"FIONA MACLEOD."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 787, 9 April 1910, Page 14

"FIONA MACLEOD."

The publication by Mr. Heinomann of the first volume of a uniform edition of the works of Fiona Macleod, arranged by Mrs. William Sharp, recalls a mystification which continued during several successive years to exercise the literary world. "Who is Fiona Macleod?" was a question frequently asked. "Can you tell me anything of the young, beautiful, gifted, Roman Catholic, Highland lady who has written these singular poems and romances in which the melancholy- of the Celtic temperament finds so striking an expression, but whom nobody that I have heard of• has ever seen?". Now, the writer of these lines could, had he. been at liberty, have told a good deal concerning the "young lady"-in question. But his word was pledged, his honour waß engaged. The mystery remained a mystery, though, as in,the much more famous mystery surrounding the authorship of the Waverley Novels, there must have been a good many people who .felt' pretty sure of the solution of "it. For example, the writer recalls a certain Sunday night's, entertainment at the Globe ; Theatre, when, in injunction with' translations of two :• plays <. by Maeterlinck, ; a: play by Fiona' Macleod was"" performed. In the crowded and enthusiastic audience were there not at least a dozen persons,who by one means or another knew the ' secret of the pseudonym ? But it, was not till the month.of December, .1905, that' the mystery was finally dissolved. For then the same, sad ' telegram which informed his many and .warmly..attached friends of the.death of William Sharp at the 'Sicilian residence of the'Ho'n. Alexander /Nelson Hoodputthe world in possession jof-' the ■ fact. that /Sharp and Fiona 'Macleod were One and the same.

A Psychological MasqueradeThere is probably no precisely parallel instanoe of literary mystification. It is true that Prosper Merimee published certain ; of his own ' plays under a •feminine., 'sobriquet (that of: "Clara Gazul"), v < and.-^everi.'.prefixed: to. •;the ■volume a-portrait ;of. himself in female 'attire. <■ \ But\this,, in 'his'; case, was the imere ■ jocularity;of a clever', and -. prac-. ;tised ; . farceur. '■■'. Sharp's .impersonation was something very'different, .aiid. at the ;same .time,.veryjmuch inoro interesting. He •' conceived V.an iideal '.; character, ap,parehtlyVremote' in' alrribst, every respect ;from'his'';'ow'n-^oppqsed.-in'sbx, ; very differently circumstanced, arid entirely-dif-ferehtin, her; supposititious antecedents. And : intoHhis ideal character-'he -threw ..himself.,' .Through her 'lips .during- more : than ten years he continued; to • speak; .marvellously l sustaining dramatic,; consistency,- almost .-miraculously- -avoiding .the'smallest'lapse-or• slip; And-in her name all'thatwas best and most- striking and individual in his own work : was jtdone..■■' If. there is another .similar, instance of the transference of person,'ality, of histrionic impersonation in |-literature, I have yet to hear of it. • To the;feat, performed- .by Fiona Macleod seems' not merely to open, up a new avenue in imaginative writing, but oven ; to; ; contribute new-data'.to the 'science of mind.- .Meantime.'it'may..be worth},;noticing.- thaf;:;ihe .'first/ hint; or ;.gernii, r qf''..this'-.elabqra.tei-^'serious, ; and ■ most;.':-; interesting.'.. 'psychological; 'mas.querade. may be found in ;the; novel en'titled,' "A Fellowo an<J His . ■ Wife," written by ..William Sharp. : in. collabbra■tion:: with •:the ' .late -Blanche- vWillis Howard-(Madame Teiiffcl), a novel .wrrtfen.in the form of.letters supposed to-.pass between' a man and' wife, and in, which; the man's letters were uniformly written bvMissHoward and the ;woman's.- by,William Sharp.-At.least in :the:Tauchnite form this ingenious piece of .-fiction enjoyed considerable;; success.

Shares Personality. •'■..'■''•■;')' ,' "Th'e: f ''ivrite'r's:,-k'no'wledgo "of' William ; Sharp-dates'vback.: ; to 1888, when Sharp ; had been visiting Melrose Abbey for the ..purpose"of: writing his . "Weird of Michael Scot," first published in the "Bomantio Ballads and Poems of Phantasy" of that year. Fiona Macleod was then as yet undreamed of, and Sharp was known mainly as the author ■ of. a:monograph on Dante Gabriel Ros-. setti/though ' also. already as . poet) novelist, and ..critic, and likewise as an energetic and indefatigable editor and journalist. There is' an ancient' Greek proverb which-asserts that-the half is more than the whole,' and at this stage of his. career, the paradox might certainly have-held. good,of Sharp. He was attempting .too. much. A .native and temperamental restlessness and impatience'which characterised him' was ■having too much of its own way. He was too much- set upon essaying all things, too-apt to be carried about by every wind of. aesthetic doctrine. He had devoured rather than > read, torn, out. the hearts of books rather than assimilated them, his . amazingly fertile creative faculty,was at., the'mercy of the latest influence, : which- did not give him. a. chance .of - displaying what was personal-solely'to'himself. What he stood in,need of now and for long afterwards was restraint, 'the file and the.- sieve. But though - there .was. still much ; in.!'his ..work, that: w.as .unsatisfactory, as-a companion he-was eminently stimulating, ■ interesting,; ■ and genial. His.. : -knowledge of biJoks'ahdf authors was immense—not perhaps/always of the most vital or essential kind,, but never failing in liveliness, and freely interspersed with the legendary element, so .swift:of. growth, and in its own-way so racy and delightful where literary characters are concerned. For is'it not the poetical side of biography?

Uncanny Prescience.. , In'. literary, legend, then, William Sharp was peculiarly well versed, peculiarly copious; legends of Rossetti, legends of James Thomson, author of "The City of Dreadful Night,", whom also he had known/- legends of Philip Bourke Marston, and,' last, but not least, legends 'about himself—stories of visions, creepy-experiences, and of what I may almost describe, in Tennysonian phraso, as- hobnobbings with Death. But. in the last particular there was perhaps something more than. mere interpretative imagination at work. I remember, . .for 'instance, that, once lativ'e who;' had habitually occupied it. Tho room was sunny,; well lighted, lined -oj jean B-jo 'eouis pasn uaeq jou pcq uotqji u; jjjoav o% uiooj tj miq &ab§ i c, eiii Suited sbai oq usqji with books, and seemed to ine a favourable enough place in which to make progress with the.novel of "Children of To-Morrow," on which he was thon at work. But to-Sharp it seemed otherwise. He grew restless, nervous, dissatisfied. At-last he blurted out, "This room is full of dead,influences!" and removed 'himself and his MS. ■ to his bedroom, where he worked in peace. On another occasion he spoke ■ of a friend of mine, ■ casually encountered, in almost the. identical words. Used by Coleridge in speaking of Keats. after their only meeting :—"There, is ' death in that hand." My friend was strong, young, and healthy, but he died within the year. • About such prescionce as this "there is something not a little uncanny. A characteristic practice of William Sharp's was to try over the plot of a new novel or-story by narrating it to a friend in the form of autobiographic reminiscenco. As ho 1 delighted in strong romantic situations, the result'was sometimes startling. For instance, one of the 1 , stories which he told in this way related to a cruise which he nude in an unscaworthy boat off one of the Western Islands, in the company of a beautiful young lady and a curate. When the voyage was about half accomplished, tho curate, to the intense consternation of his companions, suddenly went mad, and stove a hole in

tie bottom of the boat, which' at onca began to sink. Fortunately Sharp and the young lady were both of them strong swimmers even in their clothes, so they managed without great difficulty to reach the nearest land, which was distant not much more than a mile or two. But when at lost they found leisure to look round them for the curate, he was nowhere to bo seen. With the most entire conviction on the part of the narrator, without the smallest twinkle of the eye or curl of the lip, such a story would bo unfolded, and of course it could only be met by equally solicitous hopes that no injury had been sustained by either of the swimmers, whether from the salt water or from nervous shock. Surely only a very dull : person would have drawn attention to the fact that this sensational incident had somehow escaped all'public notice. For in such situations, there was, although no laughter, considerable humour.

A Social Cenlus. . But delightful as he was as a companion a deux, William Sharp was at his best, I think, when entertaining friends in his own quarters. Here, in addition to the interest of his conversation, the kindliness, courtesy, love of his friends, and social talent of the man were seen. And here he had the assistance of the womanly tact and charm of Mrs. Sharp, an ideal hostess to her friends; as she was to him an ideal helpmeet. In the London of to-day there are literary salons where one may see at any moment an epitome of the Darwinian struggle for existence, where the guests seem to have come together for no other purpose than to grind axes, to assert their own importance, to curry favour with their stronger or to trample on their weaker brethren. There could scarcely be a more uncomfortable way of taking a relaxation. But in Mrs. Sharp's drawing-room, whether in the little house atHampstead or elsewhere, nothing of this kind was ■ ever seem There people who cared for literature, art, and music came to meet others who had similar tastes. Agreeable social intercourse was the sole and sufficient object aimed at, and there must be many who are grateful to the host and hostess for the degree in which it was attained. .

The "Fiona Maoleotf" Series. It was in 1894 that "Pharais,. a Romance of the Isles," the first of the Fiona Macleod books, saw the light. It was followed in rapid, succession by "The Mountain Lovers: a Romance,"-."The Sin-Eater and Other Tales," "The Washer of the Ford,"' "Green Fire," and other novels and tales having.the same general characteristics'; In the rend of 1896 were published, under the same pseudonym,-. "From the Hills of Dream," "Mountain' Songs and Island Runes," a collection of poems. And now it ;was that Sharp's friends, or those of them who'were in'the secret began to see that he had "found himself —that he who. bad hitherto boon Rossottian, Maeterlinckian. Pagan Impressionist, had at last found a'field that was his own and his only. And the triumphant power and rapidity with which he poured forth book after book showed that the author himself was conscious of this. His literary style improved enormously, cleared 'itself of violence and of affectations, became more lucid and harmonious. I am not suro, indeed, that .it was not growing ever, more perfect up to the' time' bf his; last publication, "Where the .Forest. .Murmurs. ..For, there -is, no. doubt' that kharp, a. man of genius, died prematurely .at, the age-of '5.0. The jungle: of his imagination required that lopping and reduction which can only, come with in itself was almost an intoxication. It • was so full of interest, of possibilities, not. merely imaginative, but also actual. Hence he required the steadying weight of years to discipline his art. His.Celticism was perhaps a pose; but the term in his case implies nothing' of reproach or of insincerity. He had chosen a baejic colouring, that was all, for the expression of his own elemental love'or Nature his passion for what was" fantastic, strange, and melancholy in the human soul To compare his work with the authentic.products of the Celtic genius is entirely beside the mark It is as art and as art only, that it must stand or fall. .Up-to. the present ?hne rec6lved m , the fu" attention of becoming' better acquainted with it.—Sir George Douglas, m the\"Glasgow Herald"