- Lady Morgan
Lady Morgan (Sydney Owenson) (ca. 1776 –
14 April ,1859 ), was an Irishnovel ist.Early life
She was born in
Dublin , the daughter ofRobert Owenson , an Irish actor.Career
She was one of the most vivid and hotly discussed literary figures of her generation. She began her career with a precocious volume of poems. She collected Irish tunes, for which she composed the words, thus setting a fashion adopted with signal success by
Thomas Moore . Her "St. Clair" (1804), a novel of ill-judged marriage, ill-starred love, and impassioned natureworship, in which the influence ofJohann Wolfgang von Goethe andJean-Jacques Rousseau was apparent, at once attracted attention.Another novel, "The Novice of St. Dominick" (1806), was also praised for its qualities of imagination and description. But the book which made her reputation and brought her name into warm controversy was "
The Wild Irish Girl " (1806), in which she appeared as the ardent champion of her native country, a politician rather than a novelist, extolling the beauty of Irish scenery, the richness of the natural wealth ofIreland , and the noble traditions of its early history.She was known in
Catholic and Liberal circles by the name of her heroine Glorvina. "Patriotic Sketches and Metrical Fragments" followed in 1807. She published "The Missionary: An Indian Tale" in 1811, revising it shortly before her death as "Luxima, the Prophetess".Percy Bysshe Shelley admired "The Missionary" intensely and Owenson's heroine is said to have influenced some of his ownorientalist productions. Miss Owenson entered the household ofJohn Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn , and in 1812, persuaded by Anne Jane Gore, Lady Abercorn, she married the surgeon to the household, Thomas Charles Morgan, afterwardsknighted ; but books still continued to flow from her facile pen. In 1814 she produced her best novel, "O'Donnell". She was at her best in her descriptions of the poorer classes, of whom she had a thorough knowledge. Her elaborate study (1817) ofFrance under theBourbon restoration was attacked with outrageous fury in the "Quarterly Review ", the authoress being accused ofJacobinism , falsehood, licentiousness and impiety. She took her revenge indirectly in the novel of "Florence Macarthy" (1818), in which a "Quarterly" reviewer, Con Crawley, is insulted with supreme feminine ingenuity."Italy", a companion work to her "France", was published in 1821;
Lord Byron bears testimony to the justness of its pictures of life. The results of Italian historical studies were given in her "Life and Times of Salvator Rosa" (1823). Then she turned again to Irish manners and politics with a matter-of-fact book on "Absenteeism" (1825), and a romantic novel, The "O'Briens and the O'Flaherties" (1827). FromWilliam Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne Lady Morgan obtained a pension of 300. During the later years of her long life she published "The Book of the Boudoir" (1829), "Dramatic Scenes from Real Life" (1833), "The Princess" (1835), "Woman and her Master" (1840), "The Book without a Name" (1841), "Passages from my Autobiography" (1859).Later life
She died 14 April, 1859 and is buried in
Brompton Cemetery , London.Legacy
Her autobiography and many interesting letters were edited with a memoir by W. Hepworth Dixon in 1862.
There is a bust of Lady Morgan in the
Victoria and Albert Museum inLondon . The plaque, identifying the bust, mentions that Lady Morgan was "less than four feet tall."External links
* [http://www.sydneyowenson.com/ Sydney Owenson.com] , Etexts
*NRA|P20357
*worldcat id|lccn-n79-90070
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
