Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 16.djvu/60

 HARLAND

44

HERBERT

Harland, Henry, novelist, b. of New Englan<l parentage, at St. Petersburg, 1 Mar., 1861; d. at San Renio, 20 Dec, 1905. His father, Thomas Harland, of Norwich, Conn., was a New York lawyer of great ability. Henry attended the College of the City of New York. In 1881 he went to Harvard, where he studied theology for a year. The next year was spent in Italy, cliiefly in the best social and artistic circles of Rome. Returning a Cathohc at heart, he did not join the Church out of regard for his wife. Due at nine at his desk in the Surrogate's Court of New York, he rose at four a. m. and worked till eight on his first novel "As It Was Written" (New York, 1885). "Mrs. Peixada" and "The Yoke of the Thorah" fol- lowed. They form a sort of Jewish trilogy. His in- terest in the race grew out of his friendship for a young Hebrew. These and seven other successful novels were signed "Sidney Luska", a name and books which Harland, now a fastidious stylist, wished to sink in oblivion. Going to Paris in 1887, Harland and his wife soon settled in London. Their experiences he parodied in a l^lay, "The Light Sov- ereign" (1889). Henry Harland for years wrote only short stories of exquisite workmanship for various reviews. Some of them are over-redolent of the Latin-Quarter: they have been collected in "Made- moiselle Miss" (London, 1S93), "Grey Roses" (London, 1895), and "Comedies and EiTors" (Lon- don, 1898).

The centre of a coterie of litterateurs, Harland pro- jected a quarterly for them, the black and white work being doneby Aubrey Beardsley (q. v.). Appear- ing in Jan., 1894, "The Yellow Book" made Harland and Beardsley the lions of t he hour, and the vogue con- tinued till Harland's faiUng health stopped the publica- tion in 1897. In this year Harland and his wife were received into the Church. In 1898 appeared "The Cardinal's Snuff Box", a delightfully buoyant novel of Italian life. It is so pervaded with the beauty of the Catholic Faith (as are all Harland's wi-itings from this on) that it has made converts. In 1902 was pub- lished his masterpiece, "The Lady Paramount", likened by John Oliver Hobbes to a Shakesperian comedy. In 1904 came "My friend Prospero", in the same charming vein. "The Royal End" (1909) was incomplete when Hai'land died. His wife finished it according to his notes. Despite ill health, Harland, always whimsically joyous, was, still more than Beard.sley, a "boy who never grew up". At thirty his physician gave him two years to hve, but he prolonged them to fourteen most fruitful ones. In sight of the home built by the family at Norwich, Conn., before 1776, Henry Harland hes buried near his people, but in consecrated ground, with a Roman cross at his head.

GLASTONBOTtT (Mrs. Henrt Harland), The Life and Works of Henry Harland in Irish Monthly (Dublin, April, 1911), this, the only accurate account of Harland, ia reprinted from The Redwood (Santa Clara. California); Burke. Novels of Mr. Henry Harland in C'alh. World (New York, April, 1903); James, The Story Teller at Large in The Fortnightly Rev., LXIX (London); Athenamm (London, 30 Dec. 1905) ; The Times (London, 22 Dec, 1905): The Bookman. XXII (New York, 1905-6), XXIX (1909); The Lamp, XXVI (New York); Current Literature, XL.

Regina Randolph Jenkins. Hello, Ernest, French philosopher and essayist, b. at Lorient, Brittany, 4 Nov., 1828; d. at K6roman, near Lorient, 14 July, 1885. His father belonged to the French judiciary and was at the time of his death councilor at the Court of Cassation in Paris. He bequeathed to his son, besides a share in the little ancestral patrimony, K<5roman, an honourable name and an invincible veneration and love for the truth. Ernest Hello was from infancy extremely frail of physique, and this delicacy of h(^ulth, pursuing him tliniugli life, was a great obstacle in his labours and UMilcjublcdly the source of the tinge of melancholy which underlies his writings. From his earliest years H(?ll manifested unusual power of intellect. At

school at Rennes and later at the College Loiiis-le- Grand, in Paris, whence he graduated at the age of fifteen, he was first in his classes. In accordance with his father's wishes he read law, and was admitted after the most brilliant examinations, but refused to em- brace the profession because of a decision of his com- rades to the effect that a lawyer might not in conscience defend an unjust cause. Influenced by his admii-ation for Gratry and Lacordaii-e, he was at- tracted to theology and was instructed in this science by Abbe afterwards Bishop Baudry, then a professor at St-Sulpice. The thorough knowledge of principles which Hello thus acquired enabled him later to use his own powers of perception with perfect freedom and orthodoxy. In 1857 he married Zoe Berthier, daughter of an army officer and herself a WTiter of some ability. In the same year in conjunction with Georges Seigneur, he founded "Le Crois6", a daily paper devoted to the Catholic cause. Among his collaborators were Leon Gautier, Louis VeuiUot, Pere Ventura, Dubosq de Pesquidoux, Oscar Haward, and Numa IBoudet. The success of the journal was almost immediate, but after two years it was aban- doned, owing to some disagreement between the two founders. This was the great disappointment of Hello's Ufe. Thereafter he wrote for the press at large in France, Belgium, and even the LTnited States, "Le Propagateur" of New Orleans receiving some of his contributions.

Hello's first book, "Renan, I'Allemagne et I'Athfi- isme" (1858), was a refutation of Renan, who had just published his "Etudes d'histoire rehgieuse". The book was received with acclaim and recognized as accomplishing the defeat of the famous apostate, but, yielding to the temper of the times. Frenchmen continued to read Renan and soon forgot Hello. An enlarged edition of this work under the title "Philosophic et ath^isme" appeared shortly after the author's death. It is, perhaps, the greatest of his works, exhibiting the full powers of his great mind, his remarkable gra.sp of basic truths, his perfect control of the instruments of philosophy and his own striking style. Hello made masterly transla- tions of the writings of Bl. Angela of Foligno and of the mystic Ruy.sbroeck. Besides these his published works are: "L'Homme", "Physionomies des saints", "Contes extraordinaires", "Paroles de Dieu", "Plateaux de la balance", and "Le Siecle". "L'Homme" is looked upon by his critics as his chief work. It is a collection of essays arranged under the three heads, fife, science, art, and imited by the Catholic standpoint of their author and their bearing upon the different departments of human activity. Since his death his works have passed through several editions, the seventh edition of "L'Homme" ap- pearing in 1905. Disdaining the spirit of compromise characteristic of his times Hello rejected the method inaugurated by Descartes and generally adopted in the systems of that day, making use, instead, of the principles of theology and philosophy as found in Scripture. His clear perception of fundamental princi- ples joined to his simple, lofty style won for him a small but intelligent and appreciative audience through whom his influence has spread. The "Physionomies des saints" has been translated into English under the title "Studies in Saintship" (London, 1903). Translations of some of the essays in "Plateaux de la balance" appeared some years ago in "The Catholic Review" (St. Louis), but the individuahty of his style defies successful translation.

TERRE, Ernest Hello (Paris, 1895); Laserre, Preface to L'Homme and Le Siicle (Paris. 1905); Crawford. Introduction to Studies in Saintship (London, 1903); Barbey d'Al'Revilly

in Lts rriti(iue3 ou le^ jiiges jugis (Paris, 1S85).

Susan Tract Otten.

Herbert of Lea, L.^dy Elizabeth, authoress, and philanthropist, b. in IS'22; d. in London 30 Oct., 1911.