INTRODUCTION.

Satire and the satirist have been in evidence in well-nigh all ages of the world’s history.  The chief instruments of the satirist’s equipment are irony, sarcasm, invective, wit, and humour.  The satiric denunciation of a writer burning with indignation at some social wrong or abuse, is capable of reaching the very highest level of literature.  The writings of a satirist of this type, and to some extent of every satirist who touches on the social aspects of life, present a picture more or less vivid, though not of course complete and impartial, of the age to which he belongs, of the men, their manners, fashions, tastes, and prevalent opinions.  Thus they have a historical as well as a literary and an ethical value.  And Thackeray, in speaking of the office of the humorist or satirist, for to him they were one, says, “He professes to awaken and direct your love, your pity, your kindness, your scorn for untruth, pretension, imposture, your tenderness for the weak, the poor, the oppressed, the unhappy.  To the best of his means and ability he comments on all the ordinary actions and passions of life almost."[1]

Satire has, in consequence, always ranked as one of the cardinal divisions of literature.  Its position as such, however, is due rather to the fact of it having been so regarded among the Romans, than from its own intrinsic importance among us to-day.  Until the closing decades of the eighteenth century—­so long, in fact, as the classics were esteemed of paramount authority as models—­satire proper was accorded a definite place in letters, and was distinctively cultivated by men of genius as a branch of literature.  But with the rise of the true national spirit in the various literatures of Europe, and notably in that of England, satire has gradually given place to other types of composition.  Slowly but surely it has been edged out of its prominent position as a separate department, and has been relegated to the position of a quality of style, important, beyond doubt, yet no longer to be considered as a prime division of letters.[2]

Rome rather than Greece must be esteemed the home of ancient satire.  Quintilian, indeed, claims it altogether for his countrymen in the words, Satira tota nostra est; while Horace styles it Graecis intactum carmen.  But this claim must be accepted with many reservations.  It does not imply that we do not discover the existence of satire, together with favourable examples of it, long anterior to the oldest extant works in either Grecian or Latin literature.  The use of what are called “personalities” in everyday speech was the probable origin of satire.  Conversely, also, satire, in the majority of those earlier types current at various periods in the history of literature, has shown an inclination to be personal in its character.  De Quincey, accordingly, has argued that the more personal it became in its allusions,