Curiosities of Literature Volume Ii Part 7

Ah! not alone the tender RHYMES I give Are fictions: but my FEARS and HOPES I deem Are FABLES all; deliriously I live, And life's whole course is one protracted dream.

Eternal Power! when shall I wake to rest This wearied brain on TRUTH'S immortal breast?

RICHARDSON.

The censure which the Shakspeare of novelists has incurred for the tedious procrastination and the minute details of his fable; his slow unfolding characters, and the slightest gestures of his personages, is extremely unjust; for is it not evident that we could not have his peculiar excellences without these accompanying defects? When characters are fully delineated, the narrative must be suspended. Whenever the narrative is rapid, which so much delights superficial readers, the characters cannot be very minutely featured; and the writer who aims to instruct (as Richardson avowedly did) by the glow and eloquence of his feelings, must often sacrifice to this his local descriptions.

Richardson himself has given us the principle that guided him in composing. He tells us, "If I give speeches and conversations, I ought to give them justly; for the _humours_ and _characters_ of persons cannot be known unless I _repeat_ what they say, and their _manner_ of saying."

Foreign critics have been more just to Richardson than many of his own countrymen. I shall notice the opinions of three celebrated writers, D'Alembert, Rousseau, and Diderot.

D'Alembert was a great mathematician. His literary taste was extremely cold: he was not worthy of reading Richardson. The volumes, if he ever read them, must have fallen from his hands. The delicate and subtle turnings, those folds of the human heart, which require so nice a touch, was a problem which the mathematician could never solve. There is no other demonstration in the human heart, but an appeal to its feelings: and what are the calculating feelings of an arithmetician of lines and curves? He therefore declared of Richardson that "La Nature est bonne ?

imiter, mais non pas jusqu'a l'ennui."

But thus it was not with the other two congenial geniuses! The fervent opinion of Rousseau must be familiar to the reader; but Diderot, in his eloge on Richardson, exceeds even Rousseau in the enthusiasm of his feelings. I extract some of the most interesting pa.s.sages. Of Clarissa he says, "I yet remember with delight the first time it came into my hands. I was in the country. How deliciously was I affected! At every moment I saw my happiness abridged by a page. I then experienced the same sensations those feel who have long lived with one they love, and are on the point of separation. At the close of the work I seemed to remain deserted."

The impa.s.sioned Diderot then breaks forth:--"Oh, Richardson! thou singular genius in my eyes! thou shalt form my reading in all times. If forced by sharp necessity, my friend falls into indigence; if the mediocrity of my fortune is not sufficient to bestow on my children the necessary cares for their education, I will sell my books,--but thou shalt remain! yes, thou shalt rest in the _same cla.s.s_ with MOSES, HOMER, EURIPIDES, and SOPHOCLES, to be read alternately.

"Oh Richardson, I dare p.r.o.nounce that the most veritable history is full of fictions, and thy romances are full of truths. History paints some individuals; thou paintest the human species. History attributes to some individuals what they have neither said nor done; all that thou attributest to man he has said and done. History embraces but a portion of duration, a point on the surface of the globe; thou hast embraced all places and all times. The human heart, which has ever been and ever shall be the same, is the model which thou copiest. If we were severely to criticise the best historian, would he maintain his ground as thou?

In this point of view, I venture to say, that frequently history is a miserable romance; and romance, as thou hast composed it, is a good history. Painter of nature, thou never liest!

"I have never yet met with a person who shared my enthusiasm, that I was not tempted to embrace, and to press him in my arms!

"Richardson is no more! His loss touches me, as if my brother was no more. I bore him in my heart without having seen him, and knowing him but by his works. He has not had all the reputation he merited.

Richardson! if living thy merit has been disputed; how great wilt thou appear to our children's children, when we shall view thee at the distance we now view Homer! Then who will dare to steal a line from thy sublime works! Thou hast had more admirers amongst us than in thine own country, and at this I rejoice!"

It is probable that to a Frenchman the _style_ of Richardson is not so objectionable when translated, as to ourselves. I think myself that it is very idiomatic and energetic; others have thought differently. The misfortune of Richardson was, that he was unskilful in the art of writing, and that he could never lay the pen down while his inkhorn supplied it.

He was delighted by his own works. No author enjoyed so much the bliss of excessive fondness. I heard from the late Charlotte Lenox the anecdote which so severely reprimanded his innocent vanity, which Boswell has recorded. This lady was a regular visitor at Richardson's house, and she could scarcely recollect one visit which was not taxed by our author reading one of his voluminous letters, or two or three, if his auditor was quiet and friendly.

The extreme delight which he felt on a review of his own works the works themselves witness. Each is an evidence of what some will deem a violent literary vanity. To _Pamela_ is prefixed a _letter_ from the _editor_ (whom we know to be the _author_), consisting of one of the most minutely laboured panegyrics of the work itself, that ever the blindest idolater of some ancient cla.s.sic paid to the object of his frenetic imagination. In several places there, he contrives to repeat the striking parts of the narrative which display the fertility of his imagination to great advantage. To the author's own edition of his _Clarissa_ is appended an _alphabetical arrangement_ of the sentiments dispersed throughout the work; and such was the fondness that dictated this voluminous arrangement, that such trivial aphorisms as, "habits are not easily changed," "men are known by their companions," &c., seem alike to be the object of their author's admiration. This collection of sentiments, said indeed to have been sent to him anonymously, is curious and useful, and shows the value of the work, by the extensive grasp of that mind which could think so justly on such numerous topics. And in his third and final labour, to each volume of _Sir Charles Grandison_ is not only prefixed a complete _index_, with as much exactness as if it were a History of England, but there is also appended a _list_ of the _similes_ and allusions in the volume; some of which do not exceed _three_ or _four_ in nearly as many hundred pages.

Literary history does not record a more singular example of that self-delight which an author has felt on a revision of his works. It was this intense pleasure which produced his voluminous labours. It must be confessed there are readers deficient in that sort of genius which makes the mind of Richardson so fertile and prodigal.

INFLUENCE OF A NAME.

What's in a NAME? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.

Names, by an involuntary suggestion, produce an extraordinary illusion.

Favour or disappointment has been often conceded as the _name_ of the claimant has affected us; and the accidental affinity or coincidence of a _name_, connected with ridicule or hatred, with pleasure or disgust, has operated like magic. But the facts connected with this subject will show how this prejudice has branched out.[20]

Sterne has touched on this unreasonable propensity of judging by _names_, in his humorous account of the elder Mr. Shandy's system of Christian names. And Wilkes has expressed, in Boswell's Life of Johnson, all the influence of baptismal _names_, even in matters of poetry! He said, "The last city poet was _Elkanah_ Settle. There is _something_ in _names_ which one cannot help feeling. Now _Elkanah_ Settle sounds so queer, who can expect much from _that name_? We should have no hesitation to give it for _John Dryden_ in preference to _Elkanah Settle_, from the _names only_, without knowing their different merits."

A lively critic noticing some American poets, says "There is or was a Mr. Dwight who wrote a poem in the shape of an epic; and his baptismal name was _Timothy_;" and involuntarily we infer the sort of epic that a _Timothy_ must write. Sterne humorously exhorts all G.o.dfathers not "to Nicodemus a man into nothing."

There is more truth in this observation than some may be inclined to allow; and that it affects mankind strongly, all ages and all climates may be called on to testify. Even in the barbarous age of Louis XI., they felt a delicacy respecting _names_, which produced an ordinance from his majesty. The king's barber was named _Olivier le Diable_. At first the king allowed him to got rid of the offensive part by changing it to _Le Malin_; but the improvement was not happy, and for a third time he was called _Le Mauvais_. Even this did not answer his purpose; and as he was a great racer, he finally had his majesty's ordinance to be called _Le Dain_, under penalty of law if any one should call him _Le Diable_, _Le Malin_, or _Le Mauvais_. According to Platina, Sergius the Second was the first pope who changed his name in ascending the papal throne; because his proper name was _Hog's-mouth_, very unsuitable with the pomp of the tiara. The ancients felt the same fastidiousness; and among the Romans, those who were called to the equestrian order, having low and vulgar _names_, were new named on the occasion, lest the former one should disgrace the dignity.[21]

When _Burlier_, a French wit, was chosen for the preceptor of Colbert's son, he felt his _name_ was so uncongenial to his new profession, that he a.s.sumed the more splendid one of _D'Aucour_, by which he is now known. Madame _Gomez_ had married a person named _Bonhomme_; but she would never exchange her n.o.bler Spanish name to prefix her married one to her romances, which indicated too much of meek humility. _Guez_ (a beggar) is a French writer of great pomp of style; but he felt such extreme delicacy at so low a name, that to give some authority to the splendour of his diction, he a.s.sumed the name of his estate, and is well known as _Balzac_. A French poet of the name of Theophile _Viaut_, finding that his surname p.r.o.nounced like _veau_ (calf), exposed him to the infinite jests of the minor wits, silently dropped it, by retaining the more poetical appellation of _Theophile_. Various literary artifices have been employed by some who, still preserving a natural attachment to the names of their fathers, yet blus.h.i.+ng at the same time for their meanness, have in their Latin works attempted to obviate the ridicule which they provoked. One _Gaucher_ (left-handed) borrowed the name of _Scevola_, because Scevola, having burnt his right arm, became consequently left-handed. Thus also one _De la Borgne_ (one-eyed) called himself _Strabo_; _De Charpentier_ took that of _Fabricius_; _De Valet_ translated his _Servilius_; and an unlucky gentleman, who bore the name of _Du bout d'Homme,_ boldly a.s.sumed that of _Virulus_. Dorat, a French poet, had for his real name _Disnemandi_, which, in the dialect of the Limousins, signifies one who dines in the morning; that is, who has no other dinner than his breakfast. This degrading name he changed to _Dorat_, or gilded, a nickname which one of his ancestors had borne for his fair tresses. But by changing his _name_, his feelings were not entirely quieted, for unfortunately his daughter cherished an invincible pa.s.sion for a learned man, who unluckily was named _Goulu_; that is, a shark, as gluttonous as a shark. Miss _Disnemandi_ felt naturally a strong attraction for a _goulu_; and in spite of her father's remonstrances, she once more renewed his sorrows in this alliance!

There are unfortunate names, which are very injurious to the cause in which they are engaged; for instance, the Long Parliament in Cromwell's time, called by derision the _Rump_, was headed by one _Barebones_, a leather-seller. It was afterwards called by his unlucky name, which served to heighten the ridicule cast over it by the nation.

Formerly a custom prevailed with learned men to change their names. They showed at once their contempt for vulgar denominations and their ingenious erudition. They christened themselves with Latin and Greek.

This disguising of names came, at length, to be considered to have a political tendency, and so much alarmed Pope Paul the Second, that he imprisoned several persons for their using certain affected names, and some, indeed, which they could not give a reason why they a.s.sumed.

_Desiderius Erasmus_ was a name formed out of his family name _Gerard_, which in Dutch signifies amiable; or GAR _all_, AERD _nature_. He first changed it to a Latin word of much the same signification, _desiderius_, which afterwards he refined into the Greek _Erasmus_, by which name he is now known. The celebrated _Reuchlin_, which in German signifies _smoke_, considered it more dignified to smoke in Greek by the name of _Capnio_. An Italian physician of the name of _Senza Malizia_, prided himself as much on his translating it into the Greek _Akakia_, as on the works which he published under that name. One of the most amiable of the reformers was originally named _Hertz Schwartz_ (black earth), which he elegantly turned into the Greek name _Melancthon_. The vulgar name of a great Italian poet was _Trapa.s.so_; but when the learned Gravius resolved to devote the youth to the muses, he gave him a mellifluous name, which they have long known and cherished--_Metastasio_.

Harsh names will have, in spite of all our philosophy, a painful and ludicrous effect on our ears and our a.s.sociations: it is vexatious that the softness of delicious vowels, or the ruggedness of inexorable consonants, should at all be connected with a man's happiness, or even have an influence on his fortune.

The actor _Macklin_ was softened down by taking in the first and last syllables of the name of _Macklaughlin_, as _Malloch_ was polished to _Mallet_; and even our sublime Milton, in a moment of humour and hatred to the Scots, condescends to insinuate that their barbarous names are symbolical of their natures,--and from a man of the name of _Mac Collkittok_, he expects no mercy. Virgil, when young, formed a design of a national poem, but was soon discouraged from proceeding, merely by the roughness and asperity of the old Roman names, such as _Decius Mus_; _Luc.u.mo_; _Vibius Caudex_. The same thing has happened to a friend who began an Epic on the subject of _Drake's_ discoveries; the name of the hero often will produce a ludicrous effect, but one of the most unlucky of his chief heroes must be _Thomas Doughty_! One of Blackmore's chief heroes in his Alfred is named _Gunter_; a printer's erratum might have been fatal to all his heroism; as it is, he makes a sorry appearance.

Metastasio found himself in the same situation. In one of his letters he writes, "The t.i.tle of my new opera is _Il Re Pastor_. The chief incident is the rest.i.tution of the kingdom of Sidon to the lawful heir: a prince with such a _hypochondriac name_, that he would have disgraced the t.i.tle-page of any piece; who would have been able to bear an opera ent.i.tled _L'Abdolonimo_? I have contrived to name him as seldom as possible." So true is it, as the caustic Boileau exclaims of an epic poet of his days, who had shown some dexterity in cacophony, when he chose his hero--

O le plaisant projet d'un poete ignorant, Qui de tant de heros va choisir _Childebrand_!

D'un seul nom quelquefois le son dur et bizarre Bend un poeme entier, ou burlesque ou barbare.

_Art Poetique_, c. iii. v. 241.

In such a crowd the Poet were to blame To choose _King Chilperic_ for his hero's name.

SIR W. SOAMES.

This epic poet perceiving the town joined in the severe raillery of the poet, published a long defence of his hero's name; but the town was inexorable, and the epic poet afterwards changed _Childebrand's_ name to _Charles Martel_, which probably was discovered to have something more humane. Corneille's _Pertharite_ was an unsuccessful tragedy, and Voltaire deduces its ill fortune partly from its barbarous _names_, such as _Garibald_ and _Edvidge_. Voltaire, in giving the _names_ of the founders of Helvetic freedom, says, the difficulty of p.r.o.nouncing these respectable names is injurious to their celebrity; they are _Melchthal_, _Stawffarcher_, and _Valtherfurst_.

We almost hesitate to credit what we know to be true, that the _length_ or the _shortness_ of a _name_ can seriously influence the mind. But history records many facts of this nature. Some nations have long cherished a feeling that there is a certain elevation or abas.e.m.e.nt in proper names. Montaigne on this subject says, "A gentleman, one of my neighbours, in over-valuing the excellences of old times, never omitted noticing the pride and magnificence of the _names_ of the n.o.bility of those days! Don _Grumedan_, _Quadragan_, _Argesilan_, when fully sounded, were evidently men of another stamp than _Peter_, _Giles_, and _Michel_." What could be hoped for from the names of Ebenezer, Malachi, and Methusalem? The Spaniards have long been known for cheris.h.i.+ng a pa.s.sion for dignified names, and are marvellously affected by long and voluminous ones; to enlarge them they often add the places of their residence. We ourselves seem affected by triple names; and the authors of certain periodical publications always a.s.sume for their _nom de guerre_ a triple name, which doubtless raises them much higher in their reader's esteem than a mere Christian and surname. Many Spaniards have given themselves _names_ from some remarkable incident in their lives.

One took the name of the Royal Transport, for having conducted the Infanta in Italy. Orendayes added de la Paz, for having signed the peace in 1725. Navarro, after a naval battle off Toulon, added la Vittoria, though he had remained in safety at Cadiz while the French admiral Le Court had fought the battle, which was entirely in favour of the English. A favourite of the King of Spain, a great genius, and the friend of Farinelli, who had sprung from a very obscure origin, to express his contempt of these empty and haughty _names_ a.s.sumed, when called to the administration, that of the Marquis of _La Ensenada_ (nothing in himself).

But the influence of _long names_ is of very ancient standing. Lucian notices one _Simon_, who coming to a great fortune aggrandised his name to _Simonides_. _Dioclesian_ had once been plain _Diocles_ before he was emperor. When _Bruna_ became queen of France, it was thought proper to convey some of the regal pomp in her name by calling her _Brunehault_.

The Spaniards then must feel a most singular contempt for a _very short name_, and on this subject Fuller has recorded a pleasant fact. An opulent citizen of the name of _John Cuts_ (what name can be more unluckily short?) was ordered by Elizabeth to receive the Spanish amba.s.sador; but the latter complained grievously, and thought he was disparaged by the _shortness_ of his _name_. He imagined that a man bearing a monosyllabic name could never, in the great alphabet of civil life, have performed anything great or honourable; but when he found that honest _John Cuts_ displayed a hospitality which had nothing monosyllabic in it, he groaned only at the utterance of the _name_ of his host.

There are _names_, indeed, which in the social circle will in spite of all due gravity awaken a harmless smile, and Shenstone solemnly thanked G.o.d that his name was not liable to a pun. There are some names which excite horror, such as Mr. Stabback; others contempt, as Mr. Twopenny; and others of vulgar or absurd signification, subject too often to the insolence of domestic witlings, which occasions irritation even in the minds of worthy, but suffering, men.

There is an a.s.sociation of pleasing ideas with certain _names_,--and in the literary world they produce a fine effect. _Bloomfield_ is a name apt and fortunate for a rustic bard; as _Florian_ seems to describe his sweet and flowery style. Dr. Parr derived his first acquaintance with the late Mr. _Homer_ from the aptness of his name, a.s.sociating with his pursuits. Our writers of romances and novels are initiated into all the arcana of _names_, which cost them many painful inventions. It is recorded of one of the old Spanish writers of romance, that he was for many days at a loss to coin a fit name for one of his giants; he wished to hammer out one equal in magnitude to the person he conceived in imagination; and in the haughty and lofty name of _Traquitantos_, he thought he had succeeded. Richardson, the great father of our novelists, appears to have considered the _name_ of Sir _Charles Grandison_ as _perfect_ as his character, for his heroine writes, "You know his _n.o.ble name_, my Lucy." He felt the same for his _Clementina_, for Miss Byron writes, "Ah, Lucy, what a _pretty name_ is _Clementina_!" We experience a certain tenderness for _names_, and persons of refined imaginations are fond to give affectionate or lively epithets to things and persons they love. Petrarch would call one friend _Lellus_, and another _Socrates_, as descriptive of their character.

In our own country, formerly, the ladies appear to have been equally sensible to poetical or elegant _names_, such as _Alicia, Celicia, Diana, Helena_, &c. Spenser, the poet, gave to his two sons two _names_ of this kind; he called one _Silva.n.u.s_, from the woody Kilcolman, his estate; and the other _Peregrine_, from his having been born in a strange place, and his mother then travelling. The fair Eloisa gave the whimsical name of _Astrolabus_ to her boy; it bore some reference to the stars, as her own to the sun.

Whether this name of _Astrolabus_ had any scientific influence over the son, I know not; but I have no doubt that whimsical names may have a great influence over our characters. The practice of romantic names among persons, even of the lowest orders of society, has become a very general evil: and doubtless many unfortunate beauties, of the names of _Clarissa_ and _Eloisa_, might have escaped under the less dangerous appellatives of _Elizabeth_ or _Deborah_. I know a person who has not pa.s.sed his life without some inconvenience from his _name_, mean talents and violent pa.s.sions not according with _Antoninus_; and a certain writer of verses might have been no versifier, and less a lover of the true Falernian, had it not been for his namesake _Horace_. The Americans, by a.s.suming _Roman_ names, produce ludicrous a.s.sociations; _Romulus_ Higgs, and _Junius Brutus_ Booth. There was more sense, when the Foundling Hospital was first inst.i.tuted, in baptizing the most robust boys, designed for the sea-service, by the names of Drake, Norris, or Blake, after our famous admirals.

It is no trifling misfortune in life to bear an ill.u.s.trious name; and in an author it is peculiarly severe. A history now by a Mr. Hume, or a poem by a Mr. Pope, would be examined with different eyes than had they borne any other name. The relative of a great author should endeavour not to be an author. Thomas Corneille had the unfortunate honour of being brother to a great poet, and his own merits have been considerably injured by the involuntary comparison. The son of Racine has written with an amenity not unworthy of his celebrated father; amiable and candid, he had his portrait painted, with the works of his father in his hand, and his eye fixed on this verse from Phaedra,--

Et moi, fils inconnu d'un si glorieux pere!

But even his modesty only served to whet the dart of epigram. It was once bitterly said of the son of an eminent literary character,--

He tries to write because his father writ, And shows himself a b.a.s.t.a.r.d by his wit.

Amongst some of the disagreeable consequences attending some _names_, is, when they are unluckily adapted to an uncommon rhyme; how can any man defend himself from this malicious ingenuity of wit? _Freret_, one of those unfortunate victims to Boileau's verse, is said not to have been deficient in the decorum of his manners, and he complained that he was represented as a drunkard, merely because his _name rhymed_ to _Cabaret_. Murphy, no doubt, felicitated himself in his literary quarrel with Dr. _Franklin_, the poet and critical reviewer, by adopting the singular rhyme of "envy rankling" to his rival's and critic's name.