Though at the present day we do not take Sterne very seriously, his contemporaries not only appreciated him as a humorist, but delighted especially in the depth and originality of his genius, in his "gloomy and mournful appearance," and in what his translator called "an aroma of sentiment, and a suppleness of thought, impossible to define. By his countrymen he was praised for his joyous spirit, while in France he was looked upon as a kind of prophet of the new religion just brought into fashion by Rousseau, the religion of the self. . Sterne's reputation increased when it crossed the water. The Germans hailed him as a philosopher. Lessing was taken with him, and when Sterne died, wrote to Nicolai that he would gladly have sacrificed several years of his own life if by so doing he could have prolonged the existence of the sentimental traveller. Goethe writes: "Whoever reads him, immediately feels that there is something free and beautiful in his own soul." The philosophy of The philosophy of Sterne is the most brilliant invention of eighteenth century anglomania.-TEXTE, JOSEPH, 1895-99, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Cosmopolitan Spirit in Literature, tr. Matthews, pp. 281, 282. He was a Cambridge man and well taught; of abundant reading, which he made to serve his turn in various ways, and conspicuously by his stealings; he stole from Rabelais; he stole from Shakespeare; he stole from Fuller; he stole from Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy;" not a stealing of ideas only, but of words and sentences and half-pages together, without a sign of obligation; and yet he did so wrap about these thefts with the strings and lappets of his own abounding humour and drollery, as to give to the whole thieving and Shandyism combined a stamp of individuality. Ten to one that these old authors who had suffered the pilfering, would have lost cognizance of their expressions, in the new surroundings of the Yorkshire parson; and joined in the common grin of applause with which the world welcomed and forgave them.MITCHELL, DONALD G., 1895, English Lands Letters and Kings, Queen Anne and the Georges, p. 216 He is colloquial and slipshod, a chartered libertine in language; losing all sense of dignity in his affectation and whimsical conceits; eccentric not from impulse but from wayward artificiality, ruffled into petty and vanishing emotion by every breath of pathos, however false and tawdry; noisy in his childish depreciation of conventionality and order; but yet, withal, imbued with the same cynicism, aiming at the same indifference of demeanour, impressed by the same sense of the "ridiculous tragedy" of human life -above all, with the same vein of humour, but of a richness and fertility which has scarcely ever been approached, and which Chesterfield could never, even remotely, rival. With all his carelessness of diction, with all his affected contempt of scorn, Sterne wrote for a literary age; even in his wildest extravagances he knows how to attune his language to the mood of the moment, and to make it a fitting dress for the most wayward, the most fitful, the most perplexing, and yet the most invincible wit which fancy ever contrived. -CRAIK, HENRY, 1895, ed., English Prose, Introduction, vol. IV, p. 6. To talk of "the style" of Sterne is almost to play one of those tricks with language of which he himself was so fond. For there is hardly any definition of the word which can make it possible to describe him as having any style at all. It is not only that he manifestly recognised no external canons whereto to conform the expression of his thoughts, but he had apparently no inclination to invent and observe, except indeed in the most negative of senses, any style of his own. The "stlye of Sterne," in short, is as though one should say: "The form of Proteus." Chaotic as it is in the syntactical sense, it is a perfectly clear vehicle for the conveyance of thought. We are rarely at a loss for the meaning of one of Sterne's sentences, as we are, for very different reasons, for the meaning of one of Macaulay's. And his language is so full of life and colour, his tone so animated and vivacious, that we forget we are reading and not listening, and we are as well disposed to be exacting in respect to form as though we were listeners in actual fact. Sterne's manner, in short, may be that of a bad and careless writer, but it is the manner of a first-rate talker; and this of course enhances rather than detracts from the unwearying charm of his wit and humour.-TRAILL, H. D., 1895, English Prose, ed. Craik, vol. IV, pp. 207, 208. Many critics and writers of eminenceMr. Carlyle, M. Taine, Mr. Elwin, Mr. Traill have tried to analyse Sterne's style and methods, contrasting him with Rabelais, Cervantes, Fielding and Dickens. The truth is, our author was so capricious and even fragmentary and disorderly in his system that comparison is impossible. The writers just named were really "monumental" in their handling of their characters, and completed their labour before issuing it to the world. Sterne sent forth his work in fragments, and often wrote what was sheer nonsense to fill his volumes. He allowed his pen to lead him, instead of he himself directing his pen. The whole is so incomplete and disjointed that cosmopolitan readers have not the time or patience to piece the various scraps together. . . . He has given to the world a group of living characters, which have become known and familiar even to those who have not read a line of "Tristram.' These are My Uncle Toby, Mr. and Mrs. Shandy, Yorick-his own portrait-and Dr. Slop. There are choice passages, too, grotesque situations and expressions which have become part of the language. Mr. Shandy, I venture to think, is the best of these creations, more piquant and attractive even than My Uncle Toby, because more original and more difficult to touch. It is in this way that Sterne has made his mark, and may be said to be better known than read. great deal has been written on the false and overstrained sentiment of his pathetic passages such as in the "Story of Le Fever," "Maria of Moulines," "The Dead Ass," and other incidents. No doubt these were somewhat artificially wrought, but it must be remembered they followed the tone of the time. His exquisite humour is beyond dispute, the Shandean sayings, allusions, topics, etc., have a permanent hold; and, as they recur to the recollection, produce a complacent smile, even though the subject be what is called "broad."-FITZGERALD, PERCY, 1896, The Life of Laurence Sterne, Preface, vol. I, p. xi. A Sterne was not a moralist in the mode of Richardson or of Fielding; it is to be feared that he was a complete ethical heretic; but he brought to his country as gifts the strained laughter that breaks into tears, and the melancholy wit that saves itself by an outburst of buffoonery. He introduced into the coarse and heavy life of the eighteenth century elements of daintiness, of persiflage, of moral versatility; he prided himself on the reader's powerlessness to conjecture what was coming next. A French critic compared Sterne, most felicitously, to one of the little bronze satyrs of antiquity in whose hollow bodies exquisite odours were stored. He was carried away by the tumult of his nerves, and it became a paradoxical habit with him to show himself exactly the opposite of what he was expected to be. You had to unscrew him for the aroma to escape. His unseemly, passionate, pathetic life burned itself away at the age of fifty-four, only the last eight of which had been concerned with literature. Sterne's influence on succeeding fiction has been durable but interrupted. Ever and anon his peculiar caprices, his selected elements, attract the imitation of some more or less analogous spirit. The extreme beauty of his writing has affected almost all who desire to use English prose as though it were an instrument not less delicate than English verse. Nor does the fact that a surprising number of his "best passages" were stolen by Sterne from older writers militate against his fame, because he always makes some little adaptation, some concession to harmony, which stamps him a master, although unquestionably a deliberate plagiarist.-GOSSE, EDMUND, 1897, Short History of Modern English Literature, p. 244. It was a sad day for English fiction when a writer of genius came to look upon the novel as the repository for the crotchets of a lifetime. This is the more to be lamented when we reflect that Sterne, unlike Smollett, could tell a story in a straightforward manner when he chose to do so. Had the time he wasted in dazzling his friends with literary fireworks been devoted to a logical presentation of the wealth of his experiences, fancies, and feelings, he might have written one of the most perfect pieces of composition in the English language. As it is, the novel in his hands, considered from the standpoint of structure, reverted to what it was when left by the wits of the Renaissance.-CROSS, WILBUR L., 1899, The Development of the English Novel, p. 71. Sarah Fielding 1710-1768 Sarah Fielding (1710-1768), novelist, the third daughter of Edmund Fielding by his first wife, and sister of Henry Fielding was born at East Stour, Dorsetshire, 8 Nov. 1710. She published her first novel, "The Adventures of David Simple in search of a Faithful Friend," in 1744. Her brother contributed a preface in the second edition in the same year, and he wrote another three years later to a collection of "Familiar Letters between the principal characters in David Simple and some others." This originally appeared in 1747, and contains five letters by Henry Fielding (pp. 294-351). A third volume was added to "David Simple" in 1752. She joined with Miss Collier (daughter of Arthur Collier) in "The Cry, a Dramatic Fable," Dublin, 1754. She wrote also "The Governess," 1749; "History of the Countess of Dellwyn," 1759; "Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia," 1757; "History of Ophelia," 1785; and Xenophon's "Memoirs of Socrates; with the Defence of Socrates before his Judges, "1762, translated from the Greek, in which some notes and possibly a revision were contributed by James Harris of Salisbury.-STEPHEN, LESLIE, 1889, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. XVIII, p. 426. PERSONAL! Her unaffected manners, candid mind, Though Athen's wisdom to her sex she -HOADLY, JOHN, 1768? Inscription on GENERAL I amuse myself as well as I can with reading. I have just gone through your two volumes of "Letters;" have reperused them with great pleasure, and found many beauties in them. What a knowledge of the human heart! Well might a critical judge of writing say, as he did to me, that your late brother's knowledge of it was not (fine writer as he was) comparable to yours. His was but as the knowledge of the outside of a clockwork-machine, while yours was that of all the finer springs and movements of the inside.-RICHARDSON, SAMUEL, 1756, Letter to Sarah Fielding, Dec. 7. Before taking our leave of the novels and novelists of the ancient régime, let us not omit to mention Sarah Fielding, the sister of the author of "Tom Jones," who, in her day, was a writer of no small celebrity, but whose books have now long been forgotten by all save the curious student of English literature. Her chief work was a novel written in imitation of "Gil Blas," the title of which will sufficiently describe its character: "The Adventures of David Simple, containing an Account of his Travels through the Cities of London and Westminster, in the Search of a Real Friend, by A Lady." In was the forerunner -doubtless the suggester- of several better works bearing similar titles and following the same general plan.-BALDWIN, JAMES, 1883, English Literature and Literary Criticism, Prose, p. 205. The pale moon who attended these three main luminaries. Her "David Simple,' published in 1742, in two volumes, is not a great, but it is certainly an unduly neglected, book. Not only does its rank in time, as the third English novel, give it interest, but it displays a certain prim grace of construction, and a considerable refinement in the analysis of character. It takes a place midway between the work of Richardson and that of her brother, less morbid than the former, less gusty than the latter, and of course much feebler than either. The sedate wavering of David Simple between the rival passions of Camilla and Cynthia might, it may be suggested, have served Richardson as a hint for the conduct of Sir Charles Grandison. Sarah Fielding, it is to be regretted, made no further serious effort in fiction; perhaps her brother's genius dazzled her. But she had a genuine talent of her own. -GOSSE, EDMUND, 1888, A History of Eighteenth Century Literature, p. 264. Oblivion has odd caprices, and in literature, as in the world at large, we are sometimes at a loss when we try to discern the definite unfitness which has interfered with survival. Sarah Fielding, praised-and justly praised-in her lifetime by Richardson on the one hand, and by her brother, Henry Fielding, on the other, is probably not known at this moment to a dozen readers. She has become one of those writers whose good things any man may steal without fear of detection. Yet the good things are plentiful, and any leisurely reader may find it very much worth his while to bestow a few hours upon "David Simple" or "Ophelia," or even the "Familiar Letters." Leisurely, however, he must be; and he will do well to bear in mind the observation made by Dr. Johnson upon a greater than Sarah Fielding. "Why, sir," said the Doctor, "If you were to read Richardson for the story your impatience would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself." Miss Fielding is not, indeed, as long-winded as her admired friend Richardson (it is only the immortals who can be that, and survive), but she has the comfortable prolixity of her day, and is by no means in a hurry to get on to the next incident. It is for the sprightly narrative, the happy phrase, the ironical turn of mind, that these volumes are worth reading.-BLACK, CLEMENTINA, 1888, Sarah Fielding, The Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 265, p. 485. Miss Fielding's slight knowledge of the world disabled her from giving fresh life to the picaresque romance. RALEIGH, WALTER, 1894, The English Novel, p. 181. Richardson sang of chastity; Fielding sang of patience; "David Simple" is an exaltation of friendship. The episode of Dumont and Stainville is as noble and tender as the medieval Story of Palamon and Arcite. Its place in English fiction is as a little companion piece to "Pamela" and "Amelia."-CROSS, WILBUR L., 1899, The Development of the English Novel, p. 77. It ["David Simple"] is an exceedingly dull book, boasting of little or no construction, and intended to exemplify the misfortunes and ill-usage which are sure to befall those who judge others by their own high moral standards. The book had a considerable run, but at the present day it can be regarded only as a literary curiosity. - THOMSON, CLARA LINKLATER, 1900, Samuel Richardson, A Biographical and Critical Study, p. 111. Joseph Spence 1699-1768 Joseph Spence, anecdotist, born at Kingsclere, Hants, 25th April 1699, from Winchester passed to New College, Oxford, and became a fellow in 1722, professor of poetry (1727), rector of Birchanger and Great Harwood, professor of Modern History (1737), and a prebendary of Durham (1754). He secured Pope's friendship by his "Essay on Pope's Odyssey" (1727), and began to record Pope's conversation and anecdotes of other friends and notabilities. In 1736 he edited Sackville's "Gorboduc," and in 1747 published his "Polymetis." He was drowned at Byfleet, Surrey, August 20, 1768. The best edition of the "Anecdotes" is by Singer (1820; 2d ed. 1858), with memoir.-PATRICK AND GROOME, eds., 1897, Chambers's Biographical Dictionary, p. 870. PERSONAL Mr. Spence is the completest scholar either in solid or polite learning, for his years, that I ever knew. Besides, he is the sweetest tempered gentleman breathing.-PITT, CHRISTOPHER, 1728, Letter. Here lie the Remains of Joseph Spence, M. A. Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford, Prebendary of Durham, And Rector of Great Horwood, Bucks. In Whom Learning, Genius, and Shining Talents Tempered with Judgment, And Softened by the most Exquisite Sweetness of Manners, Were greatly Excelled by his Humanity; And by Unbounded Benevolence to All: In the 70th Year of His Age. -LOWTH, ROBERT, 1768? Inscription on Tablet, Byfleet Church. At Captain M'Lean's, I mentioned Pope's friend, Spence. JOHNSON. "He was a weak conceited man. BOSWELL. "A good scholar, Sir?" JOHNSON. "Why, no, Sir." BOSWELL. "He was a pretty scholar." JOHNSON. "You have about reached him." -BOSWELL, JAMES, 1773, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, ed. Hill, Oct. 15. As I knew Mr. Joseph Spence, I do not think I should have been so much delighted as Dr. Kippis with reading his letters. He was a good-natured, harmless little. soul, but more like a silver penny than a genius. It was a neat, fiddle-faddle bit of sterling, that had read good books, and kept good company, but was too trifling for use, and only fit to please a child.WALPOLE, HORACE, 1780, Letter to Rev. William Cole, May 19; Letters, ed. Cunningham, vol. vII, p. 366. There was a moral loveliness in the character and the life of Spence, which could not fail to engage the affections of such an elegant scholar as Lowth, and those of many other men of genius. Cultivating literature and the arts with the ardour and the playfulness of a lover, it was fortunate that the vicissitudes of life rendered him a traveller. DISRAELI, ISAAC? 1820, Spence's Anecdotes of Books and Men, Quarterly Review, vol. 23, p. 404. traveller.-DIsraeli, Spence's benevolence was most liberal and unconfined; distress of every sort, and in every rank of life, never preferred its claim to his attention in vain: and he is described by one who knew him well, to have had a heart and a hand ever open to the poor and the needy. Spence was in person below the middle size, his figure spare, his countenance benignant, and rather handsome, but bearing marks of a delicate constitution. As in his childhood he had been kept alive by constant care and the assistance of skilful medical aid, he did not expect that his life would have been protracted beyond fifty years. But he possessed those greatest of all blessings, a cheerful temperament, a constant flow of animal spirits, and most placable disposition. These, with the happy circumstances in which he was placed, and the active nature of his gardening amusements, prolonged its date to his 70th year: when he was unfortunately drowned in a canal in his garden at Byfleet. Being, when the accident occurred, quite alone, it could only be conjectured in what manner it happened; but it was generally supposed to have been occasioned by a fit, while he was standing near the brink of the water. He was found flat upon his face at the edge, where the water was too shallow to cover his head, or any part of his body. SINGER, SAMUEL WELLER, 1820-58, ed. Spence's Anecdotes, Observations and Characters of Books and Men, pp. xxvii, xxxi. Phesoj Enceps, in the Rev. James Ridley's novel "Tales of the Genii," is Joseph Spence. The sobriquet is an imperfect anagram.-FREY, ALBERT R., 1888, Sobriquets and Nicknames, p. 271. His generosity towards all kinds of persons is warmly eulogised, and he continued to be a friend to struggling authors, especially to Dodsley before his prosperous bookselling days. One of his earliest friends, Christopher Pitt, and one of the latest, Shenstone, unite in their testimony to his gentleness and urbanity. Gardening continued to be his favourite recreation; he also made several tours in England. His health failed during the later years of his life, and when, on 20 Aug. 1768, he was found dead in a canal in his garden, there were rumours of suicide, but the cause of death was more probably a fit. He was buried in Byfleet church, where there is a monument with an inscription by Bishop Lowth.-GARNETT, RICHARD, 1898, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. LIII, p. 337. GENERAL I am indebted to this learned and amiable man, on whose friendship I set the greatest value, for most of the anecdotes relating to Pope, mentioned in this work, which he gave me when I was making him a visit at Byfleet, in 1754.-WARTON, JOSEPH, 1756, Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope. A man whose learning was not very great, and whose mind was not very powerful.-JOHNSON, SAMUEL, 1779-81, Pope, Lives of the English Poets. The Anecdotes of Pope, compared with Boswell's Memoirs of Johnson, want life and spirit, and connexion. They furnish curious particulars, but minute and disjointed:-They want picturesque grouping and dramatic effect. We have the opinions and sayings of eminent men: but they do not grow out of the occasion: we do not know at whose house such a thing happened, nor the effect it had on those who were present. The conversations seldom extend beyond an observation and a reply. We have good things served up in sandwiches; but we do not sit down, as in Boswell, to "an ordinary of fine discourse."-There is no eating and drinking going on. . . . |