NOTES LECTURES ON THE ENGLISH COMIC WRITERS THESE Lectures were delivered at the Surrey Institution, in Blackfriars Road, in 1818, after the completion of the course on the English Poets (see vol. v.). Some particulars as to their delivery will be found in Talfourd's edition of Lamb's Letters (see Mr. W. C. Hazlitt's reprint, Bohn, 1. 38 et seq.), and in Patmore's My Friends and Acquaintance. See also Mr. W. C. Hazlitt's Four Generations of a Literary Family (vol. I. pp. 121-2), where the opinions of Beckford and Thackeray are referred to. In the third edition of the Lectures (see Bibliographical Note) several passages collected by the author, apparently with a view to a reprint of the volume,' were interpolated. Two of these passages are taken from a long letter (published in full in the Appendix to these notes) which Hazlitt contributed to The Morning Chronicle, Oct. 15, 1813. The rest are taken from prefatory notices which he contributed to William Oxberry's The New English Drama (20 vols. 1818-1825), and are printed in the following notes. PAGE LECTURE I. INTRODUCTORY 8. The Tale of Slaukenbergius. Tristram Shandy, vol. iv. 9. There is something in the misfortunes,' etc. Rochefoucault, Maximes et Réflexions Morales, CCXLI. "They were talking, etc. Farquhar's Beaux' Stratagem, Act 111. Sc. 1. Lord Foppington. In The Relapse of Vanbrugh. See post, p. 82. 10. Aretine laughed himself to death, etc. The story is that while laughing at the jest Aretine fell from a stool and was killed. Sir Thomas More jested, etc. More bade the executioner stay till he had put aside his beard, 'for that,' he said, 'had never committed treason.' Rabelais and Wycherley. When Rabelais,' says Bacon (Apophthegms), 'the great jester of France, lay on his death-bed, and they gave him the extreme unction, a familiar friend came to him afterwards, and asked him how he did? Rabelais answered, "Even going my journey, they have greased my boots already." But his last words, uttered 'avec un éclat de rire,' were: 'Tirez le rideau, la farce est jouée.' It is said that Wycherley, on the night before he died, made his young wife promise that she would never marry an old man again. See a letter from Pope to Blount, Jan. 21, 1715-6 (Works, ed. Elwin and Courthope, vi. 366). Pope, after telling the story, adds: "I cannot help remarking that sickness, which often destroys both wit and wisdom, yet seldom has power to remove that talent which we call humour.' The dialogue between Aimwell and Gibbet. The Beaux' Stratagem, Act 111. Sc. 2. Mr. Emery's Robert Tyke. In Thomas Morton's School of Reform (1805). Cf. post, P. 391. PAGE 11. The Liar. By Samuel Foote (1762). The Busy Body. By Susannah Centlivre (1709). The history of hobby-horses. See Tristram Shandy, vol. 1. especially chaps. XXIV. and xxv. Ever lifted leg. Cf. A better never lifted leg.' Tam & Shanter, 80. 12. Malvolio's punishment, etc. Twelfth Night, Act iv. Sc. 2. Christopher's Sly's drunken transformation. The Taming of the Shrew, Induction, Sc. 2. Parson Adams's fall, etc. See Joseph Andrews, Book 1. Chap. 7, Book iv. Chap. 14, and Book 11. Chap. 12. Baltimore House. In what is now Russell Square. 14. The author of the Ancient Mariner. Cf. a passage in the essay 'On Dreams' (Plain Speaker, vol. vii. pp. 23-24). Bishop Atterbury. See Pope's Works (ed. Elwin and Courthope), IX. 21-4. As Mr. Austin Dobson, however, points out, it is not clear that the Arabian Nights are referred to. Atterbury speaks of Petit de la Croix' as "the pretended author' of the tales, from which it would appear that the tales he found so hard to read were not the Arabian Nights, but the Contes Persans of Petit de la Croix, a translation of which Ambrose Philips had published in 1709. 'Favours secret,' etc. Burns, Tam o Shanter, 48. "The soldiers, etc. Hamlet, Act II. Sc. 1. Horner, etc. Horner, in Wycherley's The Country Wife; Millamant, in Congreve's The Way of the World; Tattle and Miss Prue, in Congreve's Love for Love; Archer and Cherry, in Farquhar's The Beaux Stratagem; Mrs. Amlet, in Vanbrugh's The Confederacy (see Act III. Sc. 1); Valentine and Angelica, in Love for Love; Miss Peggy, in Garrick's The Country Girl, adapted from The Country Wife; Anne Page, in The Merry Wives of Windsor (See Act III. Sc. 1). 15. The age of comedy,' etc. An adaptation of Burke's famous 'But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever.' (Reflections on the Revolution in France, Select Works, ed. Payne, 11. 89.) 'Accept a miracle, etc. By the poet Young. See Spence's Anecdotes, P. 378. 16. The sun had long since, etc. Hudibras, Part II., Canto 11. 29-38. "By this the northern waggoner, etc. The Faerie Queene, Book I., Canto 11. St. 1. 'At last, etc. Ibid. Book I., Canto v. St. 2. 17. But now a sport, etc. Hudibras, Part I., Canto 1. 675-688. Mr. Sheridan's description, etc. In his speech on the Definitive Treaty of Peace, May 14, 1802. The sarcastic reply of Porson. According to Rogers (Dyce, Recollections of the 18. Compound for sins,' etc. Hudibras, Part I., Canto 1., 215-216. 'Now night descending,' etc. The Dunciad, 1. 89-90. 19. Harris. James Harris (1709-1780), author of Hermes, or a Philosophical Inquiry concerning Universal Grammar (1751). 20. A foregone conclusion. Othello, Act III. Sc. 3. 'Comes in such,' etc. Hamlet, Act 1. Sc. 4. PAGE 20. 'Soul-killing lies, etc. Lamb, John Woodvil, Act 11. 21. The instance might be painful, etc. Letters of Junius, Letter XLIX. And ever, etc. L'Allegro, 135-6. The reply of the author, etc. This was Richard Owen Cambridge (1717-1802), contributor to Edward Moore's The World (1753-1756). 'Full of sound and fury, etc. Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 5. "For thin partitions,' etc. Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, Part I. 164. Mr. Curran. Curran had died on October 14, 1817. 22. Haeret lateri, etc. Æneid, xv. 73. The Duke of Buckingham's saying. And give me leave to tell your lordships, by the way, that statutes are not like women, for they are not one jot the worse for being old.' Speech on the Dissolution of Parliament, 1676. The speech was included by Hazlitt in his Eloquence of the British Senate. See vol. III. p. 399. Mr. Addison, indeed, etc. The Spectator, No. 61. Mandrake. In Farquhar's The Twin Rivals, Act II. Sc. 2. Sir Hugh Evans. The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 1. Sc. 1. 23. From the sublime, etc. Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas.' Attributed to Napoleon. Thomas Paine had, however, said the same thing in his Age of Reason, Part II. 24. Mr. Canning's Court Parodies, etc. In the Anti-Jacobin (1797-1798). Southey was the victim of two of the best known of these parodies, the Inscription for the door of the Cell in Newgate where Mrs. Brownrigg, the Prentice-cide, was confined previous to her execution, and The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder. The Rejected Addresses. By James and Horace Smith, published in 1812. The parody of Crabbe was by James Smith. Lear and the Fool. The references in this paragraph are to King Lear, Act 1. Sc. 4. "'Tis with our judgments, etc. Pope, Essay on Criticism, 9-10. 25. He is the cause, etc. Cf. 'I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men.' Henry IV., Part II., Act 1. Sc. 2. Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 3. "That perilous stuff, etc. Imitate humanity,' etc. Hamlet, Act 1. Sc. 2. 26. Barrow's celebrated description. See Isaac Barrow's (1630-77) sermon Against Foolish Talking and Jesting.' 27. Who did essay, etc. The Faerie Queene, Book 11.9 28. Barnaby Brittle. See post, note to p. 481. Canto VI., St. 7. Petits Chefs-d'œuvre 29. The strictures of Rousseau. Lettre à M. D'Alembert. (ed. Firmin-Didot), pp. 405 et seq. An exquisite... defence. See La Critique de l'École des Femmes, Sc. 6. 'An equal want, etc. 'But equally a want of books and men.' Wordsworth, Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty, xv., Sonnet beginning 'Great men have been among us; hands that penned,' etc. LECTURE II. ON SHAKSPEARE AND BEN JONSON 30. Dr. Johnson thought, etc. See his Preface to Shakespeare (Works, Oxford, 1825, vol. v. p. 113). "Smit with the love of sacred song. Paradise Lost, 111. 29. 31. There is but one, etc. Hazlitt is recalling Dryden's line, within that circle none must walk but he.' (Prologue to The Tempest.) PAGE 31. Not to speak it profanely.' Hamlet, Act 1. Sc. 2. Like an unsubstantial pageant faded.' The Tempest, Act iv. Sc. 1. 32. He is the leviathan, etc.' Hazlitt adapts a passage of Burke's: "The Duke of Bedford is the leviathan among all the creatures of the Crown. He tumbles about his unwieldy bulk; he plays and frolics in the ocean of the royal bounty.' A Letter to a Noble Lord (Works, Bohn, v. 129). A consummation,' etc. Hamlet, Act 11. Sc. 1. The description of Queen Mab. In Romeo and Juliet, Act 1. Sc. 4. 'Oh! it came,' etc. Ibid. Act 1. Sc. 1. 33. 'Covers a multitude of sins. 1. Peter, iv. 8. The ligament, etc. Cf. And that ligament, fine as it was, was never broken.' Tristram Shandy, vI. 10. The Society for the Suppression of Vice. note. Cf. The Round Table, vol. 1. p. 60 and He has been merry,' etc. Henry IV., Part II., Act v. Sc. 3. "Heard the chimes at midnight. Ibid, Act 111. Sc. 2. 34. Come on, come on,' etc. Ibid. 35. One touch of nature, etc. Troilus and Cressida, Act 111. Sc. 3. "It is apprehensive, etc. Henry IV., Part II., Act iv. Sc. 3. 36. Go to church, etc. Twelfth Night, Act 1. Sc. 3. Tattle and Sparkish. In Congreve's Love for Love and Wycherley's The Country Wife respectively. 'All beyond Hyde Park, etc. Sir George Etherege's The Man of Mode, Act v. Sc. 2. 'Lay waste a country gentleman.' Hazlitt uses this expression elsewhere. See his character of Cobbett in The Spirit of the Age (vol. iv. p. 334), where he says that Cobbett 'lays waste a city orator or Member of Parliament.' Lord Foppington. In Vanbrugh's The Relapse. "The Prince of coxcombs, etc. "Fashion. Now, by all that's great and powerful, thou art the prince of coxcombs. Lord Foppington. Sir—I am proud of being at the head of so prevailing a party.' The Relapse, Act 1. Sc. 1. 'Manners damnable, etc. See the dialogue between Touchstone and Corin in As You Like It, Act . Sc. 2. Airy nothing. A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act v. Sc. 1. Love's golden shaft, etc. 37. "There the mind, etc. Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 3. Twelfth Night, Act 1. Sc. 1. "Therein the patient must minister to himself.' "Of solitude, etc. Cf. Of solitude and melancholy born.' Beattie, The Minstrel, Canto 1. St. 56. To wanton in the idle summer air. Cf. 'That idles in the wanton summer air.' Romeo and Juliet, Act 11. Sc. 6. 39. Does mad and fantastic execution,' etc. Troilus and Cressida, Act v. Sc. 5. Schlegel observes, etc. In his Lectures on Dramatic Literature (No. xxvII.) the English version of which was reviewed by Hazlitt in The Edinburgh Review for Feb. 1816. PAGE 39. Lively, audible,' etc. Waking, audible, and full of vent.' Coriolanus, Act iv. Sc. 5. 40. Captain Otter. In The Silent Woman (1609). "Bless'd conditions. Othello, Act 11. Sc. I. "If to be wise, etc. Cf. 'Let it be virtuous to be obstinate. Coriolanus, Act v. Sc. 3. 41. The gayest,' etc. Akenside, Pleasures of the Imagination, 1. 30. Aliquando sufflaminandus erat. See Ben Jonson's Timber: or, Discoveries, LXIV., and note to The Spirit of the Age, vol. iv. p. 336. Howel's Letters. See the Familiar Letters of James Howell, 10th ed., 1737, PP. 323-4. 42. Jamque opus, etc. Ovid, Metamorphoses, xv. 871. Exegi monumentum, etc. Horace, Odes, 111. 30, 1. O fortunatam, etc. Cicero, De Suis Temporibus, quoted by Juvenal, Satire x. 122. A detailed account. In Characters of Shakespear's Plays (1817). 1. 23. In the third edition the following sentence is interpolated: 'It has been observed of this author, that he painted not so much human nature as temporary manners; not the characters of men, but their humours; that is to say, peculiarities of phrase, modes of dress, gesture, etc., which becoming obsolete, and being in themselves altogether arbitrary and fantastical, have become unintelligible and uninteresting.' Hazlitt probably refers to Schlegel. See Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature (trans. John Black, ed. 1900, p. 464). The meeting between Morose and Epicene. Act 11. Sc. 3. 43. O'er step, etc. Hamlet, Act 111. Sc. 2. The scene between Sir Amorous La Foole and Sir John Daw, etc. See The Silent Truewit. In The Silent Woman. On Education (Works, 1738, 1. p. 140). Act II. Sc. 1. Volpone was first acted in 1605. This play was Dryden's favourite. Hazlitt refers to The Silent Woman, of which Dryden gives an Examen' in his Essay of Dramatic Poesy (Select Essays, ed. Ker, 1. 83 et seq.). Truewit says. The Silent Woman, Act iv. Sc. 2. Even though we should hold, etc. Cf. All which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down.' Hamlet, Act 11. Sc. 2. The directions for making love. The Silent Woman, Act iv. Sc. 1. 44. ‘Hood an ass, etc. Volpone, Act 1. Sc. 1. Every Man in his Humour. First acted in 1598, this play held the stage until 'As dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage? As You Like It, Act 11. Sc. 7. His well-known proposal, etc. Every Man in his Humour, Act iv. Sc. 5. 45. The scene in which Brainworm, etc. Ibid. Act 1. Sc. 2. Bartholomew Fair. Produced in 1614. The Alchymist. Produced in 1610. One glorious scene. Act 11. Sc. I. 48. Beaumont and Fletcher. Cf. vol. v., p. 261 and note. The Inconstant. Farquhar's comedy (1703). 49. Mrs. Jordan. Mrs. Jordan had died on May 24, 1817. |