OLIPHANT, Sirs. MARGARET (born Wilson) ( 1828-97). An English novelist and now, writer, born in Wallyford, near _Mussel burgh, INfidlothian, Scotland, April 4, 1828. In 1852 she married her cousin, Francis Oliphant, who died at Rome in 18.50, leaving her penniless with three children to support. Already favor ably known as a novelist, she could gain a liveli hood with her pen, hut the story of her efforts to rear her children and look after her helpless kinsfolk is a painful one. ller work during the next forty years, in spite of the speed with which it. was done, is of a good quality, both in fiction and literary history. In 1564 she again went to Italy, and in 1890 she visited the Holy Land. From 1868 she received a civil list pen sion of flOo. She died at Windsor. June 25, 1597. Her first navel, Passayes in the Life of Mrs. Jim-gore! Maitland of Nitnnyside (1849), won instant attention and approval. Its most distinctive charm is the tender humor and in sight which regulate its exquisite delineation of Scottish life and character at once on their igher and lower levels. It was followed by Hrrkland (1851) : Adam Grormr of ilossgray (1852) ; Henry Muir 11833): Magdalen Hepburn I 1854) : The Quiet Heart (1554); Zaidrc I 1856) ; and several other novels, some of rillich originally appeared in Blackwood's Mayo .:Foe. It was, however, by the Chronicles of Carlingford that Mrs. Oliphant's reputation as
novelist was first assured. In the first of them, The Rector and the Doctor's Family (1863), aside from its other merits, which are great, the character of Netty, the heroine, en livens the whole work, and may rank as an original creation. The other, Salem Chapel (1863), perhaps indicates a wider and more vigorous grasp than is to he found in any other work of the authoress. Among succeeding are : Thrce Brothers (1870) ; Squire Arden (1871) ; A Rose In June (1871) ; The Primrose Path (1575); Iiirsten (1590); The Marriage of Elinor (1892) ; and A ll'idow's Tale (1898). Other works are the Life of Edward Irring (18621; Saint Francis of Assisi (186S) ; Nentoir of the Comte de Montalcmbcrt (1872) ; The .11okers of Florence (1874) ; The Literary History of England from 1790 to 182.5 (1S82); Thr ilakrrs ref Veģice (18S7) ; Royal Edinburgh (1890) ; Life of Laurence Oliphont (1891); The Victorian Age of English Literature (1R92); The Reign of Queen (1894) : The _linkers of Modern Rome ( 1893) ; and Trillium Black wood and His Sons (1S97). Although most of these afford sober entertainment, none of them is deep enough to give Mrs. Oliphant the highest rank as a critic or as an historian. Consult the Autobiography, ed. by (New York, 1899).