English fiction from the fifth to the twentieth century

Chapter I Page

The Earliest Attempts in English Fiction iii

I. Social and literary conditions — the scop — feast songs — sources of early fiction — Anglo-Saxon charms. II. Widsith — the Exeter Book — Widsith's story — its national traits. III. Beowulf — its age — its story — its descriptions — its three episodes — its historical basis — older stories in it — its construction, plot, and characters — its national traits. IV. Deor's Complaint — its story — its lyrical quality — The Wanderer' — its pessimism — its "travel" story — the lack of a love theme — The Seafarer — its conversational form — its plot — its love of the sea — summary of earliest attempts in fiction.

CHAPTER II The Earliest Fiction of Chkistian England .... 24 I. The Anglo-Saxon hero — Christian changes — Csedmon — story of his inspiration — his Biblical stories — his Genesis story — its Miltonic sublimity — its Anglo-Saxon tone — its visualization — Vision of the Rood — the warrior Christ — improvements in fiction. II. Cynewulf — the discovery of him — his Elene — its plot — its descriptions and characterizations — Crist — its rushing descriptions — its use of conversation — its plot — its modern tone — its personal note — Judith — its violent story — its "woman's honor" theme. III. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle — Brunanburh — Maldon — the influence of fiction. IV. The Danes — Norman influences — Apollonius of Tyre.

CHAPTER III The Fiction of Nokman England 50

I. The source and character of the Norman-French — Norman England — social conditions — the efl'ect of the Invasion. II. English, French, and Latin stories — minstrels and gleemen — the varied use of stories — folk tales — Horn and Evmenhild — Horn Childe — Ponthus et Sidoine — Have-

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lok — its homely character — Bevis of Hampton — Guy of Warwick — Robin Hood — Sir Cleges — merry tales — Land of Cokaygne — The Friar and the Boy — Tale of the Basin — Dan Hugh Monk — religious legends — Saints' Lives — The Smith and His Dame — beast fables — bestiaries — their ethical value — Reynard the Fox — Physiologus. III. Sources of greater literature — medieval idealism — Norman plagiarism. IV. The Classical Matter — British belief in Trojan ancestry — Benoit's Roman de Troie — De Bello Trojano — Guido of Sicily — Siege of Troy — Chaucer's use of the theme — Lydgate's — Caxton's — Story of Thebes — Boccaccio's, Chaucer's, Lydgate's, Caxton's, Shakespeare's, and Dryden's use of it — Alexander Cycle — its popularity — modernization of Alexander — immense plot of Alexander story — Gower's and Shakespeare's uses of Apollonius of Ttyre — Blancheflotir and Floris — The Squire of Low Degree — William of Palerne — the Nine Worthies — Aucassin and Nicolette. V. The Charlemagne Cycle, or Matter of France — its popularity among common folk — Song of Roland — chansons de geste — their degeneracy into jest-books — origin of Song of Roland — Pilgrimage of Charlemagne — Roland and Yernagu — Duke Euon — Spenser's, Shakespeare's, and Keats' uses of it. VI. The Matter of Britain, or the King Arthur Legend — its advantages — four theories as to its origin — historical mention of Arthur — Geoffrey of Monmouth — contemporary opinions of his work — its fame — Gaimar's translation of it — Paris' Chronica Major — Walter Map — Wace's Brut — Layamon's Brut — Robert of Gloucester — Thomas Bek — Robert Manning — de Waurin's Recueil — Caxton's Cronycles of England — Malory's Morte d' Arthur — the crude beginnings — Geoffrey's improvements — the plot — Norman gratification — various additions — its wide fame. VII. Making the cycle — Marie de France — Crestien de Troyes — Sir Launval — growth of the characters — women in the stories — vulgar versions — The Boy and the Mantle. VIII. The Tristram Story — its various versions — its characters — its influence. IX. The Lancelot Story — its plot — demands of "courtly love" — its "blended life." X. The Gawain Story — Sir Ga/wain and the Green Knight — its Celtic element — various versions — Gawain's popularity. XL The Merlin Story — its antiquity — Merlin's precocity — rapid growth of the legend — Merlin's lasting fame. XII. The Holy Grail Story — its unifying and idealistic influence — origins of the grail — Walter Map's influence — Malory's work. XIII. The Morte d'Arthur Story — cause of the fall — growth of the legend — Malory's work — "the Ocean of the Rivers of Story."

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CHAPTER IV The Fiction of the Foukteknth and Fifteenth Centuries 104 I. National changes — rise of the common folk — picturesque life of the day — the general discontent. II. Literary conditions — the old and the new elements in fiction — tales of wonder — Friar Bacon — Friar Rush — Virgil — the priests' use of '"examples" — Eandlyng Sinne — Ghost of Guy — oriental narratives — Seven Sages — Gesta Romanorum — its elements — its weird effects — Cursor Mundi — its symbolism — revisions of old romances — their defects — influence of Italian writers. III. Chaucer — ^the scope of his literary work — The Pardoner's Tale — its characterization — The Nun's Priest's Tale — its moderu tone — its humor — Tale of Sir Thopas — its satire — Troylus and Criseyde — its analysis of character and of emotion — its likeness to the novel — Chaucer's influence on fiction. IV. Langland — his life and character — Piers Plowman — the three versions — the story — Do Well, Do Bet, Do Best — its lack of plan — its sincerity — Langland vs. Chaucer — Langland's limitations — his character portrayal. V. Gower — his character — his writings — hia story of Florent — his popularity as a story-teller. VI. The decadence — Lydgate — his Chaucer imitations — his stories — his popularity — worn condition of the old themes — influence of travel and commerce — Mandeville's Travels — increasing desire for plausibility.

CHAPTER V The Fiction of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 138 I. Foreign fiction — British protest against it — collections of translations — Lady Lucres — Caxton's publication of fiction — folk tales. II. Sir Thomas More — his character and career — the Utopia — its theories and pictures — its realism and naturalness — other stories of the Ideal State.

III. The increase of artificialty — Lyly's Euphues — fiction for women — Lyly's career — the plot of Euphues — Euphues and His England — use of similes and metaphors — use of zoology and botany — Lyly's English traits — approach to novel of manners — sentiment analysis — rhetorical value.

IV. Shakespeare's, Jonson's, and Scott's use of Euphuisnv — Lyly's imitators. V. Robert Greene — his life and character — Mamillia — Mirror of Modesty — Arbasto — Morando — Pandosto — Menaphon — Repentance — his Euphuism — his ethical purpose — his plots — his realism — Emanuel Ford — Parismus — Nicholas Breton — Miseries of Mavillia

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— Two Excellent Princes — Mad Letters — The Good and the Bad — the germ of the society novel — character sketches — ^gathering of fiction elements. VI. Lodge's Rosalynde — his career — the plot — the charm. VII. Sir Philip Sidney — his life — Arcadia — its daintiness — ita characters and plot — its descriptions — the living character of the queen — imitations of Arcadia — Lady Wroath's Urania — influence of Arcadia. VIII. Picaresque tales — Thomas Nash — his characters — his realistic stories — Jack Wilton — use of details — its lowly scenes — Nash's imitatators. IX. Thomas Dekker's realistic stories — Guls Borne Booke. X. Rise of English prose — Puritan influences — French fiction — refined heroism — Catherine Phillips — Duchess of Newcastle's Sociable Letters. XI. Eoger Boyle's Parthenissa — Mrs. Manley — ^her indecency — The Power of Love — Secret Memoirs — Mrs. Behn — her vileness — her Oroonoko — its romance and realism — its plot — the "child of nature." XII. John Bunyan — his knowledge of men — his spiritual experiences — Pilgrim's Progress — Holy War — Mr. Badman — the vivid characterization — the analysis — the two kinds of realism — the style — Bunyan's influence on fiction.

CHAPTER VI

The Fiction of the Eighteenth Century 192

I. Social and literary conditions. 11. Sir Roger de Coverley — approach to the "novel" form — the hero's humanness. III. Daniel Defoe — Defoe vs. Swift — Defoe's training — his biographical work — his impersonal tone — his timeliness — Robinson Crusoe — sources of its realism — Crusoe's personality — Moll Flanders — Colonel Jack — Captain Singleton — Defoe's pictures of immorality — Robinson Crusoe not a novel. IV. Jonathan Swift — Tale of a Tub — Battle of the Books — Defoe vs. Swift — Oulliver's Travels — its merciless descriptions — Swift's contributions to fiction. V. Eliza Haywood — her use of love — Betsy Thoughtless — its defects and merits. VI. Samuel Richardson — his character — Pamela — its analysis — its morality — Clarissa Harlowe — its fame — sources of its power — Sir Charles Grandison — the hero's nature — the ridiculous side — Richardson's contributions to fiction. VII. Henry Fielding — his career — Joseph Andreics — its character delineation — Fielding's knowledge of life — Parson Adams — Journey from this World to the Next — -Jonathan Wild — Tom Jones — its plot — its characters — its vigor — Amelia — Journal of the Voyage — Fielding's influence on fiction. VIII. Saia Fielding. IX. Tobias Smollett— his trainviii

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mg — Roderick R/indom — Peregrine PicJcle — Ferdinand Count Fathom — Sir Launcelot Greaves — Adventures of an Atom — Humphrey Clinker — savage analysis — the plots — the roughness, coarseness, humor — the sea characters — humor of Humphrej/ Clinker — French and Spanish influence on Smollett — his gifts to fiction. X. Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy — his strange nature — his Sentimental Journey — his plagiarism — his topsy-turvy methods — the characters — his delicate art — his sarcasm. XI. Johnson's Basselas — its plot — its defects and merits. XII. Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield — his nature — the impossible plot — its spirit, purity, humor, characters — cause of its success. XIII. Hobby-riding — Johnstone's Adventures of a Guinea — Leland's Longsivord — Walpole's Castle of Otranto — Reeve's Old English Baron — Lee's Recess — Gothic and historical romances — Beckford's Vathek — Radcliffe's Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, Romance of the Forest and Mysteries of Udolpho. XIV. The novel of purpose — "back to nature" theme — Brooke's Fool of Quality — Day's Sanford and Merton — its "new vpoman" — Inchbald's Simple Story and Nature and Art — democratic fiction — Bage's novels — Holcroft's Anna St. Ives — his anarchy — Charlotte Smith's Desmond — Godwin's Caleb William,s. XV. The novel of manners — Griffith's Koran — Mackenzie's Man of Feeling, Man of the World, and Julia de Roubigne — Graves' Spiritual Quixote — Cumberland's Henry — Fanny Burney — her Evelina — its social pictures — Cecilia — Burney's view of men — Camilla — Marie Edgeworth — her Irish pictures — Rackrent Castle — Belinda — Burney's ethical purpose — her influence.

CHAPTER VII

I. Social and literary conditions — romanticists vs. realists. II. Jane Austen — her calm realism — her training — Northanger Abbey — Sense and Sensibility — ^the "inner life" — Austen's methods — her characters — Mansfield Park — Emma — Persuasion — her use of conversation — her reserve — her influence. III. Sir Walter Scott — his defects — reasons for his success — ^his virility — his use of history — his romanticism and realism — his methods — his heroes — his social pictures — ^his gifts to fiction. IV. Scott's disciples. V. Bulwer-Lytton — his versatility — ^his various themes — his qualification — his formula — Last Days of Pompeii — his use of history — his teachers — his use of the Gothic — his loss of popularity. VI. Gothic revivals — Colloquies on Society — Mrs. Shelley's Frankerir is

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stein — Maturin's Melmoth — Collins' Woman in White and Moonstone — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland — the vast array of themes — Irish fiction — war and sea fiction — "travel" stories — Scotch realism — Susan Ferrier — John Gait — ^David Moir — English realism — Mary Mitford — Harriet Martineau — E. S. Barrett — Richard Barham — Dinah Mulock. VII. Benjamin Disraeli — his egotism — the originals of his characters — his rich imagination — his characterization — his style — Contarini Fleming — Henrietta Temple — Coningsby — Sybil — Tancred. VIII. Charles Dickens — his personality — his training — his animation — his reforming tendencies — Theodore Hook and Pierce Egan — Pickwick Papers — humanitarianism — Dickens' exaggerations — his inventiveness — ^his use of emotion — his characters — his idealism — his appeal to the average reader — his influence. IX. Thackeray — ^liis use of history — Esmond — Vanity Fair — his methods — his cynicism — his ethical purpose — Pendennis — its sly sarcasm — the pathos of disillusionment — The Virginians — The Newcomes — his increase of sentiment — his attitude toward his characters — his weak plots — Esmond vs. Vanity Fair — his merits. X. Austen's influence — Mrs. Opie — Miss Ferrier — Mrs. Trollope — Baroness Toutphoeus — Mrs. Henry Wood — Dinah Mulock — Elizabeth Gaskell — her realism — Cranford — Ruth — Gaskell's influence on George Eliot.

XI. Protest against Austen — George Borrow — Charles Reade — Charles Kingsley — Hypatia — Westicard Ho.

XII. Charlotte Bronte — Emily Bronte — Jane Eyre — Shirunion with Lewes — her sympathy, pathos, and humor — ley. XIII. George Eliot — her gifts and training — her her accurate methods — her ethical import — causes of her permanent success. XIV. Realism vs. romanticism — Blackmore's Lorna Doone — Black's Princess of Thule — ■ Anthony Trollope — his protest — his characters — his realistic pictures. XV. George Meredith — his lack of popularity — his poetry vs. his fiction — his closeness to life — his novels — his psychology — his heroines — his humor and pathos — his future fame. XVI. Thomas Hardy vs. Meredith — Hardy's bitterness — the school of naturalism — Hardy's peasant characters — his themes — the fatalism of Tess — Hardy's use of Nature — his style — his defects and merits. XVII. Robert Louis Stevenson — his romanticism — his love of chance — his characters — his apparent truthfulness — his realistic touches — his historical romances — his dual personality — Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — his group of styles — his influence. XVIII. George Gissing — his realism and pessimism — liis strain of idealism — his grasp of details — the value of his work. XIX.

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Various minor novelists — the scope and use of the nineteenth century novel.

CHAPTER VIII

I. Tendencies of the day — impressionism — French influences. II. McCarthy — Lang — Watson — Barrie — Crockett. III. Mrs. Ward. IV. Hall Caine. V. Weyman— Haggard — Jerome — Hewlett — Pemberton — Corelli — Hawkins — Zangwill. VI. Conan Doyle— H. G. Wells. VII. A. C. Benson — E. F. Benson. VIII. Snaith — Trevena — De Morgan — Phillpotts — Locke — Quiller-Couch. IX. John Galsworthy — his lack of plot — 4iis themes — his assurance. X. Rudyard Kipling — his romanticism and realism — his character delineation — his chief merits.

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Prefatory Note

The stream of fiction is hard to follow. It has its origin in so many sources so widely separated and so divergent in character, and these are in many eases so obscured by remoteness or by insignificance, that they are difficult to discover. When discovered they do not disclose even to daring conjecture their possible influence upon the main current. The stream itself flows with many windings because turned in its course by adverse conditions or actually forced out of its normal channel by insuperable obstacles. It flows too with unsteady motion, now moving in well-defined limits, now submerging adjacent territory and well-nigh engulfing kindred forms and becoming itself sluggish in its forward movement; at other times it dashes on with inexplicable impetuosity and then eddies around some fixed point in its course. Tributaries feed this stream all along its course — tributaries that demand but defy full exploration and tempt the discoverer to lose himself in the mazes of their obscure sources. The author of this book has succeeded well in playing the guide on this stream with its twists and turnings, its lulling quietness "and restive dashes, its accretions and its losses. By seeing the end from the beginning he has kept himself from being diverted from his single purpose and has certainly made the journey easier for the next explorer that comes this way.

Dropping the figure we may add more directly that

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PREFATORY NOTE

the author has amassed a wealth of valuable material difficult of easy access to any one, and for the general reader well-nigh inaccessible. This is particularly true of the Old and Middle English stories inherently interesting but rarely read because the originals are forbidding and the modernizations not freely circulated. He has subjected this, and all of his material, to careful, though not to studiously critical analysis and reached conclusions that are independent without being whimsically or perversely individual. These conclusions are in general sane and suggestive and are set forth so directly and simply, with so little of academic affectation and technical involutions, as to be readily intelligible and highly entertaining.

The plan of the book is clear and is sufficiently observed to protect the author and readers alike from needless wanderings; and, in spite of the irreconcilable variety of the material, the transitions have been, in the main, skilfully made and the whole book well articulated. "While it is not a book for a single sitting it has continued interest and logical connection.

This book may be commended cordially and with confidence to intelligent readers desiring general information on this interesting development in literature ; to students requiring a running account of fiction parallel with their closer study; and to those pursuing courses designed especially for instruction and culture.

Charles W. Kent.

May 20, 1912.

Charlottesville, Virginia.

XIV

Preface

This book is an attempt to show with considerable detail the development of English story-telling from the fifth to the twentieth century. It might, with some appropriateness be called a study of the story-telling instinct among the English people ; for the book treats, not only of the masterpieces of English narrative, but of the crude efforts of our early forefathers. In the extent of the field thus covered, this volume, so far as I have been able to discover, stands alone. Almost every investigation of English fiction begins with the first quarter of the eighteenth century ; only two or three extend as far back as the days of Shakespeare. The present work follows the progress of the narrative art from the days of the first Anglo-Saxon songs of heroes to the realistic studies of life in the present day.

Fifteen hundred years of fiction is a tremendous stretch to cover; but it is decidedly unfair to the subject and to the student of literature to begin with Defoe and Richardson, and thus leave the impression that they were the first English story tellers. More, Lyly, Lodge, and Greene were writing fiction long before ; the British folk were telling of King Arthur, King Horn, and Robin Hood centuries before the Elizabethans wrote; and before the days of Arthur the Anglo-Saxons were relating the deeds of Beowulf. It is a continuous story to be begun only at the beginning.

PREFACE

I have entirely excluded American and Colonial writers. Cooper and Hawthorne were not British; neither are William Dean Howells and Henry James, no matter how much they have learned from their English friends. Moreover, American fiction is developing such distinct traits that a study of it is worthy of a separate volume. This I hope to write at no distant date.

The book is not presented as a highly technical dissertation for specialists already well versed in the evolution of this type of literature. The effort has been to produce an untechnical narrative of the general changes and processes through which English story-telling has reached its present form. Intended not only for students making their first investigations in the subject, but also for the general reader outside the college walls, it is "written purposely in ''popular" style and with as little delay on merely scholarly details as possible. This, it is hoped, will not prove a disadvantage to the scholarly reader, while it will undoubtedly prove a distinct advantage to those whose interest i's not won and retained by scholarship alone.

I wish to express my thanks to Miss Mary Hannah Johnson, of the Carnegie Library, Nashville, Tennessee, for aid rendered on many occasions ; to Professor George Herbert Clarke, of the George Peabody College for Teachers, for his valuable suggestions; and to the students in my graduate class at Vanderbilt University for their interest and assistance while this volume was in the making.

Carl Holliday.

Vanderbilt University,

CHAPTER I The Earliest Attempts est English Fiction

literary conditions

Hamlet once declared that "the play 's the thing"; but he would have been much more accurate had he said, "The story 's the thing." All nations, savage or civilized, long for fiction, and it has ever been thus. Among the Greeks Homer was but a culmination of a multitude of legends and traditions that had been told about the campfire or in the family circle for hundreds of years ; Virgil found ready for his master hand a mass of folklore known to Romans for centuries before he sang his Mneid; the French with their Song of Roland and the Germans with their Nihelungen Lied are but further illustrations of the native and undying craving for great dreams of what might have been. "With none of these nations has the longing been more persistent and more evident than with the English. From their very birth — yes, before they were an organized people bearing one name — they called for stories. That man who could retell these legends in vigorous and inspiring language received all honor; he stood next to the king in appreciation and reverence; he was lovingly called the scop^ the maker, the creator; he was expected to incite men to brave deeds and noble ideals; he was rewarded with liberal gifts of gold and of property; he was the admired molder of tribal emotions and purposes.

To us moderns it would be a weird and fascinating experience to glance into an ancient Anglo-Saxon feast, to see the king and his warriors at the table in the great hall, the crackling fire on stone hearths at either end of the long room, the smoke curling slowly through wide holes in the roof or lingering among the blackened rafters, and along the walls the stone benches where the long-haired harpers sat, taking their turn at singing the deeds of old-time heroes or chanting in unison the brave battles and victories of their present chief. Every man in that hall, from the king to the humblest soldier, was expected to be a singer and to have in memory a store of ballads of olden days; and often, under the excitement of the music and ale, the chief or some warrior snatched the harp from the hands of a minstrel, burst forth into a mighty battle song, and then passed the instrument to another of the feasters to add to the unwritten volume of legendary lore.

Innumerable were the stories of that day. Unfortunately, however, during the incursions of the mad-hearted Danes in the eighth and ninth centuries a multitude of manuscripts containing these ancient tales were destroyed. Still, fate was not entirely heartless; there remain enough shriveled parchments to show the form, the style, the spirit, and the ideals of our primitive fiction. In these we may trace the first rude gropings in that art which, more than a thousand years later, made the names of Scott, Thackeray, and Dickens famous throughout the world.

Stopf ord Brooke ^ has said : "As far as we can go back with certainty we find the Teutonic tribes harpists or singers, . . . Religion and war were the fullest sources of their poetry. ... At one special point their religion and their war . . . were combined into song — in the mingling of the great myths with the lives of tribal heroes. . . . The doings of the light and darkness, of the heat and cold, were made into mythical stories which gathered around a few and afterwards around many gods whom the personating passion of mankind fitted to the various doings of Nature. , . . These stories grew into legends and sagas of the gods. . . . But the myths thus existing took a fresh life in the war stories. When a great hero arose, did famous deeds, and died, his history grew into a saga. . . . Then, because wonder must belong to him, the Nature myths stole also into history, and the tales of winter and summer, of the gentle doings of the light, and of the battle of light with darkness, were modified and varied into the hero's real adventures till at last we can scarcely distinguish between the hero and the divine being. . . . Thus both the fruitful sources of poetry, worship and battle, gave passion and dignity to the character and deeds of the hero."

The commonest things of life, however, as well as worship and battle, were also sources and causes of fiction. Even the brief charms chanted by the peasant

1 English Literature from the Beginning to the Norman Conquest, p. 41.

when he was sowing or reaping often contained hints of legends or bits of plot pregnant with imagination and dramatic possibilities. The tribal medicine-man, in his efforts to cure the patient, shook his shield above the diseased man and sang defiantly to the witch-maidens, the Valkyrie:

Loud were they, lo! loud, as over the land they rode; Fierce of heart were they, as over the hill they rode! Shield thee now thyself, from their spite thou may'st escape thee.

Out, little spear, if herein thou be ! Underneath the linden stand I, underneath the shining shield, For the might maidens have mustered up their strength. And have sent their spear screaming through the air! Back again to them will I send another. Arrow forth a-flying from the front against them!

Out, little spear, if herein thou be!

And even the riddles that came in a later day were frequently in a story form; as when the moon is represented as a young warrior hurrying with stolen treasure to his castle, the sun pursuing, and the night stealing upon the sun and destroying him. Long ago, then, our forefathers realized the joy of a creative imagination,

WIDSITH

One of the earliest bits of fiction now existing — perhaps the oldest in any Germanic language — is the fragment known as Widsith {Far Away or the Far Traveler). Found in a manuscript volume, the Exeter Book, presented to Exeter Cathedral by Bishop Leofric in 1071, the present form of this story of travel is doubtless a recast of some ancient lines sung probably as early as A. D. 400. True, it contains names of monarchs who lived as late as 520 ; but these, it would appear, could easily have been added from century to century by new singers. The harpist tells of his far journeys, of the kings and nations he has met, and of how he has fired their ambition by his glorious songs of their deeds. "Widsith told his story; he unlocked his word-hoard, — he who of all men had seen the most kindreds and nations, and who for his singing often received gifts in the hall. ' '

Thus I traveled through strange lands and learnt Of good and evil in the spacious world; Parted from home-friends and dear kindred, far The ways I followed. Therefore I can sing And tell a tale, recount in the Mead Hall How men of high race gave gifts to me.

When I and Skilling for our conquering Lord, With clear voice raised the song loud to the harp. The sound was music; many a stately man, Who well knew what was right, then said in words That never had they heard a happier song.

So have I ever found in journeying

That he is to the dwellers in a land

The dearest, to whom God gives, while he lives

Here upon earth, to hold rule over men.

Thus wandering, they who shape songs for men

Pass over many lands, and tell their need.

And speak their thanks, and ever, south or north.

Meet someone skilled in songs and free in gifts,

Who would be raised among his friends to fame

And do brave deeds till light and life are gone.

He who has thus wrought himself praise shall have