170 



SATIRE 



of the light political |iiih in gay and etwy 

 Hut he U altogether overshadowed by 

 Junius.' whime polished sarcasm, cutting invec- 

 tire, anil dignity of style elevat<l tin* (xilitical 

 pamphlet to tin* level of permanent literature. 

 VVoleot (Peter Pindar), a sort of street buffoon 

 in letter*, a man with more rollicking wit and im- 

 pudence than real malice, poked rare fun at tin 1 

 odditim of George HI., at Sir Joseph Hunk-, tin- 

 French philosophers, &c. Gilford, the founder of 

 t IIP (Jiuirtrrlii, wax a translator of Javenal and 

 author of noroe vigorous but ill bred invective; thus, 

 Peter Pindar, who had a-ai!cd liini personally, ia 

 tried a 'dotard,' ' reptile,' ami lirutal 

 Cowper denounced in old-fashioned satire the extra- 

 vagances of a society In- knew nl second hand only. 

 A much greater name than any of thee in the 

 annul* of Katire U that of Burns, who hated as he 

 loved, well and ardently ; uniting reckless glee 

 with tine irony anil boisterous fun with keen wit, 

 he hit out Iniidlv at hypocrisy and pride of birth, 

 a* well an at individual- Kynm turned his ready 

 command of easy veree and fluent Karcasm, and his 

 keen appreciation of an opponent's weak places, 

 to admirable account in hU celebrated rejoinder to 

 the Scotch critics, and in his attack upon the Ijike 

 poet* ( t'unoH of Judgment ). But hU satiric master- 

 piece in of couree Don Juan. Tom Moore's politi- 

 cal squibs in veme are full of sparkle, watery, and 

 airy fancy. Political warfare indeed has always 

 U n very prolific of satirical effusions, especially 

 in England : -TV Rolliad ( 17H4-85) and The Antt- 

 Jaeobi* ( 1797-08) series may be instanced. Theo- 

 dore Hook wrote in John Bull satires, vigorous, 

 scurrilous, but funny, upon the Whig- and lani|KM>ns 

 upon Queen Caroline. James and Horace Smith 

 in Thf Rrjtrtrd A ddrutet raise<l parody to perhaps 

 its highest level. A more or less distinctive vein 

 of satire occurs in the writings of Douglas Jerrold, 

 Leigh Hunt, and Lanilor. Thackeray has said 

 some very fine things about quacks and fools, 

 snolM and toadies, and has many exquisite touches 

 of satire scattered through his novels. He is also 

 distinguished as the author of some of the lim-i 

 burlesques in English. Carlyle employed the 

 resources of his powerful genius thundering in- 

 vecti\e. gi.md rhetoric, indignant scorn, grim 

 Inimoiir, satiric gloom in denouncing the shams 

 of human society and human nature; and admir- 

 able social satire, in prose or verse, in article, in 

 i or in poem, has been written by Sydney 

 ii. Hood, Dickens, Disraeli, (downing, George 

 Meredith. Lytton. Tennvson, and Swinburne. 



On the other side of the Atlantic satire has been 

 cultivate! by Washington Irving ( KnirkfrkorJcrr), 

 Paiilding. Lowell (Bigtow Paper*), Holmes, Artomus 

 Ward, Charles Dudley Warner, and others. Some 

 of the best American satire not always the !i.-t 

 known is remarkable alike for it delicacy and its 

 effectiveness, and takes rank not unworthily with 

 tli.it of other countries. 



Many of the best French Fabliaux (12th and 

 13th centuries) are essentially social satires, and 

 "f these not a few are of huh literary quality; 

 Jean de Menng ( 13th century ) was a true satirist ; 

 the first in Prance to write'satirwi on the classic 

 model was .1. Vauqnelin de la Fresnaye, in the 

 IHth century. The Huguenot D'Aubigne made a 

 Uild. irn|'tuoiis MsMpm ii|>on the Roman ('at ho 

 lie : ecclesiastics ; nor did IIP spare Henry of Navarre. 

 II greater contemporary Kegnier, a writer of 

 pungent but polished verse, conlined himself to 

 general satire of poet*. |>cdaiitic dryasdnxt-, hypo- 

 crites, and the types of which French sat ire' has 

 always been so fond. Kahelais, to lash the abase* 

 of monkery, hail long before written one of the 

 greatest musterpipces of the world's literature. 

 Pierre Pithou had a hand in the tuitirr 



which cast so much discredit upon the chiefs of the 

 League. But the real exponent of classic satire 

 in Prance was Boileau, who set the example to 

 Dryden, Pope, and the English school, lint few 

 among the countless matarinadcs attained the 

 dignity of permanent literature. La Hi iivere wrote, 

 l>v the wa\. exquisite social satire, influenced by 

 T'beopliiHstns ; Sloliere, besides his other gifts, 

 stands among the greatest satirists of the world; 

 the Histoire Amuurtute. dt* (!iitilrx of Hussy - 

 llaKiitin and the Jlitturiettet of Talletnant des 

 lieiiux siipplv a form of malicious |>crM>!ml satire, 

 hardly founif out of French literature. Tin 

 ample store of fine satire alike in the tiery wrath 

 of Saint Simon's Mcmoirataul the sprightly malice 

 of .Madame de Sevignc's letters. Pascal's on 

 slauglrt upon the Jesuits U a piece of work that 

 for )>olished irony and literarj- grace, as well as for 

 i-llect, still stands unrivalled. Theophile <le \ laud. 

 Mot in, and Berthelot all wrote satirical books. 

 Voltaire is the next great satirist of France; a 

 downright scoffer, a master of mocking irony and 

 .-tinging sarcasm, lie |>emicd personal lampoons with 

 the same gusto with which he sneered at religion 

 and the politics of the day. Contemporary with him 

 were M. J. Clienier, and Piron. Berangei tinned the 

 rhanton or song into a powerful weii]Kin of political 

 warfare ; Courier too wrote political sathe-. 



I'lrich von Hutten, though he wrote chielly in 

 Latin, is the first great German satirist. He made 

 fiery and fierce attacks upon papal rule. His name 

 recalls that of his greater contemporary Erasmus, 

 who, liesides satirising the superstition and ignor- 

 ance of the ecclesiastics, found ample opportunity 

 in numerous personal quarrels for the effective use 

 of a biting sarcasm. Selmstian Brant's Siirren- 

 schijf ridicules certain typical classes of men. 

 Mnrner and Fischart followed in -the footsteps of 

 Hutten. Cryphius and Mosclrerosoh deal with 

 characters of the Thirty Years' War. Itabener, 

 Liseow, and Kastner wrote general satire. Wie- 

 land liilicnleil popular credulity and litigiousness. 

 The true successors of Hutten are Jean Paul and 

 Lichtenberg. The former indulges in general 

 social satire, and steeps all he says in a golden 

 bath of the rarest humour; I.ichtenlierg is much 

 more bitter and severe. Goethe and Schiller Inith 

 wrote satire e.g. in the Xenien, a collection of 

 verses on their literary contemporaries. Goethe 

 also had a hit at Wieland, und Schiller at tyran- 

 nical rulers. Tieck, Hauff, and Hamerling all 

 deserve mention here ; and especially so does 

 Heine, first because of the mocking spirit he 

 breathed upon nearly everything lie touched, and 

 second liecanse of his Altn 'Jroll, a burlesque 

 sketch of his countrymen. 



The satirists of the remaining countries of 

 Europe must be very hrietly enumerated. Spain 

 has two men of the highest rank in Cervantes and 

 Quevedo. Holland hoasU of Marnix (St Aide- 

 gonde) and Anna Bijns, who took opposite side- 

 in the Reformation quarrel ; and it produced much 

 fair satire through the literary guilds. Italy's pi in- 

 cipal satirists are Dante, Arioeto, Salvator Rosa, 

 the writers of macaronic verse, Alfieri, and Carlo 

 ami Gasparo Gozzi. In Scandinavian literatui'es 

 we have the nithing verses of the ancient Norse- 

 men, and in more recent times admirable satire by 

 Wessel, Holl,erg, Paludan -Miiller, Ibsen. Kielland, 

 and St rimllierg. The corruptions of the officers of 

 government in Russia have been mercilessly ex- 

 posed by Gogol and Schtchedrin (Soltykoff). 



See the article* under the several writer*' name* in 

 thin work ; the tUndard histories of literature mentioned 

 under the respective countries ; rocli article* a* KUR- 

 LMQUB, CABICATDRR, KABMAUX, and PARODY ; and 

 more e*ped*lljr Hannay, fintirt and Satmiti (1864); 

 and ' Knclinh Political Satin-s,' in Qiiar. Rev. (1867). 



