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 A Guide to Software Quality
Engineering
In today’s fast-paced digital world, delivering high-quality software is
not just a goal; it’s an absolute necessity. A Guide to Software Quality
Engineering is a companion book for anyone involved in software
development, testing, or quality assurance.

This comprehensive book takes you on a transformative journey

through the world of software quality engineering, providing
invaluable insights, practical methodologies, and expert advice that
will elevate your projects to new levels of excellence.

The book features the following points:

• Performance Testing Security Testing

• Usability Testing
• Continuous Integration and Continuous Testing
• Requirements Engineering and Quality
• Code Quality and Static Analysis
• Defect Management and Root Cause Analysis
• Release and Deployment Management

Dive into the fundamental principles of software quality engineering,

understanding the critical role it plays in ensuring customer satisfaction,
user experience, and the overall success of your software products.
Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a budding enthusiast, this
book caters to all levels of expertise.

Shravan Pargaonkar is a seasoned expert in the field of software

quality engineering, with over 7 years of hands-on experience in
developing, testing, and ensuring the highest standards of software
excellence. As a passionate advocate for quality-driven development,
Shravan has been at the forefront of innovative practices, guiding
numerous organizations toward successful software projects and
delighted customers. With a strong background in and a natural
flair for problem-solving, Shravan’s journey in software quality
engineering began early in his career. His diverse professional
experiences, ranging from startups to multinational corporations,
have provided him with unique insights into the challenges faced by
software development teams across different industries.
A Guide to Software
Quality Engineering

Shravan Pargaonkar
First edition published 2024
by CRC Press
2385 NW Executive Center Drive, Suite 320, Boca Raton FL 33431
and by CRC Press
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

© 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the
author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the
consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the
copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright
holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright
material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any
future reprint.
Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted,
reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written
permission from the publishers.

For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, access
www.copyright.com or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222
Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. For works that are not
available on CCC please contact [email protected]
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.

ISBN: 978-1-032-69441-2 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-032-69301-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-70204-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781032702049

Typeset in Caslon
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
This book is dedicated to each and every one of you, who contributes
to the advancement of software quality engineering, making a
positive impact on the world of software development.

To our friends, families, and other loved ones who support us in our
pursuit of excellence, understanding the dedication and long hours
that go into ensuring software quality.

This book is dedicated to all the passionate software quality engineers,

testers, and professionals who strive for excellence in their work.

To the individuals who continuously push the boundaries of software

quality engineering, embracing new methodologies, tools, and
practices to deliver high-quality software.

To the teams that collaborate and support each other, valuing open
communication, knowledge sharing, and a shared commitment to
delivering software that meets and exceeds customer expectations.

To the leaders who champion a culture of quality, recognizing the

critical role that software quality engineering plays in achieving
organizational success.

To the educators and mentors who inspire and guide the next
generation of quality engineers, imparting knowledge, and
experience, and instilling a passion for continuous improvement.

To the customers and end-users who provide valuable feedback and

inspire us to continually enhance the quality of our software products.

Thank you all for your unwavering commitment to quality and for
inspiring us to continually strive for excellence.
Contents
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE QUALITY
ENGINEERING 1
1.1 Understanding Software Quality 1
1.2 Importance of Software Quality
Engineering 3
1.3 Evolution of Software Quality Engineering 4
1.4 Software Engineering Fundamentals 5
1.5 The Linkage between Software Quality
and Software Engineering 7
1.6 Software Engineering Culture and Ethics 9
1.7 Value of Quality 12
1.8 Software Quality Models and Characteristics 14
1.9 Conclusion 17

CHAPTER 2 SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE AND

QUALITY ENGINEERING 19
2.1 Overview of Software Development Life
Cycle (SDLC) Models 19
2.2 SDLC and Role of Quality Engineer 19
2.3 Waterfall Methodology 19
2.4 The Spiral Model 22
2.5 The Agile Model 24
2.6 Iterative and Incremental Development 27
2.7 V-Model 29
2.8 Rational Unified Process (RUP) 31
2.9 The DevOps Model 34
2.10 Quality Assurance (QA) in SDLC 36
2.11 Role of Quality Engineer in SDLC 37
2.12 Case Study 38

VI I
VIII CONTENTS

CHAPTER 3 SOFTWARE TESTING PRINCIPLES AND

TECHNIQUES 41
3.1 Testing Objectives and Goals 41
3.2 Level of Software Testing 43
3.3 Testing Techniques and Strategies 45
3.4 Test Case Design and Execution 47
3.5 Software Testing Principles 48
3.6 Advantages and Disadvantages of Software
Testing 51

CHAPTER 4 TEST PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT 55

4.1 Test Planning Process 55
4.2 Test Strategy and Approach 60
4.3 Test Estimation and Scheduling 66
4.4 Test Metrics and Reporting 68

CHAPTER 5 TEST AUTOMATION 70

5.1 Introduction to Test Automation 70
5.2 Frameworks and Tools for Test
Automation 75
5.3 Selecting Test Cases for Automation 81
5.4 Test Automation Best Practices 82

CHAPTER 6 PERFORMANCE TESTING 85

6.1 The Significance of Performance Testing 85
6.2 Performance Testing Techniques and Tools 86
6.3 Performance Test Planning and Execution 89
6.4 Performance Test Analysis and Optimization 91

CHAPTER 7 SECURITY TESTING 94

7.1 Understanding Software Security 94
7.2 Types of Security Testing 98
7.3 Security Testing Process 101
7.4 Security Testing Tools 104
7.5 Security Testing Best Practices 106
7.6 Security Testing Challenges 107
7.7 Common Security Vulnerabilities and
Mitigation 109

CHAPTER 8 USABILITY TESTING 111

8.1 Introduction to Usability Testing 111
8.2 Usability Testing Process 112
8.3 Types of Usability Testing 114
8.4 Usability Testing Tools: Enhancing
User-Centric Design 116
 CONTENTS IX

8.5 Usability Testing Methods and Techniques 118

8.6 Usability Testing Best Practices 119
8.7 User Experience Design Principles 123

CHAPTER 9 CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION AND CONTINUOUS

TESTING 125
9.1 Introduction to Continuous Integration (CI)/
Continuous Testing (CT) 125
9.2 Building a CT Pipeline 128
9.3 Test Environment and Data Management 130
9.4 Challenges and Best Practices For CI/CT 131
9.5 CI Tools 133
9.6 CT Strategies 135

CHAPTER 10 REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING AND QUALITY 137

10.1 Role of Requirements Engineering in
Quality 137
10.2 Eliciting and Validating Requirements 138
10.3 Requirement Analysis and Prioritization 139
10.4 Requirements Engineering Challenges 141
10.5 Requirements Traceability and
Management 144

CHAPTER 11 CODE QUALITY AND STATIC ANALYSIS 146

11.1 Introduction to Code Quality 146
11.2 Static Analysis Tools and Techniques 147
11.3 Code Review and Inspection 148

CHAPTER 12 DEFECT MANAGEMENT AND ROOT CAUSE

ANALYSIS 152
12.1 Defect Life Cycle and Management 152
12.2 Defect Tracking Tools and Processes 155
12.3 Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Techniques 159

CHAPTER 13 RELEASE AND DEPLOYMENT MANAGEMENT 164

13.1 Release Planning and Coordination 164
13.2 Deployment Strategies and Techniques 165
13.3 Monitoring and Post-Release Activities 168

CHAPTER 14 INTRODUCTION TO DEVOPS 172

14.1 The Essence of DevOps 172
14.2 Integration of Quality Engineering in
DevOps 173
14.3 Continuous Testing in a DevOps
Environment 174
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X CONTENTS

CHAPTER 15 THE FUTURE OF SOFTWARE QUALITY

ENGINEERING 177
15.1 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine
Learning (ML) Applications in Quality
Engineering: Driving Software Quality
and Efficiency 177
15.2 Test Automation and AI/ML 179
15.3 Challenges and Opportunities in AI/ML
for Quality Engineering 180

CHAPTER 16 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF QUALITY METRICS 187

16.1 The Significance of Quality Metrics in
Software Quality Engineering 187
16.2 Metrics for Software Quality Engineering 188
16.3 Data Analysis and Visualization Techniques 190
16.4 Types of Quality Metrics 192
16.5 Key Performance Indicators (KPIS):
Measuring Software Excellence and
Progress 194
16.6 Balancing Quantitative and Qualitative
Measures: Striking Harmony in Software
Assessment 196
16.7 Metrics-Driven Decision-Making 196
16.8 Metrics Challenges and Pitfalls: Navigating
the Path to Accurate Measurement 196

CHAPTER 17 AGILE AND LEAN PRACTICES FOR SOFTWARE

QUALITY ENGINEERING 199
17.1 Agile Development Principles 199
17.2 Quality Assurance in Agile Projects 201
17.3 Lean Principles and Quality Improvement 202

CHAPTER 18 THE FUTURE OF SOFTWARE QUALITY

ENGINEERING 205
18.1 Trends and Innovations in Quality
Engineering 205
18.2 Continuous Learning and Professional
Development 207
18.3 Conclusion: A Comprehensive Guide to
Software Quality Engineering 209

GLOSSARY 211
BIBLIOGRAPHY 213
 1
INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE
QUALITY ENGINEERING

Software quality engineering is the art of creating software systems

that not only meet specified requirements but also surpass user
expectations. Achieving exceptional software quality requires a delicate
balance of various crucial aspects, including functionality, reliability,
usability, performance, security, and maintainability. By prioritizing
software quality, we guarantee customer satisfaction, mitigate potential
risks, and optimize the overall value of our software products.
Now, let’s delve into the pivotal dimensions that constitute
software quality.

1.1 Understanding Software Quality

1.1.1 Functionality

This dimension centers around ensuring that the software fulfills its
intended purpose and performs its designated functions effectively
and accurately.

1.1.2 Reliability

Reliability pertains to the software’s ability to operate consistently

and predictably under specific conditions without encountering
failures or errors.

1.1.3 Usability

Usability refers to how seamlessly and efficiently users can interact

with the software, encompassing aspects like user interface design,
accessibility, and the overall user experience.

DOI: 10.1201/9781032702049-1 1
2 A GUIDE TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING

1.1.4 Performance

Performance deals with the software’s speed, responsiveness, scalability,

and resource utilization in meeting specified performance requirements.

1.1.5 Security

Security involves safeguarding the software and its data from

unauthorized access, vulnerabilities, and potential threats.

1.1.6 Maintainability

Maintainability focuses on how easily the software can be modified,

enhanced, or repaired to address defects, incorporate new features, or
adapt to changing requirements.

1.1.7 Testability

Testability assesses how well the software can be tested and the
extent to which defects can be identified and isolated efficiently.

Func onality

Testability Reliability

Soware
Quality

Maintainability Usability

Security Performance

Dimensions of software quality.

 INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING 3

1.2 Importance of Software Quality Engineering

Software quality engineering plays a pivotal role in ensuring that

software products meet the desired levels of excellence. It involves a
systematic and disciplined approach to evaluating, enhancing, and
maintaining software quality throughout the entire software devel-
opment life cycle (SDLC).

1.2.1 Customer Satisfaction

High-quality software not only meets customer expectations but

also results in increased satisfaction and loyalty. Quality engi-
neering practices, such as rigorous testing and continuous improve-
ment, help deliver software that not only meets but often surpasses
customer needs.

1.2.2 Risk Mitigation

Software defects and failures can lead to financial losses, reputational

damage, and even safety hazards. Quality engineering helps mitigate
these risks by identifying and addressing issues early in the develop-
ment process, reducing the likelihood of costly errors in the final
product.

1.2.3 Cost Optimization

Fixing defects in later stages of the SDLC can be time-consuming

and expensive. By focusing on quality from the outset, organiza-
tions can reduce rework, improve efficiency, and minimize costs
associated with software defects, ultimately leading to better
resource allocation.

1.2.4 Competitive Advantage

In today’s competitive landscape, high-quality software can differen-

tiate an organization from its rivals. By consistently delivering
reliable, user-friendly, and secure software, companies can gain a
competitive edge and stand out in the market.
4 A GUIDE TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING

1.3 Evolution of Software Quality Engineering

Software quality engineering has undergone significant evolution in

response to changing industry practices and technological advance-
ments. Understanding this evolution provides valuable insights into
the current state and future directions of quality engineering.

1.3.1 Waterfall Model

In the early days, quality assurance primarily focused on end-of-life

testing, with the waterfall model dominating as the primary SDLC
approach. Quality activities were mostly conducted in the testing
phase, often resulting in late defect detection and limited opportuni-
ties for feedback and improvement.

1.3.2 Shift to Quality Assurance

Recognizing the importance of quality, the role of quality assurance

expanded beyond testing. Quality engineers started engaging in
earlier stages of the SDLC, including requirements engineering,
design reviews, and process improvement, promoting a proactive
approach to quality.

1.3.3 Agile and Iterative Approaches

The advent of agile methodologies brought about a significant shift

in quality engineering practices. Iterative development, continuous
integration, and test-driven development gained popularity, enabling
faster feedback cycles and greater collaboration between development
and testing teams.

1.3.4 DevOps and Continuous Testing

The integration of development and operations gave rise to DevOps

practices, where continuous testing became integral. Emphasizing
automated testing, infrastructure as code, and monitoring in produc-
tion environments, this shift further enhanced the software quality
engineering process.
 INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING 5

1.4 Software Engineering Fundamentals

Software Engineering is a systematic and disciplined approach to

designing, developing, testing, deploying, and maintaining software
systems. It involves the application of engineering principles,
methods, and techniques to create high-quality software products
that meet user needs, adhere to specifications, and are completed
within defined time and budget constraints. Let’s explore the key
aspects of software engineering in detail.

1.4.1 Systematic Approach

Software engineering emphasizes the need for a structured and

organized approach to software development. It involves breaking
down the entire process into manageable phases and tasks, ensuring
that each step is well-defined, documented, and followed
consistently.

1.4.2 Requirements Engineering

One of the initial steps in software engineering is gathering and

analyzing user requirements. This involves understanding what the
software should do, its functionalities, user expectations, and any
constraints. Clear and accurate requirements serve as the foundation
for the entire development process.

1.4.3 Design

Once the requirements are established, the design phase focuses on

creating a blueprint for the software. This includes architectural
design, which outlines the overall structure of the system, and
detailed design, which defines how individual components and
modules will work together.

1.4.4 Implementation and Coding

In this phase, developers write the actual code based on the design
specifications. Coding follows coding standards and best practices
6 A GUIDE TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING

and often involves using programming languages, libraries, and

frameworks.

1.4.5 Testing

Testing is a critical aspect of software engineering. It involves

systematically evaluating the software to identify defects, inconsis-
tencies, and performance issues. Effective testing, ranging from
unit testing to user acceptance testing, is essential for validating
software quality.

1.4.6 Deployment and Maintenance

After successful testing, the software is deployed to the production

environment. However, software engineering doesn’t stop here.
Maintenance involves continuous monitoring, bug fixing, updates,
and enhancements to ensure that the software remains reliable,
secure, and aligned with evolving user needs.

1.4.7 Project Management

Software engineering projects require effective project management

to ensure that they are completed within budget and on schedule.
This includes task scheduling, resource allocation, risk management,
and communication among team members and stakeholders.

1.4.8 Quality Assurance

Quality is a cornerstone of software engineering. QA practices

involve implementing processes and measures to ensure that the
software meets the highest standards. This includes adherence to
coding standards, best practices, and comprehensive testing.

1.4.9 Documentation

Documentation is essential to ensure that the software can be

understood, maintained, and improved over time. Software engi-
neering involves creating various documentation types, such as
 INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING 7

requirement documents, design documents, user manuals, and

technical documentation.

1.4.10 Collaboration and Communication

Software engineering projects often involve collaboration among

multidisciplinary teams, including developers, designers, testers, and
domain experts. Effective communication among team members and
stakeholders is crucial to ensure a shared understanding of project
goals and requirements.

1.4.11 Ethical and Professional Considerations

Software engineers are responsible for creating products that impact

users’ lives and society as a whole. Ethical considerations, such as
data privacy, security, and accessibility, play a significant role in
software engineering practices.

1.5 The Linkage between Software Quality and Software Engineering

Software quality and software engineering are interconnected disci-

plines that work together to create dependable, efficient, and user-
centric software systems. Software engineering provides the framework
and methodologies for developing software, while software quality
ensures that the end product meets the highest standards of excellence.
Let us explore the crucial link between software quality and software
engineering.

1.5.1 Foundation of Quality in Software Engineering

Software engineering lays the foundation for achieving software

quality. The systematic and structured approach of software en-
gineering methodologies ensures that software is developed using
well-defined processes, best practices, and industry standards. These
methodologies, such as the Waterfall model, Agile, or DevOps,
provide the structure for managing the development lifecycle, from
requirements gathering to deployment and maintenance.
8 A GUIDE TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING

1.5.2 Quality Assurance through Software Engineering

Software engineering practices inherently include elements of

quality assurance. By implementing coding standards, conducting
thorough testing, and adhering to design principles, software
engineering ensures that defects are identified and addressed early
in the development process. This prevents defects from propa-
gating through later stages, reducing the cost and effort required
for corrections.

1.5.3 Incorporation of Quality Attributes

Software engineering methodologies consider various quality attri-

butes that define software quality, such as functionality, reliability,
usability, and performance. Design decisions made during the
software engineering process directly influence these attributes. For
instance, the architectural choices made during the design phase can
impact the system’s reliability and scalability.

1.5.4 Testing and Validation

Software engineering methodologies incorporate testing practices as

a critical component of the development process. Rigorous testing,
which is an integral part of software engineering, ensures that the
software functions as intended and meets user requirements.
Effective testing, ranging from unit testing to user acceptance testing,
is essential for validating software quality.

1.5.5 Iterative Improvement

Both software quality and software engineering advocate for a culture

of continuous improvement. Software engineering methodologies,
like Agile, promote iterative development cycles, allowing for regular
feedback and adjustments. This iterative approach aligns well with
the concept of enhancing software quality over time by addressing
issues, incorporating user feedback, and making improvements
incrementally.
 INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING 9

1.5.6 Process Efficiency and Quality

Software engineering methodologies emphasize process efficiency

and optimization. By following well-defined processes, automating
repetitive tasks, and implementing continuous integration and
deployment practices, software engineering enhances both develop-
ment speed and software quality. Automated testing, for example, is
a software engineering practice that directly contributes to ensuring
software quality by identifying defects quickly and consistently.

1.5.7 User-Centric Approach

Both software quality and software engineering prioritize user needs.

Software engineering methodologies encourage close collaboration
with stakeholders, ensuring that user requirements are accurately
captured. By designing software with the end user in mind, software
engineering contributes to achieving high user satisfaction and
overall software quality.

1.5.8 Conclusion

The relationship between software quality and software engineering

is symbiotic. Software engineering provides the framework and
practices for creating software systems, while software quality ensures
that those systems meet user expectations and adhere to quality
attributes. The migration of software quality principles within the
software engineering process leads to the development of dependable,
efficient, and user-friendly software products that deliver value to
users and stakeholders. Software engineering provides the structure,
tools, and methodologies, while software quality ensures that the end
result meets the highest standards of excellence.

1.6 Software Engineering Culture and Ethics

Software Engineering Culture: Software engineering culture encom-

passes the shared values, beliefs, practices, and behaviors that define
how a software development team operates and produces high-
quality software. It shapes the team’s approach to collaboration,
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10 A GUIDE TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING

problem-solving, innovation, and communication. A strong software

engineering culture contributes to efficient development processes,
improved software quality, and a positive work environment. Let’s
explore key aspects of software engineering culture.

1.6.1 Collaboration

A culture of collaboration encourages team members to work

together, share knowledge, and contribute their expertise. Cross-
functional teams with diverse skills foster creativity and faster
problem-solving.

1.6.2 Continuous Learning

Embracing a culture of continuous learning promotes staying

updated with new technologies, best practices, and industry trends.
Encouraging skill development enhances the team’s capabilities and
the quality of their work.

1.6.3 Agility

An agile culture values adaptability, quick iterations, and responsive-

ness to changing requirements. Agile methodologies like Scrum and
Kanban promote flexibility and customer collaboration throughout
the development lifecycle.

1.6.4 Innovation

A culture that encourages innovation fosters creativity and new ideas.

Creating an environment where team members are comfortable
experimenting and proposing novel solutions can lead to break-
through innovations.

1.6.5 Quality Focus

Prioritizing software quality in the culture results in consistent

testing, code reviews, and adherence to coding standards. Quality
becomes a collective responsibility rather than an afterthought.
 INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING 11

1.6.6 Communication

Open and transparent communication is essential for effective

collaboration. Regular meetings, stand-ups, and clear documentation
ensure that everyone is aligned and informed.
Software Engineering Ethics: Ethics in software engineering involves
considering the moral implications of technology decisions and actions.

1.6.7 Privacy

Software engineers must respect users’ privacy by designing systems

that handle sensitive data securely and obtain user consent for data
collection and usage.

1.6.8 Accessibility

Developing software that is accessible to all, including people with

disabilities, ensures inclusivity and equal access to technology.

1.6.9 Security

Ethical software engineering involves implementing robust security

measures to protect user data from breaches and cyber threats.

1.6.10 Transparency

Being transparent about data usage, algorithms, and potential biases

in software applications fosters trust and accountability.

1.6.11 Intellectual Property

Respecting intellectual property rights and licenses when using third-

party libraries, frameworks, and open-source software is crucial.

1.6.12 Social Impact

Consider the potential social, economic, and environmental impacts

of software products. Avoid creating technologies that could harm
society or exploit vulnerable populations.
12 A GUIDE TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING

1.6.13 Honesty

Ethical software engineers are honest about the limitations and risks
of their software, even if it means admitting flaws or limitations.

1.6.14 Ethics in software quality engineering

Software engineers have a responsibility to ensure that their work

upholds ethical standards, respects users’ rights, and contributes posi-
tively to society. This chapter contains some key ethical considerations.

1.6.15 Conclusion

A strong software engineering culture is rooted in collaboration,

learning, innovation, and a focus on quality. Ethical considerations
are an integral part of this culture, guiding decisions that impact
users, society, and the environment. By fostering a positive software
engineering culture and adhering to ethical principles, software
engineers can create products that not only meet technical standards
but also contribute positively to the world around them.

1.7 Value of Quality

The value of quality in software engineering extends beyond the immediate

development process. It encompasses the benefits that high-quality
software brings to users, stakeholders, and the organization as a whole.
Quality software delivers both short-term advantages and long-term value.

1.7.1 Customer Satisfaction

High-quality software meets user expectations, resulting in improved

customer satisfaction and loyalty. Satisfied users are more likely to
recommend the software to others.

1.7.2 Reduced Defects

Quality software has fewer defects and requires fewer post-release

fixes. This reduces maintenance costs and avoids disruptions for users.
 INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING 13

1.7.3 Enhanced Reputation

Consistently delivering quality software builds a positive reputation

for the organization, enhancing its credibility and market presence.

1.7.4 Efficient Operations

Quality software improves operational efficiency by minimizing

downtime due to defects and reducing the need for manual
interventions.

1.7.5 Lower Costs

While quality requires an investment upfront, it leads to lower overall

costs in the long run due to reduced rework, support efforts, and
customer complaints.

1.7.6 Competitive Advantage

High-quality software differentiates the organization from competi-

tors, attracting more users and stakeholders.

1.7.7 Cost of Quality

The cost of quality encompasses both the visible and hidden expenses
associated with ensuring software quality throughout its lifecycle.
These costs can be categorizedinto four main types.

1.7.7.1 Prevention Costs Prevention costs are expenses incurred to

prevent defects from occurring in the first place. They include the
following:
• Training: Investing in training for developers and testers to
improve skills and knowledge.
• Process Improvement: Initiatives to enhance development
processes, reduce defects, and streamline workflows.
• Quality Planning: Activities to define quality standards,
requirements, and processes.
14 A GUIDE TO SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEERING

1.7.7.2 Appraisal Costs Appraisal costs are related to evaluating and

verifying the software’s quality. They include the following:
• Testing: Conducting various testing activities, such as unit
testing, integration testing, and system testing.
• Inspections: Reviewing code, design, and documentation to
identify defects and ensure adherence to standards.
• Quality Audits: Performing audits to assess compliance with
quality processes and standards.

1.7.7.3 Internal Failure Costs Internal failure costs arise when defects
are identified and corrected before the software is released to
customers. They include Bug Fixes: Correcting defects and issues
found during testing and development. Rework: Revising code,
design, or documentation to rectify errors.

1.7.7.4 External Failure Costs External failure costs occur when

defects are identified after the software is released and used by
customers. They include the following:
• Customer Support: Addressing customer complaints, inqui-
ries, and issues related to software defects.
• Reputation Damage: Costs associated with damage to the
organization’s reputation due to poor software quality.

1.7.8 Conclusion

Understanding the value and cost of quality in software engineering

is crucial for making informed decisions. While investing in quality
incurs certain costs upfront, the long-term benefits in terms of
customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and market competi-
tiveness far outweigh these expenses. By prioritizing quality
throughout the software development lifecycle, organizations can
achieve sustainable growth, enhance their reputation, and deliver
software that meets or exceeds user expectations.

1.8 Software Quality Models and Characteristics

Software quality models provide frameworks for evaluating and mea-

suring the attributes that define high-quality software. These models
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Accustomed as we are to the confusions of literary perspective, this
grouping of Dante, Ariosto, and Mr. Cambridge does seem a trifle
foreshortened. But our ancestors had none of that sensitive shrinking
from comparisons which is so characteristic of our timid and thin-
skinned generation. They did not edge off from the immortals, afraid
to breathe their names lest it be held lèse-majesté; they used them
as the common currency of criticism. Why should not Mr. Hayley
have challenged a contrast with Dante and Ariosto, when Miss
Seward assured her little world—which was also Mr. Hayley’s world
—that he had the “wit and ease” of Prior, a “more varied
versification” than Pope, and “the fire and the invention of Dryden,
without any of Dryden’s absurdity”? Why should he have questioned
her judgment, when she wrote to him that Cowper’s “Task” would
“please and instruct the race of common readers,” who could not rise
to the beauties of Akenside, or Mason, or Milton, or of his (Mr.
Hayley’s) “exquisite ‘Triumphs of Temper’”? There was a time,
indeed, when she sorrowed lest his “inventive, classical, and elegant
muse” should be “deplorably infected” by the growing influence of
Wordsworth; but, that peril past, he rose again, the bright particular
star of a wide feminine horizon.
Mr. Hayley’s didacticism is admirably adapted to his readers. The
men of the eighteenth century were not expected to keep their
tempers; it was the sweet prerogative of wives and daughters to
smooth the roughened current of family life. Accordingly the heroine
of the “Triumphs,” being bullied by her father, a fine old gentleman of
the Squire Western type, maintains a superhuman cheerfulness,
gives up the ball for which she is already dressed, wreathes her
countenance in smiles, and
with sportive ease,
Prest her Piano-forte’s favourite keys.
The men of the eighteenth century were all hard drinkers. Therefore
Mr. Hayley conjures the “gentle fair” to avoid even the mild
debauchery of siruped fruits,—
For the sly fiend, of every art possest,
Steals on th’ affection of her female guest;
 And, by her soft address, seducing each,
Eager she plies them with a brandy peach.
They with keen lip the luscious fruit devour,
But swiftly feel its peace-destroying power.
Quick through each vein new tides of frenzy roll,
All evil passions kindle in the soul;
Drive from each feature every cheerful grace,
And glare ferocious in the sallow face;
The wounded nerves in furious conflict tear,
Then sink in blank dejection and despair.
All this combustle, to use Gray’s favourite word, about a brandy
peach! But women have ever loved to hear their little errors
magnified. In the matter of poets, preachers and confessors, they
are sure to choose the denunciatory.
Dr. Darwin, as became a scientist and a sceptic, addressed his
ponderous “Botanic Garden” to male readers. It is true that he offers
much good advice to women, urging upon them especially those
duties and devotions from which he, as a man, was exempt. It is true
also that when he first contemplated writing his epic, he asked Miss
Seward—so, at least, she said—to be his collaborator; an honour
which she modestly declined, as not “strictly proper for a female
pen.” But the peculiar solidity, the encyclopædic qualities of this
masterpiece, fitted it for such grave students as Mr. Edgeworth, who
loved to be amply instructed. It is a poem replete with information,
and information of that disconnected order in which the
Edgeworthian soul took true delight. We are told, not only about
flowers and vegetables, but about electric fishes, and the salt mines
of Poland; about Dr. Franklin’s lightning rod, and Mrs. Damer’s bust
of the Duchess of Devonshire; about the treatment of paralytics, and
the mechanism of the common pump. We pass from the death of
General Wolfe at Quebec to the equally lamented demise of a lady
botanist at Derby. We turn from the contemplation of Hannibal
crossing the Alps to consider the charities of a benevolent young
woman named Jones.
Sound, Nymphs of Helicon! the trump of Fame,
And teach Hibernian echoes Jones’s name;
 Bind round her polished brow the civic bay,
And drag the fair Philanthropist to day.
Pagan divinities disport themselves on one page, and Christian
saints on another. St. Anthony preaches, not to the little fishes of the
brooks and streams, but to the monsters of the deep,—sharks,
porpoises, whales, seals and dolphins, that assemble in a sort of
aquatic camp-meeting on the shores of the Adriatic, and “get
religion” in the true revivalist spirit.
The listening shoals the quick contagion feel,
Pant on the floods, inebriate with their zeal;
Ope their wide jaws, and bow their slimy heads,
And dash with frantic fins their foamy beds.
For a freethinker, Dr. Darwin is curiously literal in his treatment of
hagiology and the Scriptures. His Nebuchadnezzar (introduced as an
illustration of the “Loves of the Plants”) is not a bestialized mortal,
but a veritable beast, like one of Circe’s swine, only less easily
classified in natural history.
Long eagle plumes his arching neck invest,
Steal round his arms and clasp his sharpened breast;
Dark brindled hairs in bristling ranks behind,
Rise o’er his back and rustle in the wind;
Clothe his lank sides, his shrivelled limbs surround,
And human hands with talons print the ground.
Lolls his red tongue, and from the reedy side
Of slow Euphrates laps the muddy tide.
Silent, in shining troups, the Courtier throng
Pursue their monarch as he crawls along;
E’en Beauty pleads in vain with smiles and tears,
Not Flattery’s self can pierce his pendant ears.
The picture of the embarrassed courtiers promenading slowly after
this royal phenomenon, and of the lovely inconsiderates proffering
their vain allurements, is so ludicrous as to be painful. Even Miss
Seward, who held that the “Botanic Garden” combined “the sublimity
of Michael Angelo, the correctness and elegance of Raphael, with
the glow of Titian,” was shocked by Nebuchadnezzar’s pendant ears,
and admitted that the passage was likely to provoke inconsiderate
laughter.
The first part of Dr. Darwin’s poem, “The Economy of Vegetation,”
was warmly praised by critics and reviewers. Its name alone secured
for it esteem. A few steadfast souls, like Mrs. Schimmelpenninck,
refused to accept even vegetation from a sceptic’s hands; but it was
generally conceded that the poet had “entwined the Parnassian
laurel with the balm of Pharmacy” in a very creditable manner. The
last four cantos, however,—indiscreetly entitled “The Loves of the
Plants,”—awakened grave concern. They were held unfit for female
youth, which, being then taught driblets of science in a guarded and
muffled fashion, was not supposed to know that flowers had any sex,
much less that they practised polygamy. The glaring indiscretion of
their behaviour in the “Botanic Garden,” their seraglios, their
amorous embraces and involuntary libertinism, offended British
decorum, and, what was worse, exposed the poem to Canning’s
pungent ridicule. When the “Loves of the Triangles” appeared in the
“Anti-Jacobin,” all England—except Whigs and patriots who never
laughed at Canning’s jokes—was moved to inextinguishable mirth.
The mock seriousness of the introduction and argument, the “horrid
industry” of the notes, the contrast between the pensiveness of the
Cycloid and the innocent playfulness of the Pendulum, the solemn
headshake over the licentious disposition of Optics, and the
description of the three Curves that requite the passion of the
Rectangle, all burlesque with unfeeling delight Dr. Darwin’s ornate
pedantry.
Let shrill Acoustics tune the tiny lyre,
With Euclid sage fair Algebra conspire;
Let Hydrostatics, simpering as they go,
Lead the light Naiads on fantastic toe.
The indignant poet, frigidly vain, and immaculately free from any taint
of humour, was as much scandalized as hurt by this light-hearted
mockery. Being a dictator in his own little circle at Derby, he was
naturally disposed to consider the “Anti-Jacobin” a menace to genius
and to patriotism. His criticisms and his prescriptions had hitherto
been received with equal submission. When he told his friends that
Akenside was a better poet than Milton,—“more polished, pure, and
dignified,” they listened with respect. When he told his patients to eat
acid fruits with plenty of sugar and cream, they obeyed with alacrity.
He had a taste for inventions, and first made Mr. Edgeworth’s
acquaintance by showing him an ingenious carriage of his own
contrivance, which was designed to facilitate the movements of the
horse, and enable it to turn with ease. The fact that Dr. Darwin was
three times thrown from this vehicle, and that the third accident
lamed him for life, in no way disconcerted the inventor or his friends,
who loved mechanism for its own sake, and apart from any given
results. Dr. Darwin defined a fool as one who never in his life tried an
experiment. So did Mr. Day, of “Sandford and Merton” fame, who
experimented in the training of animals, and was killed by an active
young colt that had failed to grasp the system.
The “Botanic Garden” was translated into French, Italian, and
Portuguese, to the great relief of Miss Seward, who hated to think
that the immortality of such a work depended upon the preservation
of a single tongue. “Should that tongue perish,” she wrote proudly,
“translations would at least retain all the host of beauties which do
not depend upon felicities of verbal expression.”
If the interminable epics which were so popular in these halcyon
days had condescended to the telling of stories, we might believe
that they were read, or at least occasionally read, as a substitute for
prose fiction. But the truth is that most of them are solid treatises on
morality, or agriculture, or therapeutics, cast into the blankest of
blank verse, and valued, presumably, for the sake of the information
they conveyed. Their very titles savour of statement rather than of
inspiration. Nobody in search of romance would take up Dr.
Grainger’s “Sugar Cane,” or Dyer’s “Fleece,” or the Rev. Richard
Polwhele’s “English Orator.” Nobody desiring to be idly amused
would read the “Vales of Weaver,” or a long didactic poem on “The
Influence of Local Attachment.” It was not because he felt himself to
be a poet that Dr. Grainger wrote the “Sugar Cane” in verse, but
because that was the form most acceptable to the public. The ever
famous line,
“Now Muse, let’s sing of rats!”
which made merry Sir Joshua Reynolds and his friends, is indicative
of the good doctor’s struggles to employ an uncongenial medium. He
wanted to tell his readers how to farm successfully in the West
Indies; how to keep well in a treacherous climate; what food to eat,
what drugs to take, how to look after the physical condition of negro
servants, and guard them from prevalent maladies. These were
matters on which the author was qualified to speak, and on which he
does speak with all a physician’s frankness; but they do not lend
themselves to lofty strains. Whole pages of the “Sugar Cane” read
like prescriptions and dietaries done into verse. It is as difficult to
sing with dignity about a disordered stomach as about rats and
cockroaches; and Dr. Grainger’s determination to leave nothing
untold leads him to dwell with much feeling, but little grace, on all the
disadvantages of the tropics.
Musquitoes, sand-flies, seek the sheltered roof,
And with fell rage the stranger guest assail,
Nor spare the sportive child; from their retreats
Cockroaches crawl displeasingly abroad.
The truthfulness and sobriety of this last line deserve commendation.
Cockroaches in the open are displeasing to sensitive souls; and a
footnote, half a page long, tells us everything we could possibly
desire—or fear—to know about these insects. As an example of Dr.
Grainger’s thoroughness in the treatment of such themes, I quote
with delight his approved method of poisoning alligators.
With Misnian arsenic, deleterious bane,
Pound up the ripe cassada’s well-rasped root,
And form in pellets; these profusely spread
Round the Cane-groves where skulk the vermin-breed.
They, greedy, and unweeting of the bait,
Crowd to the inviting cates, and swift devour
Their palatable Death; for soon they seek
The neighbouring spring; and drink, and swell, and die.
Then follow some very sensible remarks about the
unwholesomeness of the water in which the dead alligators are
decomposing,—remarks which Mr. Kipling has unconsciously
parodied:—
But ’e gets into the drinking casks, and then o’ course we dies.
The wonderful thing about the “Sugar Cane” is that it was read;—
nay, more, that it was read aloud at the house of Sir Joshua
Reynolds, and though the audience laughed, it listened. Dodsley
published the poem in handsome style; a second edition was called
for; it was reprinted in Jamaica, and pirated (what were the pirates
thinking about!) in 1766. Even Dr. Johnson wrote a friendly notice in
the London “Chronicle,” though he always maintained that the poet
might just as well have sung the beauties of a parsley-bed or of a
cabbage garden. He took the same high ground when Boswell called
his attention to Dyer’s “Fleece.”—“The subject, Sir, cannot be made
poetical. How can a man write poetically of serges and druggets?”
It was not for the sake of sentiment or story that the English public
read “The Fleece.” Nor could it have been for practical guidance; for
farmers, even in 1757, must have had some musty almanacs, some
plain prose manuals to advise them. They could never have waited
to learn from an epic poem that
the coughing pest
From their green pastures sweeps whole flocks away,
or that
Sheep also pleurisies and dropsies know,
or that
The infectious scab, arising from extremes
Of want or surfeit, is by water cured
Of lime, or sodden stave-acre, or oil
Dispersive of Norwegian tar.
Did the British woolen-drapers of the period require to be told in
verse about
Cheyney, and bayse, and serge, and alepine,
Tammy, and crape, and the long countless list
Of woolen webs.
Surely they knew more about their own dry-goods than did Mr. Dyer.
Is it possible that British parsons read Mr. Polwhele’s “English
Orator” for the sake of his somewhat confused advice to preachers?
—
Meantime thy Style familiar, that alludes
With pleasing Retrospect to recent Scenes
Or Incidents amidst thy Flock, fresh graved
On Memory, shall recall their scattered Thoughts,
And interest every Bosom. With the Voice
Of condescending Gentleness address
Thy kindred People.
It was Miss Seward’s opinion that the neglect of Mr. Polwhele’s
“poetic writings” was a disgrace to literary England, from which we
conclude that the reverend author outwore the patience of his
readers. “Mature in dulness from his earliest years,” he had wisely
adopted a profession which gave his qualities room for expansion.
What his congregation must have suffered when he addressed it
with “condescending gentleness,” we hardly like to think; but free-
born Englishmen, who were so fortunate as not to hear him, refused
to make good their loss by reading the “English Orator,” even after it
had been revised by a bishop. Miss Seward praised it highly; in
return for which devotion she was hailed as a “Parnassian sister” in
six benedictory stanzas.
Still gratitude her stores among,
Shall bid the plausive poet sing;
And, if the last of all the throng
That rise on the poetic wing,
Yet not regardless of his destined way,
If Seward’s envied sanction stamps the lay.
The Swan, indeed, was never without admirers. Her “Louisa; a
Poetical Novel in four Epistles,” was favourably noticed; Dr. Johnson
praised her ode on the death of Captain Cook; and no contributor to
the Bath Easton vase received more myrtle wreaths than she did.
“Warble” was the word commonly used by partial critics in extolling
her verse. “Long may she continue to warble as heretofore, in such
numbers as few even of our favourite bards would be shy to own.”
Scott sorrowfully admitted to Miss Baillie that he found these
warblings—of which he was the reluctant editor—“execrable”; and
that the despair which filled his soul on receiving Miss Seward’s
letters gave him a lifelong horror of sentiment; but for once it is
impossible to sympathize with Sir Walter’s sufferings. If he had never
praised the verses, he would never have been called upon to edit
them; and James Ballantyne would have been saved the printing of
an unsalable book. There is no lie so little worth the telling as that
which is spoken in pure kindness to spare a wholesome pang.
It was, however, the pleasant custom of the time to commend and
encourage female poets, as we commend and encourage a child’s
unsteady footsteps. The generous Hayley welcomed with open arms
these fair competitors for fame.
The bards of Britain with unjaundiced eyes
Will glory to behold such rivals rise.
He ardently flattered Miss Seward, and for Miss Hannah More his
enthusiasm knew no bounds.
But with a magical control,
Thy spirit-moving strain
Dispels the languor of the soul,
Annihilating pain.
“Spirit-moving” seems the last epithet in the world to apply to Miss
More’s strains; but there is no doubt that the public believed her to
be as good a poet as a preacher, and that it supported her high
estimate of her own powers. After a visit to another lambent flame,
Mrs. Barbauld, she writes with irresistible gravity:
“Mrs. B. and I have found out that we feel as little envy and malice
towards each other, as though we had neither of us attempted to
‘build the lofty rhyme’; although she says this is what the envious
and the malicious can never be brought to believe.”
Think of the author of “The Search after Happiness” and the author
of “A Poetical Epistle to Mr. Wilberforce” loudly refusing to envy each
other’s eminence! There is nothing like it in the strife-laden annals of
fame.
Finally there stepped into the arena that charming embodiment of
the female muse, Mrs. Hemans; and the manly heart of Protestant
England warmed into homage at her shrine. From the days she “first
carolled forth her poetic talents under the animating influence of an
affectionate and admiring circle,” to the days when she faded
gracefully out of life, her “half-etherealized spirit” rousing itself to
dictate a last “Sabbath Sonnet,” she was crowned and garlanded
with bays. In the first place, she was fair to see,—Fletcher’s bust
shows real loveliness; and it was Christopher North’s opinion that
“no really ugly woman ever wrote a truly beautiful poem the length of
her little finger.” In the second place, she was sincerely pious; and
the Ettrick Shepherd reflected the opinion of his day when he said
that “without religion, a woman’s just an even-down deevil.” The
appealing helplessness of Mrs. Hemans’s gentle and affectionate
nature, the narrowness of her sympathies, and the limitations of her
art were all equally acceptable to critics like Gifford and Jeffrey, who
held strict views as to the rounding of a woman’s circle. Even Byron
heartily approved of a pious and pretty woman writing pious and
pretty poems. Even Wordsworth flung her lordly words of praise.
Even Shelley wrote her letters so eager and ardent that her very
sensible mamma, Mrs. Browne, requested him to cease. And as for
Scott, though he confessed she was too poetical for his taste, he
gave her always the honest friendship she deserved. It was to her he
said, when some tourists left them hurriedly at Newark Tower: “Ah,
Mrs. Hemans, they little know what two lions they are running away
from.” It was to her he said, when she was leaving Abbotsford:
“There are some whom we meet, and should like ever after to claim
as kith and kin; and you are of this number.”
Who would not gladly have written “The Siege of Valencia” and “The
Vespers of Palermo,” to have heard Sir Walter say these words?
 THE LITERARY LADY
Out-pensioners of Parnassus.—Horace Walpole.
In this overrated century of progress, when women have few favours
shown them, but are asked to do their work or acknowledge their
deficiencies, the thoughtful mind turns disconsolately back to those
urbane days when every tottering step they took was patronized and
praised. It must have been very pleasant to be able to publish
“Paraphrases and Imitations of Horace,” without knowing a word of
Latin. Latin is a difficult language to study, and much useful time may
be wasted in acquiring it; therefore Miss Anna Seward eschewed the
tedious process which most translators deem essential. Yet her
paraphrases were held to have caught the true Horatian spirit; and
critics praised them all the more indulgently because of their author’s
feminine attitude to the classics. “Over the lyre of Horace,” she wrote
elegantly to Mr. Repton, “I throw an unfettered hand.”
It may be said that critics were invariably indulgent to female writers
(listen to Christopher North purring over Mrs. Hemans!) until they
stepped, like Charlotte Brontë, from their appointed spheres, and
hotly challenged the competition of the world. This was a
disagreeable and a disconcerting thing for them to do. Nobody could
patronize “Jane Eyre,” and none of the pleasant things which were
habitually murmured about “female excellence and talent” seemed to
fit this firebrand of a book. Had Charlotte Brontë taken to heart Mrs.
King’s “justly approved work” on “The Beneficial Effects of the
Christian Temper upon Domestic Happiness,” she would not have
shocked and pained the sensitive reviewer of the “Quarterly.”
It was in imitation of that beacon light, Miss Hannah More, that Mrs.
King wrote her famous treatise. It was in imitation of Miss Hannah
More that Mrs. Trimmer (abhorred by Lamb) wrote “The Servant’s
Friend,” “Help to the Unlearned,” and the “Charity School Spelling
Book,”—works which have passed out of the hands of men, but
whose titles survive to fill us with wonder and admiration. Was there
ever a time when the unlearned frankly recognized their ignorance,
and when a mistress ventured to give her housemaids a “Servant’s
Friend”? Was spelling in the charity schools different from spelling
elsewhere, or were charity-school children taught a limited
vocabulary, from which all words of rank had been eliminated?
Those were days when the upper classes were affable and
condescending, when the rural poor—if not intoxicated—curtsied
and invoked blessings on their benefactors all day long, and when
benevolent ladies told the village politicians what it was well for them
to know. But even at this restful period, a “Charity School Spelling
Book” seems ill calculated to inspire the youthful student with
enthusiasm.
Mrs. Trimmer’s attitude to the public was marked by that refined
diffidence which was considered becoming in a female. Her
biographer assures us that she never coveted literary distinction,
although her name was celebrated “wherever Christianity was
established, and the English language was spoken.” Royalty took
her by the hand, and bishops expressed their overwhelming sense of
obligation. We sigh to think how many ladies became famous
against their wills a hundred and fifty years ago, and how hard it is
now to raise our aspiring heads. There was Miss —— or, as she
preferred to be called, Mrs. —— Carter, who read Greek, and
translated Epictetus, who was admired by “the great, the gay, the
good, and the learned”; yet who could with difficulty be persuaded to
bear the burden of her own eminence. It was the opinion of her
friends that Miss Carter had conferred a good deal of distinction
upon Epictetus by her translation,—by setting, as Dr. Young
elegantly phrased it, this Pagan jewel in gold. We find Mrs. Montagu
writing to this effect, and expressing in round terms her sense of the
philosopher’s obligation. “Might not such an honour from a fair hand
make even an Epictetus proud, without being censured for it? Nor let
Mrs. Carter’s amiable modesty become blameable by taking offence
at the truth, but stand the shock of applause which she has brought
upon her own head.”
It was very comforting to receive letters like this, to be called upon to
brace one’s self against the shock of applause, instead of against
the chilly douche of disparagement. Miss Carter retorted, as in duty
bound, by imploring her friend to employ her splendid abilities upon
some epoch-making work,—some work which, while it entertained
the world, “would be applauded by angels, and registered in
Heaven.” Perhaps the uncertainty of angelic readers daunted even
Mrs. Montagu, for she never responded to this and many similar
appeals; but suffered her literary reputation to rest secure on her
defence of Shakespeare, and three papers contributed to Lord
Lyttelton’s “Dialogues of the Dead.” Why, indeed, should she have
laboured further, when, to the end of her long and honoured life, men
spoke of her “transcendent talents,” her “magnificent attainments”?
Had she written a history of the world, she could not have been more
reverently praised. Lord Lyttelton, transported with pride at having so
distinguished a collaborator, wrote to her that the French translation
of the “Dialogues” was as well done as “the poverty of the French
tongue would permit”; and added unctuously, “but such eloquence as
yours must lose by being translated into any other language. Your
form and manner would seduce Apollo himself on his throne of
criticism on Parnassus.”
Lord Lyttelton was perhaps more remarkable for amiability than for
judgment; but Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, who wrote good letters himself,
ardently admired Mrs. Montagu’s, and pronounced her “the Madame
du Deffand of the English capital.” Cowper meekly admitted that she
stood at the head “of all that is called learned,” and that every critic
“veiled his bonnet before her superior judgment.” Even Dr. Johnson,
though he despised the “Dialogues,” and protested to the end of his
life that Shakespeare stood in no need of Mrs. Montagu’s
championship, acknowledged that the lady was well informed and
intelligent. “Conversing with her,” he said, “you may find variety in
one”; and this charming phrase stands now as the most generous
interpretation of her fame. It is something we can credit amid the
bewildering nonsense which was talked and written about a woman
whose hospitality dazzled society, and whose assertiveness
dominated her friends.
There were other literary ladies belonging to this charmed circle
whose reputations rested on frailer foundations. Mrs. Montagu did
write the essay on Shakespeare and the three dialogues. Miss
Carter did translate Epictetus. Mrs. Chapone did write “Letters on the
Improvement of the Mind,” which so gratified George the Third and
Queen Charlotte that they entreated her to compose a second
volume; and she did dally a little with verse, for one of her odes was
prefixed—Heaven knows why!—to Miss Carter’s “Epictetus”; and the
Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, even little Prince William, were all
familiar with this masterpiece. There never was a lady more popular
with a reigning house, and, when we dip into her pages, we know the
reason why. A firm insistence upon admitted truths, a loving
presentation of the obvious, a generous championship of those
sweet commonplaces we all deem dignified and safe, made her
especially pleasing to good King George and his consort. Even her
letters are models of sapiency. “Tho’ I meet with no absolutely
perfect character,” she writes to Sir William Pepys, “yet where I find a
good disposition, improved by good principles and virtuous habits, I
feel a moral assurance that I shall not find any flagrant vices in the
same person, and that I shall never see him fall into any very
criminal action.”
The breadth and tolerance of this admission must have startled her
correspondent, seasoned though he was to intellectual audacity. Nor
was Mrs. Chapone lacking in the gentle art of self-advancement; for,
when about to publish a volume of “Miscellanies,” she requested Sir
William to write an essay on “Affection and Simplicity,” or
“Enthusiasm and Indifference,” and permit her to print it as her own.
“If your ideas suit my way of thinking,” she tells him encouragingly, “I
can cool them down to my manner of writing, for we must not have a
hotchpotch of Styles; and if, for any reason, I should not be able to
make use of them, you will still have had the benefit of having written
them, and may peaceably possess your own property.”
There are many ways of asking a favour; but to assume that you are
granting the favour that you ask shows spirit and invention. Had Mrs.
Chapone written nothing but this model of all begging letters, she
would be worthy to take high rank among the literary ladies of Great
Britain.
It is more difficult to establish the claim of Mrs. Boscawen, who
looms nebulously on the horizon as the wife of an admiral, and the
friend of Miss Hannah More, from whom she received flowing
compliments in the “Bas Bleu.”
Each art of conversation knowing,
High-bred, elegant Boscawen.
We are told that this lady was “distinguished by the strength of her
understanding, the poignancy of her humour, and the brilliancy of her
wit”; but there does not survive the mildest joke, the smallest word of
wisdom to illustrate these qualities. Then there was Mrs.
Schimmelpenninck, whose name alone was a guarantee of
immortality; and the “sprightly and pleasing Mrs. Ironmonger”; and
Miss Lee, who could repeat the whole of Miss Burney’s “Cecilia” (a
shocking accomplishment); and the vivacious Miss Monckton, whom
Johnson called a dunce; and Miss Elizabeth Hamilton, a useful
person, “equally competent to form the minds and manners of the
daughters of a nobleman, and to reform the simple but idle habits of
the peasantry”; and Mrs. Bennet, whose letters—so Miss Seward
tells us—“breathed Ciceronean spirit and eloquence,” and whose
poems revealed “the terse neatness, humour, and gayety of Swift,”
which makes it doubly distressful that neither letters nor poems have
survived. Above all, there was the mysterious “Sylph,” who glides—
sylphlike—through a misty atmosphere of conjecture and adulation;
and about whom we feel some of the fond solicitude expressed over
and over again by the letter-writers of this engaging period.
Translated into prose, the Sylph becomes Mrs. Agmondesham
Vesey,—
Vesey, of verse the judge and friend,—
a fatuous deaf lady, with a taste for literary society, and a talent for
arranging chairs. She it was who first gathered the “Blues” together,
placing them in little groups—generally back to back—and flitting so
rapidly from one group to another, her ear-trumpet hung around her
neck, that she never heard more than a few broken sentences of
conversation. She had what Miss Hannah More amiably called
“plastic genius,” which meant that she fidgeted perpetually; and what
Miss Carter termed “a delightful spirit of innocent irregularity,” which
meant that she was inconsequent to the danger point. “She united,”
said Madame d’Arblay, “the unguardedness of childhood to a
Hibernian bewilderment of ideas which cast her incessantly into
some burlesque situation.” But her kind-heartedness (she proposed
having her drawing-room gravelled, so that a lame friend could walk
on it without slipping) made even her absurdities lovable, and her
most fantastic behaviour was tolerated as proof of her aerial
essence. “There is nothing of mere vulgar mortality about our Sylph,”
wrote Miss Carter proudly.
It was in accordance with this pleasing illusion that, when Mrs. Vesey
took a sea voyage, her friends spoke of her as though she were a
mermaid, disporting herself in, instead of on, the ocean. They not
only held “the uproar of a stormy sea to be as well adapted to the
sublime of her imagination as the soft murmur of a gliding stream to
the gentleness of her temper” (so much might at a pinch be said
about any of us); but we find Miss Carter writing to Mrs. Montagu in
this perplexing strain:—
“I fancy our Sylph has not yet left the coral groves and submarine
palaces in which she would meet with so many of her fellow nymphs
on her way to England. I think if she had landed, we should have had
some information about it, either from herself or from somebody else
who knows her consequence to us.”
The poor Sylph seems to have had rather a hard time of it after the
death of the Honourable Agmondesham, who relished his wife’s
vagaries so little, or feared them so much, that he left the bulk of his
estate to his nephew, a respectable young man with no unearthly
qualities. The heir, however, behaved generously to his widowed
aunt, giving her an income large enough to permit her to live with
comfort, and to keep her coach. Miss Carter was decidedly of the
opinion that Mr. Vesey made such a “detestable” will because he
was lacking in sound religious principles, and she expressed in plain
terms her displeasure with her friend for mourning persistently over
the loss of one who “so little deserved her tears.” But the Sylph,
lonely, middle-aged, and deaf, realized perhaps that her little day
was over. Mrs. Montagu’s profuse hospitality had supplanted “the
biscuit’s ample sacrifice.” People no longer cared to sit back to back,
talking platitudes through long and hungry evenings. The “innocent
irregularity” deepened into melancholy, into madness; and the Sylph,
a piteous mockery of her old sweet foolish self, faded away,
dissolving like Niobe in tears.
It may be noted that the mission of the literary lady throughout all
these happy years was to elevate and refine. Her attitude towards
matters of the intellect was one of obtrusive humility. It is recorded
that “an accomplished and elegant female writer” (the name, alas!
withheld) requested Sir William Pepys to mark all the passages in
Madame de Staël’s works which he considered “above her
comprehension.” Sir William “with ready wit” declined this invidious
task; but agreed to mark all he deemed “worthy of her attention.” We
hardly know what to admire the most in a story like this;—the lady’s
modesty, Sir William’s tact, or the revelation it affords of infinite
leisure. When we remember the relentless copiousness of Madame
de Staël’s books, we wonder if the amiable annotator lived long
enough to finish his task.
In matters of morality, however, the female pen was held to be a
bulwark of Great Britain. The ambition to prove that—albeit a woman
—one may be on terms of literary intimacy with the seven deadly
sins (“Je ne suis qu’un pauvre diable de perruquier, mais je ne crois
pas en Dieu plus que les autres”) had not yet dawned upon the
feminine horizon. The literary lady accepted with enthusiasm the
limitations of her sex, and turned them to practical account; she laid
with them the foundations of her fame. Mrs. Montagu, an astute
woman of the world, recognized in what we should now call an
enfeebling propriety her most valuable asset. It sanctified her attack
upon Voltaire, it enabled her to snub Dr. Johnson, and it made her, in
the opinion of her friends, the natural and worthy opponent of Lord
Chesterfield. She was entreated to come to the rescue of British
morality by denouncing that nobleman’s “profligate” letters; and we
find the Rev. Montagu Pennington lamenting years afterwards her
refusal “to apply her wit and genius to counteract the mischief which
Lord Chesterfield’s volumes had done.”
Miss Hannah More’s dazzling renown rested on the same solid
support. She was so strong morally that to have cavilled at her
intellectual feebleness would have been deemed profane. Her
advice (she spent the best part of eighty-eight years in offering it)
was so estimable that its general inadequacy was never ascertained.
Rich people begged her to advise the poor. Great people begged her
to advise the humble. Satisfied people begged her to advise the
discontented. Sir William Pepys wrote to her in 1792, imploring her
to avert from England the threatened dangers of radicalism and a
division of land by writing a dialogue “between two persons of the
lowest order,” in which should be set forth the discomforts of land
ownership, and the advantages of labouring for small wages at
trades. This simple and childlike scheme would, in Sir William’s
opinion, go far towards making English workmen contented with their
lot, and might eventually save the country from the terrible
bloodshed of France. Was ever higher tribute paid to sustained and
triumphant propriety? Look at Mary Wollstonecraft vindicating the
rights of woman in sordid poverty, in tears and shame; and look at
Hannah More, an object of pious pilgrimage at Cowslip Green. Her
sisters were awestruck at finding themselves the guardians of such
preëminence. Miss Seward eloquently addressed them as
sweet satellites that gently bear
Your lesser radiance round this beamy star;
and, being the humblest sisters ever known, they seemed to have
liked the appellation. They guarded their luminary from common
contact with mankind; they spoke of her as “she” (like Mr. Rider
Haggard’s heroine), and they explained to visitors how good and
great she was, and what a condescension it would be on her part to
see them, when two peeresses and a bishop had been turned away
the day before. “It is an exquisite pleasure,” wrote Miss Carter
enthusiastically, “to find distinguished talents and sublime virtue
placed in such an advantageous situation”; and the modern reader is
reminded against his will of the lively old actress who sighed out to
the painter Mulready her unavailing regrets over a misspent life. “Ah,
Mulready, if I had only been virtuous, it would have been pounds and
pounds in my pocket.”
“Harmonious virgins,” sneered Horace Walpole, “whose thoughts
and phrases are like their gowns, old remnants cut and turned”; and
it is painful to know that in these ribald words he is alluding to the
Swan of Lichfield, and to the “glowing daughter of Apollo,” Miss
Helen Maria Williams. The Swan probably never did have her gowns
cut and turned, for she was a well-to-do lady with an income of four
hundred pounds; and she lived very grandly in the bishop’s palace at
Lichfield, where her father (“an angel, but an ass,” according to
Coleridge) had been for many years a canon. But Apollo having,
after the fashion of gods, bequeathed nothing to his glowing
daughter but the gift of song, Miss Williams might occasionally have
been glad of a gown to turn. Her juvenile poem “Edwin and Eltruda”
enriched her in fame only; but “Peru,” being published by
subscription (blessed days when friends could be turned into
subscribers!), must have been fairly remunerative; and we hear of its
author in London giving “literary breakfasts,” a popular but
depressing form of entertainment. If ever literature be “alien to the
natural man,” it is at the breakfast hour. Miss Williams subsequently
went to Paris, and became an ardent revolutionist, greatly to the
distress of poor Miss Seward, whose enthusiasm for the cause of
freedom had suffered a decline, and who kept imploring her friend to
come home. “Fly, my dear Helen, that land of carnage!” she wrote
beseechingly. But Helen couldn’t fly, being then imprisoned by the
ungrateful revolutionists, who seemed unable, or unwilling, to
distinguish friends from foes. She had moreover by that time allied
herself to Mr. John Hurford Stone, a gentleman of the strictest
religious views, but without moral prejudices, who abandoned his
lawful wife for Apollo’s offspring, and who, as a consequence,
preferred living on the Continent. Therefore Miss Williams fell forever
from the bright circle of literary stars; and Lady Morgan, who met her
years afterwards in Paris, had nothing more interesting to record
than that she had grown “immensely fat,”—an unpoetic and
unworthy thing to do. “For when corpulence, which is a gift of evil,
cometh upon age, then are vanished the days of romance and of
stirring deeds.”
Yet sentiment, if not romance, clung illusively to the literary lady,
even when she surrendered nothing to persuasion. Strange shadowy
stories of courtship are told with pathetic simplicity. Miss Carter,
“when she had nearly attained the mature age of thirty,” was wooed
by a nameless gentleman of unexceptionable character, whom “she
was induced eventually to refuse, in consequence of his having
written some verses, of the nature of which she disapproved.”
Whether these verses were improper (perish the thought!) or merely
ill-advised, we shall never know; but as the rejected suitor
“expressed ever after a strong sense of Miss Carter’s handsome
behaviour to him,” there seems to have been on his part something
perilously akin to acquiescence. “I wonder,” says the wise Elizabeth
Bennet, “who first discovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away
love.” It is a pleasure to turn from such uncertainties to the firm
outlines and providential issues of Miss Hannah More’s early
attachment. When the wealthy Mr. Turner, who had wooed and won
the lady, manifested an unworthy reluctance to marry her, she
consented to receive, in lieu of his heart and hand, an income of two
hundred pounds a year, which enabled her to give up teaching, and
commence author at the age of twenty-two. The wedding day had
been fixed, the wedding dress was made, but the wedding bells were
never rung, and the couple—like the lovers in the story-books—lived
happily ever after. The only measure of retaliation which Miss More
permitted herself was to send Mr. Turner a copy of every book and of
every tract she wrote; while that gentleman was often heard to say,
when the tracts came thick and fast, that Providence had overruled
his desire to make so admirable a lady his wife, because she was
destined for higher things.
It was reserved for the Lichfield Swan to work the miracle of
miracles, and rob love of inconstancy. She was but eighteen when
she inspired a passion “as fervent as it was lasting” in the breast of
Colonel Taylor, mentioned by discreet biographers as Colonel T. The
young man being without income, Mr. Seward, who was not
altogether an ass, declined the alliance; and when, four years later, a
timely inheritance permitted a renewal of the suit, Miss Seward had
wearied of her lover. Colonel Taylor accordingly married another
young woman; but the remembrance of the Swan, and an