"I believe I have seen no one in London about whom you would care to hear,--unless the fame of Fanny Kemble has passed the Channel,and astonished the Irish Barbarians in the midst of their bloody-minded politics.Young Kemble,whom you have seen,is in Germany:but Ihave the happiness of being also acquainted with his sister,the divine Fanny;and I have seen her twice on the stage,and three or four times in private,since my return from Cornwall.I had seen some beautiful verses of hers,long before she was an actress;and her conversation is full of spirit and talent.She never was taught to act at all;and though there are many faults in her performance of Juliet,there is more power than in any female playing I ever saw,except Pasta's Medea.She is not handsome,rather short,and by no means delicately formed;but her face is marked,and the eyes are brilliant,dark,and full of character.She has far more ability than she ever can display on the stage;but I have no doubt that,by practice and self-culture,she will be a far finer actress at least than any one since Mrs.Siddons.I was at Charles Kemble's a few evenings ago,when a drawing of Miss Kemble,by Sir Thomas Lawrence,was brought in;and I have no doubt that you will shortly see,even in Dublin,an engraving of her from it,very unlike the caricatures that have hitherto appeared.I hate the stage;and but for her,should very likely never have gone to a theatre again.Even as it is,the annoyance is much more than the pleasure;but I suppose I must go to see her in every character in which she acts.If Charlotte cares for plays,let me know,and I will write in more detail about this new Melpomene.I fear there are very few subjects on which I can say anything that will in the least interest her.
"Ever affectionately yours,"J.STERLING."
Sterling and his circle,as their ardent speculation and activity fermented along,were in all things clear for progress,liberalism;their politics,and view of the Universe,decisively of the Radical sort.As indeed that of England then was,more than ever;the crust of old hide-bound Toryism being now openly cracking towards some incurable disruption,which accordingly ensued as the Reform Bill before long.The Reform Bill already hung in the wind.Old hide-bound Toryism,long recognized by all the world,and now at last obliged to recognize its very self,for an overgrown Imposture,supporting itself not by human reason,but by flunky blustering and brazen lying,superadded to mere brute force,could be no creed for young Sterling and his friends.In all things he and they were liberals,and,as was natural at this stage,democrats;contemplating root-and-branch innovation by aid of the hustings and ballot-box.
Hustings and ballot-box had speedily to vanish out of Sterling's thoughts:but the character of root-and-branch innovator,essentially of "Radical Reformer,"was indelible with him,and under all forms could be traced as his character through life.
For the present,his and those young people's aim was:By democracy,or what means there are,be all impostures put down.Speedy end to Superstition,--a gentle one if you can contrive it,but an end.What can it profit any mortal to adopt locutions and imaginations which do not correspond to fact;which no sane mortal can deliberately adopt in his soul as true;which the most orthodox of mortals can only,and this after infinite essentially _impious_effort to put out the eyes of his mind,persuade himself to "believe that he believes"?Away with it;in the name of God,come out of it,all true men!
Piety of heart,a certain reality of religious faith,was always Sterling's,the gift of nature to him which he would not and could not throw away;but I find at this time his religion is as good as altogether Ethnic,Greekish,what Goethe calls the Heathen form of religion.The Church,with her articles,is without relation to him.
And along with obsolete spiritualisms,he sees all manner of obsolete thrones and big-wigged temporalities;and for them also can prophesy,and wish,only a speedy doom.Doom inevitable,registered in Heaven's Chancery from the beginning of days,doom unalterable as the pillars of the world;the gods are angry,and all nature groans,till this doom of eternal justice be fulfilled.
With gay audacity,with enthusiasm tempered by mockery,as is the manner of young gifted men,this faith,grounded for the present on democracy and hustings operations,and giving to all life the aspect of a chivalrous battle-field,or almost of a gay though perilous tournament,and bout of "A hundred knights against all comers,"--was maintained by Sterling and his friends.And in fine,after whatever loud remonstrances,and solemn considerations,and such shaking of our wigs as is undoubtedly natural in the case,let us be just to it and him.We shall have to admit,nay it will behoove us to see and practically know,for ourselves and him and others,that the essence of this creed,in times like ours,was right and not wrong.That,however the ground and form of it might change,essentially it was the monition of his natal genius to this as it is to every brave man;the behest of all his clear insight into this Universe,the message of Heaven through him,which he could not suppress,but was inspired and compelled to utter in this world by such methods as he had.There for him lay the first commandment;_this_is what it would have been the unforgivable sin to swerve from and desert:the treason of treasons for him,it were there;compared with which all other sins are venial!
The message did not cease at all,as we shall see;the message was ardently,if fitfully,continued to the end:but the methods,the tone and dialect and all outer conditions of uttering it,underwent most important modifications!