Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature - 4. Naturalism in EnglandBrandes, Georg
History
Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature - 4. Naturalism in England
Brandes, Georg
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Naturalism in literature; Romanticism
"My campaign commenced at Birmingham; and my first attack was on a
rigid Calvinist, a tallow-chandler by trade. He was a tall, dingy man,
in whom length was so predominant over breadth that he might almost
have been borrowed for a foundry poker. O that face! I have it before
me at this moment. The lank, black, twine-like hair, _pinguinitescent_,
cut in a straight line along the black stubble of his thin gunpowder
eyebrows, that looked like a scorched after-math from a last week's
shaving. His coat collar behind in perfect unison, both of colour and
lustre, with the coarse yet glib cordage that I suppose he called
his hair, and which with a bend inward at the nape of the neck (the
only approach to flexure in his whole figure) slunk in behind his
waistcoat; while the countenance, lank, dark, very hard, and with
strong perpendicular furrows, gave me a dim notion of some one looking
at me through a used gridiron, all soot, grease, and iron! But he was
one of the thorough-bred, a true lover of liberty, and (I was informed)
had proved to the satisfaction of many, that Mr. Pitt was one of
the horns of the second beast in the Revelation, _that spoke like a
dragon_." For half-an-hour Coleridge employed all the resources of his
eloquence--argued, described, promised, prophesied, beginning with the
captivity of nations and ending with the millennium. "My taper man of
lights listened with perseverance and praiseworthy patience, though (as
I was afterwards told on complaining of certain odours that were not
altogether ambrosial) it was a melting-day with him. 'And what, sir,'
he said, after a short pause, 'might the cost be?' 'Only fourpence,
only fourpence, sir, each number, to be published on every eighth day.'
'That comes to a good deal of money at the end of the year. And how
much did you say there was to be for the money?' 'Thirty-two pages,
sir! large octavo, closely printed.' 'Thirty and two pages? Bless me,
why, except what I does in a family way on the Sabbath, that's more
than I ever reads, sir! all the year round. I am as great a one as
any man in Brummagem, sir! for liberty and truth and all them sort of
things, but as to this, no offence, sir, I must beg to be excused.'"
Thus ended Coleridge's first attempt at recruiting for the war against
the Holy Trinity. His second he made in Manchester, where he tried to
enlist a stately and opulent wholesale dealer in cottons. This man
measured him from top to toe, and asked if he had any bill or invoice
of the thing. Coleridge presented him with the prospectus. He rapidly
skimmed and hummed over the first side, and still more rapidly the
second and concluding page, then most deliberately and significantly
rubbed and smoothed one part against the other, put it in his pocket,
turned his back with an "Overrun with these articles!" and retired into
his counting-house.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account