Jerrold, Douglas

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Douglas (1803-1857), an English wit. He was born near London. When a lad he went to sea as a midshipman. On leaving the service he was bound as an apprentice to a London printer. He had a natural taste for learning and improved his spare time in studying Latin and modern languages. He had a decided bent for dramatic writing. Blackeyed Susan, written before he was twenty years old, was represented for 300 successive nights at the Surrey Theater in 1829. Other plays, popular at the time, but now forgotten, are Rent Day, Nell Gwynne, The Housekeeper, Time Works Wonders, etc. He embarked in publishing, founding the Illuminated Magazine and Douglas Jerrold's Shilling Magazine. He was for years a leading member of the staff of the London Punch, to which he contributed Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures , Punch's Letters to his Son, The Story of a Feather, and other humorous sketches. His reputation is that of a kindly man who sought to improve the world less by stinging than by turning the laugh against vice and foible. QUOTATIONS. He is one of those wise philanthropists who, in a time of famine, would vote for nothing but a supply of toothpicks. The surest way to hit a woman's heart is to take aim kneeling. The best thing I know between France and England is the sea. Earth is here, so kind, that, just tickle her with a hoe, and she laughs with a harvest. The ugliest of trades have their moments of pleasure. Now, if I were a grave-digger, there are some people I could work for with a great deal of enjoyment. A blessed companion is a book,--a book that fitly chosen is a lifelong friend.