A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Strickland, Agnes
STRICKLAND, AGNES,
Whose graceful pen has made the dead queens of England objects of deep interest to the living world, may justly be classed among the most eminent English female writers of the day. She resides at Reydon Hall, Suffolk, where she was born, being the third daughter of Thomas Strickland, Esq., of an ancient and honourable family, whose eight children are all remarkable for great intellectual powers. Miss Strickland is descended from the Nevilles, of Raby, who were connexions, in a remote degree, of the good Queen, Katharine Parr. We name this circumstance because of the influence such a reminiscence has undoubtedly exerted over the mind and pursuits of Miss Strickland. The love and reverence she was taught from childhood to cherish for the queen of her own ancestral line made the lives of these royal ladies the most interesting theme she could study or illustrate.
The reading public are too familiar with the result of these studies to require any description thereof; yet few, probably, have considered the labour as well as talent involved in the great work of these ladies;—there are two Misses Strickland united in this literary enterprise, though one sister withholds her name. "Lives of the Queens of England, from the Norman Conquest, with Anecdotes," is the title; the work is in twelve volumes; the first of which was published in 1840; the others appeared at intervals till 1851; the volume containing the history of Queen Anne completed the series. But long before this date the work had become a popular English classic, which it is likely to remain. No such insight into the domestic lives of the royal personages here described, had ever before been attempted; no such illustrations of character and unfolding of the inner recesses of England's palaces. The revelations made were altogether new and startling, and the strong lights thrown upon the subject by the researches of the sisters, Elizabeth and Agnes, for the elder laboured conjointly with the younger in the work, although she has chosen to remain in the background, have led to quite new and, as we cannot doubt, more correct readings of English history. As a fitting companion, and indeed almost a necessary adjunct to this work, the sisters have commenced "The Lives of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses, connected with the Royal Succession of Great Britain;" of this valuable historical series five volumes are now published, in the last of which an account of the beautiful and unfortunate Mary Stuart, whose innocence is here incontestably proved, from evidence afforded by documents recently discovered at Westminster and Edinburgh.
Of Agnes Strickland's earlier works we can but give a very brief notice. She commenced authorship at the age of fifteen, when she produced a poem, in four cantos, entitled "Worcester Field, or the Cavalier," but this, although highly eulogized by no less an authority than Thomas Campbell, is now, like her next work, "Demetrens; a Tale of Modern Greece," out of print, and but little known. Her true career of authorship commenced after the death of her father, for many years an ailing recluse, when It was found that under female management the family estates, encumbered by law-suits, yielded but a precarious income. Miss Strickland first entered on the literary profession as writer for the young; she edited "The Juvenile Forget-me-not," and contributed largely to that class and character of works. Many of the prose and poetic sketches composed at this period of the career of Agnes, have recently been published in a volume, under the title of "Historic Scenes," with a portrait of the author, whose name is also attached to "Stories from History," "Illustrious British Children," "Alda, the British Captive," "The Rival Crusoes;" all of which have passed through many editions. In 1835 appeared the "Pilgrims of Walshingham," constructed on the plan of Chaucer's "Canterbury Pilgrimage;" remarkable for its spirited delineations of character, and full of historic interest. This work added greatly to the reputation of its author.
We should say something more here of the talented sisters of this author, to whom a casual allusion has been made. Elizabeth, as we have seen, shared with Agnes in the labour of her most important works. Jane Margaret, who is still with our author at the old home at Reydon Hall, has written many popular books for children, and has also written much in religious publications, chiefly with a view to the elevation of the working classes. She has for some year? past been engaged in a "Family History of Rome," the first volume of which appeared in 1854. Catharine and Susanna married, the former Lieutenant Trail, and the latter J. D. Mudie, Esq., both officers in the Royal North British Fusiliers, stationed in Canada; and from their pens have come across the Atlantic delightful volumes full of hope and freshness and original observations, such as "The Backwoods of America, by the Wife of an Emigrant," "The Canadiart Crusoes," "A Guide to Female Emigrants," and "Roughing it in the Back," the latter being the production of Mrs. Mudie, who has also produced two novels, "Mark Hardleston," and "Flora Lindsay," both of which have been well received in America and England.