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 paradox, 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 II.

CONTAINING PARODIES OF

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE,

JOHN MILTON, JOHN DRYDEN, DR. WATTS,

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON,

H. W. LONGFELLOW, THOMAS HOOD, BRET HARTE,

MATTHEW ARNOLD,

E. A. POE, WOLFE’S ODE, AND “MY MOTHER”

REEVES & TURNER, 196, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.
1885.

“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.

“La Parodie, fille ainée de la Satire, est aussi ancienne que la poésie méme. Il est de l’essence de la Parodie de substituer toujours un nouveau sujet & celui qu’on parodie; aux sujets sérieux, des sujets légers et badins, en employant autant que possible, les expressions de l’auteur parodié.”

Traité des Belles-Lettres sur la Poésie Française, par M. le Père de Montespin,

(Jesuite) Avignon, 1747.

BROWN & DAVENPORT, 40, SUN STREET, FINSBURY, LONDON, E.C.

hen this Collection was originally projected it was intended to publish a few only of the best Parodies of each author. After the issue of the first few numbers, however, the sale rapidly increased, and subscribers not only expressed their desire that the collection should be made as nearly complete as possible, but by the loans of scarce books, and copies of Parodies, helped to make it so.

This involved an alteration in the original arrangement, and as it would have been monotonous to have filled a whole number with parodies of one short poem, such as those on “To be or not to be,” “Excelsior,” “My Mother” or Wolfe’s Ode, it became necessary to spread them over several numbers: In the Index, which has been carefully prepared, references will be found, under the titles of the original Poems, to all the parodies mentioned. In all cases, where it has been possible to do so, full titles and descriptions of the works quoted from, have been given; any omission to do this has been unintentional, and will be at once rectified on the necessary information being supplied.

By the completion of the second Volume of my collection, the works of the following Authors have been fully treated, William Shakespeare, John Milton, John Dryden, Dr. Watts, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, H. W. Longfellow, Thomas Hood, Bret Harte, Matthew Arnold, E. A. Poe, Wolfe’s Ode on the Death of Sir John Moore, and Miss Ann Taylor’s poem “My Mother.” Certainly most of the best parodies on these Authors have been collected, yet as new ones are constantly appearing, a further collection of them will appear in a future part of Parodies, which will also contain any good old parodies that may hitherto have escaped notice.

In a few cases where parodies are to be found in easily accessible works, extracts only have been quoted, or references given; but it is intended in future, wherever permission can be obtained, to give the parodies in full, as they are found to be useful for public entertainments, and recitations. When the older masters of our Literature are reached, a great deal of curious and amusing information will be given, and it is intended to conclude with a complete bibliographical account of Parody, with extracts and translations from all the principal works on the topic. Whilst arranging the first and second volumes, I have been gathering materials for those to come, which will illustrate the works of those old writers whose names are familiar in our mouths as household words. Much that is quaint and amusing will thus be collected, whilst many illustrations of our literature, both in prose and verse, which are valuable to the student, will for the first time be methodically arranged, annotated, and published in a cheap and accessible form.

In all Collections, such as this, there are some pieces which offend the taste, or run counter to the prejudice of some individual reader, but great care has been taken to exclude every parody of a vulgar or slangy description, although it need hardly be said that many such parodies exist.

Every effort has been made to avoid giving preference to the parodies of any Political party, and this could only be done by inserting the poems on their own merits. If any good Political Parody has been omitted, ignorance of its existence, not party motive, has been the cause.

I am much indebted to the following gentlemen either for permission to quote from their works, or for copies of parodies sent to me for publication:--Messrs. P. J. Anderson, of Aberdeen; A. H. Bates, of Birmingham; W. Butler; George Cotterell (Author of the “Banquet”); T. F. Dillon-Croker; F. B. Doveton; James Gordon, F.S.A., of Edinburgh; John H. Ingram; Walter Parke (author of “The Lays of the Saintly”); F. B. Perkins, of the Free Public Library, San Francisco; W. Smith, of Morley, near Leeds; Basil H. Soulsby, Corpus Christi, Oxford; Joseph Verey; John Whyte; J. W. Gleeson White; and A. R. Wright. The following ladies have also sent me some amusing parodies:--Miss E. Orton; Mrs. S. A. Wetmore of New York State; and Mrs. J. E. Whitby. My best thanks are also due to Mr. Walsh, and his courteous assistants in the Guildhall Library of the City of London, as well as to the gentlemen in the Library of the British Museum.

WALTER HAMILTON.

64, Bromfelde Road, Clapham, London, S.W.

December, 1885.

CONTENTS OF PARTS I. to XXIV. PARODIES.

EACH PART MAY BE PURCHASED SEPARATELY.

Part 1.Introduction.
Alfred Tennyson’sEarly Poems.
Part 2.Alfred Tennyson’sEarly Poems.
Part 3.Alfred Tennyson’sLater Poems.
Part 4.Page 49 to 62.Tennyson’s Poems.
Pages 62, 63 & 64.H. W. Longfellow.
Part 5.Page 65.A Parody of William Morris.
Page 65 to 80.H. W. Longfellow.
Part 6.Page 81 to 96.H. W. Longfellow.
Part 7.Page 97 to 105.H. W. Longfellow. Hiawatha.
Page 105 to 112.Rev. C. Wolfe. “Not a Drum was heard.”
Part 8.Page 113.“Not a Drum was heard.”
Page 113 to 128.Thomas Hood. The Song of the Shirt, etc.
Part 9.Page 129 to 135.Thomas Hood.
Page 135 to 140.Bret Harte.
Pages 140 & 141.Rev. C. Wolfe. “Not a Drum was heard.”
Page 142 to 144. Alfred Tennyson.
Part 10.Page 145 to 160.Alfred Tennyson.
Part 11.Page 161 to 176.Alfred Tennyson.
Part 12.Page 177 to 186.Alfred Tennyson.
Page 187 to 190.Rev. C. Wolfe. “Not a Drum was heard.”
Page 190 to 192.Thomas Hood’s Song of the Shirt.
[Part 13.]Page 1 to 4.Parodies on Bret Harte.
Pages 4 and 5.Thomas Hood.
Page 6 to 16.H. W. Longfellow.
[Part 14.]Page 17 to 24.H. W. Longfellow.
Page 25 to 40.Edgar Allan Poe.
[Part 15.]Page 41 to 64.Edgar Allan Poe.
[Part 16.]Page 65 to 88.Edgar Allan Poe.
[Part 17.]Page 89 to 103.Edgar Allan Poe.
Pages 103, 4 & 5.The Art of Parody.
Page 106 to 112.“My Mother,” by Miss Anne Taylor.
[Part 18.]Page 113 to 135.“My Mother.”
Page 136The Vulture, (After “The Raven.”)
Page 136A Welcome to Battenberg (after Tennyson).
[Part 19.]Page 137 to 141.Tennyson’s “The Fleet,” etc.
Page 141 to 143.“My Mother.”
Page 144 to 160.Hamlet’s Soliloquy.
[Part 20.]Page 161 to 184.W. Shakespeare. The Seven Ages of Man, etc.
[Part 21.]Page 185 to 206.W. Shakespeare. Account of the Burlesques, of his Plays.
Page 206 to 208.Dr. Isaac Watts.
[Part 22.]Page 209 to 217.Dr. Isaac Watts.
Page 217 to 232.John Milton.
[Part 23.]Page 233John Milton.
Page 233 to 236.Dryden’s Epigram on Milton.
Page 236 to 238.Matthew Arnold.
Page 239 to 244.W. Shakespeare.
Page 244 to 246.Bret Harte.
Page 246 to 255.H. W. Longfellow.
Pages 255 and 256Thomas Hood.
[Part 24.]Page 257 to 259.Thomas Hood.
Page 260 to 280.Alfred Tennyson.