Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-07-04
From the London Times, June Q.

Inc .ahsh1y take the whole literary public of Eng
-,,nd comnleteIy by surprise. But few days ago
NJ Douglas Jerrod was prominent figure IN Lon
don life. An assembly of wits" would hardy Pave
been deemed complete without his presence anu ns
last bon mot was one of those items OF news tha'
everybody was glad to hear. To the special woro IN
1vhch he chiefly existed it is scarcely necessary 10
cav that his illness was OF short duration. Oh gun.
dav night he took leave of several OF his ntima.e
friends and shortly after the noon OF yesterday MS
earthly career had terminated.
M Douglas Jerrold was in great measure VIVA
nov he STYLED ''self educated" man, and the cee
hrtv he attained with every class of his countrymel
tht ;s CAPABLE of approaching intellectual worth'
NAV be cited among the many instances that snow
how distrnct is the path to fame from any OF thos
beaten tracks of instruction that time ana 1sag
have prescribed He was born in London on theS
If January 1909 and to the fact that his father wa
manager Of the Sheerness Threatre may be attrlou.
ed that prediction for the stage which forms leao
inc characteristic of the greater portion OF MS Tic
However his earliest expressed passion, tosterea
doubt by the scene which Sheerness presented Gu c
ing the height of the war, was for a marltlme nn
and he obtained midshipman's appohh, nn.h.
through the good Offices of Captain Austen oro'ne
of Miss Austen the novelist With the war ehoe'
his nautical career, and quitting the service,
was apprenticed to a printer in London. Ills ie's
ure hours were now devoted to self-lnstrucu0h
Shakespeare being his chief author An essay on tn
opera Of Der FHeischutz, WHICH he dropped into tn
editorial box of a newspaper on which he was en-
nIayed as compostor, is the reported beginning o !
his literary labors. To his infinite delght MS oSh
annonymous "copy" was handed over to HIM to put
in type and shortly afterwards appeared an eotor'
ia notice soliciting other contributions from the un-
known correspondent
BLACK. Eyed Susan, originally produced at the
Surrey Threatre, under the management Oh M ME- =.
listop and afterwards transferred 70 Is
generally considered the first of his dramatic works,
but we believe It was preceded by number OF far
ces to which he did not affx his name, and which
were certainly not worthy of the oblivion to which
he consigned them. 1t was followed by the Rent
DAY, and these two works now stand as the classics
of their respective kinds. That tendency which
was exhibited by Mr. Jerrold throughlife to sympa-
thze with the cause of the poor and lowly, and to
launch his indignation against the oppression in
high places, was plainly manifested in these earlier
productions The honest sailor who is sentenced to
be hanged at the yard-arm because he cannot brook
an insult offered to his wife, and the honest father
who is most unworthy victim Of the law of distress,
represented those peculiar objects of sympathy to
which he adhered 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 9TH
ers who could command the suffrages of the multi
tude. But, having secured the favor of the many,
Mr. Jerrold now appealed to the tastes of the few.
he ever penned pre-supposed familiarity with the
artificial tone that prevailed during the reign of Char
les H., though even here the sympathetic heart OF
the writer spoke through the sparkling dialogue Of
his personages. The Housekeeper, quiet picture
of female love and devotion, with historical back
next in popularity to BackEyed Susan and the Rent
Day. and fourth in the series may place the PRS
oner OF War; in which an anecdote of the English
dezenus at Verdun was dramatized with display OF
animal spirit in which the author in his later DRAM
attic works was not wont to indulge. Several five.
act comedies, among which Time Works Wonders
and The Bubbles of a Day were most celebrated,
were produced in the latter part of his dramatic
career, but none of them obtained that permanent
success achieved by his former works.
We shall not 90 too far if we designate Mr.. Doug
las Jerrod as the last of the truly English drama
tists Not only did he refrain from that practice of
adaptation from the French that now constitutes the
gether free from that French influence which may
be discovered even in those of writers who still
dare to be original Let US add that his ant-Galli-
cism was carried to fanatca extreme, and that,
while his dialogue showed a command over the Eng
lish language which wit of ancient or modern
times could have excelled his construction was fire.
quently marked ~ that English laxity which great.
respect for French models might have corrected.
But the literature" of the drama was everything in
the eyes of Douglas Jerrold and all the mechanism
by which "stage effect is produced he regarded as
meretrcious and mischevous to the interests of dra
matte art.
Latterly the greatest literary triumphs of Mr.. Jer
rold have been achieved in the periodical publica-
tons of the day. The papers which he collected
under the title of "Cakes and Ale" are charming eb-
ulitions of the fancy, and the "Caudle Lectures"
which SO accelerated the rising popularity of Punch,
stand as specimens of minute fe-painting that can
scarcely be surpassed. At the time when these ia
nous lectures were in course of publication, there
was not hen-pecked husband in the united kindom
who did not snatch up Punch every week to con-
template his own misfortune "ueluti in speculo"
For the last few years Mr.. Jerrold was chiefly &C.
cupied as the Editor Of Lloyds Weekly Newspaper,
and by the custom of the English press his own in
dviduaty could no longer be expressed as distinct
ly as in his earlier works. But there was one char
acter in which Mr.. Douglas Jerrold was always pre-
eminent, and that was as the social wit. Marmont-
ell said of Dderot that those who had read his works
only and had never heard him speak, could not form
an estimate OF his merits, and the same may be said
OF Douglas Jerrold. To conceive brilliant and ella
borate repartee was with him the work of moment;
nay, we could, if we would, cite cases, in which the
cue was barely pronounced before the retort was
hred or The most novel combinations of ideas were
erected by him with electric rapidity even an old
pun could become new from his manner of uttering
II, and, what was most wonderful of ALL there was
generally deep truth couched at the bottom of his
pleasantly, so that the joke which had created
roar on Its first utterance, actually appeared bitter
when 1t became subject of sober reflection
The sharpness of Mr.. Jerrold's satire has caused
many persons to attribute to him character of mis-.
anthropic Miniature; but never was moreegregous
mistake committed. The large light-blue eye of
Douglas Jerrold beamed nothing but benevolence
and to this expression the feeling of his heart fully
responded. Like all wits, he loved his joke, and if
an opportunity for uttering repartee presented itself
ne was not the man to let the firelock escape his
grasp; Hence, some unfortunate parsonage who OBJ
truoed his egotism or his pedantry might chance to
get an unlucky 'hit" if Douglas Jerrold was in COM
Pany, and as the weapon was Of irst-rate quality,
inc marx OF the wound might remain unobliterated
lor years; But, to suppose that Douglas Jerrold
ever deliberately intended to infict pain proves