English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History Part 38

SAMUEL FOOTE.--Among the many English actors who have been distinguished for great powers of versatility in voice, feature, and manner, there is none superior to Foote. Bold and self-reliant, he was a comedian in every-day life; and his ready wit and humor subdued Dr. Johnson, who had determined to dislike him. He was born in 1722, at Truro, and educated at Oxford: he studied law, but his peculiar apt.i.tudes soon led him to the stage, where he became famous as a comic actor. Among his original pieces are _The Patron_, _The Devil on Two Stilts_, _The Diversions of the Morning_, _Lindamira_, and _The Slanderer_. But his best play, which is a popular burlesque on parliamentary elections, is _The Mayor of Garrat_. He died in 1777, at Dover, while on his way to France for the benefit of his health. His plays present the comic phase of English history in his day.

RICHARD c.u.mBERLAND.--This accomplished man, who, in the words of Walter Scott, has given us "many powerful sketches of the age which has pa.s.sed away," was born in 1732, and lived to the ripe age of seventy-nine, dying in 1811. After receiving his education at Cambridge, he became secretary to Lord Halifax. His versatile pen produced, besides dramatic pieces, novels and theological treatises, ill.u.s.trating the princ.i.p.al topics of the time. In his plays there is less of immorality than in those of his contemporaries. _The West Indian_, which was first put upon the stage in 1771, and which is still occasionally presented, is chiefly noticeable in that an Irishman and a West Indian are the princ.i.p.al characters, and that he has not brought them into ridicule, as was common at the time, but has exalted them by their merits. The best of his other plays are _The Jew, The Wheel of Fortune_, and _The Fas.h.i.+onable Lover_. Goldsmith, in his poem _Retaliation_, says of c.u.mberland, referring to his greater morality and his human sympathy,

Here c.u.mberland lies, having acted his parts, The Terence of England, the mender of hearts; A flattering painter, who made it his care To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.

RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN.--No man represents the Regency so completely as Sheridan. He was a statesman, a legislator, an orator, and a dramatist; and in social life a wit, a gamester, a spendthrift, and a debauchee. His manifold nature seemed to be always in violent ebullition. He was born in September, 1751, and was the son of Thomas Sheridan, the actor and lexicographer, His mother, Frances Sheridan, was also a writer of plays and novels. Educated at Harrow, he was there considered a dunce; and when he grew to manhood, he plunged into dissipation, and soon made a stir in the London world by making a runaway match with Miss Linley, a singer, who was noted as one of the handsomest women of the day. A duel with one of her former admirers was the result.

As a dramatist, he began by presenting _A Trip to Scarborough_, which was altered from Vanbrugh's _Relapse_; but his fame was at once a.s.sured by his production, in 1775, of _The Duenna_ and _The Rivals_. The former is called an opera, but is really a comedy containing many songs: the plot is varied and entertaining; but it is far inferior to _The Rivals_, which is based upon his own adventures, and is br.i.m.m.i.n.g with wit and humor. Mrs.

Malaprop, Bob Acres, Sir Lucius O'Trigger, and the Absolutes, father and son, have been prime favorites upon the stage ever since.

In 1777 he produced _The School for Scandal_, a caustic satire on London society, which has no superior in genteel comedy. It has been said that the characters of Charles and Joseph Surface were suggested by the Tom Jones and Blifil of Fielding; but, if this be true, the handling is so original and natural, that they are in no sense a plagiarism. Without the rippling brilliancy of _The Rivals, The School for Scandal_ is better sustained in scene and colloquy; and in spite of some indelicacy, which is due to the age, the moral lesson is far more valuable. The satire is strong and instructive, and marks the great advance in social decorum over the former age.

In 1779 appeared _The Critic_, a literary satire, in which the chief character is that of Sir Fretful Plagiary.

Sheridan sat in parliament as member for Stafford. His first effort in oratory was a failure; but by study he became one of the most effective popular orators of his day. His speeches lose by reading: he abounded in gaudy figures, and is not without bombast; but his wonderful flow of words and his impa.s.sioned action dazzled his audience and kept it spellbound.

His oratory, whatever its faults, gained also the unstinted praise of his colleagues and rivals in the art. Of his great speech in the trial of Warren Hastings, in 1788, Fox declared that "all he had ever heard, all he had ever read, when compared with it, dwindled into nothing, and vanished like vapor before the sun." Burke called it "the most astonis.h.i.+ng effort of eloquence, argument, and wit united, of which there was any record or tradition;" and Pitt said "that it surpa.s.sed all the eloquence of ancient or modern times."

Sheridan was for some time the friend and comrade of the Prince Regent, in wild courses which were to the taste of both; but this friends.h.i.+p was dissolved, and the famous dramatist and orator sank gradually in the social scale, until he had sounded the depths of human misery. He was deeply in debt; he obtained money under mean and false pretences; he was drunken and debauched; and even death did not bring rest. He died in July, 1816. His corpse was arrested for debt, and could not be buried until the debt was paid. In his varied brilliancy and in his fatal debauchery, his character stands forth as the completest type of the period of the Regency. Many memoirs have been written, among which those of his friend Moore, and his granddaughter the Hon. Mrs. Norton, although they unduly palliate his faults, are the best.

GEORGE COLMAN.--Among the respectable dramatists of this period who exerted an influence in leading the public taste away from the witty and artificial schools of the Restoration, the two Colmans deserve mention.

George Colman, the elder, was born in Florence in 1733, but began his education at Westminster School, from which he was removed to Oxford.

After receiving his degree he studied law; but soon abandoned graver study to court the comic muse. His first piece, _Polly Honeycomb_, was produced in 1760; but his reputation was established by _The Jealous Wife_, suggested by a scene in Fielding's _Tom Jones_. Besides many humorous miscellanies, most of which appeared in _The St. James' Chronicle_,--a magazine of which he was the proprietor,--he translated Terence, and produced more than thirty dramatic pieces, some of which are still presented upon the stage. The best of these is _The Clandestine Marriage_, which was the joint production of Garrick and himself. Of this play, Davies says "that no dramatic piece, since the days of Beaumont and Fletcher, had been written by two authors, in which wit, fancy, and humor were so happily blended." In 1768 he became one of the proprietors of the Covent Garden Theatre: in 1789 his mind became affected, and he remained a mental invalid until his death in 1794.

GEORGE COLMAN. THE YOUNGER.--This writer was the son of George Colman, and was born in 1762. Like his father, he was educated at Westminster and Oxford; but he was removed from the university before receiving his degree, and was graduated at King's College, Aberdeen. He inherited an enthusiasm for the drama and considerable skill as a dramatic author. In 1787 he produced _Inkle and Yarico_, founded upon the pathetic story of Addison, in _The Spectator_. In 1796 appeared _The Iron Chest_; this was followed, in 1797,. by _The Heir at Law_ and _John Bull_. To him the world is indebted for a large number of stock pieces which still appear at our theatres. In 1802 he published a volume ent.i.tled _Broad Grins_, which was an expansion of a previous volume of comic sc.r.a.ps. This is full of frolic and humor: among the verses in the style of Peter Pindar are the well-known sketches _The Newcastle Apothecary_, (who gave the direction with his medicine, "When taken, to be well shaken,") and _Lodgings for Single Gentlemen_.

The author's fault is his tendency to farce, which robs his comedies of dignity. He a.s.sumed the cognomen _the younger_ because, he said, he did not wish his father's memory to suffer for his faults. He died in 1836.

OTHER HUMORISTS AND DRAMATISTS OF THE PERIOD.

_John Wolcot_, 1738-1819: his pseudonym was _Peter Pindar_. He was a satirist as well as a humorist, and was bold in lampooning the prominent men of his time, not even sparing the king. The world of literature knows him best by his humorous poetical sketches, _The Apple-Dumplings and the King, The Razor-Seller, The Pilgrims and the Peas_, and many others.

_Hannah More_, 1745-1833: this lady had a flowing, agreeable style, but produced no great work. She wrote for her age and pleased it; but posterity disregards what she has written. Her princ.i.p.al plays are: _Percy_, presented in 1777, and a tragedy ent.i.tled _The Fatal Falsehood_.

She was a poet and a novelist also; but in neither part did she rise above mediocrity. In 1782 appeared her volume of _Sacred Dramas_. Her best novel is ent.i.tled _Caelebs in Search of a Wife, comprehending Observations on Domestic Habits and Manners, Religion and Morals_. Her greatest merit is that she always inculcated pure morals and religion, and thus aided in improving the society of her age. Something of her fame is also due to the rare appearance, up to this time, of women in the fields of literature; so that her merits are indulgently exaggerated.

_Joanna Baillie_, 1762-1851: this lady, the daughter of a Presbyterian divine, wrote graceful verses, but is princ.i.p.ally known by her numerous plays. Among these, which include thirteen _Plays on the Pa.s.sions_, and thirteen _Miscellaneous Plays_, those best known are _De Montfort_ and _Basil_--both tragedies, which have received high praise from Sir Walter Scott. Her _Ballads_ and _Metrical Legends_ are all spirited and excellent; and her _Hymns_ breathe the very spirit of devotion. Very popular during her life, and still highly estimated by literary critics, her works have given place to newer and more favorite authors, and have already lost interest with the great world of readers.

OTHER WRITERS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS.

_Thomas Warton_, 1728-1790: he was Professor of Poetry and of Ancient History at Oxford, and, for the last five years of his life, poet-laureate. The student of English Literature is greatly indebted to him for his _History of English Poetry_, which he brings down to the early part of the seventeenth century. No one before him had attempted such a task; and, although his work is rather a rare ma.s.s of valuable materials than a well articulated history, it is of great value for its collected facts, and for its suggestions as to where the scholar may pursue his studies farther.

_Joseph Warton_, 1722-1800: a brother of Thomas Warton; he published translations and essays and poems. Among the translations was that of the _Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil_, which is valued for its exactness and perspicuity.

_Frances Burney_, (Madame D'Arblay,) 1752-1840: the daughter of Dr.

Burney, a musical composer. While yet a young girl, she astonished herself and the world by her novel of _Evelina_, which at once took rank among the standard fictions of the day. It is in the style of Richardson, but more truthful in the delineation of existing manners, and in the expression of sentiment. She afterwards published _Cecilia_ and several other tales, which, although excellent, were not as good as the first. She led an almost menial life, as one of the ladies in waiting upon Queen Charlotte; but the genuine fame achieved by her writings in some degree relieved the sense of thraldom, from which she happily escaped with a pension. The novels of Madame D'Arblay are the intermediate step between the novels of Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett, and the Waverly novels of Walter Scott. They are entirely free from any taint of immorality; and they were among the first feminine efforts that were received with enthusiasm: thus it is that, without being of the first order of merit, they mark a distinct era in English letters.

_Edmund Burke_, 1730-1797: he was born in Dublin, and educated at Trinity College. He studied law, but soon found his proper sphere in public life.

He had brilliant literary gifts; but his fame is more that of a statesman and an orator, than an author. Prominent in parliament, he took n.o.ble ground in favor of American liberty in our contest with the mother country, and uttered speeches which have remained as models of forensic eloquence. His greatest oratorical efforts were his famous speeches as one of the committee of impeachment in the case of Warren Hastings, Governor-General of India. Whatever may be thought of Hastings and his administration, the famous trial has given to English oratory some of its n.o.blest specimens; and the people of England learned more of their empire in India from the learned, brilliant, and exhaustive speeches of Burke, than they could have learned in any other way. The greatest of his written works is: _Reflections on the Revolution in France_, written to warn England to avoid the causes of such colossal evil. In 1756 he had published his _Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful_. This has been variously criticized; and, although written with vigor of thought and brilliancy of style, has now taken its place among the speculations of theory, and not as establis.h.i.+ng permanent canons of aesthetical science. His work ent.i.tled _The Vindication of Natural Society, by a late n.o.ble writer_, is a successful attempt to overthrow the infidel system of Lord Bolingbroke, by applying it to civil society, and thus showing that it proved too much--"that if the abuses of or evils sometimes connected with religion invalidate its authority, then every inst.i.tution, however beneficial, must be abandoned." Burke's style is peculiar, and, in another writer, would be considered pompous and pedantic; but it so expresses the grandeur and dignity of the man, that it escapes this criticism. His learning, his private worth, his high aims and incorruptible faith in public station, the dignity of his statesmans.h.i.+p, and the power of his oratory, const.i.tute Mr. Burke as one of the n.o.blest characters of any English period; and, although his literary reputation is not equal to his political fame, his accomplishments in the field of letters are worthy of admiration and honorable mention.

_Hugh Blair_, 1718-1800: a Presbyterian divine in Edinburgh, Dr. Blair deserves special mention for his lectures on _Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres_, which for a long time const.i.tuted the princ.i.p.al text-book on those subjects in our schools and colleges. A better understanding of the true scope of rhetoric as a science has caused this work to be superseded by later text-books. Blair's lectures treat princ.i.p.ally of style and literary criticism, and are excellent for their a.n.a.lysis of some of the best authors, and for happy ill.u.s.trations from their works. Blair wrote many eloquent sermons, which were published, and was one of the strong champions of Macpherson, in the controversy concerning the poems of Ossian. He occupied a high place as a literary critic during his life.

_William Paley_, 1743-1805: a clergyman of the Established Church, he rose to the dignity of Archdeacon and Chancellor of Carlisle. At first thoughtless and idle, he was roused from his unprofitable life by the earnest warnings of a companion, and became a severe student and a vigorous writer on moral and religious subjects. Among his numerous writings, those princ.i.p.ally valuable are: _Horae Paulinae_, and _A View of the Evidences of Christianity_--the former setting forth the life and character of St. Paul, and the latter being a clear exposition of the truth of Christianity, which has long served as a manual of academic instruction. His treatise on _Natural Theology_ is, in the words of Sir James Mackintosh, "the wonderful work of a man who, after sixty, had studied anatomy in order to write it." Later investigations of science have discarded some of his _facts_; but the handling of the subject and the array of arguments are the work of a skilful and powerful hand. He wrote, besides, a work on _Moral and Political Philosophy_, and numerous sermons. His theory of morals is, that whatever is expedient is right; and thus he bases our sense of duty upon the ground of the production of the greatest amount of happiness. This low view has been successfully refuted by later writers on moral science.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

THE NEW ROMANTIC POETRY: SCOTT.

Walter Scott. Translations and Minstrelsy. The Lay of the Last Minstrel. Other Poems. The Waverly Novels. Particular Mention.

Pecuniary Troubles. His Manly Purpose. Powers Overtasked. Fruitless Journey. Return and Death. His Fame.

The transition school, as we have seen, in returning to nature, had redeemed the pastoral, and had cultivated sentiment at the expense of the epic. As a slight reaction, and yet a progress, and as influenced by the tales of modern fiction, and also as subsidizing the antiquarian lore and taste of the age, there arose a school of poetry which is best represented by its _Tales in verse_;--some treating subjects of the olden time, some laying their scenes in distant countries, and some describing home incidents of the simplest kind. They were all minor epics: such were the poetic stories of Scott, the _Lalla Rookh_ of Moore, _The Bride_ and _The Giaour_ of Byron, and _The Village_ and _The Borough_ of Crabbe; all of which mark the taste and the demand of the period.

WALTER SCOTT.--First in order of the new romantic poets was Scott, alike renowned for his _Lays_ and for his wonderful prose fictions; at once the most equable and the most prolific of English authors.

Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh, on the 15th of August, 1771. His father was a writer to the signet; his mother was Anne Rutherford, the daughter of a medical professor in the University of Edinburgh. His father's family belonged to the clan Buccleugh. Lame from his early childhood, and thus debarred the more active pleasures of children, his imagination was unusually vigorous; and he took special pleasure in the many stories, current at the time, of predatory warfare, border forays, bogles, warlocks, and second sight. He spent some of his early days in the country, and thus became robust and healthy; although his lameness remained throughout life. He was educated in Edinburgh, at the High School and the university; and, although not noted for excellence as a scholar, he exhibited precocity in verse, and delighted his companions by his readiness in reproducing old stories or improving new ones. After leaving the university he studied law, and ranged himself in politics as a Conservative or Tory.

Although never an accurate cla.s.sical scholar, he had a superficial knowledge of several languages, and was an industrious collector of old ballads and relics of the antiquities of his country. He was, however, better than a scholar;--he had genius, enthusiasm, and industry: he could create character, adapt incident, and, in picturesque description, he was without a rival.

During the rumors of the invasion of Scotland by the French, which he has treated with such comical humor in _The Antiquary_, his lameness did not prevent his taking part with the volunteers, as quartermaster--a post given him to spare him the fatigue and rough service of the ranks. The French did not come; and Scott returned to his studies with a budget of incident for future use.

TRANSLATIONS AND MINSTRELSY.--The study of the German language was then almost a new thing, even among educated people in England; and Scott made his first public essay in the form of translations from the German. Among these were versions of the _Erl Konig_ of Goethe, and the _Lenore_ and _The Wild Huntsman_ of Burger, which appeared in 1796. In 1797 he rendered into English _Otho of Wittelsbach_ by Steinburg, and in 1799 Goethe's tragedy, _Gotz von Berlichingen_. These were the trial efforts of his "'prentice hand," which predicted a coming master.

On the 24th of December, 1797, he married Miss Carpenter, or Charpentier, a lady of French parentage, and retired to a cottage at La.s.swade, where he began his studies, and cherished his literary aspirations in earnest and for life.