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WORD PORTRAITS OF FAMOUS WRITERS

Edited by

MABEL E. WOTTON


   ‘What manner of man is he?’
               _Twelfth Night_






London
Richard Bentley & Son
Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen
1887

Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh.




[Illustration]




INTRODUCTION


“The world has always been fond of personal details respecting men
who have been celebrated.” These were the words of Lord Beaconsfield,
and with them he prefixed his description of the personal appearance
of Isaac D’Israeli; but we hardly need the dictum of our greatest
statesman to convince ourselves that at all events every honest
literature-lover takes a very real interest in the individuality of
those men whose names are perpetually on his lips. It is not enough
for such a one merely to make himself familiar with their writings. It
does not suffice for him that the _Essays of Elia_, for instance, can
be got by heart, but he feels that he must also be able to linger in
the playground at Christ’s with the “lame-footed boy,” and in after
years pace the Temple gardens with the gentle-faced scholar, before he
can properly be said to have made Lamb’s thoughts his own. At the best
it is but a very incomplete notion that most of us possess as to the
actual personality of even the most prominent of our British writers.
The almost womanly beauty of Sidney, and the keen eyes and razor face
of Pope, would, perhaps, be recognised as easily as the well-known form
of Dr. Johnson; but taking them _en masse_ even a widely-read man might
be forgiven if, from amongst the scraps of hearsay and curtly-recorded
impressions on which at rare intervals he may alight, he cannot very
readily conjure up the ghosts of the very men whose books he has
studied, and to whose haunts he has been an eager pilgrim.

Such a power the following pages have attempted to supply. They
contain an account of the face, figure, dress, voice, and manner of
our best-known writers ranging from Geoffrey Chaucer to Mrs. Henry
Wood,--drawn in all cases when it is possible by their contemporaries,
and when through lack of material this endeavour has failed, the task
of portrait-painting has devolved either on other writers who owed
their inspiration to the offices of a mutual friend, or on those whose
literary ability and untiring research have qualified them for the
task. Infinite toil has not always been rewarded, and it would be easy
to supply at least half a dozen names whose absence is to be regretted.
Beaumont and Fletcher are as much read as Thomas Otway, and William
Wotton has perhaps as much right of entrance as his famous opponent
Richard Bentley, but as a small child pointed out when the book was
first proposed: “_You can’t find what isn’t there._” And the worth of
the book naturally consists in keeping to the lines already indicated.

An asterisk placed under the given reference means that the writer
of that particular portrait (who is not necessarily the writer of
that particular book) did not actually see his subject, but that he
is describing a picture, or else that he is building up one from
substantiated evidence. Sometimes, as in the case of Suckling, this
distinction leads to the same book supplying two portraits, only one of
which is at first hand.

When a date is placed at the foot of a description, it refers to the
appearance presented at that time, and not to the period when the words
were penned.

British writers only are named, and amongst them there is of course no
living author.

Chaucer’s birth-date has been given as _About_ 1340, for the
traditional year of 1328 is based on little more than the inscription
on his tomb, which was not placed there until the middle of the
sixteenth century, while according to his own deposition as witness,
his birth could not have taken place until about twelve years later.

In only one other instance has there been a departure from recognised
precedent, and that is in the case of Thomas de Quincey. In defiance
of almost every compiler and present-day writer, I have entered the
name in the Q’s and spelt it as here written. The reason for this
is threefold: First, he himself invariably spelt his name with a
small d. Second, Hood, Wordsworth, and Lamb, and, I believe, all his
other contemporaries did the same. Third, de Quincey himself was
so determined about the matter that he actually dropped the prefix
altogether for some little time, and was known as Mr. Quincey. “His
name I write with a small d in the de, as he wrote it himself. He would
not have wished it indexed among the D’s, but the Q’s,” wrote the Rev.
Francis Jacox, who was one of his Lasswade friends, and in spite of his
recent and skilful biographers, it must be conceded that after all the
little man had the greatest right to his own name.

I am glad to take this opportunity of thanking those who have helped
me, and who will not let me speak my thanks direct. It is a pleasant
thought that while working amongst the literary men of the past, I
have received nothing but kindness from those of to-day. First and
foremost to Mr. George Augustus Sala, to whom I am infinitely indebted;
also to Mrs. Huntingford, Mrs. and Mr. Frederick Chapman, Mr. Henry M.
Trollope, Dr. W. F. Fitz-Patrick, and Mr. S. C. Hall: to all these,
as well as to my own personal friends, I offer my hearty and sincere
thanks.

                                                                M. E. W.




CONTENTS


                                    PAGE

  JOSEPH ADDISON                       1
  HARRISON AINSWORTH                   4
  JANE AUSTEN                          7
  FRANCIS, LORD BACON                 10
  JOANNA BAILLIE                      12
  BENJAMIN, LORD BEACONSFIELD         15
  JEREMY BENTHAM                      17
  RICHARD BENTLEY                     20
  JAMES BOSWELL                       21
  CHARLOTTE BRONTË                    24
  HENRY, LORD BROUGHAM                27
  ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING          34
  JOHN BUNYAN                         36
  EDMUND BURKE                        39
  ROBERT BURNS                        42
  SAMUEL BUTLER                       47
  GEORGE, LORD BYRON                  47
  THOMAS CAMPBELL                     51
  THOMAS CARLYLE                      55
  THOMAS CHATTERTON                   58
  GEOFFREY CHAUCER                    61
  PHILIP, LORD CHESTERFIELD           63
  WILLIAM COBBETT                     66
  HARTLEY COLERIDGE                   70
  SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE             74
  WILLIAM COLLINS                     77
  WILLIAM COWPER                      79
  GEORGE CRABBE                       81
  DANIEL DE FOE                       83
  CHARLES DICKENS                     86
  ISAAC D’ISRAELI                     91
  JOHN DRYDEN                         94
  MARY ANNE EVANS (GEORGE ELIOT)      98
  HENRY FIELDING                     102
  JOHN GAY                           105
  EDWARD GIBBON                      107
  WILLIAM GODWIN                     110
  OLIVER GOLDSMITH                   112
  DAVID GRAY                         114
  THOMAS GRAY                        116
  HENRY HALLAM                       118
  WILLIAM HAZLITT                    120
  FELICIA HEMANS                     125
  JAMES HOGG                         128
  THOMAS HOOD                        130
  THEODORE HOOK                      134
  DAVID HUME                         136
  LEIGH HUNT                         139
  ELIZABETH INCHBALD                 143
  FRANCIS, LORD JEFFREY              144
  DOUGLAS JERROLD                    147
  SAMUEL JOHNSON                     150
  BEN JONSON                         152
  JOHN KEATS                         155
  JOHN KEBLE                         158
  CHARLES KINGSLEY                   164
  CHARLES LAMB                       168
  LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON           172
  WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR               174
  CHARLES LEVER                      177
  MATTHEW GREGORY LEWIS              179
  JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART               180
  SIR RICHARD LOVELACE               181
  EDWARD, LORD LYTTON                183
  THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY          187
  WILLIAM MAGINN                     190
  FRANCIS MAHONY (FATHER PROUT)      195
  FREDERICK MARRYAT                  199
  HARRIET MARTINEAU                  202
  FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE          205
  JOHN MILTON                        207
  MARY RUSSELL MITFORD               211
  LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU          215
  THOMAS MOORE                       217
  HANNAH MORE                        220
  SIR THOMAS MORE                    224
  CAROLINE NORTON                    227
  THOMAS OTWAY                       231
  SAMUEL PEPYS                       232
  ALEXANDER POPE                     234
  BRYAN WALLER PROCTER               236
  THOMAS DE QUINCEY                  238
  ANN RADCLIFFE                      243
  SIR WALTER RALEIGH                 244
  CHARLES READE                      248
  SAMUEL RICHARDSON                  251
  SAMUEL ROGERS                      254
  DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI             256
  RICHARD SAVAGE                     262
  SIR WALTER SCOTT                   264
  WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE                267
  MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY        275
  PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY               277
  RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN          282
  SIR PHILIP SIDNEY                  284
  HORACE SMITH                       286
  SYDNEY SMITH                       287
  TOBIAS SMOLLETT                    289
  ROBERT SOUTHEY                     290
  EDMUND SPENSER                     293
  ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY             296
  SIR RICHARD STEELE                 299
  LAURENCE STERNE                    302
  SIR JOHN SUCKLING                  304
  JONATHAN SWIFT                     305
  WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY        308
  JAMES THOMSON                      311
  ANTHONY TROLLOPE                   313
  EDMUND WALLER                      317
  HORACE WALPOLE                     319
  IZAAC WALTON                       323
  JOHN WILSON                        324
  ELLEN WOOD (MRS. HENRY WOOD)       330
  WILLIAM WORDSWORTH                 332
  SIR HENRY WOTTON                   335




JOSEPH ADDISON

1672-1719


[Sidenote: _Temple Bar_, 1874. *]

“Of his personal appearance we have at least two portraits by good
hands. Before us are three carefully-engraved portraits of him, but
there is a great dissimilarity between the three except in the wig.
Sir Godfrey Kneller painted one of these portraits, which is entirely
unlike the two others; let us, however, give Sir Godfrey the credit
of the best picture, and judge Addison’s appearance from that. The
wig almost prevents our judging the shape of the head, yet it seems
very high behind. The forehead is very lofty, the sort of forehead
which is called ‘commanding’ by those people who do not know that some
of the least decided men in the world have had high foreheads. The
eyebrows are delicately ‘pencilled,’ yet show a vast deal of vigour and
expression; they are what his old Latin friends, who knew so well the
power of expression in the eyebrow, would have called ‘supercilious,’
and yet the nasal end of the supercilium is only slightly raised, and
it droops pleasantly at the temporal end, so that there is nothing
Satanic or ill-natured about it. The eyebrow of Addison, according to
Kneller, seems to say, ‘You are a greater fool than you think yourself
to be, but I would die sooner than tell you so.’ The eye, which is
generally supposed to convey so much expression, but which very often
does not, is very much like the eyes of other amiable and talented
people. The nose is long, as becomes an orthodox Whig; quite as long,
we should say, as the nose of any member of Peel’s famous long-nosed
ministry, and quite as delicately chiselled. The mouth is very tender
and beautiful, firm, yet with a delicate curve upwards at each end of
the upper lip, suggestive of a good joke, and of a calm waiting to
hear if any man is going to beat it. Below the mouth there follows of
course the nearly inevitable double chin of the eighteenth century,
with a deep incision in the centre of the jaw-bone, which shows through
the flesh like a dimple. On the whole a singularly handsome and
pleasant face, wanting the wonderful form which one sees in the faces
of Shakespeare, Prior, Congreve, Castlereagh, Byron, or Napoleon, but
still extremely fine of its own.”

[Sidenote: Johnson’s _Lives of the Poets_.]

“Of his habits, or external manners, nothing is so often mentioned as
that timorous or sullen taciturnity, which his friends called modesty
by too mild a name. Steele mentions, with great tenderness, ‘that
remarkable bashfulness, which is a cloak that hides and muffles merit;’
and tells us ‘that his abilities were covered only by modesty, which
doubles the beauties which are seen, and gives credit and esteem to all
that are concealed.’ Chesterfield affirms that ‘Addison was the most
timorous and awkward man that he ever saw.’ And Addison, speaking of
his own deficiency in conversation, used to say of himself that, with
respect to intellectual wealth, ‘he could draw bills for a thousand
pounds though he had not a guinea in his pocket.’... ‘Addison’s
conversation,’ says Pope, ‘had something in it more charming than I
have found in any other man. But this was only when familiar; before
strangers, or, perhaps, a single stranger, he preserved his dignity by
a stiff silence.’”




HARRISON AINSWORTH

1805-1882


[Sidenote: S. C. Hall’s _Retrospect of a Long Life_.]

“I saw little of him in later days, but when I saw him in 1826, not
long after he married the daughter of Ebers of New Bond Street, and
‘condescended’ for a brief time to be a publisher, he was a remarkably
handsome young man--tall, graceful in deportment, and in all ways a
pleasant person to look upon and talk to. He was, perhaps, as thorough
a gentleman as his native city of Manchester ever sent forth.”

[Sidenote: A personal friend.]

“Harrison Ainsworth was certainly a handsome man, but it was very
much of the barber’s-block type of beauty, with wavy scented hair,
smiling lips, and pink and white complexion. As a young man he was
gorgeous in the _outré_ dress of the dandy of ’36, and, in common
with those other famous dandies, d’Orsay, young Benjamin Disraeli,
and Tom Duncombe, wore multitudinous waistcoats, over which dangled
a long gold chain, numberless rings, and a black satin stock. In old
age he was very patriarchal-looking. His gray hair was swept up and
back from a peculiarly high broad forehead; his moustache, beard, and
whiskers were short, straight, and silky, and the mouth was entirely
hidden. His eyes were large and oval, and rather _flat_ in form,--less
expressive altogether than one would have expected in the head of so
graphic a writer. The eyebrows were somewhat overhanging, and the nose
was straight and flexible. Up to the day of his death he was always a
well-dressed man, but in a far more sober fashion than in his youth.”

[Sidenote: Ainsworth’s _Rookwood_.]

“What have we to add to what we have here ventured to record, which the
engraving which accompanies this memoir will not more happily embody?
(_This refers to a portrait by Maclise which appeared in_ The Mirror.)
Should that fail to do justice to his face--to its regularity and
delicacy of feature, its manly glow of health, and the cordial nature
which lightens it up--we must refer the dissatisfied beholder to Mr.
Pickersgill’s masterly full-length portrait exhibited last year, in
which the author of _The Miser’s Daughter_ may be seen, not as some
pale, worn, pining scholar,--some fagging, half-exhausted, periodical
romancer,