Hale: Madame D^Arhlay 



31 



is as bright and fresh and original as if it had had no suggestions from 

 without. 



It must not be forgotten, as has already been stated, that Richard- 

 son had a strong influence upon this and the succeeding novels. In 

 the size of the latter, their author was, no doubt, following him. 

 Her sentimentality resembles his, tho, as we have seen, she belongs to 

 the school of Henry Mackenzie. In her first novel she imitates 

 Richardson's use of the letter-form to carry on the narrative; but she 

 does not resort to the journal, as he does when in extremities. Her 

 heroines, too, have the same sort of questionings as Pamela and 

 Clarissa, and they spend a great deal of time trying to make up their 

 minds. She followed him in attempting a realistic presentation of life; 

 but, as has been pointed out,^^^ she is indebted to Smollett for the 

 character of some of her incidents. The novels are intended to be a 

 satire of society — ''novels of domestic satire", as Professor Raleigh 

 calls them.i^^ In all of them she exposes the heartlessness and frivolity 

 of the upper class and the vulgarity and cruelty of the middle class. 

 Cecilia has an even more definite purpose — to show the harm and 

 injustice of name-compelling wills. But nowhere do we find the 

 insistence of Richardson's complacent, smug morality. All the novels 

 belong to the eighteenth century, and show little of the influence of 

 the advancing Romantic movement. A single exception occurs in 

 The Wanderer, in the scene where Juliet, alias the Incognita, alias 

 Ellis, alias The Wanderer, finds the blood in the deer-stealer's house.^^*^ 

 This undoubtedly finds its source in the Gothic romances. 



VIII. Plot 



Our chief interest in Madame D'Arblay's work does not lie in the 

 story element, for she has no talent for narration. Altho all of her 

 novels are intended to be true to life, the plots are extravagant and 

 impossible. Evelina has fewer faults of this nature than Camilla and 

 The Wanderer, but its plot construction is inferior to that of Cecilia. 

 The structure of the latter shows skill, but the incidents are inter- 

 rupted by the characterization — and the conversation. All the stories 

 lack genuine motivation. We not only feel the author pulUng the 

 string, but we see the string. Nor can the plots be said to be deter- 



Camilla: 5 vols: 2278 pages; The Wanderer: 5 vols., 2093 pages. 

 "6 See above, pp. 12-13. 

 117 See above, p. 18. 

 115 The English Novel, 255. 



119 Cf. Camilla, II, 462. 



120 ThelWanderer, IV, 375. 



