their story _not_ in prosaic language, but with a literary style exhibiting all the qualities essential to good biography, our readers will understand that this life of Emily Brontë is not only as interesting as a novel, but a great deal more interesting than most novels. As it presents most vividly a general picture of the family, there seems hardly a reason for giving it Emily’s name alone, except perhaps for the masterly chapters on ‘Wuthering Heights,’ which the reader will find a grateful condensation of the best in that powerful but somewhat forbidding story. We know of no point in the Brontë history—their genius, their surroundings, their faults, their happiness, their misery, their love and friendships, their peculiarities, their power, their gentleness, their patience, their pride,—which Miss Robinson has not touched upon with conscientiousness and sympathy.”—_The Critic._

“‘Emily Brontë’ is the second of the ‘Famous Women Series,’ which Roberts Brothers, Boston, propose to publish, and of which ‘George Eliot’ was the initial volume. Not the least remarkable of a very remarkable family, the personage whose life is here written, possesses a peculiar interest to all who are at all familiar with the sad and singular history of herself and her sister Charlotte. That the author, Miss A. Mary F. Robinson, has done her work with minute fidelity to facts as well as affectionate devotion to the subject of her sketch, is plainly to be seen all through the book.”—_Washington Post._

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_Messrs. Roberts Brothers’ Publications._

Famous Women Series.

MARGARET FULLER.

BY JULIA WARD HOWE.

One volume. 16mo. Cloth. Price $1.00.

“A memoir of the woman who first in New England took a position of moral and intellectual leadership, by the woman who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic, is a literary event of no common or transient interest. The Famous Women Series will have no worthier subject and no more illustrious biographer. Nor will the reader be disappointed,—for the narrative is deeply interesting and full of inspiration.”—_Woman’s Journal._

“Mrs. Julia Ward Howe’s biography of _Margaret Fuller_, in the Famous Women Series of Messrs. Roberts Brothers, is a work which has been looked for with curiosity. It will not disappoint expectation. She has made a brilliant and an interesting book. Her study of Margaret Fuller’s character is thoroughly sympathetic; her relation of her life is done in a graphic and at times a fascinating manner. It is the case of one woman of strong individuality depicting the points which made another one of the most marked characters of her day. It is always agreeable to follow Mrs. Howe in this; for while we see marks of her own mind constantly, there is no inartistic protrusion of her personality. The book is always readable, and the relation of the death-scene is thrillingly impressive.”—_Saturday Gazette._

“Mrs. Julia Ward Howe has retold the story of Margaret Fuller’s life and career in a very interesting manner. This remarkable woman was happy in having James Freeman Clarke, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and William Henry Channing, all of whom had been intimate with her and had felt the spell of her extraordinary personal influence, for her biographers. It is needless to say, of course, that nothing could be better than these reminiscences in their way.”—_New York World._

“The selection of Mrs. Howe as the writer of this biography was a happy thought on the part of the editor of the series; for, aside from the natural appreciation she would have for Margaret Fuller, comes her knowledge of all the influences that had their effect on Margaret Fuller’s life. She tells the story of Margaret Fuller’s interesting life from all sources and from her own knowledge, not hesitating to use plenty of quotations when she felt that others, or even Margaret Fuller herself, had done the work better.”—_Miss Gilder, in Philadelphia Press._

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_Messrs. Roberts Brothers’ Publications._

Famous Women Series.

MARIA EDGEWORTH.

BY HELEN ZIMMERN.

One volume. 16mo. Cloth. Price $1.00.

“This little volume shows good literary workmanship. It does not weary the reader with vague theories; nor does it give over much expression to the enthusiasm—not to say baseless encomium—for which too many female biographers have accustomed us to look. It is a simple and discriminative sketch of one of the most clever and lovable of the class at whom Carlyle sneered as ‘scribbling women.’ … Of Maria Edgeworth, the woman, one cannot easily say too much in praise. That home life, so loving, so wise, and so helpful, was beautiful to its end. Miss Zimmern has treated it with delicate appreciation. Her book is refined in conception and tasteful in execution,—all, in short, the cynic might say, that we expect a woman’s book to be.”—_New York Tribune._

“It was high time that we should possess an adequate biography of this ornament and general benefactor of her time. And so we hail with uncommon pleasure the volume just published in the Roberts Brothers’ series of Famous Women, of which it is the sixth. We have only words of praise for the manner in which Miss Zimmern has written her life of Maria Edgeworth. It exhibits sound judgment, critical analysis, and clear characterization.… The style of the volume is pure, limpid, and strong, as we might expect from a well-trained English writer.”—_Margaret J. Preston, in the Home Journal._

“We can heartily recommend this life of Maria Edgeworth, not only because it is singularly readable in itself, but because it makes familiar to readers of the present age a notable figure in English literary history, with whose lineaments we suspect most readers, especially of the present generation, are less familiar than they ought to be.”—_Eclectic._

“This biography contains several letters and papers by Miss Edgeworth that have not before been made public, notably some charming letters written during the latter part of her life to Dr. Holland and Mr. and Mrs. Ticknor. The author had access to a life of Miss Edgeworth written by her step-mother, as well as to a large collection of her private letters, and has therefore been able to bring forward many facts in her life which have not been noted by other writers. The book is written in a pleasant vein, and is altogether a delightful one to read.”—_Utica Herald._

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Famous Women Series.

ELIZABETH FRY.

BY MRS. E. R. PITMAN.

One vol. 16mo. Cloth. Price $1.00.

“In the records of famous women there are few more noble examples of Christian womanhood and philanthropic enthusiasm than the life of Elizabeth Fry presents. Her character was beautifully rounded and complete, and if she had not won fame through her public benefactions, she would have been no less esteemed and remembered by all who knew her because of her domestic virtues, her sweet womanly charms, and the wisdom, purity, and love which marked her conduct as wife, mother, and friend. She came of that sound old Quaker stock which has bred so many eminent men and women. The time came when her home functions could no longer satisfy the yearnings of a heart filled with the tenderest pity for all who suffered; and her work was not far to seek. The prisons of England, nay, of all Europe, were in a deplorable condition. In Newgate, dirt, disease, starvation, depravity, drunkenness, &c., prevailed. All who surveyed the situation regarded it as hopeless; all but Mrs. Fry. She saw here the opening she had been awaiting. Into this seething mass she bravely entered, Bible in hand, and love and pity in her eyes and upon her lips. If any one should ask which of all the famous women recorded in this series did the most practical good in her day and generation, the answer must be, Elizabeth Fry.”—_New York Tribune._

“Mrs. Pitman has written a very interesting and appreciative sketch of the life, character, and eminent services in the causes of humanity of one of England’s most famous philanthropists. She was known as the prison philanthropist, and probably no laborer in the cause of prison reform ever won a larger share of success, and certainly none ever received a larger meed of reverential love. No one can read this volume without feelings of admiration for the noble woman who devoted her life to befriend sinful and suffering humanity.”—_Chicago Evening Journal._

“The story of her splendid and successful philanthropy is admirably told by her biographer, and every reader should find in the tale a breath of inspiration. Not every woman can become an Elizabeth Fry, but no one can fail to be impressed with the thought that no woman, however great her talent and ambition, can fail to find opportunity to do a noble work in life without neglecting her own feminine duties, without ceasing to dignify all the distinctive virtues of her sex, without fretting and crying aloud over the restrictions placed on woman’s field of work.”—_Eclectic Monthly._

_Our publications are for sale by all booksellers, or will
be sent post-paid on receipt of advertised price._ ROBERTS
BROTHERS, BOSTON.

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_Messrs. Roberts Brothers’ Publications._

Famous Women Series.

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.

BY ELIZABETH ROBINS PENNELL.

One volume. 16mo. Cloth. Price $1.00.

“So far as it has been published, and it has now reached its ninth volume, the Famous Women Series is rather better on the whole than the English Men of Letters Series. One had but to recall the names and characteristics of some of the women with whom it deals,—literary women, like Maria Edgeworth, Margaret Fuller, Mary Lamb, Emily Brontë, George Eliot, and George Sand; women of the world (not to mention the other parties in that well-known Scriptural firm), like the naughty but fascinating Countess of Albany; and women of philanthropy, of which the only example given here so far is Mrs. Elizabeth Fry,—one has but to compare the intellectual qualities of the majority of English men of letters to perceive that the former are the most difficult to handle, and that a series of which they are the heroines is, if successful, a remarkable collection of biographies. We thought so as we read Miss Blind’s study of George Sand, and Vernon Lee’s study of the Countess of Albany, and we think so now that we have read Mrs. Elizabeth Robins Pennell’s study of Mary Wollstonecraft, who, with all her faults, was an honor to her sex. She was not so considered while she lived, except by those who knew her well, nor for years after her death; but she is so considered now, even by the granddaughters of the good ladies who so bitterly condemned her when the century was new. She was notable for the sacrifices that she made for her worthless father and her weak, inefficient sisters, for her dogged persistence and untiring industry, and for her independence and her courage. The soul of goodness was in her, though she would be herself and go on her own way; and if she loved not wisely, according to the world’s creed, she loved too well for her own happiness, and paid the penalty of suffering. What she might have been if she had not met Capt. Gilbert Imlay, who was a scoundrel, and William Godwin, who was a philosopher, can only be conjectured. She was a force in literature and in the enfranchisement of her sisterhood, and as such was worthy of the remembrance which she will long retain through Mrs. Pennell’s able memoir.”—_R. H. Stoddard, in the Mail and Express._

_Sold by all booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of
price by the publishers_, ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON

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_Messrs. Roberts Brothers’ Publications._

Famous Women Series.

HARRIET MARTINEAU.

BY MRS. F. FENWICK MILLER.

16mo. Cloth. Price $1.00.

“The almost uniform excellence of the ‘Famous Women’ series is well sustained in Mrs. Fenwick Miller’s life of Harriet Martineau, the latest addition to this little library of biography. Indeed, we are disposed to rank it as the best of the lot. The subject is an entertaining one, and Mrs. Miller has done her work admirably. Miss Martineau was a remarkable woman, in a century that has not been deficient in notable characters. Her native genius, and her perseverance in developing it; her trials and afflictions, and the determination with which she rose superior to them; her conscientious adherence to principle, and the important place which her writings hold in the political and educational literature of her day,—all combine to make the story of her life one of exceptional interest.… With the exception, possibly, of George Eliot, Harriet Martineau was the greatest of English women. She was a poet and a novelist, but not as such did she make good her title to distinction. Much more noteworthy were her achievements in other lines of thought, not usually essayed by women. She was eminent as a political economist, a theologian, a journalist, and a historian.… But to attempt a mere outline of her life and works is out of the question in our limited space. Her biography should be read by all in search of entertainment.”—_Professor Woods in Saturday Mirror._

“The present volume has already shared the fate of several of the recent biographies of the distinguished dead, and has been well advertised by the public contradiction of more or less important points in the relation by the living friends of the dead genius. One of Mrs. Miller’s chief concerns in writing this life seems to have been to redeem the character of Harriet Martineau from the appearance of hardness and unamiability with which her own autobiography impresses the reader.… Mrs. Miller, however, succeeds in this volume in showing us an altogether different side to her character,—a home-loving, neighborly, bright-natured, tender-hearted, witty, lovable, and altogether womanly woman, as well as the clear thinker, the philosophical reasoner, and comprehensive writer whom we already knew.”—_The Index._

“Already ten volumes in this library are published; namely, George Eliot, Emily Brontë, George Sand, Mary Lamb, Margaret Fuller, Maria Edgeworth, Elizabeth Fry, The Countess of Albany, Mary Wollstonecraft, and the present volume. Surely a galaxy of wit and wealth of no mean order! Miss M. will rank with any of them in womanliness or gifts or grace. At home or abroad, in public or private. She was noble and true, and her life stands confessed a success. True, she was literary, but she was a home lover and home builder. She never lost the higher aims and ends of life, no matter how flattering her success. This whole series ought to be read by the young ladies of to-day. More of such biography would prove highly beneficial.”—_Troy Telegram._

_Our publications are for sale by all booksellers, or will be
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BOSTON.

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Famous Women Series.

MADAME ROLAND.

BY MATHILDE BLIND,

AUTHOR OF “GEORGE ELIOT’S LIFE.”

One volume. 16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.

“Of all the interesting biographies published in the Famous Women Series, Mathilde Blind’s life of Mme. Roland is by far the most fascinating.… But no one can read Mme. Roland’s thrilling story, and no one can study the character of this noble, heroic woman without feeling certain that it is good for the world to have every incident of her life brought again before the public eye. Among the famous women who have been enjoying a new birth through this set of short biographies, no single one has been worthy of the adjective _great_ until we come to Mme. Roland.…

“We see a brilliant intellectual woman in Mme. Roland; we see a dutiful daughter and devoted wife; we see a woman going forth bravely to place her neck under the guillotine,—a woman who had been known as the ‘Soul of the Girondins;’ and we see a woman struggling with and not being overcome by an intense and passionate love. Has history a more heroic picture to present us with? Is there any woman more deserving of the adjective ‘great’?

“Mathilde Blind has had rich materials from which to draw for Mme. Roland’s biography. She writes graphically, and describes some of the terrible scenes in the French Revolution with great picturesqueness. The writer’s sympathy with Mme. Roland and her enthusiasm is very contagious; and we follow her record almost breathlessly, and with intense feeling turn over the last few pages of this little volume. No one can doubt that this life was worth the writing, and even earnest students of the French Revolution will be glad to refresh their memories of Lamartine’s ‘History of the Girondins,’ and again have brought vividly before them the terrible tragedy of Mme. Roland’s life and death.”—_Boston Evening Transcript._

“The thrilling story of Madame Roland’s genius, nobility, self-sacrifice, and death loses nothing in its retelling here. The material has been collected and arranged in an unbroken and skilfully narrated sketch, each picturesque or exciting incident being brought out into a strong light. The book is one of the best in an excellent series.”—_Christian Union._

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NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

(_Not included in General Catalogue_)

LATELY PUBLISHED BY

MESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS,

3 Somerset Street, Boston.

_JULY, 1887._

A NEW “NO NAME” NOVEL.

A QUESTION OF IDENTITY.

Being the tenth volume in the third “No Name Series.” 16mo. Cloth. $1.00.

“A Question of Identity” takes its title from the resemblance
of girl twins to each other,—a resemblance so strong that
a lover of Rachel offered himself to Leah, calling her his
beautiful Rachel. It is a story of New England life, with
strong characterization and intense dramatic incidents which
give coloring to the impression that it is very real. The
locality might be a half-hour’s ride from Boston by rail.

A YEAR IN EDEN.