English Literature
excellent example of the rhetoric and fine sentiment which were then
considered the essentials of good writing. The best scene from this tragedy
is in the fifth act, where Cato soliloquizes, with Plato's _Immortality of
the Soul_ open in his hand, and a drawn sword on the table before him:
It must be so--Plato, thou reason'st well!--
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality?
Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror,
Of falling into nought? why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us;
'Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.
Many readers make frequent use of one portion of Addison's poetry without
knowing to whom they are indebted. His devout nature found expression in
many hymns, a few of which are still used and loved in our churches. Many a
congregation thrills, as Thackeray did, to the splendid sweep of his "God
in Nature," beginning, "The spacious firmament on high." Almost as well
known and loved are his "Traveler's Hymn," and his "Continued Help,"
beginning, "When all thy mercies, O my God." The latter hymn--written in a
storm at sea off the Italian coast, when the captain and crew were
demoralized by terror--shows that poetry, especially a good hymn that one
can sing in the same spirit as one would say his prayers, is sometimes the
most practical and helpful thing in the world.
RICHARD STEELE (1672-1729). Steele was in almost every respect the
antithesis of his friend and fellow-worker,--a rollicking, good-hearted,
emotional, lovable Irishman. At the Charterhouse School and at Oxford he
shared everything with Addison, asking nothing but love in return. Unlike
Addison, he studied but little, and left the university to enter the Horse
Guards. He was in turn soldier, captain, poet, playwright, essayist, member
of Parliament, manager of a theater, publisher of a newspaper, and twenty
other things,--all of which he began joyously and then abandoned, sometimes
against his will, as when he was expelled from Parliament, and again
because some other interest of the moment had more attraction. His poems
and plays are now little known; but the reader who searches them out will
find one or two suggestive things about Steele himself. For instance, he
loves children; and he is one of the few writers of his time who show a
sincere and unswerving respect for womanhood. Even more than Addison he
ridicules vice and makes virtue lovely. He is the originator of the
_Tatler_, and joins with Addison in creating the _Spectator_,--the two
periodicals which, in the short space of less than four years, did more to
influence subsequent literature than all other magazines of the century
combined. Moreover, he is the original genius of Sir Roger, and of many
other characters and essays for which Addison usually receives the whole
credit. It is often impossible in the _Tatler_ essays to separate the work
of the two men; but the majority of critics hold that the more original
parts, the characters, the thought, the overflowing kindliness, are largely
Steele's creation; while to Addison fell the work of polishing and
perfecting the essays, and of adding that touch of humor which made them
the most welcome literary visitors that England had ever received.
THE TATLER AND THE SPECTATOR. On account of his talent in writing political
pamphlets, Steele was awarded the position of official gazetteer. While in
this position, and writing for several small newspapers, the idea occurred
to Steele to publish a paper which should contain not only the political
news, but also the gossip of the clubs and coffeehouses, with some light
essays on the life and manners of the age. The immediate result--for Steele
never let an idea remain idle--was the famous _Tatler_, the first number of
which appeared April 12, 1709. It was a small folio sheet, appearing on
post days, three times a week, and it sold for a penny a copy. That it had
a serious purpose is evident from this dedication to the first volume of
collected _Tatler_ essays:
The general purpose of this paper is to expose the false arts of life, to
pull off the disguises of cunning, vanity, and affectation, and to
recommend a general simplicity in our dress, our discourse, and our
behavior.
The success of this unheard-of combination of news, gossip, and essay was
instantaneous. Not a club or a coffeehouse in London could afford to be
without it, and over it's pages began the first general interest in
contemporary English life as expressed in literature. Steele at first wrote
the entire paper and signed his essays with the name of Isaac Bickerstaff,
which had been made famous by Swift a few years before. Addison is said to
have soon recognized one of his own remarks to Steele, and the secret of
the Authorship was out. From that time Addison was a regular contributor,
and occasionally other writers added essays on the new social life of
England.[192]
Steele lost his position as gazetteer, and the _Tatler_ was discontinued
after less than two years' life, but not till it won an astonishing
popularity and made ready the way for its successor. Two months later, on
March 1, 1711, appeared the first number of the _Spectator_. In the new
magazine politics and news, as such, were ignored; it was a literary
magazine, pure and simple, and its entire contents consisted of a single
light essay. It was considered a crazy venture at the time, but its instant
success proved that men were eager for some literary expression of the new
social ideals. The following whimsical letter to the editor may serve to
indicate the part played by the _Spectator_ in the daily life of London:
Mr. Spectator,--Your paper is a part of my tea equipage; and my servant
knows my humor so well, that in calling for my breakfast this morning (it
being past my usual hour) she answered, the _Spectator_ was not yet come
in, but the teakettle boiled, and she expected it every moment.
It is in the incomparable _Spectator_ papers that Addison shows himself
most "worthy to be remembered." He contributed the majority of its essays,
and in its first number appears this description of the Spectator, by which
name Addison is now generally known:
There is no place of general resort wherein I do not often make my
appearance; sometimes I am seen thrusting my head into a round of
politicians at Will's [Coffeehouse] and listening with great attention to
the narratives that are made in those little circular audiences. Sometimes
I smoke a pipe at Child's, and, whilst I seem attentive to nothing but _The
Postman_, overhear the conversation of every table in the room. I appear on
Sunday nights at St. James's, and sometimes join the little committee of
politics in the inner room, as one who comes to hear and improve. My face
is likewise very well known at the Grecian, the Cocoa Tree, and in the
theaters both of Drury Lane and the Haymarket. I have been taken for a
merchant upon the Exchange for above these ten years; and sometimes pass
for a Jew in the assembly of stock jobbers at Jonathan's.... Thus I live in
the world rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species,...
which is the character I intend to preserve in this paper.
The large place which these two little magazines hold in our literature
seems most disproportionate to their short span of days. In the short space
of four years in which Addison and Steele worked together the light essay
was established as one of the most important forms of modern literature,
and the literary magazine won its place as the expression of the social
life of a nation.
SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784)
The reader of Boswell's _Johnson_, after listening to endless grumblings
and watching the clumsy actions of the hero, often finds himself wondering
why he should end his reading with a profound respect for this "old bear"
who is the object of Boswell's groveling attention. Here is a man who was
certainly not the greatest writer of his age, perhaps not even a great
writer at all, but who was nevertheless the dictator of English letters,
and who still looms across the centuries of a magnificent literature as its
most striking and original figure. Here, moreover, is a huge, fat, awkward
man, of vulgar manners and appearance, who monopolizes conversation, argues
violently, abuses everybody, clubs down opposition,--"Madam" (speaking to
his cultivated hostess at table), "talk no more nonsense"; "Sir" (turning
to a distinguished guest), "I perceive you are a vile Whig." While talking
he makes curious animal sounds, "sometimes giving a half whistle, sometimes
clucking like a hen"; and when he has concluded a violent dispute and laid
his opponents low by dogmatism or ridicule, he leans back to "blow out his
breath like a whale" and gulp down numberless cups of hot tea. Yet this
curious dictator of an elegant age was a veritable lion, much sought after
by society; and around him in his own poor house gathered the foremost
artists, scholars, actors, and literary men of London,--all honoring the
man, loving him, and listening to his dogmatism as the Greeks listened to
the voice of their oracle.
What is the secret of this astounding spectacle? If the reader turns
naturally to Johnson's works for an explanation, he will be disappointed.
Reading his verses, we find nothing to delight or inspire us, but rather
gloom and pessimism, with a few moral observations in rimed couplets:
But, scarce observed, the knowing and the bold
Fall in the general massacre of gold;
Wide-wasting pest! that rages unconfined,
And crowds with crimes the records of mankind;
For gold his sword the hireling ruffian draws,
For gold the hireling judge distorts the laws;
Wealth heaped on wealth nor truth nor safety buys;
The dangers gather as the treasures rise.[193]
That is excellent common sense, but it is not poetry; and it is not
necessary to hunt through Johnson's bulky volumes for the information,
since any moralist can give us offhand the same doctrine. As for his
_Rambler_ essays, once so successful, though we marvel at the big words,
the carefully balanced sentences, the classical allusions, one might as
well try to get interested in an old-fashioned, three-hour sermon. We read
a few pages listlessly, yawn, and go to bed.
Since the man's work fails to account for his leadership and influence, we
examine his personality; and here everything is interesting. Because of a
few oft-quoted passages from Boswell's biography, Johnson appears to us as
an eccentric bear, who amuses us by his growlings and clumsy antics. But
there is another Johnson, a brave, patient, kindly, religious soul, who, as
Goldsmith said, had "nothing of the bear but his skin"; a man who battled
like a hero against poverty and pain and melancholy and the awful fear of
death, and who overcame them manfully. "_That trouble passed away; so will
this,_" sang the sorrowing Deor in the first old Anglo-Saxon lyric; and
that expresses the great and suffering spirit of Johnson, who in the face
of enormous obstacles never lost faith in God or in himself. Though he was
a reactionary in politics, upholding the arbitrary power of kings and
opposing the growing liberty of the people, yet his political theories,
like his manners, were no deeper than his skin; for in all London there was
none more kind to the wretched, and none more ready to extend an open hand
to every struggling man and woman who crossed his path. When he passed poor
homeless Arabs sleeping in the streets he would slip a coin into their
hands, in order that they might have a happy awakening; for he himself knew
well what it meant to be hungry. Such was Johnson,--a "mass of genuine