Part 31

p. 390 _Gildon’s Chorus Poetarum._ ‘Adequately to translate Sappho’ says J. A. Symonds in _The Greek Poets_ ‘was beyond the power of even Catullus: that love-ode, which Longinus called “not one passion, but a congress of passions,” and which a Greek physician copied into his book of diagnoses as a compendium of all the symptoms of corroding emotion, appears but languid in its Latin dress of “Ille mi par.” Far less has any modern poet succeeded in the task: Rossetti, who deals so skilfully with Dante and Villon, is comparatively tame when he approaches Sappho.’ This rendering of _The Ode to Anactoria_ (as tradition names it) #Phainetai moi kênos isos theoisin#, first appears under Mrs. Behn’s name in Gildon’s _Chorus Poetarum_, 1694. In _State Poems_, Vol. II (1703), it is printed with the title _On Madam_ Behn, a very different matter. If the lines are Mrs. Behn’s she must have versified them from a translation given her by Hoyle or some other friend. In any case they are graceful and far better than the versions of Ambrose Philips (1711), or Smollett (1748). But, indeed, it is impossible to translate these lines which are so truly ‘mixed with fire’ as Plutarch has it. For various attempts and a literal prose version see Wharton’s _Sappho_.

p. 391 _Complaint of the poor Cavaliers._ The _Muses Mercury_, June 1707, prefixes the following to this poem: ‘All the World knows Mrs. _Behn_ was no _Whig_, no _Republican_, nor _Fanatick_; her Zeal lay quite on the other Side: And tho her Manners was no Honour to any, yet her Wit made her acceptable to that which she espous’d. She was a _Politician_, as well as a Poet: for we find in the short Account of her Life, printed with those of other _Poets_, she was employ’d by _Charles II._ in the Discovery of the Dutch Intrigues in the Dutch War; which she was the better qualifi’d to do by her knowledge of their Language, she having liv’d a long time in _Surinam_, a Colony where there were many Dutch Merchants; and not long after she left it ‘twas surrendered to that Republic by King _Charles_. ‘Tis well known, that the Gentlemen she speaks of in the following Poem, had too much reason to complain; and that the very Men, who had been so much instrumental in keeping King _Charles_ the II. out of his Dominions, were most caress’d after his _Restoration_.’

p. 393 _Mrs. Harsenet._ Carola, daughter of Sir Roger Harsnett, knight. These verses are a variation of ‘_To my Lady_ Morland _at_ Tunbridge.’ _vide_ p. 175.

p. 395 _A letter to the Earl of Kildare._ John FitzGerald, 18th Earl of Kildare, lived in St. James’ Square, and in 1648 married, as his second wife, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Charles Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh (’. fortune of £10,000.’. She died in 1758 at the great age of ninety-three. She was extremely beautiful, and either she or one of her unmarried sisters was a mistress of the King.

The Lady Mary Howard, sister to the Earl of Carlisle, died in the last week of October, 1694. She was notorious for her intrigues, and the satires of the time accuse her of being little better than a procuress both for King Charles II and the Earl of Dorset. cf. Rochester’s _The Royal Angler_

My Lady _Mary_ nothing can design But feed her lust with what she get’s for thine,

and the Earl of Dorset’s _Lamentation for Moll Howard’s absence_ (Harleian MSS.), which ends

Oh Love! Oh Love! Ye Pow’rs above Intriguing _Moll_ restore, The best Interpreter of Love, That ever message bore.

Amongst her lovers were Harry Lumley, Hungerford, Howe. It is noticeable that the lampoons inevitably refer to her in the grossest terms.

All the World can’t afford Such a Bitch as Mall Howard,

writes one versifier, and in _Rochester’s Ghost addressing itself to the Secretary of the Muses_ she is found bracketed with seven other ladies of the most dubious repute,

And here, would time permit me, I could tell, Of Cleveland, Portsmouth, Crofts, and Arundel, Mol. Howard, Su[sse]x, Lady Grey, and Nell, Strangers to good, but bosom Friends to ill, As boundless in their lusts as in their will.

When Lady Mary Howard was received into the Church in 1685, the wits (as was often the case on these conversions) seized the opportunity to flood the town with their pasquils, e.g. _The Ladies March_.

p. 397 _an Urban Throng_ (_as Mr._ Bayes _calls it_). cf. _The Rehearsal_, iii, v, the scene of Prince Volscius ‘going out of Town’.

_Vols._ _Harry_, my Boots; for I’l go rage among My Blades encamp’d, and quit this _Urban_ throng.

p. 398 _Prologue to Romulus._ _vide_ Vol. I, pp. xlii-iii.

p. 399 _Green-Ribbon-Brother._ The green ribbon was the badge of Shaftesbury’s party, as a red ribbon was of the Tories. North (_Examen_) gives the following account of the green ribbon fraternity: ’.his was the club originally called the King’s Head Club. The gentlemen of that worthy society held their evening sessions continually at the King’s Head Tavern, over against the Inner Temple Gate. But upon occasion of the signal of a green ribbon agreed to be worn in their hats, in the days of street-engagements, like the coats of arms of valiant knights of old, whereby all the warriors of that society might be distinguished, and not mistake friends for enemies; they were called also the Green Ribbon Club. Their seat was in a sort of car-four at Chancery-lane-end; a centre of business and company most proper for such anglers of fools. The house was double balconied in the front, as may be yet seen, for the clubsters to issue forth in _fresco_, with hats and no perruques; pipes in their mouths, merry faces, and diluted throats, for the vocal encouragement of the _canaglia_ below, at bonfires, on usual and unusual occasions.’ The Green Ribbon is frequently alluded to. cf. Otway, _The Poet’s Complaint of His Muse_ (4to, 1680), xv:--

He gain’d authority and place: By many for preferments was thought fit, For talking treason without fear or wit: For opening failings in the state: } For loving noisy and unsound debate, } And wearing of a mystical green ribband in his hat. }

p. 400 _Mrs. Behn’s Satyr on Dryden._ This acrid attack upon the great laureate is ungenerous to a degree, and Mrs. Behn’s jibes are the more surprising, inasmuch as she had always been Tory to the backbone and a particular partisan of King James II. No doubt continued ill health and a hard struggle are largely responsible for her bad temper. There can be no question that Dryden’s conversion was absolutely conscientious, and his line of action at the Revolution amply proves his sincerity. Few, if any, critics would to-day venture to echo Macaulay’s discredited pronouncements, doubly dangerous that they are from the vigour and charm of their expression. Burnet’s partisan libels and denunciation of Dryden can be dismissed as impertinent and groundless. It is not to be supposed that on such an occasion the whole horde of waspish Lilliputians, who hated the genius of glorious John, would not pour forth a very torrent of venom and slime. Such impotent pasquils as _The Renegado Poet_, and _To Mr._ Dryden _upon his declaring himself a Roman Catholic_ abound. Dryden, so far as we know, had always shown himself kindly to Mrs. Behn. He included her paraphrase of Ovid’s _OEnone to Paris_ in the translation of Ovid’s Epistles ‘by several Hands’ (1680), and took care to pay her a graceful compliment in the preface. Further, he allowed a prologue of his own to be used at the production of her posthumous play, _The Widow Ranter_, in 1690. His letter of advice to Corinna (Mrs. Thomas), which, with an acknowledgement of the freedom of some of his own scenes, bids her refrain from following the carelessness of the illustrious Astrea, was written with reference to the mitigated taste of the last years of the seventeenth century when Collier had already penned his diatribe of decorum, rather than as a rebuke of, or a reflection upon Mrs. Behn.

I owe the present copy of this satire, which has never before been printed, to the kindness of G. Thorn Drury, Esq., K.C., who generously transcribed the lines, thirty-one in number, from a MS. in his possession, which he copied from Haslewood, who writes ‘From an old MS. in my Port Folio’.[7] _The Historical MSS. Commission Third Report_ (1872) _Appendix_ gives amongst the MSS. in the custody of the Bishop of Southwark, _On Mr. Dryden renegate_, by Mrs. Behn, 1 leaf, 33 lines. Fr. Cunningham, the Southwark archivist, whom I take this opportunity of most heartily thanking for the trouble he was put to in the matter, finds that this leaf was one of a number of MSS. restored by Bishop Danell in October, 1875, to the two sources whence they had been borrowed by the Rev. Mark Tierney. These were the Archivium of the late Cardinal Manning, and the Stonyhurst collection. Fr. Cyril Martindale, S.J., informs me that the poem is not to be found at Stonyhurst College. Nor can it be traced at Westminster. The unfortunate conclusion is that it has been irretrievably lost. A couplet would appear to have dropped out in the present copy.

[7] In line twenty-four the MS. has ‘constant to worship’, but as Mr. Thorn Drury pertinently points out, ‘content’ is clearly the right word.

p. 401 _Valentinian._ For Rochester’s _Valentinian_ see Vol. III, _The Lucky Chance_, Preface (p. 186), and note on that passage (p. 484). This alteration was printed quarto, 1685, with a vigorous defence of Rochester, ‘a Preface concerning the Author and his Writings. _By one of his Friends._’ (i.e. Robert Wolseley, son of Sir Charles Wolseley.) It is curious to note that two publishers divided the risk of publication, and on the title pages of different 4tos we have different names. Mrs. Sarah Cook, who spoke this Prologue the first day, was an actress of no little eminence and beauty. Her origin was humble (her mother is said to have kept a tiny shop), and she early joined the Nursery. In 1677 we find her cast for Gillian, when Leanard’s wholesale plagiarism of Brewer’s _Country Girl_ entitled _Country Innocence; or, The Chambermaid turn’d Quaker_, was produced during Lent by the younger part of the Theatre Royal Company, with help from such experienced performers as Haynes, Lydal, Goodman, Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. Knipp. The following year Mrs. Cook acted Flora in _The Rambling Justice_, another Nursery play, also put on in Lent. Langbaine ascribes this comedy to Leanard, and much of it is stolen in his style. Amongst Mrs. Cook’s many rôles after she had joined the King’s Company as a regular actress were:--1681, Livia, in D’Urfey’s _Sir Barnaby Whig_; 1682, Semanthe, in Southerne’s _The Loyal Brother_; The Countess of Rutland in Banks’ _The Unhappy Favourite_. After the Union of the Companies (first performance 16 November, 1682), Mrs. Cook, who had already taken a high place, acted parts of great importance. We find that she spoke the Epilogue to Dryden and Lee’s _The Duke of Guise_ (December, 1682), and in 1683 she appears as Spaconia in a notable revival of _A King and No King_. The same year she possibly acted the Countess in Ravenscroft’s _Dame Dobson_. In 1684 she played Serena in Lee’s _Constantine the Great_; Erminia in Southerne’s _The Disappointment_; Portia, in a revival of _Julius Cæsar_; 1685, Aminta in D’Urfey’s _The Commonwealth of Women_; Edith, in a revival of _Rollo, Duke of Normandy_; 1686, Lady Lovemore in Jevon’s farce, _A Devil of A Wife_; Donna Elvira in D’Urfey’s _The Banditti_; 1687, Letitia in Mrs. Behn’s _The Lucky Chance_; Quisara in Tate’s poor alteration of _The Island Princess_; Elaria, in Mrs. Behn’s farcical _The Emperor of the Moon_. Genest who records this as her last rôle says that she quitted the stage at this time. It has been stated that she died in the winter of 1687. At any rate her name no longer appears, and her place was amply filled by the advent of Mrs. Bracegirdle. Mrs. Cook was celebrated for speaking saucy and political epilogues, e.g. that to _The Duke of Guise_, and, again, Dryden’s brilliant epilogue to _Constantine the Great_. A MS. (Harleian) _Satire on the Players_ (c. 1682-3) coarsely vilipends her thus:--

Impudent _Sarah_ thinks she’s praised by all, Mistaken Drab, back to thy Mother’s stall, And let true Savin whom thou hast proved so well; } ‘Tis a rare thing that belly will not swell, } Though swived and swived and as debauched as hell. }

On the Second Day of _Valentinian_ a second prologue was spoken by Mrs. Cook. They are clever verses, and with regard to the critics who gird at Rochester, some ‘for his want of Wit’, and others because ‘he too obscenely writ’, it is said:--

Like _Falstaffe_ let ‘em conquer Heroes dead, And praise _Greek_ Poets they cou’d never read.

The third ‘Prologue intended for _Valentinian_, to be spoken by _Mrs. Barrey_’ contains the famous lines with reference to the dead author:--

Some Beauties here I see-- Though now demure, have felt his pow’rful Charms, And languish’d in the circle of his Arms.

p. 402 _Jenny._ A well-known orange wench to whom there are allusions in the satires of the day. ‘Jenny’ is sometimes also a generic name for a mask.

p. 402 _Blanket Fair._ Evelyn, 6 January, 1684, notes ‘the river quite frozen’, and on the 9th writes: ‘I went across the Thames on the ice, now become so thick as to bear not only streets of booths, in which they roasted meat, and had divers shops of wares, quite across as in a town, but coaches, carts and horses passed over.’ On subsequent days he notes the continuance of this frost, and on 24 January has a famous description of the Thames fair with its ‘sleds, sliding with skates, a bull-baiting, horse and coach-races, puppet-plays and interludes, cooks, tippling, and other lewd places, so that it seemed to be a bacchanalian triumph, or carnival on the water’. A printing press was even set up and cards printed, one of which is given, dated 5 February, in a note by Bray, _Evelyn’s Diary_, II (p. 192) (1850).

p. 403 _To Henry Higden._ Henry Higden, to whose translation of Juvenal’s tenth satire Mrs. Behn prefixed these complimentary verses, was a well-known wit of the day. A Yorkshireman, a member of the Middle Temple, he moved in the best and gayest society. In 1686 he published _A Modern Essay on the Thirteenth Satyr of Juvenal_ (Licensed 11 November, 1685), and in 1687 followed this up by _A Modern Essay on the Tenth Satyr of Juvenal_. With Mrs. Behn’s Poem are also printed verses by Dryden and Settle. Higden is the author of a good comedy, _The Wary Widdow: or, Sir Noisy Parrat_ (4to, 1693). Sir Charles Sedley wrote the prologue, there are six copies (one by Tom Brown in Latin), of complimentary verses, and the play is dedicated to the Earl of Dorset and Middlesex. A legend exists that the author ‘had introduced so much punch-drinking into it that the actors got intoxicated before the end of the third act, and the house separated in confusion’. This seems to me dubious at the least, and if true the actors must have begun in a singularly mellow condition. Sir Noisy, indeed (Act i), declares ‘we must banish _Venus_ out of our Calender, Jolly _Bacchus_ shall rejoyce our hearts, and be our Dominical Letter,’ yet in Act ii, sc. iii, he toasts Clarinda’s health but once and that in ‘Wine and Colour’d water’. whilst Act iii, sc. vi, ‘_the_ Rose Tavern’ where Sir Noisy gets drunk with Scaredevil and Fulham is somewhat quiet for a toping of the period. In Act iv Nantz is quaffed on shipboard, but all the rest of the play is temperate enough, and the tradition (repeated ad nauseam), must indubitably be dismissed as pure fiction. Higden in his Preface ascribes the doom of _The Wary Widdow_ to those ‘Sons of _Zeruiah_’, the ‘murmuring _Israelites_’ and ‘Pagans of the Pits’ who ’.issing, mimicking, ridiculing, and Cat-calling’ utterly ‘vanquished the stage’, and dumbfounded the unfortunate performers. No doubt a braying clique damned the piece. It may be noted that in his Preface Higden takes occasion to gird at the recent success of Congreve’s _The Old Bachelor_.

p. 405 _On the Death of E. Waller, Esq._ Edmund Waller died at Hall Barn, 21 October, 1687, and on 26 October was buried in Beaconsfield churchyard. This elegy of Mrs. Behn’s was first printed in a collection entitled _Poems to Memory of that Incomparable Poet Edmund Waller, Esquire_. ‘By Several Hands.’ 1688. The volume (27 pages), contains poems by Sir John Cotton, Bart.; Sir Tho. Higgons; T. Rymer; Monsieur St. Evremon (six lines in French, with an English translation by T. R.); George Granville; Bevill Higgons; A. Behn; an Anonymous Poem; and ’.o Mr. Riley, Drawing Mr. Waller’s Picture’, signed T. R. The letter accompanying these lines sent by Mrs. Behn to Waller’s daughter-in-law, will be found in the Memoir (Vol. I, pp. l-li).

p. 407 _A Pindaric Poem._ For the occasion of this Poem _vide_ Vol. I, p. liii. From stanza 4 it would appear that Dr. Burnet had suggested to Mrs. Behn that she should write a Pindaric or some similar poem on William of Orange and his consort. To her credit she refused. The verses _To Her Sacred Majesty Queen Mary_ are more than ample on such themes.

INDEX OF FIRST LINES.

A VOL. PAGE A Constancy in Love I’ll prise vi 304

A Curse upon that faithless Maid iii 396

A Den where Tygers make the passage good vi 252

A Lady lovely, with a charming Meen vi 261

A Lovers Rage and Jealousie vi 330

A Neighbouring Villa which derives its name vi 237

A Palace that is more uneasy far vi 269

A Pox of the States-man that’s witty i 397; vi 211

A Pox upon this needless Scorn i 188; vi 190

A thousand Martyrs I have made vi 305

After our showing Play of mighty Pains ii 192

After these Debates of Love vi 73

Ah! charming Object of my wishing Thought! vi 19

Ah! Charmion! shroud those killing Eyes iv 386

Ah! cruel Love! when will thy Torments cease? vi 307

Ah! false Amyntas, can that Hour i 273

Ah hapless sex! who bear no charms vi 348

Ah! he who first found out the way vi 25

Ah, Jenny, gen your Eyes do kill ii 253

Ah, Sylvia! if I still pursue vi 198

Ah! what can mean that eager Joy vi 192

Ah! wonder not if I appear vi 46

Alas! and must the Sun decline vi 61

Alexis, since you’ll have it so vi 349

All Joy to Mortals, Joy and Mirth iii 457

All Trembling in my Arms Aminta lay vi 241

All you Beauties and Attractions vi 342

Aminta, fear not to confess vi 38

Amyntas, that true hearted Swaine iii 321; vi 164

Amyntas, if your Wit in Dreams vi 174

Amyntas led me to a Grove i 255; vi 163

Amyntas, whilst you vi 173

And how, and how, Mesieurs! what do you say vi 382

And sighing said, ah Gods! have you vi 258

And tho’ I do not speak, alas vi 251

As Country Squire, who yet had never known iii 5

As free as wanton Winds I liv’d vi 56

As Rivals of each other jealous prove iv 319

As when a Conqu’ror does in Triumph come vi 175

As when a Monarch does in Triumph come vi 393

As young Selinda led her Flock vi 375

At last, dear Lysidas, I’l set thee Free vi 224

B

Beauty like Wit, can only charm when new ii 106

Beneath the kind protecting Laurel’s shade vi 63

Beyond the Merit of the Age vi 204

Blest Age! when ev’ry Purling Stream vi 138

By Heaven ‘tis false, I am not vain vi 43

C

Cease, cease, Aminta, to complain vi 370

Cease, cease, that vain and useless scorn vi 326

Cease to defend your Amorous Heart vi 319

Cease your Wonder, cease your Guess iii 233

Celinda, who did Love Disdain iii 55; vi 209

Ceres, Great Goddess of the bounteous Year vi 177

Cold as my solid Chrystal is vi 99

Come, my fair Cloris, come away vi 156

Come, my Phillis, let us improve vi 192

Crudo Amore, Crudo Amore ii 361

Cupid, my darling Cupid, and my Joy vi 387

D

Damon, altho you waste in vain vi 378

Damon, I cannot blame your Will ii 111; vi 165

Damon, if you’d have me true vi 36

Damon, if your Heart and Flame vi 27

Damon, if your Love be true vi 31

Damon, my Watch is just and new vi 79

Damon, the young, the am’rous, and the true vi 96

Darling of Mars! Bellona’s Care! vi 78

Dear Silvia, let’s no farther strive vi 212

Dull Love no more thy Senceless Arrows prize vi 208

E

Enough kind Heaven! to purpose I have liv’d vi 171

F

Fain I would have leave to tell vi 102

Fair Goddess of my just Desire vi 81

Fair Ladies, pity an Unhappy Maid vi 399

Fair lovely Maid, or if that Title be vi 363

Fair Nymph, remember all your Scorn (_J. Wright_) ii 183

Faithful Lisander, I your Vows approve vi 259

Farewel, my little charming Boy! vi 310

Farewell the Great, the Brave and Good vi 144

Farewel the World and mortal Cares ii 394

Fly, Lysidus, this hated Place vi 340

Fond Love thy pretty Flatteries cease vi 267

For far less Conquest we have known vi 87

G

Gallants, our Poets have of late so us’d ye iii 285

Gallants, you have so long been absent hence ii 6; iv 309

Give me the Man that’s hollow vi 391

Go, happy Lovers, perfect the desires vi 282

H

Had’st thou, Amintas, liv’d in that great age vi 360

Hail, Beauteous Prophetess, in whom alone (_Kendrick_) vi 296

Hail, Learned Bard! who dost thy power dispence vi 379

Hang Love, for I will never pine iii 309

Heav’n for Sovereignty has made your Form vi 98