GORE

gore, catherine grace frances (1799-1861), english novelist and dramatist, the daughter of charles moody, a wine-merchant, was born in 1799 at east retford, nottinghamshire. in 1823 she was married to captain charles gore; and, in the next year, she published her first work, _theresa marchmont, or the maid of honour_. then followed, among others, the _lettre de cachet_ (1827), _the reign of terror_ (1827), _hungarian tales_ (1829), _manners of the day_ (1830), _mothers and daughters_ (1831), and _the fair of may fair_ (1832), _mrs armytage_ (1836). every succeeding year saw several volumes from her pen: the _cabinet minister_ and _the courtier of the days of charles ii._, in 1839; _preferment_ in 1840. in 1841 _cecil, or the adventures of a coxcomb_, attracted considerable attention. _greville, or a season in paris_ appeared in the same year; then _ormington, or cecil a peer, fascination, the ambassador's wife_; and in 1843 _the banker's wife_. mrs gore continued to write, with unfailing fertility of invention, till her death on the 29th of january 1861. she also wrote some dramas of which the most successful was the _school for coquettes_, produced at the haymarket (1831). she was a woman of versatile talent, and set to music burns's "and ye shall walk in silk attire," one of the most popular songs of her day. her extraordinary literary industry is proved by the existence of more than seventy distinct works. her best novels are _cecil, or the adventures of a coxcomb_, and _the banker's wife_. _cecil_ gives extremely vivid sketches of london fashionable life, and is full of happy epigrammatic touches. for the knowledge of london clubs displayed in it mrs gore was indebted to william beckford, the author of _vathek_. _the banker's wife_ is distinguished by some clever studies of character, especially in the persons of mr hamlyn, the cold calculating money-maker, and his warm-hearted country neighbour, colonel hamilton. mrs gore's novels had an immense temporary popularity; they were parodied by thackeray in _punch_, in his "lords and liveries by the author of _dukes and dejeuners_"; but, tedious as they are to present-day readers, they presented on the whole faithful pictures of the contemporary life and pursuits of the english upper classes.