Harriet Martineau
in low-lying damp countries. "The Marsh Fog and the Sea Breeze" is
perhaps the most interesting of all her stories since the Political
Economy tales, which it much resembles in lightness of touch and in
practical utility.
A series of slight stories under the general title of "Sketches from
Life," was also contributed at this time to the _Leader_; they
were all of them true tales and, like most real life stories,
extremely pathetic. The most touching is one called "The Old
Governess," describing the feelings with which an educated elderly
woman, past her work, and with an injured hand, sought refuge in the
workhouse; and how she conducted herself there. These stories were
republished in a volume in 1856.
A series of descriptive accounts of manufactures, some of which
contain most graphic writing, were also done in this time. These
papers, with others written between 1845-55, were re-published in a
volume in 1861.[20] There are some passages which I am greatly tempted
to quote, merely as specimens of the perfection to which her literary
style had at this time arrived. It is now a style of that clear
simplicity which seems so easy to the reader, but which is in reality
the highest triumph of the literary artist. The inexperienced reader
is apt to suppose that anybody could write thus, until perhaps he
gains some glimpse of the truth by finding the powerful effect which
it is producing upon his thoughts and imagination. The practiced
writer knows meanwhile that, simple though the vocabulary appears, he
could not change a word for the better; and easily though the
sentences swing, the rounding of their rhythm is an achievement to
admire. I may not pause to quote, but I may especially refer to the
paper on "The Life of a Salmon," in illustration of this eloquence of
style.
[20] _Health, Husbandry and Handicraft._
Early in 1852, Harriet Martineau received an invitation from the
_Daily News_ to send a "leader" occasionally. Busily engaged as she
was with Comte, and with work for other periodicals, she yet gladly
accepted this proposition; and thus began her connection with that
paper (then newly started) which was so valuable both to her and the
proprietors of the _Daily News_. During the early summer of 1852, she
wrote two "leaders" each week, and, before she had finished Comte, the
regular contributions to the newspaper had grown to three a week.
In the autumn of 1852 she made a two months' tour through Ireland; and
at the request of the editor she wrote thence a descriptive letter for
publication in the _Daily News_, almost every other day. The letters
described the state of Ireland at the moment, with observations such
as few were so well qualified as she to make upon the facts. She did
now what Daniel O'Connell had entreated her to do years before. In
1839 the Liberator begged her to travel through his country, and
without bias or favor represent calmly what really was the political
and social condition of Ireland.[21] The "Letters from Ireland"
attracted immediate attention as they appeared in the _Daily News_;
and before the end of the year they were re-published in a volume. At
the same time some of her "leaders" secured much attention, and the
editor pressed her to write even more frequently. During 1853 she
wrote on an average four articles a week, and shortly afterwards the
number rose to six--one in each day's paper.
[21] It may be mentioned that a similar plea was made to her
by the Crown Prince Oscar of Sweden, who desired her aid in
preparing his people for constitutional reform; and again, at
a later date, by Count Porro, of Milan, who begged that she
would let the world know what was the condition of Italy
under Austrian rule.
The tale of the journalistic work of these busy two years is not yet
complete. There is a long article of hers in the _Westminster Review_
for January, 1853; the subject is, "The Condition and Prospects of
Ireland."
All this journalism was done at the same time that the heavy sustained
task of the condensation of Comte's abstruse and bulky work was
proceeding. When to all this we add in our recollection her home
duties, and when the fact is borne in mind that it was her common
practice to take immense walks, not infrequently covering from twelve
to fifteen miles in the day, it will be seen that the mere industry
and energy that she showed were most extraordinary. But, besides this,
her work was of a high order of literary excellence, and full of
intellectual power.
Such incessant labor is not to be held up as altogether an example to
be imitated. There are some few whose duty it is to consciously
moderate the amount of labor to which their mental activity impels
them; and no one ought to allow the imperative brain to overtax the
rest of the system. During the Irish journey, Harriet began to be
aware of experiencing unusual fatigue. She gave herself no sufficient
pause, however, either then or afterwards, until she could not help
doing so.
After the publication of Comte she wrote a remarkable article for the
_Westminster Review_ (anonymous of course) on "England's Foreign
policy." This appeared in the number for January, 1854. It dealt
largely with the impending struggle between England and Russia. True
Liberal as Harriet Martineau was, she hated with all her soul, not the
Russian people, but the hideous despotism, the Asiatic and barbarian
and brutal government of that empire. She foresaw a probable great
struggle in the future between tyranny and freedom, in which Russia,
by virtue of all her circumstances, will be the power against which
the free peoples of the earth will have to fight. Not only, then, did
she fully recognize the necessity for the immediate resistance, which
the Crimean war was, to the encroachments on Europe of the Czar, but
her article also included a powerful plea for the abolition of that
system of secrecy of English diplomacy, by which it is rendered quite
possible for our ministry to covertly injure our liberties, and to
take action behind our backs in our names in opposition to our warmest
wishes. The article, as a whole, is one of her most powerful pieces of
writing, and had it been delivered as a speech in parliament, it would
undoubtedly have produced a great effect, and have placed her high
amongst the statesmen of that critical time.
In the April (1854) number of the same _Review_, there appeared an
article from her pen upon "The Census of 1851." This paper was not a
mere comment upon the census return, but an historical review of the
progress of the English people from barbarism to the civilization of
our century.
In the spring of this year she made a careful survey of the beautiful
district around her home, in order to write a _Complete Guide to the
Lakes_ for a local publisher. She was already thoroughly acquainted
with the neighborhood by means of her long and frequent pedestrian
excursions, and reminiscences of these abound in this "Guide." The
vivid description of a storm on Blake Fell, for instance, is a
faithful account of an occurrence during a visit which a niece and
nephew from Birmingham paid to her soon after her settlement at the
lakes. The word-paintings of the scenery, too, were drawn, not from
what she saw on one set visit only, but were the results of her many
and frequent pilgrimages to those beauties of nature which she so
highly appreciated. But still she would not write her "Guide" without
revisiting the whole of the district.
The most interesting point about this book is that it reveals one
feature of her character that all who knew her mention, but that very
rarely appears in her writings. This is, her keen sense of humor. She
dearly loved a good story, and could tell one herself with pith and
point. Her laugh is said to have been very hearty and ready. Even when
she was old and ill, she was always amusable, and her laughter at any
little bit of fun would even then ring through her house as gaily as
though the outburst had been that of a child's frank merriment. It is
surprising that this sense of and enjoyment in the ludicrous so rarely
appears in her writings. But I think it was because her authorship was
to her too serious a vocation for fun to come into it often. She felt
it almost as the exercise of a priestly function. It was earnest and
almost solemn work for her to write what might be multiplied through
the printing-press many thousand times over, and so uttered to all who
had ears to hear. She showed that this was so by the greater
deliberateness with which she expressed judgments of persons and
pronounced opinions of any kind in her writings than in conversation.
Similarly she showed it by the abeyance of her humor in writing; it
was no more possible for her to crack jokes when seated at her desk
than it would have been for a priestess when standing by her tripod.
But this particular book, this "Guide, written for neighborly
reasons," did not admit of the seriousness of her intellect being
called into action, and the result is that it is full of good stories
and lighted up with fun. Her enjoyment in such stories reveals that
sense of humor which, however strongly visible in daily intercourse,
rarely appears in her books in any other form than in her perfect
appreciation of the line between the sublime and the ludicrous.
This summer brought her much annoyance of a pecuniary kind. Her
generosity about money matters were repeatedly shown, from the time
when she left her "_Illustrations_" in the hands of Mr. C. Fox,
onwards; and she had now given what was for her means an extravagant
contribution to the maintenance of the _Westminster Review_, taking a
mortgage on the proprietorship for her only security. In the summer of
1854, Dr. Chapman, its publisher and editor, failed; and an attempt
was made to upset the mortgage. Harriet Martineau gave Chapman the
most kindly assistance and sympathy in his affairs at this juncture;
not only overlooking the probable loss to herself, but exerting
herself to write two long articles for the next number of the _Review_
(October, 1854).
One of these essays is on "Rajah Brooke;" a name that has half faded
out of the knowledge of the present generation, but which well
deserves memory from the heroic devotedness, and courage, and
governing faculty of the man. His qualities were those most congenial
to Harriet Martineau; and, finding his enemies active and potent, she
made a complete study of his case and represented it in full in an
article which (like her previous one on "Foreign Policy") was so
statesman-like and so wise, so calm and yet so eloquent, that it would
have made her famous amongst the politicians of the day had it been
delivered as a speech in the House, instead of being printed
anonymously in a review with too small a circulation to pay its way.
Nor did generous aid to Dr. Chapman end here. He was disappointed of
some expected contributions, and Miss Martineau wrote him a second
long article for the same number--the one on "The Crystal Palace,"
which concludes the _Westminster_ for October, 1854. Her two
contributions amounted to fifty-four pages of print--truly a generous
gift to an impecunious magazine editor.
It was now precisely ten years since her recovery from her long
illness. The work done in that time shows how complete the recovery
had been. Those ten happy years of vigor and of labor were, she was
wont to say, Mr. Atkinson's gift to her. Well had she used these last
years of her strength.
CHAPTER X.
IN RETREAT; JOURNALISM.
Miss Martineau's health failed towards the end of 1854; and early in
1855, symptoms of a disorganized circulation became so serious that