GENERAL

Here Cumberland lies, having his part, The Terence of England, the mender of hearts;

A flattering painter, who made it his care To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.

His gallants are all faultless, his women divine,

And comedy wonders at being so fine;
Like a tragedy-queen he has dizen'd her out,
Or rather, like tragedy giving a rout.

His fools have their follies so lost in a crowd Of virtues and feelings, that folly grows proud,

And coxcombs alike in their failings alone, Adopting his portraits, are pleas'd with their

own.

Say, where has our poet this malady caught, Or, wherefore his characters thus without fault?

Say, was it that vainly directing his view, To find out men's virtues, and finding them few,

Quite sick of pursuing each troublesome elf, He grew lazy at last, and drew from himself? -GOLDSMITH, OLIVER, 1774, The Retalia

tion.

With all the merit which "The Brothers" possesses, and which is of no small account, it is instructive to observe with how much judgment Mr. Cumberland corrected in his second play all those faults he had committed in the first. The language of "The West Indian" is wholly refined, and every idea it contains perfectly delicate. The youthful parts are there rendered brilliant, as well as interesting; and wit and humour are not confined, as here, to the mean or the vulgar, but skilfully on persons of pleasing forms and polite manners. - INCHBALD, MRS. ELIZABETH, 1806-9, The Brothers, A Comedy; The British Theatre, Remarks.

We will pronounce no general judgment on the literary merits of Mr. Cumberland; but our opinion of them certainly has not been raised by the perusal of these "Memoirs." There is no depth of thought, nor dignity of sentiment about him; he is too frisky for an old man, and too gossiping for an historian. His style is too negligent even for the most familiar composition; and though he has proved himself, upon other occasions, to be a great master of good English, he has admitted a number of phrases into this work, which, we are inclined to think, would scarely pass current even in conversation... Upon the whole, however, this volume is not the

work of an ordinary writer; and we should probably have been more indulgent to its faults, if the excellence of some of the author's former productions had not sent us to its perusal with expectations perhaps somewhat extravagant.-JEFFREY, FRANCIS LORD, 1806-1844, Memoirs of Cumberland, Contributions to the Edinburgh Review, vol. IV, p. 413.

The "Observer," though the sole labour of an individual, is yet rich in variety, both of subject and manner; in this respect, indeed, as well as in literary interests, and in fertility of invention, it may be classed with the "Spectator" and "Adventurer;" if inferior to the latter in grandeur of fiction, or to the former in delicate irony and dramatic unity of design, it is wealthier in its literary fund than either, equally moral in its views, and as abundant in the creation of incident. I consider it, therefore, with the exception of the papers just mentioned, as superior, in its powers of attraction, to every other periodical composition.-DRAKE, NATHAN, 1810, Essays Illustrative of the Rambler, Adventurer and Idler, vol. II, p. 393.

He could not easily endure a rival in any branch of literature, but, without entering into his failings, it may easily be conceded that he had not in his time many equals. His talents were so various, his productions so numerous, and of many of them it may truly be asserted, that they were so valuable and so instructive, that who can call to memory without a sigh that his latter hours were darkened by poverty. BELOE, WILLIAM, 1817, The Sexagenarian, vol. 11, p. 222.

It ["West Indian"] is a classical comedy; the dialogue spirited and elegant; the characters well conceived, and presenting bold features, though still within the line of probability; and the plot regularly conducted, and happily extricated.

The drama must have been Cumberland's favourite style of composition, for he went on, shooting shaft after shaft at the mark which he did not always hit, and often effacing by failures the memory of triumphant successes. His plays at last amounted to upwards of fifty, and intercession and flattery were sometimes necessary to force their way to the stage. He had a peculiar taste in love affairs, which induced him to reverse the usual and natural practice of courtship, and to

throw upon the softer sex the task of wooing, which is more gracefully, as well as naturally, the province of the man.SCOTT, SIR WALTER, 1824, Richard Cumberland.

Cumberland was the last, and the best of the Sentimental School. His Genius was of too masculine a character to submit entirely to the fetters which the popular prejudices would impose upon it; and his taste too pure, to relish the sickly viands with which the public appetite was palled. -NEELE, HENRY, 1827-29, Lectures on English Poetry, p. 153.

Cumberland's worthless epics of "Calvary," "Richard the First," "The Exodiad."-CRAIK, GEORGE L., 1861, A Compendious History of English Literature and of the English Language, vol. II. p. 415.

He aimed without success at Fielding's constructive excellence, and imitated that great master's humor, only to reproduce his coarseness.-TUCKERMAN, BAYARD, 1882, A History of English Prose Fiction, p. 247.

There were few departments of literature in which this worthy writer did not do fair journeyman's work, and amid other work he employed himself as a writer of comedies. He who shoots often must hit sometimes. The "West Indian" has merit in it; but his characters are all endowed with a superhuman morality. Cumberland understood stage effect, particularly of the emotional kind. But he was overemotional.-CRAWFURD, OSWALD, 1883, ed., English Comic Dramatists, p. 256.

Were I to be discovered on Primrose Hill, or any other eminence, reading "Henry," I should blush no deeper than if the book had been "David Grieve." Cumberland has, of course, no place in men's memories by virtue of his plays, poems, or novels. Even the catholic Chambers gives no extracts from Cumberland in the "Encyclopedia." What keeps him for ever alive is-first, his place in Goldsmith's great poem, "Retaliation;" secondly, his memoirs to which Sir Walter refers so unkindly; and thirdly, the tradition, the well-supported tradition-that he was the original "Sir Fretful Plagiary." On this last point we have the authority of Croker, and there is none better for anything disagreeable. Croker says he knew Cumberland well for the last dozen years of his life, and that to his last day

he resembled "Sir Fretful."-BIRRELL, AUGUSTINE, 1894, Essays about Men, Women and Books, pp. 51, 52.

A rather curious person, and better known to literature as Sir Fretful Plagiary, but a scholar, a skilful playwright, and no contemptible man of letters.-SAINTSBURY, GEORGE, 1898, A Short History of English Literature, p. 639.

As a writer, Cumberland was not great; he was not even of the second rank, if we count men like Goldsmith and Sheridan in that degree; but he frequently wrote with effect, and invariably as a scholar and a gentleman. Like too many people, he tried to succeed in too many things, and has in consequence just missed high distinction, alike as a poet, a novelist, and a dramatist. Goldsmith's comparison of him with Terence might pass muster as a compliment, but certainly could not be defended on the score of accuracy. No doubt the later dramatist's methods were framed on those of Terence but in all the latter's great literary qualities Cumberland was but a shadow of him. Where is that pure and perfect style which have caused some eminent critics to class Terence with Cicero, Cæsar, and Lucretius? Where the fine individualisation of character, the cosmopolitanism, the metrical skill, the coruscating wit, the exquisite pathos? Cumberland's "Memoirs" are garrulous, but interesting, though some of his stories and recollections require taking with a considerable grain of salt. But he is so overshadowed by his contemporaries, that something less than justice has been done to his literary powers. In private life he was all that was excellent and sincere, he had varied stores of information, which he was never backward in imparting; and he was ever moved by a genuine consideration for the claims and feelings of others. -SMITH, GEORGE BARNETT, 1900, The English Terence, Fortnightly Review, vol. 73, p. 256.

Richard Cumberland, playright, novelist, poet, essayist, and editor, civil servant and amateur diplomatist, belongs to that numerous body of authors who have had to pay for temporary popularity by permanent neglect. nent neglect. His comedies have not held the stage like those of his contemporaries, Sheridan and Goldsmith; his novels are no longer read like those of his model, Henry Fielding; his "Observer" essays have not

as a boy could just recollect him, told Mr. Pickford "that it was quite a pleasure to see even then his gentleness, amiability, and fondness for children. Every day used to witness his strolling down to a pond in the palace garden, in order to feed his swans, who were accustomed to come at the well-known sound of the old man's voice." He was a pleasing companion and a steady friend. His duties, both in the retired country village and in the more elevated positions of dean and bishop, were all performed with a wisdom and ardour that gained him the confidence of all those with whom he was brought in contact. The praise given to him in the inscription on the tablet to his memory in Dromore Cathedral does not appear to have gone beyond the truth. It is there stated that he resided constantly in his diocese, and discharged "the duties of his sacred office with vigilance and zeal, instructing the ignorant, relieving the necessitous, and comforting the distressed with pastoral affection. He was revered for his piety and learning, and beloved for his universal benevolence, by all ranks and religious denominations. WHEATLEY, HENRY B., 1891, ed. Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, General Introduction, vol. 1, p. lxxix.

RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY

1765

You have heard me speak of Mr. Percy. He was in treaty with Mr. James Dodsley for the publication of our best old ballads. in three volumes. He has a large folio MS. of ballads which he showed me, and which, with his own natural and acquired talents, would qualify him for the purpose. as well as any man in England. I proposed the scheme to him myself, wishing to see an elegant edition and good collection of this kind.-SHENSTONE, WILLIAM, 1761, Letter to Graves, March 1.

The reader is here presented with select remains of our ancient English Bards and Minstrels, an order of men, who were once greatly respected by our ancestors, and contributed to soften the roughness of a martial and unlettered people by their songs and by their music. The greater part of them are extracted from an ancient folio manuscript, in the Editor's possession, which contains near two hundred Poems, Songs, and Metrical Romances.

This MS. was written about the middle of the last century; but contains compositions of all times and dates, from the age prior to Chaucer, to the conclusion of the reign of Charles I. This manuscript was shown to several learned and ingenious friends, who thought the contents too curious to be consigned to oblivion, and importuned the possessor to select some of them and give them to the press. As most of them are of great simplicity, and seem to have been merely written for the people, he was long in doubt, whether, in the present state of improved literature, they could be deemed worthy the attention of the public. At length the importunity of his friends prevailed, and he could refuse nothing to such judges as the Author of the Rambler and the late Mr. Shenstone. PERCY, THOMAS, 1765, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Preface.

This ingenious work, which revived the taste for our old poets, is too well known to require being here particularized.BRYDGES, SIR SAMUEL EGERTON, 1800, ed. Phillips's Theatrum Poetarum Anglicanorum, Preface, p. lxx.

I remember well the spot where I read these volumes for the first time. It was beneath a huge platanus tree, in the ruins of what had been intended for an oldfashioned arbor in the garden I have mentioned. The summer-day sped onward so fast, that notwithstanding the sharp appetite of thirteen, I forgot the hour of dinner, was sought for with anxiety, and was still found entranced in my intellectual banquet. To read and to remember was in this instance the same thing, and henceforth I overwhelmed my school-fellows, and all who would hearken to me, with tragical recitations from the ballads of Bishop Percy. The first time, too, I could scrape a few shillings together, which were not common occurrences with me, I bought unto myself a copy of these beloved volumes; nor do I believe I ever read a book half so frequently, or with half the enthusiasm.-SCOTT, SIR WALTER, 1808, Autobiography, Life by Lockhart, vol. I,

ch. i.

"Reliques" is a publication that reflects. lasting honor upon his name; and it has proved the germ of a rich harvest in the same field of the muses.-DIBDIN, THOMAS FROGNALL, 1817, The Bibliographical Decameron, vol. III, p. 339.

A collection singularly heterogeneous, and very unequal in merit, but from the publication of which, in 1765, some of high name have dated the revival of a genuine feeling for true poetry in the public mind.-HALLAM, HENRY, 1837-39, Introduction to the Literature of Europe, pt. ii, ch. v, par. 78.

I never take up these three heavilybound volumes, the actual last edition, at which Dr. Johnson was wont to scoff, without feeling a pleasure quite apart from that excited by the charming book itself; although to that book, far more than to any modern school of minstrelsy we owe the revival of the taste for romantic and lyrical poetry, which had lain dormant since the days of the Commonwealth. This pleasure springs from a very simple cause. The associations of these ballads with the happiest days of my happy childhood.MITFORD, MARY RUSSELL, 1851, Recollections of a Literary Life, p. 1.

99

The publication of the "Reliques, then, constitutes an epoch in the history of the great revival of taste, in whose blessings we now participate. After 1765, before the end of the century, numerous collections of old ballads, in Scotland and England, by Evans, by Pinkerton, Herd, Ritson, were made. The noble reformation, that received so great an impulse in 1765, advanced thenceforward steadily. The taste that was awakened never slumbered again. The recognition of our old life and poetry that the "Reliques" gave, was at last gloriously confirmed and established by Walter Scott.-HALES, JOHN W.,

1868, Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript, The Revival of Ballad Poetry in the Eighteenth Century, vol. II, p. xxix.

The "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry," published in 1765 by Bishop Thomas Percy, produced a purer and more lasting effect than Macpherson's"Ossian." They are the fruit of the industry of a loving and careful collector, and proved to every susceptible mind that the essence of poetry is not to be found in formalism, and in sober reflection, but in true and strong feelings. In Percy's "Reliques' we again meet with undisguised nature, with simple feeling, and with energetic action; they are the poetic reflection of an age of national heroes and whose traditions are closely interwoven with English thought and feeling. and feeling. Hence the powerful and rapid influence these ancient relics of minstrelsy acquired in England and Scotland, an influence which may be traced in the development of English poetry down to our own days.-SCHERR, J., 1874, A History of English Literature, tr. M. V., p. 167.

So ready and inflammable was the material prepared for these living coals, unraked from the ashes of departed years. The "Reliques" were largely composed of the lyrics of earlier and later writers. The ballads yielded the key-note, and then gave place to the melody of more modern verse, the most free and national in its character. Lyric poetry, less ambitious than other forms, more close to the individual sentiment, is wont to be the refuge of the most genuine, simple and passionate strains; to be most deeply infused with the national temper.-BASCOM, JOHN, 1874, Philosophy of English Literature, p. 224.

Percy's "Reliques" is commonly mentioned as the turning-point in the taste of the last century, but it was quite as much the result, as the cause, of the renewed interest in old ballads. Percy did more completely what had been done feebly before. Still, it is well to bear in mind the date of the publication, 1765, as mnemonic point, for this was by far the most important of the collections. A copy of the book fell into the hands of Bürger (1748-94), who translated many of the ballads into German, and was inspired by it to write his own "Lenore." It would be fair to say that Percy's "Reliques" had more influence in Germany than