A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Marsh, Anne
MARSH, ANNE,
Was born in Staffordshire. Her father, James Caldwell, Esq., was Recorder of the borough of Newcastle-under-Line, and also Deputy Lieutenant of the county of Stafford. He was not a magistrate, because, being in principle a dissenter, he refused to qualify by an oath of adherence to the Established Church of England; yet he was highly esteemed, and was a man of remarkable abilities. His fourth daughter was Anne Caldwell, now Mrs. Marsh, who, in talents and character, strikingly resembles her father, and does honour to the careful education he bestowed upon her.
The parental care and tenderness Mrs. Marsh had experienced, may have had some influence on the manner of her first appearance in authorship. She took, as is well known, the pseudonyme of "An Old Man;" but she is by no means to be confounded with those authoresses who, of late, have abdicated the feminine appellation, together with the delicacy and decorum which are its appropriate boast. Her first production, "Two Old Men's Tales," was published in 1834, and was followed in 1836, by "Tales of the Woods and Fields;" both works were simple in construction and affecting in their catastrophes, and both deeply moved the public heart to sympathize with these sad creations of genius. The power of the writer was universally acknowledged; though the influence of such works on morals was regretted by the class who believe these representations of volcanic passion are never salutary. Her next work was "The Triumphs of Time;" followed, at short intervals, by "Mount Sorel," "Emily Wyndham," "Norman Bridge," and "Angela,"—her best work, on the whole, and one of which any female writer might be proud. "Mordaunt Hall," which has been highly esteemed, succeeded; then "The Wilmingtons," and "Lettice Arnold," a sweet, simple story; also "The Second Part of the Previsions of Lady Evelyn," "Ravenscliffe," "Castle Avon," "Aubrey," and "The Heiress of Haughton." And, moreover, Mrs. Marsh has written "The History of the Protestant Reformation in France," and "Tales of the First Revolution," translated and altered from the French.
The author of the first of this series of imaginative works was, of course, supposed to belong to the masculine gender; but the truth was not long concealed. Mrs. Marsh's writings are most essentially feminine; none but a woman could have penned them. That gushing spring of tenderness was never placed in a man's bosom; or, if it were, it would have been dried up by passion, or frozen by mingling with the selfish current of out-of-door life, long before the age of book-making had arrived. Mrs. Marsh has a peculiar gift of the pathetic; for the most part, it is difficult to read her stories without tears. You may criticise these stories; you may point out incongruities, errors of style and of language; yet they have a mastery over your feelings; they cause emotions which you cannot control—and this is the power of genius, ay, genius itself. Her tender epithets and prodigal use of "pet names" may be censured; few writers could so constantly indulge themselves in this way without taking the fatal "step" into the "ridiculous," which is never to be redeemed. But no candid reader can ever accuse Mrs. Marsh of affectation; she writes spontaneously, and it is evident she throws herself into the situations she describes, and pours out the overflowings of a mind of deep sensibility and tenderness.
Without cramming the reader with "morality in doses," Mrs. Marsh never lets an occasion pass for enforcing truth and virtue; her works are pervaded by a spirit of piety, and benevolence is evidently a strong principle in her nature. Her later productions, though not so painfully interesting as the two first, show more knowledge, judgment, and right discipline of mind; yet one fault, which belongs to many female novelists, may be noted—too many incidents are crowded in each work. Still, "Angela" is one of the most charming pictures of disinterested, struggling virtue, English literature can boast; and this work, "Emily Wyndham," and "Mordaunt Hall" have obtained the notice and eulogiums of the most eminent French critics.
Mrs. Marsh resides near London; her husband is a partner in the banking firm of Fauntleroy, Graham, Stacey, and Marsh; she has had a large family, which occupied much of her time and attention during the early years of her marriage.