An author of this type, with whom Bunyan would have objected to be classed, is Sheridan. In The Rivals we have the immortal names of Sir Anthony Absolute, Sir Lucius O’Trigger, Mrs Malaprop, and Lydia Languish. Bob Acres has not so obvious a meaning, but is clearly meant to imply rusticity. The chief exception is Faulkland, and there are also David, Julia, and Lucy.
In St Patrick’s Day we have Dr Rosy, Justice Credulous, Sergeant Trounce, Corporal Flint. The hero, Lieutenant O’Connor, is the principal exception.
Finally, in The School for Scandal, we have Sir Peter Teazle (which suggests a prickly irritable nature), as well as names with a more obvious
meaning, e.g., Joseph Surface, Sir Benjamin Backbite, Snake, Careless, Sir Harry Bumper, Lady Sneerwell, and Mrs Candour.
The other characters have names without meanings, e.g., Rowley, Moses, Trip, and Maria. The fact that the very different characters, Charles and Joseph Surface, necessarily bear the same surname shows how difficult it is to carry out a system such as that on which Sheridan’s nomenclature is based.
THOMAS HEARNE, 1678–1735
To the everyday reader Thomas Hearne, if at all, is chiefly known by the Diary which he kept for thirty years, viz., from 1705 when he was twenty-seven years of age, until his death. This, in 145 volumes, is preserved in the Bodleian Library, and is, I believe, in course of publication. What I have to say is founded on Bliss’s Reliquiæ Hearnianæ, [29a] which consists of extracts from the above-mentioned diary. Mr Bliss naturally selected passages referring to well-known books or persons of note; but he was wise enough to include what a pompous editor would have omitted as trifling. It is these which are especially valuable to one who tries to give a picture of Hearne’s simple and lovable character.
The following account of Thomas Hearne, written by himself, is from the Appendix to vol. i. of The Lives of John Leland, Thomas Hearne, and Anthony à Wood, 1772. [29b]
Thomas was the son of George Hearne, Parish Clerk of White Waltham, Berks. He was born at Littlefield Green “within the said parish of White
Waltham.” Thomas, “being naturally inclined to Learning, he soon became Master of the English Tongue.” [30a]