a something of’s, in The Fair Carew
draft / scaffolding
The Fair Carew; or, Husbands and Wives. Vol. 2 (of three); (1851)
This page also lists/transcribes :
contemporary reviews of The Fair Carew;
its author :
Katherine Biggar
a handsome girl, perhaps — but with a tinge of boldness; a something of the maternal insolence ₁
and seeming to expect an answer — a something of assent or negation ₂
And with a something of self-reproach mingling in her good-humoured alacrity ₃
- The strong prejudice which this lady, in common with the rest of her family, had long ago imbibed against Carew’s wife, had considerably influenced her preconceptions of his daughter; and, despite cousin John’s glowing description of his “sweet Selby,” Mrs. Luttrel was prepared to find her — a handsome girl, perhaps — but with a tinge of boldness; a something of the maternal insolence: in short, a total absence of that good breeding which such a mother must be incapable of imparting, and which the mere advantages of complexion or feature could little atone for. She was, therefore, no less surprised than pleased, to perceive in her young relation a person of perfect gentility, in manner as well as countenance; and to find that, so far from the forward assumption she had expected, her new acquaintance seemed only too diffident and retiring: she was evidently so very properly — so deeply impressed with the honour of Mrs. Luttrel’s notice. In truth, a person of colder and more suspicious temperament — her niece Esther, for example — might have been excused for questioning Miss Carew’s sincerity, and esteeming her manners rather more timid and humble than the occasion demanded.
But Mrs. Luttrel was of a kind and affectionate nature...
p 70 : link - ...“No,” said she, coldly; “only into the greenhouse: those new plants require more attention than I can persuade Walters to give them;” and so she made her exit.
“Delightful occupation!” murmured the old gentleman, looking after her with a countenance of serene approval. “I reckon your sex especially fortunate, Mrs. Grey, in possessing so many pursuits which afford a mechanical employment to the [174] fingers, while at the same time they give full scope for the thoughts to wander at will amongst a thousand agreeable fancies. In all the elegant amusements of you fair ladies, and gardening amongst the number, there is a certain object in view — a feeling, as it were, of business going on; while you are, in fact, thinking of subjects altogether irrelevant — meditating, perhaps, many a kindly scheme for the benefit of others, or feeding the fancy with poetical images. Memory, too, that source of so much pleasure, how many opportunities lie open to you at these times of safely indulging itmemory, the parent of sweet thoughts and soothing melancholy. I take melancholy, you perceive, my dear madam, not in its common acceptation, but rather as it occurs in our older writers; for we moderns have sadly corrupted its original meaning, impressing it with an austerity ungrateful to the mind.”
Mr. Francis stopping just then, and seeming to expect an answer — a something of assent or negation, to intimate that he had not been soliloquizing unawares &mdmash; Mrs. Grey looked at him over her spectacles, and with one finger resolutely fixed on the page of her book, wherewith to mark the interesting passage then under perusal (it was about the middle of the third chapter of the last volume of the Mysterious Freebooter), said, with a vacant smile, —
“Yes, as you say, sir; just so! Oh, dear! by no means — it would not surprise me at all.”
Luckily Mr. Francis had not time to inquire what it was in his discourse that was incapable of surprising Mrs. Grey, for he remembered having [175] promised to give his children a lesson on astronomy that morning; and so he departed to the schoolroom, and relieved his old friend from a disquisition which seemed fast verging towards metaphysics.
p 174 : link - And with a something of self-reproach mingling in her good-humoured alacrity, the old lady began to ring bells, and be in a little bustle.
p 216 : link
The Fair Carew; or, Husbands and Wives. Vol. 2 (of two); (1851)
Bodleian copy/scan (via google books) : link
vol. 1 : link
vol. 3 : link
other copies (U California, U Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) via hathitrust : link contemporary reviews —
The Spectator 24 (November 15, 1851) : 1097 : link (U Michigan copy/scan, via hathitrust) —
THE manner of this novel is better than its matter. The author has acquired a neat style, and exhibits a good deal of thought. The thoughts, however, seem as much suggested by reflection as observation, and too often partake of mere literary smartness. The idea of life appears to be drawn from books, and the author wants the dramatic power which imparts a real appearance to dialogues and scenes and an attraction to story. The book has a literary rather than a living interest; the interest which arises from style and intellectual power, apart from subject and matter . The Westminster Review (January 1852) : 283 : link
We have no superior work of fiction to record. Feminine novel writers, incognito or declared, are abundant; but few of them exhibit the subtle penetration into feeling and character, and the truthful delineation of manners, which can alone compensate for the want of philosophic breadth in their views of men and things, and for their imperfect knowledge of life outside the drawing-room. The author of "The Fair Carew" forms no exception [284] to this remark. She makes no ambitious attempt, and hence she is never ludicrous in her failures; she does not mistake wordiness for eloquence, or hysterical declamation for pathos; and her story is not ill-constructed. But her characters are too vaguely drawn to excite our interest, and though her wit suffices to preserve her from falling into the ridiculous, it is inadequate to secure success in that satirical delineation of character and manners which forms the staple material of her work.
Sharpe’s London Journal 15 (1852) : 64link (Princeton copy/scan, via hathitrust) —
A book full of talent — well written, lively, sensible, with experience and insight into character — but a book that fails to keep up the attention, from the continual introduction of new people and their histories into the main current of the tale. Some of the characters, especially in the Luttrel family, are remarkably well drawn and worked out. On the whole, we are of opinion that the book ought to be more interesting than it is, and the next production of the author will be completely successful.
The New Quarterly Review (1852) : 60-61 : link (NYPL copy/scan, via hathitrust) —
We feel assured, after a careful perusal of the novel before us, that it is the production of a lady, and that it is, moreover, her maiden effort. Regarding it, therefore, in that light, we intend to touch but tenderly upon its defects, while we draw attention to its sterling merits, and these we are enabled conscientiously to affirm, are of no ordinary character. The author is identified as Katherine Biggar — “author cannot be traced. Identified in the Smith, Elder accounts” at The Circulating Library : link 20250523
The moral which the author is desirous of impressing is one that is hardly needed by the present age. The middle of the nineteenth century scarcely requires to be warned against imprudent or clandestine marriages for love, and the consequences which flow from them and from the displeasure of relations. Yet this almost exploded conduct seems the leading incident in the author’s idea of life. The hero and the father of the heroine are both members of the same Luttrel family; both marry secretly, and beneath their fortunes. The hero, Hartley Luttrel, is indeed led to marry the fair Carew, his cousin several times removed, through the Luttrel family turning their backs upon her and warning the young man against her. The main subject of the story is the distresses and misconceptions to which this secret marriage expose Mrs. Hartley Luttrel and her husband, the captain on foreign service, till the mystery is explained and the whole made up at the end.
If the elements of the subject are somewhat old, they are cleverly presented, especially the misconceptions, and the liability to inconveniently inspire the tender passion, which a person really married but seemingly single is obnoxious to. This, indeed, is an evil that may happen in every age; but the matter of a novel is to be drawn from contemporary life and manners; and secret marriages, as a general practice, have passed away with the absolute power assumed by parents in the disposal of their children, and the extreme old-fashioned notions on family and mesalliances. A discreditable alliance is of course as great an evil as ever; but since the admiration of Malthus, and the economists and statists, the evil is not in marriages for love but for calculation. The returns of the Registrar-General show that the weddings fluctuate with prices and prosperity, even amongst the masses.
Some of the persons and several of the scenes are well con- ceived : those subordinate to the actual progress of the story often have a lively humour . But the persons are peculiar ; arguing an acquaintance limited to people of a peculiar character -a provincial society or set ; and the scenes have nothing lifelike about them - nothing that reminds us of reality . Indeed , the scenes mostly , and some of the persons , are drawn rather from the common stock of the playwright and prose fictionist than from the actual world. In this sense, The Fair Carew partakes of the nature of the circulating library novel; in every literary point of view it is very much beyond it.
The plot is simple, the incidents are not over-wrought, nor are they common-place, neither does the authoress trespass beyond the confines of probability. This sentence, we may assure our readers, conveys at the present day no insignificant modicum of praise; for amid the dismal trash that month by month and week by week accumulates upon the editorial table, it is gratifying to find occasionally a grateful exception.
The narrative commences at an early period of the present century.
A proud and wealthy family of the name of Luttrel, deeply impressed with a high notion of their own importance, and of the heinousness of a més-alliance, are greatly horrified by the discovery that a marriage has actually been solemnised between a poor relative of theirs, by name Carew, and a maiden of plebeian origin.
He is a midshipman, cares little for the frowns of the haughty ones, nor for their exclusion of his wife from their society. In due course he obtains a ship, which founders soon after leaving port, and he is reported to have gone down with her.
His supposed death causes his family to relent towards his wife, whose only companion is now a beautiful daughter. Mrs. Carew receives an invitation to their mansion from the Luttrels, but the proffered hospitality she haughtily declines. Her audacity excites the indignation of all but one, Hartley Luttrel, the fils de la maison. He in due course becomes a cornet, falls in love with Selby, the daughter of the widow presumptive, and as his time is brief ere he must join his regiment in the Peninsula, he proposes a clandestine marriage. The mother of his fair one opposes the suggestion, because it is adverse to her intentions of humiliating the Luttrels. At length, however, her scruples are overcome, the young couple are united, and Hartley departs to fight for his country in a state of distraction at being compelled to leave his bride, who has been attacked by severe illness, stretched upon a bed of pain. She recovers, and with her mother takes up her abode at Bath. They have not long resided in that ancient city before the elder lady is astonished by the apparition of — her husband ! — John Carew, who reappears after an absence of some years, without giving the most satisfactory explanation of his conduct during the interval.
He is charmed with the beauty of his daughter, but is not made acquainted with her union with young Luttrel. John Carew has not long returned ere he contrives by a ruse to introduce his fair daughter at Horton Hall, the mansion of the Luttrels. Much displeased at the trick that has been played upon her, the poor girl endeavours to escape, [61] taking refuge at a mean inn in the vicinity. Her father and Mr. Francis Luttrel (the brother of the head of the house) urge her strongly to quit the questionable abode to which she has betaken herself, and she is persuaded with some difficulty to accept Mr. F. Luttrel’s hospitality. By degrees she is induced to return to Horton Hall, where her surpassing attractions not only excite universal astonishment, but give rise eventually to an intricate state of affairs requiring much tact and ingenuity to unravel.
Our authoress has evidently exerted all her ability in working up this crisis, and we shall not mar the satisfaction of our readers by anticipating their perusal of the novel. Suffice it to say, that after four or five years absence young Hartley returns, at a period when his young wife’s position has become peculiarly embarrassing, and when longer delay on his part might have conduced to still more unpleasant results.
A disclosure now speedily occurs, giving rise to painful apprehension on the part of the Fair Carew.
Baseless suspicions are at the same time awakened in the husband’s mind relative to his wife’s conduct during his absence; and the sequel, like an Adelphi melodrama, is full of “stirring incident.” Selby Carew flies from her husband in a chaise-and-pair, he pursues in a chaise-and-four, overtakes her, and after explanation on both sides, their mutual felicity, so long obscured, begins to dawn.
Such is a faint sketch of the plot of the Fair Carew, and, notwithstanding its simplicity, much skill and cleverness are displayed in its development. For a first effort, it may be pronounced decidedly successful; its defects will, we trust, not be discernible in the next production from the same pen. There is throughout perhaps too apparent an effort to protract the story so as to fill the requisite number of pages and the regulation number of volumes. Some uninteresting scenes are unnecessarily drawn out. Several of the dialogues are somewhat prosy and might be advantageously curtailed, and there is throughout unmistakeable evidence of a want of acquaintance with the world and its stern realities. Still we must applaud the fair writer’s literary effort, for we think she gives promise of still higher achievements.