Edmund Malone

“ To a commanding person, fine voice, an impressive yet conciliatory manner, temper rarely to be ruffled by an opponent, were added powers of argument and persuasion so effective, that it was once proposed to transfer him from the Irish to the English House of Commons, in order to oppose Sir Robert Walpole. The encomium of Grattan on this eminent person should not be forgotten.
“Mr. Malone was a man of the finest intellect that any country ever produced. The three ablest men I have ever heard were Mr. Pitt (the father) , Mr. Murray, and Mr. Malone. ”

“ Cole’s papers, a sheet of this new edition was found among them, which he took (it is imagined) without the knowledge of Mr. Walpole from Strawberry Hill.”
In 1782 Malone was elected into the Literary Club—an object of ambition to the most eminent men of the day. Temper and taste had well fitted him for superior associations of this description. The suavity of Burke, Reynolds, Nugent and Percy, curbed the sourness or coarseness of inferior men, such as Hawkins; while the reproofs of Johnson kept in check the wildness of wit in Beauclerc and Colman. ”

“ Several hundreds succeeded during the first year. “Good Mr. Jordan,” as he was styled, had ample employment in fulfilling the requests of his precise and inquisitive friend, which did not cease till the edition of Shakspeare had appeared. In return, the hints of pecuniary distress and a “family,” already quoted, were not forgotten. Malone gave him good Christian advice, and added a more substantial soother of uneasiness in a note for forty pounds raised among his friends in London. ”

“ A promising career here carried him to Trinity College, Dublin, in 1756, where in due time he became bachelor of arts. Richard, his elder brother, had been entered in 1754, and in 1758 removed to Christchurch, Oxford. The talents of Edmond were more than respectable; he ran the race of competition among fellow-students with considerable applause, particularly in an Ode on the Marriage of his Majesty George III. This offspring of juvenile loyalty occupies more than one hundred and fifty lines ”

“ While living, indeed, many unhappy contentions arise among brethren; but after death, comes, or should come, truth. Yet little as either of their lives are known, it is scarcely fair to affix the passion of envy upon one who in the rivalries of a theatre may believe he has just cause for complaint. A passage from the reply of Malone fairly states his views: “I shall with great pleasure add my mite of contribution to your new edition of Ben Jonson, though I have very little hopes of being able to throw any light on what has eluded your researches. ”

“ These furnish evidence of scholar-like propensities, pursued in those useful and innocent hours which thought and intelligence can win in its library when the outside world is contentious or adverse. Notices of these will hereafter appear.
In the spring of 1774 Malone lost his father, who evinced undiminished affection in the gift of an income which insured moderate independence. Politics were still kept in view; but in exchange for squibs and pamphlets he sought the usual family destination, a seat in Parliament. He even aimed at the University of Dublin. ”

“ The size of the old plays exactly matches—the colour rather paler, and the gilding something different. One may be easily altered; time no doubt will change the other.”
The Club formed a new tie to intimacy between Malone and Dr. Johnson. In the spring of the year he invited the latter to meet Dr. Farmer and others at dinner, and sent him his pamphlet on Chatterton. The invitation Johnson could not accept, on account of illness. ”

“ Poor Sir Joshua! How good—how kind—how truly amiable and respectable! The best of men—whose talents, though an honour to his country, were the least of his qualifications! Indeed, I most sincerely lament him, and ought, perhaps, still more to grieve for you, my dearest Edmond, who have lost the society of a friend so justly dear, of a companion so truly valuable. Yet let us not repine. All is surely for the best; and perhaps our own dissolution would be scarcely tolerable to us, if our life were not from time to time, as it were, habituated to death in the persons of our friends. ”

“ Accordingly, there came out a pamphlet of a hundred pages early in 1792—Cursory Criticisms on the Edition of Shakspeare, by Edmond Malone. The writer was judged and proved to be, the unhappy Ritson, whose many eccentricities, literary and otherwise, added to morbid tendencies to find fault with all his brethren, terminated in insanity.
“A Letter to the Rev. Richard Farmer, D.D., &c.” in April 1792 with his name affixed, gives Malone’s reply. He is sufficiently triumphant ”

“ Malone to a gentleman, from whom I heard it. “He is a great sea in a calm,” said Mr. Gerard Hamilton, another good judge of men and talents. “Aye,” it was replied, “but had you seen him when he was young, you would have said he was a great sea in a storm; and like the sea, whether in calm or storm, a great production of nature.”
Edmond, second son of Richard, and father of the critic, was born in 1704. Intending to vary the scene of hereditary pursuit, he was called to the English bar in 1730 ”

“ Archdeacon Nares writes to Bishop Percy—“Malone has been nearly destroyed by an accident apparently insignificant, that of breaking his shin in getting out of a coach at the Museum. It has been very unwilling to heal, and sometimes has shown a threatening tendency.”
In Ireland he saw little to allure those of studious habits to a long stay. No retreat for a quiet man was there. All were politicians. Some of small talent and without an atom of experience could even believe themselves statesmen ”

“ But, under every disadvantage, the hard student, like the daring soldier, must occasionally adventure upon a forlorn hope, and like him not unfrequently be rewarded by success.
Few difficulties were encountered by Malone in his new sphere of residence but what London connections readily overcame. He was proud to meet her celebrities—happy to receive their civilities—happier still in not being destined to mount to eminence through the rugged paths of penury, tracked as hunters do wounded animals by the pain and suffering commonly attendant upon friendless adventurers in letters. ”

“ On this occasion, the friendship of Lord Charlemont, which had cooled during his retention of office, broke forth with fresh enthusiasm on its close. In writing to Malone he says: “With Flood on our side, it is impossible to despair. Our sun has broke out from the cloud with redoubled lustre. His unparalleled conduct would scarcely be believed but by us who know the man; and his abilities are, if possible, greater than ever. Yet Grattan still shines with unabated brightness; and if numbers be against us, we have at least the satisfaction of having the weight of abilities entirely on our side. ”

“ The muse of his friend Jephson had again become pregnant—and again was the critic seduced into consultation on the best mode of ushering the “interesting stranger” into light. In short, he had written a new tragedy. The birth of a play or poem, like that of heir to an estate, usually brings the family together in council in order to relieve the affectionate anxieties of paternity.
While in progress, it had been submitted to Malone who suggested various alterations. Jephson replied in a well-filled sheet of foolscap, so early as January, 1785. ”

“ He who could not officially talk law, might talk or write politics; and those paper squibs and crackers to which allusion has been made, found vent in abundance. To these, Malone makes allusion in some of his letters, but without such distinctness as serve to mark his own, excepting one. It is ironical; and produced probably from some new ideas started on political economy. He laments in a well-handled paper the notorious improvidence of so poor a people as the Irish, who devour eggs by millions, which if permitted to become fowls would be of more than twenty times the value! ”

“ The diligence of Malone had not ceased with the publication of Shakspeare. Time added daily to his stores relative to the Poet, the stage, the language, and allusions of former days, as illustrative of the text. He had become also fully alive to the mechanical defects of the previous work—small print and a close page. All these imperfections he sought to correct; and ambition even aimed at “royal quartos with engravings,” to which Jephson alludes in the previous letter. ”

“ The first days of the return of this cheerful friend to his post—Rockfort, near Bandon—were employed in persuasions to Malone to release his muse from supposed durance, and exhibit her to the world. Literature, and the persons and topics connected with it, formed at all times his favourite theme. And among youthful writing associates, whenever prose is not forthcoming, the presumption seems to be that the candidate is addressing the Goddess of Song. Most of them would have it that nature had cut him out for a poet ”

“ Were not you diverted, dearest, to see me making a figure in the fashionable intelligence of a London newspaper? Who informed the public of so important an event as my visit to Mr. Malone, I cannot guess; but there I was, to my own great surprise and amusement. I feel extremely obliged to Miss C. Malone for her good-nature to me, and still more for her kindness to you. She rates much too highly my attempt to be of use to the best and most affectionate of friends ”

“ Often, on the other hand, what lively expectations of success where utter disappointment awaits the writer!
November 28, 1789.
My apology for not coming to you as I fully intended and wished, is really a sufficient one; for the revision of my Life of Johnson, by so acute and knowing a critic as Mr. Malone, is of most essential consequence, especially as he is Johnsonianissimus; and as he is to hasten to Ireland as soon as his Shakspeare is fairly published, I must avail myself of him now. ”

“ It is accompanied by a political letter not necessary to find place here, but contains the passage already quoted, which drew forth Malone’s avowal of the state of his heart for so long a period. In the middle of it we find an outbreak of one of the prevailing passions:—“If you should happen to meet with Fleming’s Bucolics and Georgics of Virgil, London, 4to, 1585, and Phaer’s Æneid, first edition of seven books only (I have the second) , I should be glad to purchase them, as I would bind them with Hervey’s fourth book. ”

“ A young man may correct and improve, and rise from a first fall; but an elderly formed speaker has not an equal chance.”—Private Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 357. 1820. ↑ Well known in the political and literary societies of London. He had been in the army; afterwards held office in Ireland under the Marquis of Townshend; also under Whig administrations in England; mostly in Parliament. He wrote A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of Dr. Johnson, and other works. Became a great friend of Malone, though their politics after the French Revolution differed essentially. ”

“ Qualities which had drawn the commendation of Johnson, were not permitted by one of the supposed “wits” of the age, Mr. George Hardinge, to pass muster in the Life of Dryden. Wits are seldom noted for being exact or particular in anything. Precision with them is akin to offence. So on the present occasion the censor made minute detail the subject of ridicule in a bulky pamphlet, The Essence of Malone. This was followed by another; and again by a similar piece levelled at Shakspeare.
A jest at an antiquary may occasionally run happily enough ”

“ Malone spent ten minutes dressing himself magnificently in hose and doublet, slash-sleeved, ermine-trimmed coat, lace collar, and plumed hat. By the time he presented himself at the door to the Throne Room he felt almost cheerful. It had been a long time since he had entered the world of Elizabethan knighthood over which Her Majesty held sway, and it always made him feel taller and more sure of himself. He bowed to a chunkily-built man of medium height in a stiffly brocaded jacket, carrying a small leather briefcase. ”

“ I met at Kemble’s hospitable board with such men as either, for instruction or amusement, will not be easily excelled, with Mr. Malone and Dr. Charles Burney."
Malone forms a striking example of a life devoted almost to one literary pursuit. The object indeed was not personal but national, having employed more pens and given birth to more readers and admirers in our island than any other literary topic whatever. For this he forsook law, wealth, and probably station for unprofitable literature; and proved beyond most other men fitted for the occupation. ”

“ Mason, I thank fate, I only knew by his writings, which are alone sufficient to ensure the regret of any man who pretends to the smallest degree of note. As for Dr. Warren, death owed him a grudge for the numerous victims rescued from his dart; and at last revenged himself by that fatal blow on the stomach.
Toward the end of the year Malone, as already hinted, found an assailant in a pamphlet concerning the papers of Aubrey in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. It was said he had acquired permission from the authorities to copy them to the exclusion of a Mr. ”

“ They did not reach Dublin till towards the end of the year—the Serjeant to his usual labours in the four courts, with occasional trips to a country residence and farm named Shinglass; and Edmond to college studies preparatory to further examinations. His father had formed a favourable opinion of his talents and diligence. His disposition was affectionate, his temper genial, his attachment to his mother and sisters devoted, to which the former more than once alluded ”