Literature, Principally Belletristic - University of Tennessee, Knoxville

· Literature, Principally Belletristic '
the "Dinwiddianae, or Select Poems Pro Patria" in ballad measure of four
lines per stanza and in literary or straightforward English. Then comes a
"Dialogue" between "Robin" (Dinwiddie ) and one of his chief henchmen,
"Sanders," in fairly broad Scots speech, in couplets with stanzaic divisions.
Page forty of the manuscript returns to quatrain commentary on "Robin"
followed by a dialogue between "the Author" and someone who is addressing
him. In turn comes "The Little Book," dated in 1756, referred to in the
Maryland Gazette as by the author of a poem in that newspaper of October
13, 1757, the former being quite effective Hudibrastic verse. Dated April
30, 1757, is an additional poem, "Ad Virginia Dolentum" by the "Author
of the Little Book," again in quatrains. In conclusion are three long letters
in dialect even broader than in the introductory epistles and "Dinwiddianae"
poems, apparently in imitation of semiliterate Irish. The author of
the last epistle, addressed to Curnell Chizzell (Colonel John Chiswell)
states that he encloses writing "drapt by won in these parts, & I picked it
up," the old convention already noted of preserving the anonymity of
authorship.
Altogether satiric, but in tones and forms varying from moderately
good-natured burlesque of the provincial servant or small planter class
to devastating satire on the governor, this material is significant for a
number of reasons. Held up to ridicule is the illicit distiller of whiskey,
then perhaps the Freemasons, then Dinwiddie's lack of military ability
as compared with that of Maryland Governor Sharpe and Massachusetts
Governor Shirley, all in the preliminary letters. The "Dinwiddianae," in
two "Volumes," is formal satire beginning with an epigraph from Brown's
Essay on Satire stating that "Bold Satyr, shakes the Tyrant, on his Throne."
Dated November 4, 1754, this long piece is addressed ostensibly to Dinwiddie
himself, followed by "The Remonstrance" to the tune of Chevy Chase,
all loaded with references to the present wars and to parallels in men and
events in earlier British and biblical and classical history. "Volume II" is
prefaced by the caption "The third edition with amendments & explanatory
notes" and includes the biting burlesque dialogue between Dinwiddie
and his aide in broad Scots, and also includes direct references to such matters
as the governor's despised Pistole Fee and other devious devices of his
Excellency. The two personae are characterized in summary:
Robin, to common honesty,
hath not the least pretence:
While Pride & Brutishness Supply,
In Ned the place of Sense.
An address to the author warns him that such "abominable Satyr, lampooning,
scandel, & ill nature" may bring him to the hangman, the reply being
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