The Castaway
William Cowper and the Eighteenth Century. By Gilbert Thomas. (Ivor Nicholson and 'Watson. 153.)
An intemperate or cynical pursuit of novelty must evidently be reckoned among the literary features of our time. And one of the first consequences of such a pursuit, in the field of biography, is the tendency to ignore the most intelligent ;contemporary estimate and record of a man's character, and 'then perversely to substitute a view which is based only upon the vagaries of an unregenerate imagination. This procedure might have been excused, at the beginning of the century, as a move towards an immoral and wholesome realism, a necessary revolt against the unprofitable dialectic of the standard Vic- torian biography. But revolutions, in literature as well as in politics, usually go too far. Mere frivolity of style is not an acceptable substitute for scholarship and intelligence; and too Many have attempted to reproduce the manner of .the late 'Mr. Lytton . Strachey without . his incomparable genius for letters or his acuity of perception.. At last, if we are not mis- taken, the tide—the frothy tide—is on the turn: A' certain amount of information, at least, is expected in a biography. A decent regard for contemporary opinion and a slight ac- quaintance with historical data are looked upon as desirable. The puff commendatory of a friendly reviewer no longer helps a sale. As a result of this, publishers are beginning to encourage, and reviewers arc beginning to commend (though timidly), a more permanent and a more reliable standard in biographical writing. This excellent book by Mr. Gilbert Thomas is -a very welcome indication of changing policy and of the new demand for carefully. written and informative work.
The life of Cowper has been the subject of a transcendently fine example of modern biography—The Stricken Deer, by Lord David Cecil, published in 1929. It is doubtful if the present age has produced a more exquisite piece of literature ; it is quite certain that the present age has produced nothing :comparable to The Stricken Deer among its many studies of the- eighteenth century, In these circumstances we could have sympathised with a certain hesitation on the part of anyone who contemplated a fresh life of Cowper. These were my immediate thoughts when Mr. Thomas's volume was placed in my hands, and they will have been the immediate thoughts of many other reviewers. But if the first object of biography is to elucidate and inform, to build up a convincing portrayal upon reliable and adducible evidence, then Mr. Thomas has little need of any vindication. Unlike more showy but less meritorious writers, he displays a considered appreciation of character and a rare skill in the use of material. His book is both explicit and entertaining ; it is a book to be read with pleasure and retained with gratitude. Regarded in lobo, it may be fairly considered as a work of enduring value ; for if Mr. Thomas has confined himself (not unwisely) to the more obvious and accessible sources, he has never gone beyond the limits 'of his evidence, and he has provided his readers with an account in whichthere is neither distortion nor prejudice.
Mr. Thomas rightly considers that Cowper is unintelligible if he is not shown in relation to the history and thought of his age. The book has been written with due regard for the reader whose knowledge of the eighteenth century is limited. This, I think, is a point of great importance. The biographer who is deeply immersed in the study of a period, and in whose mind the sense and image of that period are continually present, is often careless of the needs of the ordinary reader who requires a precise and vivid indication of the changing historical scene. This need was realised by Lord David Cecil . when he • wrote the sensitive and altogether delightful prologue to The Stricken Deer. Mr. Thomas uses the method of interpolation, prelude or comment, and he uses It extremely well. At the same time, I cannot help wishing that he had given a rather fuller display of contem- porary views and reactions. Cowper's fear of eternal torment, so hideously intensified by the morbid alternations of a disordered mind, was merely the exaggerated form of a symptom frequently encountered in the general psychology of his age—a symptom which can be traced and exhibited in a strange variety of expression or denial. So, too, the stricken heart of Cowper felt the inhumanity and intolerance which, in forms hardly. .comprehensible to .the modern, mind, ran so, darkly through the social texture of the eighteenth century. But this does not amount to criticism. Mr.
Thomas has deliberately imposed limits upon his performance, and within those limits he_has built up a structure of calculated efficiency.
By avoiding too marked an emphasis upon the insanity of Cowper (a fault which, in other biographies, has tended to give the 'impression that a study of Cowper is essentially a study of mental disease), Mr. Thomas has effected a very necessary adjustment of ideas. The 'chapter on the Evan- gelical movement of John Wesley is remarkably well con- sidered. As one of the many biographers of Wesley I naturally agree with Mr. Thomas's estimate • of Methodism and with his clear-sighted view of Wesley's character, though I am not quite sure that his analysis of Cowper's various responses and recoils to and from the Methodistical impact is invariably correct. Mr. Thonias has very properly drawn attention to the myth. (for such it undoubtedly is) of Cowper's " intimate deformity." Lord • David Cecil is cautious and reticent on the subject, though he is inclined to give it unnecessary prominence. Mr. Thomas reminds us that we have absolutely no direct evidence of anything of the sort. His account of the Olney period is particularly enter- taining, vivid and perspicuous. ' And it is a relief to find that his descriptions, of Cowper's phases of insanity 'arc undistorted by the use of modern psychological jargon, or
by any other form of pretentious humbug. • '
Th:t book is an honest, reliable piece of work, providing ample evidence of conscientious and enthusiastic preparation. It is not, like The Stricken Deer, a magnificent literary essay, but in several material matters it is a more complete, if a more prosaic, example of biographical method. The absence of' a bibliography is to be regretted, for it lessens the value of the book to a student. The Index, however, is admirable.
C. E. VULLIAMY.
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