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R,CHARD MONCKTON MILNES was born in the year - OUDL Home

R,CHARD MONCKTON MILNES was born in the year - OUDL Home

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Women Novelists of <strong>the</strong> 'Seventies 65supplement us, but it is given to very few to reallyunderstand us." "I know that", murmurs Hermione,"be<strong>in</strong>g one of <strong>the</strong> few."' But, alas, this is merely <strong>the</strong>old fable of <strong>the</strong> fox and <strong>the</strong> goose.That Mrs L<strong>in</strong>ton <strong>was</strong> not only serious but <strong>in</strong>tensely <strong>in</strong>earnest The True History of Joshua Davidson, ChristianCommunist, is overwhelm<strong>in</strong>g proof. What is moreastonish<strong>in</strong>g nowadays, perhaps, this book had an immensepopular success. In spite of its <strong>in</strong>tention, it is nota w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g tale, nor is Under Which Lord. Mrs L<strong>in</strong>ton'smost impressive female characters comb<strong>in</strong>e <strong>the</strong> chill of<strong>the</strong> crocodile with <strong>the</strong> austerity of <strong>the</strong> priestess and <strong>the</strong>cunn<strong>in</strong>g of <strong>the</strong> fox. They suggest a sort of neuter sex,be<strong>in</strong>g at <strong>the</strong> same .time queens of <strong>the</strong> hive and parishworkers. Her <strong>in</strong>tention is ardent, but her <strong>in</strong>k is cold, andat times corrosive, and her attitude towards man isshared by a lady <strong>in</strong> Mrs Oliphant's The Three Bro<strong>the</strong>rs.She ' <strong>was</strong> endowed with that contempt for <strong>the</strong> mascul<strong>in</strong>eunderstand<strong>in</strong>g that most women enterta<strong>in</strong>'.Such, so it seems, <strong>was</strong> <strong>the</strong> general reflex of life <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>fem<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>e fiction of <strong>the</strong> 'seventies. And this reflex concernsof course its k<strong>in</strong>d, not its quality. When womanrules, her rod, <strong>the</strong>re as everywhere, is adamant<strong>in</strong>e. Whenshe shares <strong>the</strong> throne, and takes her Queen for her model,or meekly submits to an autocrat, a little fem<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>e tactor manageableness, or <strong>the</strong> love that f<strong>in</strong>ds out a way, ordownright guile, or Lilith-like seducements, come to heraid. A few tears are still a resource, and not to one sexonly; a good cry is still an anodyne and a tonic, though<strong>the</strong> swoon and <strong>the</strong> vapours are go<strong>in</strong>g out. The womennovelists <strong>the</strong>mselves, if judged by <strong>the</strong>ir work, do notseem to have been made desperately unhappy because <strong>in</strong>Eden Adam needed a help meet for him. To read <strong>the</strong>irfiction is to be refreshed by <strong>the</strong> courage, <strong>the</strong> fidelity, <strong>the</strong>wits, <strong>the</strong> lov<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>sight, and above all <strong>the</strong> sovran good5

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