Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/171

Rh appeared at the Whitehall Theatre in Garrick's comedy, ‘The Guardian.’ The experiment was more than once renewed. In 1848 he played in Dickens's amateur company. In 1849 he appeared as Shylock in company with Barry Sullivan and others, and in 1850 he acted in his own play, ‘The Noble Heart’ at the Olympic and in the provinces. It is said that his performances, especially as Shylock, were thoughtful and artistic, but he was deficient in physical power.

Lewes married in 1840 Agnes, daughter of Swynfen Stevens Jervis (1798–1867) of Chatcull, Staffordshire, M.P. for Bridport in 1837, in whose family he had, it is believed, acted as tutor. He had to support himself by literary work, and the Leweses became known to many of the most distinguished authors of the time, especially to Carlyle, Thackeray, and J. S. Mill. He wrote many articles in the chief quarterly reviews, principally upon topics connected with the drama. He tells Macvey Napier (Correspondence, p. 463) in 1844 that an article of his upon Goethe in the ‘British and Foreign Quarterly’ had been translated into both French and German. In 1840 he wrote in the ‘Westminster’ upon ‘The French Drama;’ in 1841 in the ‘Westminster’ upon Shelley, whom he contrasts favourably with Byron; in 1842 in the ‘Westminster’ upon ‘The Errors and Abuses of English Criticism,’ attacking the system of anonymous writing, and in the ‘British and Foreign Review’ upon ‘Hegel's Æsthetics;’ in 1843 in the ‘Foreign Quarterly’ upon ‘The Spanish Drama’ (articles afterwards reprinted in 1846 as a volume), and upon A. W. von Schlegel, whom he attacks as a philosophic impostor; in the ‘Edinburgh’ upon ‘Dramatic Reform’ and ‘The Classification of Theatres;’ and in the ‘British and Foreign Quarterly’ upon ‘The Modern Philosophy of France,’ describing Cousin as a charlatan, and speaking favourably of Comte; in 1844 in the ‘British and Foreign’ upon ‘Alfieri and Italian Drama;’ in the ‘New Quarterly’ upon ‘Goldoni and Italian Comedy;’ and in the ‘Classical Museum’ upon the ‘Antigone and the Dancing of the Greek Chorus;’ in 1845 in the ‘Edinburgh’ upon Lessing, for whom he has the highest admiration, partly as ‘the least German of all Germans;’ in 1847 in the ‘British Quarterly’ upon ‘Browning and the Poetry of the Age,’ Tennyson being in his view the only true poet living; in 1848 in ‘Fraser's Magazine’ upon Leopardi, and in the ‘British Quarterly’ upon ‘Historical Romance: Alexandre Dumas;’ and in 1849 in the ‘British Quarterly’ upon ‘Disraeli's Writings’ and upon Macaulay. Lewes was invariably bright, clear, and eminently independent in his criticism. He had greater sympathy than most Englishmen with French canons of taste, disliked the clumsiness and obscurity of German literature, and thought that our national idolatry of Shakespeare had made us blind to the merits of the classical school.

Besides criticising Lewes had attempted independent authorship in his play of the ‘Noble Heart,’ and had made some adaptations from the French dramas, especially ‘The Game of Speculation,’ which had a lasting popularity. He wrote also two novels, ‘Ranthorpe’ (written in 1842) and ‘Rose, Blanche, and Violet,’ which were published in 1847 and 1848 respectively. The second shows great improvement in literary skill, and is very superior to the ordinary run of ephemeral novels. Lewes, however, was not a born novelist, and his attempts are enough to disprove the suggestion that he played any other part than that of a judicious critic in regard to the novels of George Eliot.

Lewes's continuous interest in philosophy was shown by the ‘Biographical History of Philosophy.’ The two first volumes appeared in 1845, and the last two in 1846. The vivacity of the writing, and the skill with which the personal history of philosophers was connected with the history of their speculations, gave a deserved popularity to the work. The general aim is to show the vanity of all metaphysics, and to represent Comte's positivism as the ultimate goal of philosophy. The book represents rather the impressions of a very quick and brilliant journalist than the investigations of a profound student. In later editions much was added, but in so unsystematic a fashion, according to the temporary course of Lewes's reading, as to destroy the symmetry without proportionally adding to the value of the work.

In 1850 Thornton Leigh Hunt [q. v.] established the ‘Leader’ in co-operation with Lewes, who was editor for literary subjects. A series of articles appeared in the ‘Leader’ from April to August 1852, which were reprinted in 1853, with considerable alteration and additions, as ‘Comte's Philosophy of the Sciences.’ The letters which (with some additions) form the first part of the book were founded upon an analysis of Comte's philosophy by George Walker, a lawyer of Aberdeen (information from Professor Bain). The assistance of two friends is acknowledged, perhaps insufficiently, in a note to the second letter; but the names were not given, as at that time sympathy with Comte's views was not an advantage for a professional man in Scotland. The Leweses were at this time living with the Thornton Hunts. Lewes