CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS FETTER L N E E b . C . ibun un : A , AY MAN A E CL G R F. , ’ Qlb iu hu rgb : 100, PR IN CES STREET HER B er lin : A . AS AN D CO . i F A . B R CKHAUS i t mig : . O ’ or k: P PUTN AMS S N S fitin g G . O B u b QI aIru a MC I LL N n A A L D m ba a tt : M AN D CO . g , T . All r igh ts r e se r ve d PO LITIC AL SAT IR E I N EN G LISH PO ET RY " Q gs “ “ CTW5 PREVITE- O RTO N forme rly Fo u n da tion Schola r of ’ St h s C e e C a e Jo n oll g , mbridg ” BEI THE ME BERS PRI! E ESSAY FOR 1 0 8 NG M 9 C a m b r idge a t th e Univ e rsity Pre s s Pfl He P? cra mming” I T D B Y J OHN CLAY MA. P R N . E , AT THE UN IVERSITY pru ne s . A ITT J . R . T NNER L . D. IN MEMORY OF MUCH KINDNESS CON TENTS CRAP . Prefa ce t t n a a I . In roduc io : Politic l S tire in the Middle Ages a : II . S tire under the Despots Development of Modern Verse The Development of Pa rty- Sa tire The Sa tiric Age The Da ys of Fox a n d Pitt o Pia e d a n d r M ore, the Modern Mocke y Rhyme a of h VII . The Elev ted Sa tire t e Nineteenth Century l VIII . Conc usion Index PREFACE HE following pages were written for th e ’ P of 1 0 Members English Essay rize 9 8 . Besides i separate ed tions of the respective poets, I have ’ P olit used the following collections T . Wright s ica l S on gs of E n gla n d f r om th e r eign of J oh n to h a t o E dwa r d I I P olitica l P oem s a n d S on s t f , g r e l tin to E n lish H is tor com ose d du r in th e a g g y , p g per iod f r om th e a ccession of E dwa r d I I I to th a t o Rich a r d I I I P olitica l B a lla ds u blish ed f , and p ’ in E n gla n d du r in g th e Com m on we a lth ; Chalmers ’ E n glish P oe ts Percy s R e ligu es ; P oem s on Af a ir s of S ta te and S ta te - P oem s ; Th e L oy a l ’ l t l Ga r la n d . o i ica l B a la ds o ; W W. Wilkins P f th e 17th a n d 18 th cen tu r ies a n n ota te d ; a n d Th e r A N e w Wh ig a n d N ew To y Gu ides . mong the critical works consulted I owe a special debt to ’ P Cou r th o e s H is tor P t . rof. p y of E n glish oe r y to a I also wish record my th nks to Dr J . R. Tanner for a n d his criticisms suggestions . P . 0 . C . W J a n u a r y 19 10. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION : POLITICAL SATIRE IN THE MIDDLE AGES From the aesthetic point of view there lies a justification of the historical trea tment of litera ture in the fu ller enjoyment of literature which it a a a gives . Even m sterpieces g in if we are acqu inted with the surroundings their authors worked in , the predecessors whose teaching they bettered, the disciples who endeavoured to make their peculiar a chievement a common possession . But minor works depend still more for their effect on ou r further knowledge of the society within which they a o were written . We h ve t use events and social structure and opinions as chemicals to restore the a faded tints of these less lasting pictures . Yet fter all literature is itself the best guide we have to aid us in reconstituting the conditions among which it a n d a a grew. Events soci l f cts give us a frame do v a work, but they not pro ide series of photo gra phic impressions of contemporary ideas and . f notions That is done by literature, in spite o its o tendency, the greater the author the more t O . 2 INTRODUCTION blend the exceptional and the frequent, past and a r e present. Thus alone, for the most part, we enabled to ana lyse those shifting currents of the e national consciousness, an ocean where ach ” n kind Doth straight its own resemblance fi d. - They form an ever varying complex, which yet in its main elements a n d in the methods of its com position has an aspect of permanence . of a of From this function liter ture, as a record successive phases of thought and culture, is derived a value of literary history apart from aesthetic of a reasons . We can trace the growth nation l a qu lities, and their interaction with the national Bu t a to fortunes. there is nother side the matter, on which the study of literary works and even of h a s a ephemeral writings a rem rkable importance . to to They aid us attain historical perspective, see “ ” things as they really were . For they show us what was thought by contemporaries of events and opinions that we see only through dissembling of . a mists time Ideas now grown cl ssic, deeds a a r e that loom heroically to the im gination , shown to us in the dry light in which their a ctors and An d a originators saw them . the contr ry holds r true as well . Sometimes what to ou predecessors of was full meaning, pregnant with destiny, holding to to the key the world, has become empty us . The theory has vanished like another : the imagined source of the future has given birth to of b - a pitiful stream y events. LITERATURE AND POLITICS The process of such an investiga tion brings its d b u t a isillusions ; , if it takes way from the romance of Pa a the st, it adds to its re lity, and also, though a n perhaps this is unworthy attraction, to its a r e to a t s trangeness . We made alive the f c that the Elizabethans wore doublet and hose, that their da ily habits of life and government were s uch and such, and that, in consequence, they ff took for granted a di erent world to ours . If their conclusions appear often unjustifiable t o a ff us, it is largely a m tter of their di erent premises . Thus the study of literature, and in particular of a a a politic l literature, is necessary f ctor in the ’ a r t to of history. How else are we follow Ranke s ma xim a n d narrate events a s they actually hap pened ? How else can we make a n a pproach to fairness in ou r conceptions of former genera tions ? We are to judge the a ctors in politica l and s a do oci l development, as we generals in a c a m a i n a a a p g , by the qu lities they displ y mong the prepossessions, the doubtful knowledge, the chang ing rumours, which come in to them day by day ; not from ou r own va ntage - ground of complete informa tion as to ea ch momenta ry posture of a ffairs and of preacquaintance with the later course of the war. We m a y subdivide literature in its political bearing into three compartments, which, however, are far from isola ted or even sharply marked off on e 1—2 4 INTRODUCTION [on from another. There are first those writings which professedly discuss state - affairs and the organization of we society in a serious spirit. In this division ’ may include such diverse classics as Rousseau s ’ Con tr a t S ocia l A We a lth , and dam Smith s of N a tion s of a s , such histories as that Clarendon , well as the infinite number of tracts and articles on political themes . But though the information it they provide is the best and the most exact, suffers from various defects . There is the narrow of ness view Of the practical man, the sectional of t exclusiveness strong convictions, and tha tendency to theorize fa r beyond surrounding cir c u m sta n ce s which increases with the genius of th e authors : all defects which serve to distort th e true image of the time, although by comparing on e with another much may be done to give a correct general impression . A partial remedy is also supplied by the second category, the incidental light thrown on politics 1 R c on su m by pure literature .