"The marigolds and the sunflowers had given her their ripe rich gold to tint her hair; the lupins had lent their azure for her eyes; the moss-rose buds had made her pretty mouth; the arum lilies had uncurled their softness for her skin; and the lime blossoms had given her their frank, fresh, innocent fragrance."
Ouida would have had no vogue in these times. She violently opposed female suffrage and expressed her view that "millions of ordinary women have as little of the sage in them as of the angel."
As for the new woman, she wrote of her as "violating every law alike of common sense and of artistic fitness, and yet comes forward as a fit and proper person to make laws for others." She was strong in her views that the private lives of all artists are not fit objects of curiosity, and was firm in declining, in unedited language, to be interviewed. Ouida was undoubtedly an eccentric, with a golden heart, and a passion for dogs. She died in her beloved Italy, alas! in abject poverty, mainly due, I fear, to her unpractical nature and her uncurbed generosities. No one is left to tell us what became of all the lovely things by which she was surrounded in her prosperous days at the Florentine Villa Farinola. I think she rests in peace.
Not long before the end my wife received this letter from her:
"DEAR THALIA,
"I have been and am still very ill. For two days I was near death. I should grieve to leave my dear dogs. Their lives are too short in comparison with their devotion. I got your long letter after some delay and fear many letters are lost between Italy and England. I have seen a bag filled with the contents of pillar-boxes reposing in sweet solitude on the pavement of a deserted street in Florence!
"I am so glad that you and your dear husband are well and happy.... I wish I could come and see you all and the dear old country where its sons and daughters are never content except when they are out of it.
"Love to you and Sir Squire. Believe me, always your and his admirer and friend.
"OUIDA."
Miss Braddon