The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-09 00:00:00

DEATH OF MR. DOUGL IS JERROLD.

(From the Daily News.)
The public journalist, among whose varied duties
it occurs to chronicle the deaths and deeds of those
persons whose position or whose merits entitle them
to some special record, has but a sorry and a painful
task; for though with fluent pen he can define the
honours and titles of rank, and easily pay a few
stereotyp'd compliments to departed greatness, yet
when the dart of the Great Destroyer has mortally
wounded one of his own class—one who, perhaps a
few years ago was striving and working, as be now
is, for fame and fortune—one, to whose words of
advice and approbation he has listened with respect
and delight, and whose hand he has often clasped in
friendship—when such a death happens, his dutyis
irksome to him, and he feels as though he were
parading his own pr;vate sorrow before the public
gaze. In the present instance, however, not only the
entire English reading world, but every man who
honours brilliant genius, fearlesi independence, and
frank sincerity, will share our grief; for we have to
announce the death of Mr. Douglas Jerrold, which
took place yeSterday, half an hour after noon at
his residence, Kilburn Priory. By this event Eng-
lish literaturahas lost its most caustic and, epigram-
matic writer, London society 'its brightest wit, and
cant, of every kind, its bitterest foe. As .a champion
he was invulnerable • no matter how strong the
fortress t2be attacked, let Mn Jerrold but once
see, or Wy he saw, that right was on his side,
and the vulnerable pointi in the enemy's citadel
were discovered with unerring eye, and raked .with
the most galling fire of sarcasm. Point out to him
an injury, with almost Quixotic haste he leapt into
the lists with outstretched sword fOr its defence, and
few there were who cared to try the temper of his
Vale. His satire was of the brightest, keenest,
most trenchant order ; and though perhaps no two
men were ever so much feared by or made such on-
slaught among their foes as Christopher Ninth and
Douglas Jerrold, yet their weapons and tactics were
utterly different, for while big, butly, lion-headed
Wilson laid about him with loaded bludgeon,
mangling, trampling, and smashing all within his
reach, the shining lancet of Jerrold struck to the
core of the evil with anatomical precision, and laid
bare its foulness to the scorn of the world.

Douglas Jerrold was born in the year 1803, at
Sheerness, his father being manager of the theatre
there. , Bred amongst sailors and shipping, it was
natural that his early thoughts should turn towards
a nautical life, and after much useless remonstrance
his father obtained for him a midshipman's com-
mission on board a man-of-war. Tiring soon of
this profession, for which, on account of his deli-
cate health, he was physically unfitted, the young
man was, in accordance with his own choice, bound
apprentice to a printer, and in pursuance of his
new calling came to London, where he first made
the acquaintance of the late Laman Blanchard,
a fellow apprentice, and commenced a friendship
which was only to end with the death of the latter.
After enduring years of drudgery at the mechanical
duties of a compositor, the cacoethes scribendi, in-
nate in young Jerrold, developed itself ; and his
first literary production, an essay on the opera of
"Der Freischutz," avz.s dropped by him anony-
mously into the editor's box of the newspaper on
which he was engaged as workman. This article
at once revealed his genius, and after much ques-
tioning he declared himself as its author. Hence-
forward more suitable work was found for him,
printing was given up, and literature became his
occupation. Before he had reached his 21st year
he produced at the Surrey Theat.it the since widely
celebrated nautical, drama, "Black-Eyed Susan,"
'for the proper technical phrasing of which his pre-
vious naval experience had well qualified him. The
.success was tremendous, and for a long time the
drama was presented by the same•eompany on the
same nights at two different theatres, the Surreyand
Drury-lane. " The Rent Day," a drama of Eng-
Jish domestic and rural life, followed, and was
rqually successfUl. It is by these two melodramas,
and one other, "The Prisoner of War," and by his
two principal comedies, " Time Works Wonders,"
and "Bubbles of the Day," that Mr. Jerrold will
be best known to posterity as a dramatic author ;
his later writings for.the stage, though replete with
sparkling dialogue and pungent allusion, lacked a
sufficient interest of plot to render them palatable
to an English audience. Shortly after the starting
of Punch Mr. Jerrold was solicited to join its staff,
and, until the hour of his death, was one of its-
moat valued and 'most constant contributors. In
its pages appeared some of his happiest . efforts ;
among them " Punch's Letters to his Son," " The
story of a Feather," and the immortal "Caudle_
Lectures," serial papers which were the.town-talk
of the time, and which were looked for week after
Week with the greatest interest. In July, 1836, he
commenced a weekly newspaper, which, being dis-
appointed in the sale, he afterwards disposed of ;
laud fur the last five years he has been the editor of
Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, the sale of which it was
understood he had more than trebled. He also
edited two magizines, the Illuminated and Douglas
Jerrold's Shilling Magazine, in the first of which
was published his " Chronicles of Clovernook," in
the Second his story of " St. Giles and St. James."
The immediate cause of Mr. Jerrold's death was
disease of the heart, accompanied by violent spasms
of the stomach. He was sensible to the last, and
died surrounded by relatives and friends. He leaves
behind him a widow, three sons—the eldest of whom,
Mr. Blanchard Jerrold, is making for himself a
name iu literature—and two daughters, of whom
one is married to that well-known philanthropist,
Mr. Henry Mayhew.
We have briefly chronicled Mr. Jerrold's more
important works, but among his friends his memory
will be kept vivid by the recollection of a thousand
flashes of wit and sparkles of quaint fancy, a thou-
sand unwritten bon mots and repartees, any one of
which would have been sufficient to establish the
reputation of a less gifted man—let us also add, by
a thousand acts of kindness, done by stealth, and
unwillingly acknoWledged.

(From the Times.)
The intelligence conveyed by the above heading
will probably take the whole literary public of Eag-
land completely by surprise. But a few days ago
Mr. Douglas Jerrold was a prominent figure of Lon-
don life. An assembly of "wits" would hardly have
been deemed complete without his presence, and
his last bon mot was one of those items of news that
everybody was glad to hear. To the special world
in which he chiefly existed it is scarcely necessary
to say that his illness was of short duration. On
Sunday night he took leave of several of his inti-
mate friends, and shortly after the noon of yester-
day his earthly career had terminated.
Mr. Douglas Jerrold was- in a great measure what
may be styled a " self-educated" man, and the
celebrity he attained with every class of his country-
men that is capable- of appreciating intellectual
worth may be cited among the many instances that
show how distinct is the path to fame from any of
those beaten paths of instruction that time and
usage have prescribed. He was boi nin London on
the 3d of January, 1803, and to the fact that his
father was manager of the Sheerness Theatre maybe
attributed that predilection for the stage which
forms a leading characteristic of the greater portion
of his life. However, his earliest expressed passion,
fostered no doubt by the scene which Sheerness pre-
sented during the height.of the war, was for a mari-
time life, and he obtained a midshipman's appoint-
ment through the good offices of Captain Austen,
brother of Miss Austen, the novelist. With the
war ended his nautical career, and, on quitting the
service, he was apprent:ced to a printer in London.
His leisure hours were now devoted to self-instruc-
tion, Shakspeare being his chief anti-or. An essay
on the opera of " Der Fi eischut z" which he dropped
into the editorial box of a newspaper on which he
was employed as a compositor is the reported be-
ginning of his literary labours. To his infinite
delight, his own anonymous "copy" was handed to
put in type, and shortly afterwards appeared an
editorial notice soliciting other contributions from
the unknown correspondent.
"Black-eyed Susan," of iginally produced at the
Surrey Theatre, under the management of Mr.
Elliston, and afterwards transferred to Drury-lane,
is generally considered the first of his dramtt..c
works, but we believe it was preceded by a num-
ber of farces to which he did not affix his name,
and which were certainly not. worthy of the obli-
vion to which he consigned them. It was followe
by the " Rent Day," and these two works now
stand as the classics of their respective Inn s. TLat,
tendency which was exhibited by Mr. J rrohi
through life to sympat!use with the cause of the
poor and lowly, and to launch his indil-natirn
.
against the opressois high places, was plaiuly
manifested in these earlier productions. The liono.it
sailor who is sentenced to be hung at the yard-
arm because he cannot brook an insult offered to

•
his wife, and the honest farmer who is a most un-
worthy victim of the law of distress, represented
those peculiar objects of sympathy to which he ad-
hered to the last. • - - - -
_These two productions, "Black eyed Susan" and
the " Rent Day," stamped him at once as the most
popular dramatist of his time—as the writer, above
all others, who could command the suffrages of the
multitude. But, having eecured: the suffrages If
the many, Mr. Jerrold now appealed to the "tastes'
of the few. His "Nell Gwynne " perhaps the,
most delightful play he ever penned, presupposea
a familiarity with the artificial tone that prevaiDd
during the reign of Charles IL, though even hero
the sympathetic heart of the writer spoke through
the sparkling dialogue of his personages. 1),I•
" Housekeeper," a quiet picture of female love and
devotion, with an historical background. from toe
time of George 1., may be ranked next in PoPnia;
rity to " Black-eyed Susan" and the " Rent Dal,.
and fourth in the series we may place the "FT
'sow of War," in which an anecdote of the English
detenus at Verdun was dramatised with a di-Play
of animal spiritin which the author inhis laterdra'
matic works was not wont to indulge. Several
five-act comedies, among which " Time works Wel''
ders" and " The Bubbles of a Day" were we!",
celebrated, were produced in the latter part of 11
dramatic career, but none of them ob'ained that
perwanent success achieved by his former works.
We shall not 5.;0 too far if we designate Mr. Doi'
glas Jerrold as the last of the truly English drama-
tists. Not only did he refrain from that prauti°B
of adaptation of the French that now constittitea
the chief vocation of the playwright, but he was
altogether free from that French influence which
may be discovered even in those of our writers vato
still dare to be original, Let us add that his anti"
Gallicism was carried to a fanatical extreme, an
that, while his dialogue showed a command over the
English language which no wit of ancient er
modern times could have excelled, his cAstructi°,ll.,
was freqUently marked by that English la ,v.l
which a greater respect for French models wig.'
have corrected. But the " literature" of the drool
was everything in the eyes of Douglas Jerrold, anu
all the mechanism by-which "stage effect." is pr°-
duced he regarded as meretricious and misclieveusr
to the interests of dramatic art.
Latterly the greatest literary triumphs of itlr*
Jerrold have been achieved in the periodical publi;
cations of the day. The papers which he collected
under the title of " Cakes and Ale" are charming
ebullitions of the fancy, and the Caudle Lee'
tures," which so accelerated 'the rising populaxit'l
of Punch, stand as specimeris of minute life-pain".
in g that can scarcely be surpassed. At the tinie
when these famous lectures were in course of Pit'
licatiou there was not a hen-pecked husband in
united kingdom who did not snatch up .P 214.
every week to contemplate his own misfortunes
" vetuti in, speculo."
For the last few years Mr. Jerrold was cbiefil
occupied as the Editor of Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper'
and, by the custom of the English press, his ow.ll,
individuality could no longer be expressed as chs;
tinctly as in his earlier works. But there was et,
character in which Mr. Douglas Jerrold was always
pre-eminent, and that was as the social wit. g q's
montel said of Diderot that those who had rata 11'd
works only, and bad never heard him speak, ate
not form an estimate of his merits, and the O''
may be said of Douglas Jerrold. To conuel..°,
a brilliant and elaborate repartee was with Il„,
i
the work of a moment ; nay, we could, if we v1001,..1
cite cases, in which the cue was barely pronouns el
before the retort was fired off. The most ne"th
combinations of ideas were effected by him "ale
electric rapidity, even an old pun could bee°ll"o
new from his manner of uttering it, and, what;„
most wonderful of all, there was generally a deep
truth couched at the bottom of his pleasantry,
that the joke, which bad created a roar on its fi'e
utterance, actually appeared bitter when it became
a subject of sober reflection.
The sharpness of Mr. Jerrold's satire has ca Cs
many persons to attribute to him a charactet.,
misanthropic ill-nature ; but never was a more er"„e
gious mistake committed. The large light blue °Li.
of Douglas Jerrold beamed nothing but benevolel%,
and to this expression the feeling of his heart
responded, Like all wits, he loved his joke, and if'if
opportunity for uttering a repartee preSented itts
he was not the man to let the firelock escapee p
grasp. Hence, some unfortunate personage 40
obtruded his egotism or his pedantry might 033,'10
to get an unlucky "hit" if Douglas Jerr•ld vraf.tf
company, and as the weapon was of firstrate qua !...1
the mark of the wound might remain unobliteratri
for years. But to suppose that Douglas Jeri' 0
„
ever deliberately intended. to inflict pain prove
total ignorance of his large and philosophic nett.*
Wrong and oppression he hated in theabstract, P 0
he had a friendly grasp for all Individnals, 0/°
among his adversaries.
' The reading public, which knows celebrated Off
in black and white pnly, has lost a writer who )";
epigrammatic brilliancy has never been excelled is
our language. But far deeper has been the lois °,O
the circle of friends who delighted to spend wilti
evenings in cathing the stream of wit as it floviro
unimpeded from Jerrold's lips, and acquired,l,eot
themselves a reflected glory by repeating "Jerrin,
last." The " wits" of Loudon. have lost their:a
knowledied chief.
Mr, Douglas Jerrold died at Kilburn Priory
the arms of his eldest son, and retained his inteefi .eet
till within a few minutes of his death.

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