Henry Mackenzie

Henry Mackenzie (1745-1831), the 'Man of Feeling', was a Scottish novelist, born at Edinburgh in August 6th, 1745. His father, Joshua Mackenzie, was a physician, and his mother, Margaret Rose, belonged to an old Nairnshire family. He was educated at the Edinburgh High School and at Edinburgh University, and was then articled to George Inglis of Redhall, who was attorney for the crown. in 1765, he was appointed Clerk of the Exchequer of Scotland, and went to London for three years to study exchequer law. On his return to Edinburgh he became partner with Inglis, whom he later succeeded as attorney for the crown. In 1776, he married Penuel Grant, with whom he had fourteen children.

"He had hinted that he should like to be buried in a certain spot near the grave of his mother. This is a weakness; but it is universally incident to humanity: 'tis at least a memorial for those who survive: for some indeed a slender memorial will serve;-- and the soft affections, when they are busy that way, will build their structures, were it but on the paring of a nail. He was buried in the place he had desired. It was shaded by an old tree, the only one in the church-yard, in which was a cavity worn by time. I have sat with him in it, and counted the tombs. The last time we passed there, methought he looked wistfully on the tree: there was a branch of it that bent towards us waving in the wind; he waved his hand as if he mimicked its motion. There was something predictive in his look! perhaps it is foolish to remark it; but there are times and places when I am a child at those things. I sometimes visit his grave; I sit in the hollow of the tree. It is worth a thousand homilies; every noble feeling rises within me! every beat of my heart awakens a virtue!--but it will make you hate the world--No: there is such an air of gentleness around, that I can hate nothing; but, as to the world--I pity the men of it." Closing lines from "The Man of Feeling"

The Man of Feeling

While Mackenzie was in London, he read Sterne's "Tristram Shandy" which was then in course of publication (the first two volumes had appeared in 1759, and the ninth in 1767, followed in 1768, the year of Sterne's death, by "The Sentimental Journey.") Falling in with the tone of sentiment which Sterne himself caught from the spirit of Rousseau, Mackenzie wrote The Man of Feeling, publishing it anonymously in 1771. The book met with instant success, The "Man of Feeling" is a weak creature, dominated by a futile benevolence, who goes to London and falls into the hands of people who exploit his innocence. In 1773 Mackenzie published a second novel, The Man of the World, the hero of which was as consistently bad as the "Man of Feeling" had been "constantly obedient to his moral sense," as Sir Walter Scott says. In 1777 Mackenzie published a third novel, Julia de Roubigne.

Other Works

The first of his dramatic pieces, a tragedy, The Prince of Tunis, was produced in Edinburgh in 1773 with some success. The others were failures; a comedy, The White Hypocrite, was performed once only, at Covent Garden.

At Edinburgh, Mackenzie belonged to a literary club at the meetings of which papers were read to those present, and this led to him starting a weekly periodical The Mirror (January 23, 1779 - May 27, 1780), of which he was both editor and chief contributor. It was followed in 1785 by a similar paper, The Lounger, which ran for nearly two years and contained one of the earliest tributes to Robert Burns. Mackenzie contributed forty-two papers to The Mirror and fifty-seven to The Lounger.

Mackenzie was an ardent Tory, and wrote many tracts attacking the doctrines of the French Revolution. Most of these remained anonymous, but he acknowledged his 'Review of the Principal Proceedings of the Parliament' of 1784, a defence of the policy of William Pitt, written at the request of Henry Dundas. He was rewarded (1804) by the office of comptroller of the taxes for Scotland. In 1776 Mackenzie married Penuel, the daughter of Sir Ludovick Grant of Grant. When the Royal Society of Edinburgh was founded, Mackenzie was one of its first members; he was also a founder of the Highland Society of Scotland, and hhe chaired the Committee of the Highland Society in its investigation of the Ossian poems.

He was, in his later years, a notable figure in Edinburgh society. He was nicknamed the "man of feeling," but he was a 'hard-headed man of affairs with a kindly heart'. Some of his literary reminiscences are contained in his Account of the Life and Writings of John Home, Esq. (1822). He also wrote a Life of Doctor Blacklock, prefixed to the 1793 edition of the blind poet's works. He died on 14th January 1831, and is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, in Edinburgh.

In 1807 The Works of Henry Mackenzie were published surreptitiously, and he then himself supervised the publication of his Works (in 8 volumes, 1808). There is a criticism of his work in the Prefatory Memoir prefixed by Sir Walter Scott to an edition of his novels in 'Ballantyne's Novelist's Library' (vol. v., 1823).

Anecdotes

"Nothing can more powerfully illustrate the deep-rooted character of intemperate habits in families than an anecdote which was related to me, as coming from the late Mr. Mackenzie, author of the Man of Feeling. He had been involved in a regular drinking party. He was keeping as free from the usual excesses as he was able, and as he marked companions around him falling victims to the power of drink, he himself dropped off under the table among the slain, as a measure of precaution; and lying there, his attention was called to a small pair of hands working at his throat; on asking what it was, a voice replied, "Sir, I'm the lad that's to lowse the neckcloths." Here, then, was a family, where, on drinking occasions, it was the appointed duty of one of the household to attend, and, when the guests where becoming helpless, to untie their cravats in fear of apoplexy or suffocation."

References

• Henry Mackennzie Encyclopedia Britannica eleventh edition 1911