In the 1840s and 50s, Douglas Jerrold, Dickens and Thackeray were the three best known literary men in England, and it was said at the time that it was ‘hardly possible to discuss the merits of any of them without referring to the other two. What happened to Jerrold?
He was born into a family of strolling players, and at the age of 11 served for a few months on a ship commanded by Jane Austen’s brother. When he started writing plays, his great success began with a nautical melodrama called Black-Eyed Susan, the central figure being an innocent ordinary seaman who escaped the gallows in the nick of time. From then on, Jerrold, zealously and even brilliantly, continued to champion the cause of the poor and defenceless against arbitrary brutality and injustice. The long series of plays, articles and stories which he poured out are written with zest and wit, always making a clear moral point.
The trouble was that his characters were mostly stereotypes, and the plots too melodramatic to be appreciated in later years, however wildly popular they were when new.
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