The “Pope” of Holland House
John Whishaw to Thomas Smith, 22 April 1814
April 22nd.
Madame de Staël is going for a short time to
Paris, and it seems to me that all the world is doing the same.
Madame d’Arblay’s book1 is
considered here as a great failure, partly on account of the vulgar faults of
exaggeration and caricature with which it is chargeable, and in consequence of her
long residence on the Continent she has nearly lost her power of writing English.
Frances D'Arblay [née Burney] (1752-1840)
English novelist, the daughter of the musicologist Dr. Charles Burney; author of
Evelina; or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World
(1778),
Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress (1782), and
Camilla (1796).
Germaine de Staël (1766-1817)
French woman of letters; author of the novel
Corinne, ou L'Italie
(1807) and
De l'Allemagne (1811); banned from Paris by Napoleon, she
spent her later years living in Germany, Britain, and Switzerland.
