Was the daughter of Mr. Thomas Strickland, of Roydon Hall, Suffolk. Her earlier literary efforts are collected in a volume entitled “Historic Scenes, and other Poetic Fancies.” She wrote popular books for the young, among which may be mentioned “The Pilgrims of Walsingham” (1835). In 1840 appeared the first volume of “Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest,” the last in 1849; in this work she was assisted by her sister Elizabeth. In conjunction the two sisters next produced, in 1850, “Lives of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses connected with the Royal Succession of Great Britain.” Agnes’s next work was “The Bachelor Kings of England” (1862). Other of her books are “How Will It End?” (1865), and “Lives of the Seven Bishops” (1866). In recognition of her literary labors Mr. Gladstone in 1871 placed her on the Civil List, and she received a pension of £100. As an historical biographer Miss Strickland was more remarkable for the thoroughness with which she collected her materials than for her critical penetration.
Personal
March 9.—… Talked to Miss Strickland about Professor Wilson. She is a very sweet-looking person, with a lovely throat and bust, and a gown fitting as well as all well-made women’s gowns do…. March 13.—Called on Miss Strickland—the perfection of blues: she seems to think the most fortunate thing in life is to “get a name;” nevertheless, very interesting both to herself and me upon the queens. She showed me letters from Guizot, &c., and evidently thought herself the historian of the age.
Is tall, formal, and stately, but with an earnest and kind manner.
With the exception of some early trials, the life of Agnes Strickland had been a long and happy one. Few female authors have realised such a brilliant and successful career. Of her it might be truly said, she made many friends and lost none. She was indeed much beloved in life and deeply lamented in death. In person she was attractive, though not to be called beautiful. In stature she was tall, and remarkably upright. Her bust and arms were very fine; her hair black as ebony, glossy and silky in texture, as well as abundant; her complexion somewhat pale, unless brightened by exercise or excitement, when it became roseate. If she were seen writing, working, or sitting, it would have been difficult to find a more graceful figure. In short, take her for all in all, “the like of Agnes Strickland may never be seen again.” Her peculiar position carried her more frequently into society and exposed her to more temptations than fall to the lot of most women. She was made a complete idol of—surrounded by the great and gay, and overwhelmed with adulation or praise, in whatever circles she appeared. The heavy affliction of the last years of her life, by detaching her from the world, led her to look beyond it, and to realise that peace which only the believer can experience in the closing scenes of life.
She was a welcome guest in the houses of many distinguished persons, and her warm heart and conversational powers won for her many friends. With the exception of Jane Porter, whom she visited at Bristol, and with whom she carried on a frequent correspondence, and a casual meeting with Macaulay, whom she found uncongenial, she came little in contact with the authors of her day.
Lives of the Queens of England, 1840–49
The “Lives of the Queens of England,” by Miss Strickland, is a work of great diligence and merit, full of new facts from authentic records, which throw strong light on the manners of our Plantagenet times, full both of interest and amusement. There are indeed some mistakes, and the writer labours under the usual female misfortune, a want of sound and solid literature; but she merits great commendation for doing so much and so well as she has.
Miss Mitford reminds me of Miss Strickland. Craik, whom I saw yesterday, told me that the book which is the most decided success at present is “The Queens of England!” Colburn has made some twenty thousand pounds by it! And the authoress too is enriched. She goes to the Duke of Cleveland’s, &c., &c. (Lady Clara told John), and is treated there like a high-priestess! everybody defering to her opinions.
I can safely say that I have acquired a much clearer idea of English history from your own than I ever did from general history—and so I never fail to say, both at home and abroad; and the reason is, that the history of each queen forms a separate cell in the memory in which to deposit the events of the past, and that your genius has given an interest to the narrative which renders the storing no longer a labour but a most agreeable occupation.
Picturesque, clear, and always interesting. She has not much mental grasp, and always writes like a woman, which is no more than was to be expected; but she has this merit, that she realizes the home feelings, the costume, and the domestic life of the period. To draw a simile from the stage, she dresses her characters extremely well; and the reader does grasp a certain amount of suggestive information from her pages.
Accurate, philosophic, anecdotal, and entertaining, this work ranks among the most valuable histories in English. If the style is not so nervous as that of masculine writers, there is a ready intuition as to the rights and the motives of the queens, and a great delicacy combined with entire lack of prudery in her treatment of their crimes. The library of English history would be singularly incomplete without Miss Strickland’s work.
The author has produced a spirited and interesting series of biographical sketches. It cannot be claimed, however, that they possess very great historical value. The writer studied carefully and thoroughly, and she has given her readers the advantage of a large number of valuable extracts from original and somewhat obscure sources. But she was moved by strong partialities and prejudices, and her pages constantly show that her judgment was not above being warped by her sympathies. This characteristic is most obvious in her partiality for the Stuarts and in her antipathy to the supporters of the Revolution.
General
She posses all the zealous industry and indefatigable research which characterize Macaulay, and, like him, she has her prepossessions and dislikes. A vail is sometimes drawn over the weak points of the favorite Princesses or Houses who form the subject of her narrative. But it is all done in a noble spirit: the foundation of her judgment is always admiration of the gallant in conduct, the chivalrous in disposition; and though the intensity of this feeling has often biased her judgment, it does not diminish the respect due to her motives. The reader may sometimes be misled in the estimate of individual character by her captivating pen, but he is sure never to be so on the side, whether of virtue or vice, which is the fit subject of praise or condemnation.
Miss Strickland’s interesting volumes are particularly valuable to the historian for the copious extracts which they contain from curious unpublished documents, which had escaped the notice of writers too exclusively occupied with political events to give much heed to details of a domestic and personal nature.
She has proved herself a very useful writer. Her “Queens of England” have induced many, to whom stronger diet would have been unpalatable, to gain a respectable knowledge of the leading facts of English history. For her own sex, her work is not only of deep interest, but must prove, in many ways, highly beneficial. Her own unwearied industry is an example of much importance; the devotion of her talents to a great subject is another commendable trait in her character; and the success attending her labors has a wide influence for good. Miss Strickland has incurred considerable censure from some of the British critics on account of her High Church and Tory principles, which she never attempts to conceal; but she seems so thoroughly convinced of the truth of her own opinions, that we must believe she is honestly sure her statements are correct. In short, she is a sincere queen-worshipper; and certainly, if there be a “divinity” to hedge kings who have usually been very poor specimens of humanity, queens may well be exalted. Since she commenced her work, other biographies of some of these ladies have appeared, but none have equaled Miss Strickland’s in the interest of the narrative or in the originality of materials.
Miss Strickland’s power of writing is far from equalling her industry in research. The style is rather poor and thin, and the statements sometimes inaccurate.
Miss Strickland was laborious and painstaking, but she lacked the judicial temper and critical mind necessary for dealing in the right spirit with original authorities. This, in conjunction with her extraordinary devotion to Mary Queen of Scots and her strong tory prejudices, detract from the value of her conclusions. Her literary style is weak, and the popularity of her books is in great measure due to their trivial gossip and domestic details. Yet in her extracts from contemporary authorities she amassed much valuable material, and her works contain pictures of the court, of society, and of domestic life not to be found elsewhere.
