TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.
—Bold text has been rendered as =bold text=.
[Illustration: _William Sharp_
_After an Etching by William Strang, A.R.A._]
WILLIAM SHARP
(FIONA MACLEOD)
=A MEMOIR=
COMPILED BY HIS WIFE
ELIZABETH A. SHARP
[Illustration: LOGO]
NEW YORK
DUFFIELD & COMPANY
1910
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY
DUFFIELD & COMPANY
THE TROW PRESS · NEW YORK
WILLIAM SHARP
A MEMOIR
PREFACE
When the secret of the identity of Fiona Macleod—so loyally guarded
by a number of friends for twelve years—was finally made known, much
speculation arose as to the nature of the dual element that had found
expression in the collective work of William Sharp. Many suggestions,
wide of the mark, were advanced; among others, that the writer had
assumed the pseudonym as a joke, and having assumed it found himself
constrained to continue its use. A few of the critics understood. Prof.
Patrick Geddes realised that the discussion was productive of further
misunderstanding, and wrote to me: “Should you not explain that F. M.
was not simply W. S., but that W. S. in his deepest moods became F. M.,
a sort of dual personality in short, not a mere nom-de-guerre?” It was
not expedient for me at that moment to do so. I preferred to wait till
I could prepare as adequate an explanation as possible. My chief aim,
therefore, in writing about my husband and in giving a sketch of his
life, has been to indicate, to the best of my ability, the growth and
development in his work of the dual literary expression of himself.
The most carefully compiled record of a life can be but partially
true, since much of necessity must be left unsaid. A biographer,
moreover, can delineate another human being only to the extent of
his understanding of that fellow being. In so far as he lacks, not
only knowledge of facts, but also the illumination of intuition and
sympathy, to that extent will he fail to present a finished study of
his subject. And because no one can wholly know another: because one of
necessity interprets another through the colour of his or her mind, I
am very conscious of my own limitations in this respect. As, however, I
have known William Sharp for more consecutive years than any other of
his intimate friends, I perhaps am able therefore to offer the fullest
survey of the unfolding of his life; though I realise that others may
have known him better than I on some sides of his nature: in particular
as he impressed those who had not discovered, or were not in sympathy
with, the “F. M.” phase in him.
The life of William Sharp divides itself naturally into two halves: the
first ends with the publication by W. S. of _Vistas_, and the second
begins with _Pharais_, the first book signed Fiona Macleod. It has
been my endeavour to tell his story by means of letters and diaries;
of letters written by him, and of others written to him, concerning
his work and interests. To quote his own words: “A group of intimate
letters, written with no foreseen or suspected secondary intention,
will probably give us more insight into the inner nature of a man than
any number of hypothetical pros and cons on the part of a biographer,
or than reams of autobiography.... I know Keats for instance far better
through his letters than by even the ablest and most intimate memoirs
that have been written of him: the real man is revealed in them and is
brought near to us till we seem to hear his voice and clasp his hand.”
The diaries are fragmentary. They were usually begun at each New Year,
but were speedily discontinued; or noted down intermittently, during a
sojourn abroad, as a record of work. He was a good correspondent, both
as W. S. and F. M. I have thus tried to make the book as autobiographic
as possible, by means of these letters and diaries, and I have added
only what has seemed to me necessary to make the narrative sequent.
Unfortunately, letters have not been available from several valuable
sources; and I regret the absence of any written by him to Walter
Pater, George Meredith, Theodore Watts-Dunton, Arthur Symons, and to
one or two of his most intimate friends.
I take this opportunity of expressing to many friends on both sides of
the Atlantic my appreciation of their courtesy in placing letters at
my disposal; also for permission accorded to me by Mr. Robert Ross
for the use of letters from Oscar Wilde, and by Mr. Charles Baxter,
for letters from Robert Louis Stevenson. Through the kindness of Mrs.
Sturgis I have included among the illustrations a portrait of her
father George Meredith (dated 1898). I am indebted to Miss Pater for
the photograph of her brother Walter Pater; and to Mr. W. M. Rossetti
for that of his brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Of the four portraits of William Sharp, herein reproduced, the earliest
was taken about the time of the publication of his first volume of
poems. The pastel by the Norwegian painter, Charles Ross, was executed
in Rome in 1891, two years before _Pharais_ was written; and the
etching by our friend, Mr. William Strang A.R.A., who has kindly
sanctioned my use of it, dates to 1896, in which year were published
_The Washer of the Ford_, _Green Fire_, and _From the Hills of Dream_.
The final portrait of my husband was taken in Sicily in 1903 by the
Hon. Alexander Nelson Hood (Duke of Bronte), who also has permitted
me to reproduce his photograph of Il Castello di Maniace, Bronte—on
the inland shoulder of Etna—close to which, on a sloping hillside, in
the little woodland burial ground, and within sound of rushing waters,
stands the Iona cross erected to the memory of William Sharp and “Fiona
Macleod.”
CONTENTS
PAGE
=PART I: WILLIAM SHARP= 1
CHAPTER I: CHILDHOOD 3