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A Masquerade of Noble Dames

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Carl J. Weber
Carl J. Weber*
Affiliation:
Colby College
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Extract

On April 6, 1878, Lady Saxelbye of Croome Castle made her debut in literary society. On February 7, 1884, Lady Emmeline of Stroome Castle was similarly introduced to the public. And early in 1891, the Duchess of Hamptonshire, of Batton Castle, was presented to the literary world. The lady's sponsor in each case was Thomas Hardy. Half a century has now gone by since the Duchess made her bow, but not until the week in which I begin this report (April 1942) was the surprising fact discovered that the Duchess and the Lady Emmeline were none other than Lady Saxelbye in disguise. After all these years, evidence has come to hand that Croome and Stroome and Batton are Hardy's names for the same castle, and that he told his story three times, disguising the repetitions by a change of names. The bibliographical facts may be briefly stated.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , June 1943, pp. 558 - 563
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1943

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References

1 In writing about this manuscript in The Colophon (ns 3:404), in September 1938, I made two statements which call for correction. I stated that “Emmeline” was “the title first given the story when Hardy wrote it in 1885.” It is now clear that “Emmeline” was not the first title. When I made that statement Ihad never heard of Light or “The Impulsive Lady.” And “1885” should have read “1883,” for “Emmeline” was in print in February 1884.

2 Readers of Two on a Tower will recall the statement in chapter 40 that Swithin “landed at Boston,” but “taking no interest in men or cities,” he “went immediately on to Cambridge” ! And when Hamlin Garland mentioned Harvard to Hardy, the Wessex author inquired: “Is that a girls' school?”

3 Hardy bibliographers seem to have generally missed the fact that five other Hardy stories appeared in Harper's Weekly. The titles were cited in the Colby Mercury (7:74–75), December 1941, but for the benefit of a wider circle of Hardy students it may be useful to repeat the list here (it has as yet appeared in no Hardy bibliography): “An Indiscretion in the Life of an Heiress,” June 29 through July 27, 1878 (22:514–595); “The Distracted Young Preacher,” April 19-May 17, 1879 (23:320–400); “Fellow-Townsmen,” April 17-May 15, 1880(24:246–315); “The Three Strangers,” March 3 & 10, 1883 (27:134–151); and “The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid,” June 23-August 4, 1883 (27:389–491).

4 See H. C. Webster, “Borrowings in Tess of the d'Urbervilles,” M. L. N. (48:459–462), November 1933.

5 See “Hardy's ‘Lost’ Novel” by Carl J. Weber, p. 13 in An Indiscretion in the Life of an Heiress by Thomas Hardy (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1935).