fiction, and thus to achieve an actual, though precarious, independence. One of her early fictions, ‘The Clergyman's Widow,’ published in 1812 reached a sale of seventeen thousand copies in different editions. After ten years' widowhood she married Thomas Christopher Hofland [q. v.], the artist. The general ill-success of her husband's undertakings compelled her to labour harder than ever. By 1824 she had produced upwards of twenty works of fiction. The first of these published after her removal to London, ‘The Daughter-in-Law,’ fortunately attracted the notice of Queen Charlotte, who accepted the dedication of its successor, ‘Emily.’ Her next production, ‘The Son of a Genius,’ 1816, was able to stand alone, and is probably the only one of her writings that continues to be read. It well deserved this success from its genuine truth to nature, the vivid portrayal of the artistic temperament as she had observed it in her husband, and the artless but touching expression of her affection for her son by her first marriage, whose early death from consumption cast a shadow over her life. She also wrote a spirited pamphlet on the disagreements between George IV and Queen Caroline, and, anticipating some modern developments of journalism, contributed letters of London literary gossip to provincial journals. She died on 9 Nov. 1844.
Mrs. Hofland was a true-hearted, cheerful, and affectionate woman; resigned but intrepid in adversity. Judged by the standard of her time she was also an excellent authoress; but, with two exceptions, her works are so completely in the didactic style of the feminine fiction of her day, as to be almost unreadable in ours. ‘The Son of a Genius,’ however, shows what she could effect when her feeling was sufficiently powerful to break through the crust of conventionality; and ‘The Captives in India,’ which appeared in 1834, is interesting for the very different reason, that Mrs. Hofland, with acknowledgment but no apology, has transferred bodily to her pages Mrs. Fay's fascinating narrative of an Indian captivity by one who had actually endured it. How little justice Mrs. Hofland did herself in most of her writings appears from her lively letters preserved in her friend Miss Mitford's correspondence.
[Ramsay's Life and Literary Remains of Barbara Hofland, 1849; L'Estrange's The Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford; W. Smith, on Barbara Wreaks's Characteristics, privately printed.]
HOFLAND, THOMAS CHRISTOPHER (1777–1843), landscape-painter, was born on 25 Dec. 1777, at Worksop, Nottinghamshire, where his father was a rich manufacturer of cotton-mill machinery. In his youth he devoted himself to field-sports, his father's wealth relieving him of the necessity of seeking any occupation; but his father, who removed to London in 1790, soon afterwards failed and was reduced to poverty. Young Hofland, who had already practised landscape-painting as an amateur, thereupon adopted it as a profession. After studying for a short time under John Rathbone, he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1799 and several subsequent years up to 1805; during this period he resided with his parents at Kew, and as a volunteer there in the king's own company attracted the notice of his majesty, who employed him to execute botanical drawings, and afterwards offered him the post of draughtsman on a surveying ship, which was declined. From 1805 to 1808 he was engaged in teaching at Derby. In 1808 he removed to Doncaster and afterwards to Knaresborough. There he painted much, exhibited at the Leeds Gallery, and visited the Lake district. At Knaresborough he married in 1808 Mrs. Barbara Hoole, the authoress [see Hofland, Barbara]. In 1811 Hofland returned to London, where he resided for a few years in Newman Street, contributing to the support of his family chiefly by making copies of celebrated works in the gallery of the British Institution, and at the same time painting many pictures, chiefly views of the Lakes. In 1814 he gained the British Institution prize of one hundred guineas for ‘A Storm off Scarborough,’ which was purchased by the Marquis of Stafford; and the ‘View from Richmond Hill’ which followed added to his reputation and secured a ready sale for his works. An engraving of the latter picture by Charles Heath was published in 1823. In 1816 Hofland and his wife were engaged by the Duke of Marlborough to prepare a description of his seat of White Knights, the text to be written by Mrs. Hofland and the illustrations engraved from pictures by her husband. This work, which was three years in preparation, was issued privately in 1819 at the time of the sale of the celebrated White Knights library. But Hofland was not only unable to obtain any remuneration for his own and his wife's labours, but found himself burdened with the whole expense of the printing and engraving. These liabilities and anxieties weighed upon him for many years and permanently affected his health. He was compelled to engage much in teaching, but continued to paint with great assiduity, and exhibited largely with the Society of British Artists, the British Institution, and the Royal Academy. His subjects were English, chiefly Lake scenery and views on the
