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TheEnglishEssayandEssayist 10050053
TheEnglishEssayandEssayist 10050053
AND E S S A Y I S TS
T/z e Cb a r m els f
o Englis b L ite r a tur e
Edi t ed b y O LI P HA NT S ME AT O N , M A . .
E NGL I S H E P I C AN D H ER O I C PO ET RY .
By Pr o fes so r W MA CN E I LE Di xo n M A
.
,
. .
,
Un i vers i t y of Glas go w .
E N GL I S H LY R IC PO ETRY .
By E R N ES T a s .
T HE E N G L I SH D RA MA .
Un iv er s i t o f Pen ns y lvani a .
By Pr o fess o r HU G H WALKE R LL D S t , . .
, .
D avid
’
s Co lle ge , Lam pe t er .
TH E E NG L I SH NO V E L .
By Pr o fes s o r GE O RGE S u ur s n v n v , D Li tt
Un i v er s i t y o f E din b ur gh .
. .
,
E NG L I SH E L E G I AC D I D ACTI C , , AND
RE L I G IOU S PO ETRY .
D Li t t , De an of N or m ch , an d the Re v
R ONAL D B u m s
. .
.
, MA . .
E N G L I SH H I S TO RI AN S AN D S CH OO LS
O F H I ST O R Y .
1
9 5
1 LO N D O N AND T O RO N T O
J M . . D ENT 59
°
SO N S LTD .
NEW YO RK : E . P. DUTT O N a co .
PR EFA C E
HU GH WALKER .
D ece m be r 18. 1 9 1 4.
C O N TE N T S
C HAP .
I N T ROD U C T IO N
A N T I C I P A T I O NS O F T HE E SSAY
TU RY
THE Q U EEN A NNE E SSAYIS T S
THE O F S T EE L E A N D A D D IS O N
THE TRANSI T I O N F R O M T HE E I G H T EEN T H C EN TU RY
THE E ARL Y R E V IE W ERS O F T HE N I NE T EEN T H CEN TU RY
S O M E O F T HEIR V I C T I M S A N D O T HERS
,
S O M E E SSAYIS T S O F Y ES T ER D AY
I ND Ex
T HE EN G LIS H E S SA Y A ND
E S S A Y I ST S
INTRODUCTI ON
Th e Oxf o r d
”
piece not a regular and orderly performance
,
.
A
2 TH E E NGLI SH E S S AY AND E SS AY I S T S
com position Usage however overleaps even the boundary
.
, ,
want of system
re
ii it wag m
n
w fi
igh t also seem more preten
fl
stars to the dust heap and from the am o eba to man whi ch
-
,
quently the ess ay derives its charm from lightness and from
s u e r ficialit y apparent if not real
p , I t is the literary fo o f .
the other hand along with light airy grace ful t rifie s,we find
, , ,
p a r a t iv el
y short (for it is necessary to rule o ut the Es s a
y con
cer n i n
g Hum a n Un de r s ta n di n g) and in being more o r les s
incomplete This incompleteness may arise either from
.
or satirical Give the mood and the essay from the first
.
, ,
and follow ”
.
CHA PT ER I
A N T I C I P AT I O N S OF T HE ESS AY
had essays .
do not discover that they have been talking prose all their
lives b ut assume it No w th e vice o f Elizabethan poetry is
,
.
shot ; and though in the heap there are gems to b e found they ,
wholes .
b e that but for it Hall and O verbury and Earle would never
, ,
each kind or class being the subj ect o f what may be regarded
indi ff erently as a chapter o r a separate essay His sketches .
di fius e d ; and the wonder is not that the art o f writing char
,
I E gli h L i t
1
n n tus d th Cl i s
era re a n e as s c .
8 TH E E NGLI SH E SS AY AND E S S AY I S T S
became popular i n the reign O f James but that it was
a ct e r s ,
art and the defence o f it that we meet with work whi ch is still
deserving o f praise as literature and that only from the pen ,
of S idney .
—1 62 whi ch he dedicated
( 5 54
1 4) S cb o o l of Abus e ,
has littl e substance and is violent and one sided His dis
,
-
.
itself The most e ff ective defence is to carry the war into the
.
and others who maintained the same doctrine even after the
demonstration of its falsity ?
Th e Ap o logy f o r P o e try is written with fervour and strength ,
o ne
“
right noble virtuous and lear n ed
,
”
Th Marprelat e . e
tracts have even less of literary merit than those which wer e
and I saac Walton was dou b tless right when he declared tha t
A N T ICI PAT I O NS OF TH E E SS AY 13
ul us As t o l gi c l P g o s ti ti
”
a nd m i r ac o r o
f tb is 2 e ar of o u
a ro n ca on o r
Lo d Go d
r a piece Of excellent fooling o f the sort
indicated by the F OO1 in Le r a
Th e n co m es t h ti e m e, wh o liv e s t o s ee
’
t,
Th at g o in g sh ll b a e us e d w it h f eet .
”
criminating and can rarely refrain from any poor quip o r pun
,
CHA PT ER II
THE A P H O R I S TI C ESS AY I S T S
essay : they are too unformed and non literary D ekker the -
.
,
and not merely hi s intellect but his whole disposition made such
a form as that which Montaigne supplied valuable to hi m .
Béico n was
p surpassed
o r an e s hi m in depth of insight into subj ects which
m treasures of hi s mind he f f f o b e a _
Here co ul d be
thoughts that would n o t for the time at least fit
, ,
Mon tai gne b ut fills it with materi al drawn from his o wn mind
,
.
shr ewd critic— and the am b itious English lawyer and S tates
man with o n e eye fixed upon the pole star o f philosop hi c truth
,
-
,
meditati ons ”
He ranks them b ut as recreations in co m
.
'
are confined within the four corners o f a si ngle Subj ect The .
centre ; whereas all thi ngs that have affi nity with the heave n s
move upo n the centre o f another which they benefit ,
”
.
N
es sayi st I t I S true he was sti ll the phi losopher I n undres s ; but
.
, ,
perhaps the popularity he had won had made him more f ully
conscious o f the importance of the step he had taken in t he lit tle
boo k of 1 5 9 7 I t was worth while spending time a n d taki n g
.
20 TH E E NGLI SH E SS AY I STS
every road leads to the end o f the world and a title whi ch ,
either with the ethi cal quali ties of men o r with matters per ,
”
secrecy : nakedness is uncomely as well in mind as in body ,
.
never have felt that awe o f the moral law within which K ant
coupled with the a we Of the starry heavens above ; nor is
there in any Baconian maxim a suggestion o f the spirit of the
saying Le t justice be done though the heavens should f all
,
.
’
extravaga n tly hi gh .
p r a v in
g o r disabling the better deserver Wa s ever moralist .
principles in the indivi dual nor with the interests o f the state
, ,
but with domestic relations and with S pecial ties between man
and man F e w readers of Baco n can have been insensitive
.
a little consideration shows that they are cogn ate The view .
S alisbury .
”
Of human society and Bacon s main preoccupation is to ,
’
but that they are fallacies some o f which had been transcended
by at least one contempora r y Mun Th e subj ect o f the essay
, .
and towards rival monarchs has lost much o f its interest and
,
was n ot diffi cult to take hi nts from him He did more than V .
'
, ,
book o f whose E ccles ias tic l P o lity was published in the same
a
thi ngs before that date though his His to ry of tbe Wor ld did
,
not appear till seventee n years later But while thes e writers .
have maj esty and strength while in their hours o f insp iration
,
for great themes and for moments f elevation but ill adapt e d o ,
long and even in the hands o f the most skil ful writers
,
ambiguous .
mercy in verse .
though they be short yet they are strong and able to endure
, ,
the sharpest trial : but mine are Essays who am but newly ,
of Montaigne .
m
4
even more than his meed ; but in spite o f the warm eulogy of
a few discerning critics his prose whi ch is quite worthy Of ,
3 0 TH E E NGLI SH E S S AY AND E SS AY I S T S
compariso n eve n with Bacon s has been shame f ully neglected ’
,
.
cis io n o f eloquence
”
An d again : . F rom the ethi cal point
o f View whi ch looks merely or mai nl y to character the com ,
C t l in
as e a
’
editi f D i
s ion o s co ve r e s .
THE AP H O R I S T I C E SS AY I S T S 3 1
several cases that the n otes are not really disjointed but
connected and in some measure systematic Thus there is
, ,
.
,
B en efi ci a
“
Nothing is a courtesy u nless it be meant us ; and that
friendly and lovingly W owe no tha n ks to rivers that they . e ,
3 2 THE E NGLI SH E S S AY AND E SS AY I S T S
carry our boats ; or winds that they be favouring and fill o ur
,
choice ”
.
these slaves to them S o the fisher provides bait for the trout
.
,
co
w I n a degree riv allin
g
even Bacon s I t is capable o f rising to eloquence but a
’
.
,
'' - Q W
were men o f thi rd rate power They were perp etually strain
-
.
ally and easily Their flowers were culled ; his grew in the
.
More than thirty years passed after S e lde n s death before the ’
and that not o nl y the substance but a good deal o f the phrase
.
D is co ver ies are merely jottings which the author would pro
bably have expanded had he lived to issue the book hi m self .
l ess formal than the Dis co ver ies But it is the concentrated .
36 T H E E NGLI SH E SS AY AND E S S AY I S T S
essence of immense learning and a life of thought I t is .
fl
always weighty and often most felicitously expressed Again .
tions upon the subj ects to whi ch he had devoted his life .
S poken in the midst o f civil strife the Opi n ions of S elden are
,
meals a day ; the soul must be fed as well as the body But .
”
trimming Here surely is a mind as detached as even
.
heat But yet put out the candle and they are both gone
.
, ,
one remains not without the other : S o tis betwixt faith and
’
CHA PT ER III
T HE C HA R A C T E R W R I T E R S
-
b ury and Earle o n the o n e hand and the Jonso nian comedy
,
fl
o f the essayists to Bacon N ot that they either did or could
.
d efects they S how the same interests and they rise flourish
, , ,
co s m o gr a b
p y Bliss in 1 81 1 enumerated no fewer than fift
y
seven characters and collection o f characters o f which fift y six ,
-
has already been noticed F orty four years later Bliss stated
.
-
Dekker ( 1 5 70 i) I n De k k e r s B ellm a n of Lo n do n ( 1 60 8)
.
’
his Virtues grew high and is laden with goo dl y f ruit yet the
“
, ,
to
p bough
-
of all and the fairest
,
apple O f all he counteth his ,
never sour n o day in the year was t o them that are hungry
, ,
dramatic and the sty le freer than that o f the ordin ary
characters .
’
-
,
ing up not from Harman but from the other sources already
, ,
heathens ”
O ne class o f these he says bestowed their time
.
, ,
I n his own day he had the f ate o f the controversialist and was ,
ability are apt to leave a bad taste in the mouth Their S pirit
, .
But the satires were the work o f Hall s youth : he was only ’
fl
mellow he was doubtless influenced by a sense of the duties
,
fl
pictures of the patient man and o f the f aithful as well as o f ,
representative o f a calling .
varied and more humane than the satires and they have that ,
They often read like notes for Hall s sermons and F uller was
’
,
”
satires in verse Th e title o f the Christian S eneca whi ch
.
,
stayed there ”
.
at thi rty two seems then to have begun the writing o f char
-
,
1 61
4 is : A W f
i e W b e r e un to a e a dde d m a n
y witty r
Ge n tle m e n
le ar ne d bis fr ie n ds o nly
Thi s collection contained
.
1
Th s s Th Ch i f Wif h w e r st ill ret i th i h
e ver e on e o ce o a e, o ve . a n e r c arm .
46 T H E ENGLI S H E S SAY AN D E SSAYI STS
is highly im probable that the Cb ar a cte r s will ever regain po pu
lar i t y A natural style never di es an artificial o n e kno w s
.
,
“
is subordinate to form matter to manner A host is t h e
,
.
kernel o f a sign : or the sign is the shell and mine host is the
sna il ”
. A soldier is the husbandman o f valour hi s sword is ,
“
is a chick o f the egg abuse hatched by the warmth o f ,
ornament o f the piece the most far f etched (and therefore the
,
-
man biting the end of hi s quill till the smart phrase strikes
hi m and then drawing the character to fit that n o t a ccording
, ,
Vi ces .
T H E CH ARA CTE R WRITE RS -
47
O ccasionally O verbury o r one o f his coadjutors shakes o ff
, ,
English essayists
I n milking a co w and straining the teats through her
,
o f corn fall and kiss her feet when s h reaps them as if they e ,
g o alone ,
and unfold sheep i t h nights and fears’
no manner ’
,
came at the close o f his life and not without much batterin g
,
gone through the stormy period of the Civil Wa r had taken the ,
unsuccessful side had lost his property for the sake o f Charles I
,
.
temper than he
,
”
Clarendon is singularly warm in praise
. .
He was among the few excellent men who never had nor never ,
known .
”
pop ular There were five editions withi n two years of its
.
This is truth but Earle knew that there was another side
,
that no man puts his brain to more us e than he for his life ,
turn .
”
O f A m e r e D ull Pbys icia n “
Th e best cure he has
done is upon hi s o wn purse whi ch from a lean sickness he ,
from the suspicion o f a r t ific iali t y Earle s piece has the ring
,
’
o f perfect sincerity .
time and much handling dims and defaces His soul is yet a .
stair lower from Go d ; and like his first father much worse in
hi s breeches He is the Christian s example and the o ld ’
.
While the kinshi p between this delightful little book and the
character sketches is obvious the diff erences between them
-
,
g e n uit
y b ut
,
the expression of Herbert s sincere feeling ; and
’
produ ed thi s e ff ect if the thi rty seven chapters had bee n
c -
mention will su ffice fo r those of the tri b e who still require notice .
the Light o f Love the Grace o f Wit and the Crown of Wis , ,
in consort with the muses sing an ave to the mor ning and a
vale to the setting s u — and s o on till the reader s patience n
’
is wearied o ut .
whose Es s ys d Ch r a cte rs of P is
a and P is e r s ( 1 6 1 8)
a a r on an r on
style is less forced and has more genuine wi t than any but
,
1
B aco n s e r ve s as a t o uchs t o n e in t h e c as e o f m an y of t he c h a ac t er r
w r it e rs . R ea d h is A the i s m al o n g w i th J o h n S t e p h e ns
’
s A the i s t , an d
t he pi n ch b e ck im i ta t io n o g
f t h o u h t is a t o n ce r ev ea le d .
54 T H E ENGLI S H E S SAY AND E S SAYI STS
D onald Lupton
’
s (d C o un try
1 67 6 ) Lo n do n an d the
Q
.
”
Abstract quali ties are a very scanty plot o f ground and ,
1
No t f o r t h e fi rt s tim e . Th e s am e d e v ice is fo u d
n in M i cr o lo gi a
a co ll e cti o n r
d es c i b e d as c h ar ac t e s r , or es s a y s, o f pr e so n s ,
t d
ra es an d pl
ac es , o fi e re d t o the c it y an d c o un tr y by R . M .
”
THE CH ARA CTE R WRITE RS -
55
choice o f subj ects we s e e the mark both o f the man and o f the
age A m o der n P o liti cia n A n hyp o cr itica l N o n co nfo r m is t
.
, ,
and A Rep ublican are the first upon the list Th e tone is .
the most readable book that can by any stretch o f the meani n g
be included under the class o f books of characters But The .
for every one who has ever fallen under his influence I t is .
some eyes .
whil e the phrase about its being the s t uff and substance
o f F ull er s intellect is always quoted it is not s o widely
’
,
wit ,
alike in quantity quality and perpetuity surpassed
, , ,
the cook paid with the jingli n g O r take that lively illustra
.
standing in the way where the stone went whi ch his brother
c ast ? At once the tension is relieved Epigram upon epi .
freedom o f intellect ”
.
and F uller liked them s o when they were to be had and would
s erve the purpose But hi s was a richly veined humanity
.
,
c onsider that a fool and a wise man are alike both in the
60 T H E ENGLI S H E SSAY AND E SSAYI STS
start ing place their birth and in the port their death : only
-
, , ,
p h r a s t us seem
,
to carry that stamp o f personality w hi ch has
already been referred to Th e most ancient nobility
.
Ge n tle m an
“
is his vocation and he scorns to follow a n y
V acation ,
“
Having lost his own legs he relies on the sta ff o f hi s
,
CHA PTER IV
M I S C E LL A N E O U S E SS AY I S T S OF THE S E VE N TE E N T H
C E N TU RY
events o f whose life little is known while his Opi nions are ,
”—
pray ,
whi ch accordingly he does I t seems hardl y possible .
Charles the First and Chr ist the S econd li es is the last line of
hi s epitaph o n the royal martyr He intended no irreverence ;
.
Clearly such a man could not love the Puritans and the essay ,
order o f arrangement was publis hed when F ellt ham was only
,
the later ones are much f uller and altogether more mature .
and much e nl arged while some of the papers were who lly
,
U willi gnes s to Die shows how much more rhetorical and how
n n
believe there was no soul in thi s vast world than that there
w s n o S p irit to actuate hi s body
a O bviously thi s is no more .
”
fl
in Bacon s Of A the is m ’
.
n o t much humour But in the Res lves as a rule his aim was
. o , ,
Lo w—
,
E arle .
66 TH E ENGLI S H E SSAY AND E S SAYI STS
somethi ng in the cadence o f the sentences which suggests 1
o f style whi ch makes him for once the rival o f the greatest , ,
masters .
i
Th e y Of Ti
es s a
’
m e s co n ti n ua l S pee d is in th e s e co n d e
c n t ury (i n
t he or d r f rr g
e o a an e m en t ); b ut i t is no t o n e o f th o s e w hi c h ap pe r a ed
in th e fi st d i ti
r e on .
MI S C ELLANE O US E SSAYI STS 67
but the ful ness and richn ess o f tone attests years of reverie o n
cognate themes There was in Drummond from the start a
.
strain o f mysticism and his studies the events o f his life and
, , ,
eloquence in A Cyp r es s Gr o ve
I f on the great theatre of this earth amongst the number
less number o f men to die were only proper to thee and thine
, ,
tudes shall after thee with them that at that same instant
,
stay their ever rolli ng wheels (for what is the motion o f them
-
but the motion o f a swift and ever whi rling wheel whi ch -
,
t win e t h forth and again u r o lle t h our life) and hold still time
, p
to prolong thy miserable days as if the highest o f their working
,
the world is the world some creatures must die and others
.
, ,
take life .
68 TH E ENGLI S H E SSAY AN D E S SAYI STS
Th e stately English of this passage is u n equall e d by any
thing else ih A Cypr es s Gr ove Th e essay is n ot free from t h e
.
a e
g. O ne year is suffi cient to behold all the magnificence o f
nature nay even o n e day and ni ght ; fo r more is but t he
, ,
the limits within whi ch custom has confined the term essay .
a li is
,
that book is the Ps e udo do xi a Ep i de m i c R eal u n ity a .
debt to them all and that Browne was o n e o f the two men
,
and that the conceits o f this life are as mere dr eams to those
o f the next ; as the phantasms f the night to the conceit
o ,
o f Browne ,
before the close o f the century— evidence o f a
pop ul arity very extraor di n ary at that period N or was the .
obviously the case with the M is cella ny Tr a cts and M is cella n ies .
A n ie t
c d M o de
n we have illustrations o f Browne s pr o
an rn,
’
the finest that even Bro wn e ever wr ote ; but as a whole The
G de of Cy r us is fantastic and whimsical to the point o f
'
ar n
o ld rock and must profes s myself even to urn and ashes your
, ,
co v e r
y of urns in N orfolk leads in the second t o the more
specific consideration o f the urns used to receive the ashes left
a fter cremation ; but again the discursive mind o f Bro wn e
diverges to the question o f the population o f Britain in the
time o f J ulius C ae sar and to other questi ons equally remote
,
to the reflectio n s at the close for which the whole has been
,
7 8 TH E ENGLI S H E SSAY AND E S SAYI STS
w ritten We have nearly reached the height in the closing
.
But it is in the fifth and last chapter that the cli max to
which Browne has been workin g comes I t is like a solemn .
expect .
4
thi n walls o f clay outworn all the strong and specious build
,
S ic e go co m po n i ve r s us in o s s a ve li m ?
Time, whi ch antiquates anti qui t ies and hath an art to make ,
”
dust of all thi ngs hath yet spared these minor monuments
, .
the syrens sang about the circl es and right lines that limit
,
—
long duration diut ur n it y is a dream and fo lly o f expectation ”
.
false opinion There is little ground for surprise in the fact that
.
Ultra fidia n ”
Hence Browne s acceptance of Te r t ull ian s
’ ’
-
.
80 TH E ENGLI S H E SSAY AN D E SSAYI STS
credo quia imposs ibile es t
, He has a vein o f superstitio n
.
,
t h e de a t h
4
o f two wretched women charged with this crime But when .
all this has been admitted and the utmost h a s been said that
,
more than all the syllo gisms since Aristotle can either lessen
o r increase the beauty of Beethoven s music Th e appeal’
.
S O does Ur n B ur i a l .
the first pedant and had he never writt en there woul d probably
,
”
it
. Clarendon s sentences however have not the weighty
’
, ,
R L S tevenson
. . To have taken o n e o f the longest steps
.
solemn peaks but to the stars are kno w n ; and here there is
pres upposed a certain familiarity and intimacy o f relation
with the reader Cowley had just the proper gifts and the
.
fl
right disposition He was retiring and unambitious He
. .
pany and a very little feast ; and if I were ever to fall in love
,
R b i g th
em e m hr i l
er n f th f hi e i tr
c th
on c e o e n a m es o s m s es s es , e
re ad r y h th h p
e m a ec o e o e .
84 TH E ENGLI S H E S SAY AND E SSAYI STS
standing Even when I was a young b o y at school instead
.
,
was wont to S teal from them and walk into t he fields either ,
their power o f ill ustrating the Ad di sonian essay for they are ,
merit ; and the further fact that the popularity has never
been entirely lost greatly strengthens the presumption Th e .
the knack o f selecting interesting subj ects and the fact that ,
,
His .
”
There are not many devi ces for securing popularity with
whi ch Howell does n o t S how hi mself famili ar He has bee n .
S ophy and the a ff airs o f state to the most trivial gossip of the
hour O ne group is devoted to the reli gions and another to
.
Bolea and the sudden whi tening of hi s hair S uch too are .
tions of Book II 5 0 .
,
.
fl
Though some o f the writers who have b een mentioned were
not uni n ue n c e d by the S pirit o f party politics still their ,
t r o v e r s ia lis t
. Th e accentuation o f di ff erences during the
reign o f Charles I made the philosophi c attitude di ffi cult
.
,
v e r s i a l S pirit
. Much o f the talent which in quieter times would
have been devoted t o art was given up to party and the ,
fl
it sometimes heavy and obscure : o nl y in a few inspired
,
that the finest passages are finer than any in them as that the ,
for seems assured the day may again come when thi s
,
remedy for the many are S tronger than the o n e : in the forme r
,
fl
the first mover and the fountain from whence a ll the great
,
s un is to plants
”
His patriotism is more fervid still The
. .
Trimmer he says ,
doth n o t worshi p t h e s un because it is
, ,
and dread of Papacy inspires the two essays which rank next
,
sectarianism .
Thes e tracts a r e the grea test o f Hali fax s writings but the
’
,
a Da u hte r
g I t is also
. that in which he approaches nearest in
S pirit to the essayists o f the eighteenth century Whi le there .
wise o n e This delight ful letter was the most popular o f all
.
fl
kind from that o f Halifax He t o o was master of a fine
.
convenience the most days o f the year and the most hours of
,
'
n ations who call conceits and jingles wit who s e e Ovid full
, ,
fl
R oman . Ye t with their leave I must presume to s ay that
, , ,
not hi s own ; but they are the least part of that whi ch gives
the value ; the price lies wholly in the workmanshi p But .
playing .
”
Now character writing rested a lmost wholly o n
-
THE Q
U E E N AN N E E SS AYI S T S
IN the fulness o f time the periodical essay was born of the
brain o f Richard S teele ( 1 67 2 O f course there had
been anticipations Attention has already been drawn to
.
fl
sometimes been do n e to S teele by exaggerating Defoe s in ’
but the Review contains little more than the germ I f the .
No m an has ta s te d di fie r i n g f o r tune s m o re ,
A n d thi r tee n ti m es I ha ve b ee n r i ch a n d po o r
fl
.
have seen the rough side of the world as well as the smoo th ,
Here and there we come upon vigorous essays on the vices and
folli es o f society o n the minor morals and sometimes o n the
, ,
great vi rtues and vices But many o f the papers have lost
.
the human touches which give charm to The Ta tle r and The
S p e cta to r
. Great as were hi s gifts D efoe had not that light
,
their appearance where the disco verer found them ; and their
S pecial point o f interest is the evidence they a ff ord that if L (
most skil fully worked out from the conception o f the s ecrets
1 04 T H E E NGLI S H E SSAY AND E SSAYI STS
o fthe huma n heart revealed as the working o f bees is revealed
by a glass hive Th e mere description o f the plan again
.
and if the gold were separated from the dr oss he would take ,
That there was something in the subj ect which drew o ut the
best that De foe had to give is in di cated by the grave eloquence
of the reflections on death which appeared in the same journal
( A pp le be e) about three years later Nothi ng greater than the.
love duty good manners politicks reli gion and writing than
, , , , , ,
s ays ,
has been to recommend truth innocence honour a n d , , ,
call myself a vicious man but at the same time must confess
, ,
have lost both its beauty and efficacy had it been pretended t o ,
by Mr S teele .
”
.
even pleased them and made them more than hal f inclined
,
ing he has bol dly assured them that they were altogether in
, ,
the machi nery o f The Athe n ia n Gaze tte whi ch had run from ,
1 6 0 to 1 6 6
9 9 By whoms
. o ever ori ginated it is certai n that ,
all must feel that the charm would be gone The Ta tler is a .
that the gap between the De Coverley papers when they are ,
others are help ful as well and together they ill ustrate and
,
kin d is man ”
I t was largely the pres ence o f these huma n
.
passionate nature ”
I t was Thackeray too who pointed b ut
.
the great service done by S teele in his reverence for the pieties
of the home hi s respect fo r women and his love of children
,
.
c a bl
y bound together that Richard S teele s writin g s would
’
safer model than John son s ; but Ad dison never wrote nor ’
the reason why Addison who had not the energy to be more
,
than a third rate poet might be a safe model for the learner
-
, ,
o n a pedest al too lofty for him and has led t o the disappoint
'
Addison fails .His ideas are trite ; at least they are n o t the
best ideas attainable in or about his time ”
.
great was the need o f him may b e S een if we look back into
the preceding century and observe a man s o incomparably
,
a n d The Ta tler and The S p e cta tor aimed at being moral forces .
J f
A ddison s
’
principal literary gifts were a delicate though not
highly o r iginal taste a keen sense o f humour and an insight
, ,
sio ual b ut they S how a fine i nstinct for what 18 good I n liter a
,
praise and just appreciation the dream o f Richard III and the .
-
‘
While Hazlitt has played upon the surface S teele has pene ,
t r a t e d to the heart .
deli b erate critic and the value o f his criticism has been
,
mainly first that some part of the verve and S parkle is gone
, , ,
E n glis hm a n in O ctober 1 7 1 3 .
demise of The T tler but during the life o f The S p e cta to r there
a , ,
continued long after Ad dison and S teele were dead and was ,
Ra m bler etc ,
was able to enumerate no fewer tha n 2 2 1
.
,
displayed in his verse would have been alien from the prose
o f the essays Perhaps the o nly po m t s i n whi ch he would
.
his friends must have b een dense if they really b elieved that
the writer preferred Am brose Philips to Pope I rony and .
fl
manly flattery in dedications ; and N os 9 1 and 9 2 dealing .
,
A l rg r p rt i
a e o on o f he r
o ic fir e
D id hi s t r t i p ire
s m a ll lim b s an d li t le b e as ns
are for the present purpose less important than many com
, ,
the friends hi p between him and S teele during the earlier part
o f The Ta tle r s c ourse thi s meagreness of production may
’
,
w as far too grim and sardonic ; he was not the man to deal
with the minor morals nor with the major morals either , ,
worst ”
.
a .
,
cer n i g the
n A lte r ca tio n o S co ldi g of the A n cie n ts
r But n .
remarks ,
Tis very pretty but not so obvious to be under
’
,
stood .
”
But S wift s opinion o f the human mind as o f the
’
,
fl
.
o r ought else .
things as to make them great I t was for others not for him
.
, ,
The F e thi k r ( 1 7 1 8
r e n ein whi ch he had the assistance
of several f the most distinguished clergym en of the time
o .
Th P
e t ( 1 746) are interesting b ecause they were princi
arr o
is F ielding .
capacity ; and yet t any o who thi nks o f the introdu tory
o ne c
from surveying the abyss I had not b een here long when I .
,
where seen b efore to raise him self with great agility to the t o p
,
little out o f hi s reach it gave way and he tum b led down back
, ,
wards into the cave No t long after I saw a very grave man
.
, ,
cave and p ulling all those whom he had laid his hands on
,
was some very easy way o f ascent from the bottom of thi s
deep cave to the gallery whereon I S tood But I was soon .
delivered from this error and informed that from the bottom
, ,
again but that there was a resting place in the descent from
,
-
,
showed that the writer could when he chose wield the weapon , ,
1 36 TH E ENGLI S H E S SAY AN D E S SAYI STS
of satire Th e paper o n S uS pir ius the S creech—
. o wl from whi ch ,
and Dick Minim and the witty ridi c ule o f the b argain hunter
, ,
Mr s Plenty
. .
( 7 5
1 1 a man of multifarious literary a tivity who is c ,
more deeply engage the reader and keep his attention more
alive and active than the martial uniformity o f the I li d a .
are better calcul ated t o excite our uriosity and wonder and
c ,
through the I li a d ”
.
ing conclusion that the great poet has left o ur harsh cadences
yet harsher and he analyses S a m s o n Ago n is tes in order to
“
discover whether it is composed according to the indis
pensable laws o f Aristoteli an criticism ”
Evidently he pro
.
c ie n t l
y R oman ; and V oltaire censures his kings as not co m
p le t el
y royal .D ennis i s o ff ended that M n n ius,
a senator e e ,
o f R ome ,
should play the bu ff oon ; and Voltaire perhaps
thinks decency violated when the Danish usurper is r e pr e
sented as a drunkard But S hakespeare always makes nature
.
went into the senate—house for that which the senate house -
ing that kings love wine li ke other men and that wine exerts ,
its natural power upon kings These are the petty cavils o f
.
critics o f the present day who have forgotten the answer and ,
capital work with whi ch to support them ; for his poems and
dramas are deserve dl y forgotten and in connexion with the ,
son and thi s fact may have disposed the latter the more
,
a r t iC
iil excelled here were course stories astern
’
p a rl
y T f E .
,
o , ,
V is i o o
f n M i rz Th o de m n a t i
p ronoun
a ed
. b y t h e c n c e
Deity is impressive
Ca r z n thy wors hi p has n o t b een accepted b e c ause it
a a , ,
succour and without society farther and farther still for ever , ,
stately periods and they are turned with a skill which the
,
which was conspicuous b oth for its ability and for the
eminence in other S pheres o f o n e or two o f the contri b utors .
are b ut two thi ngs he says whi ch a man o f the nicest honour
, ,
at cards .
”
Leader o f to n as he w a s Chesterfield could not ,
easy to attain to .
”
I t is evident that Chesterfield was c o n
scious o f the hi gh merit o f this essay ; fo r the paper in The
Wo ld is in substance a reproduction o f one w hi ch ha d appeared
r
S pirit whi ch would have done honour to the best and purest
o f the perio dical essayists :
“
I t is n o t to b e imagined how perni cious the example o f
-
o f the first .
hi s o wn .
to young minds ideas on the subj ect treated than any other
book we possess .
the same fate and that the critic who thought the phrase
, ,
Tbe F m e M a cb i n e
a Th latter s h o ws t ha t Goldsmith was
. e .
( 7
1 60 — 1 7 6 1 ) began to appear in a journal called Yk e Pu bli c
was that it did start with a c lear and intelligi b le design This .
is not in Goldsmith .
o wn ; e ,
been wise had they not b een fir s t luxur io us ; you will find
poets philosophers and even patriots marching in luxury s
, , ,
’
gratify the senses was at the start and remains still o n e o f the , ,
W h e w lt h a u ul t s
er ea d d ycc m a e an m en ec a .
about the man w ho anticipated them all and who long befor e , ,
o r a Vi n di ca ti o n o tbc Wi s do m o
a n E a s te r n 7 a le f f P r o vi de n ce
i n tb e M o r a l G o ve r n m e n t of tbe Wo r ld Th e fact that this essay .
1
A r i w r i B l k w d M g zi
ev e e n ac lu
oo
’
67 d s t auh a ne , vo m e , evo es m c
s p e t th
ac o y b ut i ply t d i gr w it h it th ugh h i
e es s a , s m o th sa ee , o e s on e
wh l ppr i ti e f G ld it h
o e a ec a v o o sm .
15
4 TH E ENGLI S H E SSAY AND E SSAYI STS
enjoy ; fortitude li berality friendshi p wisdom conversation
, , , , ,
o ut ,
li ke Goldsmith s to the future There is nothing in
’
, .
tion that the F ren h are only fit to carry burthens and the
c ,
the political and phi lOS Ophic wisdom O f his weightier papers .
too were enli sted and some O f them were at least respectable
,
.
they suited the taste of the time and the fact that many o f ,
them may still be read with pleasure is a proof that they are
compositions Of distinct merit Tbe M ir r o r ( 1 779 —1 7 80) brings
.
(L o un er
g N o L,
amb himself
. could hardly have dra w n
more skilfully the picture of her home and character : S he
had an excellent memory for anecdote ; and her stories though ,
literature . After
the lapse o f a century they are interesting
not s o much in themselves as for the after history of the -
wri ters.
”
Roberts an elegant and inst r uctive work it is s o entirely a
, ,
a few writers who have been passed over in tracing the line
o f the periodi cals Th e first in order is Henry S t John Lo rd
. .
,
fl
same writer adds that Of a ll the writing in o ur literature hi s ,
”
is the hollowest the as hi es t the most insincere
, ,
An d .
his grips the mind and remains there— a thing whi ch cannot
b e said o f any writer who deserves to be called great I t can .
of a P a tr i o t K i ng but in t h e Le tte r to S i
,
Willia m Win dba m
r ,
precludes that sense o f contact with the man whi ch atones for
simplicity o f thought and sometimes even for tritenes s
,
.
1 62 TH E ENGLI S H E S SAY AND E S SAYI STS
1
77 )
6 the profoundest o f British philosophers in the eighteenth
century is a long step But the greatness of Hume cannot be
.
and though he posse s sed some o f the most enga ging qualities
of the essayist he was too formal in hi s essays to show them
,
“
adm irer of the F ren h and held that with regard to the
c ,
stage they have excelled even the Greeks who far excelled the ,
suspect that the essays were written by a man who had been
at any time equally interested in things literary They reveal .
no one poet can write verses with such S pirit and elegance as
M Pope
r . .
”
an
y
‘
law based ’
o n experience I t is less generally.re og c
CHAPTER VI I
T HE T RA N S I T I O N FR O M T HE I
E GH T E E N T H C E N TU RY
fl
cessor Th e c lose association O f Hazlitt himself with Hunt
.
a good father— see his O des to all the Masters Hunt ;— a good
husband— see his sonnet to Mr s Hunt ; —a good friend— see .
fl
,
the resem b lance to the Queen Anne w riters less close than it
wa s meant t o be Hazlitt has related how the landing of
.
the strain was too great and his healt h w as seriously shaken
, .
1 70 TH E ENGLI S H E S SAY AND E S SAYI STS
worth s second chil dh ood had followed close o n the first and
’
,
fl
upon the fastidious mind o f Lockhart and shocked the Greek
taste o f K eats .
and while the man Hunt is never far in the background there
, ,
1 72 THE ENGLI S H E S SAY AND E SSAYI STS
are essays— many in Tbe I n di ca to r and Tbe C o m p a n io n some ,
duc t i n s
o Th A uto bi gr p by so readable so likea b le some
. e o a , , ,
the I s i de f
n Om n ibus in M e Wo m e n a n d B o o k s W
o an ,
n, ,
. e
arti cles such as those last mentioned are far more frequent
in his case than in theirs while arti les on the follies of the
,
c
are at my side and blend with the air that fans my cheek
, .
seasons have flown S ince it left its little life in air D ates .
’
,
airy harps are strung yet we will not stretch forth o ur hand
-
pierced out hearts : yet to all thi s we are indi ff erent insensible , ,
he says with truth that his writings are not s o properly the
works o f an author by profession a s the thoughts o f a meta ,
S uch then is the genesis and such the character o f the style
o f Hazlitt He started a metaphysician accustomed to
.
,
to the style Most o f this work had been done before Hazlitt
.
wi thi n the period of the writings whi ch are read to this day
there is ample evidence of that improvement whi ch he deemed
1
A n d y e t it a pp z
e ar s th at H a litt w o e t h e h i hlrt g y
o b jec t io n a b le
ar t icle ab o ut C g
o le r id e in The E di n b ur h R e vi e w g 1 81 6 V e r il
, t he . y
y t y
wa s o f t h e c r i ic s o f t h e e ar l n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u ar e ry
as t fi n in o utp d g .
1 76 TH E ENGLI S H E SSAY AND E SSAYI STS
the mark o f me diocrity at least in poets I f a list of favourite
,
.
ua r te r ly and Je ff rey was the Edin burgb and the organs are ,
o f H a z li t t s vision is betrayed
’
.
“
I n Tbc Edi bu gb Revie w the talents o f those o n the
n r
opposite side are always extolled ple n o o r e —in Tbe uar ter ly , Q
TRANSITI O N F R O M T H E I ST H C ENTURY 17
9
and who publishes with Mr Murray may now and then S tand
.
,
you would take Lord Byron and Mr S tuart Rose fo r two very
.
Though the critic is conscious that the poets are men o f high
endo wment there is somethi ng grudging in the a ck n o wle dg
,
Tru t h is goo d but not all truth at all times ; and a llusions to
,
knowledge o f records ”
He was alive to the S hortcomings
.
o f the man who limited his interest to books and wrote pun ,
no w ,
he woul d be among those educational reformers who
insist that the most serious defect of o ur system is that it is
too booki sh He liked to satirise men of one idea A philo
. .
customers ”
Elsewhere he remarks that
. he must be a poor
creature indeed whose practical convictions do not in almost
all cases outrun his deliberate understanding ”
.
fl
half the city and beats Al derman hollow is a smile r e
,
”
laughed to s e e the goodly person and prospects of the man !
If this were read in Hen ry I V it would be held worthy of the
context An d yet o n e masterly touch of S ydney S mith s on
.
’
thought .
became partly F rench and some of his pamp hl ets were written
,
and ,
though marred b y an absurd straining o f theory in
o bvious contradiction to facts as in the assertion that in,
England the will Of the king was as much the law o f the land
as in F rance it contains much that is sound and true At
,
.
fl
.
,
like hell is not eas ily conquered ; yet we have this consolation
,
with us that the harder the conflict the more glo rious the
, ,
frequent for the subj ects with which he dealt were n o t usually
,
fl
Paine ; and if it were merely a matter o f power o f invective ,
but Godwin also wrote Tbc En q uir er and for that reason
he has a small place among the essayists But the qualities .
Cobbett was good hearted and the rage and violence whi ch
-
,
M ag z i e lived o n
a n .I n a way its very mediocrity was co n
duciv e to its longevity Th e saying that there is n o man who
.
But S teele and Addison wer e Tbe S p e cta to r and Johnson was ,
the country ”
.
perio di cals had partly satisfied the same need But the basis .
new perio di cal took up again and greatly widened and enlarged
, ,
organised S taff .
country while the perio di cals whi ch thus vul garly bid for
,
plication is of its later part and o f the present day They are .
while they have been used for many o t her purposes they have ,
been and are pre eminently the medium o f the essay ; and
, ,
-
1 98 TH E ENGLI S H E SSAY AND E S SAYI STS
are worth quoting as indicating what most influenced the mi nd
o f o n e at least o f the founders and most active contributors :
the reason why they must be aboli shed is not that they
,
make the rich poor but that they make the poor poorer
,
.
humanely inde ed but not with that practical helpful ness which
,
, ,
EARLY REVI EWE RS OF 1
9 TH C ENTURY 1
99
s ic all
y to illustrate his method o f construction I t is big in .
is written much with the same mind and in the same manner , ,
SO,
and t h r e fo r h praises Camp b ell with a warmth whi ch
e e e
o n Campbell s S p e ci m e s
f tbe P o e ts reads not so far amiss
’
n o , ,
D i d b ut o f Ro m e s
’
b es t fr i e n d r em in d h e r m o re
could improve upon this ? Jeff rey had detected the G reek
element before it had beco m e a critical commonplace S c ott .
conclusion .
B ur n s s belief
’ “
in tbe disp e n s i ng p o we o f genius and social r
o ut which no talents can ever have fair play and far less that , , ,
can read any o f his wonderful works without feeling that their ,
times and gives lustre and effect to those rich and resplendent
,
due to carelessness are utterly blind to the fact that their sole
justification is that the brave translunary thi ngs would
have b een beyond the reach o f a pedantically orrect writer c .
Th i t li J ff r y
e a cs ar e e e
’
s .
2 06 T H E ENGLI S H E S SAY AND ESSAYI STS
journals still which are not above suspicion But one interest .
get them for the good Whi g poet ? and o n the other hand why
shoul d not the Tory reviewer give to the Whi g do g o f a
poet the treatment o f a dog ? But when the name o f the
reviews and magazines is legio n when many o f them are of no
,
Revie w a partisan character and for a time the edi tor and the
,
They sought and obtained help from Tories like S cott ; but
he soon s a w reason to believe that he was not treated as he
would have been treated had he belonged to their party in
politics I t is impossible either to substantiate o r to refute
.
spoke with great respect of the author of Tbe B a via d and Tbc
M wvi a d satires whi ch rouse no enthusiasm in the minds o f the
,
few who read them n o w G iff ord is said to have been personally
.
His best work was done in edi ting the Eli zabethan dramatists ,
less sympathetic with new forms of art Like Jeff rey s his .
’
,
it with less than Je ff rey s wi t and with far more than Je ff rey s
’ ’
o f self laudation
-
the evils o f over elaboration and strained
,
-
revision .
fl
Reli q ue s of B ur n s No one was ever better fitted than S cott
.
Calm good sense clear vision and large charity were all
,
(
voluminous and some o f the best o f them are in no way
,
rest undi sturbed o n the upper shelf with his hi stories beside
them ; only his Lif e of Ne ls o n and a few lyrics are still read .
fl
himself to a less extensive field But he tried everyt hi n g .
,
comes from the world around him S outhey lived among the .
as a S tud
y contains some vigorous and just comments upon
those who have applied themselves to the consideration of t he
laws o f poetry Among them are both those w ho are best and
.
or,
with the many are greedy after vicious provocatives ;
,
ominous !
Th e date o f this essay is 1 81 5 and as the E di n burgb Revie w
,
“
much afraid o f Rome and even hi s trust that it is the
,
and kindred subj ects that he is at his best There are other .
o
’
maut .
21 8 TH E ENGLI S H E S SAY AND E S SAYI STS
find glimmerings of principles ethi cal poli tical and ae sthetic
, , ,
come most strictly within the province o f the essay are the
V arious La n din g P la ces or groups o f essays interspersed for
-
,
fl
precautions against hasty or arbitrary action
fl
S trength may be met with strength ; the power o f in ict
ing pain may be ba f ed by the pride o f e n durance ; the eye o f
rage may be answered with the stare of defiance or the ,
the taste and critical faculty of their author and all are char ,
fl
.
g en tle m a n l
y man succeeds very wel l so long as he is quite
correct and well with the world— s o long as he preserves his
gra vity keeps perfectly sober o ut of love and o ut o f debt
, , , .
Linked with the elder Coleridge by the fact that they were
hi s followers and that they t o o had a phi losophical aim in
, , , ,
CHAPTER IX
T HE E AR L Y M A GAZ I N E S OF T HE N I N E T E E N T H C E N T U RY
FOR many years the two great quarterlies stood alone and ,
Q
no means fully contented with Tb e ua te r ly Review as Gi fford r
Je ffrey and S ydney S mith were the o n e just under and the
,
other just over thirty when their review was started ; and their
principal coadjutors were still younger Gi fford o n the other
Q
.
,
and fiery spirits therefore felt that the repres entative periodical
o f their party lacked th e necessary verve and brilliancy and ,
men in Edi nburgh from S cott down wards This article made
,
.
b ecause the victims were di stant and were less able to enforce
respect for their just complaints S uch were the articles o n
.
that the least weighty share should rest o n the shoulders that
bore the most at least until the publication o f Lang s Life of
,
’
comes that the same writer may exhi bit the most inconsistent
quali ties according as his passions and prejudices are o r are
not engaged Hence the puzzling diversity of the judgments
.
”
found ; while the writer o f hi s life in Tbc Di cti o n a ry q/
N a tio n a l B iogr ap by declares tha t he was as an appreciative
critic hardly equalled and that hi s guidance is as sa f e as it
,
”
is geni al . An d both judgments are essentially just though ,
surprising thing about many of his papers is that they are dull .
fl
of the book he is reviewin g with the English editor brilli ant
, , ,
smart Often ippan t who thinks o f himself first and the book
, ,
fl
a fterwards He proceeds to give a very able though sever e
.
”
cri t icism of the critics Gifford and Je r ay as the great
, ,
as it is is n o t wholly s uccess fu
,
l He clears him o f the guilt o f
.
c rew.
”
We can o nl y once more note and wonder
-
told that the biographer was master o f a S tyle far more pure
and eff ective though less showy than tha t o f Wilson Th . e
pe n cil and with pen Loc k hart had a rare knack o f hi tti ng o ff
a likenes s His caricature sketches especially those of the
.
,
S cotch mi ni ster and the S cotch judge are adm i rable ; but ,
prominent cheek b ones his grey twi n kling eyes and peaked
-
, ,
( 1 82 0 w hi ch duri n g
, the period of its existence made ,
Mitford .
a while even the very high literary merit of its contents was
,
well as fo r the sake of the hapless sister who did the deed ,
Lamb closed his lips ti ght upon t h e tragedy and upon every
thi ng that coul d call it back to mind Again Lamb lived .
,
r en tl
y with the consent and approval o f M a r y Lamb Th e .
Much has been written and with good reason abo ut the
, ,
his wisdom as the greatest o f all his qu alities ; for the sense of
it h as been dull ed partly by his own habit of hi ding it by a
,
to, though less gross than that from whi ch Go ldsmith had
,
s t a n t i a ll
y right even where hi s own preferences do not guide
hi m ; and where they do guide hi m he has at hi s best as in , ,
upon life with the shrewdest and most penetrating eye There .
e ludes the Quaker with the Caledonian the Jew and the ,
fl
voice o f a Quaker acts upon me as a ventilator lighte ni n g
, ,
the air and taking O a load from the bosom But I cannot
,
.
23
4 TH E E N GL I S H E S S A Y AND E S S A Y S TS I
lwhi ch he exaggerates in the Co f es s io ns of a D u k a d He n r n r
is graven deep upon th e essays They are full o f phr ases that .
reveal it What but the kindli est o f hearts could have thought
.
admi ration ”
There are whole essays irra di ated with i t
.
S weep er s Cap ta in j a ck s o n
,
There is an una ff ected gusto in
.
hea rt that wrote : S hut not thy purse S trings always against -
wine and you reeled under the potency o f his unper forming
,
Bacchanalian encouragements ”
Yo u s a w wi t h your bodily
.
e yes indeed what seemed a bare S crag— cold s avin gs from the
'
—
hecatombs no end appeared to the profusion ”
O r again .
,
“
How beautiful to a genuine lover o f rea di ng are the
s ullied leaves and worn o ut appearance nay the very odour
,
-
, ,
that have turned over their pages with delight — o f the lone
sempstres s whom they may have cheered (milliner or harder
, ,
cu
p ,
in S pelling o ut their enchanting contents ! W h o woul d
”
o n the o n e part and noble gratitude on the other
,
Had he .
sister I never had any to know them his statement will not
,
”
,
they ,
0 P di 0 P di ar a s e, ar a s e,
Ti w y w iti g h
’
s ear a n e re .
A n a to m y and F uller
,
To them he w as dr awn by a natural
.
fl
and conceits fitted in with hi s humour their anti que flavour ,
fl
a n d for the purposes to whi ch it is turned
,
unsurpassed in , .
bo th rare and di ffi cult Thi rdly there must be that unfailing
.
,
tact that instinct for style which Lamb possessed ; and wher e
,
that is present the possessor will find his own way without
advice .
,
—
harvest the ounce o f sour in a pound o f sweet ”
.
hi s p as sy or p as s i o n a te wig
,
No comet expounded surer
.
”
.
“
the poet in the comparison o f the b orrower to the true
Propontic whi ch never e b b e t h ; there is more than a touch
in the reference to dusty maps of Mexico di m a s dreams ,
two pr es e n t s
”
Th e whole o f Dr e a m Cb ildr e n is poetic and
Q
.
,
wi th taste .
All the essays by whi ch we now know hi were thus the pro m
name o f Elia and fift y eight when he last used that name
,
-
.
and just before the close of the year he himself followed his
friend to the universal bourne Th season of Christmas has . e
bright and easy descriptions of vill age life and thi nking lightly
enough o f them s h e continued t o batter with tragedies the
,
Miss Mitford had a keen eye for character and an equally keen
eye f r nature S h had humour sympathy and animation
o . e ,
.
F armer Jen nings close then across the Holy Brook then to
’
, ,
nature Her eye was very alert in her c ountry walks a n d her
.
,
retiring as it were from the village ; sunk ami dst hi gher lands
, ,
-
hi lls would be a hn o s t too grand a word : edged o n one side
by o n e gay highroad and intersected by another ; and sur
,
embrace the pleasures and eschew the evils o f their condi tion ,
o r girl They are patient too and bear their fate as scape
.
, ,
tion ; and considering the many lies o f whi ch they are the
,
Our V illage
Hazlitt has been dealt with elsewhere and De Q
.
uincey soon ,
185 9) it may be said that he has left little that is not close to ,
has nevertheless a unity o f its own ; but if any law guides the
wanderings o f De Quincey it is Often very hard to discover
,
.
fore are literally attempts at the various subj ects with whi ch
they deal They bear the sort o f relation to what he might
.
p o r ar
y but Coleridge had given more thought to the principles
o f criticism and none but Coleridge had o n occasion more
, , ,
paper too .
fl
gotten I t is by far hi s most memorable achi evement N ot
. .
proceeds .
EARLY MAGAZINE S OF 1
9 TH C EN TURY 25 1
n
. ature that Lam b had no sense o f the rhythmical in prose
,
s tage in u acquaintan e
”
o r c .
part o f it
S weet funeral bells from some incalculable distan e wail c ,
ing over the dead that die before the dawn awakened me as ,
however not widely diff erent from that to which the quarter
,
lies and the monthli es ali ke appealed— the upper and upper
middle classes But an impo rtant step in that sense down
.
,
literary o f the broth ers wrote that it was his design from the
EARLY MAGAZINE S OF 1
9 1 11 C ENTURY 25 5
”—
gay grave sentimental philosophical
, , ,
but Chambers ,
fl
o n miscellaneous subj ects He was a fertil e as well a s an in
.
e xib l
y honest journalist He was the leader
. w riter o f his -
and other members o f the family S till the dogs are the pri n .
,
get enu ff 0 ’
There is no other dog in all litera
ture equal to Toby There have been many more beautiful
.
,
for Toby was the most utterly shabby vulgar mean look , ,
-
ing cur his owner ever beheld ; and yet in a deeper sens e
there is none s o beautiful for none has found a va te s s ce r to
,
a
delineate him with such loving care from his ethi cs —h e was ,
and the deepest debt o f the reader is for the privilege o f inter
course with a beautiful and pure mind .
,
2 60 T H E ENGLI S H E SSAY AND E SSA Y ISTS
b ut l i t ha rdly
r
’
those gifts whi ch make the ess ayist Coleridge and Carlyle .
i n Lo do n is another
n F urther it is one whi h S hould be read
.
,
c
fl
figure o f Go r gius in his real identical robes at the wax work , ,
-
.
All concerned were sno b s but t h e keeper was the least snob b ish
,
.
nent with hi s eyes bli nd and hi s ears deaf to all beauty goes ,
fl
his way and then the rigid proud self c o n fide n t inflexible
, , ,
-
,
fiftee n o n the other side swear by their great gods that the
o f the nation depends upon Lord John ; and to thi s
'
s a fe t
y
end they quote Horace too ”
A certain percentage of the
.
joke which the title proclaims to be the subj ect o f his essay .
that Jones will read thi s and will perfectly well know I mean
,
him and that we shall meet and grin at o n e another with entire
,
and honest small beer will refresh those who do not care fo r
-
p r a t th n
g over their five O clock tea ” ’
.
, .
themselves They are o f many kinds and are found in all ages
.
,
and under all sorts o f disguises They are by n o means all ugly .
their caves were more numerous than the ribs skull s and ,
”
thi gh bones round the cavern o f hulking Polyphemus
-
This .
.
,
266 TH E E NGLI S H E SSAY AN D E SSAYI STS
CHA PTER X
TH E H I S TO R I A N -E S S AY I S T S
fl
then and thes e modified though they could not do away with
,
by far the richest and profoundest But his essays have been
.
Richter But perhaps the most notable though certai nly not
.
a ll the essays o f the period even those whi ch are not German
,
whom not Denmark o nly but the whole world has agreed to
rank among the great An d yet he goes o n the Dane who
.
, ,
a r um e n tum
g a d ba cu l um But on .the other hand
,
in Tbe ,
Now in thi s sense in the sense that he has adopted from philo
,
'
it ever was n o w is ,
”
Popular conceptions o f a negative sort
.
That philosophy had inferred from the premise that all thi ngs
change the conclusion that there is no such thing as per
m an e n ce . Carlyle s answer in D ide r o t is an excellent example
’
o f hi s manner
s t an c
y under a rock which is even
,
then crumbling away .
’
2 72
intervals 0 D enis ! what thi ngs thou b abb les t in thy sleep !
.
,
g .
Hazlitt were crit iCS who believed in the necess ity o f having
' ‘
27
4 T H E ENGLI S H E SSAY AND E S SAYI STS
and other contemporaries in the Re m in is ce n ces and in letters
and journ als show that S cott s case was not solitary I t is a
’
.
Carlyle the most trivial f act about John son o r about Mirabeau
had an importance but not in itself Th e one threw light upon
,
.
he might tur n fo r a subj ect Carlyle always had one eye upon
,
Q
in Yk e N igger ue s ti o n Cba r tis m again is either a very long
.
,
has been done but we are still far from the goal Carlyle had
,
in View .
learnt German that the end fo r which he was sent into this
,
a n d His tor i ca l Es s a s
y appeared in T
,
be E di n burgb Re vie w .
a nd,
at a time when the o ld leaders in li terature were
rapidly passing away many thought that it was destined to
,
and his mature styles and they deal with the whole range o f
,
with its panegyric o n the phi losophy of fruit and its utterly ,
later days Lord Acton who did n o t like the man S poke with
, ,
there are few Whigs left we can easily pull to pieces the gospel
,
the still small voice but a voice rather loud and insistent
,
.
need not look for in such a man ; but the facts ought to con
vi nce us that there is somethi ng for whi ch we ought to look .
have lost his head over Macaul ay s style if there had not been
’
truly said he did more about the history of their country than
,
What ~
we do not find in M aca ul ay— that the a b sence of
whi ch de nies him a place among the essayists in the mor e
fide n c e .
rare incertitudes are all Macaulay s But they all come from
,
’
.
o r later di scuss Tb e Ox
,
fo r d Co un te r Refo r m a ti o n S oon after
-
.
fl
was hi s elder brother and hi s father was a High Churchm an
, ,
py T e il gr im s
o f books ,
proves ho w little he understood his master and ,
for the bulk o f what he wrote in thi s form than for any literary
excellence that can be ascribed to it He marks the passing .
sci ence Th e calipers have not yet been forged to take his
.
belief in the power o f res earch and utterly di strusted ima gina
tion F reeman was o n e o f its most distinguished members
.
,
very theory o n whi ch they are based that they pass away as
soon as thei r res ul ts are woven into the fabric of kn owledge .
few and there neither is nor ever has been any indication that
,
a n d Ga r de n s ,
and Vaga bo n ds shows no less inter est in that
sort o f nature which we qualify with the adj ective human .
new th oughts as that when thought grows old and worn with
usage it should like curre n t coin be called in and from the
, , , ,
are trite enough as are Montaigne s t o o but they are t e min ted
,
’
,
-
LATTE R H AL F o r THE I
9 TH CENTUR Y 287
you may survey a kingdom and note the result in maps but ,
thi ng was still a public show But the incident o f the lark s
.
’
entire popul ation ; and when once the country roads were
reached the crowd S pread over the fields o n either side ruth
, ,
at the turn of the road where for the first time the black , , ,
-
.
wi de S pace was kept clear by the mili tary ; the cannon were
placed in position ; o ut flashed the swords o f the dragoons ;
fl
beneath and around on every side was the crowd Betw een .
and when in a little while the men bareheaded and with their ,
fl
attendants appeared upon it the surging crowd became
, ,
fl
were clothing themselves in the green of the young cr0 p and ,
S pace was kept clear When the men appeared beneath the
.
”
say ; and the more briefly the better There could b e
.
—
nothing much less like Tacitus and Bacon tha n th ese essays .
“
Macleod tha t he was a great jolly Chr istian Bohemian ,
LATTER HALF OF TH E C ENTURY
'
TH
1
9 29 1
S tevenson sys tem atically and laboriously S tudi ed the sou nds .
T h e it alics ar e m in e .
2
9 2 TH E ENGLI S H E S SAY AND E SSAYI STS
s tately theme directly ; and yet on the other hand he h s to , ,
a
pretty domestic scene f the Bazins and the eff ect o f it and
o
are matters simple and even tri v ial in themselves yet s ugge s ,
I liked them ? perhaps they also were healed o f some sli ghts
, ,
ever .
’
because they miss the joy o f life the personal poetry the , ,
More purely ethi cal is Old M t lity and above all the or a , , ,
sincerity :
Her e lies o ne wb o m e n t we ll t ie d a little fa ile d m ucb
a ,
r ,
OF TH E 1
9 TH C ENTURY 2
95
repeated that the ethics are not precisely the ethi cs o f Puritan
is m . I n order to correct any tendency to think that they are
we have onl y to turn to A Go s s ip o n a No vel of D um as There .
the water and when the Ve n e a ble goes down my flag will
,
r ,
still fly ”
He had written the story o f the Re ve ge i n prose
. n
2
9
fl
quotable writer in English after S hakespeare S tevenson .
fl
o r phrase or even in a word
,
Th e skilled artist is seen in the
.
fl
not upon bread alone but prin cipally by catchwords
,
”
An .
fl
in g of the classics a telescope a cocked hat o f great size and
, , ,
annel underclothing ”
.
reason for believing that all wisdom is embo died in the former .
o w n praise ?
“
I f a man lives to any considerable age it ,
her o lament the good times he did n o t give himself in his youth .
all thi ngs for b oth b ody and mind ; and if he has never read the
great B o k in very recondite places he has dipped into it and
o ,
a ff ord some He b rew roots and the business man some of his
,
congenially b usy .
8
( 9 75)
1 1 -1 8 and John R uskin ( 9
1 81 o f whom the
S maller man w a s the greater in this particular S phere N ot .
fl
climb through the dark plantations beside the rock walled ,
-
clear agai n st the s k y stood o ut every knoll and slab ; the first
fl
fairy had p r ic k ed her finge r in the cup which shi n e upo n some ,
first gray tufts o f the Alpine club moss the first shrub o f cran -
,
berry o r sea green rose root with it s strange fles hy stems and
,
s - -
,
tak en are like everythi ng else that K in gsle y has written o nly
, ,
S es a m e a n d Lilie s Ti m e a n d Ti de
,
But there w as somethi ng .
the best are the delight ful paper on S amuel Prout and that
o n Pre Raphaelitism Ruskin s strong expression of belief in
’
-
.
fl
N ew Z ealander o n the broken arch o f London Bridge study ,
happiness .
and derivative ”
I t is possible that the wielder o f the rod
.
fl
.
former for good o r for evil has b een the parent o f a whole
, ,
S peech to the Eton b oys on the signi ficance o f e utr ap eli and a,
I escaped the infec t ion ; and day after day I used to ply my
, ,
a
p
'
as d bo m m e n e ces s a ir e
’
W e should miss
.
y o u for a da
y or
3 10 TH E E NGLIS H E S SAY AN D E SSAYI STS
s chools are perfect ; and least o f all is t he land question ‘
solved .
fl
rough and coarse action ill calculated action action without
,
-
,
and fresh poor men here while we were thi nking about o ur
,
poor men there that we are quite dazed and borne away and
, ,
the constable .
”
This from a Liberal in the days when the ,
fl
s b o uld lo o k fo r wa r d to be i n
g s o m e da
y m
g f
n a e r o tb a t co n ce r na
it.
“
I remember he says in the preface to C ultu e a n d
”
,
r
A n ar cby “
I remember a Nonconformist manufacturer in a
,
came there some years ago the place had no Dissenters ; but
, ,
cried he ; not at all ! O nly think o f all the zeal and activity
which the collision calls forth ! Ah but my dear friend , , ,
’
hold quite firmly which you would never have held if you
,
.
, ,
3 12 TH E ENGLIS H E S SAY AND E SSAYI STS
the pursuit of perfection and that is the pursuit of S weetness
,
fl
abandoned Th e great thi ng
. is to find o ur bes t self ,
other hand the creation o f fresh poor men here while we are
,
“
this lea rned creature and if he is true to hims e lf in ,
1
3 4 TH E ENGLI S H E SSAY AND E S SAYI STS
Th e literary characteristics o f Thomas Henry Huxley ( 1 82 5
1 8 5 ) were not dissimilar to those o f Bagehot Huxley too
9 .
fl
day I n the first place it is o f the very nature o f science that
.
,
himself near the close o f hi s life wrote that it had achi eved
, ,
“
my o wn taste writes Huxley few literary dishes are less
, ,
o r less an evil
”
I n Huxley s case it was perhaps necessary
.
’
,
shi fted to other parts o f the field and it cannot be said that
,
fl
An d peradventure if the prophet had b een reincarna t ed a
,
Ga rn e k eepe r a .
,
place where the sedges slept and the green flags bowed their
, ,
green grass and the rushes S urely Calypso s cave could not .
‘
’
w rk d g t h ti di i d o an so n e m e v es
A d th r ugh t h l
n th g ld h utt l guid s
o e oo m e o en S e e .
r i a t e in romance o r in autobiography as in Tb e S to of m
p y y ,
r
fl
his o wn boyish experiences The boys with their love o f S port
.
,
their experiments with the old in t lock in the garret the ruth
-
,
killed the wood pigeon— these are things which give infi ni tely
-
more interest than any but the naturalist can easily take in
the mere catalogue of Wild Life i n S o utbe r n Co un try N o
a .
the best in which to look for wild flowers ; and on the narrow
strip beside the hedge and on the crumbling rubble bank o f the
rough track may be found a greater variety than by searching
the broad acres beyond I n the season the large white bell like
.
-
the lesser striped kind will creep along the ground Th e pink .
fl
Th e great scarlet poppy with the black centre and eggs and ,
CHAPTER X II
SOM E E S S AY I S T S O F Y E S T E R D AY
TH E R E remain a few essayists who seem to stand closer to our
o w n time than those who have just been reviewed Ye t in .
the essayists will finally depend His early journ alistic work
,
.
their eff ect upon hi mself I n the art o f doing thi s Hearn is
.
he had lea rnt from the East But in all there is greater .
a critic o f rare insight ; and above all they know from his ,
o f the imaginary Ry e cr o ft :
“
I suspect tha t in his happy ,
train from the other side o f Exe but these are almost the only
sounds that could force themselves upon my ear A voice .
,
lain wakeful when there sounded the first note o f the earlies t
lark ; it makes me alm ost glad o f my restles s ni ghts Th e .
Year after year thi s spot has known the same tranqui llity ;
with ever s o little o f good fortune with ever s o little wisdom
, ,
hood with calm might have made for myself in later life a
,
but the prelude o f that deeper stilln ess whi ch waits to enfold
us all
”
.
but it is not irrelevant to note that the ill fortune which dogged
him so long is exemplified in the hi story of his principal prose
work the essay on S helley as well as in the events o f hi s life
, ,
.
praise tha t was more than adequate to even its high merits .
F ull of insight and rich in striking sentences the essay certai nly
3 28 TH E ENGLI S H E S SAY AND E SSAYI STS
is ; and at the close it ris es to a grand burst o f eloquence .
“
truth o f hi s saying that it m i ght almost be erected into a
rule that a great poet is if he pleas e also a master o f prose
,
”
, .
fl
we cannot help having them and without them sty le would be ,
”
e vil s fo r says Browning Probably the Catholic Thompson
’
.
,
L e t us n o t al w a ys s ay ,
p
S it e fl ht d y
of t hi s es o- a
—I st d h d gi
r o ve , m a e ea . a n ed gr o un d u p on th e w h o le !
A t h b i d wi gs
s e rd si g n an n s ,
L t u
e y All g d thi g
s cr , oo n s
A re ou ul h lp fl
rs , n o r s o e s es h m o r e , n o w, th an fl es h h elps so ul !
Asceticism , Thompson holds is wise and indeed necessary ; ,
will secure health in the deepest sense the health o f both b ody ,
—
and selfish body of to day needs an asceticism never more
-
”
,
s oul o f Thompson .
inherited the poetic gift her little volume of verses proves ; and
indeed w e s e e it in her prose as well I n thi s respect it is true
.
, ,
gifts less great than this yet valuable to the essayist in which
, , ,
the volume will find that he has gained an insight into the
imaginative life of children such as is hardl y to be obtained
elsewhere Thus Middleton s essays have a place o f their
.
’
o wn ,
where they have scarcely a rival except the books of ,
takes up the position o f the critic his sym pathy is with the ,
evening were running and screaming over the bogs where the
, ,
fl
F ilson Young s I r ela n d a t tbc Cr o s s Ro a ds but it would be
’
-
,
fl
Ghost ,
”
says Bacon hath laboured more in descri b ing the
,
”
a l ic t io n s o f o b than the felicities o f S olomon
J .
338 T H E ENGLI S H E S S AY AND E S SAYI STS
C AM B R ID G R O 1 4 3 E, i 80 i 2 0 1 f 2 1 7 22 5 6
Ca m p b e ll Th a 0 q t
. .
, .
, .
om s, 2 2 , 20 5 , 2 1 0 uo e d 2 3 1 ; 2 3 4
C p i n Th as 8
, , ,
am o , om , 59 f
2 7 .
, 2 2
Ca i g G g 1 5 8
nn n , e or e, C lli r J r y 9
o e , e em , , 96
Carlyle Th 1 14
‘
o m as 1 47 , 171 ; C ll i J Ch u t
o ns r o n , 145
qu t qu t
.
, , , ,
o e d, 1 7 7 ; 205 ; o e d, 2 24 ; C l
o m an ,G rg eo e , 14 5, 1 55
fC . S 267 27 5
143 : v ar i e ty o f om m on e ns e ,
sa ys
,
hi s 26 7 f ;
es hi Ge C p i n Th 68
, . s r om an o , e, 1
68 f il t C u The 1 4 5 1 4 7
’
an i n th n i
fl
m sm 2 o e s en on o sse r,
6 9 f ; h i p hil ph y Co ns t b l A hi b ld qu t ed 2 1 0
.
, , ,
f r
o c es , 2 . s o so , a e , rc a , o ,
2 7 0 if hi s i t i is 27 fi ; C t pl ti d R cr ti c m , 2 . on em a o ns an e ec o ns
hi si t r t i n e hi w ti m e es up th P l f D vi d 8
n s o n on e sa m s o a 1
A yA
, ,
2 74 f ; 2 80 ii , 3 0 3 3 09
.
, C00 pe r n tho n, s hl e Ea l o f y , r
Ca sa ub o n I s aac 7 f , , . S h ai t es b ur y 1 2 7 - 1 2 8 ,
Cas t e lai n M 30 n , .
, . Co r n w alli s S i r W illi am 29
, ,
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3 40 THE ENGLI S H E S S AY '
AND E S SAYI STS
H ill A a o n 1 3 0
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34 2 T H E ENGLI S H E SSAY AND E SSAYISTS
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e s s ay i s t s .
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