I ;l ,::i , THE ENGLI3H. E3S/,Y- A THESIS SUB:iiITTED TO r HE FACULTY OF TI18 GRADUATE SCHOOL O'fi' THE TTNIV.'.'.:RJ ITY OF 11 r ~mssOTA BY VPNE:ST J. COLBFRG I IN PAfTV.L FTJLFILLi~LJ:NT O:;' THE DOCT~R OF P3I~031 HV I I •el• I• t 1 I tt I ',, :' It t t It 1909 I.GENr.'RAL . Essays of British Rs sayists ---- e.C. >tark·Neather, LY.,1900 2 vols. 11 11 " American 11 " l . Y., 1900. The English ~ssay - Its Developnent and Sone of its Perfected Types ------ C.B . Bradley 0 California University Chronicle 1;383 - 402 ). The Essay as Mood and ~or~ ----- Richard 1urt~n ( Foru.n 3~ ; 119-26 ) . The Fssay as Literary For.n and ~uali t v --- F . :: . :.abrlskie ( Nev Princeton 1eview 4 : 227-46 ) . The Essayists ---- ( Living ~ge 151:67-80 ) . Essays and ~dsay ~riting ---- T.Clarencq ( alaxy 1:677-81 ). The British ~ssay ists ---- ( lo. Anerican. evlHa 84 : 502-514 ). The Fs. ay and So.ae r.ssayists---- Ha :iil tn 1 . • 'ql i ( B o~.an 9·504- 11 ) . The Sssay Conside red froill an \rtis tic Point of Vie·v i· . H. L . · atson ( .est. in' ter evie 141 : 559-G6 ) . 'Ihe 'Rssay --- - F • . • Pattee ( hautau uan30 :628 - 34 ). Essayists Old and ~e·1 ---- ( lLiving 1 ge 75 : 260-83 ) . The Jld-Fashioned ~s say ---- ( ~asy Chair, : arper 105: 02- 3 ). Old and New Essayists ---- ( Living tee 218 : 832 - ~6 ) · 101nan and the Fssay ---- Ed itn l:Hc ~:scm ( Dinl ~1:309-10 ) . Ro-ant ic •ssavs' ----Jeane tte ~ . P· ( ryCritic "0 :3 6-Gl ) . The rssay \ncient and lodern - - -- ( 'cadeny 6 :6 I -12 ) . 2 . ,tJOWL\ rcn .. -------- -------------- ( 6hau trnquan 32: 102-G ) . in L' histoire de la litte r ' tur·) franc·liC'!e pp . 316-33 " a.Lanson, Paric 190). :· . y . 1852. 18th Century ~ssays ---- Austin Dobn 1 His tory of Fnr,l inh l~o.::J.antic is in t!'lc 1.2 h ~en Ur'' ---- H. A . ccrs 'f . Y . 1803 . t :says on the Tatler,S;> ctator.Guardia'1 ----- Jath<n Drake 3 vols. unndon reo~ . Londor. 12.::9 . r.ssays ------------,' illia.n lla71.itt 'iehtGenti:1 ::::entury Literature ---- Td.u.1d Gosse London 1859 . 1/8 '70 '..)hilosophy of ·;·nclish Lit ratur' ---- J . .asco .. r . Y. 167u . R~latinn of the I7th Century Char acter to the ri~d:cal r~Aay ------ ~ .C. Baldwin (Pub . lad . i..iAnf . /sc-; ' n . I9 : 7f-Jl5 ) . The lritish 'ssayists ---- ( Uo. Ar erican :4 : 319-GC ) . rssay ~riting and the ~ress ---- Do Bo.•; , • · ic •: 5 : 30:7 ) . The Essay in the 18th .entury T; • 13owPn Swan c ·,3vicw 10:12-29 ) . ~ppre c i ations ------ ~alter Pater Lon on 1889 . The Li terar :r ]is tor y of ··neland in t-10 "nd of t rn 13th and Begi minr of th 19th e'1tu1·y ---- r • r~ liphant 2 voL, . :; . Y . 16.:.2 . ~ssays "reat and :~all --- -E . Fuller ( Critjc -17 : 24 -a ). The " rosp rity of the E say Outloox 81 : 691-9 ) . Conte.n_:)orary ··rsavs ---- ( 'tlantic 73:202-9 ). Sone R(3Crrnt Fssays ---- Louis3 C. :dlcox ( "o . '_.P.ric·rn I.n ... L3:7~0-9 ) . Conte.nporary 1,n1;rican T'ssa7ris s ---- .., . P 1:-- ( Poru ?3 ; 1>-.,7-97} . R9cenl \~crican 1 ssBys T7' . ' . Colby ( O')' a n 20 : 316- 9 and 473-6) . THE FOLLO SING E'>SAYS HAVE BEEN CONS JLT:?D . Michel de Montaigne : Essays . Trans . b~ Florio . N. Y. 1907 . Francis Bacon Robert Burton Anatomy of elancholy . London 1845 . Thomas Srowne Religio Medici and other writings . Introduction by C. H. Herford . Abraham Cowl ey : ~ orks. London 1700. Tho:na s Fuller : Holy and Profane State. London 184 I. Richard St eele Tatler, S pectator , Guardian , English~an. Joseph Addison II II " Samuel Johnson Ra 11b 1 er, Id 1 er. orks . I2 vols. London 1810 . Oliver Goldsmith .. or~~s . Charles Griffin Co. London. The Gleaner, a collection of 18th century essays by Nathan Drake . 4 vols . L0ndon I81I . ~ illiam Ha7litt : Es says . In Chandos Classics . London 1589. LPigh Hunt ; Charles Lamb : Essays of Elia. Introduction b 'int;er. Also in very~an ' s Library . London. T. B.Macaulay Thomas Carlyle Heroes and Hero 11 orship . N.Y. 1890. Thomas De ,iu1ncey : Opium. Eater and other iritinc;s. Cassel N.Y. Washineton Irving ; Sketch Book • Every an' s Library . London. ti ti ti R . ":. Emerson Laurence Sterne : .. orks • 6 vols . r. y . 1904 . Henry Fielding : Hist ~ ry of Joseph Andrews . London 1889 . I The no.nAnclature of literature is a lan5uaee of suggestions . Fine acad~~ic distinctions,congenial to th · average .:i ind fro. the sense of defi'1it ness t:i.ey i spir~,are thv;artect by the weakness of this their nost valued advant~re . They ell seek .nore or less artificiall 11 to giv~ t'.'ln.t aid .1'..ich . hall bolster up and propel th ~ ";eakling along the sa :ie col rs 3 which the strong follows unaided . Again,no provis'on is 1adP for the creative crafts nan and the i.nprcss ion is tic critic . These are playinc continual havoc with hard and fact li:ics, 01tracing the traditi~ns of the various literary types . Hence it is that even for.ns of so obvious an individuality as the lyric draha, or novel ha\c never bean gras icd in a s~t i· f ctorv definiti on. tnd b ndinc to +he task of s :aco i~c f~rtn t~ rourh contours of a type that ic rather a st aneer tn extAnded critical trcat~ent w~ ar 0 even less li e to h~t off an accurate celin•'ation . .. hat .nakes intricate , unrrateful labor of t ..1e attc pt to fix 1vith definiteness on the n~ttre of the essay 1 t.1e .vant of a la.re(;; fir a-founded tradition. The nacs of .nc 1 ar, not without so..ic concept of dra. ~ or fiction tho 1 1~i1 they .vould be at a loss perhaps for an ud, uate state~ent of their f ,elings . The inst i:ict of the essay, ho1fover, s ce.ns to have reach d fe v but the Nrit~rs t.1e,Jselves . A tradition, if a y at all, ;iil then exist only in the record of the best (the .nost enduring~ perfor.nance• . He will no+ be outfaced by such as in this late day hold t hat the ideal essayist is yet to b~ evolved. In the shadow of Addison , Larnb , '1d a few others , we are ready to erect our ideal concept ion. In eoing about our task , we shall be bond-slav0 to none . Ev en the student has slighted the essay, and the essay has not done much to throv otself acnoss path. It is a thing of the last three centuries, indeed, not exceedingly bountiful in its manifestations even in that rather brief existence. Truly , the novel , the youngest shoot of literature , har its roots more firmly bedded in th past as it certainly is more orient to the present . As early as •he first decade of tho last century scholarly Nathan ~rake delved riore thoroughly into so~e phases of the essay than has anyone at any other time,but he like many after hin failed to recognize that he was dea ling with a distinct literary f rra, True, efforts o understand the essay per se as a for~ are not lacking,but lheso have been ";Jho shall combine the original pow• r of Bacon, the grace of Addison,the t ranscendent al insight of Emerson the gay fancy of Charles Lamb?" F. H.L . •'latson( estminister' Review 141 :559-66) . 2 few and have left as much to learn as to unlearn. If the opinions, alread~ set down,are to be taken as criteria,the essav is indeed an amorphous,indeter~inate thine,scarce within the pale of acceptance as a type at all. The failure to see in the esr lY one of the distinct art forms has perhaps not been so dangerous as troubleso~e • . ith literary historians it has operated variously. Either the function of the essavist has been wholly and stubbornly ienored and he hi~self clas ed as a poet,critic ctc.,a fallacy unfair because it prevents hin fro~ being judged by proper standards;or the other extre~e has been indulfed in,the ter~ essay,due to the Ulsettled nature of its province,being made co-extensive with all the odds and ends, the ~iscallancous pieces of belles-lettre. It thus becomes the scrap-bag of the literary historian. So liberally construed,the ter~ loses all its intensity and comes to serve for the most heterogeneous and specious conceptions. Taking the most sup~rficial view of the essay 1ossible, stopping at the veritable co:nrnonplaces of its nature (its brevity and prose),men have credited the idea of the essay as a treatise, an article,a lay sermon. But it is no lay sermon however illUCh the English people likes to be preached to. It is an evil hour when the critic de~ers to aueht so foreign to the aesthetic as the ma ufactured thing, the magazine article. The editorial, though originally an offshoo of the same stock,is now a very distant cousin;tracts and disertations,however populari?ing in tone,are not related at all. Yet this bugbear of the treatise has haunted serious writers on the essay almost up to our own time.