National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-02-19
Watisaal &epablifau,
R0XEY IN ENGLLsH LITERA.

R0XEY IN ENGLISH LITERA-
$3.50 TCRE.
rHEHEROINES OF rHEGREAT WRITER'S
"A GENERAL LACK OF STRONG CHAR
ACTERIZATION. ---,.-
We form our opinion Of nation from their
literature. Their mode of lie, characteris-
tics and morality are all mirrorea In the works
OF their standard authors. or 10 people d
TINS so true as Of the English. They havo
not the fine arts Of the French to conceal their
defects with brilliant sophistry. NOEngiish-
man could have written "Camille;" be either
gives US the grossness Of s'The New Mseds-
len" or the purity of aChristic Johnson"
Any one who cannot croes the ocean has but
to read Thackcray to have mental image OF
the literary man, young swell and old roue,
Lord Steynes and Pendenniscs.
We think Of an Englishman In connections
with roast beef and mutton-ch0ps; I always
imagine Pickvick eating and drinking until his
jolly face ID, all aglow with happiness. II
Dickens had lsft tho dinners and lunches out
of his books, how hungry they would have
been. Think of Betsey Prig and Sarah Camp
without their gin; or 'sthe Temperate nights
ven they just. laid foundations q tee to put
the spirits atop on Z" A hungry man can
read Dickens with the eame pleasure that Q
newsboy looks ct the pies in . bakers win
dow The great novelist was fond Of the
good things Of the table, and disgusesd Irving
by his gormandizing.
Thackeray don't depend upon eating and
drinking to give his books q relish; but his pic
ture of Becky's breakfast Is very tempting to .
woman. Think Of the gentle Becky having
her chocolate brought to her bed every morn
ing BY her husband. Oh, immortal Thack-
erayl you did more for woman by that little
picture than you injured her by all your slurs
and sarcasms. But Becky was unsfateful;
and, after she had driven this model husband
| away, she was not 80 fsstidious in her habits;
for, when 10 Sedley called at her humble
lodgings, she hid the brandy and dish of meat
| In her bed.
Thackeray says Steele was the first English
writer who spoke of women with respect, or
thought they were anything but dolls or idiots.
Quite an admission for the man who says him.
self they are all fools or devils; but his admi-
ration of Steele diseloses more faith in the sex
than he processes. After all, his women arc
As good as his men; he takes of all the glitter
from human nature, and only the poor, shabby,
everyday article Is left.
| Englishmen never draw strong or independ-
ent characters fer their heroines. Perhaps
| they have had no mocel to copy from-Ihasten
Il
genius should be capable Of overlooking the
petty prcjuiices Of the time and discovering
the possibilities Of human nature. Women
have been advancing for the last two hundred
years, and yet 10 English author, excepting
Shakespeare, has anticipated or acknowledged
the fact, but each has always had his one ideal
heroine. Colcridge says Dcsdemona Is just
the woman every man wishes for wife-ons
whose wisdom is of the heart rather than the
head. 1t Is strange men never have anything
to say about what kind of man will make tho
best husband they don't consider that of much
importance. The wife has only to think like
Desdemona when she says; Bet as your
fsncies teach you. Whate'er yos be, am
obcdicnt."
Charlotte Bronte was the first English
novelist to draw an Independent and spirited
heroine, intellectual, but womanly-two traits
an Englishmau had never combined. It must
have been the creation of her own brain, or
what she knew herself and others capable of,
more than the representative English woman
of the time. Justin Mccarthy, who is always
J Just, says ssThe stateiiest Oriental, the most
stoical red Indian, could hardly be more i'm
I passive creature than an average weil-brea
English woman" They seem 10 have very
little individuality; we continually see the same
faces in different dress. The young girls may
be coquettish, prim, or kittcnish; but the wo-
man is always the same. ~
III w
den and Mrs. MackelMe as the representative
British mairon; Always on the lockout for d
. good match for their properly brought up
daughters. They don't seem to have the taste
In dress or industry of the American, but take
life easy and grow fat, which causes US to sus-
pect that the rooms 2ye sometimes dusty and
/! the mistress slippers down at the heel, like
poor Mrs. Wragge's. :
Sir Waiter Scott gives a. Di Vernon and Jen.
p~1xh et,-, ,l,nr ,.So
There appears to be more Independence and
x originality about Scotch women than We see in
! ths Enp,ssh. Scott found models for Jennie
Deans and Zen Douglas among his own High
J lands. and Tbaes>, ray found ROsas and Ethels
in London society.
Swift was contemptuous md patrontzing to
women. Addison used them az /. cats-paw to
display his wit; he saw only their little iollies
and was blind to their good qualities. rprrss
had a great deal Of maudlin sentiment, bat he
was cold and selfish, and, like all such men,
had very little honest respect for women. Some
J writer has said, ''Show me what Q man reads,
and will tell you what kind of man he is.
But . better test would be to know what he
. thinks Of women. Dickens does not give us
any such heroines as George Eliot she paints
them rs they are, or ought to be /; but he, like
all men, paints them as he likes to have them.
ii Dora and Belle are charming enough, and
Agnes is goody- goody; but he burlesqued old
! women. Byron sneeis at virtue and intellect
alike. Shakespeare rises above the prejudices OF
the age; he does not, like other writers, con-
tinually give us our ideal of womanly perfec-
tons. There are no two female characters
alike in all his plays; each has as distinctive q
personality as the male. We know this from
the fact that no actress, however great her &C.
MUS, has been able to rise above mediocrity IN
more than two or three characters. Mrs. Sid
dons, who was 50 celebrated as Lady Macbeth,
could not see anything in Juliet. One woman
cannot play both any more than the same actor
can be equally great in Hamlet and Macbeth.
Portia is the first woman We read of to appear
in court Of justice, and she is not described as
less womanly for so doing. Beatrice is fully
the equal of Benedick; ard Juliet is an indie
pendent, strong minded girl; she brings Romeo
to terms when she says, eff that thy bent OF
love be honorable, thy purpose marriage, send
me word tomorrow, by one that I'll procure to
come to thee, where, and what time, thou wilt
perform the rite" Lady Macbeth Is the equal
Of her husband intellectually, with clearer
mind to devise and q stronger will to execute
her purposes; she is not 30 unnerved by super
stifious fears.
Carlyle does not consider women of much
consequence. He would like the power Of
keeping her in what he thinks her place. But
what does Carlyle hkel
Bulwer, who Is either bombastic or senti-
mental, always has the old-fashioned heroine,
animated dolls, subject to mans generosity or
villainy. It Is curious fact that man either
don't give woman credit for what she can do,
or else he goes to the other extreme, and over
rates her. The first Is the result Of . narrow
mind and prejudice, the other Of . generosity
and gallantry.
The Englishman is the most ungallant of
men. He has not the good nature Of the Ger
man or the politeness Of the French. A lady
is not treated with the respect and considera-
ton in England she receives in America. There
Il no sentiment about true Britons; pretty
face doesn't melt them, or lonely one excite
their compassion. Becky Sharp was great
| favorite with them after she lad won position
for herself; but how most of them snubbed her
while she was getting It
| John Stuart Mil was fortunate IN marrying
wife who was intellectually his equal, one
who assisted him in all his literary labofs. So
complete was this union of thought and writing
that he says at IL Of little consequence, in re-
spect to the question of originality, which Of
them holds tho pen" He did not allow her
IN a. h <>unx,s,a