A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Crowe, Catharine
CROWE, CATHARINE,
Whose maiden name was Stevens, was born at Borough Green, in the county of Kent. She married Lieutenant-Colonel Crowe, of the British army. She has one child—a son; the family reside chiefly at Edinburgh, or in the neighbourhood. Her published books are numerous, and she has written much for the periodicals and other serials, within the last ten years. Her writings have attracted considerable attention among the learned, and attained, as might have been expected, a wide popularity among those who like to read ghost-stories, though stoutly denying any belief in such nonsense. The term, "Night-Side of Nature," given to be the most remarkable of her productions, Mrs. Crowe explains as being borrowed from the German, signifying "that side of a planet which is turned from the sun; and during this interval, external objects loom upon us but strangely and imperfectly: the Germans draw a parallel between these vague and misty perceptions, and the similar obscure and uncertain glimpses we get of that veiled department of nature, of which, whilst comprising, as it does, the solution of questions concerning us more nearly than any other, we are yet in a state of entire and wilful ignorance."
The piincipal works of Mrs. Crowe are:—"Susan Hopley," "Lilly Dawson," "Manorial Rights," and "Aristodemus," a tragedy. But the "Night-Side of Nature" is her great work, and had she done as the Sibyl of old, burnt two-thirds of her matter, the book would have been much more valued. The truth is, so many foolish, inconsistent, and useless examples of preternatural appearances and warnings are given, that the reader, even though a little inclined to believe there may be more things in heaven and earth than philosophy has explained, will yet become disgusted with the trivial scenes in which these spiritual influences are represented as chiefly engaged.