WILLIAM SHARP (FIONA MACLEOD) A MEMOIR COMPILED BY HIS WIFE ELIZABETH A. SHARP by ELIZABETH A. SHARP (best ebook reader ubuntu txt) đ
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to tell me where I could obtain any personal information about her.â In
reply, a few sparse notes were sent; the author in question was said to
have passed her girlhood in the West Highlands; her tastes, her dislike
of towns and her love of seclusion, were among the characteristics
described.
When, early in 1896, _The Highland News_ wrote to several authors to
ask their views on the subject of Literature in the Highlands, Mr.
Grant Allen, Mrs. Katherine Tynan Hinkson, Fiona Macleod and William
Sharp were among those writers whose letters, expressive of interest
and sympathy, were published.
The two letters contributed by my husband were written necessarily,
each from a slightly different standpoint. He welcomed the opportunity
of appearing in print in the two characters for he believed that it
would help to shield the secret concerning Fiona Macleod.
The publication by P. Geddes & Coll. of _The Washer of the Ford_âa
collection of Tales and Legendary Moralitiesâaroused a fresh outbreak
of curiosity. For instance, a sensational article appeared in _The
Highland News_ on the vexed question of the identity of the Highland
writer, headed: âMystery! Mystery! All in a Celtic Haze.â
According to it: âHighland Celts in Glasgow are, I hear, hot on the
scent of what they imagine to be a female James Macpherson. This, of
course, is Miss Fiona Macleod. The way which Miss Macleod has led our
Glasgow countrymen is strange indeed, and the literary detective has
been busy. In the first place, it is asserted that Miss Fiona Macleod
does not exist. No one seems to have seen her. One gentleman called
twice at her residence in Edinburgh, and Miss Macleod was out. She
has written about Iona, but again in that well watched place her name
is unknown. The natural inference, you will admit, is that there is
something here to be âfahnd aht,â as the Englishman says. Seeing that
the non-existence of Miss Fiona Macleod has been thus established, the
next point is who wrote those books to which that name is attached.
Now, Mr. William Sharp has declared himself to be Miss Fiona Macleodâs
uncle; he has, too, interested himself in Celtic things. Isnât it the
second natural inference that he has written the books? But Mr. Sharp
has specifically denied the authorship. Then, of course, it must be
Mr. and Mrs. Sharp in collaboration. But again comes denial. Mr. Sharp
has addressed the following note to the Glasgow âEvening News,â which
has been somewhat persistent in casting doubt on the existence of
Miss MacleodââMiss Fiona Macleod is not Mr. William Sharp, Miss Fiona
Macleod is not Mrs. William Sharp, Miss Fiona Macleod isâMiss Fiona
Macleod.â The persecuted author was much disturbed by this effort
to draw Fiona Macleod into a controversy, to force her to declare
herself. Not only was he indignant at what to him was an unwarrantable
interference with the privacy of the individual, and resented the
traps that were laid to catch the author should âsheâ be âunwary,â it
was instrumental also in making him much more determined to guard his
secret at all costs. During the months of controversy the subject of it
accomplished a considerable amount of work.
He collaborated with me in the preparation of an Anthology of Celtic
Poetry; prepared an edition of _Ossian_ (P. Geddes & Coll.) for which
he wrote a long introduction; and began to work upon a humourous novel,
not, however, finished until 1898.
As F. M. he published _The Washer of the Ford_ in April, wrote _Green
Fire_, and also a number of Poems, which were subsequently included in
_From the Hills of Dream_. His Diary for the New Year has this entry:
_âJany 7th, 1896._ _The British Weekly_ has a paragraph given under all
reserve that Fiona Macleod is Mrs. William Sharp. Have writtenâas W.
S.âto Dr. R. Nicoll and to Mrs. Macdonell of _The Bookman_ to deny this
authoritatively.â
From the first we decided that it would be advisable to admit that F.
was my cousin, also, that my husband acted as her adviser and ârighthandâ in the matter of publishing.
The arrangements for the two first books were made by W. S. in person.
No such precautions were necessary for the books brought out by P.
Geddes & Col. as the head of the firm was in the secret. But, as it was
well known in Edinburgh and elsewhere that William Sharp was keenly
interested in the âCeltic Movement,â he thought it well to collaborate
with me on an Anthology of Celtic Poetry entitled _Lyra Celtica_ (and
published by the firm), for which he prepared an Introduction and Notes.
On the 6th January, in a letter to Mrs. William Rossetti he wrote âJust
back from France where I went so far with my wife on her way to Central
Italy. Her health has given way, alas, and she has been sent out from
this killing climate for 3 or 4 months at any rate.â
At the end of January he wrote to me:
âOnly a brief line to thank you for your letter about _me_ and _Fiona_.
Every word you say is true and urgent, and even if I did not know it to
be so I would pay the most searching heed to any advice from you, in
whose insight and judgment mentally as well as spiritually I have such
deep confidence. Although in the main I had come to exactly the same
standpoint I was wavering before certain alluring avenues of thought....
If I live to be an elderly man, time enough for one or more of my big
philosophical and critical works. Meanwhileâthe flame!
The only thing of the kind I will now doâand that not this yearâwill be
the âIntroduction to the Study of Celtic Literatureâ: but for that I
have the material to hand, and shall largely use in magazines first....
Well, we shall begin at once! February will be wholly given over to
finishing _Wives in Exile_ and _The Washer of the Ford_.â
On the 1st February he left town and settled down to work at the
Pettycur Inn, Kinghorn, Fife. His Diary gives the following record of
work:
â_Feb. 3rd._ Wrote the Preface to _The Washer of the Ford_.
â_Feb. 7th._ Dictated (1750 words) article on Modern Romantic Art, for
the Glasgow HeraldâAlso _World_ article.
â_Feb. 9th._ Wrote âThe Festival of the Birds.â
â_Feb. 10th._ Glasgow Herald Article (1500 words) on The Art of the
Goldsmith, and wrote âThe Blessing of the Fishes.ââ
* * * * *
In the middle of February William had written to Mr. R. Murray
Gilchrist, one of the few friends who then knew the secret of the
pseudonym:
MY DEAR GILCHRIST,
Fiona Macleod has suddenly begun to attract a great deal of attention.
There have been leaders as well as long and important reviews: and now
the chief North of Scotland paper, _The Highland News_, is printing
two long articles devoted in a most eulogistic way to F. M. and her
influence âalready so marked and so vital, so that we accept her as the
leader of the Celtic Renaissance in Scotland.â There is, also, I hear,
to be a Magazine article on her. This last week there have been long and
favourable reviews in the _Academy_ and _The New Age_.
I am glad you like my other book, I mean W. Sâs! [_Ecce Puella_] There
are things in it which are as absolutely out of my real self as it is
possible to be: and I am glad that you recognise this. I have not yet
seen my book of short stories published in America under the title _The
Gypsy Christ_, though it has been out some weeks: and I have heard
from one or two people about it. America is more indulgent to me just
now than I deserve. For a leading American critic writes of _The Gypsy
Christ_ that, âthough it will offend some people and displease others,
it is one of the most remarkable volumes I have read for long. The
titular story has an extraordinary, even a dreadful impressiveness:
âMadge oâ the Poolâ is more realistic than ârealismâ: and alike in
the scathing society love-episode, âThe Lady in Hosea,â and in that
brilliant Algerian _conte_, âThe Coward,â the author suggests the method
and power of Guy de Maupassant.â
I hope to get the book soon, and to send you a copy. As I think I told
you, the setting of the G/C is entirely that which I knew through you.
I have made use of one or two featuresâexaggerated facts and half
factsâwhich I trust will not displease you. Do you remember my feeling
about those gaunt mine-chimneys: I always think of them now when I think
of the G/C. Fundamentally, however, the story goes back to my own early
experiencesânot as to the _facts_ of the story, of course.... Then
again, Arthur Sherburne Hardy, who is by many considered the St. Beuve
of American criticismâin surety and insightâhas given his opinion of a
book i. e. of all he has seen of it (a comedy of the higher kind) for
which Stone and Kimball have given me good termsâ_Wives in Exile_âthat
it is âquite unlike anything elseâat once the most brilliant, romantic,
and witty thing I have read for longâto judge from the opening chapters
and the scheme. It will stand by itself, I think.â
Personally, I think it shows the best handicraft of anything W. S. has
done in fiction. It is, of course, wholly distinct in manner and method
from F. M.âs work. It _ought_ to be out by May. Sunshine and blithe
laughter guided my pen in this book. Well, I have given you my gossip
about myself: and now I would much rather hear about _you_. I wish you
were here to tell me all about what you have been doing, thinking, and
dreaming.
Yours,
S.
I received the following letter from him in Rome:
LONDON, 21st Feb.
I am sure _The Highland News_ must have delighted you. Let me know what
you think of Fionaâs and W. S.âs letters.... I am so sorry you are
leaving Siena.... I follow every step of your movements with keenest
interest. But oh the light and the colour, how I envy you!
I am hoping you are pleased with _Lyra Celtica_. It is published today
onlyâso of course I have heard nothing yet from outsiders. Yesterday
I finished my Matthew Arnold essay[3]âand in the evening wrote the
first part of my F. M. story, âMorag of the Glenââa strong piece of
work I hope and believe though not finished yet. I hope to finish it by
tonight. I am so glad you and Mona liked the first of âThe Three Marvels
of Hyâ (pronounced _Eo_ or _Hee_) so well. Pieces like âThe Festival of
the Birdsâ seem to be born out of my brain almost in an inspirational
way. I hardly understand it. Yes, you were in the right place to read
itâSt. Francisâ country. That beautiful strange Umbria! After all, Iona
and Assisi are not nearly so remote from each other as from London or
Paris. I send you the second of the series âThe Blessing of the Flies.â
It, too, was written at Pettycurâas was âThe Prologue.â ... There is
a strange half glad, half morose note in this Prologue which I myself
hardly apprehend in full significance. In it is interpolated one of the
loveliest of the âlegendary moralitiesâ which I had meant to insert in
Section Iâthat of âThe King of the Earth.â I will send it to you before
long....
To a correspondent he wrote about the âThree Marvels of Hyâ: âThey
are studies in old Religious Celtic sentiment so far as that can be
recreated in a modern heart that feels the same beauty and simplicity
of the Early Christian faith.â
And to me again: â... I know you will rejoice to hear that there can be
no question that F. Mâs deepest and finest work is in this â_Washer of
the Ford_â volume. As for the spiritual lesson that nature has taught
me, and that has grown within me otherwise, I have given the finest
utterance to it that I can. In a sense my inner life of the spirit is
concentrated in the three pieces âThe Moon-Child,â âThe Fisher of Men,â
and âThe Last Supper.â Than the last I shall never do anything better.
Apart from this intense inner flame that has been burning within me so
strangely and deeply of lateâI think my most imaginative work will be
found in the titular piece âThe Washer of the Ford,â which still, thoâ
written and revised some time ago, haunts me! and in that and the pagan
and animistic âAnnir Choille.â We shall read those things in a gondola
in Venice?â
He joined me in Venice on the 16th Mayâglad of sunshine and rest. We
journeyed back to England by way of the Lakes, in a time of early
roses, and returned to
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