Anna Maria Porter

Anna Maria Porter. The Lake of Killarney:  a Novel

London:  T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1804.

 

Contemporary Reviews


Sketches of some recent novels. The Literary Magazine, and American Register (1803-1807): Sep 1805; 4, 24; APS Online pg. 207

Inoffensiveness is the only praise which the fair author of The Lake of Killarney claims to herself. It is represented to have been written during the languid hours of an infirm state of health, for amusement rather than for fame; and it is now offered to the public, not for their criticism, but to afford them an opportunity of partaking in the pleasure which the writer derived from the composition of the work. Under this information, it would be ungallant to exercise any severity; on the contrary, many parts of this novel claim more than the praise of inoffensiveness, for they are pleasing and well written, though the thread which connects the story together does not continually serve to conduct the reader along through the winding paths. This defect may arise from the state of the author's health, which probably interrupted the chain of ideas, and weakened their mutual dependence on each other. [excerpt from a review of many articles]

Imperial Revew / JAS, 1804
Vol.3 (1804): 303
The Lake of Killarney. A Novel. By Anna Maria Porter, Author of Octavia, Walsh, Colville, &c. 3 Vols. pp. 940; price 9s. Longman and Rees, London. 1804.

The novel from which we can extract innocent amusement is to us acceptable, though it should present only the sufferings of sensibility, the sorrows of the heart, and the comparatively playful cares of love. That TheLake of Killarney belongs to this class of fictions, is not to be disputed; but, unlike most of its kindred volumes, the interest which it creates in the first chapter is progressive to the last. It inculcates pure morality, it breathes elevated sentiment; it awakens no sympathies that are not honourable to the writer, and friendly to the cause of virtue. Rose de Blaquiere and Felix Charlemont are ostensibly the hero and heroine of Killarney; but many other personages are introduced, who are perhaps equally entitled to our affection and esteem. Of these, Colville Barry and Mrs Fitzpatrick are pre-eminent. We do not recollect to have ever been introduced to so many dangerous men and fascinating women. Man, woman, and child, they are almost all invested with supreme beauty and transcendant grace: - that the ladies should be thus distinguished, is perhaps just; that the hero should be as refulgent an Apollo, is very allowable; but that all his compeers should be equally the favourites of nature - should all be so amazingly handsome, is a circumstance calculated to promote the malice of certain uncouth readers.

If the elegant writer have [sic] been somewhat too elaborate of outward ornament, she has not, however, neglected the superior claims of mind. She has paid our sex the compliment to form of them a band of choice spirits, whose words are vows: whose oaths are oracles; their tears pure messengers sent from their hearts; their hearts as far from fraud, as heaven from earth. In return for this tribute, may the man to whom she shall assign her destiny, be generous as her Fitzpatrick, noble as her Barry, constant as her Charlemont, and honourable as her Glenroy: to sum all, may she be as happy as Rose, whose felicity is well described in a letter to Mrs Fitzpatrick!

We were surprised to meet with such colloquial vulgarisms as quiz and cut, in these volumes. The inaccuracies of an elegant pen are offensive to the eye and ear that had anticipated the gratifications of refined taste. We therefore impose our censorial mandate on this lady (who is, we believe, young enough to owe us some deference as her elders) religiously to guard against them in her future pages. [excerpt from review of many works]

Provided by Julie A. Shaffer, January 2000
http://www2.shu.ac.uk/corvey/cw3/ContribPage.cfm?Contrib=371

-- Prepared by Kate Lottinville, University of Nebraska, April 2006.
© Kate Lottinville, 2006.