[Hardy-l] Daily Mail 'original Tess' story

[David B. Cornelius]

Thank you for the interesting article.  I found Florence's jealousy 
worthy of note.  It provides an added insight into the personal life of 
Hardy.  Unfortunately, the only real image we get of the man is his own 
view of himself.  I feel that Hardy's wives have tended to get a rather 
bad press.  It is Emma that seems to get castigated for the failure of 
the marriage, and Florence comes across as somewhat of a 'dummy'. Yet 
Hardy is placed on a pedestal, above personal criticism. I had a 
newspaper article once (which, unfortunately I can't lay my hands on, at 
the moment) in which some of Hardy's neighbours were interviewed about 
their memories of the man.  In it there was an accusation that Hardy 
suffered from "wandering hands" as far as the maid-servants were 
concerned.  If that were true then there would have been reason for 
Florence's jealousy.
David Cornelius