THE LIFE OF THOMAS HARDY

THE LIFE OF THOMAS HARDY

THE LIFE OF THOMAS HARDY COMPILED LARGELY FROM CONTEMPORARY NOTES, LETTI!:RS, DIARIES, AND BIOGRAPHICAL MEMORANDA, AS WELL AS FROM ORAL INFORMATION IN CONVERSATIONS EXTENDING OVER MANY YEARS BY FLORENCE EMILY HARDY M

Macmillan & Co Ltd 1962 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1983 978-0-333-04336-3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission First edition 1962 Reprinted 1965, 1970 Reprinted with corrections 1972 Reprinted 1973, 1975, 1982, 1983 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives througfwut the world ISBN 978-1-349-00288-7 ISBN 978-1-349-00286-3 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00286-3

TO THE DEAR MEMORY

This volume brings together for the first time The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, z84o-z8gz, and The Later Years of Thomas Hardy, z8g2-1928, which were originally published in 1928 and 1930 respectively and have been out of print for several years.

PREFATORY NOTE TO 'THE EARLY LIFE' MR. HARDY's feeling for a long time was that he would not care to have his life written at all. And though often asked to record his recollections he would say that he 'had not sufficient admiration for himself' to do so. But later, having observed many erroneous and grotesque statements advanced as his experiences, and a so-called 'Life' published as authoritative, his hand was forced, and he agreed to my strong request that the facts of his career should be set down for use in the event of its proving necessary to print them. To this end he put on paper headings of chapters, etc., and, in especial, memories of his early days whenever they came into his mind, also communicating many particulars by word of mouth from time to time. In addition a great help has been given by the dated observations which he made in pocket-books, during the years of his novel-writing, apparently with the idea that if one followed the trade of fiction one must take notes, rather than from natural tendency, for when he ceased fiction and resumed the writing of verses he left off note-taking except to a very limited extent. The opinions quoted from these pocket-books and fugitive papers are often to be understood as his passing thoughts only, temporarily jotted there for consideration, and not as permanent conclusions - a fact of which we are reminded by his frequent remarks on the tentative character of his theories. As such memoranda were not written with any view to their being printed, at least as they stood, and hence are often abrupt, a few words of explanation have been given occasionally. It may be added that in the book generally Mr. Hardy's own reminiscent phrases have been used or approximated to whenever they could be remembered or were written down at the time of their expression viva voce. On this point great trouble has been taken to secure exactness. vii

viii PREFATORY NOTE TO 'THE EARLY LIFE' Some incidents of his country experiences herein recorded may be considered as trivial, or as not strictly appertaining to a personal biography, but they have been included from a sense that they embody customs and manners of old West-of-England life that have now entirely passed away. F. E. H.

CONTENTS CHAP. PART I EARLY LIFE AND ARCHITECTURE PAGE I BIRTH AND BoYHOOD, I84o-I855: Aet. I-IS 3 II STUDENT AND ARCHITECT, I8S6--I8lh.: Aet. 16--.u 27 III WoRK IN LoNDON, I862-1867: Aet. 21-27 35 IV BETWEEN ARCHITECTURE AND LITERATURE, I867-I870: Aet. 27-30 56 V ST. JuLIOT, I87o: Aet. 29-30 67 PART J1 NOVELS- TO ILLNESS VI FIRST THREE BooKs, 187o-I873: Aet. 30-33 VII FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD'' MARRIAGE, AND ANOTHER NovEL, 187J-I876: Aet. 33-36 95 VIII HoLLAND, THE RHINE, AND SruRMINSTER NEWTON, I876--1878: Aet. 36--37 110 IX LIFE AND LITERATURE IN A LoNDON SuBURB, 1878-1880: Aet. 37-39 120 X LoNDON, NoRMANDY, AND CAMBRIDGE, 1879-188o: Aet. 39-40 131 PART Ill ILLNESS, NOVELS, AND ITALY XI A DIFFICULT PERIOD; AND A CHANGE, 188o-r88r : Aet. 4o-41 145 XII WIMBORNE AND 'Two ON A TowER', 1882-1883: Aet. 41-43 rp ix

X CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE XIII THE CouNTY TowN, 1883-1885 : Aet. 43-45 161 XIV MAx GATE AND 'THE WooDLANDERS ', r885-1887: Aet. 45-46 175 XV ITALIAN JouRNEY, 1887: Aet. 46 PART IV BETWEEN TOWN AND COUNTRY XVI LoNDON FRIENDs, PARIS, AND SHORT STORIEs, 1887-1888: Aet. 47-48 XVII MoRE TowN FRIENDS AND A NovEL's DisMEMBERMENT, 1888-1889: Aet. 48-49 XVIII OBsERVATIONS ON PEOPLE AND THINGS, 1890: Aet. 49-50 XIX THE NovEL 'TEss' RESTORED AND PUBLISHED, 1891: Aet. 5o--51 199 213 224 232 PART V 'TESS', 'JUDE', AND THE END OF PROSE XX THE RECEPTION OF THE BooK, 1892 : Aet. 5 1-p XXI VISITS AND INTERMITTENT WRITING, 1893: Aet. p-53 XXII ANOTHER NOVEL FINISHED, MUTILATED, AND RESTORED, 1894-1895 : Aet. 53-55 XXIII MoRE on 'JuDE', AND rssue of 'THE WELL-BELOVED', 1896-1897: Aet. 55-57 243 252 262 276 PART VI VERSE, TO THE END OF 'THE DYNASTS' XXIV CoLLECTING OLD PoEMS AND MAKING NEw, 1897-1898: Aet. 57-58 291 XXV 'WESSEX PoEMS' AND OTHERS, 189!)-1900: Aet. 58-6o 299 XXVI 'PoEMS OF THE PAsT AND THE PRESENT', AND OTHERS, 1901-1903 : Aet. 6o--63 308

CONTENTS ~ CHAP. PAGB XXVII PART FIRST OF 'THE DYNASTs', I904-1905 : Aet. 63-65 319 XXVIII THE REMAINDER OF 'THE DYNASTs', 1906-1908: Aet. 6s-67 3~9 PART VII 'TIME'S LAUGHINGSTOCKS', 'SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE', AND 'MOMENTS OF VISION' XXIX DEATHS OF SwiNBURNE AND MEREDITH, 1908-1909 : Aet. 67-69 341 XXX THE FREEDOM OF THE BoROUGH, 19I0 : Aet. 69-70 349 XXXI BEREAVEMENT, 1911-1912.: Aet. 7o-7~ 355 XXXII REVISITINGS, SECOND MARRIAGE, AND war WRITINGS, 1913-1914: Aet. 7~--'74 361 XXXIII W.o. EFFORTs, DBATHS of RELATIVEs, AND 'MoMENTS OF VISION', 1915-1917: Aet. 74--'77 369 PART VIII LIFE'S DECLINE XXXIV REFLECTIONS on PoETRY, 1918: Aet. 77-78 383 XXXV PoETICAL QuESTIONS: AND MELLSTOCK CLuB-RooM, 1918-1919: Aet. 78-79 387 XXXVI 'THE DYNAsTs' AT OXFORD; HoN. DEGREE; A DEPU- TATION ; A CoNTROVERSY, 19~0 : Aet 79-80 397 XXXVII SoME FAREWELLs, 19~1-19~5: Aet. So-85 XXXVIII THE LAsT ScENE APPENDIX I APPENDIX II APPENDIX III INDEX 431 447 449 453 455

ILLUSTRATIONS Stinsford Church: plan of west gallery, c. 1835 page 11 between pages 114 and 115 Thomas Hardy's Birthplace, from a drawing made by him Jemima Hardy, 1876 Thomas Hardy senior, 1877 Emma Lavinia Gifford, 1870 (afterwards Mrs. Thomas Hardy) Thomas Hardy, aged 30, c. 1870 Under tne Greenwood Tree: first page of the MS. Thomas Hardy's study about 1900 Thomas Hardy, 1913 Thomas and Florence Emily Hard} at Max Gate, 1914 Thomas Hardy, aged 8o