The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-22
NEW BOOKS.
samuel Richardson =.

cal estimate OF Samuel Richardson by Austin
Dobson (Macmillans). Many readers Of this
collection must have asked themselves why
the discussion OF Richardson was SO long
delayed, especially a. volumes have been
allotted, not only to his great contemporary
and rival. Fielding. but also TO authors now
so little read as Sir Philip Sidney. Bentley
and Lander. The delay Is doubtless to he
accounted for by the fact that the editor,
Mr.. John Morley. concurs with James Rus
sell lowell in thinking that the truth about
a book or about its writer can best be
brought out from sympathetic point Of
view. To find. however, q man Of letters
otherwise competent who admires, or even
appreciates, the creator of Pamela, "Clar-
issa Harlowe- and @Sir Charles Grandson
has probably proved difficult. To select Mr..
Austin Dobson for the task would scarcely
at hrst thought, occur to the editor. seeing
that he had been chosen to write the life Of
Fielding, and had shown himself peculiarly
qualified for the work. How could the same
man appreciate both Joseph Andrews" and
~Pamela1" The question seems to answer
itself; nevertheless. readers of the book
before us will acknowledge that Mr.. Dobson
has given proof not only Of patience and
JustiCe, Dut Oh SYMPATHY III tic pfostNutioti
of a difficult undertaking. We say patience
because he seems to have exhausted all the
accessible materials for a biography Of
Richardson, having read, not only that part
OF his subjects correspondence which was
published by Mrs. Barbauld. but also in
Vulnerable imprinted letters.
How just the present biographer is will be
recognized when we point out that, while
nowhere attempting to palliate Richard
sons extraordinary diffuseness and inordi.
nate prolixity, and irresistible propensity to
load his text with mass Of matter homiletc
and didactic. Mr.. Dobson IL careful to keep
before our eyes the fact that the author Of
'Pamela' was the pioneer Of a new literary
movement; the first certifcated practi-
voner Of sentiment. 30 far as England was
concerned; the English Columbus Of the
analytical novel Of ordinary life. Touching
Richardson's claims to distinction from
these points Of view. Mr. Dobson says: Be-
fore him no one had essayed in this field to
describe the birth and growth of new inn
preston, to show the ebb and flow of emo
ton in a mind distraught. to follow the
progress Of a passion, to dive so deeply into
the human heart as TO leave-in SCOTS
expressive words neither head, bay nor
inlet behind him, until he had traced it's
soundings and laid it down in his chart with
all its minute sinuosites, its depths and
shadows Added 10 this. there was a some
thing in his nervous, high-strung consttu-
tion--a fe minnie streak, as il were-which
made him an unrivalled anatomist Of female
character. He seems TO have known
women more intimately and instinctively
than any deceased author we can recall. and
he has written Of them with an interest. a
patience, a discrimination and a sustained
power Of microscopic inquiry which no
author has surpassed" These words are
tinctured with sympathy as we'll as stamped
with equity; and. strange 10 say-for so
far as We know. it is an acquired taste posi-
lively unique at the present day-Mr
Dobson confesses TO a certain relish, even
for Richardson's style: That there is an
extraordinary quality about that nerveless
ambling, redundant style of his which. to
those who persevere, gradually absorbs
and fascinates. may readily be granted"
There is a saying that the extent of an
authors hold upon posterity may be meas
ured by the reception which he meets with
among foreign nations In his lifetime. II
this be a general rule, Richardson is a con-
ron, and it is by no means certain that
we ought to leave him out, no Eng
lish author who ever lived, was during
his life and for some time afterward, 80
popular and influential on the Continent as
was Richardson. In France, where Field
ing was imperfectly understood. and Smol-
lett almost unknown, and where Marivaux
had already prepared the ground for the
- p,nhn
was immediate and unmistakable. There
he at once obtained a currency which was
absolutely unexampled and which was
the more extraordinary because France
and England were for the moment polit.
ically opposed, and because Richardson !
preface to Pamela" had been regarded on
tho other side of the Channel as IAN insult
to the entire French nation" In l742 Crebil.
lon told Lord Chesterfield that, without PA.
mela," the Parisians would not know wha,
to read or to say. Two dramatizatons of il
and two limitations were quickly brought
out on the Partisan stage, and in Italy alsc
pamela" was turned into two plays "Car.
issa" was even more succc ssful, and, by the
time Grandson" appeared, Admiration
had become infatuation. The colossa
Eloge of Diderot indicates the culminat.
ing poiAt In seventeen pages of breath
less eubgy thrown of at burst Dioeror
dilates upon his theme" He puts the au,
thor Of "Cla issa" before Montague. Nicole
and La Rochefoucaud for his knowlcdg,
of the human heart and commends hin
for a delicacy Of art which no English
critic would attribute to him. The pop
ularity Of Richardson's nc vels in Franc.
survived ev n the publication Of la Nou
veil. Heloise" and has continued almos
to our day. In l7s5, a French critic wrote
"Clarissl A." the greatest among Englisi
novels, has also become the first among ou
own" His subsequent admirers in Rous
seaus country embraced Chateaubrand
Andre Chenier. George Sand and Alfred d,
Musset. An abridged version Of -Clarissa
which had first been translated by the Abb
Provost, was brought out by Jules Janin il
ls4e, and as lately as 1875 Clarissa's cigh
volumes were compressed into Frencl
novelette, Of some $50 pages. In Germany
also, Richardson's influence has beef
traced in Schiller; it is unmstakabe il
Ie~sings drama, Miss Sara Sampson" an,
Wieland took Clementina, one of the he
rojnes Of Grandson for the theme of
tragedy.
In the case Of Richardson, it is eviden
that the verdict of foreign contemporaries
81 nj. r