tion on 16 July 1906. The pension was granted her in August to date from the previous 1 April. An appeal made to her admirers to subscribe for her relief was met by Ouida's indignant denial that she was in want. She died on 25 Jan. 1908, at 70 Via Zanardelli, Viareggio, of the effects of pneumonia, and was buried in the English cemetery at the Bagni di Lucca. An anonymous lady admirer erected over the grave a monument representing the recumbent figure of Ouida with a dog at her feet.
Ouida had an artificial and affected manner, and although amiable to her friends was rude to strangers. Cynical, petulant, and prejudiced, she was quick at repartee. She was fond of painting, for which she believed she had more talent than for writing, and she was through life in the habit of making gifts of her sketches to her friends. She knew little at first hand of the Bohemians or of the wealthy men and women who are her chief dramatis personæ. She described love like a precocious school-girl, and with an exuberance which, if it arrested the attention of young readers, moved the amusement of their elders (cf. G. S. Street in Yellow Book, 1895, vi. 167-176). Yet she wrote of the Italian peasants with knowledge and sympathy and of dogs with an admirable fidelity. Her affection for dumb animals grew into a craze, but it came of her horror of injustice. Her faith in all humanitarian causes was earnest and sincere. She strongly sympathised with the Boers through the South African war.
Slightly built, fair, with an oval face, she had large dark blue eyes, and golden brown hair. A portrait in red chalk, drawn in September 1904 by Visconde Giorgio de Moraes Sarmento, was presented by the artist to the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 1908. He presented another drawing, made also in her declining years, to the Moyses Hall Museum, Bury St. Edmunds. A memorial drinking fountain (with trough), designed by Ernest G. Gillick, with a medallion portrait, was erected by public subscription at Bury St. Edmunds (unveiled on 2 Nov. 1909); the inscription is by Earl Curzon of Kedleston.
Ouida published forty-four works of fiction either separate novels or volumes of collected short stories. The most popular were 'Held in Bondage' (1863, 1870, 1900); 'Strathmore' (1865); 'Idalia' (1867); 'Under Two Flags' (1867); 'Tricotrin' (1869); 'Puck' (1870); 'A Dog of Flanders and other Stories' (1872); 'Two Little Wooden Shoes' (1874); 'Moths' (1880); and 'Bimbi, Stories for Children' (1882), which was translated into French for the 'Bibliothèque Rose.' Her books were constantly reprinted in cheap editions, and some of them translated into French, or Italian, or Hungarian. Many of her later essays in the 'Fortnightly Review,' the 'Nineteenth Century,' and the 'North American Review' were republished in 'Views and Opinions' (1895) and 'Critical Studies' (1900). There she proclaimed her hostility to woman's suffrage and to vivisection, or proved her critical insight into English, French, and Italian literature. Her uncompleted last novel, 'Helianthus' (1908), was published after her death.
Ouida tried to write a play for the Bancrofts, but did not get far beyond the title, 'A House Party' (cf. The Bancrofts, 1909, p. 293); a novel of that name appeared in 1887. An opera by G. A. à Beckett and H. A. Rudall was founded in 1893 on her novel 'Signa' (1875), and the light opera 'Muguette' by Carré and Hartmann on 'Two Little Wooden Shoes.' Plays based on 'Moths' (by Henry Hamilton, produced at the Globe Theatre 25 March 1883) and on 'Under Two Flags' had much success.
[The Times, 27 Jan. 1908; S. M. Ellis, William Harrison Ainsworth and his Friends, 1911, ii. 234-236; W. G. Huntington, Memories, 1911, pp. 190-296, with diary of Ouida, April 1850 to May 1853; Tinsley, Random Recollections, i. 82-85; Edmund Yates, Celebrities at Home, first ser. 1877; private information.]
DE LA RUE, Sir THOMAS ANDROS, first baronet (1849–1911), printer, born in London on 26 May 1849, was second of the four sons of Warren de la Rue [see Rue, Warren de la], astronomer and inventor, by his wife Georgiana, third daughter of Thomas Bowles of Guernsey. Thomas de la Rue [q. v.] was his grandfather. He entered Rugby in Feb. 1864, and matriculating in 1868 from St. John's College, Cambridge, graduated B.A. in 1871 and proceeded M.A. in 1874. In 1871 he joined the family printing business established by his grandfather, which was celebrated for its playing cards and printed stamps. By his enterprise he helped to increase the firm's reputation for artistic quality and convenience in the production of the postage-stamp, contracts for the manufacture of which the firm held not only for the United Kingdom but for most of the colonies and for many foreign countries. On the death of his father in 1889, and the retirement of his elder brother, Warren, Thomas became head
