CHAPTER VII THE QUEEN ANNE OR AUGUSTAN PERIOD (1702 to 1744) LECKY, W. E. H. AUBREY, W. H. S. MACAULAY, T. B. Historical References England in the Eighteenth Century. Rise and Growth of the English Nation, c. 65–66. KNIGHT, C. History of England, v. 5–6. STANHOPE, P. H. (5th Earl Stanhope.) History of England, comprising the Reign of Queen Anne until the Peace of Utrecht, 1701-13. 1870. WYON, F. W. Anne. 2 v. BURTON, J. H. History of Great Britain during the Reign of Queen 1876. History of the Reign of Queen Anne. 3 v. MORRIS, E. E. Age of Anne. (Epochs of English History.) OLIPHANT, M. O. Historical Sketches of the Reign of Queen Anne. 1894. Historical HISTORICALLY the period of the Restoration ends with the expulsion of James II., as dangerous a man to progress and true national development as was his father, Charles I. The various constitutional barriers by which the English nation has limited the sovereign's power, until it is now true that the "king can do no wrong," are of great moment to the human race. The accession of William and Mary (1689) marks the final defeat of absolutism in England, and the period of literary license might be said to terminate with the same date. But the changed literary tone is not manifest till the eighteenth century, although in the last decade of the seventeenth the grossness of thought and freedom of expression of the Restoration drama was severely rebuked in 1698, by a pamphlet written by Jeremy Collier, a High Church, non-juring clergyman. Again, the name of Queen Anne is associated in a peculiar way with the well-known group of writers of the early eighteenth century. Her accession (1702) is, therefore, made the beginning of a new literary period although the carnival of the Restoration had already ended. During this period the military and maritime power of England increased. The victories of Marlborough on the continent aggravated the confidence and pride of the national temper. The union of England and Scotland under the name of Great Britain removed the danger of internal dissension and promoted the material prosperity of both nations. The settlement of the succession in the Protestant line by an act of Parliament made a religious dynastic war impossible. The first two Hanoverian kings allowed their ministers to govern and made little attempt to assert the royal prerogative. The beginning of the singular combination of executive responsibility and hereditary kingship which the English government presents to-day was made. In literature this period witnessed the beginning of periodical pamphlets the precursors of the magazine and Literary the daily journal. Writers now address the Patronage. reading public directly through the instrumentality of publishing houses and no longer seek the aid and protection of a wealthy patron. This commercial relation in one way increases and in another diminishes the independence of authors and the dignity of the literary profession. They address the public, or at least some portion of the public, and are subservient to public opin ion and not to an individual. In the Queen Anne age, however, a vigorous writer could influence public opinion and was rewarded by political office somewhat as a great journalist is now; for government by parties through Parliament was a natural result of the increasing wealth and importance of the Commons, and the leaders of the party were naturally the most valuable patrons. Patronage still existed but in a modified form, and the great publishing houses, looking to the reading public for support, began to take the place of the patron, the list of subscribers, and the small printing establishments of the former age. Changes of this character which mark the growth of democracy and widely diffused wealth are necessarily slow. Their initial stages can be traced soon after the invention of printing, but in their modern form they may be said to begin with the Queen Anne period. The age of Queen Anne is marked by the development of what may be called "social prose." This is usually in the Joseph Addison, 1672-1719. form of the short story, or essay, and the subject is usually some of the aspects of contemporary life. The spirit is ironical or gently humorous, the style lucid, graceful, and simple, and the manner marked by refinement and a general air of good breeding and urbanity; the aim, instruction combined with entertainment. It is civilized, cultured, and intelligent, but not destructive in its criticism of manners and life. From Addison and Steele it can be traced through Goldsmith, Lamb, Irving, Curtis, Holmes, and Warner, as the expression of genial moralists and witty reformers, who have charm, grace, and distinction, and content themselves by pointing out the ridiculous side of vice rather than its hideousness and repulsiveness. This quiet, finished prose is a true literary form, and its beginnings are to be found in the Tatler and Spectator of Addison and Steele. As is always the case, the first perfect specimens of any form have an attraction of their own because they imitate no models, and the writers who initiate a new form are entitled to credit as inventors or pioneers which subsequent followers must not expect to receive although they may excel the original masters in skill of handling and possibly in true literary value. Addison was born in Wiltshire on the 1st of May, 1672. His father, Lancelot Addison, was a clergyman of culture and accomplishment and the author of several treatises on theological subjects. Young Addison was sent to Charter House School and passed from there to Oxford, where he distinguished himself as a classical scholar. When he was twenty-two, he wrote a rhymed "Account of the English Poets," in which he does not even mention Shakespeare. The pen was just coming to be recognized as a political instrument for influencing public opinion at this time, and Lord Halifax sought to attach the young writer to the Whig party, and procured for him a pension which enabled him to travel on the continent. Of this he was deprived by the death of King William in 1702, and returned to England with his fortunes at rather a low ebb. In 1704, however, he made a great hit with his poem "The Campaign," celebrating Marlborough's victory at Blenheim. He was made Undersecretary of State, and in 1708 Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the position once held by the poet Spenser. In 1702 The First the first daily paper, the Daily Courant, was Newspapers. printed, and although it was but a very small sheet, it ran till 1735. In the last ten years of the seventeenth century a number of short-lived periodicals appeared, some being published in the interests of the political parties, which were then in the earliest stage of their development, some containing gossip and meager news. Party organization comes with constitutional government, and the newspaper is necessary to the party. All were, of course, in an embryonic condition, and we should hardly dignify the Athenian, Mercury, or the Whig Examiner with the name of newspaper any more than we should consider the government of the period a well-balanced constitutional government. However, Richard Steele established in 1709 the Tatler, a paper to appear three times a week at the price of a penny, and to contain "Accounts of Gallantry, Pleasure and Entertainment, Poetry, Learning, and Foreign and Domestic News." Addison and Steele had been schoolmates, and Addison detected the hand of his old friend in the fifth number. He wrote to Steele offering to contribute, and his aid was gladly accepted, so that from No. 18 Addison became a regular contributor. The Tatler was discontinued in 1711, and a few months later the Spectator was started by the two friends. The fine quality of Addison's contribuThe "Spec- tions gave the paper great popularity. Steele's tator." are hardly inferior, and the first idea of the famous club which Sir Roger de Coverley visits, the sessions of which are recorded by the Spectator, was Steele's. Addison says, shortly after the paper started, that the circulation of the Spectator was nearly three thousand, though it would appear that toward the close of its career nine or ten thousand copies were sold. Addison's papers number 274 against 236 contributed by Steele. As the organization of a permanent staff of editors was not understood, the early papers depended on the energy of one or two men and were never long-lived. In conse |