THE DEATH OF " OUID A"
A POPULAR NOVELIST FORTY YEARS AGO.
It is just forty years since " Under Two Flags " — generally reckoned the best of Ouida s novels^ — was the book of the year, read by everyone and discussed and talked about in all sections of society. "Ouida" was then held in the same sort of pojmlar regard as is Miss Marie Corelli to-day, and each new novel from her pen had much the same vogue. The news just received of " Ouida'6 " death, at the age of sixty-seven, might well serve as text for an essay on the development of the modern nove'. It was in 1880 that "Moths" aj>peared, and at once achieved fame as a most improper book. But although "Ouida" may in some sort be regarded as the creator of the ultra-realistic style of sex fiction, yet, compared with the outrageous indecencies of t.he twentieth century, with its " fleshy school," the reader of the risque j novel of to-day would find "Moths" a 1 model of propriety. For as recently as j November last Mr Clement K. Shorter i wrote in the Spheie: — There are at least three women novelists to-day and two male novelists j all of whom, I think, should be sent to ! gaol, together with their publishers. If the Society for the Prevention of Vice i which unjustly sent Henry Vizitelly to prison were to inquire of me, I should be happy to maik the pas-sages upon which I believe a jury might be got to convict. " Ouida," her own childibh mispronunciation of "Louisa," is the pen. name" under which Mademoiselle de La, Ramee has won a degree of fame as the author of more than forty novels, to say nothing of dramatic sketches, critical studies, and articles in the magazims. Despite her French name, she comes, on her father's side, of Suffolk farming stock, but her mother was of French extraction. "Ouida" was bom about the year 1840, at Bury St. Edmunds. For a long while she lived in London, and from 1874 until the day of her death she made her home in Italy, at first in Floience and afterwards at Lucca and Viareggio. She commenced writing for the magazines as early as 1860, contributing to Colburn's New Monthly . and BentJey's magazine. Pier first navel, " Held in Bondage," was pubished by Chatto and Windus in 1863, followed by " Strathmore" in 1865, and by "Under Two Flags" in 1867. Wit.h this last book "Ouida" found her public, and for many years her novels were amongst the best sellers. Following is a list of others of her be|it-known books: — <" Tricotrin," " Ruffino," " Othmar," " Frescoes," " Wanda," " # A.riadne," " Pascarel," "Chando6," "Puck," "Moths'* " Idalia," " Bimibi," " Signa," " Friendship," " Guilderoy'," " A Dog of Flanders," "Cecil Castlemaine's Gage," "Princess Napraxine," " Folle-Farine," "Two Wooden Shoes," "A Village Commune," "In a Winter City," "Santa Barbara," "In Maremma," " Strathmore," " Pipistrello," " Two Offenders," " A Rainy June," " The Massarenes." [ " Ouida's " more recent writings include " The Tower of Taddeo," " Views and Opinions," "Critical Studies," and " Street Dust," the latter, published in 1901, being her last novel. A contemporary critic says of "Ouida's" work : " She has always pleased the crowd better than the critics. Her stories have verve and go ; she envelops her handsome i - akes and women with a past in a certain glamour, and treats several side? of life with a frankness, till her time, rare amongst women writers. She often attains to the picturesque, is not seldom truly tender, is sometimes powerful, and has created one or twe '
characters. But she has no profound insight into the lmni.ui heart ; ."-he is hardly leas aniaz.ngly inaccurate in matters, of ordimiry ohsei\ation than of literary allusion; her chanu tei* «iro oticn .conventional and her sttdies 11111 e<.l ; her "ideals aie always nrwdty.x>r unwholcstjm >, ~and her style is'wFiolh \>itvlK>ut bounty 01 distinction Slk> ftels ki">nlv to the poirt of extravagance on \i\jbect:on and the . grievances of the lt,.li,in peasantry under _ the new regime, nntl has >e.v]><mrch'd her j views largely both in Ikt" ncnul.s and in magazine articles."' ! In Jul_> last the name ot Mi&s Loiiu<-c 1 de la Ramee appeal i-d 'on the het of rew 1 civil pensioners .16 having been a pens ! on oi £150 per "annum. Tlrts grant i evoked a protest on the p.ut ol fume of 1 the English papeit- -nntjbly the Sjiectaj tor, wliich journal intend a c.ueat I against the grar.l in ,the following words : — Then there is the cc.cc of Miss Louise j de lavßamfve. better known as " Ouicla. 1 who ieceivt j v £150. E\en thouph < "Onida's" inteutioiis may have been j infinitely better! than Hei iioaclf, w-e i cannot see that the is justifiable. j She may lia\e tfiou^Jit that uiie was making sacrifice^ in order to s»erve the*public. But at all events tlie business ol the Government i& only t-> efati.nate her services _and take into coiia doi.it ion her financial fuciinistiim«u. It is .mpossible to admit that she satieties 1 heconditions both of public s-orvjci* aid poverty. Although wo are extremely sorry to learn' from t!ie Daily Mail thai her circumstanqes h.'ve been so 'greatly reduced, those chcumstances call rather for a subscription aniono her leaders than for a State grant. Xo doubt, with all their defects, her hborlts have carried innumerable " tiicd people" to the I "Islands of the Blest." Yet we suppose the " tired people " paid their paissige money, and this in the couise of time must have amounted to a considerable- sum. Is it right that one who deliberately chose a popular form of fiction — a form of fiction that was j "the fashion" for some thirty years — j upon which to exercise her pen, and 1 who has earned a good deal of money, and ought to have ba\od some of it, should be preterieil to other wiiteis of eerious literary accomplishments whose work by its very nature did not, and indeed could not, bring them in so much? The story sent to the Daily Mail by that paper's Florence corieppond-ent reads as follows. It is dated 'Florence, July 11:Until two years ago Mile, de la Ramee occupied at Sant' Alessio, Lucca, I a splendid three-storey villa adjoining a church. She was known as the Lady of the Dogs (Signora fllei Cani), as she had invariably thirty, and was seen always with a number of them around her. Her intense fondness for dogs, coupkd with a certain megalomania, caused her on one famous occasion to give a meal of milk, bread, and meat to every dosr in Lucca. She paid the bill i'ov this extraordinary banquet willingly, though as previously, when living in Florence, heavy debts were crowding upon' hti* through her utter ignorance of the \aluo , of money. ; I I fear that on several occasion? about 1 this time she went foodle^s a whole ' day, remarking, "It is sufficient if the dogs eat." Frequently her maid apptaled to the owner of the villa for a supper for h-er mistress. In the end the landlord of the villa, turned "Ouida" out. There was a dispute about feome furniture, and she. brought an action against th© landlord, and won her case in three courts. The , legal expenses, however, still further ' crTppled her purse. After this she went ' to Viareggio; then took a small villa at Camajore, and~then rooms in the hrstclaas Hotel de Russie at Viareggio. Once again her thoughtless expenditure exhausted her resources, and her plight was such that last September the "Mamma of the Dogs," as Viareggio had named her, passed the night under the trees on the sea-front. Her faithful, j beloved dogs, the remaining few of the 1 large family she had once owned, were j by her side when her nnid's mother ■ found her at 5 o'clock in the morning on the beach at Viareggio. This kindly woman took Mdlle. de la Ramee to her own humble cottage at Monti, and kept her theie for some months. That homeless night on the cold beach caused "Ouida" to lose totally the sight of her left eye, and also biought about a J deafness from which she has never re- ■ covered. i In February last " Ouida " took two , rooms at the Hotel Grande Bretagne, Viareggio. She stayed there until last j Saturday, when financial straits having again overtaken her, 6he left with her ! ex-maid's mother to stay at Massarosa, ! a village five miles away. At Massarosa the air i 6 delightful, but it is a melancholy spot. Here in a squalid milkman's cottage "Ouida" now lives. " Ouida " rarely goes out of doors, and she has few visitors. Her health has broken down, and she eats little. She wears white dresses of silk muslin, with lengthy trains, and white gloves hig.h up the arm. Last winter she had a new black dress with a long train. She reads one English and two Italian newspapers. Her passion for her dogs docs not diminish one jot, though she now has only throe — Ruffino, Goldoni, and Nerino. She has been heard to say that her life would be hopeless misery without her dogs. It is her fear of endangering their lives by the change of climate that prevents her returning to England. At her villa in Florence in her happier day 6. when she was able to give and spend money with impulsive generosity and disiegard of arithmetic, she had, besides thirty dogs, at least forty horses. The news of the grant of a pension has aroused much interest. It is known tJbp> Mile, fie la Ramee once went with-
] out food for four chy.s through s'ncirj want. | rh.s e\ok< j d- tne following eh.n.i^ter:sti< i letter horn' Mi k s Iviar.e C'oielU, winch | apjie.il \\,is tollo.\<.il hy .i c.bleji mi i.o.n ( ( hr.<h\ " j.(>m; i\ el) dediu ii_, to ,u\i i>t any such Pbßistame as Aijss .iVku-ie CoiJili^j piOpfloed .—. — " . ," j ■ .. j j kvei'v'i'e: "Who' h"as "read 4he; r "fins novels " In Maremma " and '.' Warrdot'- j two of the most bi.uitiJnl wo«]-p*r Uwes e\er ijiven t-> English kteidture.-'invst J he profoundly touched ".'and' <{e-8;tly . grie\ ed by the sad aec^in{r-}n-."th^O>iijK~j >Ia 1 of the I'ijjjKatrong^a'ny sufferings'! <>l the gifted authoi-<?re"* > Ouitla, J> -_irliQ, j ■whatever faults certain carping ciitiesi may have be.on pleufed to-fi»,<l with her I in her piosperoufe , days, is peebnd to I ! none «jt our* modern- -Ipr j poetic diction,^ Versatile' *7tß>;^ih»fi?rrf 4 -J and incisive wit", the- fatter quality bein<; ' most brilliantly • distinctive ju. such , works as "Princess * Nafn.'fcX'ine.'" j " Othmar," " Fuendship," and " iUvldcioy."' | It ishould also be remembered that no ] living writer has ever more eloquently i pie.'dVl tlio cause of the poor Italian peasant iv thai "Ouida" m her " Vil- : lage Commune," while, if the art of i simple giiu-e and perfect pathos bp d-e- j lnanded, no o~ie ran read without t^.irs j h~i norn-like little stories, of "The Dot; ! j of FlandGis ' and "Unnltn." That" a. i Wiittr who li \s unen ,so much ititel- | lectuul pie me to thousands should have sutieied m the 1113111101 . E( > graph i- 1 cally licsuibed in jour columns is suiely j o:'« oi the "most piteous ep!?odea in 1 literal v h'stoi\. The email Govern- ! lvent pension lust granted to" her -i!ay 1 help to ktep the wolf iiom the door, but it is surely not sufficient to testily to " Ouida.'' ,-heifcelf that public admiia,.tion tor her. undoubted genius, •nhi<h must be fell by all iiidepcrident readers of fiction who have the stiength of mind to diosociate themselves from th<> m alctuliiig iritniem which has, with considerable malignity, been frequently isiid unjustly passed upon a woman" uovelibt l.ir mmc biilliantly endowed than most of her contempoiaries. I venture t» suited that a "Fund,"' 1 stalled by the D.'ily Mail for the pur- j I pose ot placing "Ouida" far above all j anxiety for the- iest of her days, would \ meet with a quick and generous re- , spomc. ard in full anticipation that such a fund will be staited I enclose my cheque for £25 ais a fiist contiibution. — Yours very truly, Marik Couki.li. Strat ford-on- Avon. The following telegrams subsequently published in the Tribune speak for them- . selves :—: — Rome. July 14. The Tiibuna publishes a description of the sad surroundings in which, apparently, Mdlle. Louise de la Ramee, the vetcian novelist " Ouida," is Hearing her end. The oonespondent was not i able to obtain accevs to her, and states , that, though \ery ill, she persistently refuses to see a doctor. Milan, July 14. I sent a representative on Ftiday to Massairsa hoping to procure an interview with " Ouida," but she refused to I receixe him, because of her lack of ] decent clothts and coinfoits. The unfortunate l.idy, wit.h her four remaining dogs, is dwelling in a' small country cottaire. Two humble countiiywomen, named Fantoni, found her ten days ago in the public gaidens .-it Viareggio, where she had passed the night, and took her with them to their cottnge at Massaioia. She refuses to receive anybody. Mil.^n, July -15. I "Ouida"' is dying at Macsarosa, near . Vi-irtygio. She needs medical care, but refuses all relief. The cottage wheie she is lying lacks eveiy kind of comfoit. The unfortunate novelist continues to refuse to receive anybody. Milan, July 17. Sicnor Rava, the Italian Minister of Public Instruction, has interested himself in the condition of Mdlle. Louise de la Rcimoe. He recently instructed the Pie'Vct of Lined to make inquiries into i the matter, whereupon Count Brisxio at I once despatched to Ma*s<»ro&a his secretary, Signor Atti'io Oambotti. The latter was received by " Ouidi," who expressed hfi?elf much gratified by the attention of the Minister. The novelist was abe to leave her bed, but Signor Gambelti confirms recentlypublished statements as to her miserable i surroundings. . ! The Literary Woild for Augu>st con- : tains the following comment on the episode, which is now closed by the- death of the once-popular novelist : — Wo refrained last month from commenting upon the selection of fitting recipients for d\il hit pensions, contenting ourselves with chionicling the facts. Some of our contemporaries who .hastily criticised the conferment of a pension of £150 a year upon Miss Louise de la Ramee (" Ouida "), on the ground that she could have no real need for it, will probably regret, now that the facts are disclosed, that they did not also refrain. From a letter published- in the Academy of July 20, and signed " William Mercer," we learn that thg talented author of "Under Two Flags" and "A Village Commune in Italy " — to mention two of her best-known works — has been living for many years in great poverty, to which sho has been reduced ■ largely by reason of her generosity, especially to dumb animals, but that she strongly resents any interference. Reference is made by this correspond dent (or, rather, by an unnamed corre-' spundent of his who is quoted %in Mr Mercer's letter) to "Ouida's" pugnacity. "In her prosperous days," we read, " she used to give herself great airs, and offended many people." It is certain that her indignation was easily aroused in the old days by any personal reference, and w^ remember, to have heard that she was greatly incensed by a harmless joke in Punca at tfee .time
] ii li< n " V.'an'i.i " wis published. While1 th.s . ttuudc niiiy evoke aclntiiJtjpn troi.i t ■"be who ate lii^-e-ii. :nci* ci vrith I hei a id j^gard i.ev.cpaper prying ac a 'thii 11 ,' to bo fought n^unst <>t al! ocY.s, i i( v o,.!ci li<? a pity io cmy it to tho , 10-i .'' ut is.fi.si-.ig .-ijjy public re<.o^ni- "{ ilov. ov lieip in time of chctrvis. AsT that " Ouida's " novels I Jjnvp. etif-J-" a Jarije circle of renders.^s*^ 1 of th? more popular have rcc,eiitl v Y-- v ß^en ■ issued in "sixpenny editions h^piid'^c^ and I Windus. and stockc<i3*ryMT Bra.i(h:i^i^*^J^!l^^^S^^^^^^o^i'' -•' Stratn:filoF^ >^' g< '^ttiKß^^^g^^taim " " Chan:"dbs,' x and". >r Tdalia,," while?cs3§fflLer Two j-JflagfissLJi&s^j.u&t been- issued at;j«cpenc& I by Newnes. I \ '>-■■ I . now holds the rcc^ord^-fps^feeiiiff r'ihc _, mosr unhealthy capital in Europe. lts^foai-lis we/o 9374 last yc*r in a. vvdpulai tion ,oJF- a.- liftle over half' a> million. - I In" trip* northtrn, part of i? the most loruarkable natural fortress in the ; woi'd. It is ow-apied by a wild tribe, who | cdl ihcwehej the People of the Rocks, i The foilm~s >s j lofty and precipitous rock, 1 of mormons s'ze, 1000 ft high and eipht equal e mi'o-s in area. Its sides are co steep 1 ihaf it eanii"».be climbed without artificial j means. Within it is hollow, and the only I cntianco is b\ a subterranean passage. ! Though some men are popularly said to ' l>e "bain t'red." tHeir mVientcd lassitvad© j docs not prevent them from huvinjr a, keen • cyo to rh<- main chance. " I engaged a man to work on mv farm,"' said a member ] of the Wditotara County Council, and I j paid his fare out and toufiht him a pair Jof boois. Next morninct ho said the job ' wasn't !ro<xl enough, and went back to to"wn with mv boots."
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Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 13
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2,829THE DEATH OF "OUIDA" Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 13
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