Returning now to our first parallel, Peacock and Butler, we find the parallelism to be rather complete, manifesting itself in character, destiny, and product.
The destiny of both lay in a mean that was not golden. Their annals were the long and simple of the fairly well to do. Neither knew the exhilaration that comes from prosperity and downright good luck; neither, the depression of bitter struggle or disaster. The current of Peacock's progress was retarded by the comparative poverty that, like Tennyson's, postponed his marriage; and that of Butler was obstructed by his family's opposition to his unpardonable preference for a secular career. If the son of a clergyman and the grandson of a bishop could not see his clerical duty and do it, there was no help for it, he must go to New Zealand. But to banish a youthful radical was only to set him free; and to allow him a perspective and a fresh viewpoint was to bring down upon orthodoxy an infinite deal of mischief. "It was the England that he saw with new eyes," says his biographer Harris, "after his return, that awakened his restless, satiric vigour. He reacted to the English scene as no one else in his century had reacted before."[1]
By temperament Peacock and Butler were both solitary, pervaded by a gentle melancholy, and permeated with love of classic lore. But Peacock's sadness could take the ironic Jonsonian turn. Quite appropriately did he choose "Your
- [Footnote:
1855 The Rose and the Ring
1856 The Shaving of Shagpat
1857 Farina
1861 Gryll Grange
1871 The Coming Race
1872 Erewhon
1901 Erewhon Revisited
]
- ↑ Samuel Butler, Author of Erewhon, 65.
