PARODIES
OF THE WORKS OF
ENGLISH & AMERICAN AUTHORS,
COLLECTED AND ANNOTATED BY
WALTER HAMILTON,
Fellow of the Royal Geographical and Royal Historical Societies;
Author of "A History of National Anthems and Patriotic Songs," "A Memoir of George Cruikshank;"
"The Poets Laureate of England;" "The Æsthetic Movement in England," etc.
"We maintain that, far from converting virtue into a parodox, and degrading truth by ridicule, PARODY will only strike at what is chimerical and false; it is not a piece of buffoonery so much as a critical exposition. What do we parody but the absurdities of writers, who frequently make their heroes act against nature, common-sense, and truth? After all, it is the public, not we, who are the authors of these PARODIES."
D'ISRAELI'S Curiosities of Literature.
VOLUME I,
CONTAINING PARODIES OF THE POEMS OF
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON,
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW,
BRET HARTE, THOMAS HOOD,
AND THE
REVEREND C. WOLFE.
REEVES & TURNER, 196, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.
1884.
"Le sujet que l'on entreprend de parodier doit toujours être un ouvrage connu, célèbre, estimé. La critique d'une pièce médiocre ne peut jamais devenir intéressante, ni piquer la curiosité. Il faut que l'imitation soit fidèle, que les plaisantéries naissent du fond des choses, et paraissent s'être présentées d'elles-mêmes, sans avoir coûté aucune peine."
Mémoire sur l'origine de la Parodie, etc. Par M. l' Abbé Sallier, 1733.
"It was because Homer was the most popular poet, that he was most susceptible of the playful honours of the Greek parodist; unless the prototype is familiar to us, a parody is nothing!"
ISAAC D'ISRAELI.
THOBURN & CO., St. Bride's Steam Press, 136, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, London, E.C.