Part 1 (1/2)
Critical Remarks on Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa, and Pamela (1754).
by Anonymous.
INTRODUCTION
The present pamphlet was published in February 1754, after six volumes of _Sir Charles Grandison_ had appeared and about a month before the appearance of the seventh and last volume. Though _Grandison_ was technically anonymous, its authors.h.i.+p was generally known, and the pamphlet refers to Richardson by name. Sale's bibliography gives further details (_Samuel Richardson: A Bibliographical Record_, New Haven, 1936, pp. 131-32), including the suggestion of the _Monthly Review_ (X, 159-60) that the author was Alexander Campbell, who also wrote _A Free and Candid Examination of Lord Bolingbroke's Letters on History_ (1753). The pro-Bolingbroke and deistic sentiments of the _Critical Remarks_ lend color to this attribution. Nichols' _Literary Anecdotes_ (II, 277) says under the year 1755 that William Bowyer printed a few copies of two pamphlets on _Grandison_, one by Francis Plumer and one by Dr. John Free. To Plumer is attributed _A Candid Examination of the History of Sir Charles Grandison_ (April 1754; 3rd ed., 1755), and the inference might then be that Free was the author of the _Critical Remarks_, even though the date 1755 given by Nichols is not right, since these two are the only known early _Grandison_ pamphlets. But Free's orthodox religious views seem to eliminate him as a possibility. Whoever the author was, his references to Henry and Sarah Fielding are decidedly friendly, and he speaks well of Mason, Gray, Dodsley, and Pope.
The _Remarks_ represents a type of pamphlet occasionally called forth by works which engaged the general attention of the town, such as the great novels of the period; thus before the _Grandison_ pamphlets we have _Pamela Censured_, _Lettre sur Pamela_, _An Examen of the History of Tom Jones_, _An Essay on the New Species of Writing Founded by Mr.
Fielding_, and _Remarks on Clarissa_. Usually these fugitive essays are hostile to the work they discuss, and represent the attempt of some obscure writer to turn a s.h.i.+lling by exposing for sale a t.i.tle page which might catch the eye with a well known name. The J. Dowse who sold the _Critical Remarks_ was an obscure pamphlet-shop proprietor, not a prominent bookseller. Richardson and his correspondents were of course irritated at both the _Grandison_ pieces: Mrs. Sarah Chapone was indignant at the _Critical Remarks_, venturing the absurd suggestion that Fielding might be the author (Victoria and Albert Museum, Forster Collection, Richardson MSS., XIII, 1, ff. 102-03, letter of 6 April 1754); and Lady Bradshaigh and Richardson considered the more favorable _Candid Examination_ an unfriendly work (Forster Collection, Richardson MSS., XI, ff. 98, 100-02). Yet these obscure publications give an interesting view of some current approaches and reactions before opinion has taken a set form, and help us to get access to the contemporary reading public.
The present author airs some cynical and skeptical views in religion and ethics which are not of great critical interest. His ideas about ”sentimental unbelievers” and ”political chast.i.ty,” his simulated disapproval of contemptuous references to the clergy, the attack on John Hill's _Inspector_ to which he devotes his Postscript--these points are little to our purpose. As to literary opinions, he falls into the usual way of judging fiction by its supposed overt intellectual and moral effects. His admiration for _Clarissa_ is based on his acceptance of the complete idealization of the heroine, and of Richardson's declared intention to show ”the distresses that may attend the misconduct both of parents and children in relation to marriage.” In formal literary criticism he is pompous and scholastic. He approves the plot of _Clarissa_ in terms of the _Iliad_, but judges subtle and complex characters by an over-simplified standard of decorum and censures Lovelace as an intricate combination of Achilles and Ulysses!
His unnecessary labors to show that Richardson is not really Homeric ill.u.s.trate the sterile application of epic canons to the novel that vitiates much early criticism of fiction.
In general, he represents the reader with pretensions to culture which make him feel superior to Richardson's novels. He thinks they have been attracting too much attention, yet finds himself forced to attend to what he professes to despise. The stories are far too long, he complains, and Richardson pads them to increase the profits of authors.h.i.+p. (The _Candid Examination_ concurs on this point, and both writers agree that _Clarissa_ should have been in five volumes instead of eight.) The _Remarks_ echoes the common complaint that Richardson is responsible for the flood of new fiction, and prophesies that his novels will be merely the first in a succession of ephemeral best sellers. All in all, we have here a fairly common pattern of opinion: _Pamela_ is low and has no sound moral; _Grandison_ is tedious and excessively mannered; _Clarissa_ at its best must be admitted to be supreme, despite moralistic objections to the Mother Sinclair scenes and to the character of Lovelace. The pamphleteer's silences are sometimes significant: Pamela is not condemned as a scheming little minx, and he does not seem to be much interested in her; despite his approval of Fielding and his preference of Allworthy to Grandison, he shows little interest in the Fielding-Richardson opposition, even omitting the Tom Jones-Grandison ant.i.thesis which seemed obvious to many; he pa.s.ses over the admired Italian story, the madness of Clementina, and the issues raised by Sir Charles' proposed marriage with a Catholic; nor does he offer the familiar comment, soon to become a _cliche_, on the excessive idealization of Sir Charles.
His best points do not follow from his jejune critical principles, but from close reading that forces him at times to admit that he is interested even while he carps and cavils. His predictions about the last volume of _Grandison_ show that the story has at least carried him along. His admiration for the character of Clarissa, though based on his approval of idealization, is really a tribute to Richardson's art, and his qualification that Clarissa is ”rather too good, at least too methodically so,” is fair enough, as is the comment about Grandison's ”showy and ostentatious” benevolence and his excessive variety of accomplishments. The judgment about Richardson's incessant emphasis on s.e.x antic.i.p.ates much later criticism, and is made at first hand, though connected with the stock comment that modern tragedies dwell too exclusively on the pa.s.sion of love. There is truth in the observation that Mr. B-- and Lovelace think nothing can be done with women except by bribery, corruption, and terror, that Richardson is unable to describe a plausible seducer. The author of the _Candid Examination_ seems to take up this cue when he says of the same pair, ”I am of Opinion, that neither of the two Gentlemen conducted themselves so, as to overcome an ordinary Share of Virtue” (p. 24). Nevertheless the discussion in the _Critical Remarks_ is thrown out of balance by exaggerated talk about the portrayal of licentious scenes.
One important observation is that _Grandison_ duplicates some of the princ.i.p.al characters in _Clarissa_: Charlotte Grandison is Anna Howe; her much-enduring husband Lord G-- is Mr. Hickman (the writer expands G-- to ”Goosecap” on the model of Fielding's Mr. b.o.o.by); Pollexfen is Lovelace. This is self-evident, but may have been suggested by the conversation in which Harriet Byron calls Charlotte ”a very Miss Howe,”
while Charlotte refers to Lord G-- as ”a very Mr. Hickman” (_Grandison_, 1754, II, 7-8). The _Candid Examination_, in a postscript commenting on the last volume of _Grandison_, repeats the charge of duplication in a rather odd way: ”The Conduct and Behaviour of Sir _Charles_ and his Lady, after the Marriage, is an Imitation of that of Mr. B-- and _Pamela_; but does not equal the Original” (p. 42).
The pamphleteer has more to say about Charlotte than about Harriet, Sir Charles, or Clementina, the characters with whom later criticism has been chiefly concerned. Charlotte's ”whimsical” or ”arch” way evidently got on his nerves. He catches up a phrase which Harriet applies to her, ”dear flighty creature,” and derisively repeats it several times.
Contemporary readers paid her considerable attention. The _Candid Examination_ names among the fine things in the book ”a Profusion of Wit and Fancy in Lady G--'s Conversation and Letters,” and thinks that Harriet at times treats her levity too severely (pp. 6, 14-16). The author of _Louisa: Or, Virtue in Distress_ (1760) remarks that Lady G-- is one of the most imitated of Richardson's characters--”I have observed that most of our modern novels abound with a lady G--” (p. x).
There were objections even among Richardson's admirers, however, as by Mrs. Delany: ”Miss Grandison is sometimes diverting, has wit and humour, but considering her heart is meant to be a good one, she too often behaves as if it were stark naught” (_Autobiography and Correspondence_, London, 1861, 1 Ser., III, 251). The evidence seems to show that early readers of _Grandison_ did not isolate the princ.i.p.al characters, except perhaps Clementina, but considered them with due reference to the secondary characters and to the whole social context in which they appear.
Finally, this critic is irritated by the conversational and epistolary style which Richardson evolves in the process of ”writing to the moment”; he is particularly vexed at the coined or adapted words which are sometimes italicized and dwelt on as characteristic of an individual. He cites only a few, such as Uncle Selby's _scrupulosities_, but he has others in mind, both from _Grandison_ and from Lovelace's letters in _Clarissa_, and wonders whether such words as these will get into the dictionary. (It happened that Johnson was entering words from _Clarissa_ in his _Dictionary_ during these years.) He burlesques an epistle from Charlotte, slipping in a few of Lovelace's locutions as well (pp. 47-48; cf. _Grandison_, 1754, VI, 288). The author of the _Candid Examination_ distinguishes between what he considers the low mawkish talk of some of Richardson's characters, which he condemns (pp. 11-12), and Richardson's freedom in coining words, which he approves (p. 36). These slight instances may serve to remind us that many of Richardson's early readers must have been keenly aware of his innovations in style, and that these developments form an important link in the 1750's between Richardson and the further innovations of Sterne.
The present reproduction is made by permission from a copy in the University of Michigan Library.
_Alan Dugald McKillop_ _The Rice Inst.i.tute_
Critical Remarks, _&c._
SIR,
I hope you will take nothing amiss that may be said in the following remarks on your compositions; I firmly believe that your motive in writing them was a laudable intention to promote and revive the declining causes of religion and virtue. And when I have said so much, I have surely a right from you to the same favourable interpretation of my design, in publis.h.i.+ng these Considerations on them, and endeavouring to shew how far you have fallen short of your commendable purpose.
That your writings have in a great measure corrupted our language and taste, is a truth that cannot be denied. The consequences abundantly shew it. By the extraordinary success you have met with, if you are not to be reckoned a cla.s.sical author, there is certainly a very bad taste prevailing at present. Our language, though capable of great improvements, has, I imagine, been for some time on the decline, and your works have a manifest tendency to hasten that on, and corrupt it still farther. Generally speaking, an odd affected expression is observable through the whole, particularly in the epistles of Bob Lovelace. His many new-coin'd words and phrases, Grandison's _meditatingly_, Uncle Selby's _scrupulosities_; and a vast variety of others, all of the same Stamp, may possibly become Current in common Conversation, be imitated by other writers, or by the laborious industry of some future compiler, transferred into a Dictionary, and sanctioned by your great Authority.
Your success has farther corrupted our taste, by giving birth to an infinite series of other compositions all of the same kind, and equally, if not more, trifling than your's. A catalogue of them would look like a Bible genealogy, and were I to undertake the task of giving it, I should be obliged to invoke the muse, as Homer does before he begins the catalogue of the s.h.i.+ps in his second Iliad. How long the currency of such compositions may continue, how many may be annually poured forth from the press, is more than any man can say, without being endued with the spirit of prophesy.
But, without making any such pretensions, I can foretel, that if ever a good taste universally prevails, your romances, as well as all others, will be as universally neglected, and that in any event their fate will not be much better; for what recommends them to the notice of the present age is, their novelty, and their gratifying an idle and insatiable curiosity. In a few years that novelty will wear off, and that Curiosity will be equally gratified by other Compositions, it may be, as trifling, but who will then have the additional charm of novelty, to recommend them. Such, Sir, must be the fate of all works which owe their success to a present capricious humor, and have not real intrinsic worth to support them.
Short-lived then as they are, and must be, in their own nature, it might be thought cruel to hasten them to the grave, could that be effected by any thing I have in my power to say, if they did not prevent the success, and stifle in the birth, works which have a just t.i.tle to life, fame and immortality. Human genius is pretty much the same in all ages and nations, but its exertion, and its displaying itself to advantage, depend on times, accidents, and circ.u.mstances. There are, no doubt, writers in the present age, who, did they meet with proper encouragement, might be capable of producing what would last to posterity, and be read and admired by them. We have some good poets, such as the authors of Elfrida, the Church-yard Elegy, and the Poem on Agriculture; a performance which would have been highly valued in an Augustan age, and is the best, perhaps the only Georgic in our language. By the great manner in which the author has executed the first part of his n.o.ble plan, he has shewn himself sufficiently able for the rest; but by his not prosecuting it, I imagine he has not met with the deserved success. This may possibly be imputed to its coming abroad at an improper time. I remember it was first advertised just when the Memoirs of Sir Charles Grandison were appearing by piece-meal. This was a very injudicious step, for who could be supposed to attend to any thing else, when the lovely Harriet Byron continued in suspence, when the fate of Lady Clementina was undetermined, when it was not yet settled, whether she was to marry Grandison, retire to a Nunnery, or continue crack-brain'd all her lifetime.
After all, I am well-pleased to see Grandison and Harriet fairly buckled. And I hope soon to hear, that the ceremony is performed between the Count de Belvedere and Lady Clementina. I am afraid there could have been no compleat happiness in the matrimonial union of the English Gentleman and the Italian Lady. The marriage state may be aptly enough compared to two fiddles playing in concert: if the one can sound no higher than Tweedle-dum, and the other no lower than Tweedle-dee, there never can be any thing but a perpetual jarring discord and dissonance betwixt them. In the same manner the difference in religious sentiments would have been a great allay in the felicity of that ill.u.s.trious couple.
I now proceed, Sir, to the princ.i.p.al business of this address, which is, to enquire how far your writings have contributed to promote the causes of religion and virtue, for which, as you say, and I believe, they were chiefly intended.
It is, no doubt, the indispensable duty of every writer to promote, as far as lies in his power, in the society, of which he is a member, the advancement of virtue, especially the moral and social duties of mutual good-will and universal benevolence. And as far as the established religious system of a country has the same tendency, so far is every man, who writes a popular treatise, let his private sentiments, with respect to the pretensions it makes to truth and a divine original, be what they will, obliged to recommend it to the belief of the people. It is equally his duty, if not more so, to inculcate on their minds a reverence and regard for the established religious corporation, and to avoid saying or doing any thing which may subject them to ridicule and contempt. It must be owned, that your conduct in these articles, especially the last, cannot be sufficiently commended. Your works are designed for the perusal of people in all ranks, they have had an universal run, and in them you have not only shewn yourself a pious Christian, and a good _Bible-scholar_, but you have made all your heroines the same, and have besides introduced the Characters of several pious and worthy clergymen, and represented them acting in very advantageous lights. For these things, as I observed just now, you cannot be more than enough applauded; and no doubt your writings have in so far produced a good effect; but I am afraid you have not acted consistently throughout, for you have not only brought in your hero Lovelace, but Mr. Moden, the only virtuous male character in your Clarissa, expressing contempt for the clergy. Now, in my opinion, a virtuous man, and we have had several instances of that kind among the ancients, may very consistently despise the public religion, but he will never allow himself to bring the order belonging to it under contempt. In fact, it is the clergy alone who render a public religion useful and valuable, let its divine original be a truth never so evident, it could have no influence upon the people, unless they should be catechized and instructed in it by the clergy; and though we should suppose it downright nonsense, yet that order of men must always be reckoned a venerable and necessary inst.i.tution, in as far as they are teachers of moral duties to the people, and recommend to them the practice of virtue, either by precept or example.
Another thing in which I humbly conceive you have been in the wrong, is this: you constantly express a great virulence against those whom you call sentimental unbelievers, and take all opportunities to render them the objects of public odium and detestation. You cannot but be sensible, that such a conduct is contrary to the first and great duties of social virtue. Ought you to quarrel with any man because he is taller or shorter, fairer or blacker than yourself? And yet we can no more help our differing in speculative opinions than in stature or complexion. If you happen to feel the knowledge and perception of divine things supernaturally implanted on your mind, rejoice and be happy, but let not your Wrath arise against those who are not blest with the same sensations. Would you be angry with any man because his eye-sight cannot distinguish objects at such a great distance as yours? Why then quarrel with another for a deficiency of the same kind in spiritual optics? No doubt you will a.s.sert, that the truth of the present religious system may be proved by a long connected chain of demonstrative arguments. But if I might be allowed, without offence, to give my opinion in this matter, as far as you are concerned, I should say, that such an a.s.sertion is in you unbecoming, as well as the conduct you observe in consequence unjust and imprudent. The a.s.sertion is in you unbecoming, because, whatever you may think, the question, whether there was ever a divine revelation given, or a miracle wrought, or whether, supposing such things done, they can be proved to the conviction of a rational unprejudiced man, by moral evidence, and human testimony, requires more learning and judgment than you are possessed of, to determine with any precision. It requires, indeed, the greatest and most universal skill and knowledge in nature and her philosophy, which has not come to your share, as appears from your writings, where, as may easily be perceived, you retail all that little you have pickt up. The more knowledge a man has, he will always be the less a.s.suming; and a positive stiffness, especially in commonly-received opinions, is a certain sign and constant attendant of ignorance. Socrates, the wisest man among the wisest people, after all his researches declared, that all that he knew was, that he knew nothing. Cicero, the greatest master of reason that ever lived, was a professed academic or sceptist. And a learned and virtuous modern, whom I forbear to name, in a letter to an intimate friend, confessed, that the more he thought, he found the more reason to doubt, and had always been more successful in discovering what was false, than what was true. Those ill.u.s.trious three, learned, virtuous, and lovers of their country, to whom it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to add a fourth, were all sentimental unbelievers, and all at the same time inculcated a reverence and regard to the established religions of their respective countries. Nay, all sentimental unbelievers, had they not been provoked by the ill-judged bigotry of their adversaries, would have adhered unanimously to the same maxims. If their unbelief proceeds from a consciousness of the weakness and limited state of the human understanding, the constant result of true learning and philosophy, they will be the more firmly convinced of the great utility and absolute necessity of a public form of wors.h.i.+p, and a religious corporation, and uniformly square their conduct accordingly. It was therefore unjust, as well as imprudent, in you, Sir, who are a popular writer, and whose works are read by every body, to endeavour to render sceptical free-thinkers, from their own principles the fastest and sincerest friends to religion in general, the objects of odium and detestation to the believers in that particular religion, which happens to be at present established by law. This, Sir, and I shall say no more, I hope may be said, from general principles, without offence to any party, without determining or declaring my own sentiments, which are in the right, and which in the wrong, with respect to the truth of their opinions.
I now proceed to the last thing proposed in these remarks, to examine how far your compositions have a natural tendency to advance virtue. They are all strictly dramatical, and therefore, whether they have a good or a bad tendency, they must exert themselves with a stronger influence on the minds of those who are affected by them. In all works of this kind, in order to make them truly valuable and useful, all, at least one of these three things ought to be done. First, by the const.i.tution of the plot or the fable, some great and useful moral ought to be enforced and recommended. In the second place, the characters which are introduced ought to be so contrived, that the readers should be induced to imitate their virtues, or avoid their vices. Or, lastly, some one great moral virtue ought to be inculcated, by making it the characteristic of the Hero, or the chief person in the dramatic work. In these, as in every other species of poetry and composition, the divine Homer has excelled all other writers, he reigns unrivalled in them all, and will for ever be without a compet.i.tor; insomuch, that one certain way of judging the merit or demerit of all other authors, is, to enquire how near they have approached, or how far they have fallen short of this standard of perfection in writing. I shall now examine how far you, in your several performances, have succeeded, with respect to these articles, in the same order wherein they are set down.