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“The influence of Mason's heroic epistle” (Web, 2011)

Year

2011

Text

Day, Martin S. The influence of Mason's heroic epistle. [William Mason]. http://mlq.dukejournals.org/content/14/3/235.full.pdf. (DayM1)

Type

Web

Mentioned People (1)

Mason, William  (Kingston-upon-Hull 1725-1797 Aston) : Dichter, Reverend

Subjects

Literature : Occident : Great Britain / References / Sources

Chronology Entries (2)

# Year Text Linked Data
1 1773 Mason, William. An heroic epistle [ID D27198].
"Knight of the Polar Star! by Fortune plac'd
To shine the Cynosure of British taste ;
Whose orb collects, in one refulgent view,
The scatter’d glories of Chinese Virth ;
And spread their lustre in so broad a blaze,
That Kings themselves are dazzled while they gaze..."

Horace Walpole schreibt dazu : "Sir William Chambers, who was far from wanting taste in architecture, fell into the mistake of the French, who suppose that the Chinese had discovered the true style in gardens long before Kent ; and in order to deprive him and England of the honour of originality, the French call our style the Anglo-chinois Garden : whereas, the Chinese wander as far from nature as the French themselves, tho in opposite extremes. Regularity, Uniformity, Formality and Sameness are the characteristics of all French gardens : Irregularity and Extravagance of the Chinese... The imitation of nature in gardens is indisputably English."

Wittkower, Rudolf. Allegorie und der Wandel der Symbole in Antike und Renaissance.(Köln : Dumont, 1984). (DuMont-Taschenbücher ; 142). Er schreibt : Obwohl Chambers' Buch [Dissertation on Oriental gardening] auf dem Kontinent einen gewaltigen Einfluss ausübte, galt es in England als Anachronismus ; es wurde angegriffen und lächerlich gemacht. Gewandt verlieh der Dichter William Mason der Stimmung des Publikums in seiner Satire 'An heroic epistle to Sir William Chambers' Ausdruck. Horace Walpole schrieb über diese Satire : "Ich lachte, bis mir die Tränen kamen, und je öfter ich sie las, desto besser gefiel sie mir."
  • Document: Bald, R.C. Wir William Chambers and the Chinese garden. In : Journal of the history of ideas ; vol. 11, no 3 (1950). (Cham4, Publication)
  • Document: Sir William Chambers und der Englisch-chinesische Garten in Europa. Hrsg. von Thomas Weiss. (Ostfildern-Ruit bei Stuttgart : G. Hatje, 1997). (Kataloge und Schriften der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten Wörlitz, Oranienbaum, Luisium ; Bd. 2). [Internationales Symposium Oranienbaum, 5.-7. Okt. 1995]. S. 17-18. (Cham8, Publication)
  • Document: The vision of China in the English literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Ed. by Adrian Hsia. (Hong Kong : Chinese University press, 1998).
    [Enthält] :
    Qian, Zhongshu. China in the English literature of the seventeenth century. In : Quarterly bulletin of Chinese bibliography ; vol. 1 (1940).
    Fan, Cunzhong. The beginnings of the influence of Chinese culture in England. In : Wai guo yu ; no 6 (1982).
    Chen, Shouyi. John Webb : a forgotten page in the early history of sinology in Europe. In : The Chinese social and political review ; vol. 19 (1935-1936).
    Qian, Zhongshu. China in the English literature of the eighteenth century. In : Quarterly bulletin of Chinese bibliography ; vol. 2 (1941).
    Chen, Shouyi. Daniel Defoe, China's severe critic. In : Nankai social and economic quarterly ; vol. 8 (1935).
    Fan, Cunzhong. Chinese fables and anti-Walpole journalism. In : The review of English studies ; vol. 25 (1949).
    Fan, Cunzhong. Dr. Johnson and Chinese culture. In : Quarterly bulletin of Chinese bibliography ; vol. 5 (1945).
    Chen, Shouyi. Oliver Goldsmith and his Chinese letters. In : T'ien hsia monthly ; vol. 8 (1939).
    Chen, Shouyi. Thomas Percy and his Chinese studies. In : The Chinese social and political science review ; vol. 20 (1936-1937).
    Fan, Cunzhong. William Jones's Chinese studies. In : The review of English studies ; vol. 22 (1946).
    Chen, Shouyi. The Chinese garden in eighteenth century England. In : T'ien hsia monthly ; vol. 2 (1936).
    Chen, Shouyi. The Chinese orphan : a Yuan play. In : T'ien hsia monthly ; vol. 4 (1936). [Ji, Junxiang. Zhao shi gu'er].
    Hsia, Adrian. The orphan of the house Zhao in French, English, German, and Hong Kong literature. In : Comparative literature studies ; vol. 25 (1988). [Ji, Junxiang. Zhao shi gu'er]. S. 131. (Hsia8, Publication)
  • Person: Chambers, William (1)
  • Person: Mason, William
  • Person: Walpole, Horace
  • Person: Wittkower, Rudolf J.
2 1795 Thomas James Mathias Imperial Epistle from Kien Long was indebted to William Mason's poem and also to the stanzaic Odes to Kien Long by John Wolcot. Earl Macartney's embassy in China from 1792 to 1794 to establish relations with that nation and to prevent mistreatment of British subjects in the Orient had vigorously stimulated interest in things Chinese. Wolcot satirized Macartney and the English king, but Mathias made his epistle a Tory weapon against Whigs. Sheridan is attacked in this poetic letter with particular ferocity, but all the variously shaded Whigs from Fox to Portland pass the Chinese Emperor in fancied review. In a pleasantly imaginative passage, Mathias' Emperor of China clothes Pitt in oriental magnificence :
While thus they pass, my Mandarins should bend,
And to my throne Pitts' palanquin attend ;
Trumpets of Outong-Chu his praise unfold,
And steely crescents gleam in semblance bold ;
With repercussive notes from impulse strong
Air thunders, rolls the drum, and groans the Gong ;
Flambeaux of odorous wood, and lanterns bright
In eastern prodigality of light...