gave plenty of scope for satire and epigrammatic description. Hall comes nearest of any at that period to the classical prototypes. The influence of Persius is reflected in occasional crabbed obscurities and ellipses; there are reminiscences also of Horace, but Juvenal is the great master whom he imitates at every turn,1 both in his view of life and his tricks of style, especially in that artifice of making his illustrations and allusions themselves satirical. Taking pleasure in detecting faults, Hall was indiscriminate in his literary criticism; thus he was led into conflict with Milton2 on the one hand and Marston on the other. John Marston's castigation of living characters was but thinly disguised, and brought upon him rebukes from Ben Jonson, who ridiculed his somewhat absurd vocabulary, from Hall, and from anonymous writers. Of these, the author of 'The Whippinge of the Satyre' says truly enough, 'He scourgeth villainies in young and old As boys scourge tops for sport on Lenten day.' Decidedly, the author of the licentious 'Pigmalion's Image' was not likely to prove a sincere satirist. Marston, however, had a considerable power of ridicule and of incisive description. More facile than Hall, he is less pedantic. Hall thinks deeper, and is more obscure; Marston is clear, but less acute and less epigrammatic. Hall is more humorous and/ forced; Marston more acrimonious, but also more natural. 1 'Renowned Aquine, now I follow thee 2 Milton, Apology for Smectymnus.' 3 'Pigmalion's Image and Certain Satyres' and 'Scourge of Villainie.' Crispinus in the 'Poetaster.' 1598. Marston, indeed, was more of a satirist in his dramatic work than in his avowed satires, where he rails in a harsh and disconnected fashion at the affectations and effeminacies of his time. But his railing is that of a boisterous buffoon, and the Scourge of Villainie' proves him the foulest writer of his time. In the great era of dramatic writing on which we have now entered, criticism of life and manners naturally found its chief expression on the stage. The 'Histrio-mastix,' the Poetaster,' and the 'Satiro-mastix " are examples of this tendency, which needs no further illustration. In the region of pure satire, the Abuses Stript and Whipt' of George Wither earned for its author a long imprisonment in the Marshalsea. It is a vague and somewhat profuse condemnation of the vices of the time, lacking both vigour and wit, and we cannot help sharing Lamb's wonder that these perfectly general denunciations of gluttony, and so forth, should have seemed worthy of such punishment. He meant, no doubt, Qui capit, ille facit, but it seems hard to imprison a man for meaning more than he says. With the exception of the 'Canterbury Tale'-too long for insertion in our extracts there is little that is amusing in these satires, which have, truth to say, a smack of priggishness about them. From the Marshalsea Wither addressed 'A Satire to the King,' in justification of himself, with the 1 The 'Satiro-mastix' was a retort to Ben Jonson's 'Poetaster' by Thomas Dekker on behalf of himself, Marston, and others." Dekker wrote, besides his plays, a large quantity of prose, some of it satirical. Another dramatist whose satirical gifts call fornotice is John Day. His 'Parliament of Bees' would come under the heading of dramatic satire, a subject too large to enter on here, but I give an extract from the delightful ramblings of his 'Peregrinatio Scholastica.' characteristic motto, Quid tu si pereo. refers to his offence with bold sincerity. Here he All my griefe,' he declares, 'is that I was so sparing.' He complains that 'Want of power and friends be my confusion,' and that My foe unto particulars would tie What I intended universally.' The poem, which shows great command of rhyme and metre, is lacking in polish; but in his satires generally, as in his later poems, we miss the happiness of touch and finished freshness, and above all the melody, of Faire Virtue, Mistress of Philarete.' Wither fell a victim to his fatal facility. But, though we may prefer his affable Looke to encourage Honesty "1 to his wearing of the 'sterne Frowne to cast on Villainie,' we cannot but admire the unflinching bravery of his petition for release,2 and the charm of that other note, almost unsounded hitherto in English poetry: "1 'Here can I live and play with miserie . . . Here have I learned to make my greatest wrongs Sir John Denham does not owe his position 1615-1688. in English literature to his satires. He had at the best but a thin vein of cynical wit, which was soon exhausted. He affects to be a humorous writer, but when he attempts the ludicrous he generally fails. When he tries to be witty, he usually succeeds only in being dull, coarse, or disgusting. His Directions to a Painter,' an imitation of Waller's Instructions,' is said by Pepys to have 'made my heart ache, being too sharp and so true but both this and the ' Petition to the Five Members 1 Preface to 'Epithalamion.' 2 'And need I now thus to apologize 3 'Diary,' September 14, 1667. 1582-1635. 1618-1667. set the modern reader wondering, between his yawns, at the esteem in which Denham's comic vein was held by his contemporaries. His satires are, in fact, merely coarse squibs and bad lampoons. Bishop Corbet is a more interesting figure in the history of English satire. He writes in the light Horatian vein, and in his longest piece imitates Horace's 'Journey to Brundusium.' Corbet wrote, without elaboration, for the amusement of the moment. His rough ballads aim at no smoothness of versification. They are obviously trifles thrown off in the intervals of more serious business. In spite of this carelessness, Corbet is of some importance, because in adopting as he does the ballad metres for his light-hearted rebukes of the follies of the age, he stands out as the forerunner of those other writers of witty vers de société, in whom satire finds its least serious and its gentlest exponents. Abraham Cowley gave promise of much satiric power in the play Love's Riddle,' written while still a 'King's Scholler in Westminster Schoole'; and from the boy poet who could ask to be preserved 'From singing men's religion, who are Always at church, just like the crows, cause there He we expect much. But, though we find in his other same error deeper slide.' This becomes intensely wearisome when worked out through the whole Roman Catholic Creed. His touch is not sure; but his versification, though often lame, occasionally approaches the perfection of a Popian couplet.1 Our verdict on him may perhaps be rendered in the Tacitean formula: Čapax saturæ, nisi scripsisset. Lord Herbert of Cherbury is one of Donne's 1581-1648. earliest disciples, and in his two satires, more than elsewhere, he betrays the influence of his master. Mr. Churton Collins2 has recently vindicated Lord Herbert's claim to the rank of poet, but of his satiric works he can only find heart to say that the second would disgrace Taylor the waterpoet; the first, though intolerably harsh and barbarous in style and rhythm, contains some interesting remarks.' There is little more to be said. His versification, distinguished in his other poems for sweetness and originality, in his satires is uncouth in the extreme. The matter is both obscure and trivial. 3 John Cleveland shares with Donne the charge of 1613-1658. being fanciful and obscure. Like Brome an ardent Royalist, he 'followed the fates of distressed loyalty,' his biographers tell us. His love poems are marked by wearisome conceits and absurd exaggerations. The cynical note is never absent. As a satirist, he carried on a kind of guerilla 1 'Character of an Holy Sister': " She that will sit in shop for five hours' space, Damn at first sight, and proudly dare to say That hang religion in a naked ear, And judge men's hearts according to their hair.' 2 See his edition of the poet. 3 Alexander Brome fought manfully for the royal cause with his rough but effective political songs throughout the Protectorship. |