810 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION I. 



dame, whose novels have received the hall-mark of Imperial 

 ajjprobation, Mrs. Campbell Praed, may be placed amid the 

 Tasmania!! galaxy. Speaking of this lady's w^oi'ks, I may 

 give it as iny opinion that no woman ever thoroughly 

 mastered the vernac!!lar, the true significance, as well as the 

 dramatic aspects of the wilder pastoral life as she has done. 

 She is far from the land of her childhood now, and her 

 experiences have been considerably expanded, but she still con- 

 tinues to please her readers at home and abroad. Her 

 reputation, like that of her sister authoress " Tasma," is 

 European. 



And now, to this "group of noble daiiaes," all of Tasmanian 

 birth or nurture, another must be added. (Really it seems to 

 !ne that Section I., so far froi!i being unti!iiely slain by its 

 cr!iel step-sister Science, ought to be retained, if only in the 

 interests of the literary womanhood of Tasmania, so pre- 

 e!iiinent in the past, and destined, doubtless, for greater 

 triu!Tiphs in the future). I must not further delay to !ne!ition 

 the na!iie of Mona Caird, the authoress of that truly remark- 

 able article in a leading review, entitled " Is Marriage a 

 Failure?" I wonder if it would co!iie within the regi!lation 

 of this august Society to put the question to the meeting— 

 highly repi'esentative assembly as it is. Would the " ayes " 

 or the " noes " have it ? A momentous question, truly ! It is 

 !!eedless to say, speaking as a Benedict of experience — of 

 happy experience — that I am not in sympathy with the 

 authoress's views, though I may admire the force and logic 

 with which she ])resents her argun!ents. Her novel, the 

 '• Wing of Azrael," beginning in misery and ending in suicide, 

 is scarcely a pleasing contribution to literatu!-e, thoiigh none 

 can deny its talent as a co!!iposition. Reverting to the 

 marriage questio!i — how fascinating it is, has been, and will 

 be ! I may ventui'e to interpolate the i!iformation (this being 

 the I section) as my predecessor hasdiscove!'ed,thatif he had 

 not bee!i foi'tunate enough to have been married, the present 

 speaker would never have had a book to his name, and thus 

 probably would not have received the honour of addressing 

 you to-day. 



Not, indeed, that other Australian colo!iies have failed to 

 produce Unas and Brito!i!arts worthily pre-eminent in the 

 battle of literai'y life. But when we consider that the dis- 

 tinguished lady of whom we first spoke co!ii!nenced her 

 literary ca!*eer full half a century since, it seems patent that 

 the place of honor should be accorded to her. Coming to 



