PART IV THE MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD Since cir. 1750 CHAPTER I THE BEGINNING OF MODERN LITERATURE-Cir. 1750-1830 land. THE history of England during the greater part of the eighteenth century, is the history of rapid and comprehensive changes in almost every Changes in department of the nation's life-indus- eighteenth trial, religious, political, social, and in- century Engtellectual. As we advance the England of Pope and Addison, now well-nigh as remote from our daily life as that of Shakespeare or Milton, recedes with wonderful swiftness, and through a rapid succession of changes we pass into the England of to-day. As we near the middle of the century the political corruption, the coldly intellectual temper, the studied repression and brilliant cynicism melt before the fervor of a rising spirituality, and new generations, actuated by diametrically opposite ideals of life, crowd forward to displace the old. This fresh national life utters itself in new forms of literature, and with the rise of Modern England we reach the beginning of a literary period surpassed only by that of the Elizabethans. We may relate many of these changes to one great motive cause. We have watched that mood of dissolute levity which immediately succeeded the Restoration pass into an era of comparative decency and frigid "good sense." Then Addison utters his kindly but somewhat superficial strictures on fashionable follies; then Pope is before us, with his little vanities and complaisant optimism, and Swift, savage, morose, and terrible, is intriguing and placehunting like the rest, but with the bitter inward protest of contempt and scorn of such a world. Now the nation was too inherently emotional and religious for such a mood to long endure; the higher side of men's nature began to reassert itself; and those human hopes and longings which the "freezing reason cannot satisfy began to stir and claim their due, So in the drought of the desert men felt the gathering rush of new feelings, and as their hearts were again moved with pity, enthusiasm, and faith, they felt within them the great longing of the prodigal to arise and return. The new enthusiasm and faith are seen in a great wave of religious feeling that is associated with the rise of Methodism. In the midst of the cold intellectual speculations of Bolingbroke, and the skepticism of Hume, we are startled by the passionate appeal of Whitfield and The rise of Wesley to the conscience and the heart. By 1738 the work of these men was fairly begun, and their marvelous eloquence and intense conviction struck deep into the souls of thousands. In his Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Voice of Nature (1736), Bishop Butler relied for his support of Christianity on close and definite reasoning, but the preaching of Whitfield made the tears trickle down the grimy faces of the Bristol colliers. This influence went far outside the ranks of the Methodists themselves. In the early years of the century, the Church of England shared in the prevailing coldness and unspirituality; the filling of its offices was tainted by political intrigue, while its clergy were idle and often shamefully lax in manners and morals. Methodism, starting within the limits of the Church, helped to infuse into it, and into society at large, a new moral and spiritual earnest ness. The effects of this revival of a more spiritual life in the midst of a jovial, unbelieving, and often coarse and brutal society, are seen in the Deeper symgrowth of a practical charity, and in an pathy with increasing sense of human brotherhood man. and of the inherent dignity of manhood. English history contains few things more truly beautiful than the story of this awakening of tenderness and compassion. The novel sense of pity became wide and heartfelt enough to embrace not men only, but all wantonly hurt and suffering creatures. Bull-baiting gradually fell into disfavor, and the cruel sport known as bull-running was finally suppressed at Tutbury in 1778. The poet Thomson commends the labors of the "generous band," "Who, touched with human woe, redressive searched John Howard endured the noisome horrors of the English prisons (1775-1789) that he might lighten the unspeakable sufferings of the captives, and Wilberforce, Clarkson, and Pitt labored for the abolition of slavery. The criminal was no longer dragged through crowded London streets to be hanged at Tyburn, a holiday spectacle to jeering or admiring throngs; the rigors of the code which condemned wretches to death for a trifling theft were gradually softened. So, in these and countless other ways, the social revulsion against brutality and violence which marked the rise of a new England unmistakably declared itself. Händel. To some extent we may even associate this fuller power to feel with the rise and astonishing progress of modern music, the art of pure emotion, both in Germany and England. Händel settled in England in 1710. He struggled for years against popular neglect and misunderstanding to win, toward the middle of the century, conspicuous recognition. It is significant to contrast the fashion *The Seasons, Winter," 1. 358. Thomson is speaking of a jail committee of 1729. See this whole passage from 1. 332– 388, as good instance of the new humanity in poetry. +Clarkson and Wilberforce began their anti-slavery agitation about 1787, enlisting the aid of Pitt. The Emancipation Bill was passed in 1833. able audiences that, lost to common decency, had once applauded the immoral wit of Wycherley or Farquhar, with that assembly, swept by a common wave of enthusiasm and worship, which rose with one consent and stood through the singing of the "Hallelujah Chorus." * Pitt. A comparison of England under Walpole and under Pitt helps us to realize the growth of the power of enthusiasm and imagination. The administration of Robert Walpole Walpole and (1721-1742) was an interval of profound peace, during which the energies of England were largely given to trade and the development of her internal resources. Through the increase of the Colonial trade, and from other causes, the commercial and business side of life assumed a new importance.t The peace left men free to devote their energies to money-making; the merchant gained in social position, and wealth rapidly increased.‡ Walpole, the guiding spirit of this prosperous period, was the embodiment of its prosaic and mercantile character. Country-bred, shrewd, and narrow-minded, he had great business ability, but *The famous chorus of praise in Händel's Messiah. The performance referred to was in 1743. + See Green's History of English People, vol. iv. pp. 126-160. In the Spectator Sir Roger de Coverley stands for the landed gentry, and Sir Andrew Freeport, the city merchant, for the rising merchant class, v. Spectator, No. cxxvi.; v. also Scott's Rob Roy for contrast between the Tory squire, who stands by Church and King, and the new commercial magnate; v. Gibbin's Industrial History of England, p. 145, for reference to Scott's Rob Roy, etc. |