Chapter 47

70 “There seems to be a strange affectation in authors of appearing to have done everything by chance. _The Old Bachelor_ was written for amusement in the languor of convalescence. Yet it is apparently composed with great elaborateness of dialogue, and incessant ambition of wit.”—JOHNSON, _Lives of the Poets_.

71 “Among those by whom it (‘Will’s’) was frequented, Southerne and Congreve were principally distinguished by Dryden’s friendship.... But Congreve seems to have gained yet farther than Southerne upon Dryden’s friendship. He was introduced to him by his first play, the celebrated _Old Bachelor_ being put into the poet’s hands to be revised. Dryden, after making a few alterations to fit it for the stage, returned it to the author with the high and just commendation, that it was the best first play he had ever seen.”—SCOTT’S _Dryden_, vol. i, p. 370.

72 It was in Surrey Street, Strand (where he afterwards died), that Voltaire visited him, in the decline of his life.

The anecdote in the text, relating to his saying that he wished “to be visited on no other footing than as a gentleman who led a life of plainness and simplicity”, is common to all writers on the subject of Congreve, and appears in the English version of Voltaire’s _Letters concerning the English Nation_, published in London, 1733, as also in Goldsmith’s _Memoir of Voltaire_. But it is worthy of remark, that it does not appear in the text of the same Letters in the edition of Voltaire’s _Œuvres Complètes_ in the _Panthéon Littéraire_, Vol. v. of his works. (Paris, 1837.)

“Celui de tous les Anglais qui a porté le plus loin la gloire du théâtre comique est feu M. Congreve. Il n’a fait que peu de pièces, mais toutes sont excellentes dans leur genre.... Vous y voyez partout le langage des honnêtes gens avec des actions de fripon; ce qui prouve qu’il connaissait bien son monde, et qu’il vivait dans ce qu’on appelle la bonne compagnie.”—VOLTAIRE, _Lettres sur les Anglais_, Let. 19.

73 On the death of Queen Mary, he published a Pastoral—“The Mourning Muse of Alexis.” Alexis and Menalcas sing alternately in the orthodox way. The Queen is called PASTORA.

“I mourn PASTORA dead, let Albion mourn, And sable clouds her chalky cliffs adorn,”

says Alexis. Among other phenomena, we learn that—

With their sharp nails themselves the Satyrs wound, And tug their shaggy beards, and bite with grief the ground,—

(a degree of sensibility not always found in the Satyrs of that period.... It continues—)

Lord of these woods and wide extended plains, Stretch’d on the ground and close to earth his face, Scalding with tears the already faded grass.

To dust must all that Heavenly beauty come? And must Pastora moulder in the tomb? Ah Death! more fierce and unrelenting far, Than wildest wolves and savage tigers are; With lambs and sheep their hunger is appeased, But ravenous Death the shepherdess has seized.

This statement that a wolf eats but a sheep, whilst Death eats a shepherdess; that figure of the “Great Shepherd”, lying speechless on his stomach, in a state of despair which neither winds nor floods nor air can exhibit, are to be remembered in poetry surely, and this style was admired in its time by the admirers of the great Congreve!

In the “Tears of Amaryllis for Amyntas” (the young Lord Blandford, the great Duke of Marlborough’s only son), Amaryllis represents Sarah Duchess!

The tigers and wolves, nature and motion, rivers and echoes, come into work here again. At the sight of her grief—

Tigers and wolves their wonted rage forgo, And dumb distress and new compassion show, Nature herself attentive silence kept, _And motion seemed suspended while she wept_!

And Pope dedicated the _Iliad_ to the author of these lines—and Dryden wrote to him in his great hand:

Time, place, and action may with pains be wrought, But Genius must be born and never can be taught. This is your portion, this your native store; Heaven, that but once was prodigal before, To SHAKESPEARE gave as much, she could not give him more. Maintain your Post: that’s all the fame you need, For ’tis impossible you should proceed; Already I am worn with cares and age, And just abandoning th’ ungrateful stage: Unprofitably kept at Heaven’s expence, I live a Rent-charge upon Providence: But you whom every Muse and Grace adorn, Whom I foresee to better fortune born, Be kind to my remains, and oh defend Against your Judgement your departed Friend! Let not the insulting Foe my Fame pursue; But shade those Lawrels which descend to You: And take for Tribute what these Lines express; You merit more, nor could my Love do less.

This is a very different manner of welcome to that of our own day. In Shadwell, Higgons, Congreve, and the comic authors of their time, when gentlemen meet they fall into each other’s arms, with “Jack, Jack, I must buss thee”; or, “’Fore George, Harry, I must kiss thee, lad”. And in a similar manner the poets saluted their brethren. Literary gentlemen do not kiss now; I wonder if they love each other better.

Steele calls Congreve “Great Sir” and “Great Author”; says “Well-dressed barbarians knew his awful name”, and addresses him as if he were a prince; and speaks of _Pastora_ as one of the most famous tragic compositions.

74 “To Addison himself we are bound by a sentiment as much like affection as any sentiment can be which is inspired by one who has been sleeping a hundred and twenty years in Westminster Abbey.... After full inquiry and impartial reflection we have long been convinced that he deserved as much love and esteem as can justly be claimed by any of our infirm and erring race.”—MACAULAY.

“Many who praise virtue do no more than praise it. Yet it is reasonable to believe that Addison’s profession and practice were at no great variance; since, amidst that storm of faction in which most of his life was passed, though his station made him conspicuous, and his activity made him formidable, the character given him by his friends was never contradicted by his enemies. Of those with whom interest or opinion united him, he had not only the esteem but the kindness; and of others, whom the violence of opposition drove against him, though he might lose the love, he retained the reverence.”—JOHNSON.

75 “Addison was perfect good company with intimates, and had something more charming in his conversation than I ever knew in any other man; but with any mixture of strangers, and sometimes only with one, he seemed to preserve his dignity much, with a stiff sort of silence.”—POPE (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

76 “Milton’s chief talent, and indeed his distinguishing excellence lies in the sublimity of his thoughts. There are others of the modern, who rival him in every other part of poetry; but in the greatness of his sentiments he triumphs over all the poets, both modern and ancient, Homer alone excepted. It is impossible for the imagination of man to disturb itself with greater ideas than those which he has laid together in his first, second, and sixth books.”—_Spectator_, No. 279.

“If I were to name a poet that is a perfect master in all these arts of working on the imagination, I think Milton may pass for one.”—Ibid., No. 417.

These famous papers appeared in each Saturday’s _Spectator_, from January 19 to May 3, 1712. Besides his services to Milton, we may place those he did to Sacred Music.

77 “Addison was very kind to me at first, but my bitter enemy afterwards.”—POPE (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

“ ‘Leave him as soon as you can,’ said Addison to me, speaking of Pope; ‘he will certainly play you some devilish trick else: he has an appetite to satire.’ ”—LADY WORTLEY MONTAGU (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

78 Lancelot Addison, his father, was the son of another Lancelot Addison, a clergyman in Westmoreland. He became Dean of Lichfield and Archdeacon of Coventry.

79 “The remark of Mandeville, who, when he had passed an evening in his company, declared that he was ‘a parson in a tye-wig’, can detract little from his character. He was always reserved to strangers, and was not incited to uncommon freedom by a character like that of Mandeville.”—JOHNSON, _Lives of the Poets_.

“Old Jacob Tonson did not like Mr. Addison: he had a quarrel with him, and, after his quitting the secretaryship, used frequently to say of him—‘One day or other you’ll see that man a bishop—I’m sure he looks that way; and indeed I ever thought him a priest in his heart.’ ”—POPE (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

“Mr. Addison stayed above a year at Blois. He would rise as early as between two and three in the height of summer, and lie abed till between eleven and twelve in the depth of winter. He was untalkative whilst here, and often thoughtful: sometimes so lost in thought, that I have come into his room and stayed five minutes there before he has known anything of it. He had his masters generally at supper with him; kept very little company beside; and had no amour that I know of; and I think I should have known it, if he had had any.”—ABBÉ PHILIPPEAUX of Blois (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

80 “His knowledge of the Latin poets, from Lucretius and Catullus down to Claudian and Prudentius, was singularly exact and profound.”—MACAULAY.

81 “Our country owes it to him, that the famous Monsieur Boileau first conceived an opinion of the English genius for poetry, by perusing the present he made him of the _Musae Anglicanae_.”—TICKELL (Preface to _Addison’s Works_).

82 “It was my fate to be much with the wits; my father was acquainted with all of them. _Addison was the best company in the world._ I never knew anybody that had so much wit as Congreve.”—LADY WORTLEY MONTAGU (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

83 Mr. Addison To Mr. Wyche.

“DEAR SIR,

“My hand at present begins to grow steady enough for a letter, so the properest use I can put it to is to thank ye honest gentleman that set it a shaking. I have had this morning a desperate design in my head to attack you in verse, which I should certainly have done could I have found out a rhyme to rummer. But though you have escaped for ye present, you are not yet out of danger, if I can a little recover my talent at Crambo. I am sure, in whatever way I write to you, it will be impossible for me to express ye deep sense I have of ye many favours you have lately shown me. I shall only tell you that Hambourg has been the pleasantest stage I have met with in my travails. If any of my friends wonder at me for living so long in that place, I dare say it will be thought a very good excuse when I tell him Mr. Wyche was there. As your company made our stay at Hambourg agreeable, your wine has given us all ye satisfaction that we have found in our journey through Westphalia. If drinking your health will do you any good, you may expect to be as long lived as Methusaleh, or, to use a more familiar instance, as ye oldest hoc in ye cellar. I hope ye two pair of legs that was left a swelling behind us are by this time come to their shapes again. I can’t forbear troubling you with my hearty respects to ye owners of them, and desiring you to believe me always,

“Dear Sir,

“To Mr. Wyche, His Majesty’s Resident at Hambourg, “May, 1703.”

—From the _Life of Addison_, by Miss Aikin, vol. i, p. 146.

84 It is pleasing to remember that the relation between Swift and Addison was, on the whole, satisfactory, from first to last. The value of Swift’s testimony, when nothing personal inflamed his vision or warped his judgement, can be doubted by nobody.

“Sept. 10, 1710.—I sat till ten in the evening with Addison and Steele.

“11.—Mr. Addison and I dined together at his lodgings, and I sat with him part of this evening.

“18.—To-day I dined with Mr. Stratford at Mr. Addison’s retirement near Chelsea.... I will get what good offices I can from Mr. Addison.

“27.—To-day all our company dined at Will Frankland’s, with Steele and Addison, too.

“29.—I dined with Mr. Addison,” &c.—_Journal to Stella._

Addison inscribed a presentation copy of his _Travels_ “To Dr. Jonathan Swift, the most agreeable companion, the truest friend, and the greatest genius of his age.”—SCOTT. From the information of Mr. Theophilus Swift.

“Mr. Addison, who goes over first secretary, is a most excellent person; and being my most intimate friend, I shall use all my credit to set him right in his notions of persons and things.”—_Letters._

“I examine my heart, and can find no other reason why I write to you now, besides that great love and esteem I have always had for you. I have nothing to ask you either for my friend or for myself.”—Swift to Addison (1717), SCOTT’S _Swift_, vol. xix, p. 274.

Political differences only dulled for a while their friendly communications. Time renewed them; and Tickell enjoyed Swift’s friendship as a legacy from the man with whose memory his is so honourably connected.

85 “Addison usually studied all the morning; then met his party at Button’s; dined there, and stayed five or six hours, and sometimes far into the night. I was of the company for about a year, but found it too much for me: it hurt my health, and so I quitted it.”—POPE (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

86 “When he returned to England (in 1702), with a meanness of appearance which gave testimony of the difficulties to which he had been reduced, he found his old patrons out of power, and was, therefore, for a time, at full leisure for the cultivation of his mind.”—JOHNSON, _Lives of the Poets_.

87 “Mr. Addison wrote very fluently; but he was sometimes very slow and scrupulous in correcting. He would show his verses to several friends; and would alter almost everything that any of them hinted at as wrong. He seemed to be too diffident of himself; and too much concerned about his character as a poet; or (as he worded it) too solicitous for that kind of praise, which, God knows, is but a very little matter after all!”—POPE (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

88 “As to poetical affairs,” says Pope, in 1713, “I am content at present to be a bare looker-on.... Cato was not so much the wonder of Rome in his days, as he is of Britain in ours; and though all the foolish industry possible has been used to make it thought a party play, yet what the author once said of another may the most properly in the world be applied to him on this occasion:—

“Envy itself is dumb—in wonder lost; And factions strive who shall applaud him most.

“The numerous and violent claps of the Whig party on the one side of the theatre were echoed back by the Tories on the other; while the author sweated behind the scenes with concern to find their applause proceeding more from the hands than the head.... I believe you have heard that, after all the applauses of the opposite faction, my Lord Bolingbroke sent for Booth, who played Cato, into the box, and presented him with fifty guineas in acknowledgement (as he expressed it) for defending the cause of liberty so well against a perpetual dictator”—POPE’S “Letter to SIR W. TRUMBULL”.

_Cato_ ran for thirty-five nights without interruption. Pope wrote the Prologue, and Garth the Epilogue.

It is worth noticing how many things in _Cato_ keep their ground as habitual quotations, e.g.:—

“ ... big with the fate Of Cato and of Rome.” “’Tis not in mortals to command success, But we’ll do more, Sempronius, we’ll deserve it.” “Blesses his stars, and thinks it luxury.” “I think the Romans call it Stoicism.” “My voice is still for war.” “When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honour is a private station.”

Not to mention:—

“The woman who deliberates is lost,”

And the eternal:—

“Plato, thou reasonest well,”

which avenges, perhaps, on the public their neglect of the play!

89 “The lady was persuaded to marry him on terms much like those on which a Turkish princess is espoused—to whom the Sultan is reported to pronounce, ‘Daughter, I give thee this man for thy slave.’ The marriage, if uncontradicted report can be credited, made no addition to his happiness; it neither found them, nor made them, equal.... Rowe’s ballad of _The Despairing Shepherd_ is said to have been written, either before or after marriage, upon this memorable pair.”—DR. JOHNSON.

“I received the news of Mr. Addison’s being declared Secretary of State with the less surprise, in that I knew that post was almost offered to him before. At that time he declined it, and I really believe that he would have done well to have declined it now. Such a post as that, and such a wife as the Countess, do not seem to be, in prudence, eligible for a man that is asthmatic, and we may see the day when he will be heartily glad to resign them both.”—LADY WORTLEY MONTAGU to POPE. _Works_, Lord Wharncliffe’s ed., vol. ii, p. 111.

The issue of this marriage was a daughter, Charlotte Addison, who inherited, on her mother’s death, the estate of Bilton, near Rugby, which her father had purchased, and died, unmarried, at an advanced age. She was of weak intellect.

Rowe appears to have been faithful to Addison during his courtship, for his Collection contains “Stanzas to Lady Warwick, on Mr. Addison’s going to Ireland”, in which her ladyship is called “Chloe”, and Joseph Addison, “Lycidas”; besides the ballad mentioned by the doctor, and which is entitled “Colin’s Complaint”. But not even the interest attached to the name of Addison could induce the reader to peruse this composition, though one stanza may serve as a specimen:—

What though I have skill to complain— Though the Muses my temples have crowned; What though, when they hear my sweet strain, The Muses sit weeping around.

Ah, Colin! thy hopes are in vain; Thy pipe and thy laurel resign; Thy false one inclines to a swain Whose music is sweeter than thine.

90 One of the most humourous of these is the paper on Hoops, which, the _Spectator_ tells us, particularly pleased his friend SIR ROGER:

“MR. SPECTATOR—

“You have diverted the town almost a whole month at the expense of the country; it is now high time that you should give the country their revenge. Since your withdrawing from this place, the fair sex are run into great extravagances. Their petticoats, which began to heave and swell before you left us, are now blown up into a most enormous concave, and rise every day more and more; in short, sir, since our women knew themselves to be out of the eye of the SPECTATOR, they will be kept within no compass. You praised them a little too soon, for the modesty of their headdresses; for as the humour of a sick person is often driven out of one limb into another, their superfluity of ornaments, instead of being entirely banished, seems only fallen from their heads upon their lower parts. What they have lost in height they make up in breadth, and, contrary to all rules of architecture, widen the foundations at the same time that they shorten the superstructure.

“The women give out, in defence of these wide bottoms, that they are very airy and very proper for the season; but this I look upon to be only a pretence and a piece of art, for it is well known we have not had a more moderate summer these many years, so that it is certain the heat they complain of cannot be in the weather; besides, I would fain ask these tender-constitutioned ladies, why they should require more cooling than their mothers before them?

“I find several speculative persons are of opinion that our sex has of late years been very saucy, and that the hoop-petticoat is made use of to keep us at a distance. It is most certain that a woman’s honour cannot be better entrenched than after this manner, in circle within circle, amidst such a variety of outworks and lines of circumvallation. A female who is thus invested in whalebone is sufficiently secured against the approaches of an ill-bred fellow, who might as well think of Sir George Etheridge’s way of making love in a tub as in the midst of so many hoops.

“Among these various conjectures, there are men of superstitious tempers who look upon the hoop-petticoat as a kind of prodigy. Some will have it that it portends the downfall of the _French_ king, and observe, that the farthingale appeared in _England_ a little before the ruin of the _Spanish_ monarchy. Others are of opinion that it foretells battle and bloodshed, and believe it of the same prognostication as the toil of a blazing star. For my part, I am apt to think that it is a sign that multitudes are coming into the world rather than going out of it,” &c. &c.—_Spectator_, No. 127.

91 “Mr. Addison has not had one epithalamium that I can hear of, and must even be reduced, like a poorer and a better poet, Spenser, to make his own.”—POPE’S _Letters_.

92 “I have observed that a reader seldom peruses a book with pleasure till he knows whether the writer of it be a black or a fair man, of a mild or a choleric disposition, married or a bachelor; with other particulars of a like nature, that conduce very much to the right understanding of an author. To gratify this curiosity, which is so natural to a reader, I design this paper and my next as prefatory discourses to my following writings; and shall give some account in them of the persons that are engaged in this work. As the chief trouble of compiling, digesting, and correcting will fall to my share, I must do myself the justice to open the work with my own history.... There runs a story in the family, that when my mother was gone with child of me about three months, she dreamt that she was brought to bed of a judge. Whether this might proceed from a lawsuit which was then depending in the family, or my father’s being a justice of the peace, I cannot determine; for I am not so vain as to think it presaged any dignity that I should arrive at in my future life, though that was the interpretation which the neighbourhood put upon it. The gravity of my behaviour at my very first appearance in the world, and all the time that I sucked, seemed to favour my mother’s dream; for, as she has often told me, I threw away my rattle before I was two months old, and would not make use of my coral till they had taken away the bells from it.

“As for the rest of my infancy, there being nothing in it remarkable, I shall pass it over in silence. I find that during my nonage I had the reputation of a very sullen youth, but was always the favourite of my schoolmaster, who used to say that _my parts were solid and would wear well_. I had not been long at the university before I distinguished myself by a most profound silence; for during the space of eight years, excepting in the public exercises of the college, I scarce uttered the quantity of an hundred words; and, indeed, I do not remember that I ever spoke three sentences together in my whole life....

“I have passed my latter years in this city, where I am frequently seen in most public places, though there are not more than half a dozen of my select friends that know me.... There is no place of general resort wherein I do not often make my appearance; sometimes I am seen thrusting my head into a round of politicians at Will’s, and listening with great attention to the narratives that are made in these little circular audiences. Sometimes I smoke a pipe at Child’s, and whilst I seem attentive to nothing but the _Postman_, overhear the conversation of every table in the room. I appear on Tuesday night at St. James’s Coffee-house; and sometimes join the little committee of politics in the inner room, as one who comes to hear and improve. My face is likewise very well known at the Grecian, the ‘Cocoa-Tree’, and in the theatres both of Drury Lane and the Haymarket. I have been taken for a merchant upon the Exchange for above these two years; and sometimes pass for a Jew in the assembly of stock-jobbers at Jonathan’s. In short, wherever I see a cluster of people, I mix with them, though I never open my lips but in my own club.

“Thus I live in the world rather as a ‘_Spectator_’ of mankind than as one of the species; by which means I have made myself a speculative statesman, soldier, merchant, and artizan, without ever meddling in any practical part in life. I am very well versed in the theory of a husband or a father, and can discern the errors in the economy, business, and diversions of others, better than those who are engaged in them—as standers-by discover blots which are apt to escape those who are in the game.... In short, I have acted, in all the parts of my life, as a looker-on, which is the character I intend to preserve in this paper.”—_Spectator_, No. 1.

93 “So effectually, indeed, did he retort on vice the mockery which had recently been directed against virtue, that, since his time, the open violation of decency has always been considered, amongst us, the sure mark of a fool.”—MACAULAY.

94 “The Court was sat before Sir Roger came; but, notwithstanding all the justices had taken their places upon the bench, they made room for the old knight at the head of them; who for his reputation in the country took occasion to whisper in the judge’s ear that _he was glad his lordship had met with so much good weather in his circuit_. I was listening to the proceedings of the Court with much attention, and infinitely pleased with that great appearance and solemnity which so properly accompanies such a public administration of our laws; when, after about an hour’s sitting, I observed to my great surprise, in the midst of a trial, that my friend Sir Roger was getting up to speak. I was in some pain for him, till I found he had acquitted himself of two or three sentences, with a look of much business and great intrepidity.

“Upon his first rising; the Court was hushed, and a general whisper ran among the country people that Sir Roger _was up_. The speech he made was so little to the purpose, that I shall not trouble my readers with an account of it, and I believe was not so much designed by the knight himself to inform the Court, as to give him a figure in my eyes, and to keep up his credit in the country.”—_Spectator_, No. 122.

95 “Garth sent to Addison (of whom he had a very high opinion) on his death-bed, to ask him whether the Christian religion was true.”—DR. YOUNG (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

“I have always preferred cheerfulness to mirth. The latter I consider as an act, the former as an habit of the mind. Mirth is short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Those are often raised into the greatest transports of mirth who are subject to the greatest depression of melancholy: on the contrary, cheerfulness, though it does not give the mind such an exquisite gladness, prevents it from falling into any depths of sorrow. Mirth is like a flash of lightning that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.”—ADDISON, _Spectator_, p. 381.

96 The husband of the Lady Warwick who married Addison, and the father of the young earl, who was brought to his stepfather’s bed to see “how a Christian could die”. He was amongst the wildest of the nobility of that day; and in the curious collection of Chap-Books at the British Museum, I have seen more than one anecdote of the freaks of the gay lord. He was popular in London, as such daring spirits have been in our time. The anecdotists speak very kindly of his practical jokes. Mohun was scarcely out of prison for his second homicide, when he went on Lord Macclesfield’s embassy to the Elector of Hanover, when Queen Anne sent the garter to H. E. Highness. The chronicler of the expedition speaks of his lordship as an amiable young man, who had been in bad company, but was quite repentant and reformed. He and Macartney afterwards murdered the Duke of Hamilton between them, in which act Lord Mohun died. This amiable baron’s name was Charles, and not Henry, as a recent novelist has christened him.

97 “Steele had the greatest veneration for Addison, and used to show it, in all companies, in a particular manner. Addison, now and then, used to play a little upon them; but he always took it well.”—POPE (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

“Sir Richard Steele was the best-natured creature in the world: even in his worst state of health, he seemed to desire nothing but to please and be pleased.”—DR. YOUNG (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

98 The gaiety of his dramatic tone may be seen in this little scene between two brilliant sisters, from his comedy, _The Funeral, or Grief à la Mode_. Dick wrote this, he said, from “a necessity of enlivening his character”, which, it seemed, the _Christian Hero_ had a tendency to make too decorous, grave, and respectable in the eyes of readers of that pious piece.

[_Scene draws, and discovers_ LADY CHARLOTTE, _reading at a table,_—LADY HARRIET, _playing at a glass, to and fro, and viewing herself._]

_L. Ha._—Nay, good sister, you may as well talk to me [_looking at herself as she speaks_] as you sit staring at a book which I know you can’t attend.—Good Dr. Lucas may have writ there what he pleases, but there’s no putting Francis, Lord Hardy, now Earl of Brumpton, out of your head, or making him absent from your eyes. Do but look on me, now, and deny it if you can.

_L. Ch._—You are the maddest girl [_smiling_].

_L. Ha._—Look ye, I knew you could not say it and forbear laughing [_looking over Charlotte_].—Oh! I see his name as plain as you do—F—r—a—n Fran,—c—i—s, cis, Francis, ’tis in every line of the book.

_L. Ch._ [_rising_]—It’s in vain, I see, to mind anything in such impertinent company—but granting ’twere as you say, as to my Lord Hardy—’tis more excusable to admire another than oneself.

_L. Ha._—No, I think not,—yes, I grant you, than really to be vain of one’s person, but I don’t admire myself—Pish! I don’t believe my eyes to have that softness. [_Looking in the glass._] They an’t so piercing: no, ’tis only stuff, the men will be talking.—Some people are such admirers of teeth—Lord, what signifies teeth! [_Showing her teeth._] A very black-a-moor has as white a set of teeth as I.—No, sister, I don’t admire myself, but I’ve a spirit of contradiction in me: I don’t know I’m in love with myself, only to rival the men.

_L. Ch._—Aye, but Mr. Campley will gain ground ev’n of that rival of his, your dear self.

_L. Ha._—Oh, what have I done to you, that you should name that insolent intruder? A confident, opinionative fop. No, indeed, if I am, as a poetical lover of mine sighed and sung of both sexes,

The public envy and the public care,

I shan’t be so easily catched—I thank him—I want but to be sure, I should heartily torment him by banishing him, and then consider whether he should depart this life or not.

_L. Ch._—Indeed, sister, to be serious with you, this vanity in your humour does not at all become you.

_L. Ha_.—Vanity! All the matter is, we gay people are more sincere than you wise folks; all your life’s an art.—Speak you real.—Look you there.—[_Hauling her to the glass._] Are you not struck with a secret pleasure when you view that bloom in your look, that harmony in your shape, that promptitude in your mien?

_L. Ch._—Well, simpleton, if I am at first so simple as to be a little taken with myself, I know it a fault, and take pains to correct it.

_L. Ha._—Pshaw! Pshaw! Talk this musty tale to old Mrs. Fardingale, ’tis tiresome for me to think at that rate.

_L. Ch._—They that think it too soon to understand themselves will very soon find it too late.—But tell me honestly, don’t you like Campley?

_L. Ha._—The fellow is not to be abhorred, if the forward thing did not think of getting me so easily.—Oh, I hate a heart I can’t break when I please.—What makes the value of dear china, but that ’tis so brittle?—were it not for that, you might as well have stone mugs in your closet.’—_The Funeral_, Oct. 2nd.

“We knew the obligations the stage had to his writings [Steele’s]; there being scarcely a comedian of merit in our whole company whom his _Tatlers_ had not made better by his recommendation of them.”—CIBBER.

99 “There is not now in his sight that excellent man, whom Heaven made his friend and superior, to be at a certain place in pain for what he should say or do. I will go on in his further encouragement. The best woman that ever man had cannot now lament and pine at his neglect of himself.”—STEELE [of himself]. _The Theatre_, No. 12, Feb., 1719-20.

_ 100 The Funeral_ supplies an admirable stroke of humour,—one which Sydney Smith has used as an illustration of the faculty in his Lectures.

The undertaker is talking to his employés about their duty.

_Sable._—Ha, you!—A little more upon the dismal [_forming their countenances_]; this fellow has a good mortal look,—place him near the corpse: that wainscot-face must be o’ top of the stairs; that fellow’s almost in a fright (that looks as if he were full of some strange misery) at the end of the hall. So—But I’ll fix you all myself. Let’s have no laughing now on any provocation. Look yonder,—that hale, well-looking puppy! You ungrateful scoundrel, did not I pity you, take you out of a great man’s service, and show you the pleasure of receiving wages? _Did not I give you ten, then fifteen, and twenty shillings a week to be sorrowful?—and the more I give you I think the gladder you are!_

101 “From my own Apartment, Nov. 16.

“There are several persons who have many pleasures and entertainments in their possession, which they do not enjoy; it is, therefore, a kind and good office to acquaint them with their own happiness, and turn their attention to such instances of their good fortune as they are apt to overlook. Persons in the married state often want such a monitor; and pine away their days by looking upon the same condition in anguish and murmuring, which carries with it, in the opinion of others, a complication of all the pleasures of life, and a retreat from its inquietudes.

“I am led into this thought by a visit I made to an old friend who was formerly my schoolfellow. He came to town last week, with his family, for the winter; and yesterday morning sent me word his wife expected me to dinner. I am, as it were, at home at that house, and every member of it knows me for their well-wisher. I cannot, indeed, express the pleasure it is to be met by the children with so much joy as I am when I go thither. The boys and girls strive who shall come first, when they think it is I that am knocking at the door; and that child which loses the race to me runs back again to tell the father it is Mr. Bickerstaff. This day I was led in by a pretty girl that we all thought must have forgot me; for the family has been out of town these two years. Her knowing me again was a mighty subject with us, and took up our discourse at the first entrance; after which, they began to rally me upon a thousand little stories they heard in the country, about my marriage to one of my neighbours’ daughters; upon which, the gentleman, my friend, said, ‘Nay; if Mr. Bickerstaff marries a child of any of his old companions, I hope mine shall have the preference: there is Mrs. Mary is now sixteen, and would make him as fine a widow as the best of them. But I know him too well; he is so enamoured with the very memory of those who flourished in our youth, that he will not so much as look upon the modern beauties. I remember, old gentleman, how often you went home in a day to refresh your countenance and dress when Teraminta reigned in your heart. As we came up in the coach, I repeated to my wife some of your verses on her.’ With such reflections on little passages which happened long ago, we passed our time during a cheerful and elegant meal. After dinner his lady left the room, as did also the children. As soon as we were alone, he took me by the hand: ‘Well, my good friend,’ says he, ‘I am heartily glad to see thee; I was afraid you would never have seen all the company that dined with you to-day again. Do not you think the good woman of the house a little altered since you followed her from the playhouse to find out who she was for me?’ I perceived a tear fall down his cheek as he spoke, which moved me not a little. But, to turn the discourse, I said, ‘She is not, indeed, that creature she was when she returned me the letter I carried from you, and told me, “She hoped, as I was a gentleman, I would be employed no more to trouble her, who had never offended me; but would be so much the gentleman’s friend as to dissuade him from a pursuit which he could never succeed in.” You may remember I thought her in earnest, and you were forced to employ your cousin Will, who made his sister get acquainted with her for you. You cannot expect her to be for ever fifteen.’ ‘Fifteen!’ replied my good friend. ‘Ah! you little understand—you, that have lived a bachelor—how great, how exquisite a pleasure there is in being really beloved! It is impossible that the most beauteous face in nature should raise in me such pleasing ideas as when I look upon that excellent woman. That fading in her countenance is chiefly caused by her watching with me in my fever. This was followed by a fit of sickness, which had like to have carried me off last winter. I tell you, sincerely, I have so many obligations to her that I cannot, with any sort of moderation, think of her present state of health. But, as to what you say of fifteen, she gives me every day pleasure beyond what I ever knew in the possession of her beauty when I was in the vigour of youth. Every moment of her life brings me fresh instances of her complacency to my inclinations, and her prudence in regard to my fortune. Her face is to me much more beautiful than when I first saw it; there is no decay in any feature which I cannot trace from the very instant it was occasioned by some anxious concern for my welfare and interests. Thus, at the same time, methinks, the love I conceived towards her for what she was, is heightened by my gratitude for what she is. The love of a wife is as much above the idle passion commonly called by that name, as the loud laughter of buffoons is inferior to the elegant mirth of gentlemen. Oh, she is an inestimable jewel! In her examination of her household affairs, she shows a certain fearfulness to find a fault, which makes her servants obey her like children; and the meanest we have has an ingenuous shame for an offence not always to be seen in children in other families. I speak freely to you, my old friend; ever since her sickness, things that gave me the quickest joy before turn now to a certain anxiety. As the children play in the next room, I know the poor things by their steps, and am considering what they must do should they lose their mother in their tender years. The pleasure I used to take in telling my boy stories of battles, and asking my girl questions about the disposal of her baby, and the gossipping of it, is turned into inward reflection and melancholy.’

“He would have gone on in this tender way, when the good lady entered, and, with an inexpressible sweetness in her countenance, told us ‘she had been searching her closet for something very good, to treat such an old friend as I was’. Her husband’s eyes sparkled with pleasure at the cheerfulness of her countenance; and I saw all his fears vanish in an instant. The lady observing something in our looks which showed we had been more serious than ordinary, and seeing her husband receive her with great concern under a forced cheerfulness, immediately guessed at what we had been talking of; and applying herself to me, said, with a smile, ‘Mr. Bickerstaff, do not believe a word of what he tells you: I shall still live to have you for my second, as I have often promised you, unless he takes more care of himself than he has done since his coming to town. You must know he tells me, that he finds London is a much more healthy place than the country; for he sees several of his old acquaintances and schoolfellows are here—_young fellows with fair, full-bottomed periwigs_. I could scarce keep him this morning from going out _open-breasted_.’ My friend, who is always extremely delighted with her agreeable humour, made her sit down with us. She did it with that easiness which is peculiar to women of sense; and to keep up the good humour she had brought in with her, turned her raillery upon me. ‘Mr. Bickerstaff, you remember you followed me one night from the playhouse; suppose you should carry me thither to-morrow night, and lead me in the front box.’ This put us into a long field of discourse about the beauties who were the mothers to the present, and shined in the boxes twenty years ago. I told her, ‘I was glad she had transferred so many of her charms, and I did not question but her eldest daughter was within half a year of being a toast.’

“We were pleasing ourselves with this fantastical preferment of the young lady, when, on a sudden, we were alarmed with the noise of a drum, and immediately entered my little godson to give me a point of war. His mother, between laughing and chiding, would have put him out of the room; but I would not part with him so. I found, upon conversation with him, though he was a little noisy in his mirth, that the child had excellent parts, and was a great master of all the learning on the other side of eight years old. I perceived him a very great historian in _Aesop’s Fables_; but he frankly declared to me his mind, ‘that he did not delight in that learning, because he did not believe they were true;’ for which reason I found he had very much turned his studies, for about a twelvemonth past, into the lives of Don Bellianis of Greece, Guy of Warwick, the _Seven Champions_, and other historians of that age. I could not but observe the satisfaction the father took in the forwardness of his son, and that these diversions might turn to some profit. I found the boy had made remarks which might be of service to him during the course of his whole life. He would tell you the mismanagement of John Hickerthrift, find fault with the passionate temper in Bevis of Southampton, and loved St. George for being the champion of England; and by this means had his thoughts insensibly moulded into the notions of discretion, virtue, and honour. I was extolling his accomplishments, when his mother told me, ‘that the little girl who led me in this morning was, in her way, a better scholar than he. Betty,’ said she, ‘deals chiefly in fairies and sprites; and sometimes in a winter night will terrify the maids with her accounts, until they are afraid to go up to bed.’

“I sat with them until it was very late, sometimes in merry, sometimes in serious discourse, with this particular pleasure, which gives the only true relish to all conversation, a sense that every one of us liked each other. I went home, considering the different conditions of a married life and that of a bachelor; and I must confess it struck me with a secret concern, to reflect, that whenever I go off I shall leave no traces behind me. In this pensive mood I return to my family; that is to say, to my maid, my dog, my cat, who only can be the better or worse for what happens to me.”—_The Tatler._

102 “As to the pursuits after affection and esteem, the fair sex are happy in this particular, that with them the one is much more nearly related to the other than in men. The love of a woman is inseparable from some esteem of her; and as she is naturally the object of affection, the woman who has your esteem has also some degree of your love. A man that dotes on a woman for her beauty, will whisper his friend, ‘that creature has a great deal of wit when you are well acquainted with her.’ And if you examine the bottom of your esteem for a woman, you will find you have a greater opinion of her beauty than anybody else. As to us men, I design to pass most of my time with the facetious Harry Bickerstaff; but William Bickerstaff, the most prudent man of our family, shall be my executor.”—_Tatler_, No. 206.

103 The Correspondence of Steele passed after his death into the possession of his daughter Elizabeth, by his second wife, Miss Scurlock, of Carmarthenshire. She married the Hon. John, afterwards third Lord Trevor. At her death, part of the letters passed to Mr. Thomas, a grandson of a natural daughter of Steele’s; and part to Lady Trevor’s next of kin, Mr. Scurlock. They were published by the learned Nichols—from whose later edition of them, in 1809, our specimens are quoted.

Here we have him, in his courtship—which was not a very long one.

TO MRS. SCURLOCK

“Aug. 30, 1707.

“MADAM,—

“I beg pardon that my paper is not finer, but I am forced to write from a coffee-house, where I am attending about business. There is a dirty crowd of busy faces all around me, talking of money; while all my ambition, all my wealth, is love! Love which animates my heart, sweetens my humour, enlarges my soul; and affects every action of my life. It is to my lovely charmer I owe, that many noble ideas are continually affixed to my words and actions; it is the natural effect of that generous passion to create in the admirer some similitude of the object admired. Thus, my dear, am I every day to improve from so sweet a companion. Look up, my fair one, to that Heaven which made thee such; and join with me to implore its influence on our tender innocent hours, and beseech the Author of love to bless the rites He has ordained—and mingle with our happiness a just sense of our transient condition, and a resignation to His will, which only can regulate our minds to a steady endeavour to please Him and each other.

“I am for ever your faithful servant,

“RICH. STEELE.”

Some few hours afterwards, apparently, Mistress Scurlock received the next one—obviously written later in the day!

“Saturday night (Aug. 30, 1707).

“DEAR, LOVELY MRS. SCURLOCK,—

“I have been in very good company, where your health, under the character of _the woman I loved best_, has been often drunk; so that I may say that I am dead drunk for your sake, which is more than _I die for you_.

“RICH. STEELE.”

TO MRS. SCURLOCK.

“Sept. 1, 1707.

“MADAM,—

“It is the hardest thing in the world to be in love, and yet attend business. As for me, all who speak to me find me out, and I must lock myself up, or other people will do it for me.

“A gentleman asked me this morning, ‘What news from Lisbon?’ and I answered, ‘She is exquisitely handsome.’ Another desired to know ‘when I had last been at Hampton Court?’ I replied, ‘It will be on Tuesday come se’nnight.’ Pr’ythee allow me at least to kiss your hand before that day, that my mind may be in some composure. O Love!

“A thousand torments dwell about thee, Yet who could live, to live without thee?

“Methinks I could write a volume to you; but all the language on earth would fail in saying how much, and with what disinterested passion,

“I am ever yours, “RICH. STEELE.”

Two days after this, he is found expounding his circumstances and prospects to the young lady’s mamma. He dates from “Lord Sunderland’s office, Whitehall”; and states his clear income at 1,025_l._ per annum. “I promise myself,” says he, “the pleasure of an industrious and virtuous life, in studying to do things agreeable to you.”

They were married according to the most probable conjectures about the 7th inst. There are traces of a tiff about the middle of the next month; she being prudish and fidgety, as he was impassioned and reckless. General progress, however, may be seen from the following notes. The “house in Bury Street, St. James’s”, was now taken.

TO MRS. STEELE.

“Oct. 16, 1707.

“DEAREST BEING ON EARTH,—

“Pardon me if you do not see me till eleven o’clock, having met a schoolfellow from India, by whom I am to be informed on things this night which expressly concern your obedient husband,

“RICH. STEELE.”

TO MRS. STEELE.

“Eight o’clock, Fountain Tavern,

“Oct. 22, 1707.

“MY DEAR,—

“I beg of you not to be uneasy; for I have done a great deal of business to-day very successfully, and wait an hour or two about my _Gazette_.”

“Dec. 22, 1707.

“MY DEAR, DEAR WIFE,—

“I write to let you know I do not come home to dinner, being obliged to attend some business abroad, of which I shall give you an account (when I see you in the evening), as becomes your dutiful and obedient husband.”

“Devil Tavern, Temple Bar.

“Jan. 3, 1707-8.

“DEAR PRUE,—

“I have partly succeeded in my business to-day, and inclose two guineas as earnest of more. Dear Prue, I cannot come home to dinner. I languish for your welfare, and will never be a moment careless more.

“Your faithful husband,” &c.

“Jan. 14, 1707-8.

“DEAR WIFE,—

“Mr. Edgecombe, Ned Ask, and Mr. Lumley, have desired me to sit an hour with them at the George, in Pall Mall, for which I desire your patience till twelve o’clock, and that you will go to bed,” &c.

“Gray’s Inn, Feb. 3, 1708.

“DEAR PRUE,—

“If the man who has my shoemaker’s bill calls, let him be answered that I shall call on him as I come home. I stay here in order to get Jonson to discount a bill for me, and shall dine with him for that end. He is expected at home every minute.

“Your most humble, obedient servant,” &c.

“Tennis Court Coffee-house, “May 5, 1708.

“DEAR WIFE,—

“I hope I have done this day what will be pleasing to you; in the meantime shall lie this night at a baker’s, one Leg, over against the ‘Devil’ Tavern, at Charing Cross. I shall be able to confront the fools who wish me uneasy, and shall have the satisfaction to see thee cheerful and at ease.

“If the printer’s boy be at home, send him hither; and let Mrs. Todd send by the boy my night-gown, slippers, and clean linen. You shall hear from me early in the morning,” &c.

Dozens of similar letters follow, with occasional guineas, little parcels of tea, or walnuts, &c. In 1709 the _Tatler_ made its appearance. The following curious note dates April 7, 1710:—

“I inclose to you [‘Dear Prue’] a receipt for the saucepan and spoon, and a note of 23_l_. of Lewis’s, which will make up the 50_l._ I promised for your ensuing occasion.

“I know no happiness in this life in any degree comparable to the pleasure I have in your person and society. I only beg of you to add to your other charms a fearfulness to see a man that loves you in pain and uneasiness, to make me as happy as it is possible to be in this life. Rising a little in a morning, and being disposed to a cheerfulness ... would not be amiss.”

In another, he is found excusing his coming home, being “invited to supper to Mr. Boyle’s”. “Dear Prue,” he says on this occasion, “do not send after me, for I shall be ridiculous.”

104 Of this famous Bishop, Steele wrote,—

Virtue with so much ease on Bangor sits, All faults he pardons, though he none commits.

105 Here we have some of his later letters:—

TO LADY STEELE. “Hampton Court, March 16, 1716-17.

“DEAR PRUE,

“If you have written anything to me which I should have received last night, I beg your pardon that I cannot answer till the next post.... Your son at the present writing is mighty well employed in tumbling on the floor of the room and sweeping the sand with a feather. He grows a most delightful child, and very full of play and spirit. He is also a very great scholar: he can read his primer; and I have brought down my Virgil. He makes most shrewd remarks about the pictures. We are very intimate friends and playfellows. He begins to be very ragged; and I hope I shall be pardoned if I equip him with new clothes and frocks, or what Mrs. Evans and I shall think for his service.”

TO LADY STEELE. [Undated.]

“You tell me you want a little flattery from me. I assure you I know no one who deserves so much commendation as yourself, and to whom saying the best things would be so little like flattery. The thing speaks for itself, considering you as a very handsome woman that loves retirement—one who does not want wit, and yet is extremely sincere; and so I could go through all the vices which attend the good qualities of other people, of which you are exempt. But, indeed, though you have every perfection, you have an extravagant fault, which almost frustrates the good in you to me; and that is, that you do not love to dress, to appear, to shine out, even at my request, and to make me proud of you, or rather to indulge the pride I have that you are mine....

“Your most affectionate, obsequious husband, “RICH. STEELE.

“A quarter of Molly’s schooling is paid. The children are perfectly well.”

TO LADY STEELE. “March 26, 1717.

“MY DEAREST PRUE,

“I have received yours, wherein you give me the sensible affliction of telling me enow of the continual pain in your head.... When I lay in your place, and on your pillow, I assure you I fell into tears last night, to think that my charming little insolent might be then awake and in pain; and took it to be a sin to go to sleep.

“For this tender passion towards you, I must be contented that your _Prueship_ will condescend to call yourself my well-wisher.”

At the time when the above later letters were written, Lady Steele was in Wales, looking after her estate there. Steele, about this time, was much occupied with a project for conveying fish alive, by which, as he constantly assures his wife, he firmly believed he should make his fortune. It did not succeed, however.

Lady Steele died in December of the succeeding year. She lies buried in Westminster Abbey.

106 Lord Chesterfield sends these verses to Voltaire in a characteristic letter.

107 Steele replied to Dennis in an _Answer to a Whimsical Pamphlet, called __“__The Character of Sir John Edgar__”_. What Steele had to say against the cross-grained old Critic discovers a great deal of humour:

“Thou never didst let the sun into thy garret, for fear he should bring a bailiff along with him....

“Your years are about sixty-five, an ugly, vinegar face, that if you had any command you would be obeyed out of fear, from your ill-nature pictured there; not from any other motive. Your height is about some five feet five inches. You see I can give your exact measure as well as if I had taken your dimension with a good cudgel, which I promise you to do as soon as ever I have the good fortune to meet you....

“Your doughty paunch stands before you like a firkin of butter, and your duck-legs seem to be cast for carrying burdens.

“Thy works are libels upon others, and satires upon thyself; and while they bark at men of sense, call him knave and fool that wrote them. Thou hast a great antipathy to thy own species; and hatest the sight of a fool but in thy glass.”

Steele had been kind to Dennis, and once got arrested on account of a pecuniary service which he did him. When John heard of the fact—“’Sdeath!” cries John; “why did not he keep out of the way as I did?”

The _Answer_ concludes by mentioning that Cibber had offered Ten Pounds for the discovery of the authorship of Dennis’s pamphlet; on which, says Steele,—

“I am only sorry he has offered so much, because the _twentieth part_ would have over-valued his whole carcass. But I know the fellow that he keeps to give answers to his creditors will betray him; for he gave me his word to bring officers on the top of the house that should make a hole through the ceiling of his garret, and so bring him to the punishment he deserves. Some people think this expedient out of the way, and that he would make his escape upon hearing the least noise. I say so too; but it takes him up half an hour every night to fortify himself with his old hair trunk, two or three joint-stools, and some other lumber, which he ties together with cords so fast that it takes him up the same time in the morning to release himself.”

108 Gay calls him—“Dear Prior ... beloved by every muse”.—_Mr. Pope’s Welcome from Greece._

Swift and Prior were very intimate, and he is frequently mentioned in the _Journal to Stella_. “Mr. Prior,” says Swift, “walks to make himself fat, and I to keep myself down.... We often walk round the park together.”

In Swift’s works there is a curious tract called _Remarks on the Characters of the Court of Queen Anne_ [Scott’s edition, vol. xii]. The _Remarks_ are not by the Dean: but at the end of each is an addition in italics from his hand, and these are always characteristic. Thus, to the Duke of Marlborough, he adds, “_Detestably Covetous_,” &c. Prior is thus noticed—

“MATTHEW PRIOR, ESQ., Commissioner of Trade.

“On the Queen’s accession to the throne, he was continued in his office; is very well at Court with the ministry, and is an entire creature of my Lord Jersey’s, whom he supports by his advice; is one of the best poets in England, but very facetious in conversation. A thin, hollow-looked man, turned of 40 years old. _This is near the truth._”

Yet counting as far as to fifty his years, His virtues and vices were as other men’s are, High hopes he conceived and he smothered great fears, In a life party-coloured—half pleasure, half care.

Not to business a drudge, nor to faction a slave, He strove to make interest and freedom agree, In public employments industrious and grave, And alone with his friends, Lord, how merry was he!

Now in equipage stately, now humbly on foot, Both fortunes he tried, but to neither would trust; And whirled in the round as the wheel turned about, He found riches had wings, and knew man was but dust.

PRIOR’S _Poems_. [“For my own monument.”]

109 “They joined to produce a parody, entitled _The Town and Country Mouse_, part of which Mr. Bayes is supposed to gratify his old friends Smart and Johnson, by repeating to them. The piece is therefore founded upon the twice-told jest of the _Rehearsal_.... There is nothing new or original in the idea.... In this piece, Prior, though the younger man, seems to have had by far the largest share.”—SCOTT’S _Dryden_, vol. i, p. 330.

110 “He was to have been in the same commission with the Duke of Shrewsbury, but that that nobleman,” says Johnson, “refused to be associated with one so meanly born. Prior therefore continued to act without a title till the duke’s return next year to England, and then he assumed the style and dignity of ambassador.”

He had been thinking of slights of this sort when he wrote his Epitaph:—

Nobles and heralds by your leave, Here lies what once was Matthew Prior, The son of Adam and of Eve; Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher?

But, in this case, the old prejudice got the better of the old joke.

111 His epigrams have the genuine sparkle:

THE REMEDY WORSE THAN THE DISEASE.

I sent for Radcliff; was so ill, That other doctors gave me over: He felt my pulse, prescribed a pill, And I was likely to recover.

But when the wit began to wheeze, And wine had warmed the politician, Cured yesterday of my disease, I died last night of my physician.

——

Yes, every poet is a fool; By demonstration Ned can show it; Happy could Ned’s inverted rule Prove every fool to be a poet.

——

On his death-bed poor Lubin lies, His spouse is in despair; With frequent sobs and mutual sighs, They both express their care.

A different cause, says Parson Sly, The same effect may give; Poor Lubin fears that he shall die, His wife that he may live.

112 PRIOR TO SIR THOMAS HANMER.

“Aug. 4, 1709.

“DEAR SIR,

“Friendship may live, I grant you, without being fed and cherished by correspondence; but with that additional benefit I am of opinion it will look more cheerful and thrive better: for in this case, as in love, though a man is sure of his own constancy, yet his happiness depends a good deal upon the sentiments of another, and while you and Chloe are alive, ’tis not enough that I love you both, except I am sure you both love me again; and as one of her scrawls fortifies my mind more against affliction than all Epictetus, with Simplicius’s comments into the bargain, so your single letter gave me more real pleasure than all the works of Plato.... I must return my answer to your very kind question concerning my health. The Bath waters have done a good deal towards the recovery of it, and the great specific, _Cape Caballum_, will, I think, confirm it. Upon this head I must tell you that my mare Betty grows blind, and may one day, by breaking my neck, perfect my cure: if at Rixham fair any pretty nagg that is between thirteen and fourteen hands presented himself, and you would be pleased to purchase him for me, one of your servants might ride him to Euston, and I might receive him there. This, sir, is just as such a thing happens. If you hear, too, of a Welch widow, with a good jointure, that has her _goings_ and is not very skittish, pray, be pleased to cast your eye on her for me, too. You see, sir, the great trust I repose in your skill and honour, when I dare put two such commissions in your hand....”—_The Hanmer Correspondence_, p. 120.

FROM MR. PRIOR.

“Paris, 1st-12th May, 1714.

“MY DEAR LORD AND FRIEND,

“Matthew never had so great occasion to write a word to Henry as now: it is noised here that I am soon to return. The question that I wish I could answer to the many that ask, and to our friend Colbert de Torcy (to whom I made your compliments in the manner you commanded) is, What is done for me: and to what I am recalled? It may look like a bagatelle, what is to become of a philosopher like me? but it is not such: what is to become of a person who had the honour to be chosen, and sent hither as intrusted, in the midst of a war, with what the Queen designed should make the peace; returning with the Lord Bolingbroke, one of the greatest men in England, and one of the finest heads in Europe (as they say here, if true or not, _n’importe_); having been left by him in the greatest character (that of Her Majesty’s Plenipotentiary), exercising that power conjointly with the Duke of Shrewsbury, and solely after his departure; having here received more distinguished honour than any minister, except an Ambassador, ever did, and some which were never given to any, but who had that character; having had all the success that could be expected, having (God be thanked!) spared no pains, at a time when at home the peace is voted safe and honourable—at a time when the Earl of Oxford is Lord Treasurer and Lord Bolingbroke First Secretary of State? This unfortunate person, I say, neglected, forgot, unnamed to anything that may speak the Queen satisfied with his services, or his friends concerned as to his fortune.

“Mr. de Torcy put me quite out of countenance, the other day, by a pity that wounded me deeper than ever did the cruelty of the late Lord Godolphin. He said he would write to Robin and Harry about me. God forbid, my lord, that I should need any foreign intercession, or owe the least to any Frenchman living, besides the decency of behaviour and the returns of common civility: some say I am to go to Baden, others that I am to be added to the Commissioners for settling the commerce. In all cases I am ready, but in the meantime, _dic aliquid de tribus capellis_. Neither of these two are, I presume, honours or rewards, neither of them (let me say to my dear Lord Bolingbroke, and let him not be angry with me), are what Drift may aspire to, and what Mr. Whitworth, who was his fellow clerk, has or may possess. I am far from desiring to lessen the great merit of the gentleman I named, for I heartily esteem and love him; but in this trade of ours, my lord, in which you are the general, as in that of the soldiery, there is a certain right acquired by time and long service. You would do anything for your Queen’s service, but you would not be contented to descend, and be degraded to a charge, no way proportioned to that of Secretary of State, any more than Mr. Ross, though he would charge a party with a halbard in his hand, would be content all his life after to be Serjeant. Was my Lord Dartmouth, from Secretary, returned again to be Commissioner of Trade, or from Secretary of War, would Frank Gwyn think himself kindly used to be returned again to be Commissioner? In short, my lord, you have put me above myself, and if I am to return to myself, I shall return to something very discontented and uneasy. I am sure, my lord, you will make the best use you can of this hint for my good. If I am to have anything, it will certainly be for her Majesty’s service, and the credit of my friends in the Ministry, that it be done before I am recalled from home, lest the world may think either that I have merited to be disgraced, or that ye dare not stand by me. If nothing is to be done, _fiat voluntas Dei_. I have writ to Lord Treasurer upon this subject, and having implored your kind intercession, I promise you it is the last remonstrance of this kind that I will ever make. Adieu, my lord; all honour, health, and pleasure to you.

“Yours ever,

“MATT.”

“PS.—Lady Jersey is just gone from me. We drank your healths together in usquebaugh after our tea: we are the greatest friends alive. Once more adieu. There is no such thing as the _Book of Travels_ you mentioned; if there be, let friend Tilson send us more particular account of them, for neither I nor Jacob Tonson can find them. Pray send Barton back to me, I hope with some comfortable tidings.”—_Bolingbroke’s Letters._

113 “I asked whether Prior’s poems were to be printed entire; Johnson said they were. I mentioned Lord Hales’s censure of Prior in his preface to a collection of sacred poems, by various hands, published by him at Edinburgh a great many years ago, where he mentions ‘these impure tales, which will be the eternal opprobium of their ingenious author’. JOHNSON: ‘Sir, Lord Hales has forgot. There is nothing in Prior that will excite to lewdness. If Lord Hales thinks there is, he must be more combustible than other people.’ I instanced the tale of _Paulo Purganti and his Wife_. JOHNSON: ‘Sir, there is nothing there but that his wife wanted to be kissed, when poor Paulo was out of pocket. No, sir, Prior is a lady’s book. No lady is ashamed to have it standing in her library.’ ”—BOSWELL’S _Life of Johnson_.

114 Gay was of an old Devonshire family, but his pecuniary prospects not being great, was placed in his youth in the house of a silk-mercer in London. He was born in 1688—Pope’s year, and in 1712 the Duchess of Monmouth made him her secretary. Next year he published his _Rural Sports_, which he dedicated to Pope, and so made an acquaintance, which became a memorable friendship.

“Gay,” says Pope, “was quite a natural man,—wholly without art or design, and spoke just what he thought and as he thought it. He dangled for twenty years about a Court, and at last was offered to be made usher to the young princess. Secretary Craggs made Gay a present of stock in the South-Sea year; and he was once worth 20,000_l._, but lost it all again. He got about 500_l._ by the first _Beggar’s Opera_, and 1,100_l._ or 1,200_l._ by the second. He was negligent and a bad manager. Latterly, the Duke of Queensberry took his money into his keeping, and let him only have what was necessary out of it, and, as he lived with them, he could not have occasion for much. He died worth upwards of 3,000_l._”—POPE (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

115 “Mr. Gay is, in all regards, as honest and sincere a man as ever I knew.”—SWIFT, _to Lady Betty Germaine_, Jan. 1733.

116 Of manners gentle, of affections mild; In wit a man; simplicity, a child; With native humour temp’ring virtuous rage, Form’d to delight at once and lash the age; Above temptation in a low estate, And uncorrupted e’en among the great: A safe companion, and an easy friend, Unblamed through life, lamented in the end. These are thy honours; not that here thy bust Is mix’d with heroes, or with kings thy dust; But that the worthy and the good shall say, Striking their pensive bosoms, “_Here_ lies Gay.”

POPE’S _Epitaph on Gay_.

A hare who, in a civil way, Complied with everything, like Gay.

_Fables_, “The Hare and Many Friends.”

117 “I can give you no account of Gay,” says Pope, curiously, “since he was raffled for, and won back by his Duchess.”—_Works_, Roscoe’s ed., vol. ix, p. 392.

Here is the letter Pope wrote to him when the death of Queen Anne brought back Lord Clarendon from Hanover, and lost him the secretaryship of that nobleman, of which he had had but a short tenure.

Gay’s Court prospects were never happy from this time.—His dedication of the _Shepherd’s Week_ to Bolingbroke, Swift used to call the “original sin”, which had hurt him with the house of Hanover.

“Sept. 23, 1714.

“DEAR MR. GAY,

“Welcome to your native soil! welcome to your friends! thrice welcome to me! whether returned in glory, blest with Court interest, the love and familiarity of the great, and filled with agreeable hopes; or melancholy with dejection, contemplative of the changes of fortune, and doubtful for the future; whether returned a triumphant Whig or a depending Tory, equally all hail! equally beloved and welcome to me! If happy, I am to partake of your elevation; if unhappy, you have still a warm corner in my heart, and a retreat at Benfield in the worst of times at your service. If you are a Tory, or thought so by any man, I know it can proceed from nothing but your gratitude to a few people who endeavoured to serve you, and whose politics were never your concern. If you are a Whig, as I rather hope, and as I think your principles and mine (as brother poets) had ever a bias to the side of liberty, I know you will be an honest man and an inoffensive one. Upon the whole, I know you are incapable of being so much of either party as to be good for nothing. Therefore, once more, whatever you are or in whatever state you are, all hail!

“One or two of your own friends complained they had nothing from you since the Queen’s death; I told them no man living loved Mr. Gay better than I, yet I had not once written to him in all his voyage. This I thought a convincing proof, but truly one may be a friend to another without telling him so every month. But they had reasons, too, themselves to allege in your excuse, as men who really value one another will never want such as make their friends and themselves easy. The late universal concern in public affairs threw us all into a hurry of spirits: even I, who am more a philosopher than to expect anything from any reign, was borne away with the current, and full of the expectation of the successor. During your journeys, I knew not whither to aim a letter after you; that was a sort of shooting flying: add to this the demand Homer had upon me, to write fifty verses a day, besides learned notes, all of which are at a conclusion for this year. Rejoice with me, O my friend! that my labour is over; come and make merry with me in much feasting. We will feed among the lilies (by the lilies I mean the ladies). Are not the Rosalindas of Britain as charming as the Blousalindas of the Hague? or have the two great Pastoral poets of our own nation renounced love at the same time? for Philips, unnatural Philips, hath deserted it, yea, and in a rustic manner kicked his Rosalind. Dr. Parnell and I have been inseparable ever since you went. We are now at the Bath, where (if you are not, as I heartily hope, better engaged) your company would be the greatest pleasure to us in the world. Talk not of expenses: Homer shall support his children. I beg a line from you, directed to the Post-house in Bath. Poor Parnell is in an ill state of health.

“Pardon me if I add a word of advice in the poetical way. Write something on the King, or Prince, or Princess. On whatsoever foot you may be with the court, this can do no harm. I shall never know where to end, and am confounded in the many things I have to say to you, though they all amount but to this, that I am, entirely, as ever,

“Your,” &c.

Gay took the advice “in the poetical way”, and published _An Epistle to a Lady, occasioned by the arrival of her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales_. But, though this brought him access to Court, and the attendance of the Prince and Princess at his farce of the _What d’ye, call it?_ it did not bring him a place. On the accession of George II, he was offered the situation of Gentleman Usher to the Princess Louisa (her Highness being then two years old); but “by this offer”, says Johnson, “he thought himself insulted.”

118 Gay was a great eater.—As the French philosopher used to prove his existence by _cogito, ergo sum_, the greatest proof of Gay’s existence is, _edit, ergo est_—CONGREVE, _in a Letter to Pope_ (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

119 Swift indorsed the letter—“On my dear friend Mr. Gay’s death; received Dec. 15, but not read till the 20th, by an impulse foreboding some misfortune.”

“It was by Swift’s interest that Gay was made known to Lord Bolingbroke, and obtained his patronage.”—SCOTT’S _Swift_, vol. i, p. 156.

Pope wrote on the occasion of Gay’s death, to Swift, thus:—

“[Dec. 5, 1732.]

“One of the dearest and longest ties I have ever had is broken all on a sudden by the unfortunate death of poor Mr. Gay. An inflammatory fever carried him out of this life in three days.... He asked of you a few hours before when in acute torment by the inflammation in his bowels and breast.... His sisters, we suppose, will be his heirs, who are two widows.... Good God! how often are we to die before we go quite off this stage? In every friend we lose a part of ourselves, and the best part. God keep those we have left! few are worth praying for, and one’s self the least of all.”

120 “Gay, like Goldsmith, had a musical talent. ‘He could play on the flute,’ says Malone, ‘and was, therefore, enabled to adapt so happily some of the airs in the _Beggar’s Opera_.’ ”—_Notes to_ SPENCE.

121 ’Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring All on a rock reclined. Wide o’er the foaming billows She cast a wistful look; Her head was crown’d with willows That trembled o’er the brook.

Twelve months are gone and over, And nine long tedious days; Why didst thou, venturous lover— Why didst thou trust the seas? Cease, cease, thou cruel Ocean, And let my lover rest; Ah! what’s thy troubled motion To that within my breast?

The merchant robb’d of pleasure, Sees tempests in despair; But what’s the loss of treasure To losing of my dear? Should you some coast be laid on, Where gold and diamonds grow, You’d find a richer maiden, But none that loves you so.

How can they say that Nature Has nothing made in vain; Why, then, beneath the water Should hideous rocks remain? No eyes the rocks discover That lurk beneath the deep, To wreck the wandering lover, And leave the maid to weep?

All melancholy lying, Thus wail’d she for her dear; Repay’d each blast with sighing, Each billow with a tear; When o’er the white wave stooping, His floating corpse she spy’d; Then, like a lily drooping, She bow’d her head, and died.

_A Ballad_, from the “_What d’ye call it?_”

“What can be prettier than Gay’s ballad, or, rather, Swift’s, Arbuthnot’s, Pope’s, and Gay’s, in the _What d’ye call it?_ ‘’Twas when the seas were roaring’? I have been well informed, that they all contributed.”—Cowper to Unwin, 1783.

122 “Dr. Swift had been observing once to Mr. Gay, what an odd pretty sort of thing a Newgate Pastoral might make. Gay was inclined to try at such a thing for some time, but afterwards thought it would be better to write a comedy on the same plan. This was what gave rise to the _Beggar’s Opera_. He began on it, and when he first mentioned it to Swift, the Doctor did not much like the project. As he carried it on, he showed what he wrote to both of us; and we now and then gave a correction, or a word or two of advice; but it was wholly of his own writing. When it was done, neither of us thought it would succeed. We showed it to Congreve, who, after reading it over, said, ‘It would either take greatly, or be damned confoundedly.’ We were all at the first night of it, in great uncertainty of the event, till we were very much encouraged by overhearing the Duke of Argyle, who sat in the next box to us, say, ‘It will do—it must do!—I see it in the eyes of them!’ This was a good while before the first Act was over, and so gave us ease soon; for the Duke [besides his own good taste] has a more particular research than any one now living in discovering the taste of the public. He was quite right in this as usual; the good nature of the audience appeared stronger and stronger every act, and ended in a clamour of applause.”—POPE (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

123 “Waller, Spenser, and Dryden were Mr. Pope’s great favourites, in the order they are named, in his first reading, till he was about twelve years old.”—POPE (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

“Mr. Pope’s father (who was an honest merchant, and dealt in Hollands, wholesale) was no poet, but he used to set him to make English verses when very young. He was pretty difficult in being pleased; and used often to send him back to new turn them. ‘These are not good rhimes;’ for that was my husband’s word for verses.”—POPE’S MOTHER (_Spence_).

“I wrote things, I’m ashamed to say how soon. Part of an Epic Poem when about twelve. The scene of it lay at Rhodes, and some of the neighbouring islands; and the poem opened under water with a description of the Court of Neptune.”—POPE (ibid.).

“His perpetual application (after he set to study of himself) reduced him in four years’ time to so bad a state of health, that, after trying physicians for a good while in vain, he resolved to give way to his distemper; and sat down calmly in a full expectation of death in a short time. Under this thought, he wrote letters to take a last farewell of some of his more particular friends, and, among the rest, one to the Abbé Southcote. The Abbé was extremely concerned, both for his very ill state of health and the resolution he said he had taken. He thought there might yet be hope, and went immediately to Dr. Radcliffe, with whom he was well acquainted, told him Mr. Pope’s case, got full directions from him, and carried them down to Pope in Windsor Forest. The chief thing the Doctor ordered him was to apply less, and to ride every day. The following his advice soon restored him to his health.”—POPE (ibid.).

124 MR. POPE TO THE REV. MR. BROOME, PULHAM, NORFOLK.

“Aug. 29, 1730.

“DEAR SIR,—

“I intended to write to you on this melancholy subject, the death of Mr. Fenton, before yours came, but stayed to have informed myself and you of the circumstances of it. All I hear is, that he felt a gradual decay, though so early in life, and was declining for five or six months. It was not, as I apprehended, the gout in his stomach, but, I believe, rather a complication first of gross humours, as he was naturally corpulent, not discharging themselves, as he used no sort of exercise. No man better bore the approaches of his dissolution (as I am told), or with less ostentation yielded up his being. The great modesty which you know was natural to him, and the great contempt he had for all sorts of vanity and parade, never appeared more than in his last moments: he had a conscious satisfaction (no doubt) in acting right, in feeling himself honest, true, and unpretending to more than his own. So he died as he lived, with that secret, yet sufficient contentment.

“As to any papers left behind him, I dare say they can be but few; for this reason, he never wrote out of vanity, or thought much of the applause of men. I know an instance when he did his utmost to conceal his own merit that way; and if we join to this his natural love of ease, I fancy we must expect little of this sort: at least, I have heard of none, except some few further remarks on Waller (which his cautious integrity made him leave an order to be given to Mr. Tonson), and perhaps, though it is many years since I saw it, a translation of the first book of _Oppian_. He had begun a tragedy of _Dion_, but made small progress in it.

“As to his other affairs, he died poor but honest, leaving no debts or legacies, except of a few pounds to Mr. Trumbull and my lady, in token of respect, gratefulness, and mutual esteem.

“I shall, with pleasure, take upon me to draw this amiable, quiet, deserving, unpretending, Christian, unphilosophical character in his epitaph. There truth may be spoken in a few words; as for flourish, and oratory, and poetry, I leave them to younger and more lively writers, such as love writing for writing sake, and would rather show their own fine parts than report the valuable ones of any other man. So the elegy I renounce.

“I condole with you from my heart on the loss of so worthy a man, and a friend to us both....

“Adieu; let us love his memory, and profit by his example. Am very sincerely, dear sir,

“Your affectionate and real servant.”

TO THE EARL OF BURLINGTON.

“August, 1714.

“MY LORD,

“If your mare could speak she would give you an account of what extraordinary company she had on the road, which, since she cannot do, I will.”

“It was the enterprising Mr. Lintot, the redoubtable rival of Mr. Tonson, who, mounted on a stonehorse, overtook me in Windsor Forest. He said he heard I designed for Oxford, the seat of the Muses, and would, as my bookseller, by all means accompany me thither.

“I asked him where he got his horse? He answered he got it of his publisher; ‘for that rogue, my printer,’ said he, ‘disappointed me. I hoped to put him in good humour by a treat at the tavern of a brown fricassée of rabbits, which cost ten shillings, with two quarts of wine, besides my conversation. I thought myself cocksure of his horse, which he readily promised me, but said that Mr. Tonson had just such another design of going to Cambridge, expecting there the copy of a new kind of Horace from Dr. ——; and if Mr. Tonson went, he was pre-engaged to attend him, being to have the printing of the said copy. So, in short, I borrowed this stonehorse of my publisher, which he had of Mr. Oldmixon for a debt. He lent me, too, the pretty boy you see after me. He was a smutty dog yesterday, and cost me more than two hours to wash the ink off his face; but the devil is a fair-conditioned devil, and very forward in his catechism. If you have any more bags he shall carry them.’

“I thought Mr. Lintot’s civility not to be neglected, so gave the boy a small bag containing three shirts and an Elzevir Virgil, and, mounting in an instant, proceeded on the road, with my man before, my courteous stationer beside, and the aforesaid devil behind.

“Mr. Lintot began in this manner: ‘Now, damn them! What if they should put it into the newspaper how you and I went together to Oxford? What would I care? If I should go down into Sussex they would say I was gone to the Speaker; but what of that? If my son were but big enough to go on with the business, by G-d, I would keep as good company as old Jacob.’

“Hereupon, I inquired of his son. ‘The lad,’ says he, ‘has fine parts, but is somewhat sickly, much as you are. I spare for nothing in his education at Westminster. Pray, don’t you think Westminster to be the best school in England? Most of the late Ministry came out of it; so did many of this Ministry. I hope the boy will make his fortune.’

“ ‘Don’t you design to let him pass a year at Oxford?’ ‘To what purpose?’ said he. ‘The Universities do but make pedants, and I intend to breed him a man of business.’

“As Mr. Lintot was talking I observed he sat uneasy on his saddle, for which I expressed some solicitude. ‘Nothing,’ says he. ‘I can bear it well enough; but, since we have the day before us, methinks it would be very pleasant for you to rest awhile under the woods.’ When we were alighted, ‘See, here, what a mighty pretty Horace I have in my pocket! What, if you amused yourself in turning an ode till we mount again? Lord! if you pleased. What a clever miscellany might you make at leisure hours!’ ‘Perhaps I may,’ said I, ‘if we ride on; the motion is an aid to my fancy; a round trot very much awakens my spirits; then jog on apace, and I’ll think as hard as I can.’

“Silence ensued for a full hour; after which Mr. Lintot lugged the reins, stopped short, and broke out, ‘Well, sir, how far have you gone?’ I answered, seven miles. ‘Z—ds, sir,’ said Lintot, ‘I thought you had done seven stanzas. Oldisworth, in a ramble round Wimbledon Hill, would translate a whole ode in half this time. I’ll say that for Oldisworth [though I lost by his Timothy’s] he translates an ode of Horace the quickest of any man in England. I remember Dr. King would write verses in a tavern, three hours after he could not speak: and there is Sir Richard, in that rumbling old chariot of his, between Fleet Ditch and St. Giles’s pound shall make you half a Job.’

“ ‘Pray, Mr. Lintot,’ said I, ‘now you talk of translators, what is your method of managing them?’ ‘Sir,’ replied he, ‘these are the saddest pack of rogues in the world: in a hungry fit, they’ll swear they understand all the languages in the universe. I have known one of them take down a Greek book upon my counter, and cry, “Ah, this is Hebrew,” and must read it from the latter end. By G-d, I can never be sure in these fellows, for I neither understand Greek, Latin, French, nor Italian myself. But this is my way; I agree with them for ten shillings per sheet, with a proviso that I will have their doings corrected with whom I please; so by one or the other they are led at last to the true sense of an author; my judgement giving the negative to all my translators.’ ‘Then how are you sure these correctors may not impose upon you?’ ‘Why, I get any civil gentleman (especially any Scotchman) that comes into my shop, to read the original to me in English; by this I know whether my first translator be deficient, and whether my corrector merits his money or not.

“ ‘I’ll tell you what happened to me last month. I bargained with S—— for a new version of _Lucretius_, to publish against Tonson’s, agreeing to pay the author so many shillings at his producing so many lines. He made a great progress in a very short time, and I gave it to the corrector to compare with the Latin; but he went directly to Creech’s translation, and found it the same, word for word, all but the first page. Now, what d’ye think I did? I arrested the translator for a cheat; nay, and I stopped the corrector’s pay, too, upon the proof that he had made use of Creech instead of the original.’

“ ‘Pray tell me next how you deal with the critics?’ ‘Sir,’ said he, ‘nothing more easy. I can silence the most formidable of them; the rich ones for a sheet a-piece of the blotted manuscript, which cost me nothing; they’ll go about with it to their acquaintance, and pretend they had it from the author, who submitted it to their correction: this has given some of them such an air, that in time they come to be consulted with and dedicated to as the tip-top critics of the town.—As for the poor critics, I’ll give you one instance of my management, by which you may guess the rest: a lean man, that looked like a very good scholar, came to me, t’other day; he turned over your Homer, shook his head, shrugged up his shoulders, and pish’d at every line of it. “One would wonder,” says he, “at the strange presumption of some men; Homer is no such easy task as every stripling, every versifier—” He was going on, when my wife called to dinner; “Sir,” said I, “will you please to eat a piece of beef with me?” “Mr. Lintot,” said he, “I am very sorry you should be at the expense of this great book, I am really concerned on your account.” “Sir, I am much obliged to you: if you can dine upon a piece of beef together with a slice of pudding—?” “Mr. Lintot, I do not say but Mr. Pope, if he would condescend to advise with men of learning—” “Sir, the pudding is upon the table, if you please to go in.” My critic complies; he comes to a taste of your poetry, and tells me in the same breath, that the book is commendable, and the pudding excellent.’

“ ‘Now, sir,’ continued Mr. Lintot, ‘in return for the frankness I have shown, pray tell me, is it the opinion of your friends at Court that my Lord Lansdowne will be brought to the bar or not?’ I told him I heard he would not, and I hoped it, my lord being one I had particular obligations to.—‘That may be,’ replied Mr. Lintot; ‘but by G— if he is not, I shall lose the printing of a very good trial.’

“These, my lord, are a few traits with which you discern the genius of Mr. Lintot, which I have chosen for the subject of a letter. I dropped him as soon as I got to Oxford, and paid a visit to my Lord Carleton, at Middleton....

“I am,” &c.

DR. SWIFT TO MR. POPE.

“Sept. 29, 1725.

“I am now returning to the noble scene of Dublin—into the _grand monde_—for fear of burying my parts; to signalize myself among curates and vicars, and correct all corruptions crept in relating to the weight of bread-and-butter through those dominions where I govern. I have employed my time (besides ditching) in finishing, correcting, amending, and transcribing my _Travels_ [_Gulliver’s_], in four parts complete, newly augmented, and intended for the press when the world shall deserve them, or rather, when a printer shall be found brave enough to venture his ears. I like the scheme of our meeting after distresses and dissensions; but the chief end I propose to myself in all my labours is to vex the world rather than divert it; and if I could compass that design without hurting my own person and fortune, I would be the most indefatigable writer you have ever seen, without reading. I am exceedingly pleased that you have done with translations; Lord Treasurer Oxford often lamented that a rascally world should lay you under a necessity of misemploying your genius for so long a time; but since you will now be so much better employed, when you think of the world, give it one lash the more at my request. I have ever hated all societies, professions, and communities; and all my love is towards individuals—for instance, I hate the tribe of lawyers, but I love Councillor Such-a-one and Judge Such-a-one: it is so with physicians (I will not speak of my own trade), soldiers, English, Scotch, French, and the rest. But principally I hate and detest that animal called man—although I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas, and so on.

“... I have got materials towards a treatise proving the falsity of that definition _animal rationale_, and to show it should be only _rationis capax_.... The matter is so clear that it will admit of no dispute—nay, I will hold a hundred pounds that you and I agree in the point....

“Dr. Lewis sent me an account of Dr. Arbuthnot’s illness, which is a very sensible affliction to me, who, by living so long out of the world, have lost that hardness of heart contracted by years and general conversation. I am daily losing friends, and neither seeking nor getting others. Oh, if the world had but a dozen of Arbuthnots in it, I would burn my _Travels_!”

MR. POPE TO DR. SWIFT.

“October 15, 1725.

“I am wonderfully pleased with the suddenness of your kind answer. It makes me hope you are coming towards us, and that you incline more and more to your old friends.... Here is one [Lord Bolingbroke] who was once a powerful planet, but has now (after long experience of all that comes of shining) learned to be content with returning to his first point without the thought or ambition of shining at all. Here is another [Edward, Earl of Oxford], who thinks one of the greatest glories of his father was to have distinguished and loved you, and who loves you hereditarily. Here is Arbuthnot, recovered from the jaws of death, and more pleased with the hope of seeing you again than of reviewing a world, every part of which he has long despised but what is made up of a few men like yourself....

“Our friend Gay is used as the friends of Tories are by Whigs—and generally by Tories too. Because he had humour, he was supposed to have dealt with Dr. Swift, in like manner as when any one had learning formerly, he was thought to have dealt with the devil....

“Lord Bolingbroke had not the least harm by his fall; I wish he had received no more by his other fall. But Lord Bolingbroke is the most improved mind since you saw him, that ever was improved without shifting into a new body, or being _paullo minus ab angelis_. I have often imagined to myself, that if ever all of us meet again, after so many varieties and changes, after so much of the old world and of the old man in each of us has been altered, that scarce a single thought of the one, any more than a single action of the other, remains just the same; I have fancied, I say, that we should meet like the righteous in the millennium, quite at peace, divested of all our former passions, smiling at our past follies, and content to enjoy the kingdom of the just in tranquillity.

——

“I designed to have left the following page for Dr. Arbuthnot to fill, but he is so touched with the period in yours to me, concerning him, that he intends to answer it by a whole letter.”

125 Of the Earl of Peterborough, Walpole says:—“He was one of those men of careless wit, and negligent grace, who scatter a thousand _bons mots_ and idle verses, which we painful compilers gather and hoard, till the authors stare to find themselves authors. Such was this lord, of an advantageous figure, and enterprising spirit; as gallant as Amadis and as brave; but a little more expeditious in his journeys; for he is said to have seen more kings and more postilions than any man in Europe.... He was a man, as his friend said, who would neither live nor die like any other mortal.”

FROM THE EARL OF PETERBOROUGH TO POPE.

“You must receive my letter with a just impartiality, and give grains of allowance for a gloomy or rainy day; I sink grievously with the weather-glass, and am quite spiritless when oppressed with the thoughts of a birthday or a return.

“Dutiful affection was bringing me to town, but undutiful laziness, and being much out of order keep me in the country: however, if alive, I must make my appearance at the birthday....

“You seem to think it vexatious that I shall allow you but one woman at a time either to praise or love. If I dispute with you on this point, I doubt, every jury will give a verdict against me. So, sir, with a Mahometan indulgence, I allow you pluralities, the favourite privileges of our Church.

“I find you don’t mend upon correction; again I tell you you must not think of women in a reasonable way; you know we always make goddesses of those we adore upon earth; and do not all the good men tell us we must lay aside reason in what relates to the Deity?

“... I should have been glad of anything of Swift’s. Pray when you write to him next, tell him I expect him with impatience, in a place as odd and as out of the way as himself.

“Yours.”

Peterborough married Mrs. Anastasia Robinson, the celebrated singer.

126 “Button had been a servant in the Countess of Warwick’s family, who, under the patronage of Addison, kept a coffee-house on the south side of Russell Street, about two doors from Covent Garden. Here it was that the wits of that time used to assemble. It is said that when Addison had suffered any vexation from the Countess, he withdrew the company from Button’s house.

“From the coffee-house he went again to a tavern, where he often sat late and drank too much wine.”—DR. JOHNSON.

Will’s coffee-house was on the west side of Bow Street, and “corner of Russell Street”. See _Handbook of London_.

127 “My acquaintance with Mr. Addison commenced in 1712: I liked him then as well as I liked any man, and was very fond of his conversation. It was very soon after that Mr. Addison advised me ‘not to be content with the applause of half the nation’. He used to talk much and often to me, of moderation in parties: and used to blame his dear friend Steele for being too much of a party man. He encouraged me in my design of translating the _Iliad_, which was begun that year, and finished in 1718.”—POPE (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

128 “Addison, who was no stranger to the world, probably saw the selfishness of Pope’s friendship; and, resolving that he should have the consequences of his officiousness to himself, informed Dennis by Steele that he was sorry for the insult.”—JOHNSON (_Life of Addison_).

129 “While I was heated with what I had heard, I wrote a letter to Mr. Addison, to let him know ‘that I was not unacquainted with this behaviour of his; that if I was to speak of him severely in return for it, it should not be in such a dirty way; that I should rather tell him himself fairly of his faults, and allow his good qualities; and that it should be something in the following manner.’ I then subjoined the first sketch of what has since been called my satire on Addison. He used me very civilly ever after; and never did me any injustice, that I know of, from that time to his death, which was about three years after.”—POPE (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

130 “That Tickell should have been guilty of a villany seems to us highly improbable; that Addison should have been guilty of a villany seems to us highly improbable; but that these two men should have conspired together to commit a villany, seems, to us, improbable in a tenfold degree.”—MACAULAY.

131 LORD BOLINGBROKE TO THE THREE YAHOOS OF TWICKENHAM.

“July 23, 1726.

“JONATHAN, ALEXANDER, JOHN, MOST EXCELLENT TRIUMVIRS OF PARNASSUS,—

“Though you are probably very indifferent where I am, or what I am doing, yet I resolve to believe the contrary. I persuade myself that you have sent at least fifteen times within this fortnight to Dawley farm, and that you are extremely mortified at my long silence. To relieve you, therefore, from this great anxiety of mind, I can do no less than write a few lines to you; and I please myself beforehand with the vast pleasure which this epistle must needs give you. That I may add to this pleasure, and give further proofs of my beneficent temper, I will likewise inform you, that I shall be in your neighbourhood again, by the end of next week: by which time I hope that Jonathan’s imagination of business will be succeeded by some imagination more becoming a professor of that divine science, _la bagatelle_. Adieu. Jonathan, Alexander, John, mirth be with you!”

132 Prior must be excepted from this observation. “He was lank and lean.”

133 Swift exerted himself very much in promoting the _Iliad_ subscription; and also introduced Pope to Harley and Bolingbroke.—Pope realized by the _Iliad_ upwards of 5,000_l._, which he laid out partly in annuities, and partly in the purchase of his famous villa. Johnson remarks that “it would be hard to find a man so well entitled to notice by his wit, that ever delighted so much in talking of his money”.

134 Garth, whom Dryden calls “generous as his Muse”, was a Yorkshireman. He graduated at Cambridge, and was made M.D. in 1691. He soon distinguished himself in his profession, by his poem of the _Dispensary_, and in society, and pronounced Dryden’s funeral oration. He was a strict Whig, a notable member of the Kit-Kat and a friendly, convivial, able man. He was knighted by George I, with the Duke of Marlborough’s sword. He died in 1718.

135 “Arbuthnot was the son of an episcopal clergyman in Scotland, and belonged to an ancient and distinguished Scotch family. He was educated at Aberdeen; and, coming up to London—according to a Scotch practice often enough alluded to—to make his fortune—first made himself known by ‘an examination of Dr. Woodward’s account of the Deluge’. He became physician, successively to Prince George of Denmark and to Queen Anne. He is usually allowed to have been the most learned, as well as one of the most witty and humorous members of the Scriblerus Club. The opinion entertained of him by the humourists of the day is abundantly evidenced in their correspondence. When he found himself in his last illness, he wrote thus, from his retreat at Hampstead, to Swift:

“Hampstead, Oct. 4, 1734.

“MY DEAR AND WORTHY FRIEND,—

“You have no reason to put me among the rest of your forgetful friends, for I wrote two long letters to you, to which I never received one word of answer. The first was about your health; the last I sent a great while ago, by one De la Mar. I can assure you with great truth that none of your friends or acquaintance has a more warm heart towards you than myself. I am going out of this troublesome world, and you, among the rest of my friends, shall have my last prayers and good wishes.

“... I came out to this place so reduced by a dropsy and an asthma, that I could neither sleep, breathe, eat, nor move. I most earnestly desired and begged of God that he would take me. Contrary to my expectation, upon venturing to ride (which I had forborne for some years), I recovered my strength to a pretty considerable degree, slept, and had my stomach again.... What I did, I can assure you was not for life, but ease; for I am at present in the case of a man that was almost in harbour, and then blown back to sea—who has a reasonable hope of going to a good place, and an absolute certainty of leaving a very bad one. Not that I have any particular disgust at the world; for I have as great comfort in my own family and from the kindness of my friends as any man; but the world, in the main, displeases me, and I have too true a presentiment of calamities that are to befall my country. However, if I should have the happiness to see you before I die, you will find that I enjoy the comforts of life with my usual cheerfulness. I cannot imagine why you are frightened from a journey to England: the reasons you assign are not sufficient—the journey I am sure would do you good. In general, I recommend riding, of which I have always had a good opinion, and can now confirm it from my own experience.

“My family give you their love and service. The great loss I sustained in one of them gave me my first shock, and the trouble I have with the rest to bring them to a right temper to bear the loss of a father who loves them, and whom they love, is really a most sensible affliction to me. I am afraid, my dear friend, we shall never see one another more in this world. I shall, to the last moment, preserve my love and esteem for you, being well assured you will never leave the paths of virtue and honour; for all that is in this world is not worth the least deviation from the way. It will be great pleasure to me to hear from you sometimes; for none are with more sincerity than I am, my dear friend, your most faithful friend and humble servant.”

“Arbuthnot,” Johnson says, “was a man of great comprehension, skilful in his profession, versed in the sciences, acquainted with ancient literature, and able to animate his mass of knowledge by a bright and active imagination; a scholar with great brilliance of wit; a wit who in the crowd of life, retained and discovered a noble ardour of religious zeal.”

Dugald Stewart has testified to Arbuthnot’s ability in a department of which he was particularly qualified to judge: “Let me add, that, in the list of philosophical reformers, the authors of _Martinus Scriblerus_ ought not to be overlooked. Their happy ridicule of the scholastic logic and metaphysics is universally known; but few are aware of the acuteness and sagacity displayed in their allusions to some of the most vulnerable passages in Locke’s Essay. In this part of the work it is commonly understood that Arbuthnot had the principal share.”—See Preliminary Dissertation to _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, note to p. 242, and also note B. B. B., p. 285.

136 TO MR. RICHARDSON.

“Twickenham, June 10, 1733.

“As I know you and I mutually desire to see one another, I hope that this day our wishes would have met, and brought you hither. And this for the very reason, which possibly might hinder you coming, that my poor mother is dead. I thank God, her death was as easy as her life was innocent; and as it cost her not a groan, or even a sigh, there is yet upon her countenance such an expression of tranquillity, nay, almost of pleasure, that it is even amiable to behold it. It would afford the finest image of a saint expired that ever painter drew; and it would be the greatest obligation which even that obliging art could ever bestow on a friend, if you could come and sketch it for me. I am sure, if there be no very precedent obstacle, you will leave any common business to do this; and I hope to see you this evening, or to-morrow morning as early, before this winter flower is faded. I will defer her interment till to-morrow night. I know you love me, or I could not have written this—I could not (at this time) have written at all. Adieu! May you die as happy!

“Yours,” &c.

137 “Mr. Pope was with Sir Godfrey Kneller one day, when his nephew, a Guinea trader, came in. ‘Nephew,’ said Sir Godfrey, ‘you have the honour of seeing the two greatest men in the world.’—‘I don’t know how great you may be,’ said the Guinea man, ‘but I don’t like your looks: I have often bought a man, much better than both of you together, all muscles and bones, for ten guineas.’ ”—DR. WARBURTON (_Spence’s Anecdotes_).

138 Swift’s mention of him as one

—— whose filial piety excels, Whatever Grecian story tells,

is well known. And a sneer of Walpole’s may be put to a better use than he ever intended it for, à propos of this subject.—He charitably sneers, in one of his letters, at Spence’s “fondling an old mother—in imitation of Pope!”

139 Joseph Spence was the son of a clergyman, near Winchester. He was a short time at Eton, and afterwards became a Fellow of New College, Oxford, a clergyman, and professor of poetry. He was a friend of Thomson’s, whose reputation he aided. He published an _Essay on the Odyssey_ in 1726, which introduced him to Pope. Everybody liked him. His _Anecdotes_ were placed, while still in MS., at the service of Johnson and also of Malone. They were published by Mr. Singer in 1820.

140 He speaks of Arbuthnot’s having helped him through “that long disease, my life”. But not only was he so feeble as is implied in his use of the “buckram”, but “it now appears”, says Mr. Peter Cunningham, “from his unpublished letters, that, like Lord Hervey, he had recourse to ass’s-milk for the preservation of his health.” It is to his lordship’s use of that simple beverage that he alludes when he says—

Let Sporus tremble!—A. What, that thing of silk, Sporus, that mere white-curd of ass’s-milk?

141 “He (Johnson) repeated to us, in his forcible melodious manner, the concluding lines of the _Dunciad_.”—BOSWELL.

142 “Mr. Langton informed me that he once related to Johnson (on the authority of Spence), that Pope himself admired these lines so much that when he repeated them his voice faltered. ‘And well it might, sir,’ said Johnson, ‘for they are noble lines.’ ”

J. BOSWELL, junior.

143 Coleridge speaks of the “beautiful female faces” in Hogarth’s pictures, “in whom,” he says, “the satirist never extinguished that love of beauty which belonged to him as a poet.”—_The Friend._

144 “I was pleased with the reply of a gentleman, who, being asked which book he esteemed most in his library, answered, ‘Shakespeare’: being asked which he esteemed next best, replied ‘Hogarth’. His graphic representations are indeed books: they have the teeming, fruitful, suggestive meaning of _words_. Other pictures we look at—his prints we read....

“The quantity of thought which Hogarth crowds into every picture would almost unvulgarize every subject which he might choose....

“I say not that all the ridiculous subjects of Hogarth have necessarily something in them to make us like them; some are indifferent to us, some in their nature repulsive, and only made interesting by the wonderful skill and truth to nature in the painter; but I contend that there is in most of them that sprinkling of the better nature, which, like holy water, chases away and disperses the contagion of the bad. They have this in them, besides, that they bring us acquainted with the every-day human face,—they give us skill to detect those gradations of sense and virtue (which escape the careless or fastidious observer) in the circumstances of the world about us; and prevent that disgust at common life, that _taedium quotidianarum formarum_, which an unrestricted passion for ideal forms and beauties is in danger of producing. In this, as in many other things, they are analogous to the best novels of Smollett and Fielding.”—CHARLES LAMB.

“It has been observed that Hogarth’s pictures are exceedingly unlike any other representations of the same kind of subjects—that they form a class, and have a character, peculiar to themselves. It may be worth while to consider in what this general distinction consists.

“In the first place, they are, in the strictest sense, _historical_ pictures; and if what Fielding says be true, that his novel of _Tom Jones_ ought to be regarded as an epic prose-poem, because it contained a regular development of fable, manners, character, and passion, the compositions of Hogarth, will, in like manner, be found to have a higher claim to the title of epic pictures than many which have of late arrogated that denomination to themselves. When we say that Hogarth treated his subjects historically, we mean that his works represent the manners and humours of mankind in action, and their characters by varied expression. Everything in his pictures has life and motion in it. Not only does the business of the scene never stand still, but every feature and muscle is put into full play; the exact feeling of the moment is brought out, and carried to its utmost height, and then instantly seized and stamped on the canvas for ever. The expression is always taken _en passant_, in a state of progress or change, and, as it were, at the salient point.... His figures are not like the background on which they are painted: even the pictures on the wall have a peculiar look of their own. Again, with the rapidity, variety, and scope of history, Hogarth’s heads have all the reality and correctness of portraits. He gives the extremes of character and expression, but he gives them with perfect truth and accuracy. This is, in fact, what distinguishes his compositions from all others of the same kind, that they are equally remote from caricature, and from mere still life.... His faces go to the very verge of caricature, and yet never (we believe in any single instance) go beyond it.”—HAZLITT.

145 He made this excursion in 1732, his companions being John Thornhill (son of Sir James), Scott the landscape-painter, Tothall, and Forrest.

146 “Dr. Johnson made four lines once, on the death of poor Hogarth, which were equally true and pleasing: I know not why Garrick’s were preferred to them:—

The hand of him here torpid lies, That drew th’ essential forms of grace; Here, closed in death, th’ attentive eyes, That saw the manners in the face.

“Mr. Hogarth, among the variety of kindnesses shown to me when I was too young to have a proper sense of them, was used to be very earnest that I should obtain the acquaintance, and if possible the friendship, of Dr. Johnson; whose conversation was, to the talk of other men, like Titian’s painting compared to Hudson’s, he said: ‘but don’t you tell people now that I say so’ (continued he) ‘for the connoisseurs and I are at war, you know; and because I hate _them_, they think I hate _Titian_—and let them!’ ... Of Dr. Johnson, when my father and he were talking about him one day, ‘That man’ (says Hogarth) ‘is not contented with believing the Bible; but he fairly resolves, I think, to believe nothing _but_ the Bible. Johnson’ (added he), ‘though so wise a fellow, is more like King David than King Solomon, for he says in his haste, _All men are liars_.’ ”—MRS. PIOZZI.

Hogarth died on the 26th of October, 1764. The day before his death, he was removed from his villa at Chiswick to Leicester Fields, “in a very weak condition, yet remarkably cheerful.” He had just received an agreeable letter from Franklin. He lies buried at Chiswick.

147 TO SIR WATKIN PHILLIPS, BART., OF JESUS COLLEGE, OXON.

“DEAR PHILLIPS,—In my last, I mentioned my having spent an evening with a society of authors, who seemed to be jealous and afraid of one another. My uncle was not at all surprised to hear me say I was disappointed in their conversation. ‘A man may be very entertaining and instructive upon paper,’ said he, ‘and exceedingly dull in common discourse. I have observed, that those who shine most in private company are but secondary stars in the constellation of genius. A small stock of ideas is more easily managed, and sooner displayed, than a great quantity crowded together. There is very seldom anything extraordinary in the appearance and address of a good writer; whereas a dull author generally distinguishes himself by some oddity or extravagance. For this reason I fancy that an assembly of grubs must be very diverting.’

“My curiosity being excited by this hint, I consulted my friend Dick Ivy, who undertook to gratify it the very next day, which was Sunday last. He carried me to dine with S——, whom you and I have long known by his writings. He lives in the skirts of the town; and every Sunday his house is open to all unfortunate brothers of the quill, whom he treats with beef, pudding, and potatoes, port, punch, and Calvert’s entire butt beer. He has fixed upon the first day of the week for the exercise of his hospitality, because some of his guests could not enjoy it on any other, for reasons that I need not explain. I was civilly received in a plain, yet decent habitation, which opened backwards into a very pleasant garden, kept in excellent order; and, indeed, I saw none of the outward signs of authorship either in the house or the landlord, who is one of those few writers of the age that stand upon their own foundation, without patronage, and above dependence. If there was nothing characteristic in the entertainer, the company made ample amends for his want of singularity.

“At two in the afternoon, I found myself one of ten messmates seated at table; and I question if the whole kingdom could produce such another assemblage of originals. Among their peculiarities, I do not mention those of dress, which may be purely accidental. What struck me were oddities originally produced by affectation, and afterwards confirmed by habit. One of them wore spectacles at dinner, and another his hat flapped; though (as Ivy told me) the first was noted for having a seaman’s eye, when a bailiff was in the wind; and the other was never known to labour under any weakness or defect of vision, except about five years ago, when he was complimented with a couple of black eyes by a player, with whom he had quarrelled in his drink. A third wore a laced stocking, and made use of crutches, because, once in his life, he had been laid up with a broken leg, though no man could leap over a stick with more agility. A fourth had contracted such an antipathy to the country, that he insisted upon sitting with his back towards the window that looked into the garden; and when a dish of cauliflower was set upon the table, he snuffed up volatile salts to keep him from fainting; yet this delicate person was the son of a cottager, born under a hedge, and had many years run wild among asses on a common. A fifth affected distraction: when spoke to, he always answered from the purpose. Sometimes he suddenly started up, and rapped out a dreadful oath; sometimes he burst out a-laughing; then he folded his arms, and sighed; and then he hissed like fifty serpents.

“At first, I really thought he was mad; and, as he sat near me, began to be under some apprehensions for my own safety; when our landlord, perceiving me alarmed, assured me aloud that I had nothing to fear. ‘The gentleman,’ said he, ‘is trying to act a part for which he is by no means qualified: if he had all the inclination in the world, it is not in his power to be mad; his spirits are too flat to be kindled into phrenzy.’ ‘’Tis no bad p-p-puff, how-owever,’ observed a person in a tarnished laced coat: ‘aff-ffected m-madness w-will p-pass for w-wit w-with nine-nineteen out of t-twenty.’ ‘And affected stuttering for humour,’ replied our landlord; ‘though, God knows! there is no affinity betwixt them.’ It seems this wag, after having made some abortive attempts in plain speaking, had recourse to this defect, by means of which he frequently extorted the laugh of the company, without the least expense of genius; and that imperfection, which he had at first counterfeited, was now become so habitual, that he could not lay it aside.

“A certain winking genius, who wore yellow gloves at dinner, had, on his first introduction, taken such offence at S——, because he looked and talked, and ate and drank, like any other man, that he spoke contemptuously of his understanding ever after, and never would repeat his visit, until he had exhibited the following proof of his caprice. Wat Wyvil, the poet, having made some unsuccessful advances towards an intimacy with S——, at last gave him to understand, by a third person, that he had written a poem in his praise, and a satire against his person: that if he would admit him to his house, the first should be immediately sent to press; but that if he persisted in declining his friendship, he would publish the satire without delay. S—— replied, that he looked upon Wyvil’s panegyric as, in effect, a species of infamy, and would resent it accordingly with a good cudgel; but if he published the satire, he might deserve his compassion, and had nothing to fear from his revenge. Wyvil having considered the alternative, resolved to mortify S—— by printing the panegyric, for which he received a sound drubbing. Then he swore the peace against the aggressor, who, in order to avoid a prosecution at law, admitted him to his good graces. It was the singularity in S——’s conduct on this occasion, that reconciled him to the yellow-gloved philosopher, who owned he had some genius; and from that period cultivated his acquaintance.

“Curious to know upon what subjects the several talents of my fellow guests were employed, I applied to my communicative friend Dick Ivy, who gave me to understand that most of them were, or had been, understrappers, or journeymen, to more creditable authors, for whom they translated, collated, and compiled, in the business of bookmaking; and that all of them had, at different times, laboured in the service of our landlord, though they had now set up for themselves in various departments of literature. Not only their talents, but also their nations and dialects, were so various, that our conversation resembled the confusion of tongues at Babel. We had the Irish brogue, the Scotch accent, and foreign idiom, twanged off by the most discordant vociferation; for as they all spoke together, no man had any chance to be heard, unless he could bawl louder than his fellows. It must be owned, however, there was nothing pedantic in their discourse; they carefully avoided all learned disquisitions, and endeavoured to be facetious; nor did their endeavours always miscarry; some droll repartee passed, and much laughter was excited; and if any individual lost his temper so far as to transgress the bounds of decorum, he was effectually checked by the master of the feast, who exerted a sort of paternal authority over this irritable tribe.

“The most learned philosopher of the whole collection, who had been expelled the university for atheism, has made great progress in a refutation of Lord Bolingbroke’s metaphysical works, which is said to be equally ingenious and orthodox: but in the meantime, he has been presented to the grand jury as a public nuisance for having blasphemed in an alehouse on the Lord’s Day. The Scotchman gives lectures on the pronunciation of the English language, which he is now publishing by subscription.

“The Irishman is a political writer, and goes by the name of My Lord Potatoe. He wrote a pamphlet in vindication of a minister, hoping his zeal would be rewarded with some place or pension; but finding himself neglected in that quarter, he whispered about that the pamphlet was written by the minister himself, and he published an answer to his own production. In this he addressed the author under the title of ‘your lordship’, with such solemnity, that the public swallowed the deceit, and bought up the whole impression. The wise politicians of the metropolis declared they were both masterly performances, and chuckled over the flimsy reveries of an ignorant garreteer, as the profound speculations of a veteran statesman, acquainted with all the secrets of the cabinet. The imposture was detected in the sequel, and our Hibernian pamphleteer retains no part of his assumed importance but the bare title of ‘my lord’, and the upper part of the table at the potatoe-ordinary in Shoe Lane.

“Opposite to me sat a Piedmontese, who had obliged the public with a humorous satire, entitled _The Balance of the English Poets_; a performance which evinced the great modesty and taste of the author, and, in particular, his intimacy with the elegances of the English language. The sage, who laboured under the ἀγροφοβία, or ‘horror of green fields’, had just finished a treatise on practical agriculture, though, in fact, he had never seen corn growing in his life, and was so ignorant of grain, that our entertainer, in the face of the whole company, made him own that a plate of hominy was the best rice-pudding he had ever eat.

“The stutterer had almost finished his travels through Europe and part of Asia, without ever budging beyond the liberties of the King’s Bench, except in term-time, with a tipstaff for his companion: and as for little Tim Cropdale, the most facetious member of the whole society, he had happily wound up the catastrophe of a virgin tragedy, from the exhibition of which no promised himself a large fund of profit and reputation. Tim had made shift to live many years by writing novels, at the rate of five pounds a volume; but that branch of business is now engrossed by female authors, who publish merely for the propagation of virtue, with so much ease, and spirit, and delicacy, and knowledge of the human heart, and all in the serene tranquillity of high life, that the reader is not only enchanted by their genius, but reformed by their morality.

“After dinner, we adjourned into the garden, where I observed Mr. S—— give a short separate audience to every individual in a small remote filbert-walk, from whence most of them dropped off one after another, without further ceremony.”

Smollett’s house was in Lawrence Lane, Chelsea, and is now destroyed. See _Handbook of London_, p. 115.

“The person of Smollett was eminently handsome, his features prepossessing, and, by the joint testimony of all his surviving friends, his conversation, in the highest degree, instructive and amusing. Of his disposition, those who have read his works (and who has not?) may form a very accurate estimate; for in each of them he has presented, and sometimes, under various points of view, the leading features of his own character without disguising the most unfavourable of them.... When unseduced by his satirical propensities, he was kind, generous, and humane to others; bold, upright, and independent in his own character; stooped to no patron, sued for no favour, but honestly and honourably maintained himself on his literary labours.... He was a doating father, and an affectionate husband; and the warm zeal with which his memory was cherished by his surviving friends, showed clearly the reliance which they placed upon his regard.”—SIR WALTER SCOTT.

148 Smollett of Bonhill, in Dumbartonshire. _Arms_, az. “a bend, or, between a lion rampant, ppr., holding in his paw a banner, arg. and a bugle-horn, also ppr. _Crest_, an oak-tree, ppr. _Motto, Viresco._”

Smollett’s father, Archibald, was the fourth son of Sir James Smollett of Bonhill, a Scotch judge and Member of Parliament, and one of the commissioners for framing the Union with England. Archibald married, without the old gentleman’s consent, and died early, leaving his children dependent on their grandfather. Tobias, the second son, was born in 1721, in the old house of Dalquharn in the valley of Leven; and all his life loved and admired that valley and Loch Lomond beyond all the valleys and lakes in Europe. He learned the “rudiments” at Dumbarton Grammar-school, and studied at Glasgow.

But when he was only eighteen, his grandfather died, and left him without provision (figuring as the old judge in _Roderick Random_ in consequence, according to Sir Walter). Tobias, armed with the _Regicide_, a tragedy—a provision precisely similar to that with which Dr. Johnson had started, just before—came up to London. The _Regicide_ came to no good, though at first patronized by Lord Lyttelton (“one of those little fellows who are sometimes called great men,” Smollett says); and Smollett embarked as “surgeon’s mate” on board a line-of-battle ship, and served in the Carthagena expedition, in 1741. He left the service in the West Indies, and, after residing some time in Jamaica, returned to England in 1746.

He was now unsuccessful as a physician, to begin with; published the satires, _Advice_ and _Reproof_—without any luck; and (1747) married the “beautiful and accomplished Miss Lascelles”.

In 1748 he brought out his _Roderick Random_, which at once made a “hit”. The subsequent events of his life may be presented, chronologically, in a bird’s-eye view:—

1750. Made a tour to Paris, where he chiefly wrote _Peregrine Pickle_.

1751. Published _Peregrine Pickle_.

1753. Published _Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom_.

1755. Published version of _Don Quixote_.

1756. Began the _Critical Review_.

1758. Published his _History of England_.

1763-1766. Travelling in France and Italy; published his _Travels_.

1769. Published _Adventures of an Atom_.

1770. Set out for Italy; died at Leghorn 21st of Oct., 1771, in the fifty-first year of his age.

149 A good specimen of the old “slashing” style of writing is presented by the paragraph on Admiral Knowles, which subjected Smollett to prosecution and imprisonment. The admiral’s defence on the occasion of the failure of the Rochfort expedition came to be examined before the tribunal of the _Critical Review_.

“He is,” said our author, “an admiral without conduct, an engineer without knowledge, an officer without resolution, and a man without veracity!”

Three months imprisonment in the King’s Bench avenged this stinging paragraph.

But the _Critical_ was to Smollett a perpetual fountain of “hot water”. Among less important controversies may be mentioned that with Grainger, the translator of _Tibullus_. Grainger replied in a pamphlet; and in the next number of the _Review_ we find him threatened with “castigation”, as an “owl that has broken from his mew”!

In Dr. Moore’s biography of him is a pleasant anecdote. After publishing the _Don Quixote_, he returned to Scotland to pay a visit to his mother:—

“On Smollett’s arrival, he was introduced to his mother with the connivance of Mrs. Telfer (her daughter), as a gentleman from the West Indies, who was intimately acquainted with her son. The better to support his assumed character, he endeavoured to preserve a serious countenance, approaching to a frown; but while his mother’s eyes were riveted on his countenance, he could not refrain from smiling: she immediately sprung from her chair, and throwing her arms round his neck, exclaimed, ‘Ah, my son! my son! I have found you at last!’

“She afterwards told him, that if he had kept his austere looks and continued to _gloom_, he might have escaped detection some time longer, but ‘your old roguish smile’, added she, ‘betrayed you at once.’ ”

“Shortly after the publication of _The Adventures of an Atom_, disease again attacked Smollett with redoubled violence. Attempts being vainly made to obtain for him the office of Consul in some part of the Mediterranean, he was compelled to seek a warmer climate, without better means of provision than his own precarious finances could afford. The kindness of his distinguished friend and countryman, Dr. Armstrong (then abroad), procured for Dr. and Mrs. Smollett a house at Monte Nero, a village situated on the side of a mountain overlooking the sea, in the neighbourhood of Leghorn, a romantic and salutary abode, where he prepared for the press, the last, and like music ‘sweetest in the close’, the most pleasing of his compositions, _The Expedition of Humphry Clinker_. This delightful work was published in 1771.”—SIR WALTER SCOTT.

150 The dispute with the captain arose from the wish of that functionary to intrude on his right to his cabin, for which he had paid thirty pounds. After recounting the circumstances of the apology, he characteristically adds:—

“And here, that I may not be thought the sly trumpeter of my own praises, I do utterly disclaim all praise on the occasion. Neither did the greatness of my mind dictate, nor the force of my Christianity exact this forgiveness. To speak truth, I forgave him from a motive which would make men much more forgiving, if they were much wiser than they are; because it was convenient for me so to do.”

151 Lady Mary was his second cousin—their respective grandfathers being sons of George Fielding, Earl of Desmond, son of William, Earl of Denbigh.

In a letter dated just a week before his death, she says:—

“H. Fielding has given a true picture of himself and his first wife in the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Booth, some compliments to his own figure excepted; and I am persuaded, several of the incidents he mentions are real matters of fact. I wonder he does not perceive Tom Jones and Mr. Booth are sorry scoundrels.... Fielding has really a fund of true humour, and was to be pitied at his first entrance into the world, having no choice, as he said himself, but to be a hackney writer or a hackney coachman. His genius deserved a better fate; but I cannot help blaming that continued indiscretion, to give it the softest name, that has run through his life, and I am afraid still remains.... Since I was born no original has appeared excepting Congreve, and Fielding, who would, I believe, have approached nearer to his excellences, if not forced by his necessities to publish without correction, and throw many productions into the world he would have thrown into the fire, if meat could have been got without money, or money without scribbling.... I am sorry not to see any more of Peregrine Pickle’s performances; I wish you would tell me his name,”—_Letters and Works_ (Lord Wharncliffe’s ed.), vol. iii, pp. 93, 94.

152 He sailed for Lisbon, from Gravesend, on Sunday morning, June 30th, 1754; and began the _Journal of a Voyage_ during the passage. He died at Lisbon, in the beginning of October of the same year. He lies buried there, in the English Protestant church-yard, near the Estrella Church, with this inscription over him:—

“HENRICUS FIELDING, LUGET BRITANNIA GREMIO NON DATUM FOVERE NATUM.”

153 Fielding himself is said by Dr. Warton to have preferred _Joseph Andrews_ to his other writings.

154 “Richardson,” says worthy Mrs. Barbauld, in her Memoir of him, prefixed to his Correspondence, “was exceedingly hurt at this (_Joseph Andrews_), the more so as they had been on good terms, and he was very intimate with Fielding’s two sisters. He never appears cordially to have forgiven it (perhaps it was not in human nature he should), and he always speaks in his letters with a great deal of asperity of _Tom Jones_, more indeed than was quite graceful in a rival author. No doubt he himself thought his indignation was solely excited by the loose morality of the work and of its author, but he could tolerate Cibber.”

155 It must always be borne in mind, that besides that the Doctor couldn’t be expected to like Fielding’s wild life (to say nothing of the fact, that they were of opposite sides in politics), Richardson was one of his earliest and kindest friends. Yet Johnson too (as Boswell tells us) read _Amelia_ through without “stopping”.

156 “Manners change from generation to generation, and with manners morals appear to change—actually change with some, but appear to change with all but the abandoned. A young man of the present day who should act as Tom Jones is supposed to act at Upton, with Lady Bellaston, &c., would not be a Tom Jones; and a Tom Jones of the present day, without perhaps being in the ground a better man, would have perished rather than submit to be kept by a harridan of fortune. Therefore, this novel is, and indeed, pretends to be, no example of conduct. But, notwithstanding all this, I do loathe the cant which can recommend _Pamela_ and _Clarissa Harlowe_ as strictly moral, although they poison the imagination of the young with continued doses of _tinct. lyttae_, while _Tom Jones_ is prohibited as loose. I do not speak of young women; but a young man whose heart or feelings can be injured, or even his passions excited by this novel, is already thoroughly corrupt. There is a cheerful, sunshiny, breezy spirit, that prevails everywhere, strongly contrasted with the close, hot, day dreamy continuity of Richardson.”—COLERIDGE, _Literary Remains_, vol. ii, p. 374.

157 “Nor was she (Lady Mary Wortley Montagu) a stranger to that beloved first wife, whose picture he drew in his _Amelia_, when, as she said, even the glowing language he knew how to employ, did not do more than justice to the amiable qualities of the original, or to her beauty, although this had suffered a little from the accident related in the novel—a frightful overturn, which destroyed the gristle of her nose. He loved her passionately, and she returned his affection....

“His biographers seem to have been shy of disclosing that after the death of this charming woman, he married her maid. And yet the act was not so discreditable to his character as it may sound. The maid had few personal charms, but was an excellent creature, devotedly attached to her mistress, and almost brokenhearted for her loss. In the first agonies of his own grief, which approached to frenzy, he found no relief but from weeping along with her; nor solace when a degree calmer, but in talking to her of the angel they mutually regretted. This made her his habitual confidential associate, and in process of time he began to think he could not give his children a tenderer mother, or secure for himself a more faithful housekeeper and nurse. At least, this was what he told his friends; and it is certain that her conduct as his wife confirmed it, and fully justified his good opinion.”—_Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu._ Edited by Lord Wharncliffe. _Introductory Anecdotes_, vol. i, pp. 80, 81.

Fielding’s first wife was Miss Craddock, a young lady from Salisbury, with a fortune of 1,500_l._, whom he married in 1736. About the same time he succeeded, himself, to an estate of 200_l._ per annum, and on the joint amount he lived for some time as a splendid country gentleman in Dorsetshire. Three years brought him to the end of his fortune; when he returned to London, and became a student of law.

158 In the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, for 1786, an anecdote is related of Harry Fielding, “in whom,” says the correspondent, “good nature and philanthropy in their extreme degree were known to be the prominent features.” It seems that “some parochial taxes” for his house in Beaufort Buildings had long been demanded by the collector. “At last, Harry went off to Johnson, and obtained by a process of literary mortgage the needful sum. He was returning with it, when he met an old college chum whom he had not seen for many years. He asked the chum to dinner with him at a neighbouring tavern; and learning that he was in difficulties, emptied the contents of his pocket into his. On returning home he was informed that the collector had been twice for the money. ‘Friendship has called for the money and had it,’ said Fielding; ‘let the collector call again.’ ”

It is elsewhere told of him, that being in company with the Earl of Denbigh, his kinsman, and the conversation turning upon their relationship, the Earl asked him how it was that he spelled his name “Fielding”, and not “Feilding”, like the head of the house? “I cannot tell, my lord,” said he, “except it be that my branch of the family were the first that knew how to spell.”

159 In 1749, he was made Justice of the Peace for Westminster and Middlesex, an office then paid by fees, and very laborious, without being particularly reputable. It may be seen from his own words, in the Introduction to the _Voyage_, what kind of work devolved upon him, and in what a state he was, during these last years; and still more clearly, how he comported himself through all.

“Whilst I was preparing for my journey, and when I was almost fatigued to death with several long examinations, relating to five different murders, all committed within the space of a week, by different gangs of street-robbers, I received a message from his grace the Duke of Newcastle, by Mr. Carrington, the King’s messenger, to attend his grace the next morning in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, upon some business of importance: but I excused myself from complying with the message, as, besides being lame, I was very ill with the great fatigues I had lately undergone, added to my distemper.

“His grace, however, sent Mr. Carrington the very next morning, with another summons; with which, though in the utmost distress, I immediately complied; but the duke happening, unfortunately for me, to be then particularly engaged, after I had waited some time, sent a gentleman to discourse with me on the best plan which could be invented for these murders and robberies, which were every day committed in the streets; upon which I promised to transmit my opinion in writing to his grace, who, as the gentleman informed me, intended to lay it before the Privy Council.

“Though this visit cost me a severe cold, I, notwithstanding, set myself down to work, and in about four days sent the duke as regular a plan as I could form, with all the reasons and arguments I could bring to support it, drawn out on several sheets of paper; and soon received a message from the Duke, by Mr. Carrington, acquainting me that my plan was highly approved of, and that all the terms of it would be complied with.

“The principal and most material of these terms was the immediately depositing 600_l._ in my hands; at which small charge I undertook to demolish the then reigning gangs, and to put the civil policy into such order, that no such gangs should ever be able for the future, to form themselves into bodies, or at least to remain any time formidable to the public.

“I had delayed my Bath journey for some time, contrary to the repeated advice of my physical acquaintances, and the ardent desire of my warmest friends, though my distemper was now turned to a deep jaundice; in which case the Bath waters are generally reputed to be almost infallible. But I had the most eager desire to demolish this gang of villains and cut-throats....

“After some weeks the money was paid at the Treasury, and within a few days, after 200_l._ of it had come into my hands, the whole gang of cut-throats was entirely dispersed....”

Further on, he says—

“I will confess that my private affairs at the beginning of the winter had but a gloomy aspect; for I had not plundered the public or the poor of those sums which men, who are always ready to plunder both as much as they can, have been pleased to suspect me of taking; on the contrary, by composing, instead of inflaming, the quarrels of porters and beggars (which I blush when I say hath not been universally practised), and by refusing to take a shilling from a man who most undoubtedly would not have had another left, I had reduced an income of about 500_l._, a year of the dirtiest money upon earth, to little more than 300_l._, a considerable portion of which remained with my clerk.”

160 He came of a Suffolk family—one of whom settled in Nottinghamshire. The famous “starling” was actually the family crest.

161 “It was in this parish” (of Animo, in Wicklow), “during our stay, that I had that wonderful escape in falling through a mill-race, whilst the mill was going, and of being taken up unhurt; the story is incredible, but known for truth in all that part of Ireland, where hundreds of the common people flocked to see me.”—STERNE.

162 “My wife returns to Toulouse, and proposes to pass the summer at Bagnères—I, on the contrary, go and visit my wife, the church, in Yorkshire. We all live the longer, at least the happier, for having things our own way; this is my conjugal maxim. I own ’tis not the best of maxims, but I maintain ’tis not the worst.”—STERNE’S _Letters_, 20th January, 1764.

163 In a collection of _Seven Letters by Sterne and His Friends_, (printed for private circulation), in 1844, is a letter of M. Tollot, who was in France with Sterne and his family in 1764. Here is a paragraph:—

“Nous arrivâmes le lendemain à Montpellier, où nous trouvâmes notre ami Mr. Sterne, sa femme, sa fille, Mr. Huet, et quelques autres Anglaises; j’eus, je vous l’avoue, beaucoup de plaisir en revoyant le bon et agréable Tristram.... Il avait été assez longtemps à Toulouse, où il se serait amusé sans sa femme, qui le poursuivit partout, et qui voulait être de tout. Ces dispositions dans cette bonne dame, lui ont fait passer d’assez mauvais momens; il supporte tous ces désagrémens avec une patience d’ánge.”

About four months after this very characteristic letter, Sterne wrote to the same gentleman to whom Tollot had written; and from his letter we may extract a companion paragraph:—

“... All which being premised, I have been for eight weeks smitten with the tenderest passion that ever tender wight underwent. I wish, dear cousin, thou couldst conceive (perhaps thou canst without my wishing it) how deliciously I canter’d away with it the first month, two up, two down, always upon my _hanches_, along the streets from my hotel to hers, at first once—then twice, then three times a day, till at length I was within an ace of setting up my hobby-horse in her stable for good and all. I might as well, considering how the enemies of the Lord have blasphemed thereupon. The last three weeks we were every hour upon the doleful ditty of parting—and thou mayest conceive, dear cousin, how it altered my gait and air—for I went and came like any louden’d carl, and did nothing but _jouer des sentimens_ with her from sun-rising even to the setting of the same; and now she is gone to the south of France; and to finish the _comédie_, I fell ill and broke a vessel in my lungs, and half bled to death. _Voilà mon histoire!_”

Whether husband or wife had most of the _patience d’ánge_ may be uncertain; but there can be no doubt which needed it most!

164 “_Tristram Shandy_ is still a greater object of admiration, the man as well as the book; one is invited to dinner, when he dines, a fortnight before. As to the volumes yet published, there is much good fun in them, and humour sometimes hit and sometimes missed. Have you read his _Sermons_, with his own comick figure, from a painting by Reynolds, at the head of them? They are in the style I think most proper for the pulpit, and show a strong imagination and a sensible heart; but you see him often tottering on the verge of laughter, and ready to throw his periwig in the face of the audience.”—GRAY’S _Letters_, June 22nd, 1760.

“It having been observed that there was little hospitality in London—Johnson: ‘Nay, sir, any man who has a name, or who has the power of pleasing, will be very generally invited in London. The man, Sterne, I have been told, has had engagements for three months.’ Goldsmith: ‘And a very dull fellow.’ Johnson: ‘Why, no, sir.’ ”—BOSWELL’S _Life of Johnson_.

“Her [Miss Monckton’s] vivacity enchanted the sage, and they used to talk together with all imaginable ease. A singular instance happened one evening, when she insisted that some of Sterne’s writings were very pathetic. Johnson bluntly denied it. ‘I am sure,’ said she, ‘they have affected me.’ ‘Why,’ said Johnson, smiling, and rolling himself about—‘that is, because, dearest, you’re a dunce.’ When she some time afterwards mentioned this to him, he said with equal truth and politeness, ‘Madam, if I had thought so, I certainly should not have said it.’ ”—BOSWELL’s _Life of Johnson_.

165 A passage or two from Sterne’s _Sermons_ may not be without interest here. Is not the following, levelled against the cruelties of the Church of Rome, stamped with the autograph of the author of the _Sentimental Journey_?—

“To be convinced of this, go with me for a moment into the prisons of the Inquisition—behold _religion_ with mercy and justice chained down under her feet,—there, sitting ghastly upon a black tribunal, propped up with racks, and instruments of torment.—Hark!—what a piteous groan!—See the melancholy wretch who uttered it, just brought forth to undergo the anguish of a mock-trial, and endure the utmost pain that a studied system of _religious cruelty_ has been able to invent. Behold this helpless victim delivered up to his tormentors. _His body so wasted with sorrow and long confinement, you’ll see every nerve and muscle as it suffers._ Observe the last movement of that horrid engine.—What convulsions it has thrown him into! Consider the nature of the posture in which he now lies stretched.—What exquisite torture he endures by it.—’Tis all nature can bear.—Good GOD! see how it keeps his weary soul hanging upon his trembling lips, willing to take its leave, but not suffered to depart. Behold the unhappy wretch led back to his cell,—dragg’d out of it again to meet the flames—and the insults in his last agonies, which this principle—this principle, that there can be religion without morality—has prepared for him.”—_Sermon 27th_.

The next extract is preached on a text to be found in Judges xix, ver. 1, 2, 3, concerning a “certain Levite”:—

“Such a one the Levite wanted to share his solitude and fill up that uncomfortable blank in the heart in such a situation; for, notwithstanding all we meet with in books, in many of which, no doubt, there are a good many handsome things said upon the secrets of retirement, &c.... yet still, ‘_it is not good for man to be alone_’: nor can all which the cold-hearted pedant stuns our ears with upon the subject, ever give one answer of satisfaction to the mind; in the midst of the loudest vauntings of philosophy, nature will have her yearnings for society and friendship;—a good heart wants some object to be kind to—and the best parts of our blood, and the purest of our spirits, suffer most under the destitution.

“Let the torpid monk seek Heaven comfortless and alone. God speed him! For my own part, I fear I should never so find the way; _let me be wise and religious, but let me be_ MAN; wherever Thy Providence places me, or whatever be the road I take to Thee, give me some companion in my journey, be it only to remark to, ‘How our shadows lengthen as our sun goes down’;—to whom I may say, ‘How fresh is the face of Nature! how sweet the flowers of the field! how delicious are these fruits!’ ”—_Sermon 18th._

The first of these passages gives us another drawing of the famous “Captive”. The second shows that the same reflection was suggested to the Rev. Laurence, by a text in Judges, as by the _fille-de-chambre_.

Sterne’s _Sermons_ were published as those of “Mr. Yorick”.

166 “I am glad that you are in love—’twill cure you at least of the spleen, which has a bad effect on both man and woman—I myself must even have some Dulcinea in my head; it harmonizes the soul; and in these cases I first endeavour to make the lady believe so, or rather, I begin first to make myself believe that I am in love—but I carry on my affairs quite in the French way, sentimentally—_l’amour_ (say they) _n’est rien sans sentiment_. Now, notwithstanding they make such a pother about the _word_, they have no precise idea annexed to it. And so much for that same subject called love.”—STERNE’S _Letters_, May 23rd, 1765.

“PS.—My _Sentimental Journey_ will please Mrs. J—— and my Lydia [his daughter, afterwards Mrs. Medalle]—I can answer for those two. It is a subject which works well, and suits the frame of mind I have been in for some time past. I told you my design in it was to teach us to love the world and our fellow creatures better than we do—so it runs most upon those gentler passions and affections which aid so much to it.”—_Letters_ [1767].

167 TO MRS. H——.

“Coxwould, Nov. 15th, 1767.

“Now be a good, dear woman, my H——, and execute those commissions well, and when I see you I will give you a kiss—there’s for you! But I have something else for you which I am fabricating at a great rate, and that is my _Sentimental Journey_, which shall make you cry as much as it has affected me, or I will give up the business of sentimental writing ...

“I am yours, &c. &c.,

“T. SHANDY.”

TO THE EARL OF ——.

“Coxwould, Nov. 28th, 1767.

“MY LORD—’Tis with the greatest pleasure I take my pen to thank your lordship for your letter of inquiry about Yorick—he was worn out, both his spirits and body, with the _Sentimental Journey_; ’tis true, then, an author must feel himself, or his reader will not—but I have torn my whole frame into pieces by my feelings—I believe the brain stands as much in need of recruiting as the body; therefore I shall set out for town the twentieth of next month, after having recruited myself a week at York. I might indeed solace myself with my wife (who is come from France), but, in fact, I have long been a sentimental being, whatever your lordship may think to the contrary.”

168 “It is known that Sterne died in hired lodgings, and I have been told that his attendants robbed him even of his gold sleeve-buttons while he was expiring.”—DR. FERRIAR.

“He died at No. 41 (now a cheesemonger’s) on the west side of Old Bond Street.—_Handbook of London._”

169 “In February, 1768, Laurence Sterne, his frame exhausted by long debilitating illness, expired at his lodgings in Bond Street, London. There was something in the manner of his death singularly resembling the particulars detailed by Mrs. Quickly, as attending that of Falstaff, the compeer of Yorick for infinite jest, however unlike in other particulars. As he lay on his bed totally exhausted, he complained that his feet were cold, and requested the female attendant to chafe them. She did so, and it seemed to relieve him. He complained that the cold came up higher; and whilst the assistant was in the act of chafing his ankles and legs, he expired without a groan. It was also remarkable that his death took place much in the manner which he himself had wished; and that the last offices were rendered him, not in his own house, or by the hand of kindred affection, but in an inn, and by strangers.

“We are well acquainted with Sterne’s features and personal appearance, to which he himself frequently alludes. He was tall and thin, with a hectic and consumptive appearance.”—SIR WALTER SCOTT.

170 “With regard to Sterne, and the charge of licentiousness which presses so seriously upon his character as a writer, I would remark that there is a sort of knowingness, the wit of which depends, firstly, on the modesty it gives pain to; or, secondly, on the innocence and innocent ignorance over which it triumphs; or thirdly, on a certain oscillation in the individual’s own mind between the remaining good and the encroaching evil of his nature—a sort of dallying with the devil—a fluxionary art of combining courage and cowardice, as when a man snuffs a candle with his fingers for the first time, or better still, perhaps, like that trembling daring with which a child touches a hot tea-urn, because it has been forbidden; so that the mind has its own white and black angel; the same or similar amusement as may be supposed to take place between an old debauchee and a prude—the feeling resentment, on the one hand, from a prudential anxiety to preserve appearances and have a character; and, on the other, an inward sympathy with the enemy. We have only to suppose society innocent, and then nine-tenths of this sort of wit would be like a stone that falls in snow, making no sound, because exciting no resistance; the remainder rests on its being an offence against the good manners of human nature itself.

“This source, unworthy as it is, may doubtless be combined with wit, drollery, fancy, and even humour; and we have only to regret the misalliance; but that the latter are quite distinct from the former, may be made evident by abstracting in our imagination the morality of the characters of Mr. Shandy, my Uncle Toby, and Trim, which are all antagonists to this spurious sort of wit, from the rest of _Tristram Shandy_, and by supposing, instead of them, the presence of two or three callous debauchees. The result will be pure disgust. Sterne cannot be too severely censured for thus using the best dispositions of our nature as the panders and condiments for the basest.”—COLERIDGE, _Literary Remains_, vol. i, pp. 141, 142.

171 “He was a friend to virtue, and in his most playful pages never forgets what is due to it. A gentleness, delicacy, and purity of feeling distinguishes whatever he wrote, and bears a correspondence to the generosity of a disposition which knew no bounds but his last guinea....

“The admirable ease and grace of the narrative, as well as the pleasing truth with which the principal characters are designed, make the _Vicar of Wakefield_ one of the most delicious morsels of fictitious composition on which the human mind was ever employed.

“... We read the _Vicar of Wakefield_ in youth and in age—we return to it again and again, and bless the memory of an author who contrives so well to reconcile us to human nature.”—SIR WALTER SCOTT.

172 “Now Herder came,” says Goethe in his Autobiography, relating his first acquaintance with Goldsmith’s masterpiece, “and together with his great knowledge brought many other aids, and the later publications besides. Among these he announced to us the _Vicar of Wakefield_ as an excellent work, with the German translation of which he would make us acquainted by reading it aloud to us himself....

“A Protestant country clergyman is perhaps the most beautiful subject for a modern idyl; he appears like Melchizedeck, as priest and king in one person. To the most innocent situation which can be imagined on earth, to that of a husbandman, he is, for the most part, united by similarity of occupation as well as by equality in family relationships; he is a father, a master of a family, an agriculturist, and thus perfectly a member of the community. On this pure, beautiful, earthly foundation rests his higher calling; to him is it given to guide men through life, to take care of their spiritual education, to bless them at all the leading epochs of their existence, to instruct, to strengthen, to console them, and if consolation is not sufficient for the present, to call up and guarantee the hope of a happier future. Imagine such a man with pure human sentiments, strong enough not to deviate from them under any circumstances, and by this already elevated above the multitude of whom one cannot expect purity and firmness; give him the learning necessary for his office, as well as a cheerful, equable activity, which is even passionate, as it neglects no moment to do good—and you will have him well endowed. But at the same time add the necessary limitation, so that he must not only pause in a small circle, but may also, perchance, pass over to a smaller; grant him good nature, placability, resolution, and everything else praiseworthy that springs from a decided character, and over all this a cheerful spirit of compliance, and a smiling toleration of his own failings and those of others,—then you will have put together pretty well the image of our excellent Wakefield.

“The delineation of this character on his course of life through joys and sorrows, the ever-increasing interest of the story, by the combination of the entirely natural with the strange and the singular, make this novel one of the best which has ever been written; besides this, it has the great advantage that it is quite moral, nay, in a pure sense, Christian—represents the reward of a goodwill and perseverance in the right, strengthens an unconditional confidence in God, and attests the final triumph of good over evil; and all this without a trace of cant or pedantry. The author was preserved from both of these by an elocution of mind that shows itself throughout in the form of irony, by which this little work must appear to us as wise as it is amiable. The author, Dr. Goldsmith, has, without question, a great insight into the moral world, into its strength and its infirmities; but at the same time he can thankfully acknowledge that he is an Englishman, and reckon highly the advantages which his country and his nation afford him. The family, with the delineation of which he occupies himself, stands upon one of the last steps of citizen comfort, and yet comes in contact with the highest; its narrow circle, which becomes still more contracted, touches upon the great world through the natural and civil course of things; this little skiff floats on the agitated waves of English life, and in weal or woe it has to expect injury or help from the vast fleet which sails around it.

“I may suppose that my readers know this work, and have it in memory; whoever hears it named for the first time here, as well as he who is induced to read it again, will thank me.”—GOETHE, _Truth and Poetry; from my own Life_ (English translation, vol. i, pp. 378-9).

“He seems from infancy to have been compounded of two natures, one bright, the other blundering; or to have had fairy gifts laid in his cradle by the ‘good people’ who haunted his birthplace, the old goblin mansion, on the banks of the Inny.

“He carries with him the wayward elfin spirit, if we may so term it, throughout his career. His fairy gifts are of no avail at school, academy, or college: they unfit him for close study and practical science, and render him heedless of everything that does not address itself to his poetical imagination, and genial and festive feelings; they dispose him to break away from restraint, to stroll about hedges, green lanes, and haunted streams, to revel with jovial companions, or to rove the country like a gipsy in quest of odd adventures....

“Though his circumstances often compelled him to associate with the poor, they never could betray him into companionship with the depraved. His relish for humour, and for the study of character, as we have before observed, brought him often into convivial company of a vulgar kind; but he discriminated between their vulgarity and their amusing qualities, or rather wrought from the whole store familiar features of life which form the staple of his most popular writings.”—WASHINGTON IRVING.

173 “The family of Goldsmith, Goldsmyth, or, as it was occasionally written, Gouldsmith, is of considerable standing in Ireland, and seems always to have held a respectable station in society. Its origin is English, supposed to be derived from that which was long settled at Crayford in Kent.”—PRIOR’S _Life of Goldsmith_.

Oliver’s father, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather were clergymen; and two of them married clergymen’s daughters.

174 At church with meek and unaffected grace, His looks adorn’d the venerable place; Truth from his lips prevail’d with double sway, And fools who came to scoff remain’d to pray. The service past, around the pious man, With steady zeal each honest rustic ran; E’en children follow’d with endearing wile, And pluck’d his gown to share the good man’s smile. His ready smile a parent’s warmth exprest, Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distrest; To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given, But all his serious thoughts had rest in Heaven. As some tall cliff that lifts his awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.

_The Deserted Village._

175 “In May this year (1768), he lost his brother, the Rev. Henry Goldsmith, for whom he had been unable to obtain preferment in the Church....

“....To the curacy of Kilkenny West, the moderate stipend of which, forty pounds a year, is sufficiently celebrated by his brother’s lines. It has been stated that Mr. Goldsmith added a school, which, after having been held at more than one place in the vicinity, was finally fixed at Lissoy. Here his talents and industry gave it celebrity, and under his care the sons of many of the neighbouring gentry received their education. A fever breaking out among the boys about 1765, they dispersed for a time, but reassembling at Athlone, he continued his scholastic labours there until the time of his death, which happened, like that of his brother, about the forty-fifth year of his age. He was a man of an excellent heart and an amiable disposition.”—PRIOR’S _Goldsmith_.

Where’er I roam, whatever realms to see, My heart, untravell’d, fondly turns to thee: Still to my brother turns with ceaseless pain, And drags at each remove a lengthening chain.

_The Traveller_.

176 “When Goldsmith died, half the unpaid bill he owed to Mr. William Filby (amounting in all to 79_l_.) was for clothes supplied to this nephew Hodson.”—FORSTER’S _Goldsmith_, p. 520.

As this nephew Hodson ended his days (see the same page) “a prosperous Irish gentleman”, it is not unreasonable to wish that he had cleared off Mr. Filby’s bill.

177 “Poor fellow! He hardly knew an ass from a mule, nor a turkey from a goose, but when he saw it on the table.”—CUMBERLAND’S _Memoirs_.

178 “These youthful follies, like the fermentation of liquors, often disturb the mind only in order to its future refinement: a life spent in phlegmatic apathy resembles those liquors which never ferment and are consequently always muddy.”—GOLDSMITH, _Memoir of Voltaire_.

“He (Johnson) said Goldsmith was a plant that flowered late. There appeared nothing remarkable about him when he was young.”—BOSWELL.

179 “An ‘inspired idiot’, Goldsmith, hangs strangely about him [Johnson] ... Yet, on the whole, there is no evil in the ‘gooseberry-fool’, but rather much good; of a finer, if of a weaker sort than Johnson’s; and all the more genuine that he himself could never become _conscious_ of it, though unhappily never cease attempting to become so: the author of the genuine _Vicar of Wakefield_, nill he will he, must needs fly towards such a mass of genuine manhood.”—CARLYLE’S _Essays_ (2nd ed.), vol. iv, p. 91.

180 “At present, the few poets of England no longer depend on the great for subsistence; they have now no other patrons but the public, and the public, collectively considered, is a good and a generous master. It is indeed too frequently mistaken as to the merits of every candidate for favour; but to make amends, it is never mistaken long. A performance indeed may be forced for a time into reputation, but, destitute of real merit, it soon sinks; time, the touchstone of what is truly valuable, will soon discover the fraud, and an author should never arrogate to himself any share of success till his works have been read at least ten years with satisfaction.

“A man of letters at present, whose works are valuable, is perfectly sensible of their value. Every polite member of the community, by buying what he writes, contributes to reward him. The ridicule, therefore, of living in a garret might have been wit in the last age, but continues such no longer, because no longer true. A writer of real merit now may easily be rich, if his heart be set only on fortune: and for those who have no merit, it is but fit that such should remain in merited obscurity.”—GOLDSMITH, _Citizen of the World_, Let. 84.

181 Goldsmith attacked Sterne, obviously enough, censuring his indecency, and slighting his wit, and ridiculing his manner, in the 53rd letter in the _Citizen of the World_.

“As in common conversation,” says he, “the best way to make the audience laugh is by first laughing yourself; so in writing, the properest manner is to show an attempt at humour, which will pass upon most for humour in reality. To effect this, readers must be treated with the most perfect familiarity; in one page the author is to make them a low bow, and in the next to pull them by the nose; he must talk in riddles, and then send them to bed in order to dream for the solution,” &c.

Sterne’s humorous _mot_ on the subject of the gravest part of the charges, then, as now, made against him, may perhaps be quoted here, from the excellent, the respectable Sir Walter Scott. “Soon after _Tristram_ had appeared, Sterne asked a Yorkshire lady of fortune and condition, whether she had read his book, ‘I have not, Mr. Sterne,’ was the answer; ‘and to be plain with you, I am informed it is not proper for female perusal.’ ‘My dear good lady,’ replied the author, ‘do not be gulled by such stories; the book is like your young heir there’ (pointing to a child of three years old, who was rolling on the carpet in his white tunics): ‘he shows at times a good deal that is usually concealed, but it is all in perfect innocence.’ ”

182 “Goldsmith told us that he was now busy in writing a Natural History; and that he might have full leisure for it, he had taken lodgings at a farmer’s house, near to the six-mile stone in the Edgeware Road, and had carried down his books in two returned post-chaises. He said he believed the farmer’s family thought him an odd character, similar to that in which the _Spectator_ appeared to his landlady and her children; he was _The Gentleman_. Mr. Mickle, the translator of the _Lusiad_, and I, went to visit him at this place a few days afterwards. He was not at home; but having a curiosity to see his apartment, we went in, and found curious scraps of descriptions of animals scrawled upon the wall with a blacklead pencil.”—BOSWELL.

183 “When Goldsmith was dying, Dr. Turton said to him, ‘Your pulse is in greater disorder than it should be, from the degree of fever which you have; is your mind at ease?’ Goldsmith answered it was not.”—DR. JOHNSON (_in Boswell_).

“Chambers, you find, is gone far, and poor Goldsmith is gone much farther. He died of a fever, exasperated, as I believe, by the fear of distress. He had raised money and squandered it, by every artifice of acquisition and folly of expense. But let not his failings be remembered; he was a very great man.”—DR. JOHNSON to Boswell, July 5th, 1774.

184 “When Burke was told [of Goldsmith’s death] he burst into tears. Reynolds was in his painting-room when the messenger went to him; but at once he laid his pencil aside, which in times of great family distress he had not been known to do, left his painting-room, and did not re-enter it that day....

“The staircase of Brick Court is said to have been filled with mourners, the reverse of domestic; women without a home, without domesticity of any kind, with no friend but him they had come to weep for; outcasts of that great, solitary, wicked city, to whom he had never forgotten to be kind and charitable. And he had domestic mourners, too. His coffin was reopened at the request of Miss Horneck and her sister (such was the regard he was known to have for them!) that a lock might be cut from his hair. It was in Mrs. Gwyn’s possession when she died, after nearly seventy years.”—FORSTER’S _Goldsmith_.

185 “Goldsmith’s incessant desire of being conspicuous in company was the occasion of his sometimes appearing to such disadvantage, as one should hardly have supposed possible in a man of his genius. When his literary reputation had risen deservedly high, and his society was much courted, he became very jealous of the extraordinary attention which was everywhere paid to Johnson. One evening, in a circle of wits, he found fault with me for talking of Johnson as entitled to the honour of unquestionable superiority. ‘Sir,’ said he, ‘you are for making a monarchy of what should be a republic.’

“He was still more mortified, when, talking in a company with fluent vivacity, and, as he flattered himself, to the admiration of all present, a German who sat next him, and perceived Johnson rolling himself as if about to speak, suddenly stopped him, saying, ‘Stay, stay—Toctor Shonson is going to zay zomething.’ This was no doubt very provoking, especially to one so irritable as Goldsmith, who frequently mentioned it with strong expressions of indignation.

“It may also be observed that Goldsmith was sometimes content to be treated with an easy familiarity, but upon occasions would be consequential and important. An instance of this occurred in a small particular. Johnson had a way of contracting the names of his friends, as Beauclerk, Beau; Boswell, Bozzy.... I remember one day, when Tom Davies was telling that Dr. Johnson said—‘We are all in labour for a name to _Goldy’s_ play,’ Goldsmith seemed displeased that such a liberty should be taken with his name, and said, ‘I have often desired him not to call me _Goldy_.’ ”

This is one of several of Boswell’s depreciatory mentions of Goldsmith—which may well irritate biographers and admirers—and also those who take that more kindly and more profound view of Boswell’s own character, which was opened up by Mr. Carlyle’s famous article on his book. No wonder that Mr. Irving calls Boswell an “incarnation of toadyism”. And the worst of it is, that Johnson himself has suffered from this habit of the Laird of Auchenleck’s. People are apt to forget under what Boswellian stimulus the great Doctor uttered many hasty things:—things no more indicative of the nature of the depths of his character than the phosphoric gleaming of the sea, when struck at night, is indicative of radical corruption of nature! In truth, it is clear enough on the whole that both Johnson and Goldsmith _appreciated_ each other, and that they mutually knew it. They were, as it were, tripped up and flung against each other, occasionally, by the blundering and silly gambolling of people in company.

Something must be allowed for Boswell’s “rivalry for Johnson’s good graces” with Oliver (as Sir Walter Scott has remarked), for Oliver was intimate with the Doctor before his biographer was,—and as we all remember, marched off with him to “take tea with Mrs. Williams” before Boswell had advanced to that honourable degree of intimacy. But, in truth, Boswell—though he perhaps showed more talent in his delineation of the Doctor than is generally ascribed to him—had not faculty to take a fair view of _two_ great men at a time. Besides, as Mr. Forster justly remarks, “he was impatient of Goldsmith from the first hour of their acquaintance.”—_Life and Adventures_, p. 292.

186 The above portraits are from contemporary prints of this princess, before her marriage, and in her old age.

187 Here [below in the text] are the figures, as drawn by young Gilray, of Lord North, Mr. Fox, Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Burke.