The Portland daily press., 1882-01-10
Ainsworth and the Criminal Novel.
Providence Journal

lGTONlucuct COuludll
The death of William Harrison Ainsworth
will probably be more of surprise than q
shock, the current impression probably being
that he was dead long ago with his forgotten
fame. But those who were boys when be was
pouring out his fecund romances from the New
gate Calendar will, doubtless, remember Wv
idly the stolen pleasures derived from the peru
sal of the pages of "Jack Sheppard" and the
prolonged thrill that accompanied the graphic
description of Dick Turpins ride to York,
which, by the way, there was always atradi-
tion was not written by Ainsworth, but by DIR.
Maginn, the Captain Shandon of "Pendennis." "
Ainsworth was not the inventor of the novel
of which the criminal was the hero, for that
dates back to the picturesque romances Of
Spain, and in English literature he had been
anticipated by De Foe and Fielding. But
except Gay in burlesque, he was the first or
the great exemplar of those who endeavoredto
present the noted criminal in an attractive
light, as the victim Of circumstances rather
than viciousness, and otherwise as brave,
handsome, generous and with all the qualities
of the heroes of conventional romance. The
sympathy of the reader was with the criminal,
and not with the victim or the officers Of the
law, who were generally depicted as hypocrit-
ical villains deservedly defeated and covered
with ridicule by the superior adroitness and
daring of the dashing highwayman or jovial
housebreaker. And when the truth of history
forced the melancholy end upon the gallows
for Jack Sheppard and Dick Turpin, it was
with proper tears and commiseIation for their
undeserved fate, and admiration for their un-
dsunted courage in the cart and on the scat
fold.
The effect which this sort of thing had in
English literature was something remarkable,
and produced direct and indirect results quite
beyond the quality of the original. Bulwer,
who always followed the literary fashion of the
time as he frequently exceeded it in skill, took
up the criminal hero and wrote Eugene
Aram," in which the murderer was profound
philosopher, and paul Clifford" !" in which
highwayman was an accomplished litterateur,
beside being melo-dramatic hero. These
were about the worst things In point OF sim
cerity and morality which even Bulwer wrote,
and it was to ridicule them that. Thackeray
wrote his first novel, "Catharine," taking for
his heroine a vulgar murderess. "Csthsrine
Hayes" and preparing better view Of real
ism and satire, which displayed his genius at
its full strength, IL not at its finest finish.
These would have been remarkable enough re-
suits from the popularity of a couple Of ordin-
airy romances like Jack Sheppard" and "Dick
Turpin," but 1t Is also certain that Dickens
was also moved by them to present the truer
pictures of vice and ruffianism in "Oliver
Twist" and that Bill Sykes and Fagin, were
orig inally intended 10 offset Jack Sheppard and
Blueskin. This was one step toward realism,
but as Thackeray pointed out in the paper on
"Going to See Man Hanged" there was
touch of the melodrama in Dickens's crimi-
nails, and Miss Nancy was no more like the
original than like a Dresden sheperdess. Dick
ems dared not, If he could, have painted crimi-
nal vice in its real foulness, and that was left
for the toeration of French literature and the
unshrinking pen of M. Emile Zola. 1t would
be curious to know If the idea Of protesting
against the absence of the real mud on the
garments of the criminals of Dickens had any
effect in producing the realism Of Zola, and
was therefore to be indirectly traced to the in
fuence of Ainsworth, who, by the way, was
certainly the prototype and inspirer OF Eugene
Sue. ...ss.....
As for the literary quality Of Ainsworth him
self, it was not contemplate. As novels Of ac-
tion his stories were quite equal in ingenuity
of construction to those Of G.. 2. II. James,
and in vividness of description to the earlier
novels of Charles Lever. Even now, II one
should come across a tattered and thumbed
copy of "Jack Sheppard" he might read it
with something more of interest than mere Gu
riosity. Ainsworth wrote many other novels
of an historical character, but only those with
the criminal element had any particular merit
or popularity. But the time was when he was
ranked as one of the leading English novel
lists, and in Maelises famous picture of the
contributors to Fraser's Magazine, bis hand
some countenance, for he was a sort OF literary
D'Orsay, was evidently considered OF more Inn
portance than the discontented features of
Thackeray or the gloomy face of Thomas Car
lyle. That delusion long ago passed away
The novels once as popular as "Wayerly" or
VANITY Fair are unread and nearly forgot
ten. And even the play, which fingered long
in the affections of the galleries, and thrilled
the gamins and the bootblacks with sympa-
thetic emotion for the joys and SORROWS Of the
young woman in velvet smalls who carved
Jack Sheppard's name ON the dungeon stone
with his chisel so fine, ira Ia" has vanished
from the boards and pen orallV been succeeded
by something worse The name Of its author
will not be remembered for itself, but may
have place in literary history in connection
with the work of greater men.