HARRISON AINSWORTH

Evening Star, Issue 22004, 13 April 1935, Page 27

HARRISON AINSWORTH

DISCOVERER OF MRS HENRY WOOD AND “ OUIDA " Among the novelists of the Victorian era, to which many of the great novelists of English literature belong, tew occupied a more prominent position among their contemporaries than William Harrison Ainsworth, who has since been relegated to the ranks of the neglected authors (says a writer in the Melbourne ‘ Age ’). As a magazine editor, Ainsworth discovered Mrs Henry Woods and “Ouida,” both of wHom became very popular novelists. Marie Louise de la Ramee, who took the pen name of “ Ouida,” was the daughter of an English woman, who married a native of the Island of Guernsey. At the age of nineteen, when she was living m London, she contributed her first short story to ‘ Bentley’s Magazine,’ which Ainsworth owned and edited. Within a year her short stories were regarded as one of the attractions of the magazine. In an epilogue to the magazine at the end of 1860 Ainsworth wrote concerning his young contributor, who had not reached her twenty-first birthday : 44 We offer not our own opinion, but that of a host of critical commentators when we' say that few periodical writers have suddenly achieved a greater success than the contributor who has chosen the fanciful name of “ Ouida,” whese sketches of society in England and on the Continent, are as graceful as they are accurate.” During the next two years “ Ouida ” contributed more than a dozen short stories to the magazine. These short stories were much longer than the stories published by modern magazines, for they consisted of five or six chapters. Ainsworth published “ Ouida’s ” first long novel, * Granville de Vigne ’ (issued in book form as 4 Held in Bondage ’) as a serial in his other magazine, the 4 New Monthly.’ It was follow r ed by two other long serials destined to add to 44 Ouida’s ” fame, 4 Strathmore ’ and 4 Idalia.’

Mrs Henry Wood, who was twentyfive years older than “ Ouida,” contributed short stories to both of Ains* worth’s magazines. Her first long novel, ‘Bast Lynne,’ began as a serial in the ‘New Monthly’ of January, 1860. The author’s name, was not attached, but the serial was described as being “ by the author of ‘ Ashley.’” Jt ran as a serial until September, 1861, and was then offered to Chapman and Hall for publication in book form, but it was • rejected 'on the advice of their reader, George Meredith, who who was destined to become the greatest novelist of the final decades of the Victorian era. When Mrs Wood told Ainsworth that ‘ East Lynne ’ had been rejected he was astonished, and he went to see the heads of the firm, with whom he was on terms of close friendship. He urged them to publish ‘East Lynne,’ and they consented to reconsider, their decision. The . manuscript was again submitted to Meredith, who again reported unfavourably on it. It was rejected when it was submitted to Smith and Elder (a prominent publishing firm of the Victorian era,, which has since been absorbed by John Murray); but it. was taken up by Richard Bentley, who ultimately made • thousands of pounds out of the book/, It has been estimated that more than 1,000,000 copies of ‘ East lynne ’ in various editions have' been sold. When it was first published by Bentley, in 1862, ‘ The T}mes ’ gave it an appreciative review. This review was written by Samuel Lucas, editor of ‘Once a Week,’ a publication in which many of .George Meredith's poems had appeared. Meredith was on very friendly terms with Lucas, and after ‘ The Times ’ review of ‘ East Lynne ’ appeared he ..wrote to him; “1 have read ‘ East Lynne,’ and also your notice of it. I have read the latter with almost less pleasure than the novel. It is (the novel) in the worst style of the present teste. What a miserable colourless vil’ain Levison; the husband, a ’.espci'trbh stick; .the heroine, a blotched fool; all the incidents forced — that is, not growing out of the characters; and the turning point laughable in its absurdity. Why do you foster this foul taste? There’s action in the tale, and that’s all.”