1 DECEMBER 1944, Page 16

BOOKS OF THE DAY

The Golden Caroline

"Caroline Fox. By Wilson Harris. (Constable. 15s.)

CAROLINE Fox spent her whole life, which lasted from 1819 until 1871, in the immediate neighbourhood of Falmouth, among what Carlyle called "open, cheery heights ; fresh south-western breezes ; a brisk, laughing sea, swept by industrious sails, and the nets of a most stalwart, wholesome, frank and interesting population." More particularly, she spent it in the heart of her family, wealthy Friends whose intelligence and cordiality made them delightful hosts to some of the, ablest and most celebrated men and women of that age. Caroline's own lovely vivacity attracted these people, who walked and talked with her and introduced her to an ever-widening circle of their peers. And she kept a private Journal which, even in the fragmentary state known to us, after every secret and every possible indiscretion had been expunged by an inexpert editor, remains one of the treasures of English belles leases.

It is a treasure because it is the self-portrait of an original and beautiful-minded girl who was also, in virtue of her family and intelligence, upon familiar and affectionate terms with such people as Carlyle, Wordsworth, Elizabeth Fry, Hartley Coleridge, John Stuart Mill, the Chevalier de Bunsen, Sir Richard Owen, Adam Sedgwick, and many more. She did not gossip about them for the amusement of a crowd ; she noted for her own pleasure, and perhaps her brother's, their characteristics, their beliefs, and their casual talk ; and about each one of them she recorded something new and authentic.

Moreover, such was her grace and quickness of mind, they all responded to her candour with equal candour. One has no sense anywhere in the Journal that a famous or a learned person ever treated her with anything but entire naturalness. Even Carlyle at once explained his own philosophical pessimism by saying that " it is just the old story of indigestion " ; even Wordsworth, at their first meeting, took off his spectacles so that his visitors might see him as he was, and, at parting, " he held my hand in both of his for some time, which I consider a marked fact in my life."

It is of this charming person that Mr. Wilson Harris has written a rich, discursive book which will be welcomed by all lovers of the- Journal, and by many to whom the Journal is unknown. He might have given, but he does not give, the Journal in full, annotated to the covers. He might have concentrated, but he does not concen- trate, upon every small piece of self-revelation and written a psycho- logical study (it may still be done). His aim has been otherwise, and he has succeeded in his aim. He re-creates, for example, as no non-Friend could do, the atmosphere of Caroline's home-life and the quiet assurance of her Faith. He tells us about the Foxes and the Gurneys. And, being then confronted with the extraordinarily difficult task of writing a biography of somebody about whom is known only the little that a too-discreet editor allowed her own words to reveal, he refuses to attempt the fanciful, novelistic portrait which has latterly been the vogue. Instead, gathering together and amplifying in separate Chapters the scattered references to particular individuals, he enchants us by a miscellany of fact and quotation in which, through his modesty, Caroline's words supply all the high- lights.

It is an able performance, with Caroline always present but never in the centre. And, incidentally, it tells us the truth about a curious and baffling passage in her life. Was she in love with John Sterling? Was Sterling in love with her? Clearly, none of her other friend- ships equalled this ; her summaries of Sterling's wide-ranging talk, and quotation of the sallies which passed between them, besides giving him sparkling reality, always suggest strong affection. So Mr. Harris, by the skill and tact of his elucidation, does us all— including Caroline—a service. His chapter on the Carlyles is just as good. He is everywhere shrewd and well-informed. And while we continue to read Caroline's golden Journal, as a classic, in the form in which it was originally printed, we shall certainly do so in future, if we are wise, with Mr. Harris's book close at hand, ready