History of English Humour Volume II Part 19

"Oh, mirth and innocence! Oh milk and water!

Ye happy mixtures of more happy days!

In these sad centuries of sin and slaughter Abominable man no more allays His thirst with such pure beverage. No matter, I love you both, and both shall have my praise!

Oh, for old Saturn's reign of sugar-candy!

Meantime I drink to your return in brandy."

We may observe that there is humour in the rhymes in the above stanzas.

He often used absurd terminations to his lines as--

"For bating Covent garden, I can hit on No place that's called Piazza in Great Britain."

People going to Italy, are to take with them--

"Ketchup, Soy, Chili-vinegar and Harvey, Or, by the Lord! a Lent will well nigh starve ye."

We are here reminded of the endings of some of Butler's lines. Such rhymes were then regarded as poetical, but in our improved taste we only use them for humour. Lamb considered them to be a kind of punning, but in one case the same position, in the other the same signification is given to words of the same sound. The following couplet was written humorously by Swift for a dog's collar--

"Pray steal me not: I'm Mrs. Dingley's Whose heart in this four-footed thing lies."

Pope has the well known lines,

"Worth makes the man and want of it the fellow, And all the rest is leather and prunella."

Miss Sinclair also, in her description of the Queen's visit to Scotland, has adopted these irregular terminations with good effect--

"Our Queen looks far better in Scotland than England No sight's been like this since I once saw the King land.

Edina! long thought by her neighbours in London A poor country cousin by poverty undone;

The tailors with frantic speed, day and night cut on, While scolded to death if they misplace a b.u.t.ton.

And patties and truffles are better for Verrey's aid, And cream tarts like those which once almost killed Scherezade."

The parallelism of poetry has undergone very many changes, but there has generally been an inclination to a.s.similate it to the style of chants or ballad music. The forms adopted may be regarded as arbitrary--the rythmical tendency of the mind being largely influenced by established use and surrounding circ.u.mstances. We cannot see any reason why rhymes should be terminal--they might be at one end of the line as well as at the other. We might have--

"Early rose of Springs first dawn, Pearly dewdrops gem thy breast, Sweetest emblem of our hopes, Meetest flower for Paradise."

But there are signs that all this pedantry, graceful as it is, will gradually disappear. Blank verse is beginning to a.s.sert its sway, and the sentiment in poetry is less under the domination of measure. No doubt the advance to this freer atmosphere will be slow, music has already adopted a wider harmony. Ballads are being superseded by part singing, and airs by sonatas. The time will come when to produce a jingle at the end of lines will seem as absurd as the rude harmonies of Dryden and Butler now appear to us.

It would not be just to judge of the profanity of Byron by the standard of the present day. We have seen that two centuries since parodies which to us would seem distasteful, if not profane, were written and enjoyed by eminent men. Probably Byron, a man of wide reading had seen them, and thought that he too might tread on unforbidden ground and still lay claim to innocence. The periodicals and collections of the time frequently published objectionable imitations of the language of Scripture and of the Liturgy, evidently ridiculing the peculiarities inseparable from an old-fashioned style and translation. In the "Wonderful Magazine" there was "The Matrimonial Creed," which sets forth that the wife is to bear rule over the husband, a law which is to be kept whole on pain of being "scolded everlastingly."

A litany supposed to have been written by a n.o.bleman against Tom Paine, was in the following style.

THE POOR MAN'S LITANY.

"From four pounds of bread at sixteen-pence price, And b.u.t.ter at eighteen, though not very nice, And cheese at a shilling, though gnawed by the mice, Good Lord deliver us!"

The "Chronicles of the Kings of England," by Nathan Ben Sadi were also of this kind, parodies on Scripture were used at Elections on both sides, and one on the Te Deum against Napoleon had been translated into all the European languages. But a most remarkable trial took place in the year 1817, that of William Hone for publishing profane parodies against the Government. From this we might have hoped that a better taste was at length growing up, but Hone maintained that the prosecution was undertaken on political grounds, and that had the satires been in favour of the Government nothing would have been said against them. He also complained of the profanity of his accuser, the Attorney-General, who was perpetually "taking the Lord's name in vain" during his speech.

Some parts of Hone's publications seem to have debased the Church Services by connecting them with what was coa.r.s.e and low, but the main object was evidently to ridicule the Regent and his Ministers, and this view led the jury to acquit him. Still there was no doubt that his satire reflected in both ways. His Catechism of a Ministerial member commenced--

_Question._ What is your name?

_Answer._ Lick-spittle.

_Ques._ Who gave you this name?

_Ans._ My Sureties to the Ministry in my political charge, wherein I was made a member of the majority, the child of corruption, and a locust to devour the good things of this kingdom.

The supplications in his Litany were of the following kind--

"O Prince! ruler of thy people, have mercy upon us thy miserable subjects."

Some of Gillray's caricatures would not now be tolerated, such as that representing Hoche ascending to Heaven surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim--grotesque figures with red nightcaps and tri-coloured c.o.c.kades having books before them containing the Ma.r.s.eillaise hymn. In another Pitt was going to heaven in the form of Elijah, and letting his mantle drop on the King's Ministers.

It must be admitted that there is often a great difficulty in deciding whether the intention was to ridicule the original writing or the subject treated in the Parody. A variety of circ.u.mstances may tend to determine the question on one side or the other, but regard should especially be had as to whether any imperfection in the original is pointed out. The fault may be only in form, but in the best travesties the sense and subject are also ridiculed, and with justice.

Such was the aim in the celebrated "Rejected Addresses," and it was well carried out. This work now exhibits the ephemeral character of humour, for, the originals having fallen into obscurity, the imitations afford no amus.e.m.e.nt. But we can still appreciate a few, especially the two respectively commencing:--

"My brother Jack was nine in May, And I was eight on New Year's day; So in Kate Wilson's shop, Papa, (he's my papa and Jack's,) Bought me, last week, a doll of wax, And brother Jack a top."...

And--

"O why should our dull retrospective addresses, Fall damp as wet blankets on Drury Lane fire?

Away with blue devils, away with distresses, And give the gay spirit to sparkling desire.

"Let artists decide on the beauties of Drury, The richest to me is when woman is there; The question of houses I leave to the jury; The fairest to me is the house of the fair."

The point in these will be recognised at once, as Wordsworth and Moore are still well known.

CHAPTER XIV.

Theodore Hook--Improvisatore Talent--Poetry--Sydney Smith--The "Dun Cow"--Thomas Hood--Gin--Tylney Hall--John Trot--Barbara's Legends.

Theodore Hook was at Harrow with Lord Byron, and characteristically commenced his career there by breaking one of Mrs. Drury's windows at the suggestion of that n.o.bleman. His father was a popular composer of music, and young Theodore's first employment was that of writing songs for him. This, no doubt, gave the boy a facility, and led to the great celebrity he acquired for his improvisatore talent. He was soon much sought for in society, and a friend has told me that he has heard him, on sitting down to the piano, extemporize two or three hundred lines, containing humorous remarks upon all the company. On one occasion, Sir Roderick Murchison was present, and some would have been a little puzzled how to bring such a name into rhyme, but he did not hesitate a moment running on:--

"And now I'll get the purchase on, To sing of Roderick Murchison."

Cowden Clark relates that when at a party and playing his symphony, Theodore asked his neighbour what was the name of the next guest, and then sang:--

"Next comes Mr. Winter, collector of taxes, And you must all pay him whatever he axes; And down on the nail, without any flummery; For though he's called Winter, his acts are all summary."

Horace Twiss tried to imitate him in this way, but failed. Hook's humour was not of very high cla.s.s. He was fond of practical jokes, such as that of writing a hundred letters to tradesmen desiring them all to send goods to a house on a given day. Sometimes he would surprise strangers by addressing some strange question to them in the street. He started the "John Bull" newspaper, in which he wrote many humorous papers, and amused people by expressing his great surprise, on crossing the Channel, to find that every little boy and girl could speak French.

He wrote cautionary verses against punning:--