Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/180

* LETTERS IN LITERATURE. 162 LETTERS IN LITERATURE. mediaeval iiuliuiis, kateis in Latin wiio numer- ous. For Italy there arc the famous epistles of Dante and Petrarch; and for Gerniauy, the theological and controversial epistles of Reuchlin, ilelanchthon, Erasmus, and Pipsius. A most remarkable collection is the EpinloUr bscui-u7-um Virorum (2 parts, 1515-17), in which Itcuchlin's friends Crotus Kiihianus and Ulricli von lluttcn satirized in comic Latin the ignorance and stu- pidity of the monks. Thoiigli not a very noble defense of classical Icarninfr, this vulgar .satire was elTeetive in paving the way to a new age. English literature is extremely rich in letters. At the very thresliold of nuxU'rn times are the Paslon Lcltrix. which passed between members of a Norfolk family and their friends from the beginning of the reign of Henry 'l. mi into the reign of Henry Vll. The correspondence pre- sents a vivid ])icture of social life at the dawn of the English Renaissance. The Eton boy writes to liis 'rigid and reverent and worsliijjful brother' for money and clothes; and mingled with public and private incidents detailed by the elders arc references to Latin manuscripts and translations jjassing from hand to hand. Less sincere, but of finer literary quality, arc the letters of .lames Howell, piddished in installments under the title Kiiislolw lloclidiur : Fniniliar LcUcr.i ( l(>45-47-5-55). The best of them, abounding in shrewd observation and humorous anecdote, are written with a graceful pen. Long considered genuine, it now seems that they were mostly literary exercises put into cpistolaiy form. Howell's success led at once to fictitious collections by Kobert Loveday and Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle. By 1740 imaginary letters on a great variety of topics were much sought by publishers. It was at this time that Samuel Richardson, when asked to write such a collec- tion, wove into the correspondence the story Pamela, and thus transformed a bundle of letters into the novel of manners. In the meantime letters were passing between real men and women. The correspondence be- tween .Sir William Temple and Dorothy Osborne, his future wife, records a tender attachment. A little later. Tem])U''s amanuensis, afterwards Dean Swift, was sending his charming prattle to Stella; but her letters in reply were destroyed by the great Dean. Swift also kept >ip a cor- respondence with .rbuthnot. liolingbrokc, and Pope, and wrote those 'masterpieces of dreadful humor' called the Drnpirr'n Letters. Pope's own correspondence Avith his friends, presenting the poet as he wished to appear to the world, is a good example of an autobiography in letter form. One of Pope's correspondents was Lady Mary WOrtley Montagu, whose letters, covering nearly fifty years, were published after her death. As vivacious comments upon contemporary life, social and literary, they are among the best that have ever come from women. Individual letters of Dr. .Tohnson. as the repudiation of Lord Chesterfield, are celebrated. Chesterfield's let- ters to his natural son, forming a cyelopa>dia of polite manners, created a great stir in their time, and are still read for their natural grace and good breeding. In the Citizen of the World, rioldsmith turned an imaginary corre- spondence into a light satire of contemporary manners. Many imitators followed down to the time of Kobert Southey. The political satire in letter form attained its greatest popularity in the Letters of Junius (q.v.). The finest per- sonal letters of the eighteenth century came from Walpole, who wrote with abandon, giving loo.se rein to anecdote, gossip, scandal, and playful cynicism. Gray's letters, tender, allectionate, and lighted here and there with gleams of ex- quisite humor, arc iierfect in tone and temper. In style Ciiwpcr stands midway. His letters, written without revision or crasuic, are the sjion- taneous expression of a tender and humorous nature softened by melancholy. Among other names of the eighti'enth century that should not be forgotten are Addison. Sterne, Frances Bur- ney, Mary Wollstonecraft, Hannah More, and Burns. During the last century the literature of letters became vast. The death of any author of repute is now sure to be followed by the publication of his correspondence, which serves as an autobiography for the whole or a part of his career. Particularly interesting was the fairly successful attempt to tell the story of George Eliot's life by a chronological arrange- ment of her letters with slight connecting links from the pen of her husband. Though the novel in letter form has lost its prestige, the fictitious correspondence, usually depicting a love-iiassion, has retained its vogue. Of genuine letters ad- dressed from friend to friend, the choicest since Cowper are by Byron an<l Charles Lamb. The letters of Edward Fitztierald, addressed to some of the most eminent men of his time, are also models of ease and frankness. Public curiosity has led to the publication of the love-letters of literary men. The two most notable examples are the letters of Keats to Fanny Brawne and the correspondence between Browning and Miss Barrett just liefore their marriage. Great inter- est also attaches to the correspondence of Scott, Southey, De Quincey, Leigh Hunt. Sydney Smith, Lockhart, Hood. Macaulay. Emerson, Carlyle, Mrs. Carlyle, Thackeray. JRuskin. Matthew Ar- nold, Stevenson, Lowell, and T. E. Brown. It has generally been conceded that the French excel all other nations in the art of letter-writ- ing. And certainly if one were called upon to select the most charming letter-writer of modern times, the lot would fall to Madame dc Si'vign", a member of the celebrated Hotel de Rambouillet. She was a part of the best Parisian society for more than forty years. Her daughter married the Count de Grignan and settled in Provence. This separation was the occasion of the famous corresiiondcnce. never intended for publication, describing with extraordinary art and esprit the life of the capital. To the same period belong the letters of ^fadame de Maintenon, Guy Patin, and Racine. The theological letter received its highest style from Pascal in the Leitres a un provincial' For the eighteenth century may be cited Madame du Defl'and; Voltaire, who left many volumes of correspondence, including letters from England and letters to Frederick the Great; and Rousseau, who, besides numerous letters to his friends, wrote a novel in letter form. The classic traditions of (he French letter were con- tinued bv Madame de Stael, Hugo. Saint-Beuve, George Sand, Alfred de Musset, the Goncourts, and MPrimee, whose intimate Lettres A une in- eonmie ap))eared after his death. German letters do not impress a foreigner with those prime requisites to a good letter — ease and grace. On the other hand, the German usually I