'Ah, my heart! her eyes and she
Have taught thee new astrology.
Howe'er Love's native hours were set,
Whatever starry synod met,
'Tis in the mercy of her eye,
If poor Love shall live or die.'
CRASHAW: _Love's Horoscope_.
This slightly-built romance was the outcome of a wish to set the
emotional history of two infinitesimal lives against the stupendous
background of the stellar universe, and to impart to readers the
sentiment that of these contrasting magnitudes the smaller might be the
greater to them as men.
But, on the publication of the book people seemed to be less struck with
these high aims of the author than with their own opinion, first, that
the novel was an 'improper' one in its morals, and, secondly, that it was
intended to be a satire on the Established Church of this country. I was
made to suffer in consequence from several eminent pens.
That, however, was thirteen years ago, and, in respect of the first
opinion, I venture to think that those who care to read the story now
will be quite astonished at the scrupulous propriety observed therein on
the relations of the sexes; for though there may be frivolous, and even
grotesque touches on occasion, there is hardly a single caress in the
book outside legal matrimony, or what was intended so to be.
As for the second opinion, it is sufficient to draw attention, as I did
at the time, to the fact that the Bishop is every inch a gentleman, and
that the parish priest who figures in the narrative is one of its most
estimable characters.
However, the pages must speak for themselves. Some few readers, I
trust--to take a serious view--will be reminded by this imperfect story,
in a manner not unprofitable to the growth of the social sympathies, of
the pathos, misery, long-suffering, and divine tenderness which in real
life frequently accompany the passion of such a woman as Viviette for a
lover several years her junior.
The scene of the action was suggested by two real spots in the part of
the country specified, each of which has a column standing upon it.
Certain surrounding peculiarities have been imported into the narrative
from both sites.
T. H.
July, 1895