The reign of George III is marked by a long list of names eminent in
letters and art. First in point of time among these stands Dr. Samuel
Johnson, the compiler of the first English dictionary worthy of the
name, and that on which those of our own day are based to a
considerable extent. He was also the author of the story of
"Rasselas,"--that notable satire on discontent and the search after
happiness. Next stands Johnson's friend, Oliver Goldsmith, famous for
his genius, his wit, and his improvidence,--which was always getting
him into trouble,--but still more famous for his poems, and his novel,
"The Vicar of Wakefield."
Edward Gibbon, David Hume, author of the well-known "History of
England," and Adam Smith come next in time. In 1776 Gibbon published
his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," which after more than a
hundred years stands the ablest history of the subject in our
language. In the same year Adam Smith issued "An Inquiry into the
Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," which had a great effect
on legislation respecting commerce, trade, and finance. During this
period, also, Sir William Blackstone became prominent as a writer on
law, and Edmund Burke, the distinguished orator and statesman, wrote
his "Reflections on the French Revolution."
The poets, Burns, Byron, Shelley, and Keats, with Sheridan, the orator
and dramatist, and Sterne, the humorist, belong to this reign; so,
too, does the witty satirist, Sydney Smith, and Sir Walter Scott,
whose works, like those of Shakespeare, have "made the dead past live
again." Then again, Maria Edgeworth and Jane Austen have left
admirable pictures of the age in their stories of Irish and English
life. Coleridge and Wordsworth began to attract attention toward the
last of this period, and to be much read by those who loved the poetry
of thought and the poetry of nature; while, early in the next reign,
Charles Lamb published his delightful "Essays of Elia."
In art we have the first English painters and engravers. Hogarth, who
died a few years after the beginning of the reign, was celebrated for
the coarse but perfect representations of low life and street scenes;
and his series of Election pictures with his "Beer Lane" and "Gin
Alley" are valuable for the insight into the history of the times.
The chief portrait painters were Reynolds, Lawrence, and Gainsborough,
the last of whom afterwards became noted for his landscapes. They
were followed by Wilkie, whose pictures of "The Rent Day," "The
Reading of the Will," and many others, tell a story of interest to
every one who looks at them.
Last came Turner, who in some respects surpassed all former artists in
his power of reproducing scenes in nature. At the same time, Bewick,
whose cuts used to be the delight of every child that read "Aesop's
Fables," gave a new impulse to wood engraving, while Flaxman rose to
be the leading English sculptor, and Wedgwood introduced useful and
beautiful articles of pottery.
In common-school education little advance had been made for many
generations. In the country the great mass of the people were nearly
as ignorant as they were in the darkest part of the Middle Ages.
Hardly a peasant over forty years of age could be found who could read
a verse in the Bible, and not one in ten could write his name.
There were no cheap books or newspapers, and no proper system of
public instruction. The poor seldom left the counties in which they
were born. They knew nothing of what was going on in the world.
Their education was wholly of the practical kind which comes from work
and things, not from books and teachers; yet many of them with only
these simple helps found out two secrets which the highest culture
sometimes misses,--how to be useful and how to be happy.[1]
[1] See Wordsworth's poem "Resolution and Independence."
The ordinary means of travel were still very imperfect. Stage-coaches
had been in use for more than a hundred and fifty years. They crawled
along at the rate of about three miles an hour. Mail coaches began to
run in 1784. They attained a speed of six miles an hour, and later of
ten. This was considered entirely satisfactory.
The close of George III's reign marks the beginning of the present
age. It was indicated in many ways, and among others by the declining
use of sedan chairs, which had been the fashion for upwards of a
century, and by the change in dress. Gentlemen were leaving off the
picturesque costumes of the past,--the cocked hats, elaborate wigs,
silk stockings, ruffles, velvet coats, and swords,--and gradually
putting on the plain democratic garb, sober in cut and color, by which
we know them to-day.