One hundred years ago
SIR . . . She was not intended to be a story of imaginative adventure only. In the first place, an attempt is made in it to follow the action of the probable effects of immortality working upon the known and ascertained substance of the mortal . . . Secondly, the legend is built up upon the hypothesis that deep affec- tion is in itself an immortal thing. Therefore, when Ayesha in the course of ages grows hard, cynical, and regard- less of that which stands between her and her ends, her love yet endures, true and holy, changeless amidst change. Therefore, too, when at last the reward is in her sight, and passion utterly possesses her, it gives her strength to cast away the evil, and (what your reviewer considers inconsistent with her nature) even to do homage to 'the majesty of virtue'. For love is to her a saving grace and a gate of redemption. Windham Club, 16 January
H. RIDER HAGGARD
The Spectator, 22 January 1887
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