The Grub-Street Opera by Henry Fielding, and: The Rape Observ’d: An Edition of Alexander Pope’s Poem “The Rape of the Lock” by Clarence Tracy

Abstract

364 English Studies in Canada says that the poems are a "complementary corpus positively affirming a civilised order subverted in the plays and harmoniously re-formed in the masques." All six essayists, in fact, write papers which in quite remarkable fashion make enlightening connections with each other. Reading A Celebration of Ben Jonson is rather like listening to a good conversation, conducted in a civilized and entertaining manner. No doubt, Jonson, a magnificent conver­ sationalist himself, would have approved, especially since the conversation, like his own with Drummond of Hawthornden, is recorded for posterity. May the readers of them both always be extraordinary. Michael taylor / University of New Brunswick Henry Fielding, The Grub-Street Opera, edited by L.J. Morrissey, Fountainwell Drama Texts 25 (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd 1973). 85P The Rape Observ'd: An Edition of Alexander Pope's Poem " The Rape of the Lock” illustrated by means of numerous pictures, from contemporary sources, of the people, places, and things mentioned, with an introduction and notes by Clarence Tracy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1974). xxv, 102. $12.50 Both of these editions increase our knowledge of the background and social context of the works involved and raise some interesting questions about the kinds of meaning communicated by eighteenth-century satire and about the effect of the eighteenth-century context on the imagination of the modern reader. Clarence Tracy's Rape Observ'd, since it offers pictorial rather than the usual verbal background, raises these questions in a particularly interesting way and will thus receive most of our attention here. One may doubt the necessity of another edition of The Grub-Street Opera so soon after E.V. Roberts's version of 1968 in the Regents Restoration Drama series, especially with the Wesleyan Edition waiting in the wings, but L.J. Morrissey does offer some advantages over Roberts. He has shed light on the printing history of the play, offering strong evidence from Strahan's ledger for dating it in 1755, which means that Andrew Millar had it printed especially for the collection of Fielding's works that he issued in that year. Another difference - an advantage according to some - is that Morrissey's text is unmodernized, as opposed to the Regents' conservative modernization. His collations seem care­ ful and thorough, though I have no means of checking them, and he shows the major differences between the three versions of the play. The glossary at the end of the book gives accurate definitions of all the unusual words in the play and of those used in unfamiliar senses; as with all glossaries, the danger is that in the latter case readers will not see the necessity of turning to it. Economics 365 Reviews apparently dictated Morrissey's decision not to print the music to the songs, perhaps not a serious defect since they are included in Roberts; but I must protest that “ the readily available Readex microprints of Three Centuries of English Drama" are not in my university library. For the non-bibliographer, though, the most important feature of this edition is its thorough annotation of the play's political implications. The Apshinkens Owen , Owen Jr, and Lady - represent the royal family, and their servants represent prominent ministers and other politicians, Robin the coachman as Walpole being the most important. The play is thus part of the anti-ministerial campaign of the early 1730s, and is perhaps distinguished from its fellow satires by its relative mildness towards Walpole and relative severity towards the royal family. Morrissey's annotations don't merely point out the identifications; they are complete enough to give us modern readers some approximation of the information a contemporary would have had, and this information enables us to distinguish and appreciate the different degrees of satire from the unmis­ takable frontal attack through the broad hint to what is perhaps "signifi­ cance" or "application" rather than "meaning" properly so called. (See John Wallace's article, "'Examples Are Best Precepts': Readers and Meanings in Seventeenth-Century Poetry," Critical Inquiry [Dec. 1974].) Morrisey has thus added a bit to our knowledge of the multifarious ways in which eighteenth-century texts can relate to their contexts. Clarence Tracy's long subtitle describes...