Edna Uj 
 
 AN APPRECIAnON 
 with B>Qgr«phkai and Crittcei Note. 
 
 I A, Payme 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IViicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/ednalyallappreciOOpaynrich 
 
"EDNA LYALL." 
 
Mrs. Gaskell and Knutsford, 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. G. A. PAYNE. 
 
 Eleven Illustrations. Introduction by EDNA 
 LYALL. 
 
 Price Si' net, post free, 
 
 London : Gay and Bird ; and all Booksellers. 
 
 PRESS OPINIONS. 
 
 TTie Sphere. — " Every member of the Gaskell cult, both 
 in Great Britain and the United States, will at one time 
 or another visit Knutsford, and a visit to Knutsford will 
 be made much more interesting when it is taken in the 
 company of Mr. Payne's volume." 
 
 The Academy. — " He has made a jileasant little book, 
 with an excellent portrait of Mrs. Gaskell as frontis- 
 piece." 
 
 Manchester Guardian.— ^' There is always some 
 pleasure in reading the expression of genuine enthusi- 
 asm, and such an enthusiasm warms everything that Mr. 
 Payne writes on his subject." 
 
 Manchester Courier.—'^ Delightful little volume." 
 
 Liverpool Daily Post— ^' A very beautiful book." 
 
 The Bookman. — "A pleasant volume. We are 
 grateful for this picture, from the pen of one who knows 
 the little town so well." 
 
 Literary World. — "Lovers of Mrs. Gaskell's stories 
 have cause to thank Mr. Payne for his labour of love." 
 
 The Christian World.—'' These sketches of Knuts- 
 ford will be welcomed. An eminently workmanlike 
 little volume." 
 
 The Inquirer. — '* This is a book pleasantly illustrated, 
 interestingly written, and well printed. In a book of 
 116 pages dealing with such a subject, everything has 
 necessarily to be put briefly, but the parts are fairly 
 balanced, and Mr. Fajne well earns the gratitude of all 
 who have a loving memory of Mrs. Gaskell's delightful 
 and healthful stories, for bringing together into a nut- 
 shell so much interesting information about her and 
 her characters." 
 
^^Edna Lyall:" 
 
 AN APPRECIATION. 
 
 With Biographical and Critical Notes. 
 
 Rev. George A. Payne, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 ** Mrs. Gaskell and Knutsford." 
 
 JOHN HEYWOOD, 
 
 DeANSGATE and RiDGKFlELD, MANCHESTER; 
 
 29 & 30, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Preface 7 
 
 Biographical and Critical 
 
 Notes 13 
 
 Poems 79 
 
 Bibliography 80 
 
 229603 
 
T 
 
I 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Years ago I read " Donovan " and " We 
 Two," and was immensely interested ; so 
 much so, that I have read each subse- 
 quent work by the same authoress soon 
 after its publication with great eagerness. 
 It therefore gives me great pleasure 
 to write an appreciation of " Edna Lyall," 
 which I hope may be successful in yet 
 enlarging the very wide circle of her 
 readers. There may be some who do not 
 share my views, who would perhaps hold 
 that " Edna Lyall " is a superficial writer ; 
 there may be some who will hold that 
 there is far too much insistence on the 
 moral, which I am willing to admit runs 
 through most of her stories; there may 
 be some who will hold that " Edna 
 Lyall," while she has written one or two 
 books of real sterling worth, has never- 
 theless overwritten herself. While I 
 
• -8- • ' • ' • ^ WD^A LYALL. 
 
 shall not claim that she is worthy of a 
 place in the front rank of women 
 novelists, with George Eliot and Char- 
 lotte Bronte and • Mrs. Gaskell, I do 
 claim that she is one of the teachers of 
 our day, who has done a great deal in 
 softening bitterness and prejudice, and in 
 broadening the minds of narrow and 
 small-souled people. She has drawn in 
 " Doreen," for instance, a fair picture, 
 not only of Irish scenery, but of Irish 
 traits and characteristics. She has stood 
 up for the wronged Armenians. She has 
 shown in " We Two " that even an 
 Atheist may possess greater kindness and 
 generosity than many professing Chris- 
 tians ; in " Wayfaring Men " and " Knight 
 Errant " that the actor and public singer 
 have vocations which may be as honour- 
 able as those of what are termed the 
 learned professions; and has shown that 
 Christianity consists in being and doing, 
 and not in professing or believing. 
 
EDNA LYALL. 9 
 
 The biographical portion of this little 
 volume, at least, may be said to be 
 correct as to detail, as " Edna Lyall " was 
 kind enough to read over most of what 
 is contained in this volume, and on 
 August 27th wrote to say, " I have no 
 objection at all to the publication, 
 especially if it is brought up to date." 
 
 The following is a list of magazine 
 and other articles having reference to 
 " Edna Lyall," to the writers of many of 
 which I here gratefully acknowledge my 
 indebtedness: — 
 
 1. "Novels of Edna Lyall." Church 
 
 Quarterly, 1886, Vol. XXIL, page 
 367 ; also Vol. XXXV., page 143. 
 
 2. " Edna Lyall " (portrait). Great 
 
 Thoughts, April 20, 1889, Vol. IL, 
 New Series, No. 42. 
 
 3. " Edna Lyall " (one illustration). 
 
 Dora M. Jones. Young Man, V., 
 August, 259, 1891. 
 
lo EDNA LYALL. 
 
 4. " Interview " (illustrated). Isabel C. 
 
 Oakley. Novel Review, I., Septem- 
 ber, 500, 1892. 
 
 5. " Miss Edna Lyall." Portraits of. 
 
 Strand, IV., December, 589, 1892. 
 
 6. " Illustrated Interview." Frederick 
 
 Dolman. Young Woman, October, 
 1893. 
 
 7. "A Page of Confessions." Woman at 
 
 Home, February, 1894. 
 
 8. "Interview" (illustrated). Ellen 
 Velvin. Windsor Magazine, January, 
 1895. 
 
 9. " Edna Lyall " (one poor illustration). 
 
 A. H. Japp. CasselVs Family 
 
 Magazine, June, 1895. 
 10. " How I became a Novelist." By 
 
 Edna Lyall. Good Words, XXXVII., 
 
 January 28th, 1896. 
 II." Ada Ellen Bayly." Literary World, 
 
 Boston, Vol. XVIII., page 321. 
 12. "Ada Ellen Bayly at Home." F. 
 
 Dolman. Author, Vol. II., page 3. 
 
EDNA LYALL. ii 
 
 13. "Ada Ellen Bayly." Novels. London 
 
 Quarterly, Vol. LXX., page 17. 
 
 14. "Ada Ellen Bayly" (with portrait). 
 Book News, Vol. VIII., page 64. 
 
 15. " Edna Lyall " (illustrated). Mrs. 
 Sarah A. Tooley. Woman at Home, 
 VI., December, 183, 1897. 
 
 16. "Poem by Edna Lyall": "The Critic." 
 
 Lady's Realm, III., December, 128, 
 1897. 
 
 17. "Letter to Edna Lyall." " Deas 
 
 Cromarty." Young Woman, VI., 
 May, 312, 1898. 
 
 18. "My First Success" (illustrated). 
 Lady's Pictorial, March 25th, 1899. 
 
 19. "What Women are Doing." An 
 
 Interview with Edna Lyall (portrait). 
 By Diana. Home Life, No. 42, 1899. 
 
 20. " Edna Lyall at Home." Leily 
 
 Bingen. Young Woman, October, 
 1899. 
 
 21. "Notable Women Authors of the 
 
 Day." Helen C. Black. 
 
12 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 22. " EdnaLyall." The Literary World, 
 January 4th, 1901. 
 
 My thanks are also due to Canon 
 Rawnsley and to- Mr. John P. Nix for 
 their kind permission to use the sonnets 
 which appear at the end of the book. 
 
 George A. Payne. 
 
 Knutsford, May, 1903. 
 
"EDNA LYALL:" 
 
 An Appreciation^ &c. 
 
 AMONG women writers there are few 
 who can be favourably compared 
 with Edna Lyall in popularity, a popu- 
 larity which is richly deserved, and which 
 has steadily grown since the publication 
 of "We Two" in the spring of 1884. 
 
 Ada Ellen Bayly (for " Edna Lyall " is 
 simply an assumed title, and is a trans- 
 position of her real name) comes of a 
 legal family. Her grandfather was a 
 bencher and treasurer of Gray's Inn, and 
 her father a barrister of the Inner 
 Temple. Her only brother, the Rev. 
 Robert Burges Bayly, though a member 
 of the Inner Temple, and still owning 
 his grandfather's chambers in King's 
 Bench Walk, is a clergyman of the Church 
 of England, and vicar of a country 
 
14 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 parish (Bosbury) in Herefordshire. 
 On her mother's side, Edna Lyall is 
 descended from the well-known divine, 
 Thomas Bradbury, who, in Queen Anne's 
 time, went by the name of " Bold Brad- 
 bury " ; his outspoken frankness being 
 tolerated by the courtiers for the sake of 
 his wit. 
 
 We will give a description of the writer 
 before we speak of her interesting stories. 
 Ellen Velvin, one of the many inter- 
 viewers who have been politely received, 
 says of her : " Edna Lyall is slight and 
 fragile in appearance, with a quiet, 
 restful face, full of expression, kindly 
 thoughtful eyes, firm mouth, a high 
 intellectual forehead, and an abundance 
 of dark brown hair. To strangers she is 
 rather shy and reserved. She is full of 
 sympathy and cheery encouragement, ever 
 ready to give practical help and advice, 
 or to do anything in her power to make 
 things a little brighter for others." 
 
EDNA LYALL. 15 
 
 Frederick Dolman says : " In person 
 the authoress is slight of stature, with a 
 small thoughtful face, quiet reflective 
 eyes, broad forehead, and a firm little 
 mouth. The rich brown hair, arranged 
 according to the prevailing fashion, gives 
 an added dignity to the face; while the 
 well-fitting garments, of plain yet good 
 material, tell you that Edna Lyall 
 estimates dress at its proper worth, but 
 at no more than its proper worth. At 
 the outset rather taciturn and reserved 
 in manner, Edna Lyall soon impresses 
 her visitor with the sympathetic sweetness 
 and warm-heartedness of her nature, and 
 this impression one carries down the 
 broad oaken staircase into the streets, to 
 return again and again whenever one's 
 thoughts recur to the popular author in 
 her Eastbourne home." 
 
 Yet another description of Edna Lyall 
 is that by Helen C. Black, in " Notable 
 Women Authors of the Day " : " She is 
 
1 6 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 about the middle height, pale in 
 complexion, with dark hair rolled 
 back from a broad forehead which 
 betokens a strongly intellectual and 
 logical cast of mind. She has well- 
 defined arched eyebrows, and very dark 
 blue eyes, which light up softly as she 
 speaks. Her manner is gentle and 
 sympathetic, and her voice is sweet in 
 tone." 
 
 We can fully endorse all this, so faith- 
 ful a picture is it of the shy and retiring 
 woman, who, nevertheless, was so great 
 in ability and so strong in character. 
 
 The portrait which appeared in the 
 Bookman for March, 1903, is one of the 
 best we have seen. 
 
 Edna Lyall's home was a pictu- 
 resque gabled, red-tiled house, covered 
 with Virginian creeper and ivy, and 
 sheltered by elm trees. It stands in 
 College Road, Eastbourne, and from its 
 upper windows there is a lovely view over 
 
EDNA LYALL. 17 
 
 the woods surrounding the Duke of 
 Devonshire's House, Compton Place, 
 and the South Downs beyond. Here the 
 Novelist resided with her sister and 
 brother-in-law, the Rev. Hampden 
 Jameson, late Senior Curate of S. 
 Saviour's, now Vicar of S. Peter's, East- 
 bourne. At the top of the house, facing 
 the road and the view above mentioned, 
 she had her study daintily fitted up with 
 every convenience, where she could work 
 without disturbing, or being disturbed 
 by, others. It was with great pleasure 
 that we found ourselves, one day in June, 
 1897, in this very room, conversing with 
 the " gentle " woman upon the subject of 
 Mrs. Gaskell and " Cranford," and refer- 
 ring to her appreciation of Mrs. Gaskell, 
 which had just been published in "Women 
 Novelists of Queen Victoria's Reign." 
 
 Noticing what appeared to be a new 
 edition of her works, we asked about it, 
 and said how nice it would be to have 
 
1 8 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 all her works in a uniform binding. 
 Edna Lyall said that she had lent her 
 copies so much to friends that they had 
 been quite knocked to pieces, and she 
 had been obliged tO' have them rebound, 
 naturally enough in a uniform binding. 
 It seemed likely that she knew 
 Unitarians intimately, and sympathised 
 to some extent with their principles, 
 especially when, in " How the children 
 raised the wind," the liberal-minded and 
 generous dissenter was a Unitarian, and 
 bearing in mind the breadth of thought 
 exhibited in " Donovan " and " We Two,'' 
 we were tempted to enquire regarding 
 this matter. She said: "Well, I am a 
 member of the Church of England, but 
 my grandfather — Robert Bayly, of Gray's 
 Inn — was a strong Unitarian, and my 
 father was brought up as one, though 
 later on he joined the English Church. 
 But you will understand from this that 
 I have a special affection for them, and 
 
EDNA LYALL. 19 
 
 often feel indignant at the way in which 
 they are misrepresented, as though they 
 were not Christians at all, when they put 
 their attackers to shame by the noble, 
 generous, Christlike lives they live. One 
 of the books I value most is my father's 
 well-worn copy of ' Endeavours after the 
 Christian Life,' by Dr. Martineau." 
 
 It would have been almost impossible 
 for her to have been narrow or bigoted 
 when among her chief favourites in books 
 were the writings of Charles Kingsley, 
 Fredk. Robertson, Fredk. Denison 
 Maurice, Whittier, Lowell, and Emerson. 
 
 To return once more to the room. 
 On the bookshelf stood the latest portrait 
 of Mr. Gladstone, for whom the author 
 had the highest respect and admiration, 
 and of whose Irish policy she was a warm 
 supporter. In his near neighbourhood 
 we found the portrait of that grand old 
 tory, Sir Walter Scott. Close by was 
 Charles Lamb, among the books he loved. 
 
20 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 In one corner was a little group of 
 seventeenth century patriots — John 
 Hampden and Algernon Sydney, armed 
 for the fight, and with their mottoes 
 encircling them; Cromwell, stern and 
 resolute, Milton as a child, with long 
 waving hair. 
 
 Edna Lyall was one of the Vice- 
 Presidents of the Women's Liberal 
 Association in Eastbourne, and was very 
 much interested in all local concerns. 
 She held an informal class, which met 
 in her room ever^^ Sunday afternoon. 
 It was formed of female shop assistants 
 in Eastbourne, many of whose homes 
 were far removed. Their interest was 
 roused in the leading topics of the day. 
 They also read and sung a little, finishing 
 with afternoon tea. These girls often 
 helped the poor in the West of Ireland, 
 and were interested in the Armenians. 
 
 Edna Lyall delighted in water-colour 
 painting, and found it an absorbing 
 
EDNA LYALL. 21 
 
 interest. She wrote with a Remington 
 typewriter. She generally sent about six 
 titles for each book, allowing her pub- 
 lisher to choose; as he did in the case 
 of "To Right the Wrong," which she 
 would have preferred to call " The 
 Serving of Joscelyn." 
 
 She was bom in Brighton, in 1857, 
 and lived at Brighton, Lincoln, and East- 
 bourne. Her father and mother died 
 when she was young, and for six years 
 she lived with her guardian, Mr. T. B. 
 Winter, at Caterham. 
 
 " Won by Waiting," " Donovan," and 
 " We Two " were written in Lincoln ; 
 nearly all the rest in the interesting room 
 at the top of the house in College Road, 
 Eastbourne. Lincoln in the olden times 
 was introduced into " To Right the 
 Wrong." 
 
 While at school at Brighton she used 
 to write a good deal, and seems to have 
 resolved to become a novelist. In 1879 
 
22 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 " Won by Waiting " was published. It 
 was written before she had visited 
 France, and she encountered great diffi- 
 culties in getting books having reference 
 to the Franco-Prussian War. Felix 
 Whitehurst's " Diary of the Siege of 
 Paris," and the republished Daily News 
 War Correspondence were her chief 
 books of reference. It was a good story, 
 but was not well received, and in 1882 
 " Donovan " appeared in three volumes. 
 This, too, though well reviewed, was an 
 utter failure. It was written at intervals 
 during three years. No one could 
 regret, said Edna Lyall, having been 
 forced to face the problems which 
 Donovan had to face, and I am very 
 thankful to have had that struggle. I 
 wanted to draw the picture of a perfectly 
 isolated man and his gradual awakening. 
 He had, of course, to begin by professing 
 himself an atheist and a misanthrope; 
 but very soon he began to love a child, 
 
EDNA LYALL. 23 
 
 then a dog, then a woman. By these 
 means he came to realise his selfishness, 
 and to detest it: he began to love 
 humanity, to pity and help his worst 
 enemy, and finally to love the highest, 
 when he saw it. 
 
 It was not to be expected that one who 
 had been brought up under the influences 
 which surrounded Donovan Farrant could 
 have very clear or very good ideas about 
 religion. Brought up under the influence 
 of Mrs. Doery, from the age of three to 
 the age of eight — that period when the 
 child's mind is so active and so impres- 
 sible—a person who could not abide a 
 noise and who taught him that God was 
 a being who loved good people and hated 
 bad people, with no motherly affection, 
 no motherly sympathy; placed under 
 the influence of a tutor who was clever 
 but shallow, a man who had dabbled in 
 science and rather prided himself on 
 being able to appreciate the difficulties 
 
24 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 which great minds found in reconciling 
 the new discoveries of science and the 
 old faiths ; and then, at the age of eight, 
 living beside, for this is all that it was, a 
 mother Avho went to Church because it 
 was proper, we could not expect Donovan 
 to grow up Avith any sympathy for religion 
 or with any respect for religious opinions. 
 We are attracted by the devotion of 
 Donovan to his invalid sister Dot, by the 
 powerful lifelike sketches of the gay, 
 frivolous, and heartless mother, who- loved 
 her society novel and her spoilt Pomera- 
 nian more than her children, though one 
 of them suffered from hip disease, and 
 required a mothers tender care. We 
 are interested in the well-drawn character 
 of that diabolical schemer, Ellis Farrant, 
 who, after destroying the will which was 
 made in Donovan's favour, set himself to 
 win the hand of Donovan's mother in 
 order to secure the property he had thus 
 ruthlessly filched. 
 
EDNA LYALL. 25 
 
 One of the most pathetic scenes in 
 " Donovan " is the death of Little Dot. 
 Her heartless mother, notwithstanding 
 the child's serious illness, had invited 
 seventy people to a dance, and Donovan, 
 who was usually regarded as an unsociable 
 being, remained with his dying sister to 
 the end. This passage is an example of 
 the writer's vivid power of description 
 and her intense pathos. 
 
 Out of the proceeds of " Donovan " 
 she gave three fine bells in completion 
 of a peal for S. Saviour's Church, East- 
 bourne, one being christened " Donovan," 
 another " Erica," and the third " Hugo," 
 after three of the principal characters in 
 her books. 
 
 During 1883 *^^ manuscript of "We 
 Two " was refused by half a dozen 
 publishers; but in the spring of 1884 it 
 was finally launched forth into the world 
 of books, and proved a great success. 
 
 Writing with reference to that disap- 
 
26 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 pointing time, Edna Lyall said : " I well 
 remember turning into St. Paul's one day 
 after the sorrows of Paternoster Row, 
 and miserably wondering whether I must, 
 after all, give up. I made up my mind 
 to go on until the list of publishers was 
 exhausted, and as I walked down the 
 south aisle a little thing gave me fresh 
 courage. I caught sight of the monument 
 of one of our kinsfolk who was killed at 
 Camperdown — Captain Burges, R.N. — 
 and I thought ' You died fighting : I'll 
 die fighting, too.' " 
 
 Edna Lyall thus had to face a great 
 deal of hard uphill work before her worth 
 was recognised, but now her place is 
 assured among women writers of the late 
 Queen's reign. 
 
 In " Donovan " the author enlisted 
 our sympathies with a hero beset by 
 intellectual doubts ; while in " We Two " 
 we were led to sympathise with the perse- 
 cuted atheist, a character in whom every- 
 
EDNA LYALL. 27 
 
 one was quick to recognise Mr. Brad- 
 laugh. Edna Lyall said that although 
 the persecution of Mr. Bradlaugh, which 
 was going on at the time, suggested the 
 central idea of her novel, she was not 
 personally acquainted with him until half 
 through the story ; and his daughter, who 
 might have stood for the devoted heroine 
 of the book, she did not meet until sqme 
 time afterwards. 
 
 A line in the Daily News, she said, 
 suggested to her mind the story of 
 " We Two," with its two principal 
 characters. It was an account of the 
 late Mr. Bradlaugh's imprisonment in the 
 Clock tower, which finished with the 
 words, " Mr. Bradlaugh has telegraphed 
 for his daughter." " I pictured to myself 
 the devotion of his daughter at such a 
 crisis in his stormy life, and thought of 
 the strength and support it must have 
 given to him." 
 
 The novel was founded on Mr. Brad- 
 
28 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 laugh's career to a very large extent, 
 though Edna Lyall never put a real 
 person actually into a novel. She first 
 wrote Mr. Bradlaugh regarding a review 
 of " Donovan " which had appeared in 
 his paper, The National Reformer, and 
 while she was writing " We TwO' " the 
 correspondence was continued. Then 
 she met Mr. Bradlaugh in London, and 
 had a good talk with him about 
 secularism, and this helped her very 
 much in drawing the character of 
 Raeburn. She was deeply grieved to 
 hear of his death. 
 
 The reader will remember the descrip- 
 tion of Luke Raeburn given in the second 
 chapter of " We Two " ; but in passing let 
 us notice that the two quotations at the 
 head of this chapter, from Longfellow 
 and Whittier, are decidedly appropriate — 
 
 '' Only the acrid spirit of the times 
 Corroded this true steel." 
 
EDNA LYALL. 29 
 
 " Not thine the bigot's partial plea, 
 Not thine the zealot's ban, 
 Thou well canst spare a love of Thee 
 Which ends in hate of man." 
 
 " Luke Raeburn was the son of a 
 Scotch clergyman of the Episcopal 
 Church. His history, though familiar to 
 his own followers and to them more 
 powerfully convincing than many argu- 
 ments against modern Christianity, was 
 not generally known. The orthodox were 
 apt to content themselves with shuddering 
 at the mention of his name ; very few 
 troubled themselves to think or inquire 
 how this man had been driven into 
 atheism. Had they done so, they might, 
 perhaps, have treated him more con- 
 siderately; at any rate, they must have 
 learnt that the much-disliked prophet of 
 atheism was the most disinterested of 
 men, one who had the courage of his 
 opinions, a man of fearless honesty." 
 
30 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 The reader will also remember the little 
 speech of Mr. Randolph, which has been 
 attributed to a certain member of Parlia- 
 ment : " Mr. Chairman, — I denounce my 
 opponent as a liar. His accusation is 
 utterly false. I deny the allegation, and 
 I scorn the allegator ! " To which 
 Raeburn replied — a reply quite charac- 
 teristic of Bradlaugh : " My enemies 
 have compared me to many obnoxious 
 things, but never till to-night have I been 
 called a crocodile! Possibly Mr. 
 Randolph has been reading of the 
 crocodiles recently dissected at Paris. 
 It has been discovered that they are 
 almost brainless. I believe, however, that 
 the power of their jaw is unsurpassed ! " 
 
 In an introduction to " Farnham and 
 its Surroundings," one of the Homeland 
 Handbooks published in, 1900, which 
 Edna Lyall wrote for Mr. Home, she 
 said, referring to Farnham, which she 
 frequently visited: — 
 
EDNA LYALL. 31 
 
 " Down there, in the old family house 
 (in West Street), I well remember begin- 
 ning one sunny August morning the first 
 chapter of ^ We Two.' It was at the time 
 when England was plunged in the bitter 
 controversy on the question of the Parlia- 
 mentary oath. In the white-towered 
 church, moreover, I am bound to confess 
 that the first idea of ' To Right the 
 Wrong ' occurred to me ; and as a girl, 
 I well remember being haunted during 
 dull sermons by the scene in which 
 Joscelyn Heyworth is brought a prisoner 
 intO' the church and forced to give up his 
 sword. Dozens of times, sitting in the 
 south transept, I have, in imagination, 
 watched the whole performance." 
 
 " In the Golden Days " was published 
 in 1885. This is the story which Mrs. 
 Arthur Severn was reading to Mr. Ruskin 
 just before his death. It is the only one 
 of her works which has been dramatised 
 except " In Spite of All," which we shall 
 mention later. 
 
32 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 When a little girl, Edna Lyall had 
 delighted in paying a yearly visit to an 
 aunt living at Badmondesfield Hall, in 
 Suffolk. It is this interesting old hall which 
 stands for the Mondisfield Hall of " In 
 the Golden Days." Before writing this 
 w^ork she spent day after day at the 
 British Museum poring over seventeenth 
 century books and papers. In this story 
 the interest of the reader is not only 
 thoroughly roused, but it is also main- 
 tained throughout a series of daring plots 
 and stirring incidents. Here follow 
 extracts from this story as examples of 
 this style of writing. We have heard it 
 said that these plots are very wooden, 
 and never surprise anybody. We will 
 leave the reader to judge for himself. 
 
 " Sir William and old Jeremiah having 
 joined them in the cell and discussed all 
 the details with Scroop, the gaoler, it 
 only remained to fix the time of the 
 escape. ' We shall let fall,' said Sir 
 
EDNA LYALL. 33 
 
 William, ^ that you are not long for this 
 world. Scroop will tell the Governor 
 there is no hope for you, which in truth 
 will be the case an you stay here much 
 longer. Then in the night you will die ; 
 next evening we will send a coffin for 
 your remains, with bearers who can be 
 trusted.' ' Your honour could not have 
 planned it better,' said Scroop, taking 
 grim delight in all the arrangements. 
 ^ Well, then, do you second our efforts 
 faithfully, and if all is brought to a happy 
 issue, then come to my house this day 
 se'n night and I will give you twenty 
 golden guineas ! ' ' There's one thing 
 more, sir,' said the gaoler, just as the 
 visitors were preparing to leave, * the 
 coffin, sir; you must measure Mr. 
 Wharncliffe ! ' " 
 
 " In the meantime Hugo, almost beside 
 himself with the thought of all the possi- 
 bilities of the next few hours, made such 
 preparations as he could for the escape. 
 
 c 
 
34 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 He begged his old servant Jeremiah to 
 see that his three beloved books were 
 placed with him in the coffin, then rest- 
 lessly pacing the cell, began to discuss 
 the future with the old man. The first 
 difficulty arose when Jeremiah was saying 
 good-bye. ^ For the last time, dear lad, 
 for the last time,' he said. He had 
 heard the door unlocked, but did not 
 trouble to turn round, thinking it was 
 Scroop. You may judge of his dismay 
 when he turned round and confronted the 
 Governor of Newgate, who demanded, 
 in a harsh voice, ^ Why for the last 
 time ? ' The next difficulty was when 
 Hugo was already in his coffin, carefully 
 screwed down, when the Governor again 
 unexpectedly made his appearance and 
 asked where the prisoner's irons were. 
 Scroop had forgotten to take them off, 
 and was compelled to unscrew the coffin 
 and file off the irons while the Governor 
 stood by asking why he had buried his 
 
EDNA LYALL. 35 
 
 books with him, thus robbing him of his 
 dues. He stooped and picked up the 
 Republic of Plato, hastily glancing 
 through the contents. As he did so the 
 oak-leaf which Algernon Sydney had 
 placed in the book on that spring day in 
 Penshurst Park fluttered out from between 
 the pages and fell exactly on Hugo's 
 mouth. He knew what it must be, he 
 could feel the leaf gently moving with 
 every breath he drew ; in another instant 
 the Governor must notice it. That was 
 the last straw! he had endured much, 
 but this was too much for him. He 
 fainted away. 'Well, well,' said the 
 Governor, * he seems to have but a dry 
 library. I care not for it. His friends 
 are welcome to such books as these.' 
 He placed them in the coffin, and bent 
 down for a last look at the corpse, 
 removing the oak-leaf from his face. As 
 he did so his hand came into contact 
 with the cheek; he drew back with a 
 
36 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 shudder." The coffin was again screwed 
 up, he was borne away, and thus rescued 
 from a loathsome dungeon. 
 
 The portrait of Algernon Sydney is 
 intended to be historical, as also is the 
 picture of John Hampden in " To Right 
 the Wrong." Extracts are taken from 
 the works of Algernon Sydney, and there 
 are many evidences of the care which 
 Edna Lyall must have taken in her desire 
 to present a true picture of the man to 
 the minds of her readers. This attention 
 to the minutest detail is noticeable in 
 her description of Will's Coffee House, 
 and in her rapid sketches of Matthew 
 Prior, Dryden, and Betterton the actor, 
 as well as in her acquaintance with the 
 songs and music of the period. 
 
 " Their Happiest Christmas " was pub- 
 lished in 1886. It is a small book, but 
 interesting nevertheless. 
 
 "Knight Errant," published in 1887, 
 is a very charming stor}% having reference 
 
EDNA LYALL. 37 
 
 to the life of a public singer. It shows 
 Edna Lyall's great love of music and 
 knowledge of composers and their 
 compositions, as is also the case in 
 " Donovan " and " Doreen." In " Knight 
 Errant " the chief idea seems to be to 
 show that though many do not account 
 it so, the life, the vocation of the 
 professional singer is as honest, and 
 useful too, as is the life of the minister 
 or the doctor. Though none of our 
 readers may doubt it, many people do, 
 even in this advanced age ! 
 
 Another small, though wonderfully 
 well-written story, "The Autobiography 
 of a Slander," was published in 1887. 
 Our edition is dated 1890, and so far back 
 in time was the 39th to the 41st 
 thousand. It gives the seven stages of a 
 slander's progress from its birth to the 
 grand -finale, showing the vast amount of 
 injur)' caused to an innocent man who 
 has been vilelv slandered. 
 
38 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 " I dislike novels with a purpose, as 
 much as anyone," says Edna Lyall ; " but 
 at the same time it seems to me that each 
 book must have its own particular motive. 
 Nevertheless, * The Autobiography of a 
 Slander ' was written with a purpose, and 
 was suggested by a very disagreeable 
 incident. On returning from one of the 
 delightful Norwegian tours, I was greeted 
 on every side with a persistent report that 
 had been set afloat to the effect that I 
 was in a lunatic asylum ! We found out 
 at this time that an impostor had been 
 going about announcing that she was 
 ' Edna Lyall,' and that in Ceylon, and 
 during her voyage home, she had 
 deceived many people. The only possible 
 explanation of the lunatic asylum slander 
 seems to be that this woman was in 
 reality mad. But this episode was 
 decidedly unpleasant, and set me thinking 
 on the birth and growth of such 
 monstrously untrue reports. During 1886 
 
EDNA LYALL. 39 
 
 I wrote the little story, taking different 
 types of gossip for each stage in the 
 slander's growth and baleful power — the 
 gossip of small dull towns, of country 
 life, of cathedral precincts, of London 
 clubs, and the gossip of members of my 
 own profession in search of ' copy.' " 
 
 The object of the book is to warn 
 people against that vague nonentity, " the 
 best authority," which has given tone and 
 colour to the most vile and mischievous 
 slanders that have ever been uttered. 
 
 Thomas a Kempis says : "Alas ! such 
 is our weakness that we often more 
 readily believe that which is evil than 
 that which is good. But perfect men do 
 not easily give credit to every report, 
 because they know man's weakness, which 
 is very prone to evil, and very subject 
 to fail in words." " The Autobiography 
 of a Slander " undoubtedly helps to 
 correct this weakness. 
 
 In 1889 "A Hardy Norseman" was 
 
40 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 published ; and in the same year a 
 smaller, but not a lesser work, " Derrick 
 Vaughan, the Stor}^ of a Novelist." 
 
 " Derrick Vaughan " is an absorbing 
 love story, the hero undergoing much 
 suffering throughout his early years owing 
 to his noble and unselfish devotion to a 
 father who was unworthy of his tender 
 regard, and finally gaining the apprecia- 
 tion he deserved as a writer of fiction, and 
 the hand of Miss Freda Merrifield, the 
 lady he adored. 
 
 " Derrick Vaughan " is largely auto- 
 biographical. It is interesting to note 
 that the productions of the child of 
 eight at Mondisfield proved to be the 
 germs of what became celebrated stories ; 
 and that Derrick himself maintained 
 " that his picture of life during the Civil 
 War would have been much less graphic 
 had he not lived so much in the past 
 during his various visits to Mondisfield." 
 
 Again we have the personal experiences 
 
EDNA LYALL. 41 
 
 of the writer. Derrick's second story — 
 "At Strife " — having proved a great 
 success, calling forth edition after edition, 
 people began to discover the merits of 
 " Lynwood's Heritage," his first story, 
 which he had counted a dead failure, 
 but which now had a terrific sale. As a 
 matter of fact, very few people had read 
 " Donovan " until " We Two " appeared. 
 
 " A Hardy Norseman " is well con- 
 structed and entertaining. Norway's 
 glorious scenery is faithfully and 
 charmingly described. It struck us, 
 when we read the story, that the meeting 
 of Frithiof with Roy Boniface, at Hyde 
 Park Comer, at the most critical moment 
 in his life, was somewhat forced and 
 unnatural; and the bank-note incident 
 seemed almost impossible. But we are 
 inclined to think, on calm reflection, that 
 as great surprises as these actually do 
 occur in our everyday experience. 
 
 The pathetic story of the tram 
 
42 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 conductor working sixteen hours a day, 
 and thus assisting the directors to gain 
 their nine per cent, is well told. In this 
 story there is a reference to " Wives suid 
 Daughters " being the book which gives 
 the best description of English home life. 
 
 We will quote two short passages, 
 in order to show her correct reading of 
 character, and her wisdom. 
 
 " Certainly it is true that sanguine 
 people have to buy their experience by 
 bitter pain and loss " ; and " it is God's 
 way to reveal Himself through man, 
 though we are for ever trying to improve 
 upon His way, and endeavouring to 
 convert others by articles of religion 
 instead of by the beauty of holiness." 
 
 Her characters are consistent and 
 lifelike. 
 
 It is interesting to note that that all 
 her stories have been translated into 
 Norse. 
 
 " To Right the Wrong," written origin- 
 
EDNA LYALL. 43 
 
 ally for Good WordSy was published in 
 1892. It was a book brimful of interest 
 from beginning to end, dealing with Edna 
 Lyall's favourite period of historical 
 research, the seventeenth century, and 
 contains a good account of the Civil Wars 
 from the Parliamentarian point of view, 
 a lifelike sketch of John Hampden, 
 and various quotations from, showing a 
 perfect acquaintance with, the sermons 
 of Benjamin Whichcote, a celebrated 
 English divine, who was born in 16 10 
 and died in 1683. 
 
 "The state of religion," continued 
 Whichcote quietly, " seems to me to 
 consist in a divine frame and temper of 
 mind, and shows itself in a life and 
 actions conformable to the Divine will. 
 Religion is not a hearsay, a presumption, 
 a supposition, is not a customary profes- 
 sion, is not an affectation of any mode, is 
 not a piety of particular fancy, consisting 
 in some pathetic devotions, vehement 
 
44 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 expressions, bodily severities, affected 
 anomalies, and aversions from the 
 innocent ways of others; but consisteth 
 in a profound humility and an universal 
 charity." 
 
 Joscelyn Heyworth and Clemency 
 Coriton are the chief characters, round 
 whom a beautiful romance is woven. 
 
 Original Sin Smith is an amusing 
 character, and shows Edna LyalFs bitter 
 hatred of hypocrites and whining syco- 
 phants. We will give one more quotation 
 from " To Right the Wrong." 
 
 " We go through life in two ways, 
 either as lovers of uniformity, jealously 
 shrinking from all that offends our taste 
 and shocks our views of truth; or as 
 lovers of unity, holding fast through evil 
 report and good report to that love of 
 humanity, that great quality of brother- 
 hood, which will outlast all differences in 
 religion and in politics." 
 
 In 1893 Edna Lyall wrote a preface to 
 
EDNA LYALL. 45 
 
 Mrs. Wyndham Knight-Bruce's " Life of 
 Khama," that most interesting South 
 African chief, who, in one of his first 
 proclamations to his people, entirely 
 forbade witchcraft, and banished the 
 witch-doctors. In this preface she says: 
 " As a rule, we candidly admit that 
 missionary literature has no attractions 
 for us, and that to listen to the dry details 
 of Church work among far-away tribes — 
 read perhaps to an assembly of ladies 
 stitching away at unbleached calico 
 ' kissaboues ' — is a severe trial. But in 
 this sketch of Khama we have the vivid 
 portrayal of a most noble character." 
 
 " How the Children Raised the Wind," 
 published Christmas, 1895, is the pretty 
 little story to which we have already 
 referred. 
 
 " The Autobiography of a Truth " was 
 written in 1896, and was, in a small 
 compass, a most eloquent appeal to all 
 lovers of freedom to stand up for the 
 
46 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 wronged Armenian against the blood- 
 thirsty Turk. The proceeds of this book, 
 which amounted to a considerable sum 
 in a month or two, were generously given 
 by the writer to the Armenian Relief 
 Fund. It is a work of fiction which to 
 a large extent is based upon fact, and 
 these facts have been most carefully 
 collected from various authentic sources. 
 The story of the hero and his sufferings 
 causes us tO' think that the writer must 
 have had in mind the facts relating to the 
 life and sufferings of Prof. Thoumaian. 
 There are a few very striking passages. 
 Among them we would note : — 
 
 " Well, but many people seem to think 
 that faith is that vegetable sort of virtue 
 of staying still and doing nothing, and 
 expecting that things will right them- 
 selves," said the American girl, laughing. 
 *' I don't want to say anything harsh, but 
 really there does seem a good deal of 
 ' cant ' as to faith. That is why it is so 
 
EDNA LYALL. 47 
 
 refreshing to hear you say, as you did just 
 now, that it is through the fearless right- 
 doing of each of us that God works His 
 will in the world." 
 
 And again, " All the power of God is 
 with the nation which will only decide 
 to be just and fear not." 
 
 The story is concerning a young 
 Armenian — Kaspar Sefarian — who left 
 his father's business in New York in order 
 to take a post in the Armenian College 
 of Vosdan. His father was an Armenian 
 merchant who had a good business in 
 New York, and the prospects of the son 
 were good, but he had decided to go and 
 help to teach his countrymen. He is 
 engaged to a young American lady, Faith 
 Revere, who is staying in Switzerland 
 with her invalid father. Kaspar and 
 M. Kemalion ride over into a neighbour- 
 ing village to visit a sick man, and on 
 the way they notice a wedding party, 
 looking gay and happy. None of them 
 
48 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 carry arms with which to defend them- 
 selves in case of necessity, for no 
 Armenian is allowed to carry gun or 
 pistol. On their return journey they 
 find the gay and festive company in the 
 greatest possible distress, for a party of 
 Kurds had suddenly arrived and tried to 
 carry off the bride. The father and 
 bridegroom, resisting this attack, are 
 killed, but the bride is rescued by Kaspar 
 Sefarian. From that time forth they are 
 regarded by the Turkish officials as 
 objects of hatred and suspicion. At 
 length they are arrested on the charge 
 of being concerned in the recently- 
 discovered seditious conspiracy, and are 
 thrown into gaol; where heavy wooden 
 manacles are fastened upon their 
 wrists, and they are compelled to mix 
 with murderers and thieves. Some of 
 the prisoners are promised release by the 
 Turkish officials if they will swear that 
 these Armenians are engaged in political 
 
EDNA LYALL. 49 
 
 intrigues. To their honour be it said 
 that many of them refuse to do so. They 
 are removed from prison to prison, and 
 undergo the most horrible tortures with 
 the object of reducing them to such a 
 state of weakness that they will confess 
 to a lie rather than suffer further torture. 
 They, however, have strength to remain 
 faithful to truth, and are then subjected 
 to a mock trial and condemned to death. 
 Meanwhile M. Kemalion's sister, who is 
 in England collecting subscriptions for 
 the relief of the suffering Armenians, is 
 able to influence members of Parliament 
 so that the British Government commu- 
 nicate with the Sublime Porte. The 
 prisoners are offered life and liberty if 
 they will accept Mohammed. This 
 failing, the Sultan pardons them, com- 
 muting their sentences to perpetual exile. 
 The Sultan receives further communica- 
 tions from the British Government, and 
 they are set at liberty. Whereupon Kaspar 
 
 D 
 
so EDNA LYALL. 
 
 journeys to England, after a time marries 
 Faith Revere, who has undergone terrible 
 anxiety concerning the fate of her lover, 
 and the story ends. 
 
 It is an interesting story, but its chief 
 value does not lie sO' much in its literary 
 merits, and it has literary merits, as in 
 its faithfulness to the truth of the condi- 
 tion of things then existing in Armenia, 
 Edna Lyall deserved the thanks of 
 her country men and women for so 
 generously placing her gifts at the service 
 of the suffering Armenians. 
 
 " Doreen," the story of a singer, pub- 
 lished in 1894, is the best work Edna 
 Lyall has written. Her descriptions of 
 Irish scenery are faithfully drawn. She 
 states the case for Home Rule very 
 strongly ; or, to put it another way, she 
 elicits the sympathy of the reader in 
 favour of the down-trodden and much 
 oppressed and persecuted Irishman, and 
 writes a story which is deeply interesting. 
 
EDNA LYALL. 51 
 
 The treatment of the Irish peasant by 
 the landlord, through his grasping agent, 
 is aptly put by John Desmond, Max 
 Hereford's tutor: " Because the man has 
 made a garden out of a wilderness, 
 because he has toiled while the landlord 
 played, and starved while the landlord 
 feasted, you double his rent." The hero 
 of the story. Max Hereford, a youth of 
 eighteen, the heir of Monkton Verney, 
 while staying with his mother at Castle 
 Karey, makes the acquaintance of the 
 heroine, Doreen O'Ryan, a girl of twelve, 
 who is living with her mother and younger 
 brother some distance from the castle. 
 The thrilling episode of the drowning of 
 Foxell, the agent, and the necessity for 
 Max and Doreen to keep their knowledge 
 of it a secret throughout life, is the begin- 
 ning of an understanding which in course 
 of time deepened into love. Both are 
 called upon to suffer, but after much 
 misunderstanding they make a happy 
 
52 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 marriage. The story is full of the 
 sorrows and woes of Ireland, and many 
 are the sad, but true, stories of heartless 
 eviction. A good word is said for the 
 Irish priest, who is devoted to his flock. 
 Speaking of Father Monahan, the writer 
 says : " All his life he had been toiling 
 among them, shepherding them with that 
 wonderful individual care which perhaps 
 reaches its highest development among 
 the best and most conscientious of the 
 parish priests in rural Ireland." 
 
 Mr. Justin McCarthy, M.P., says of 
 " Doreen " and its author in the columns 
 of the New York Independent : " Edna 
 Lyall did me the honour to consult me 
 about a scheme of hers for going over 
 to Ireland, and writing a story of Irish 
 life from the point of view of a thoroughly 
 sympathetic Englishwoman. She carried 
 out her idea with great success in the 
 literary sense, and she made herself much 
 loved among the Irish peasantry in many 
 
EDNA LYALL. 53 
 
 parts of Ireland by the manner in which 
 she set herself to help their cottage 
 industries, and the intense interest which 
 she took in all that tended to promote the 
 welfare of the country. She loved to 
 study many aspects of life, and it was 
 always a great pleasure to me to act as 
 her escort to the House of Commons and 
 find her a seat in the Ladies' Gallery, 
 and talk over the debate with her on the 
 terrace." 
 
 Edna Lyall said a strong word about 
 literary critics in "Derrick Vaughan," 
 and it is interesting to see what she says 
 in this story about musical critics: 
 
 " It is horrible to think how much 
 depends on a few lines in a paper. And 
 if the writer happens to be in a bad 
 temper, or to have the toothache, ten to 
 one he will visit this discomfort on 
 others, and put in words of carping criti- 
 cism that may ruin a singer's reputation." 
 
 An interesting historical fact is noted 
 on page 104: — 
 
54 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 " The ' Messiah ' was first performed in 
 Dublin, and the proceeds were given to 
 the Distressed Prisoners' Fund. It was 
 the performance when all the great ladies 
 agreed to leave ofF their hoops, that 
 there might be more room." 
 
 Noble sentences like the following are 
 scattered throughout each one of Edna 
 Lyall's stories : " People must either use 
 their sorrows as stepping-stones, or be 
 crushed beneath the weight of them." 
 
 She was a great believer in Mr. Glad- 
 stone, and enthusiastically approved of 
 his Irish policy, and the one occasion 
 upon which she spoke at a public meeting 
 was in support of Home Rule. She 
 moved a resolution in favour of it, and 
 she did it in just eight words. She 
 believed in women's influence in politics, 
 and she liked them to exert that influence, 
 but in a quiet and womanly way. At all 
 events, for her own part, she was too 
 modest and diffident to take any promi- 
 nent place in political agitation. 
 
EDNA LYALL. 55 
 
 " Wayfaring Men," written for Good 
 Words, 1897, and published in the same 
 year, has reference to the stage, and 
 claims a more tolerant view of actors 
 and actresses, against whom a large class 
 of so-called religious people still level a 
 great deal of bigotry and narrow- 
 mindedness. Besides this, it pleads for 
 the equalisation of the English law of 
 divorce. 
 
 Sir Matthew Mactavish is well drawn. 
 He is the benevolent company promoter 
 who poses as a philanthropist, and robs 
 his wards and the public generally. 
 
 The Jabez Balfour frauds may have 
 had something to do with suggesting 
 this novel. Macneillie is not at all unlike 
 in many ways Mr. F. R. Benson, and 
 Ralph Denmead is a noble character. 
 
 We have culled two or three short 
 extracts from " Wayfaring Men," which 
 will show, we think, Edna Lyall's good, 
 sound common sense: — 
 
56 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 "Jealousy can only rest long and com- 
 fortably in narrow and cramped hearts, 
 where self-love and petty absorption in 
 trifles has contracted the space." 
 
 " For Doreen never patronised people, 
 she mothered them ; and between these 
 two forms of helpfulness there lies a 
 world of difference." 
 
 " Nourished on skimmed newspaper, 
 hashed review articles, minced magazines 
 in the form of summaries, and short 
 stories of doubtful morality, was it likely 
 that their brains could be in a condition 
 to receive good wholesome literary food ? " 
 
 On the 6th of January, 1899, in the 
 columns of the Christian World, a new 
 story by Edna Lyall was begun, bearing 
 the title, " Hope the Hermit, a Romance 
 of Borrowdale." I quote from the 
 publisher's announcement : — 
 
 " It is a love story, and treats of the 
 days of the English Revolution, the 
 accession of William and Mary, and the 
 Jacobite plots with which the Queen had 
 
EDNA LYALL. 57 
 
 to contend while King William was away 
 at the war. The scene is chiefly laid in 
 the neighbourhood of Keswick or in 
 London. Among the real characters 
 introduced are Archbishop Tillotson, 
 George Fox, the Quaker, and Lady 
 Temple, so well known from the charming 
 love letters of Dorothy Osborne." 
 
 Once again we find our interest carried 
 on through plot and incident and most 
 thrilling adventure. Once again we are 
 introduced to historical personages whose 
 traits and characteristics have been 
 carefully studied. Once again our 
 sympathies are aroused on behalf 
 of the persecuted and despised. The 
 character of Nathaniel Radcliffe, one 
 of the leaders among the Quakers, 
 is clearly depicted. One of the most 
 entrancing scenes is when the heroine, 
 Audrey, who has journeyed to London 
 from the Lake district to do what 
 she can to secure her lover's release from 
 the Tower, is taken in a sedan chair 
 
58 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 to visit Lady Temple, who has great 
 influence at Court. While holding a 
 conference with that lady, the chairmen 
 are drugged at a tavern quite near at 
 hand, owing to the diabolical designs of 
 Henry Brownrigg, a would-be suitor; 
 their coats and hats are exchanged, and 
 two strange men, though apparently the 
 same, carry her away to a house which 
 becomes for the time her prison. 
 
 " All at once she was recalled from her 
 pleasant imaginings by feeling that her 
 men were slackening their pace. Looking 
 out of the window, she saw that they were 
 in a quiet lane, and that the men were 
 pausing before a lonely house standing 
 in a walled garden. To her amazement, 
 their arrival seemed to be expected, for 
 the door was flung open, and the men, 
 taking no heed whatever of her rapping 
 on the window and calling out that they 
 were taking her to the wrong house, 
 carried the chair right in and set it down 
 in the lobby. Then all at once she 
 
EDNA LYALL. 59 
 
 realised that, although a sedan chair may 
 be a most comfortable conveyance, it has 
 one serious drawback; when once you 
 are shut into it you are absolutely at the 
 mercy of other people, and can by no 
 possibility get free without help. All the 
 tales she had ever heard of wicked cities, 
 and of luckless ladies decoyed into 
 dangerous places, came suddenly back 
 to her memory. Her sole hope seemed 
 to be with the chairmen, for she had 
 heard Mistress Denham especially order 
 old Thomas to see that steady men they 
 had employed before were chosen. * Take 
 me out,' she cried ; ' carry me to Norfolk 
 Street, and Sir William Denham will 
 reward you.' " 
 
 And at that the bearers for an instant 
 showed themselves at the window to 
 shake their heads and reject the offer. 
 
 " ' Doan't be afraid, missus, you're safe 
 enough,' said one; and Audrey, to her 
 horror, noticed for the first time that they 
 were not the men who had brought her, 
 
6o EDNA LYALL. 
 
 though they were dressed in precisely the 
 same clothes. It was but for a moment 
 that she saw them ; then they tramped 
 across the lobby, and Audrey heard the 
 opening and closing of the front door; 
 after that an ominous silence reigned in 
 the house. The horror of this was almost 
 more than she could endure. Covering 
 her face with her hands, she tried desper- 
 ately to think what she could do. Quiet 
 as the place was, she could scarcely 
 imagine it to be empty, for who had 
 opened the door for them in that myste- 
 rious fashion as they entered? Would 
 it be possible for her to break the glass 
 of the window and crawl through the 
 aperture? She glanced up to see how 
 this plan would work, starting violently 
 as she perceived a woman's face looking 
 in at her. Had it been a good face she 
 would have welcomed it, but it was as 
 hard as a stone, and she knew that she 
 need expect no help from the owner of 
 that thin-lipped mouth and those steely 
 
EDNA LYALL. 6i 
 
 eyes, with that subtle, crafty expression. 
 She was horribly frightened, but some 
 instinct made her conceal her fear. She 
 rapped imperiously on the window. ' Let 
 me out,' she cried ; ^ there is some 
 mistake.' ' I can't let you out, mistress, 
 until you give me your word you'll go 
 quietly upstairs. There is no one in the 
 house, and you shall not come to any 
 harm. I will explain everything to you 
 upstairs.' " 
 
 And so for a few days she is kept a 
 close prisoner, until at length she makes 
 a most daring escape, and in the end gains 
 her lover's release from the Tower. 
 
 Edna Lyall enjoyed the Lake district, 
 which she frequently visited. She loved 
 Crosthwaite Church and its simple, hearty 
 service, and one of her last gifts to that 
 neighbourhood was a subscription of ;£6o 
 towards the purchase of Brandelhow. 
 
 A little sketch, entitled " Max Here- 
 ford's Dream," was published in 1900. 
 Our copy is one of the twenty-seventh 
 
62 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 thousand ! It is somewhat disappointing, 
 and we are inclined to think must huve 
 been written a long time ago, before the 
 real Max enchanted all readers. It is 
 inconsistent with the character of Max 
 Hereford for him, even in a dream, to 
 be influenced by the arguments used in 
 this little book. 
 
 One of the best stories Edna LyaJl 
 wrote was published in 1901. Its name 
 was familiar, for " In Spite of All " was 
 first written as a play, which was produced 
 by Mr. Ben Greet, at the Devonshire Park 
 Theatre, Eastbourne, on January 4th and 
 5th, and at a matinee on January 6th, 
 1900. In the matter of dramatic 
 construction Edna Lyall acknowledged 
 the help she had received from Mr. A. S. 
 Homewood. The play was subsequently 
 given at Cambridge, and at the Comedy 
 Theatre, London. 
 
 The story belongs to the writer's 
 favourite period, the Civil War, as also 
 "To Right the Wrong" and "In the 
 
EDNA LYALL. 63 
 
 Golden Days." The picture of King 
 Charles II. is life-like, as also are 
 the studies of Archbishop Laud, Sir 
 William Waller, Lord Falkland, Colonel 
 Hampden, and Prince Rupert. Histori- 
 cally the book is of immense interest, and 
 as a love story it is intensely absorbing, 
 the reader being pleasantly led through 
 well-devised plot and incident from begin- 
 ning to end. Some of the incidents have 
 an historical setting, such as the escape 
 from Oxford Castle. The villain of the 
 piece is Colonel Norton, who receives his 
 just reward ; and the hero, Gabriel 
 Harford, a nobly-conceived character, 
 wins the hand of the pretty Mistress 
 Hilar)' Unett, who does not always 
 deserve the reader's sympathy. We are 
 glad to renew our acquaintance with 
 Joscelyn Heyworth and Clemency. 
 
 " The Hinderers," a story of the present 
 time, was published in May, 1902. It is 
 dedicated to E. D. Bradby (Secretary of 
 the Boer Women and Children Clothing 
 
64 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 Fund), and has reference to the war in 
 South Africa. Many v/ho had heard 
 that it was a " pro-Boer book " would not 
 read it, and they foolishly denied them- 
 selves a good deal of pleasure. The 
 success of the book, however, was 
 assured ; for though torrents of abuse fell 
 upon the writer from many quarters, a 
 second edition appeared in August last. 
 It is not a great story like " In 
 Spite of All." It is but a slight 
 sketch with a very interesting love 
 story, in which the heroine. Miss de 
 St. Croix, a beautiful girl with whom the 
 reader cannot help falling in love, 
 becomes the wife of Sir Christopher 
 Hope, the member for Northwall. The 
 book is a protest against the sort of 
 patriotism "which waves a Union Jack 
 and shouts ' Rule Britannia ' in the 
 intervals of throwing stones and abuse at 
 those who disapprove of the war." There 
 is no lack of true patriotism in the book, 
 expressed in the desire that England 
 
EDNA LYALL. 65 
 
 should do justly and love mercy, and 
 " clear herself of the boastful aggressive- 
 ness and pride which are dragging her 
 down." 
 
 Edna Lyall preached a little, but her 
 sermons were never tedious, and we 
 listened to her with respect when she 
 said : " We most of us learn slowly the 
 sacredness of life, and are for ever letting 
 the love of wealth and ease, and pleasure 
 and mere vulgar greed of huge posses- 
 sions, make us blind to the true standard 
 of manliness once for all given to the 
 world." 
 
 Sir Christopher Hope conscientiously 
 holds the view that the war might have 
 been avoided had Englishmen been true 
 to their best traditions, and he is sneered 
 at as being the man who criticises his own 
 country and extols the enemy. 
 
 Edna Lyall was a lover of peace, and 
 once wrote a tract entitled, " War : Is it 
 or is it not consistent with Christianity ? " 
 
 The chapter headings again, are 
 
 E 
 
66 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 wonderfully good and appropriate, and 
 there are many fine passages of great 
 beauty, such as, " There is something 
 motherly in all good women," and " It 
 is the sorrows of life that force us to open 
 wide the shut doors of our hearts." 
 
 It is not difficult to see who are meant 
 by the Quaker family, the Ashmounts, 
 who were " so firm and true to their 
 peace principles. Though earlier in the 
 war their houses up in Northshire had 
 been mobbed and seriously damaged and 
 their very lives endangered by ruffians 
 who would not allow a word to be said 
 by those who knew the true state of 
 things in South Africa, they were quite 
 without bitterness, and would not even 
 compel the town to make good the 
 damage done." 
 
 Edna Lyall's latest work, a story for 
 children, entitled, " The Burges Letters," 
 was published in October, 1902. Her 
 facile power in writing such stories as 
 " How the Children Raised the Wind " 
 
EDNA LYALL. 67 
 
 encouraged us to expect a very pleasing 
 story, especially when we knew that it 
 was to be partly autobiographical, being 
 descriptive of her own home life; and 
 the hope was entirely realised. " The 
 Bulges Letters " is a pleasant little 
 volume, which was written with the help 
 of her nurse, an old lady living now at 
 Hailsham. Intended, in the first 
 instance, for children, it amply satisfies 
 them by giving the interesting escapades 
 of the Burges children. It also reveals 
 to them the conditions under which 
 children lived thirty to forty years ago, 
 the games they played, the songs they 
 sung, and the pleasures and pastimes 
 they enjoyed. To the adult reader there 
 are many evidences of the influences 
 which moulded the character of Edna 
 Lyall, and enabled her to write her 
 charming stories. She had been intelli- 
 gently brought up amid congenial 
 surroundings. The atmosphere of the 
 home was good and healthy, and an 
 
68 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 intelligent interest was taken by the 
 parents in their children. Her mother 
 had taught her that she must learn to be 
 brave alone, and almost all her heroes in 
 later life had been those who were willing 
 to stand alone. 
 
 " Elfie thought a good deal over these 
 words (page 19), and she saw that it was 
 always true that her heroes were the men 
 who quite by themselves could face 
 danger and ridicule and misunderstand- 
 ing. There was John Hampden, the 
 patriot, who refused to pay an unjust 
 tax, etc." 
 
 The extreme tolerance which is a 
 noticeable feature of her writings was 
 learnt at home. There the seeds of a 
 respect for the opinions of others were 
 sown. 
 
 " And then (page 34) we remembered 
 how the visitors were not only Church of 
 England people, but how some were 
 Moravians, and old Dr. Hobson was a 
 Baptist, and Uncle George was a Unita- 
 
EDNA LYALL. 69 
 
 rian, and Grandpapa Winton went to the 
 Countess of Huntingdon's Church, and 
 Cousin Mildred was a Roman Catholic, 
 and dear Uncle Tom was an Independent, 
 and old Mr. Pennington was a Quaker. 
 All thought differently, yet all were good 
 and kind, and all were Daddy's friends." 
 
 Other instances could be adduced, but 
 probably these will suffice. At the time 
 of her death Edna Lyall was engaged on 
 a new work, but had made little progress 
 with it, and had not given it a title. 
 
 A pleasing feature in Edna Lyall's 
 writings is that at the head of each 
 chapter she has a quotation which is not 
 only apt, but also gives a perfect clue to 
 the chapter. These quotations are 
 chosen from a vast number of writers, 
 showing that she must have been an 
 omnivorous reader, though it is easy to 
 see who were her favourite authors. 
 
 In " Wayfaring Men " she quoted most 
 from Lowell, Dean Paget, Tennyson, 
 Kingsley, and Whittier. In " To Right 
 
70 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 the Wrong," from Ruskin, Lowell, 
 Norman Gale, Sir William Waller, Bret 
 Harte, Blake, Benjamin Whichcote, 
 Shakespeare, and Milton. Also the 
 characters of one work appear again in 
 another, and we are always glad to 
 welcome them as old friends. In "Hope 
 the Hermit " we are pleased to meet once 
 again Hugo Wharncliffe of " In the 
 Golden Days," and Sir Joscelyn Heyworth 
 of " To Right the Wrong." 
 
 Speaking of Mrs. Gaskell's stories in 
 an appreciation contained in " Women 
 Novelists of Queen Victoria's Reign," 
 Edna Lyall said : " They are books from 
 which that morbid lingering over the 
 loathsome details of vice, those sensuous 
 descriptions of sin, too rife in the novels 
 of the present day, are altogether 
 excluded. Not that the stories are 
 namby-pamby, or unreal in any sense ; 
 they are wholly free from the horrid 
 prudery, the Pharisaical temper, which 
 makes a merit of walking through life in 
 
EDNA LYALL. 71 
 
 blinkers, and refuses to know of anything 
 that can shock the respectable. Mrs. 
 Gaskell was too genuine an artist to fall 
 either into this error or into the error of 
 bad taste and want of reserve. She drew 
 life with utter reverence; she held the 
 highest of all ideals, and she dared to be 
 true." 
 
 This praise, and it appears to us to be 
 high praise, may with equal truth be 
 bestowed upon Edna Lyall herself. 
 From her works no unworthy hint or 
 suggestion can be taken, and one of the 
 most noticeable features is that she 
 speaks boldly and fearlessly for principle, 
 and ever stands up for the down-trodden, 
 the misunderstood, the misjudged, the 
 oppressed. Her works tend to make 
 people more charitably disposed, more 
 liberal in their interpretations, more fair- 
 minded towards each other. 
 
 With characteristic modesty, Edna 
 Lyall, in an article in Good Words, on 
 " How I Became a Novelist," said : 
 
72 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 " Writing has become so much a part of 
 my life that it is difficult quite to under- 
 stand what life without a vocation would 
 be like, or how people exist without 
 ' dream children/ They cost one much 
 suffering, and bring many cares and 
 anxieties; they are not what we could 
 wish, and we are conscious of their faults. 
 Still they are our ' dream children,' and 
 when they cheer the dull, or interest the 
 overworked, or help the perplexed, there 
 comes a glad sense that it has all been 
 worth while, and we are thankful that the 
 gift was given us." 
 
 Readers of Edna Lyall's stories, and 
 they are legion, received as a great shock 
 the news of her death on Sunday night, 
 February 8th, 1903, at the residence of 
 her brother-in-law, the Rev. Hampden 
 Jameson, in College Road, Eastbourne, 
 where so many of her stories were written. 
 She had never been strong, and during 
 the last few years had for months at a 
 time been obliged to lay aside her pen. 
 
EDNA LYALL. 73 
 
 Her death was due to a return of malarial 
 fever contracted in Italy, from which she 
 suffered so seriously in 1898, the ultimate 
 cause being asthenia. Her loss will be 
 mourned by many as that of a personal 
 friend, for she had the happy mode of 
 endearing herself to her readers. She 
 was clever enough to transfer the 
 graciousness and sweetness which made 
 her a charming personality to her books, 
 so that the reader could not help taking 
 a deep interest in her life and work. The 
 obituary notices were all deeply sympa- 
 thetic in tone. From among them we 
 cull a few sentences : — 
 
 The Standard said : " To say that 
 Edna Lyall sometimes allowed her 
 philanthropic zeal to outrun discretion 
 is merely to acknowledge that she was, 
 like the rest of mankind, liable to make 
 mistakes. None the less, hers was a fine, 
 charitable spirit, which could perceive 
 good qualities in persons whose views she 
 held in absolute abhorrence." 
 
 F 
 
74 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 The Daily Chronicle said : " Though 
 Edna Lyall cannot be reckoned among 
 the great women novelists, she filled her 
 minor position with honour and distinc- 
 tion. She had something to say, and she 
 said it to the moral and intellectual advan- 
 tage of many thousands of young readers. 
 The world of fiction would have been 
 distinctly poorer without her." 
 
 The Daily News said: "Although 
 nobody could think of enrolling the name 
 of Edna Lyall among the great names of 
 English writers of fiction, it is a name that 
 has achieved a great hold on the 
 affection of many thousands w^herever 
 the English language is spoken, and has 
 unquestionably exerted a great and whole- 
 some influence on popular thought and 
 life, and she will be very widely mourned." 
 
 As an indication of the deep respect in 
 Avhich she was held in Eastbourne, the 
 Mayor, at a meeting of the Town Council, 
 on Monday, the 9th February, moved a 
 vote of condolence with the relatives of 
 
EDNA LYALL. 75 
 
 Edna Lyall, remarking that there were 
 few authoresses living whose books were 
 so well known as hers. 
 
 She had left in her will a request that 
 her body should be cremated, and that 
 no flowers might be sent. She also 
 desired that those who cared for her 
 should not wear mourning, but, if they 
 could not reconcile it with their feelings 
 to accede to this request, that the outward 
 signs of mourning should be as slight as 
 possible. Thus Edna Lyall, who had 
 advocated so many reforms, in her last 
 request, desired that those who cared for 
 her should assist in bringing about 
 funeral reform, a reform which is so much 
 needed to-day. 
 
 On Thursday, February 12th, the 
 coffin, covered with silver-grey plush — 
 simply ornamented with white rosettes 
 and tassels — was removed from 6, College 
 Road to S. Peter's Church, where a 
 memorial service was held. The chief 
 mourners were the Rev. Canon Crowfoot 
 
76 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 (Lincoln) and Mrs. Crowfoot (sister), the 
 Rev. and Mrs. H. G. Jameson (sister), and 
 the Rev. R. Burges Bayly, Vicar of 
 Bosbury (brother). The cremation after- 
 wards took place at Woking, and on the 
 following day the ashes were interred in 
 the churchyard of Bosbury, Herefordshire. 
 
 On Sunday morning, February 15th, 
 at S. Peter's, the Vicar, the Rev. H. G. 
 Jameson, preaching from Luke xix. 10, 
 referred to the loss of his sister-in-law in 
 the following terms: — 
 
 " This gracious life, which God has 
 allowed to be lived among us, has often 
 brought lessons to me who have seen it 
 close at hand, and, I think, also to many 
 of you. It seems to me that the great 
 principle which one wants to recognise 
 as having underlain all that life and that 
 work is just this principle of our text — 
 the burning, loving desire to seek and to 
 save anything and anybody that was lost, 
 that was given up by other people. It 
 was a life full of practical pity and 
 
EDNA LYALL. 77 
 
 generosity. Speaking merely of indi- 
 viduals, I think there was scarcely 
 anyone who could be called lost, 
 whether in mind, body, or estate, whether 
 in money or in spiritual insight and 
 knowledge, who did not find a ready, 
 sympathetic response there, sometimes in 
 person, sometimes by letter, help, it may 
 be, with money, or, what was far more 
 valuable than money, with time, and with 
 an interest, a ready sympathy. And it 
 was a sympathy which cost much. Miss 
 Bayly was not one of those who could 
 give without giving herself. She knew 
 how true it was that it is — 
 
 ' Not what we give, but what we share, 
 For the gift without the giver is bare.' 
 
 And we know how often the morning post 
 perhaps would bring with it letters with 
 some tidings of want or distress, some 
 calamity of a friend, something which 
 called forth her ready sympathy; that 
 is, the community of suffering in her 
 
78 EDNA LYALL. 
 
 mind. And it would be followed by 
 hours, possibly by days, of absolute 
 physical prostration, the result of that 
 true sympathy which she gave with her 
 true help." 
 
 Edna Lyall left ;£2^,g66. To her 
 cousin, Agnes Elizabeth Weston, of 
 Portsmouth, she left ;£i5o; to the Delhi 
 Medical Mission, ;£i5o; and other 
 legacies. All interests in her published 
 works and rights in any unpublished 
 works, in trust for the children of her 
 sister, Mrs. Jameson ; the residue of her 
 property equally between her three 
 sisters and her brother. 
 
 There is no narrowness or bigotry to 
 be found in any of her works, but in 
 every one there is an eloquent plea for 
 charity, consideration, and toleration. We 
 believe they represent the convictions of 
 a noble, true, and good woman, who has 
 mightily influenced, and will influence 
 still, the world for good. 
 
EDNA LYALL."" ' 79 
 
 The Love of peace, the Hate of dreadful war 
 Burned in her bosom. At her gentle side, 
 It seemed all things that trembled could abide, 
 
 And in her heart found shelter from afar. 
 
 Too frail for this world's fierce tumultuous jar, 
 Above the mist and dark material tide 
 She held the image of the Crucified 
 
 With Faith upon her forehead for a star. 
 
 Henceforth beside the pleasant southern wave, 
 The pines shall sigh, the seabirds call in vain, 
 
 For death has wiped her footprints from the sand. 
 Ah I write above her rest, " She strove to save 
 The land she loved from all dishonour's stain. 
 
 Fearless — for Christ went with her hand in hand." 
 
 Ecutboume Gazette, H. D. Rawnslky. 
 
 February i8th, 1903. 
 
 Another of those fairer souls which bloom 
 So oft to beauty in frail womanhood, 
 And breathe the perfume of eternal good 
 
 O'er all that knew them, even from the tomb, 
 
 Is journeying onwards to diviner light 
 Than flesh could bound, e'en in the plenitude 
 Of Christian sympathy in which she stood, 
 
 Soul-lovely, ever valiant for Right. 
 
 And, whilst the amber vapours disunite 
 The fragile flower, doomed early to decay 
 In its own summer, poignant grief will sway 
 The hearts of many whom, by gentle might, 
 In callous age and in adventurous youth. 
 She 'stablished in her God's Eternal Truth. 
 
 John P. Nix. 
 Eastbourne Gazette, 
 
 February i8th, 1903. 
 
8o EDNA LYALL. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 1879. " Won by Waiting." 
 1882. " Donovan." 
 
 1884. "We Two." 
 
 1885. " In the Golden Days." 
 
 1886. "Their Happiest Christmas." 
 
 1887. "Knight Errant." 
 
 1887. " The Autobiography of a Slander." 
 1889. " A Hardy Norseman." 
 1889. " Derrick Vaughan." 
 
 1892. " To Right the Wrong." 
 
 1893. Introduction to Mrs. Wyndham Knight- 
 
 Bruce's "The Story of an African Chief," 
 being the Life of Khama. 
 
 1894. " Doreen the Singer." 
 
 1895. " How the Children raised the Wind." 
 
 1896. "The Autobiography of a Truth." 
 
 1897. "Wayfaring Men." 
 
 1899. " Hope the Hermit." 
 
 1900. Introduction to " Farnham and its Sur- 
 
 roundings." 
 1900. " Max Hereford's Dream." 
 
 1900. Introduction to " Mrs. Gaskell and Knuts- 
 
 ford." 
 
 1901. "In Spite of All." 
 
 1902. "The Hinderers." 
 1902. " The Burges Letters." 
 
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