xt7qjq0stw34_5051 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7qjq0stw34/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7qjq0stw34/data/1997ms474.dao.xml unknown archival material 1997ms474 English University of Kentucky The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. W. Hugh Peal manuscript collection Charles Reade manuscript [fragment?], with clippings text 43.94 Cubic Feet 86 boxes, 4 oversize boxes, 22 items Poor-Good Peal accession no. 11453. Charles Reade manuscript [fragment?], with clippings 2017 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7qjq0stw34/data/1997ms474/Box_58/Folder_84/Multipage27123.pdf 1857 June 27, undated 1857 1857 June 27, undated section false xt7qjq0stw34_5051 xt7qjq0stw34 "7

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 READE, Charles D. C. L. , 77W], :1 novelist of
gxeat power and originality, who was called to
the bar in 1843, after :1 successful care er at
Oxford,wl1ich culminated in his being made

fellow of Magdalen College. His best work,
perhaps, is “Never Too Late to Mend, ”
whileliis latest‘ ‘Put Yourself In his Place”

 

 1.11.5 father Seems to have. been a 0.111111011113013 country
gent 1131111111. 1115' mother was :1 (laughter of Major Scott, or
Seott-l‘laring, the “1:11,”:111” of Warren Ilz15tings. In some
respects she was a devoted 111111.111'1‘, but she was whinnieal:
‘Yl 11:11 herel1il11r1111 came home f1‘111115eho111orcollege .5'he loved
them 11‘11' 111111, tolerated them for a week, and then devoutly
wished they WL‘I'O out of the house. She was honey one
moment and vinegar the next; and much as she loved the
11:111y Charles, she loved 111-r own whims and fanciee more.
She seems to have been :1. 11111111111 ofsome strength1’1feha1‘acter
9.1111 originalitygshe “abonnnated the low wit of Dickens,”
but found “James, with his love-ladies, i11tere5‘ting”—and
Charles Reade was no doubt right in boasting hi1u.~;elf“his
mother’s son. " 5111*. 111-1 111113 £111 indent 1311:111'1Llica1‘1vas
11111111111e with many 1115'ti11:1115'he11 clei'rryinen of that school,
and died at Ll1e11ge111111111'ly.

Charles Reade: first 51:1111011‘naster was the Rev. Mr. Slatter,
of Illley a mercil1155 111:11'1111et; his second was the amiable
and indulgent 2111'. Heurn, 1-111'ate of Stuines.

In 1831 he was elected to 11 Demy-ship at Magdalen

"111111413 O\:1"1111l He 11'1111 little (his tutor, hy the way, was
R11l1'31'tI owe, aftei .\ '11115 1.111‘11531111111011111,); hut once a Demy,
he could sonicely 111155 a l 111111151111) save by 15111551111i51'1'1111111ct
01' stupidity. According to his report, it was his dependence
on his 11111111511111 \‘1'l1i1l111rc1'1u11111himt'r11111111a1“1\i11".

He was 01111111111) the 1311‘ in 1512, but 1101111111'a1tised. An
attempt to establish 5111111113111 Italian violins \1'15 unsuccessful,
and 101‘ some years, thou}. ‘11 his income of about £330 should
have sntlieed 1'01 11 bachelory he wasin .51;1"11,111511ee1111ialy straits.

So early 11s 1835 he 11:111 hegun to make 11111115 with 11 view to
Writing fiction, 111113 he did not set to work seriously until
18:71). Tl1111 “I wrote, ” he 51'1} .5', “about thirteen 11111111215
Wl1i1-h nobody v' 01111 111-1y}

One 01 these luckless 11"111l:5 l1rought him into contact with
Mrs. Seymour, then 11.11 actress at the Hay111a1‘ket.IIe called
to 1121111 her .. {11'1" and 1'115‘ 111111'tally oilended by her asking,
“ Why don't you \viite 1111vel5?” She 1111.51.51.11 hi5 wrath for
the pride of 1101‘ or 11', and sent him a £5 note; and thus began
11 Lhi11y '1'e15' intimacy 111 a purely l’latonh' chavaeter.

Soon aiterwrrds 111111 11151111" 5 00111111113111111 enabled him
to 1111111111 the idea of 111113155 11nd Furcs into actal 1le fonn.
'Jhe 111111 11151111111111'1'11 at the II1y111.11 111: t 111 151: 1‘2; and 1mm
this Li111e1’111'1va111 1he 5to1y 01 his e1‘11e131 resolves itself into a
list 111111; pla 5 11111 e15 111111controver..es.

He heeuue 11111111'11 to the reading public 111 185 2 as the
1111111111 01"”1’111.r “111111151111” '11115' w1:: foil owel in the suc-
ceediug year by “ (1111""tie Johnstone." After these came the
v.1'ell»l;uow11 \1'111‘1: “It is Never too Late 10 111111111," ”The
Cloister and the Hearth," ”Hard Cash,” “Griilith Gaunt,"
“ 1’111'. ‘1’o111'5elfin His Place," and many others whose names
are familiar to all readers of fiction.

A good deal might be 511111 regarding Charles Reade’s
(3)1111131‘1'111111 v ith the stage. Dramatic writing was his hobby :
he loved it 1111,11 all his heart and soul; and he loved it none
the less because he was again and again defeated in his efforts
to attain success. It was George Eliot’s ambition to be
recognised as a poet ; it was Charles Reade’s to triumph as 3
(11111111111151). In neither ca. , was the vish completely granted.
When the drama of It is Never too Late to Mend was first
produced, it was a. comparative failure; and it was only in