Editing Ouida (section)

==Career==
[[Image:Ouida cartoon.png|left|thumb|upright=1.1|Caricature of Ouida (''Punch'', 20 August 1881)]]
She moved into the [[Langham Hotel, London]],{{efn|The hotel's loyalty programme is named after the author; see  [https://ouida.langhamhotels.com/StaticPage/EN/ouida_home.aspx]}} in 1867. There, according to the hotel promotional materials, she wrote in bed, by candlelight, with the curtains drawn to keep out daylight and surrounded by purple flowers.<ref name=Langham /> She ran up huge hotel and florists' bills of up to 200 pounds per week and commanded soirées that included soldiers, politicians, literary lights (including [[Oscar Wilde]], [[Algernon Swinburne]], [[Robert Browning]] and [[Wilkie Collins]]), and artists (including [[John Millais]]).<ref name=Cosmo /> Many of her stories and characters were based upon people she invited to her salons at The Langham.<ref name="Langham">{{cite web|title=Ouida|url=http://ouida.langhamhotels.com/static/ouida_home.aspx|work=Guide to The Langham Hotel|publisher=langhamhotels.com|access-date=20 October 2010}}</ref> Ouida was described by [[William Allingham]] in his diary of 1872 as of short stature, with a "sinister, clever face" and with a "voice like a carving knife."{{sfn|Lee|1912}}

For many years Ouida lived in London, but in about 1871 she moved to Italy. In 1874, she settled permanently with her mother in [[Florence]], and there long pursued her work as a novelist. At first, she rented an apartment at the Palazzo Vagnonville. Later she removed to the Villa Farinola at [[Scandicci]], south of [[Bellosguardo]], three miles from Florence, where she lived in great style, entertained largely, collected objets d'art, dressed expensively but not tastefully, drove good horses, and kept many dogs, to which she was deeply attached.{{cn|date=August 2021}} She lived in Bagni di Lucca for a period, where there is a commemorative plaque on an outside wall. She declared that she never received from her publishers more than £1600 for any one novel, but that she found America "a mine of wealth". In ''The Massarenes'' (1897) she gave a lurid picture of the parvenu millionaire in smart London society. This book was greatly prized by Ouida, and was very successful in terms of sales. Thenceforth she chiefly wrote for the leading magazines essays on social questions or literary criticisms, which were not remunerative.{{sfn|Lee|1912}} As before, she used her locations as inspiration for the setting and characters in her novels.  The British and American colony in Florence was satirised in her novel, ''Friendship'' (1878).{{sfn|Jordan|King|2016}}{{Page needed|date=December 2018}} Ouida considered herself a serious artist. She was inspired by [[Byron]] in particular, and was interested in other artists of all kinds. Sympathetic descriptions of tragic painters and singers occurred in her later novels. Her work often combines romanticism with social criticism. In her novel, ''Puck'', a talking dog narrates his views on society. ''Views and Opinions'' includes essays in her own voice on a variety of social topics. She was an animal lover and rescuer, and at times owned as many as thirty dogs.

[[File:III Cimitero Inglese, Bagni di Lucca, Italia 2 (2).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Tomb of Ouida in [[Bagni di Lucca]]'s English cemetery]]

Although successful, she did not manage her money well. A civil list pension of £150 a year was offered to her by the prime minister, Sir [[Henry Campbell-Bannerman]], on the application of [[Alfred Austin]], [[George Wyndham]], and [[Walburga, Lady Paget]], which she reluctantly accepted after a request by her friend, Lady Howard of Glossop, on 16 July 1906.{{sfn|Jordan|King|2016}}{{Page needed|date=December 2018}}

She continued to live in Italy until her death on 25 January 1908, at 70 Via Zanardelli, Viareggio, of pneumonia.<ref name=Cosmo /> She is buried in the English Cemetery in [[Bagni di Lucca]], Italy.