| Show Writer Tho Was a Man Succeeded Best as s a W vV oman onlan Our London Literary Letter ODO Jan Jail 3 There mo ROV L ani In III which the ry I deception which the lull lulo Wll on the read r ud public lI must bo bIJ 1 UH olio Olle of oC tho most mo t tiling ut or HH kind on record cord Before In all probability Americans hac Ileen told by b telegraph what this deception was They Th will have learned that unknown to tu all but u 1 few Cel of oC liln hili most Intimate inundates the Brilliant English critic essayist who wl o tiled died In Ceylon Coylon n day dl or two nio nn was wal also Mono Iilona Macleod the supposedly writer whose real Identity there th re been lIeen no much during tho lust hut few fel years The that Sharp Klona WILli made lifter tho writer death d by b of ot No 5 John Street HIet and In 11 male If friend It made something of or a II in this country this of ot course I mule writers hrIc feminine pen len though their thell number la II small when compared with hut of tho women hac adopted masculine It will bf published tel sev several eral poem us II 1111 Vaughun Lloyd Shelly ogg wrote u 1 volumn culled of or Nicholson and needle to recall 1 I re rl recently novel Loves W Willi H cred credited to Mrs Irs Horace Manners Hut William Sharps is the only on record of oC a 11 male authors writing at the sumo time hla own name and u 1 pseudonym and unel milking making n IL greater reputation under tho assumed appellation than with that which really to him That this Sharps case hero 1 Is no question For In Instance stance tunc on ou to Chambers Cy Cr Cyclopedia I of nr Knell h Literature we find I only six lines of or biography under tho th i nume of oC William Sharp but no lens lell i than attached to thal of oC Fiona Macleod Ill III might be he ex elC explained that details re reo the I H were obtain obtainable able from her hel whenever they wore were de 1 Sharp begun a Il Mac nC Imd kOlI about ten yearn aso aRO At l that time Mine he won ouli what Do ho an 18 n II tolerable lol reputation u I under hU hIli own name Ho He a 1 life lite ot oC II roll J published critical works on Helm Shelley Shelle and done other othel work of good goo quality But hardly ly hud had the of Fiona ip II than their odd beauty and m f s made their supposed ed au 1111 authoress recognized as ns u a new In III Inthe the of oC her time She Sho was In fact tant regarded le by many literary I students as II the thc greatest Celtic writer since Inco From the thu It was believed that Fiona lonn 1 Macleod was u II pseudonym 11 nil ni sot of ot will were wert made at nl the true of uC tho author was said to be ii a daughter of ot D Macleod h l W V VII II was with her work ork She WitH was In III reality Arthur Maud GOlm Thu got warmer however when gumo of ot them that the mys I was lIIS Mrs William Sharp or a n relative of or Sharp At Al this point n I letter appeared In Inthe Inthe the Athenaeum Fiona Muc who ho unite dis IlIs distinct from Crom they th hud received f tho I herself In this Klona de Ile declared herself much at lit her with or 01 that man manor or woman of oC ind continued I Ic you authority to tl 51 definitely that Fiona Macleod IM 1 not on of those with whom she how hot been hoon that hl writes only under the of or Fiona Flolla Macleod that the Is Isher Ishel her hel own on that all she Rhe auks H Is the courtesy hoth of good breeding and amI of oC oCI common ense I Of course In tn letter Sharp lied He believed i that ho he was justified in this court 1 t It must be admitted that he In rood good company Sir Walter Scott de Ie denied I nied that ho wax WiLli the theauthor author of ot Waverley Charlotte I denied point blank tn In Thackeray that luid June Jane l re and moro more recently r Laurence I made III nn no bonen of oC contradicting the rumor that his namn with An u Ivo IvoL 1011 L I Hut But the tho e authors his hili p up 1111 to thu tho time of oC his death It hns already been stated 1 that thit publishers were not thoe of f Fiona and Chapman Hull who ho Issued Hi th supposed works knew absolutely nothing about their clients Identity She them generally general from an ud clr s received to her or 01 order der Iler which were returned r Ln or d 1 with I th tho fictitious nuni An n odd ex ox of oC the wile Sharp was forred to wen Is III found In the tho which lie he the ed 11 editor I of ot Who to publish h under hi Th Iha of oC William Sharp are nU described fre frequent 1 quent of or scene nUll and environ environment ment In summer Falling and swimming The recreations of ot Fiona I loli Macleod are given ns 1111 sailing hill hili walks Sharp suffered from nus ous and like visit visited ed many different of ot the world l lIn In tho effort to his physical condition One Una of ot his hIll first editorship by tho way wa was 11 that of ot the th boys bos p per In which Treasure IM 1 1 appeared Sharp had hlll tha tho true temperament an 1 was U u from Crom the hf hI once onel held In III L London bink fur tur inking ii after on III without In ord r to f 0 to 10 l t IIla tho sing 11 DI IHlI n |
