Chapter I: Preface

When the secret of the identity of Fiona Macleod—so loyally guarded by a number of friends for twelve years—was finally made known, much speculation arose as to the nature of the dual element that had found expression in the collective work of William Sharp. Many suggestions, wide of the mark, were advanced; among others, that the writer had assumed the pseudonym as a joke, and having assumed it found himself constrained to continue its use. A few of the critics understood. Prof. Patrick Geddes realised that the discussion was productive of further misunderstanding, and wrote to me: “Should you not explain that F. M. was not simply W. S., but that W. S. in his deepest moods became F. M., a sort of dual personality in short, not a mere nom-de-guerre?” It was not expedient for me at that moment to do so. I preferred to wait till I could prepare as adequate an explanation as possible. My chief aim, therefore, in writing about my husband and in giving a sketch of his life, has been to indicate, to the best of my ability, the growth and development in his work of the dual literary expression of himself.

The most carefully compiled record of a life can be but partially true, since much of necessity must be left unsaid. A biographer, moreover, can delineate another human being only to the extent of his understanding of that fellow being. In so far as he lacks, not only knowledge of facts, but also the illumination of intuition and sympathy, to that extent will he fail to present a finished study of his subject. And because no one can wholly know another: because one of necessity interprets another through the colour of his or her mind, I am very conscious of my own limitations in this respect. As, however, I have known William Sharp for more consecutive years than any other of his intimate friends, I perhaps am able therefore to offer the fullest survey of the unfolding of his life; though I realise that others may have known him better than I on some sides of his nature: in particular as he impressed those who had not discovered, or were not in sympathy with, the “F. M.” phase in him.

The life of William Sharp divides itself naturally into two halves: the first ends with the publication by W. S. of _Vistas_, and the second begins with _Pharais_, the first book signed Fiona Macleod. It has been my endeavour to tell his story by means of letters and diaries; of letters written by him, and of others written to him, concerning his work and interests. To quote his own words: “A group of intimate letters, written with no foreseen or suspected secondary intention, will probably give us more insight into the inner nature of a man than any number of hypothetical pros and cons on the part of a biographer, or than reams of autobiography.... I know Keats for instance far better through his letters than by even the ablest and most intimate memoirs that have been written of him: the real man is revealed in them and is brought near to us till we seem to hear his voice and clasp his hand.”

The diaries are fragmentary. They were usually begun at each New Year, but were speedily discontinued; or noted down intermittently, during a sojourn abroad, as a record of work. He was a good correspondent, both as W. S. and F. M. I have thus tried to make the book as autobiographic as possible, by means of these letters and diaries, and I have added only what has seemed to me necessary to make the narrative sequent. Unfortunately, letters have not been available from several valuable sources; and I regret the absence of any written by him to Walter Pater, George Meredith, Theodore Watts-Dunton, Arthur Symons, and to one or two of his most intimate friends.

I take this opportunity of expressing to many friends on both sides of the Atlantic my appreciation of their courtesy in placing letters at my disposal; also for permission accorded to me by Mr. Robert Ross for the use of letters from Oscar Wilde, and by Mr. Charles Baxter, for letters from Robert Louis Stevenson. Through the kindness of Mrs. Sturgis I have included among the illustrations a portrait of her father George Meredith (dated 1898). I am indebted to Miss Pater for the photograph of her brother Walter Pater; and to Mr. W. M. Rossetti for that of his brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Of the four portraits of William Sharp, herein reproduced, the earliest was taken about the time of the publication of his first volume of poems. The pastel by the Norwegian painter, Charles Ross, was executed in Rome in 1891, two years before _Pharais_ was written; and the etching by our friend, Mr. William Strang A.R.A., who has kindly sanctioned my use of it, dates to 1896, in which year were published _The Washer of the Ford_, _Green Fire_, and _From the Hills of Dream_. The final portrait of my husband was taken in Sicily in 1903 by the Hon. Alexander Nelson Hood (Duke of Bronte), who also has permitted me to reproduce his photograph of Il Castello di Maniace, Bronte—on the inland shoulder of Etna—close to which, on a sloping hillside, in the little woodland burial ground, and within sound of rushing waters, stands the Iona cross erected to the memory of William Sharp and “Fiona Macleod.”

CONTENTS

PAGE

=PART I: WILLIAM SHARP= 1

CHAPTER I: CHILDHOOD 3

CHAPTER II: AUSTRALIA 17

CHAPTER III: EARLY DAYS IN LONDON 35

CHAPTER IV: THE DEATH OF ROSSETTI 58

CHAPTER V: FIRST VISIT TO ITALY 78

CHAPTER VI: SONNETS OF THIS CENTURY 104

CHAPTER VII: THE SPORT OF CHANCE
_Shelley_ 121

CHAPTER VIII: ROMANTIC BALLADS
_The Children of To-Morrow_ 135

CHAPTER IX: FIRST VISIT TO AMERICA 149

CHAPTER X: BROWNING
_The Joseph Severn Memoirs_ 158

CHAPTER XI: ROME
_Sospiri di Roma_ 173

CHAPTER XII: WALT WHITMAN
_The Pagan Review_ 192

CHAPTER XIII: ALGIERS
_Vistas_ 208

=PART II: FIONA MACLEOD= 219

CHAPTER XIV: THE PSEUDONYM
_Pharais_ 221

CHAPTER XV: THE MOUNTAIN LOVERS
_The Sin Eater_ 242

CHAPTER XVI: THE SIN EATER 256

CHAPTER XVII: RUNES OF THE SORROWS OF WOMEN
_Green Fire_ 266

CHAPTER XVIII: FROM THE HILLS OF DREAM
_The Laughter of Peterkin_ 279

CHAPTER XIX: WIVES IN EXILE
_Silence Farm_ 292

CHAPTER XX: THE DOMINION OF DREAMS 304

CHAPTER XXI: THE DIVINE ADVENTURE
_Celtic_ 314

CHAPTER XXII: PROVENCE
_Maniace_ 328

CHAPTER XXIII: LISMORE
_Taormina_ 344

CHAPTER XXIV: WINTER IN ATHENS
_Greek Backgrounds_ 367

CHAPTER XXV: THE WINGED DESTINY
_Literary Geography_ 381

CHAPTER XXVI: 1905 395