212 



CRAIK, DINAH MARIA MULOCK. 



CRAIK, DDfAH JLARIA MULOCK, an English 

 novelist and poet, born in Stoke-on- Trent, Staf- 

 fordshire, England, in 1826; died in Shortlands, 

 Kent, Oct. 12, 1887. She was the daughter of 

 a clergyman of the Established Church, who 

 died when she was youug, and was soon fol- 

 lowed by his widow. At her death, the email 

 annuity on which the family had depended 

 ceased, and the young girl was left to take 

 care of her two brothers with the earnings of 

 her pen. Her first published book was one for 

 children, " How to Win Love, or Rhoda's 

 Lesson." Her first novel, "The Ogilvies " 

 (1849), contained subtile delineations of charac- 

 ter and life-like scenes, and was well received 

 by the public, giving her a fair start in the 

 literary life. This was followed by " Olive," 

 which proved equally popular, and in 1851 by 



DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK. 



" The Head of the Family," a story of Scottish 

 life in the middle classes, of one man's devo- 

 tion to his family of younger brothers and 

 sisters left dependent upon him by the death 

 of his parents. Strange as it may seem, in a 

 book whose title is simplicity itself, and whose 

 plot is far from enigmatic, Mrs. Craik displayed 

 qualities highly imaginative and dramatic. 

 Soon after this story, appeared " Alice Lear- 

 mont," a fairy tale. In 1852 followed " Aga- 

 tha's Husband," " Avillon, and other Tales," 

 and stories and books for young people. 



In 1857 was published "John Halifax, Gen- 

 tleman," her most popular novel. The author 

 says of this book, that a goodly portion of it 

 was written at an inn in the old town of Tewkes- 

 bury. Neither before nor since " John Hali- 

 fax," has there been given to the world any 

 such living portraiture of a gentleman, a 

 Christian hero, a practical business man placed 

 amid surroundings adverse to gentlemanliness, 

 and in times full of corruption. This hero 

 performs no deeds of sensational heroism, but 

 leads an independently pure, strong life, which 

 of itself is heroism when brought into contact 

 with actual business life. Here is a man 



anxious for a name such as he can build for 

 himself, a man with great business capacity, 

 and an inventor, a man who has solved the 

 problem of capital and labor, and would accu- 

 mulate a fortune in the ordinary course of 

 events, making his natural instincts secondary 

 to his religious convictions. Miss Mulock. her- 

 self prophetic, makes John Halifax say, "I 

 nevertheless uphold a true aristocracy, the 

 best men of the country. These ought to 

 govern and will govern one day, whether their 

 patent of nobility be birth and titles, or only 

 honesty and brains." She has religious con- 

 victions and is forcible in their definition, 

 but has no denominational feeling. Although 

 the daughter of a churchman, she was not a 

 churchwoman. In her earlier novels she fre- 

 quently avows her belief in religious freedom 

 of thought and action, " that every one's con- 

 science is free, and that all men of blameless 

 life ought to be protected by and allowed to 

 serve the state, whatever be their religious 

 opinions." This, a rare doctrine when Mrs. 

 Craik wrote "John Halifax," has now come to 

 be almost the popular voice. 



Such books as " A Life for a Life," " The 

 Woman's Kingdom," and " A Brave Lady," 

 are good examples of the strong purpose around 

 which Mrs. Craik drew her plot, as a wreath 

 engraved in the glass encircles a goblet. The 

 carving may be delicate and the cutting lend a 

 shimmer of beauty to the glass, but its strength 

 is not thereby enhanced. 



The pure, tender, gentle woman, in her story 

 of " My Mother and I," will long live as a per- 

 fect type of the holy estate of motherhood 

 combined with that of true widowhood. In 

 "A Noble Life" she represents a Scottish 

 earl, the last of his line, heir to a wealthy 

 estate, but a cripple, as the exemplification of 

 the Christ principle humanly presented, de- 

 veloped in the soul and lived in a life of con- 

 stant bodily suffering. In this hero we see a 

 character of such intellectual breadth and 

 spiritual depth that it can not be dwarfed or 

 bound down by its environment, but illumines 

 with divine light the lives of those about it. 

 Her theme in this book might have been made 

 surpassingly interesting, but not for the mere 

 sake of tickling the fancy was Mrs. Craik ever 

 tempted into the making of books. With the 

 calm imperturbability born of her single, 

 strong, moral purpose, she passes by openings 

 into merely romantic or emotional fields of 

 thought which would be entered with avidity 

 by the ordinary novel-writer. She does not 

 like the details of vice, but rather would shield 

 the poor sinner in his shame, leaving the 

 plague-spot to that dear Lord who can heal 

 the miseries revealed to him. In addition to 

 her novels she was also the author of several 

 stories for girls, some volumes on social and 

 domestic subjects, translations from the French, 

 and innumerable magazine articles on a great 

 variety of subjects. She took much interest 

 in travel, especially in the Irish journey cf 



