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DOUGLAS WILLIAM JERROLD (1803-1857)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 330 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DOUGLAS See also:WILLIAM See also:JERROLD (1803-1857)  , See also:English dramatist and See also:man of letters, was See also:born in See also:London on the 3rd of See also:January 1803 . His See also:father, See also:Samuel See also:Jerrold, actor, was at that See also:time lessee of the little See also:theatre of Wilsby near See also:Cranbrook in See also:Kent, but in 1807 he removed to See also:Sheerness . There, among the See also:blue-jackets who swarmed in the See also:port during the See also:war with See also:France, See also:Douglas See also:grew into boyhood . He occasionally took a See also:child's See also:part on the See also:stage, but his father's profession had little attraction for the boy . In See also:December 1813 he joined the guardship " See also:Namur," where he had Jane See also:Austen's See also:brother as See also:captain,and he served as a See also:midshipman until the See also:peace of 1815 . He saw nothing' of the war See also:save a number of wounded soldiers from See also:Waterloo; but till his dying See also:day there lingered traces of his See also:early See also:passion for the See also:sea . The peace of 1815 ruined Samuel Jerrold; there was no more See also:prize See also:money . On the 1st of January 1816 he removed with his See also:family to London, where the ex-midshipman began the See also:world again as a printer's apprentice, and in 1819 became a compositor in the See also:printing-See also:office of the See also:Sunday See also:Monitor . Several See also:short papers and copies of verses by him had already appearedin the sixpenny magazines, and one evening he dropped into the editor's See also:box a See also:criticism of the See also:opera Der Freischiitz . Next See also:morning he received his own copy to set up, together with a flattering See also:note from the editor, requesting further contributions from the See also:anonymous author . Thenceforward Jerrold was en-gaged in journalism . In 1821 a See also:comedy that he had composed in his fifteenth See also:year was brought out at See also:Sadler's See also:Wells theatre, under the See also:title More Frightened than Hurt .

Other pieces followed, and in 1825 he was engaged for a few pounds weekly to produce dramas and farces to the See also:

order of Davidge of the See also:Coburg theatre . In the autumn of 1824 the " little See also:Shakespeare in a camlet cloak," as he was called,married See also:Mary Swann; and, while he was engaged with the See also:drama at See also:night, he was steadily pushing his way as a journalist . For a short while he was part proprietor of a small Sunday newspaper . In 1829, through a See also:quarrel with the exacting Davidge, Jerrold See also:left the Coburg; and his three-See also:act See also:melodrama,See also:Black-eyed Susan; or, All in the See also:Downs, was brought out by R . W . See also:Elliston at the See also:Surrey theatre . The success of the piece was enormous . With its See also:free gallant sea-flavour, it took the See also:town by See also:storm, and " all London went over the See also:water to see it." Elliston made a See also:fortune by the piece; T . P . See also:Cooke, who played See also:William, made his reputation; Jerrold received about £6o and was engaged as dramatic author at five pounds a See also:week . But his fame as a dramatist was achieved . In 183o it was proposed that he should adapt something from the See also:French for See also:Drury See also:Lane .

" No," was his reply, " I shall come into this theatre as an See also:

original dramatist or not at all." The See also:Bride of Ludgate (December 8, 1831) was the first of a number of his plays produced at Drury Lane . The other patent houses threw their doors open to him also (the Adelphi had already done so); and in 1836 Jerrold became co-manager of the Strand theatre with W . J . See also:Hammond, his brother-in-See also:law . The venture was not successful, and the See also:partnership was dissolved . While it lasted Jerrold wrote his only tragedy, The Painter of See also:Ghent, and himself appeared in the title-role, with-out any very marked success . He continued to write sparkling comedies till 1854, the date of his last piece, The See also:Heart of See also:Gold . Meanwhile he had won his way to the pages of numerous See also:periodicals—before 183o of the second-See also:rate magazines only, but after that to those of more importance . He was a contributor to the Monthly See also:Magazine, See also:Blackwood's, 'the New Monthly, and the See also:Athenaeum . To See also:Punch, the publication which of all others is associated with his name, he contributed from its second number in 1841 till within a few days of his See also:death . He founded and edited for some time, though with indifferent success, the Illuminated Magazine, Jerrold's See also:Shilling Magazine, and Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper; and under his editorship See also:Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper See also:rose from almost nonentity to a circulation of 182,000 . The See also:history of his later years is little more than a See also:catalogue of his See also:literary productions, interrupted now and again by brief visits to the See also:Continent or to the See also:country .

Phoenix-squares

Douglas Jerrold died at his See also:

house, Kilburn Priory, in London, on the 8th of See also:June 1857 . Jerrold's figure was small and spare, and in later years bowed almost to deformity . His features were strongly marked and expressive from the thin humorous lips to the keen blue eyes gleaming from beneath the shaggy eyebrows . He was brisk and active, -with the careless bluffness of a sailor . Open and sincere, he concealed neither his anger nor his See also:pleasure; to his See also:simple frankness all polite duplicity was distasteful . The cynical See also:side of his nature he kept for his writings; in private See also:life his See also:hand was always open . In politics Jerrold was a Liberal,and he gave eager sympathy to See also:Kossuth, Mazzini and See also:Louis See also:Blanc . In social politics especially he took an eager part; he never tired of de-claiming against the horrors of war, the luxury of bishops, and the iniquity of See also:capital See also:punishment . Douglas Jerrold is now perhaps better known from his reputation as a brilliant wit in conversation than from his writings . As a dramatist he was very popular, though,his plays have not kept the stage . He dealt with rather humbler forms of social life than had commonly been represented on the boards . He was one of the first and certainly one of the most successful of those who in See also:defence of the native English drama endeavoured to See also:stem theetide of See also:translation from the French, which threatened early in the 19th See also:century altogether to drown original native See also:talent .

His skill in construction and his mastery of See also:

epigram and brilliant See also:dialogue are well exemplified in his comedy, Time See also:Works Wonders (Haymarket, See also:April 26, 1845) . The tales and sketches which See also:form the bulk of Jerrold's collected works vary much in skill and See also:interest; but, although there are evident traces of their having been composed from week to week, they are always marked by keen satirical observation and pungent wit . Among the best known of his numerous works are: Men of See also:Character (1838), including " See also:Job See also:Pippin: The man who couldn't help it," and other sketches of the same See also:kind; Cakes and See also:Ale (2 vols., 1842), a collection of short papers and whimsical stories; some more serious novels—The See also:Story of a See also:Feather (1844), The See also:Chronicles of Clovernook (1846), A Man made of Money (1849), and St See also:Giles and St See also:James (1851); and various See also:series of papers reprinted from Punch—Punch's Letters to his Son (1843), Punch's See also:Complete See also:Letter-writer (1845), and the famous Mrs See also:Caudle's See also:Curtain Lectures (1846) . See W . B . Jerrold, Life and Remains of Douglas Jerrold (1859) . A collected edition of his writings appeared in 1851-1854, and The Works of Douglas Jerrold, with a memoir by his son, W . B . Jerrold, in 1863-1864; but neither is complete . Among the numerous selections from his tales and witticisms are two edited by his See also:grand-son, See also:Walter Jerrold, Bons Mots of See also:Charles See also:Dickens and Douglas Jerrold (new ed . 1904), and The Essays of Douglas Jerrold (1903), illustrated by H . M .

See also:

Brock . See also The Wit and Opinions of Douglas Jerrold (1858), edited by W . B . Jerrold . His eldest son, WILLIAM See also:BLANCHARD JERROLD (1826-1884), English journalist and author, was born in London on the 23rd of December 1826, and abandoning the See also:artistic career for which he was educated, began newspaper See also:work at an early See also:age there . He was appointed Crystal See also:Palace See also:commissioner to See also:Sweden in 1853, and wrote A Brage-See also:Beaker with the Swedes (1854) on his return . In 1855 he was sent to the See also:Paris See also:exhibition as correspondent for several London papers, and from that time he lived much in Paris . In 1857 he succeeded his father as editor of Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, a See also:post which he held for twenty-six years . During the See also:Civil War in See also:America he strongly supported the See also:North, and several of his leading articles were reprinted and placarded in New See also:York by the federal See also:government . He was the founder and See also:president of the English See also:branch of the See also:international literary association for the assimilation of See also:copyright See also:laws . Four of his plays were successfully produced on the London stage, the popular See also:farce Cool as a See also:Cucumber (See also:Lyceum 1851) being the best known . His French experiences resulted in a number of books, most important of which is his Life of See also:Napoleon III .

(1874) . He was occupied in See also:

writing the See also:biography of Gustave See also:Dore, who had illustrated several of his books, when he died on the loth of See also:March 1884 . Among his books are A Story of Social Distinction (1848) Life and Remains of Douglas Jerrold (1859), Up and Down in the World (1863), The See also:Children of Lutetia (1864), Cent per Cent (1871), At See also:Home in Paris (1871), The Best of all See also:Good ,See also:Company (1871-1873), and The Life of See also:George See also:Cruikshank (1882) .

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