by the scenes about him. There must be the moralist
in the satirist if satire is to strike. The stroke
is weakened and art violated when he comes to the front.
But he will always be pressing forward, and Thackeray
restrained him as much as could be done, in the manner
of a good-humoured constable. Thackeray may have
appeared cynical to the devout by keeping him from
a station in the pulpit among congregations of the
many convicted sinners. That the moralist would
have occupied it and thundered had he presented us
with the Fourth of the Georges we see when we read
of his rejecting the solicitations of so seductive
a personage for the satiric rod.
Himself one of the manliest, the kindliest of human
creatures, it was the love of his art that exposed
him to misinterpretation. He did stout service
in his day. If the bad manners he scourged are
now lessened to some degree we pay a debt in remembering
that we owe much to him, and if what appears incurable
remains with us, a continued reading of his works
will at least help to combat it.
A PAUSE IN THE STRIFE—1886
Our ‘Eriniad,’ or ballad epic of the enfranchisement
of the sister island is closing its first fytte for
the singer, and with such result as those Englishmen
who have some knowledge of their fellows foresaw.
There are sufficient reasons why the Tories should
always be able to keep together, but let them have
the credit of cohesiveness and subordination to control.
Though working for their own ends, they won the esteem
of their allies, which will count for them in the
struggles to follow. Their leaders appear to
have seen what has not been distinctly perceptible
to the opposite party—that the break up
of the Liberals means the defection of the old Whigs
in permanence, heralding the establishment of a powerful
force against Radicalism, with a capital cry to the
country. They have tactical astuteness.
If they seem rather too proud of their victory, it
is merely because, as becomes them, they do not look
ahead. To rejoice in the gaining of a day, without
having clear views of the morrow, is puerile enough.
Any Tory victory, it may be said, is little more than
a pause in the strife, unless when the Radical game
is played ’to dish the Whigs,’ and the
Tories are now fast bound down by their incorporation
of the latter to abstain from the violent springs
and right-about-facings of the Derby-Disraeli period.
They are so heavily weighted by the new combination
that their Jack-in-the-box, Lord Randolph, will have
to stand like an ordinary sentinel on duty, and take
the measurement of his natural size. They must,
on the supposition of their entry into office, even
to satisfy their own constituents, produce a scheme.
Their majority in the House will command it.
Copyrights
Complete Short Works of George Meredith from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
