WILLIAM

See also:

• BLACK
• BLACK, ADAM (1784-1874)
• BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN (1810–1883)
• WILLIAM BLACK (1841-1898)

BLACK (1841-1898)  , British novelist, was born at Glasgow on the 9th of November 1841 . His early ambition was to be a painter, but he made no way, and soon had recourse to journalism for a living . He was at first employed in newspaper offices in Glasgow, but obtained a post on the Morning Star in London, and at once proved himself a descriptive writer of exceptional vivacity . During the war between Prussia and, Austria in 1866 he represented the Morning Star at the front, and was taken prisoner . This paper shortly afterwards failed, and Black joined the editorial staff of the Daily News . He also edited the Examiner, at a time when that periodical was already moribund . After his first success in fiction, he gave up journal-ism, and devoted himself entirely to the production of novels . For nearly thirty years he was successful in retaining the popular favour . He died at Brighton on the loth of December 1898, without having experienced any of that reaction of the public taste which so often follows upon conspicuous successes in fiction . Black's first novel, James Merle, published in 1864, was a complete failure; his second, Love or Marriage (1868), attracted but very slight attention . In Silk Attire (1869) and Kilmeny (1870) marked a great advance on his first work, but in 1871 A Daughter of Heth suddenly raised him to the height of popularity, and he followed up this success by a string of favourites . Among the best of his books are The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton (1872); A Princess of Thule (1874); Madcap Violet (1876); Macleod of Dare (1878); White Wings (1880); Sunrise (1880); Shandon Bells (1883); Judith Shakespeare (1884); White Heather (,885); Donald Ross of Heimra (1891); Highland Cousins (1894) and Wild Eelin (1898) .

Black was a thoroughgoing sportsman, particularly fond of fishing and

yachting, and his best stories are those which are laid amid the breezy mountains of his native land, or upon the deck of a yacht at sea off its wild coast . Hisdescriptions of such scenery are simple and picturesque, He was a word-painter rather than a student of human nature . His women are stronger than his men, and among them are many wayward and lovable creatures; but subtlety of intuition plays no part in his characterization . Black also contributed a life of Oliver Goldsmith to the English Men of Letters series .