THE ENGLISH HUMORISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. BY WM. M. THACKERAY. BOSTON: WILLARD SMALL, 24 FRANKLIN STREET. 1889. 960524 THE ENGLISH HUMORISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. SWIFT. IN treating of the English humorists of the past age, it is of the men and of their lives, rather than of their books, that I ask permission to speak to you; and in doing so, you are aware that I cannot hope to entertain you with a merely humorous or facetious story. Harlequin without his mask is known to present a very sober countenance, and was himself, the story goes, the melancholy patient whom the doctor advised to go and see Harlequin* a man full of cares and perplexities like the rest of us, whose Self must always be serious to him, under whatever mask or disguise or uniform he presents it to the public. And as all of you here must needs be grave when you think of your own past and present, you will not look to find, in the histories of those whose lives and feelings I am going to try and describe to you, a story that is otherwise than serious, and often very sad. *The anecdote is frequently told of our performer RICH. |