A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Radcliffe, Ann
RADCLIFFE, ANN,
A celebrated romance writer, whose genius and amiability adds lustre to the glory of her sex, was born in London, July 9th., 1764. She was the only child of respectable parents, William and Ann Wood; and in her twenty-third year married Mr. William Radcliffe, who was brought up to the bar, but subsequently became proprietor and editor of the English Chronicle. The peculiar bent of the genius of Mrs. Radcliffe was not manifested till after her marriage; though she had, from childhood, displayed extraordinary powers of mind. That her husband encouraged and promoted her literary pursuits is probable, indeed certain; with her love of home and delicacy of moral sentiment, she would never have pressed onward In a career of public authorship which he did not approve. Her first work, "The Castles of Athliu and Dunbayne," was published in 1789, two years after her marriage. This romance did not indicate very high talent; but "The Sicilian Romance," published the following year, showed a decided development of intellectual power. It excited deep interest, attracting by its romantic and numerous adventures, and its beautiful descriptions of scenery. "The Romance of the Forest" appeared in 1791; and "The Mysteries of Udolpho" in 1794. This was the most popular of her performances, and is generally considered her best. "The Italian" was published in 1797.
In examining these varied productions, all written in the course of ten years, we are struck with the evident progress of her mind, and the gradual mastery her will obtained over the resources of her imagination. She had invented a new style of romance, equally distinct from the old tales of chivalry and magic, and from modern representations of credible incidents and living manners. Her works exhibit, in part, the charms of each species of composition, interweaving the miraculous with the probable in consistent narrative, and breathing a tenderness and beauty peculiarly her own. She occupies that middle region between the mighty dreams of the heroic ages and the realities of her own, which remained to be possessed, filled it with glorious imagery, and raised it to the sublimity of Fancy's creative power by the awe of the supernatural, which she, beyond any writer of romances, knew how to inspire.
One of her biographers had well observed, that "her works, in order to produce their greatest impression, should be read first, not in childhood, for which they are too substantial; nor at mature age, for which they may seem too visionary; but at that delightful period of youth, when the soft twilight of the imagination harmonizes with the luxurious and uncertain light cast on their wonders. By those who come at such an age to their perusal, they will never be forgotten."
In the summer of 1794, she made a tour, in company with her husband, through Holland and the western frontier of Germany, returning down the Rhine. This was the first and only occasion on which she quitted England, though the vividness of her descriptions of Italy, Switzerland, and the south of France, in which her scenes are principally laid, induced a general belief that she had visited those countries. After their return from the continent, she made a tour to the English lakes, and published her notes in a quarto volume, which met with a favourable reception.
The great and almost universal popularity of her writings, never inflated the vanity of Mrs. Radcliffe; her private* life seems to have been particularly calm and sequestered. Declining the personal notoriety that usually attaches in the society of London to literary merit, she sought her chief pleasures and occupation in the bosom of her family. After the publication of her last novel, "The Italian," in 1797, she retired from the world of letters, and for the remainder of her life persisted in refusing to write, or at any rate to publish another. The report that she was deranged, in consequence of an excited imagination, was founded simply on her love of home and quietude. She was beautiful in her person, and much beloved by those who were favoured by her intimacy. Educated in the principles of the Church of England, she was pious and sincere in her attachment the services of religion. During the last twelve years of her life, she suffered much from a spasmodic asthma, which gradually undermined her health. She died February 7th., 1823, aged fifty-eight.