Satire in the Victorian novel

by Frances Theresa Russell

From the nature of English satire up to the eighteenth century, we do not expect, nor do we find, much interest in this phase of it. Then comes Young,[54] reviving the Horatian caution:

“Who, for the poor renown of being smart,

Would leave a sting within a brother’s heart?”

And Cowper[55] completes the portrait:

“Unless a love of virtue light the flame,

Satire is, more than those he brands, to blame;

He hides behind a magisterial air

His own offenses, and strips others bare;

Affects, indeed, a most humane concern,

That men, if gently tutor’d, will not learn;