Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/660

632 J E K J E R ciated with Huss in his native city, to which he had once more returned, and where he remained after the expulsion of his friend. In 1415 he went spontaneously to Con stance, determined to do what he could for IIuss, who had meanwhile been imprisoned there ; the news he received on his arrival were so discouraging, however, that, panic-stricken, he immediately again withdrew. Though without a safe conduct he would no doubt have reached Prague in safety had he only been able to hold his peace ; but while resting at Ilirschau he allowed his feelings to gain the mastery of him, and, in the presence of many clergy, broke out in vehement denunciation of the injustice of the council ; the consequence was that he was forthwith arrested by order of the duke of Bavaria and sent back a prisoner to Constance (May 1415). There, after enduring the most rigorous confinement for some months, he was brought before a public session of the council on Septem ber 23, 1415, when he made a full retractation of all errors against the Catholic faith, especially those of Wyc- liffe and Huss. His enemies, however, were determined that not even thus should he escape their hands ; by Michael de Causis and Stephen Palecz (who also had made themselves conspicuous in the persecution of Huss) it was declared that the recantation was ambiguous, and new articles were exhibited against their victim. Thrice again he was brought before a general congregation of the council. On the last of these occasions (May 26, 1416) all his timidity seems to have finally left him. In a bold and vigorous declamation he solemnly retracted the retractation which had been wrung from him eight months before ; " of all the sins that I have committed since my youth, none weigh so heavily on my mind and cause me such keen remorse as that which I committed in this evil place when I approved of the iniquitous sentence given against Wycliffe and against the holy martyr John IIuss, my master and friend." Four days afterwards he was con demned as a relapsed heretic ; his reply was an appeal to the supreme Judge before whom he and his accusers alike were destined to stand. Two days later he marched with a cheerful countenance to the stake, bidding the execu tioner light the fire before his face ; " had I the least fear, I should not be standing in this place." His ashes, like those of Huss, were gathered and thrown into the Rhine. Jerome owes his fame to his association with Huss, and par ticularly to the splendid heroism with which in his death he atoned for one moment of faltering in his loyalty to the doctrines to which he had faithfully devoted his life. No literary remains survive by which we might estimate with precision how far the claims to learning and superiority of intellect often made for him can be justified. Of absolute originality he obviously had none. The truth seems to be that, with considerable advantages of birth and early train ing, and with a mind more variously accomplished than that of Huas, he nevertheless wanted the moral weight which gave his master so great an ascendency over the minds and hearts of men. Bold even to rashness, his courage was shown rather in bursts of furious vehemence than in the equable tenor of his life, and more than once failed him in critical moments. In this weakness he only reflected the turbulent and unruly spirit of the age he lived in; but it is also a weakness that sufficiently justifies history in assigning to him a comparatively subordinate though still highly honourable place among the pioneers of the Reformation. See Heller, flieronymits von Frag, 1835 ; Neander, Church His tory ; and Lechler, Julutnn von Widif u. die Vorycschichtc dcr Reformation, 1873. JERROLD, DOUGLAS WILLIAM (1803-1857), dramatist, satirist, and one of the most brilliant of the English wits who distinguished the first half of the 19th century, was born in London, January 3, 1803. His father, Samuel Jerrold, actor, was at that time lessee of the little theatre of Wilsby near Cranbrook in Kent, but in 1807 he removed to Sheerness. There, among the blue-jackets who swarmed in the port during the war with France, little Douglas grew into boyhood, a stout, well made, rosy-cheeked, white-haired urchin, fond of reading and pugnacious withal. Familiarity with the tinsel and glitter of his father s profession robbed it of its chief attractions for the boy; but the glorious renown of Nelson and the anti-Gallic enthusiasm of his father s naval patrons filled his susceptible bosom, and wooed him to his majesty s uniform. From December 1813 till October 1815 Douglas Jerrold served his country as a midshipman. He saw nothing of the war save a cargo of maimed warriors from Waterloo ; but till his dying day there lingered traces of his early passion for salt water. The peace of 1815 ruined poor Samuel Jerrold; there was no more prizs money. On January 1, 1816, he removed with his family to London, where the plucky little ex- midshipman began the world again as a printer s apprentice, studying hard in the grey of the early morning at Latin, pinching himself to get the Waverley Novels from the library, and finding unspeakable delight in the pages of his Sliake- speare. In 1819 Douglas Jerrold was a compositor in the printing-office of the Sunday Monitor. Several short papers and copies of verses by him had already appeared in the sixpenny magazines, but he aspired now to contribute to the Monitor ; and stealthily one evening he dropped into the editor s box a critique of the opera Der Freisrhutz. Next morning he received his own copy to set up, together with a flattering note from the editor, requesting further contributions from the anonymous author. Thenceforward Jerrold was engaged in journalism. He soon entered another field where he was to reap no less honourable laurels. In 1821 he had the satisfaction of seeing a comedy that he had composed in his fifteenth year brought out at Sadler s Wells Theatre, under the title More Frightened than Hurt. Other pieces followed, and in 1825 the popular young dramatist was engaged for a few pounds weekly to produce dramas and farces to the order of Mr Davidge of the Coburg Theatre. By his marriage in the autumn of 1824 the " little Shakespeare in a camlet cloak," as he was called, had found a less fitful incentive to industry than his mere ambition ; and, while he was engaged with the drama at night, he was steadily pushing his way as a journalist by his daily labours. For a short while he was part proprietor of a small Sunday newspaper. In 1829, through a fortunate quarrel with the exacting Davidge, Jerrold left the " Coburg," arid Black-Eyed Susan was brought out on the " Surrey " boards. The success of the piece was enormous, With its free gallant sea-flavour, it took the town by storm, and "all London went over the water to see it." On the three hundredth night the theatre was illuminated. Elliston, manager of the " Sur rey," made thousands of pounds; T. P. Cooke, who played William, made his reputation ; Jerrold received about 70. But his fame as a dramatist was achieved. In 1830 it was proposed that he should adapt something from the French for Drury Lane. " No," was his reply to the offer, " I shall come into this theatre as an original dramatist or not at all." In December of the following year he was received on his own terms ; The Bride of Ludgate was the first of a number of plays which found their way to Drury Lane stage. The other patent houses threw their doors open to him also (the Adelphi had already clone so) ; and in 1836 Jerrold himself became co-manager of the Strand Theatre with Mr Hammond his brother-in-law. The ven ture was not successful; and the partnership was dissolved. While it lasted Jerrold wrote his only tragedy, The Painter of Ghent, and appeared himself in the title role, without