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CADELL, JESSIE (1844-1884),
novelist and orientalist, was born in Scotland 23 Aug. 1844, and at an early
age accompanied her husband, an officer in the army, to India. She resided
chiefly at Peshawur, and embodied her observations of frontier life in a
pleasing novel, ‘Ida Craven’ (1876). One of the principal characters in this
work, a loyal Mahommedan officer, is drawn from personal observation, and is
an instructive as well as an interesting study. To while away the tedium of
cantonment life, Mrs. Cadell made herself mistress of Persian, and upon her
return to England after the death of her husband devoted herself especially
to the study of Omar Khayyam, the astronomer poet of Persia. Without seeking
to compete with Mr. Fitzgerald’s splendid paraphrase in its own line, Mrs.
Cadell contemplated a complete edition and a more accurate translation. She
visited numerous public libraries in quest of manuscripts, and embodied a
portion of her researches in an article in ‘Fraser’s Magazine’ for May 1879,
on which Bodenstedt, when publishing his own German translation, bestowed
the highest praise, without any idea that he was criticising the production
of a female writer. It is to be hoped that her collections may yet be made
serviceable. She was prevented from carrying out her intention by the
decline of her health, and she died at Florence on 17 June 1884. ‘She was,
’the ‘Athenaeum’ truly said, ‘a brave, frank, true woman, bright and
animated in the midst of sickness and trouble, disinterestedly attached to
whatever was good and excellent, a devoted mother, a staunch and
sympathising friend.’
Ida Craven
By H.M. Cadell (1876)
Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |
