SATIRE AND SATIRISTS BY JAMES HANNAY 66 AUTHOR OF SINGLETON FONTENOY,' ETC. "Ego autem (existimes licet, quod lubet) mirifice capior facetiis, maxime CICERO, Epist. ad Div. lib. ix. 15. "Non ulla Musis pagina gratior, Quam quæ severis ludicra jungere Novit, fatigatamque nugis Utilibus recreare mentem." DR. JOHNSON, Ad Urbanum. REDFIELD 110 AND 112 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. nat. Bia 7-6.25 12065 Prefatory Dedication. TO WILTSHIRE STANTON AUSTIN, ESQ. MY DEAR AUSTIN, IN preparing for the press these lectures (first delivered a twelvemonth ago), no part of my task has been more agreeable than that which is now to be discharged,— the dedication of them to yourself. This slight compliment I offer to you, in acknowledgment of your qualities as a friend and a companion, to which I owe many pleasant hours spent in your society. To dwell upon the talents, the taste, and the literature, which you unite with these qualities, would be to do what your friends would find superfluous, and you yourself disagreeable. In justice to my judgment, I must, however, say, that I dedicate my book to one, whose capacity for criticising it, is only equalled by the natural kindliness which will make him criticise it charitably. I take the opportunity of making what remarks I think it necessary to address to good-natured readers of this performance, by way of preface. To treat of all Satire and all Satirists is a task which I never dreamed of performing within these limits; and my work is rather a collection of passages in the history of Satirical Literature, than any thing else. To those who have written the Satire Proper, my main attention has been given; and of the Satiric Drama and Satiric Fiction no adequate treatment has been attempted. Yet something of what is here offered, illustrative of the Satirists with whom I deal, will be found applicable to those whom 1 omit; while, if I ventured on another book on the subject, such would by no means supersede or interfere with the present one. Bad or good, it is complete in itself: the crab has its own rotundity, as well as the golden pippin! There are two facts of the highest interest about satirical literature: 1st, that the Satires of every age have been important agents in the historic work done in it;-2d, that Satires, as literary objects, give us valuable aid in studying the life of the age in which they were produced. I think that general readers somewhat neglect the Satirists; and one of my objects has been, I confess, in the language of Cicero, "ut laudem eorum jam prope senescentem, quantum ego possem, ab oblivione hominum atque a silentio vindicarem." (De Orat. ii. 2.) To this end, I have aimed at a popular and picturesque delineation of them and their works. I have especially wished to show, too, that the great Satirists have been good and lovable men :-for I never made the too common mistake of supposing Satire to be like a certain poison known to the ancients, which best retained its properties when carried in an ass's hoof! In the leading principles of the book, my dear Austin, I am aware that you agree with me, however you may dissent in less important particulars; and I end, as I began, by testifying with how much pleasure I am, Yours very sincerely, June 1854. JAMES HANNAY. |