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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4679-0.txt b/4679-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2379891 --- /dev/null +++ b/4679-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6242 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Lives of the English Poets, by Samuel +Johnson, Edited by Henry Morley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Lives of the English Poets + Addison, Savage, Swift + + +Author: Samuel Johnson + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: May 31, 2020 [eBook #4679] +[This book was first released Feburary 26, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE ENGLISH POETS*** + + +Transcribed from the 1888 Cassell & Company edition by Les Bowler. + + [Picture: Book cover] + + CASSELL’S NATIONAL LIBRARY. + + * * * * * + + + + + + LIVES + OF THE + ENGLISH POETS + + + Addison Savage Swift + + * * * * * + + BY + SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. + + [Picture: Decorative graphic] + + CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED: + _LONDON_, _PARIS_, _NEW YORK & MELBOURNE_. + 1888. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +JOHNSON’S “Lives of the Poets” were written to serve as Introductions to +a trade edition of the works of poets whom the booksellers selected for +republication. Sometimes, therefore, they dealt briefly with men in whom +the public at large has long ceased to be interested. Richard Savage +would be of this number if Johnson’s account of his life had not secured +for him lasting remembrance. Johnson’s Life of Savage in this volume has +not less interest than the Lives of Addison and Swift, between which it +is set, although Savage himself has no right at all to be remembered in +such company. Johnson published this piece of biography when his age was +thirty-five; his other lives of poets appeared when that age was about +doubled. He was very poor when the Life of Savage was written for Cave. +Soon after its publication, we are told, Mr. Harte dined with Cave, and +incidentally praised it. Meeting him again soon afterwards Cave said to +Mr. Harte, “You made a man very happy t’other day.” “How could that be?” +asked Harte. “Nobody was there but ourselves.” Cave answered by +reminding him that a plate of victuals was sent behind a screen, which +was to Johnson, dressed so shabbily that he did not choose to appear. + +Johnson, struggling, found Savage struggling, and was drawn to him by +faith in the tale he told. We have seen in our own time how even an +Arthur Orton could find sensible and good people to believe the tale with +which he sought to enforce claim upon the Tichborne baronetcy. Savage had +literary skill, and he could personate the manners of a gentleman in days +when there were still gentlemen of fashion who drank, lied, and swaggered +into midnight brawls. I have no doubt whatever that he was the son of the +nurse with whom the Countess of Macclesfield had placed a child that +died, and that after his mother’s death he found the papers upon which he +built his plot to personate the child, extort money from the Countess and +her family, and bring himself into a profitable notoriety. + +Johnson’s simple truthfulness and ready sympathy made it hard for him to +doubt the story told as Savage told it to him. But when he told it again +himself, though he denounced one whom he believed to be an unnatural +mother, and dealt gently with his friend, he did not translate evil into +good. Through all the generous and kindly narrative we may see clearly +that Savage was an impostor. There is the heart of Johnson in the noble +appeal against judgment of the self-righteous who have never known the +harder trials of the world, when he says of Savage, “Those are no proper +judges of his conduct, who have slumbered away their time on the down of +plenty; nor will any wise man easily presume to say, ‘Had I been in +Savage’s condition, I should have lived or written better than Savage.’” +But Johnson, who made large allowance for temptations pressing on the +poor, himself suffered and overcame the hardest trials, firm always to +his duty, true servant of God and friend of man. + +Richard Savage’s whole public life was built upon a lie. His base nature +foiled any attempt made to befriend him; and the friends he lost, he +slandered; Richard Steele among them. Samuel Johnson was a friend easy to +make, and difficult to lose. There was no money to be got from him, for +he was altogether poor in everything but the large spirit of human +kindness. Savage drew largely on him for sympathy, and had it; although +Johnson was too clear-sighted to be much deceived except in judgment upon +the fraudulent claims which then gave rise to division of opinion. The +Life of Savage is a noble piece of truth, although it rests on faith put +in a fraud. + + H. M. + + + + +ADDISON. + + +JOSEPH ADDISON was born on the 1st of May, 1672, at Milston, of which his +father, Lancelot Addison, was then rector, near Ambrosebury, in +Wiltshire, and, appearing weak and unlikely to live, he was christened +the same day. After the usual domestic education, which from the +character of his father may be reasonably supposed to have given him +strong impressions of piety, he was committed to the care of Mr. Naish at +Ambrosebury, and afterwards of Mr. Taylor at Salisbury. + +Not to name the school or the masters of men illustrious for literature, +is a kind of historical fraud, by which honest fame is injuriously +diminished: I would therefore trace him through the whole process of his +education. In 1683, in the beginning of his twelfth year, his father, +being made Dean of Lichfield, naturally carried his family to his new +residence, and, I believe, placed him for some time, probably not long, +under Mr. Shaw, then master of the school at Lichfield, father of the +late Dr. Peter Shaw. Of this interval his biographers have given no +account, and I know it only from a story of a _barring-out_, told me, +when I was a boy, by Andrew Corbet, of Shropshire, who had heard it from +Mr. Pigot, his uncle. + +The practice of _barring-out_ was a savage licence, practised in many +schools to the end of the last century, by which the boys, when the +periodical vacation drew near, growing petulant at the approach of +liberty, some days before the time of regular recess, took possession of +the school, of which they barred the doors, and bade their master +defiance from the windows. It is not easy to suppose that on such +occasions the master would do more than laugh; yet, if tradition may be +credited, he often struggled hard to force or surprise the garrison. The +master, when Pigot was a schoolboy, was _barred out_ at Lichfield; and +the whole operation, as he said, was planned and conducted by Addison. + +To judge better of the probability of this story, I have inquired when he +was sent to the Chartreux; but, as he was not one of those who enjoyed +the founder’s benefaction, there is no account preserved of his +admission. At the school of the Chartreux, to which he was removed either +from that of Salisbury or Lichfield, he pursued his juvenile studies +under the care of Dr. Ellis, and contracted that intimacy with Sir +Richard Steele which their joint labours have so effectually recorded. + +Of this memorable friendship the greater praise must be given to Steele. +It is not hard to love those from whom nothing can be feared; and Addison +never considered Steele as a rival; but Steele lived, as he confesses, +under an habitual subjection to the predominating genius of Addison, whom +he always mentioned with reverence, and treated with obsequiousness. + +Addison, who knew his own dignity, could not always forbear to show it, +by playing a little upon his admirer; but he was in no danger of retort; +his jests were endured without resistance or resentment. But the sneer of +jocularity was not the worst. Steele, whose imprudence of generosity, or +vanity of profusion, kept him always incurably necessitous, upon some +pressing exigence, in an evil hour, borrowed a hundred pounds of his +friend probably without much purpose of repayment; but Addison, who seems +to have had other notions of a hundred pounds, grew impatient of delay, +and reclaimed his loan by an execution. Steele felt with great +sensibility the obduracy of his creditor, but with emotions of sorrow +rather than of anger. + +In 1687 he was entered into Queen’s College in Oxford, where, in 1689, +the accidental perusal of some Latin verses gained him the patronage of +Dr. Lancaster, afterwards Provost of Queen’s College; by whose +recommendation he was elected into Magdalen College as a demy, a term by +which that society denominates those who are elsewhere called scholars: +young men who partake of the founder’s benefaction, and succeed in their +order to vacant fellowships. Here he continued to cultivate poetry and +criticism, and grew first eminent by his Latin compositions, which are +indeed entitled to particular praise. He has not confined himself to the +imitation of any ancient author, but has formed his style from the +general language, such as a diligent perusal of the productions of +different ages happened to supply. His Latin compositions seem to have +had much of his fondness, for he collected a second volume of the “Musæ +Anglicanæ” perhaps for a convenient receptacle, in which all his Latin +pieces are inserted, and where his poem on the Peace has the first place. +He afterwards presented the collection to Boileau, who from that time +“conceived,” says Tickell, “an opinion of the English genius for poetry.” +Nothing is better known of Boileau than that he had an injudicious and +peevish contempt of modern Latin, and therefore his profession of regard +was probably the effect of his civility rather than approbation. + +Three of his Latin poems are upon subjects on which perhaps he would not +have ventured to have written in his own language: “The Battle of the +Pigmies and Cranes,” “The Barometer,” and “A Bowling-green.” When the +matter is low or scanty, a dead language, in which nothing is mean +because nothing is familiar, affords great conveniences; and by the +sonorous magnificence of Roman syllables, the writer conceals penury of +thought, and want of novelty, often from the reader and often from +himself. + +In his twenty-second year he first showed his power of English poetry by +some verses addressed to Dryden; and soon after published a translation +of the greater part of the Fourth Georgic upon Bees; after which, says +Dryden, “my latter swarm is scarcely worth the hiving.” About the same +time he composed the arguments prefixed to the several books of Dryden’s +Virgil; and produced an Essay on the Georgics, juvenile, superficial, and +uninstructive, without much either of the scholar’s learning or the +critic’s penetration. His next paper of verses contained a character of +the principal English poets, inscribed to Henry Sacheverell, who was +then, if not a poet, a writer of verses; as is shown by his version of a +small part of Virgil’s Georgics, published in the Miscellanies; and a +Latin encomium on Queen Mary, in the “Musæ Anglicanæ.” These verses +exhibit all the fondness of friendship; but, on one side or the other, +friendship was afterwards too weak for the malignity of faction. In this +poem is a very confident and discriminate character of Spenser, whose +work he had then never read; so little sometimes is criticism the effect +of judgment. It is necessary to inform the reader that about this time he +was introduced by Congreve to Montague, then Chancellor of the Exchequer: +Addison was then learning the trade of a courtier, and subjoined Montague +as a poetical name to those of Cowley and of Dryden. By the influence of +Mr. Montague, concurring, according to Tickell, with his natural modesty, +he was diverted from his original design of entering into holy orders. +Montague alleged the corruption of men who engaged in civil employments +without liberal education; and declared that, though he was represented +as an enemy to the Church, he would never do it any injury but by +withholding Addison from it. + +Soon after (in 1695) he wrote a poem to King William, with a rhyming +introduction addressed to Lord Somers. King William had no regard to +elegance or literature; his study was only war; yet by a choice of +Ministers, whose disposition was very different from his own, he +procured, without intention, a very liberal patronage to poetry. Addison +was caressed both by Somers and Montague. + +In 1697 appeared his Latin verses on the Peace of Ryswick, which he +dedicated to Montague, and which was afterwards called, by Smith, “the +best Latin poem since the ‘Æneid.’” Praise must not be too rigorously +examined; but the performance cannot be denied to be vigorous and +elegant. Having yet no public employment, he obtained (in 1699) a pension +of three hundred pounds a year, that he might be enabled to travel. He +stayed a year at Blois, probably to learn the French language and then +proceeded in his journey to Italy, which he surveyed with the eyes of a +poet. While he was travelling at leisure, he was far from being idle: for +he not only collected his observations on the country, but found time to +write his “Dialogues on Medals,” and four acts of _Cato_. Such, at least, +is the relation of Tickell. Perhaps he only collected his materials and +formed his plan. Whatever were his other employments in Italy, he there +wrote the letter to Lord Halifax which is justly considered as the most +elegant, if not the most sublime, of his poetical productions. But in +about two years he found it necessary to hasten home; being, as Swift +informs us, distressed by indigence, and compelled to become the tutor of +a travelling squire, because his pension was not remitted. + +At his return he published his Travels, with a dedication to Lord Somers. +As his stay in foreign countries was short, his observations are such as +might be supplied by a hasty view, and consist chiefly in comparisons of +the present face of the country with the descriptions left us by the +Roman poets, from whom he made preparatory collections, though he might +have spared the trouble had he known that such collections had been made +twice before by Italian authors. + +The most amusing passage of his book is his account of the minute +republic of San Marino; of many parts it is not a very severe censure to +say that they might have been written at home. His elegance of language, +and variegation of prose and verse, however, gain upon the reader; and +the book, though awhile neglected, became in time so much the favourite +of the public that before it was reprinted it rose to five times its +price. + +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; and a mind so cultivated +gives reason to believe that little time was lost. But he remained not +long neglected or useless. The victory at Blenheim (1704) spread triumph +and confidence over the nation; and Lord Godolphin, lamenting to Lord +Halifax that it had not been celebrated in a manner equal to the subject, +desired him to propose it to some better poet. Halifax told him that +there was no encouragement for genius; that worthless men were +unprofitably enriched with public money, without any care to find or +employ those whose appearance might do honour to their country. To this +Godolphin replied that such abuses should in time be rectified; and that, +if a man could be found capable of the task then proposed, he should not +want an ample recompense. Halifax then named Addison, but required that +the Treasurer should apply to him in his own person. Godolphin sent the +message by Mr. Boyle, afterwards Lord Carlton; and Addison, having +undertaken the work, communicated it to the Treasury while it was yet +advanced no further than the simile of the angel, and was immediately +rewarded by succeeding Mr. Locke in the place of Commissioner of Appeals. + +In the following year he was at Hanover with Lord Halifax: and the year +after he was made Under Secretary of State, first to Sir Charles Hedges, +and in a few months more to the Earl of Sunderland. About this time the +prevalent taste for Italian operas inclined him to try what would be the +effect of a musical drama in our own language. He therefore wrote the +opera of Rosamond, which, when exhibited on the stage, was either hissed +or neglected; but, trusting that the readers would do him more justice, +he published it with an inscription to the Duchess of Marlborough—a woman +without skill, or pretensions to skill, in poetry or literature. His +dedication was therefore an instance of servile absurdity, to be exceeded +only by Joshua Barnes’s dedication of a Greek Anacreon to the Duke. His +reputation had been somewhat advanced by The Tender Husband, a comedy +which Steele dedicated to him, with a confession that he owed to him +several of the most successful scenes. To this play Addison supplied a +prologue. + +When the Marquis of Wharton was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, +Addison attended him as his secretary; and was made Keeper of the +Records, in Birmingham’s Tower, with a salary of three hundred pounds a +year. The office was little more than nominal, and the salary was +augmented for his accommodation. Interest and faction allow little to the +operation of particular dispositions or private opinions. Two men of +personal characters more opposite than those of Wharton and Addison could +not easily be brought together. Wharton was impious, profligate, and +shameless; without regard, or appearance of regard, to right and wrong. +Whatever is contrary to this may be said of Addison; but as agents of a +party they were connected, and how they adjusted their other sentiments +we cannot know. + +Addison must, however, not be too hastily condemned. It is not necessary +to refuse benefits from a bad man when the acceptance implies no +approbation of his crimes; nor has the subordinate officer any obligation +to examine the opinions or conduct of those under whom he acts, except +that he may not be made the instrument of wickedness. It is reasonable to +suppose that Addison counteracted, as far as he was able, the malignant +and blasting influence of the Lieutenant; and that at least by his +intervention some good was done, and some mischief prevented. When he was +in office he made a law to himself, as Swift has recorded, never to remit +his regular fees in civility to his friends: “for,” said he, “I may have +a hundred friends; and if my fee be two guineas, I shall, by +relinquishing my right, lose two hundred guineas, and no friend gain more +than two; there is therefore no proportion between the good imparted and +the evil suffered.” He was in Ireland when Steele, without any +communication of his design, began the publication of the _Tatler_; but +he was not long concealed; by inserting a remark on Virgil which Addison +had given him he discovered himself. It is, indeed, not easy for any man +to write upon literature or common life so as not to make himself known +to those with whom he familiarly converses, and who are acquainted with +his track of study, his favourite topic, his peculiar notions, and his +habitual phrases. + +If Steele desired to write in secret, he was not lucky; a single month +detected him. His first _Tatler_ was published April 22 (1709); and +Addison’s contribution appeared May 26. Tickell observes that the +_Tatler_ began and was concluded without his concurrence. This is +doubtless literally true; but the work did not suffer much by his +unconsciousness of its commencement, or his absence at its cessation; for +he continued his assistance to December 23, and the paper stopped on +January 2. He did not distinguish his pieces by any signature; and I know +not whether his name was not kept secret till the papers were collected +into volumes. + +To the _Tatler_, in about two months, succeeded the _Spectator_: a series +of essays of the same kind, but written with less levity, upon a more +regular plan, and published daily. Such an undertaking showed the writers +not to distrust their own copiousness of materials or facility of +composition, and their performance justified their confidence. They +found, however, in their progress many auxiliaries. To attempt a single +paper was no terrifying labour; many pieces were offered, and many were +received. + +Addison had enough of the zeal of party; but Steele had at that time +almost nothing else. The _Spectator_, in one of the first papers, showed +the political tenets of its authors; but a resolution was soon taken of +courting general approbation by general topics, and subjects on which +faction had produced no diversity of sentiments—such as literature, +morality, and familiar life. To this practice they adhered with few +deviations. The ardour of Steele once broke out in praise of Marlborough; +and when Dr. Fleetwood prefixed to some sermons a preface overflowing +with Whiggish opinions, that it might be read by the Queen, it was +reprinted in the _Spectator_. + +To teach the minuter decencies and inferior duties, to regulate the +practice of daily conversation, to correct those depravities which are +rather ridiculous than criminal, and remove those grievances which, if +they produce no lasting calamities, impress hourly vexation, was first +attempted by Casa in his book of “Manners,” and Castiglione in his +“Courtier:” two books yet celebrated in Italy for purity and elegance, +and which, if they are now less read, are neglected only because they +have effected that reformation which their authors intended, and their +precepts now are no longer wanted. Their usefulness to the age in which +they were written is sufficiently attested by the translations which +almost all the nations of Europe were in haste to obtain. + +This species of instruction was continued, and perhaps advanced, by the +French; among whom La Bruyère’s “Manners of the Age” (though, as Boileau +remarked, it is written without connection) certainly deserves praise for +liveliness of description and justness of observation. + +Before the _Tatler_ and _Spectator_, if the writers for the theatre are +excepted, England had no masters of common life. No writers had yet +undertaken to reform either the savageness of neglect, or the +impertinence of civility; to show when to speak, or to be silent; how to +refuse, or how to comply. We had many books to teach us our more +important duties, and to settle opinions in philosophy or politics; but +an _arbiter elegantiarum_, (a judge of propriety) was yet wanting who +should survey the track of daily conversation, and free it from thorns +and prickles, which tease the passer, though they do not wound him. For +this purpose nothing is so proper as the frequent publication of short +papers, which we read, not as study, but amusement. If the subject be +slight, the treatise is short. The busy may find time, and the idle may +find patience. This mode of conveying cheap and easy knowledge began +among us in the civil war, when it was much the interest of either party +to raise and fix the prejudices of the people. At that time appeared +_Mercurius Aulicus_, _Mercurius Rusticus_, and _Mercurius Civicus_. It is +said that when any title grew popular, it was stolen by the antagonist, +who by this stratagem conveyed his notions to those who would not have +received him had he not worn the appearance of a friend. The tumult of +those unhappy days left scarcely any man leisure to treasure up +occasional compositions; and so much were they neglected that a complete +collection is nowhere to be found. + +These Mercuries were succeeded by L’Estrange’s _Observator_; and that by +Lesley’s _Rehearsal_, and perhaps by others; but hitherto nothing had +been conveyed to the people, in this commodious manner, but controversy +relating to the Church or State; of which they taught many to talk, whom +they could not teach to judge. + +It has been suggested that the Royal Society was instituted soon after +the Restoration to divert the attention of the people from public +discontent. The _Tatler_ and _Spectator_ had the same tendency; they were +published at a time when two parties—loud, restless, and violent, each +with plausible declarations, and each perhaps without any distinct +termination of its views—were agitating the nation; to minds heated with +political contest they supplied cooler and more inoffensive reflections; +and it is said by Addison, in a subsequent work, that they had a +perceptible influence upon the conversation of that time, and taught the +frolic and the gay to unite merriment with decency—an effect which they +can never wholly lose while they continue to be among the first books by +which both sexes are initiated in the elegances of knowledge. + +The _Tatler_ and _Spectator_ adjusted, like Casa, the unsettled practice +of daily intercourse by propriety and politeness; and, like La Bruyère, +exhibited the “Characters and Manners of the Age.” The personages +introduced in these papers were not merely ideal; they were then known, +and conspicuous in various stations. Of the _Tatler_ this is told by +Steele in his last paper; and of the _Spectator_ by Budgell in the +preface to “Theophrastus,” a book which Addison has recommended, and +which he was suspected to have revised, if he did not write it. Of those +portraits which may be supposed to be sometimes embellished, and +sometimes aggravated, the originals are now partly known, and partly +forgotten. But to say that they united the plans of two or three eminent +writers, is to give them but a small part of their due praise; they +superadded literature and criticism, and sometimes towered far above +their predecessors; and taught, with great justness of argument and +dignity of language, the most important duties and sublime truths. All +these topics were happily varied with elegant fictions and refined +allegories, and illuminated with different changes of style and +felicities of invention. + +It is recorded by Budgell, that of the characters feigned or exhibited in +the _Spectator_, the favourite of Addison was Sir Roger de Coverley, of +whom he had formed a very delicate and discriminate idea, which he would +not suffer to be violated; and therefore when Steele had shown him +innocently picking up a girl in the Temple, and taking her to a tavern, +he drew upon himself so much of his friend’s indignation that he was +forced to appease him by a promise of forbearing Sir Roger for the time +to come. + +The reason which induced Cervantes to bring his hero to the grave, _para +mi sola nacio Don Quixote_, _y yo para el_, made Addison declare, with +undue vehemence of expression, that he would kill Sir Roger; being of +opinion that they were born for one another, and that any other hand +would do him wrong. + +It may be doubted whether Addison ever filled up his original +delineation. He describes his knight as having his imagination somewhat +warped; but of this perversion he has made very little use. The +irregularities in Sir Roger’s conduct seem not so much the effects of a +mind deviating from the beaten track of life, by the perpetual pressure +of some overwhelming idea, as of habitual rusticity, and that negligence +which solitary grandeur naturally generates. The variable weather of the +mind, the flying vapours of incipient madness, which from time to time +cloud reason without eclipsing it, it requires so much nicety to exhibit +that Addison seems to have been deterred from prosecuting his own design. + +To Sir Roger (who, as a country gentleman, appears to be a Tory, or, as +it is gently expressed, an adherent to the landed interest) is opposed +Sir Andrew Freeport, a new man, a wealthy merchant, zealous for the +moneyed interest, and a Whig. Of this contrariety of opinions, it is +probable more consequences were at first intended than could be produced +when the resolution was taken to exclude party from the paper. Sir Andrew +does but little, and that little seems not to have pleased Addison, who, +when he dismissed him from the club, changed his opinions. Steele had +made him, in the true spirit of unfeeling commerce, declare that he +“would not build an hospital for idle people;” but at last he buys land, +settles in the country, and builds, not a manufactory, but an hospital +for twelve old husbandmen—for men with whom a merchant has little +acquaintance, and whom he commonly considers with little kindness. + +Of essays thus elegant, thus instructive, and thus commodiously +distributed, it is natural to suppose the approbation general, and the +sale numerous. I once heard it observed that the sale may be calculated +by the product of the tax, related in the last number to produce more +than twenty pounds a week, and therefore stated at one-and-twenty pounds, +or three pounds ten shillings a day: this, at a halfpenny a paper, will +give sixteen hundred and eighty for the daily number. This sale is not +great; yet this, if Swift be credited, was likely to grow less; for he +declares that the _Spectator_, whom he ridicules for his endless mention +of the _fair sex_, had before his recess wearied his readers. + +The next year (1713), in which _Cato_ came upon the stage, was the grand +climacteric of Addison’s reputation. Upon the death of _Cato_ he had, as +is said, planned a tragedy in the time of his travels, and had for +several years the four first acts finished, which were shown to such as +were likely to spread their admiration. They were seen by Pope and by +Cibber, who relates that Steele, when he took back the copy, told him, in +the despicable cant of literary modesty, that, whatever spirit his friend +had shown in the composition, he doubted whether he would have courage +sufficient to expose it to the censure of a British audience. The time, +however, was now come when those who affected to think liberty in danger +affected likewise to think that a stage-play might preserve it; and +Addison was importuned, in the name of the tutelary deities of Britain, +to show his courage and his zeal by finishing his design. + +To resume his work he seemed perversely and unaccountably unwilling; and +by a request, which perhaps he wished to be denied, desired Mr. Hughes to +add a fifth act. Hughes supposed him serious; and, undertaking the +supplement, brought in a few days some scenes for his examination; but he +had in the meantime gone to work himself, and produced half an act, which +he afterwards completed, but with brevity irregularly disproportionate to +the foregoing parts, like a task performed with reluctance and hurried to +its conclusion. + +It may yet be doubted whether _Cato_ was made public by any change of the +author’s purpose; for Dennis charged him with raising prejudices in his +own favour by false positions of preparatory criticism, and with +_poisoning the town_ by contradicting in the _Spectator_ the established +rule of poetical justice, because his own hero, with all his virtues, was +to fall before a tyrant. The fact is certain; the motives we must guess. + +Addison was, I believe, sufficiently disposed to bar all avenues against +all danger. When Pope brought him the prologue, which is properly +accommodated to the play, there were these words, “Britains, arise! be +worth like this approved;” meaning nothing more than—Britons, erect and +exalt yourselves to the approbation of public virtue. Addison was +frighted, lest he should be thought a promoter of insurrection, and the +line was liquidated to “Britains, attend.” + +Now “heavily in clouds came on the day, the great, the important day,” +when Addison was to stand the hazard of the theatre. That there might, +however, be left as little hazard as was possible, on the first night +Steele, as himself relates, undertook to pack an audience. “This,” says +Pope, “had been tried for the first time in favour of the _Distressed +Mother_; and was now, with more efficacy, practised for _Cato_.” The +danger was soon over. The whole nation was at that time on fire with +faction. The Whigs applauded every line in which liberty was mentioned, +as a satire on the Tories; and the Tories echoed every clap, to show that +the satire was unfelt. The story of Bolingbroke is well known; he called +Booth to his box, and gave him fifty guineas for defending the cause of +liberty so well against a perpetual dictator. “The Whigs,” says Pope, +“design a second present, when they can accompany it with as good a +sentence.” + +The play, supported thus by the emulation of factious praise, was acted +night after night for a longer time than, I believe, the public had +allowed to any drama before; and the author, as Mrs. Porter long +afterwards related, wandered through the whole exhibition behind the +scenes with restless and unappeasable solicitude. When it was printed, +notice was given that the Queen would be pleased if it was dedicated to +her; “but, as he had designed that compliment elsewhere, he found himself +obliged,” says Tickell, “by his duty on the one hand, and his honour on +the other, to send it into the world without any dedication.” + +Human happiness has always its abatements; the brightest sunshine of +success is not without a cloud. No sooner was _Cato_ offered to the +reader than it was attacked by the acute malignity of Dennis with all the +violence of angry criticism. Dennis, though equally zealous, and probably +by his temper more furious than Addison, for what they called liberty, +and though a flatterer of the Whig Ministry, could not sit quiet at a +successful play; but was eager to tell friends and enemies that they had +misplaced their admirations. The world was too stubborn for instruction; +with the fate of the censurer of Corneille’s _Cid_, his animadversions +showed his anger without effect, and _Cato_ continued to be praised. + +Pope had now an opportunity of courting the friendship of Addison by +vilifying his old enemy, and could give resentment its full play without +appearing to revenge himself. He therefore published “A Narrative of the +Madness of John Dennis:” a performance which left the objections to the +play in their full force, and therefore discovered more desire of vexing +the critic than of defending the poet. + +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; and that, whenever he should think fit to answer +his remarks, he would do it in a manner to which nothing could be +objected. + +The greatest weakness of the play is in the scenes of love, which are +said by Pope to have been added to the original plan upon a subsequent +review, in compliance with the popular practice of the stage. Such an +authority it is hard to reject; yet the love is so intimately mingled +with the whole action that it cannot easily be thought extrinsic and +adventitious; for if it were taken away, what would be left? or how were +the four acts filled in the first draft? At the publication the wits +seemed proud to pay their attendance with encomiastic verses. The best +are from an unknown hand, which will perhaps lose somewhat of their +praise when the author is known to be Jeffreys. + +_Cato_ had yet other honours. It was censured as a party-play by a +scholar of Oxford; and defended in a favourable examination by Dr. Sewel. +It was translated by Salvini into Italian, and acted at Florence; and by +the Jesuits of St. Omer’s into Latin, and played by their pupils. Of this +version a copy was sent to Mr. Addison: it is to be wished that it could +be found, for the sake of comparing their version of the soliloquy with +that of Bland. + +A tragedy was written on the same subject by Des Champs, a French poet, +which was translated with a criticism on the English play. But the +translator and the critic are now forgotten. + +Dennis lived on unanswered, and therefore little read. Addison knew the +policy of literature too well to make his enemy important by drawing the +attention of the public upon a criticism which, though sometimes +intemperate, was often irrefragable. + +While _Cato_ was upon the stage, another daily paper, called the +_Guardian_, was published by Steele. To this Addison gave great +assistance, whether occasionally or by previous engagement is not known. +The character of _Guardian_ was too narrow and too serious: it might +properly enough admit both the duties and the decencies of life, but +seemed not to include literary speculations, and was in some degree +violated by merriment and burlesque. What had the _Guardian_ of the +Lizards to do with clubs of tall or of little men, with nests of ants, or +with Strada’s prolusions? Of this paper nothing is necessary to be said +but that it found many contributors, and that it was a continuation of +the _Spectator_, with the same elegance and the same variety, till some +unlucky sparkle from a Tory paper set Steele’s politics on fire, and wit +at once blazed into faction. He was soon too hot for neutral topics, and +quitted the _Guardian_ to write the Englishman. + +The papers of Addison are marked in the _Spectator_ by one of the letters +in the name of Clio, and in the _Guardian_ by a hand; whether it was, as +Tickell pretends to think, that he was unwilling to usurp the praise of +others, or as Steele, with far greater likelihood, insinuates, that he +could not without discontent impart to others any of his own. I have +heard that his avidity did not satisfy itself with the air of renown, but +that with great eagerness he laid hold on his proportion of the profits. + +Many of these papers were written with powers truly comic, with nice +discrimination of characters, and accurate observation of natural or +accidental deviations from propriety; but it was not supposed that he had +tried a comedy on the stage, till Steele after his death declared him the +author of _The Drummer_. This, however, Steele did not know to be true by +any direct testimony, for when Addison put the play into his hands, he +only told him it was the work of a “gentleman in the company;” and when +it was received, as is confessed, with cold disapprobation, he was +probably less willing to claim it. Tickell omitted it in his collection; +but the testimony of Steele, and the total silence of any other claimant, +has determined the public to assign it to Addison, and it is now printed +with other poetry. Steele carried _The Drummer_ to the play-house, and +afterwards to the press, and sold the copy for fifty guineas. + +To the opinion of Steele may be added the proof supplied by the play +itself, of which the characters are such as Addison would have +delineated, and the tendency such as Addison would have promoted. That it +should have been ill received would raise wonder, did we not daily see +the capricious distribution of theatrical praise. + +He was not all this time an indifferent spectator of public affairs. He +wrote, as different exigences required (in 1707), “The Present State of +the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation;” which, however judicious, +being written on temporary topics, and exhibiting no peculiar powers, +laid hold on no attention, and has naturally sunk by its own weight into +neglect. This cannot be said of the few papers entitled the _Whig +Examiner_, in which is employed all the force of gay malevolence and +humorous satire. Of this paper, which just appeared and expired, Swift +remarks, with exultation, that “it is now down among the dead men.” He +might well rejoice at the death of that which he could not have killed. +Every reader of every party, since personal malice is past, and the +papers which once inflamed the nation are read only as effusions of wit, +must wish for more of the _Whig Examiners_; for on no occasion was the +genius of Addison more vigorously exerted, and on none did the +superiority of his powers more evidently appear. His “Trial of Count +Tariff,” written to expose the treaty of commerce with France, lived no +longer than the question that produced it. + +Not long afterwards an attempt was made to revive the _Spectator_, at a +time indeed by no means favourable to literature, when the succession of +a new family to the throne filled the nation with anxiety, discord, and +confusion; and either the turbulence of the times, or the satiety of the +readers, put a stop to the publication after an experiment of eighty +numbers, which were actually collected into an eighth volume, perhaps +more valuable than any of those that went before it. Addison produced +more than a fourth part; and the other contributors are by no means +unworthy of appearing as his associates. The time that had passed during +the suspension of the _Spectator_, though it had not lessened his power +of humour, seems to have increased his disposition to seriousness: the +proportion of his religious to his comic papers is greater than in the +former series. + +The _Spectator_, from its re-commencement, was published only three times +a week; and no discriminative marks were added to the papers. To Addison, +Tickell has ascribed twenty-three. The _Spectator_ had many contributors; +and Steele, whose negligence kept him always in a hurry, when it was his +turn to furnish a paper, called loudly for the letters, of which Addison, +whose materials were more, made little use—having recourse to sketches +and hints, the product of his former studies, which he now reviewed and +completed: among these are named by Tickell the Essays on Wit, those on +the Pleasures of the Imagination, and the Criticism on Milton. + +When the House of Hanover took possession of the throne, it was +reasonable to expect that the zeal of Addison would be suitably rewarded. +Before the arrival of King George, he was made Secretary to the Regency, +and was required by his office to send notice to Hanover that the Queen +was dead, and that the throne was vacant. To do this would not have been +difficult to any man but Addison, who was so overwhelmed with the +greatness of the event, and so distracted by choice of expression, that +the lords, who could not wait for the niceties of criticism, called Mr. +Southwell, a clerk in the House, and ordered him to despatch the message. +Southwell readily told what was necessary in the common style of +business, and valued himself upon having done what was too hard for +Addison. He was better qualified for the _Freeholder_, a paper which he +published twice a week, from December 23, 1715, to the middle of the next +year. This was undertaken in defence of the established Government, +sometimes with argument, and sometimes with mirth. In argument he had +many equals; but his humour was singular and matchless. Bigotry itself +must be delighted with the “Tory Fox-hunter.” There are, however, some +strokes less elegant and less decent; such as the “Pretender’s Journal,” +in which one topic of ridicule is his poverty. This mode of abuse had +been employed by Milton against King Charles II. + + “Jacobœi. + Centum exulantis viscera Marsupii regis.” + +And Oldmixon delights to tell of some alderman of London that he had more +money than the exiled princes; but that which might be expected from +Milton’s savageness, or Oldmixon’s meanness, was not suitable to the +delicacy of Addison. + +Steele thought the humour of the _Freeholder_ too nice and gentle for +such noisy times, and is reported to have said that the Ministry made use +of a lute, when they should have called for a trumpet. + +This year (1716) he married the Countess Dowager of Warwick, whom he had +solicited by a very long and anxious courtship, perhaps with behaviour +not very unlike that of Sir Roger to his disdainful widow; and who, I am +afraid, diverted herself often by playing with his passion. He is said to +have first known her by becoming tutor to her son. “He formed,” said +Tonson, “the design of getting that lady from the time when he was first +taken into the family.” In what part of his life he obtained the +recommendation, or how long, and in what manner he lived in the family, I +know not. His advances at first were certainly timorous, but grew bolder +as his reputation and influence increased; till at last 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. She always remembered her own +rank, and thought herself entitled to treat with very little ceremony the +tutor of her son. Rowe’s ballad of the “Despairing Shepherd” is said to +have been written, either before or after marriage, upon this memorable +pair; and it is certain that Addison has left behind him no encouragement +for ambitious love. + +The year after (1717) he rose to his highest elevation, being made +Secretary of State. For this employment he might be justly supposed +qualified by long practice of business, and by his regular ascent through +other offices; but expectation is often disappointed; it is universally +confessed that he was unequal to the duties of his place. In the House of +Commons he could not speak, and therefore was useless to the defence of +the Government. “In the office,” says Pope, “he could not issue an order +without losing his time in quest of fine expressions.” What he gained in +rank he lost in credit; and finding by experience his own inability, was +forced to solicit his dismission, with a pension of fifteen hundred +pounds a year. His friends palliated this relinquishment, of which both +friends and enemies knew the true reason, with an account of declining +health, and the necessity of recess and quiet. He now returned to his +vocation, and began to plan literary occupations for his future life. He +purposed a tragedy on the death of Socrates: a story of which, as Tickell +remarks, the basis is narrow, and to which I know not how love could have +been appended. There would, however, have been no want either of virtue +in the sentiments, or elegance in the language. He engaged in a nobler +work, a “Defence of the Christian Religion,” of which part was published +after his death; and he designed to have made a new poetical version of +the Psalms. + +These pious compositions Pope imputed to a selfish motive, upon the +credit, as he owns, of Tonson; who, having quarrelled with Addison, and +not loving him, said that when he laid down the Secretary’s office he +intended to take orders and obtain a bishopric; “for,” said he, “I always +thought him a priest in his heart.” + +That Pope should have thought this conjecture of Tonson worth +remembrance, is a proof—but indeed, so far as I have found, the only +proof—that he retained some malignity from their ancient rivalry. Tonson +pretended to guess it; no other mortal ever suspected it; and Pope might +have reflected that a man who had been Secretary of State in the Ministry +of Sunderland knew a nearer way to a bishopric than by defending religion +or translating the Psalms. + +It is related that he had once a design to make an English dictionary, +and that he considered Dr. Tillotson as the writer of highest authority. +There was formerly sent to me by Mr. Locker, clerk of the Leathersellers +Company, who was eminent for curiosity and literature, a collection of +examples selected from Tillotson’s works, as Locker said, by Addison. It +came too late to be of use, so I inspected it but slightly, and remember +it indistinctly. I thought the passages too short. Addison, however, did +not conclude his life in peaceful studies, but relapsed, when he was near +his end, to a political dispute. + +It so happened that (1718–19) a controversy was agitated with great +vehemence between those friends of long continuance, Addison and Steele. +It may be asked, in the language of Homer, what power or what cause +should set them at variance. The subject of their dispute was of great +importance. The Earl of Sunderland proposed an Act, called the “Peerage +Bill;” by which the number of Peers should be fixed, and the King +restrained from any new creation of nobility, unless when an old family +should be extinct. To this the Lords would naturally agree; and the King, +who was yet little acquainted with his own prerogative, and, as is now +well known, almost indifferent to the possessions of the Crown, had been +persuaded to consent. The only difficulty was found among the Commons, +who were not likely to approve the perpetual exclusion of themselves and +their posterity. The Bill, therefore, was eagerly opposed, and, among +others, by Sir Robert Walpole, whose speech was published. + +The Lords might think their dignity diminished by improper advancements, +and particularly by the introduction of twelve new Peers at once, to +produce a majority of Tories in the last reign: an act of authority +violent enough, yet certainly legal, and by no means to be compared with +that contempt of national right with which some time afterwards, by the +instigation of Whiggism, the Commons, chosen by the people for three +years, chose themselves for seven. But, whatever might be the disposition +of the Lords, the people had no wish to increase their power. The +tendency of the Bill, as Steele observed in a letter to the Earl of +Oxford, was to introduce an aristocracy: for a majority in the House of +Lords, so limited, would have been despotic and irresistible. + +To prevent this subversion of the ancient establishment, Steele, whose +pen readily seconded his political passions, endeavoured to alarm the +nation by a pamphlet called “The Plebeian.” To this an answer was +published by Addison, under the title of “The Old Whig,” in which it is +not discovered that Steele was then known to be the advocate for the +Commons. Steele replied by a second “Plebeian;” and, whether by ignorance +or by courtesy, confined himself to his question, without any personal +notice of his opponent. Nothing hitherto was committed against the laws +of friendship or proprieties of decency; but controvertists cannot long +retain their kindness for each other. The “Old Whig” answered “The +Plebeian,” and could not forbear some contempt of “little _Dicky_, whose +trade it was to write pamphlets.” Dicky, however, did not lose his +settled veneration for his friend, but contented himself with quoting +some lines of _Cato_, which were at once detection and reproof. The Bill +was laid aside during that session, and Addison died before the next, in +which its commitment was rejected by two hundred and sixty-five to one +hundred and seventy-seven. + +Every reader surely must regret that these two illustrious friends, after +so many years passed in confidence and endearment, in unity of interest, +conformity of opinion, and fellowship of study, should finally part in +acrimonious opposition. Such a controversy was “bellum plusquam +_civile_,” as Lucan expresses it. Why could not faction find other +advocates? But among the uncertainties of the human state, we are doomed +to number the instability of friendship. Of this dispute I have little +knowledge but from the “Biographia Britannica.” “The Old Whig” is not +inserted in Addison’s works: nor is it mentioned by Tickell in his Life; +why it was omitted, the biographers doubtless give the true reason—the +fact was too recent, and those who had been heated in the contention were +not yet cool. + +The necessity of complying with times, and of sparing persons, is the +great impediment of biography. History may be formed from permanent +monuments and records: but lives can only be written from personal +knowledge, which is growing every day less, and in a short time is lost +for ever. What is known can seldom be immediately told; and when it might +be told, it is no longer known. The delicate features of the mind, the +nice discriminations of character, and the minute peculiarities of +conduct, are soon obliterated; and it is surely better that caprice, +obstinacy, frolic, and folly, however they might delight in the +description, should be silently forgotten, than that, by wanton merriment +and unseasonable detection, a pang should be given to a widow, a +daughter, a brother, or a friend. As the process of these narratives is +now bringing me among my contemporaries, I begin to feel myself “walking +upon ashes under which the fire is not extinguished,” and coming to the +time of which it will be proper rather to say “nothing that is false, +than all that is true.” + +The end of this useful life was now approaching. Addison had for some +time been oppressed by shortness of breath, which was now aggravated by a +dropsy; and, finding his danger pressing, he prepared to die conformably +to his own precepts and professions. During this lingering decay, he +sent, as Pope relates, a message by the Earl of Warwick to Mr. Gay, +desiring to see him. Gay, who had not visited him for some time before, +obeyed the summons, and found himself received with great kindness. The +purpose for which the interview had been solicited was then discovered. +Addison told him that he had injured him; but that, if he recovered, he +would recompense him. What the injury was he did not explain, nor did Gay +ever know; but supposed that some preferment designed for him had, by +Addison’s intervention, been withheld. + +Lord Warwick was a young man, of very irregular life, and perhaps of +loose opinions. Addison, for whom he did not want respect, had very +diligently endeavoured to reclaim him, but his arguments and +expostulations had no effect. One experiment, however, remained to be +tried; when he found his life near its end, he directed the young lord to +be called, and when he desired with great tenderness to hear his last +injunctions, told him, “I have sent for you that you may see how a +Christian can die.” What effect this awful scene had on the earl, I know +not; he likewise died himself in a short time. + +In Tickell’s excellent Elegy on his friend are these lines:— + + “He taught us how to live; and, oh! too high + The price of knowledge, taught us how to die”— + +in which he alludes, as he told Dr. Young, to this moving interview. + +Having given directions to Mr. Tickell for the publication of his works, +and dedicated them on his death-bed to his friend Mr. Craggs, he died +June 17, 1719, at Holland House, leaving no child but a daughter. + +Of his virtue it is a sufficient testimony that the resentment of party +has transmitted no charge of any crime. He was not one of those who are +praised only after death; for his merit was so generally acknowledged +that Swift, having observed that his election passed without a contest, +adds that if he proposed himself for King he would hardly have been +refused. His zeal for his party did not extinguish his kindness for the +merit of his opponents; when he was Secretary in Ireland, he refused to +intermit his acquaintance with Swift. Of his habits or external manners, +nothing is so often mentioned as that timorous or sullen taciturnity, +which his friends called modesty by too mild a name. Steele mentions with +great tenderness “that remarkable bashfulness which is a cloak that hides +and muffles merit;” and tells us “that his abilities were covered only by +modesty, which doubles the beauties which are seen, and gives credit and +esteem to all that are concealed.” Chesterfield affirms that “Addison +was the most timorous and awkward man that he ever saw.” And Addison, +speaking of his own deficiency in conversation, used to say of himself +that, with respect to intellectual wealth, “he could draw bills for a +thousand pounds, though he had not a guinea in his pocket.” That he +wanted current coin for ready payment, and by that want was often +obstructed and distressed; and that he was often oppressed by an improper +and ungraceful timidity, every testimony concurs to prove; but +Chesterfield’s representation is doubtless hyperbolical. That man cannot +be supposed very unexpert in the arts of conversation and practice of +life who, without fortune or alliance, by his usefulness and dexterity +became Secretary of State, and who died at forty-seven, after having not +only stood long in the highest rank of wit and literature, but filled one +of the most important offices of State. + +The time in which he lived had reason to lament his obstinacy of silence; +“for he was,” says Steele, “above all men in that talent called humour, +and enjoyed it in such perfection that I have often reflected, after a +night spent with him apart from all the world, that I had had the +pleasure of conversing with an intimate acquaintance of Terence and +Catullus, who had all their wit and nature, heightened with humour more +exquisite and delightful than any other man ever possessed.” This is the +fondness of a friend; let us hear what is told us by a rival. “Addison’s +conversation,” says Pope, “had something in it more charming than I have +found in any other man. But this was only when familiar: before +strangers, or perhaps a single stranger, he preserved his dignity by a +stiff silence.” This modesty was by no means inconsistent with a very +high opinion of his own merit. He demanded to be the first name in modern +wit; and, with Steele to echo him, used to depreciate Dryden, whom Pope +and Congreve defended against them. There is no reason to doubt that he +suffered too much pain from the prevalence of Pope’s poetical reputation; +nor is it without strong reason suspected that by some disingenuous acts +he endeavoured to obstruct it; Pope was not the only man whom he +insidiously injured, though the only man of whom he could be afraid. His +own powers were such as might have satisfied him with conscious +excellence. Of very extensive learning he has indeed given no proofs. He +seems to have had small acquaintance with the sciences, and to have read +little except Latin and French; but of the Latin poets his “Dialogues on +Medals” show that he had perused the works with great diligence and +skill. The abundance of his own mind left him little indeed of +adventitious sentiments; his wit always could suggest what the occasion +demanded. He had read with critical eyes the important volume of human +life, and knew the heart of man, from the depths of stratagem to the +surface of affectation. What he knew he could easily communicate. “This,” +says Steele, “was particular in this writer—that when he had taken his +resolution, or made his plan for what he designed to write, he would walk +about a room and dictate it into language with as much freedom and ease +as any one could write it down, and attend to the coherence and grammar +of what he dictated.” + +Pope, who can be less suspected of favouring his memory, declares that he +wrote very fluently, but was slow and scrupulous in correcting; that many +of his _Spectators_ were written very fast, and sent immediately to the +press; and that it seemed to be for his advantage not to have time for +much revisal. “He would alter,” says Pope, “anything to please his +friends before publication, but would not re-touch his pieces afterwards; +and I believe not one word of _Cato_ to which I made an objection was +suffered to stand.” + +The last line of _Cato_ is Pope’s, having been originally written— + + “And oh! ’twas this that ended Cato’s life.” + +Pope might have made more objections to the six concluding lines. In the +first couplet the words “from hence” are improper; and the second line is +taken from Dryden’s Virgil. Of the next couplet, the first verse, being +included in the second, is therefore useless; and in the third _Discord_ +is made to produce _Strife_. + +Of the course of Addison’s familiar day, before his marriage, Pope has +given a detail. He had in the house with him Budgell, and perhaps +Philips. His chief companions were Steele, Budgell, Philips [Ambrose], +Carey, Davenant, and Colonel Brett. With one or other of these he always +breakfasted. He studied all morning; then dined at a tavern; and went +afterwards to Button’s. 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 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. In +the bottle discontent seeks for comfort, cowardice for courage, and +bashfulness for confidence. It is not unlikely that Addison was first +seduced to excess by the manumission which he obtained from the servile +timidity of his sober hours. He that feels oppression from the presence +of those to whom he knows himself superior will desire to set loose his +powers of conversation; and who that ever asked succours from Bacchus was +able to preserve himself from being enslaved by his auxiliary? + +Among those friends it was that Addison displayed the elegance of his +colloquial accomplishments, which may easily be supposed such as Pope +represents them. The remark of Mandeville, who, when he had passed an +evening in his company, declared that he was a parson in a tie-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. + +From any minute knowledge of his familiar manners the intervention of +sixty years has now debarred us. Steele once promised Congreve and the +public a complete description of his character; but the promises of +authors are like the vows of lovers. Steele thought no more on his +design, or thought on it with anxiety that at last disgusted him, and +left his friend in the hands of Tickell. + +One slight lineament of his character Swift has preserved. It was his +practice, when he found any man invincibly wrong, to flatter his opinions +by acquiescence, and sink him yet deeper in absurdity. This artifice of +mischief was admired by Stella; and Swift seems to approve her +admiration. His works will supply some information. It appears, from the +various pictures of the world, that, with all his bashfulness, he had +conversed with many distinct classes of men, had surveyed their ways with +very diligent observation, and marked with great acuteness the effects of +different modes of life. He was a man in whose presence nothing +reprehensible was out of danger; quick in discerning whatever was wrong +or ridiculous, and not unwilling to expose it. “There are,” says Steele, +“in his writings many oblique strokes upon some of the wittiest men of +the age.” His delight was more to excite merriment than detestation; and +he detects follies rather than crimes. If any judgment be made from his +books of his moral character, nothing will be found but purity and +excellence. Knowledge of mankind, indeed, less extensive than that of +Addison, will show that to write, and to live, are very different. Many +who praise virtue, do no more than praise it. Yet it is reasonable to +believe that Addison’s professions 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. + +It is justly observed by Tickell that he employed wit on the side of +virtue and religion. He not only made the proper use of wit himself, but +taught it to others; and from his time it has been generally subservient +to the cause of reason and of truth. He has dissipated the prejudice that +had long connected gaiety with vice, and easiness of manners with laxity +of principles. He has restored virtue to its dignity, and taught +innocence not to be ashamed. This is an elevation of literary character +“above all Greek, above all Roman fame.” No greater felicity can genius +attain than that of having purified intellectual pleasure, separated +mirth from indecency, and wit from licentiousness; of having taught a +succession of writers to bring elegance and gaiety to the aid of +goodness; and, if I may use expressions yet more awful, of having “turned +many to righteousness.” + +Addison, in his life and for some time afterwards, was considered by a +greater part of readers as supremely excelling both in poetry and +criticism. Part of his reputation may be probably ascribed to the +advancement of his fortune; when, as Swift observes, he became a +statesman, and saw poets waiting at his levée, it was no wonder that +praise was accumulated upon him. Much likewise may be more honourably +ascribed to his personal character: he who, if he had claimed it, might +have obtained the diadem, was not likely to be denied the laurel. But +time quickly puts an end to artificial and accidental fame; and Addison +is to pass through futurity protected only by his genius. Every name +which kindness or interest once raised too high is in danger, lest the +next age should, by the vengeance of criticism, sink it in the same +proportion. A great writer has lately styled him “an indifferent poet, +and a worse critic.” His poetry is first to be considered; of which it +must be confessed that it has not often those felicities of diction which +give lustre to sentiments, or that vigour of sentiment that animates +diction: there is little of ardour, vehemence, or transport; there is +very rarely the awfulness of grandeur, and not very often the splendour +of elegance. He thinks justly, but he thinks faintly. This is his general +character; to which, doubtless, many single passages will furnish +exception. Yet, if he seldom reaches supreme excellence, he rarely sinks +into dulness, and is still more rarely entangled in absurdity. He did not +trust his powers enough to be negligent. There is in most of his +compositions a calmness and equability, deliberate and cautious, +sometimes with little that delights, but seldom with anything that +offends. Of this kind seem to be his poems to Dryden, to Somers, and to +the King. His ode on St. Cecilia has been imitated by Pope, and has +something in it of Dryden’s vigour. Of his Account of the English Poets +he used to speak as a “poor thing;” but it is not worse than his usual +strain. He has said, not very judiciously, in his character of Waller— + + “Thy verse could show even Cromwell’s innocence, + And compliment the storms that bore him hence. + Oh! had thy Muse not come an age too soon, + But seen great Nassau on the British throne, + How had his triumph glittered in thy page!” + +What is this but to say that he who could compliment Cromwell had been +the proper poet for King William? Addison, however, printed the piece. + +The Letter from Italy has been always praised, but has never been praised +beyond its merit. It is more correct, with less appearance of labour, and +more elegant, with less ambition of ornament, than any other of his +poems. There is, however, one broken metaphor, of which notice may +properly be taken:— + + “Fired with that name— + I bridle in my struggling Muse with pain, + That longs to launch into a nobler strain.” + +To _bridle a goddess_ is no very delicate idea; but why must she be +_bridled_? because she _longs to launch_; an act which was never hindered +by a _bridle_: and whither will she _launch_? into a _nobler strain_. She +is in the first line a _horse_, in the second a _boat_; and the care of +the poet is to keep his _horse_ or his _boat_ from _singing_. + +The next composition is the far-famed “Campaign,” which Dr. Warton has +termed a “Gazette in Rhyme,” with harshness not often used by the +good-nature of his criticism. Before a censure so severe is admitted, let +us consider that war is a frequent subject of poetry, and then inquire +who has described it with more justice and force. Many of our own writers +tried their powers upon this year of victory: yet Addison’s is +confessedly the best performance; his poem is the work of a man not +blinded by the dust of learning; his images are not borrowed merely from +books. The superiority which he confers upon his hero is not personal +prowess and “mighty bone,” but deliberate intrepidity, a calm command of +his passions, and the power of consulting his own mind in the midst of +danger. The rejection and contempt of fiction is rational and manly. It +may be observed that the last line is imitated by Pope:— + + “Marlb’rough’s exploits appear divinely bright— + Raised of themselves their genuine charms they boast, + And those that paint them truest, praise them most.” + +This Pope had in his thoughts, but, not knowing how to use what was not +his own, he spoiled the thought when he had borrowed it:— + + “The well-sung woes shall soothe my pensive ghost; + He best can paint them who shall feel them most.” + +Martial exploits may be _painted_; perhaps _woes_ may be _painted_; but +they are surely not _painted_ by being _well sung_: it is not easy to +paint in song, or to sing in colours. + +No passage in the “Campaign” has been more often mentioned than the +simile of the angel, which is said in the _Tatler_ to be “one of the +noblest thoughts that ever entered into the heart of man,” and is +therefore worthy of attentive consideration. Let it be first inquired +whether it be a simile. A poetical simile is the discovery of likeness +between two actions in their general nature dissimilar, or of causes +terminating by different operations in some resemblance of effect. But +the mention of another like consequence from a like cause, or of a like +performance by a like agency, is not a simile, but an exemplification. It +is not a simile to say that the Thames waters fields, as the Po waters +fields; or that as Hecla vomits flames in Iceland, so Ætna vomits flames +in Sicily. When Horace says of Pindar that he pours his violence and +rapidity of verse, as a river swollen with rain rushes from the mountain; +or of himself, that his genius wanders in quest of poetical decorations, +as the bee wanders to collect honey; he, in either case, produces a +simile: the mind is impressed with the resemblance of things generally +unlike, as unlike as intellect and body. But if Pindar had been described +as writing with the copiousness and grandeur of Homer, or Horace had told +that he reviewed and finished his own poetry with the same care as +Isocrates polished his orations, instead of similitude, he would have +exhibited almost identity; he would have given the same portraits with +different names. In the poem now examined, when the English are +represented as gaining a fortified pass by repetition of attack and +perseverance of resolution, their obstinacy of courage and vigour of +onset are well illustrated by the sea that breaks, with incessant +battery, the dykes of Holland. This is a simile. But when Addison, having +celebrated the beauty of Marlborough’s person, tells us that “Achilles +thus was formed of every grace,” here is no simile, but a mere +exemplification. A simile may be compared to lines converging at a point, +and is more excellent as the lines approach from greater distance: an +exemplification may be considered as two parallel lines, which run on +together without approximation, never far separated, and never joined. + +Marlborough is so like the angel in the poem that the action of both is +almost the same, and performed by both in the same manner. Marlborough +“teaches the battle to rage;” the angel “directs the storm:” Marlborough +is “unmoved in peaceful thought;” the angel is “calm and serene:” +Marlborough stands “unmoved amidst the shock of hosts;” the angel rides +“calm in the whirlwind.” The lines on Marlborough are just and noble, +but the simile gives almost the same images a second time. But perhaps +this thought, though hardly a simile, was remote from vulgar conceptions, +and required great labour and research, or dexterity of application. Of +this Dr. Madden, a name which Ireland ought to honour, once gave me his +opinion. “If I had set,” said he, “ten schoolboys to write on the battle +of Blenheim, and eight had brought me the angel, I should not have been +surprised.” + +The opera of _Rosamond_, though it is seldom mentioned, is one of the +first of Addison’s compositions. The subject is well chosen, the fiction +is pleasing, and the praise of Marlborough, for which the scene gives an +opportunity, is, what perhaps every human excellence must be, the product +of good luck improved by genius. The thoughts are sometimes great, and +sometimes tender; the versification is easy and gay. There is doubtless +some advantage in the shortness of the lines, which there is little +temptation to load with expletive epithets. The dialogue seems commonly +better than the songs. The two comic characters of Sir Trusty and +Grideline, though of no great value, are yet such as the poet intended. +Sir Trusty’s account of the death of Rosamond is, I think, too grossly +absurd. The whole drama is airy and elegant; engaging in its process, and +pleasing in its conclusion. If Addison had cultivated the lighter parts +of poetry, he would probably have excelled. + +The tragedy of _Cato_, which, contrary to the rule observed in selecting +the works of other poets, has by the weight of its character forced its +way into the late collection, is unquestionably the noblest production of +Addison’s genius. Of a work so much read, it is difficult to say anything +new. About things on which the public thinks long, it commonly attains to +think right; and of _Cato_ it has been not unjustly determined that it is +rather a poem in dialogue than a drama, rather a succession of just +sentiments in elegant language than a representation of natural +affections, or of any state probable or possible in human life. Nothing +here “excites or assuages emotion:” here is “no magical power of raising +phantastic terror or wild anxiety.” The events are expected without +solicitude, and are remembered without joy or sorrow. Of the agents we +have no care; we consider not what they are doing, or what they are +suffering; we wish only to know what they have to say. _Cato_ is a being +above our solicitude; a man of whom the gods take care, and whom we leave +to their care with heedless confidence. To the rest neither gods nor men +can have much attention; for there is not one amongst them that strongly +attracts either affection or esteem. But they are made the vehicles of +such sentiments and such expression that there is scarcely a scene in the +play which the reader does not wish to impress upon his memory. + +When _Cato_ was shown to Pope, he advised the author to print it, without +any theatrical exhibition, supposing that it would be read more +favourably than heard. Addison declared himself of the same opinion, but +urged the importunity of his friends for its appearance on the stage. The +emulation of parties made it successful beyond expectation; and its +success has introduced or confirmed among us the use of dialogue too +declamatory, of unaffecting elegance, and chill philosophy. The +universality of applause, however it might quell the censure of common +mortals, had no other effect than to harden Dennis in fixed dislike; but +his dislike was not merely capricious. He found and showed many faults; +he showed them indeed with anger, but he found them indeed with +acuteness, such as ought to rescue his criticism from oblivion; though, +at last, it will have no other life than it derives from the work which +it endeavours to oppress. Why he pays no regard to the opinion of the +audience, he gives his reason by remarking that— + +“A deference is to be paid to a general applause when it appears that the +applause is natural and spontaneous; but that little regard is to be had +to it when it is affected or artificial. Of all the tragedies which in +his memory have had vast and violent runs, not one has been excellent, +few have been tolerable, most have been scandalous. When a poet writes a +tragedy who knows he has judgment, and who feels he has genius, that poet +presumes upon his own merit, and scorns to make a cabal. That people come +coolly to the representation of such a tragedy, without any violent +expectation, or delusive imagination, or invincible prepossession; that +such an audience is liable to receive the impressions which the poem +shall naturally make on them, and to judge by their own reason, and their +own judgments; and that reason and judgment are calm and serene, not +formed by nature to make proselytes, and to control and lord it over the +imagination of others. But that when an author writes a tragedy who knows +he has neither genius nor judgment, he has recourse to the making a +party, and he endeavours to make up in industry what is wanting in +talent, and to supply by poetical craft the absence of poetical art: that +such an author is humbly contented to raise men’s passions by a plot +without doors, since he despairs of doing it by that which he brings upon +the stage. That party and passion, and prepossession, are clamorous and +tumultuous things, and so much the more clamorous and tumultuous by how +much the more erroneous: that they domineer and tyrannise over the +imaginations of persons who want judgment, and sometimes too of those who +have it, and, like a fierce and outrageous torrent, bear down all +opposition before them.” + +He then condemns the neglect of poetical justice, which is one of his +favourite principles:— + +“’Tis certainly the duty of every tragic poet, by the exact distribution +of poetical justice, to imitate the Divine Dispensation, and to inculcate +a particular Providence. ’Tis true, indeed, upon the stage of the world, +the wicked sometimes prosper and the guiltless suffer; but that is +permitted by the Governor of the World, to show, from the attribute of +His infinite justice, that there is a compensation in futurity, to prove +the immortality of the human soul, and the certainty of future rewards +and punishments. But the poetical persons in tragedy exist no longer than +the reading or the representation; the whole extent of their enmity is +circumscribed by those; and therefore, during that reading or +representation, according to their merits or demerits, they must be +punished or rewarded. If this is not done, there is no impartial +distribution of poetical justice, no instructive lecture of a particular +Providence, and no imitation of the Divine Dispensation. And yet the +author of this tragedy does not only run counter to this, in the fate of +his principal character; but everywhere, throughout it, makes virtue +suffer, and vice triumph: for not only Cato is vanquished by Cæsar, but +the treachery and perfidiousness of Syphax prevail over the honest +simplicity and the credulity of Juba; and the sly subtlety and +dissimulation of Portius over the generous frankness and open-heartedness +of Marcus.” + +Whatever pleasure there may be in seeing crimes punished and virtue +rewarded, yet, since wickedness often prospers in real life, the poet is +certainly at liberty to give it prosperity on the stage. For if poetry +has an imitation of reality, how are its laws broken by exhibiting the +world in its true form? The stage may sometimes gratify our wishes; but +if it be truly the “_mirror of life_,” it ought to show us sometimes what +we are to expect. + +Dennis objects to the characters that they are not natural or reasonable; +but as heroes and heroines are not beings that are seen every day, it is +hard to find upon what principles their conduct shall be tried. It is, +however, not useless to consider what he says of the manner in which Cato +receives the account of his son’s death:— + +“Nor is the grief of Cato, in the fourth act, one jot more in nature than +that of his son and Lucia in the third. Cato receives the news of his +son’s death, not only with dry eyes, but with a sort of satisfaction; and +in the same page sheds tears for the calamity of his country, and does +the same thing in the next page upon the bare apprehension of the danger +of his friends. Now, since the love of one’s country is the love of one’s +countrymen, as I have shown upon another occasion, I desire to ask these +questions:—Of all our countrymen, which do we love most, those whom we +know, or those whom we know not? And of those whom we know, which do we +cherish most, our friends or our enemies? And of our friends, which are +the dearest to us, those who are related to us, or those who are not? +And of all our relations, for which have we most tenderness, for those +who are near to us, or for those who are remote? And of our near +relations, which are the nearest, and consequently the dearest to us, our +offspring, or others? Our offspring, most certainly; as Nature, or in +other words Providence, has wisely contrived for the preservation of +mankind. Now, does it not follow, from what has been said, that for a man +to receive the news of his son’s death with dry eyes, and to weep at the +same time for the calamities of his country, is a wretched affectation +and a miserable inconsistency? Is not that, in plain English, to receive +with dry eyes the news of the deaths of those for whose sake our country +is a name so dear to us, and at the same time to shed tears for those for +whose sakes our country is not a name so dear to us?” + +But this formidable assailant is less resistible when he attacks the +probability of the action and the reasonableness of the plan. Every +critical reader must remark that Addison has, with a scrupulosity almost +unexampled on the English stage, confined himself in time to a single +day, and in place to rigorous unity. The scene never changes, and the +whole action of the play passes in the great hall of Cato’s house at +Utica. Much, therefore, is done in the hall for which any other place had +been more fit; and this impropriety affords Dennis many hints of +merriment and opportunities of triumph. The passage is long; but as such +disquisitions are not common, and the objections are skilfully formed and +vigorously urged, those who delight in critical controversy will not +think it tedious:— + +“Upon the departure of Portius, Sempronius makes but one soliloquy, and +immediately in comes Syphax, and then the two politicians are at it +immediately. They lay their heads together, with their snuff-boxes in +their hands, as Mr. Bayes has it, and feague it away. But, in the midst +of that wise scene, Syphax seems to give a seasonable caution to +Sempronius:— + + “‘_Syph_. But is it true, Sempronius, that your senate + Is called together? Gods! thou must be cautious; + Cato has piercing eyes.’ + +“There is a great deal of caution shown, indeed, in meeting in a +governor’s own hall to carry on their plot against him. Whatever opinion +they have of his eyes, I suppose they have none of his ears, or they +would never have talked at this foolish rate so near:— + + “‘Gods! thou must be cautious.’ + +Oh! yes, very cautious: for if Cato should overhear you, and turn you off +for politicians, Cæsar would never take you. + +“When Cato, Act II., turns the senators out of the hall upon pretence of +acquainting Juba with the result of their debates, he appears to me to do +a thing which is neither reasonable nor civil. Juba might certainly have +better been made acquainted with the result of that debate in some +private apartment of the palace. But the poet was driven upon this +absurdity to make way for another, and that is to give Juba an +opportunity to demand Marcia of her father. But the quarrel and rage of +Juba and Syphax, in the same act; the invectives of Syphax against the +Romans and Cato; the advice that he gives Juba in her father’s hall to +bear away Marcia by force; and his brutal and clamorous rage upon his +refusal, and at a time when Cato was scarcely out of sight, and perhaps +not out of hearing, at least some of his guards or domestics must +necessarily be supposed to be within hearing; is a thing that is so far +from being probable, that it is hardly possible. + +“Sempronius, in the second act, comes back once more in the same morning +to the governor’s hall to carry on the conspiracy with Syphax against the +governor, his country, and his family: which is so stupid that it is +below the wisdom of the O—s, the Macs, and the Teagues; even Eustace +Commins himself would never have gone to Justice-hall to have conspired +against the Government. If officers at Portsmouth should lay their heads +together in order to the carrying off J— G—’s niece or daughter, would +they meet in J— G—’s hall to carry on that conspiracy? There would be no +necessity for their meeting there—at least, till they came to the +execution of their plot—because there would be other places to meet in. +There would be no probability that they should meet there, because there +would be places more private and more commodious. Now there ought to be +nothing in a tragical action but what is necessary or probable. + +“But treason is not the only thing that is carried on in this hall; that, +and love and philosophy take their turns in it, without any manner of +necessity or probability occasioned by the action, as duly and as +regularly, without interrupting one another, as if there were a triple +league between them, and a mutual agreement that each should give place +to and make way for the other in a due and orderly succession. + +“We now come to the third act. Sempronius, in this act, comes into the +governor’s hall with the leaders of the mutiny; but as soon as Cato is +gone, Sempronius, who but just before had acted like an unparalleled +knave, discovers himself, like an egregious fool, to be an accomplice in +the conspiracy. + + “‘_Semp_. Know, villains, when such paltry slaves presume + To mix in treason, if the plot succeeds, + They’re thrown neglected by; but, if it fails, + They’re sure to die like dogs, as you shall do. + Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth + To sudden death.’ + +“’Tis true, indeed, the second leader says there are none there but +friends; but is that possible at such a juncture? Can a parcel of rogues +attempt to assassinate the governor of a town of war, in his own house, +in midday, and, after they are discovered and defeated, can there be none +near them but friends? Is it not plain, from these words of Sempronius— + + “‘Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth + To sudden death—’ + +and from the entrance of the guards upon the word of command, that those +guards were within ear-shot? Behold Sempronius, then, palpably +discovered. How comes it to pass, then, that instead of being hanged up +with the rest, he remains secure in the governor’s hall, and there +carries on his conspiracy against the Government, the third time in the +same day, with his old comrade Syphax, who enters at the same time that +the guards are carrying away the leaders, big with the news of the defeat +of Sempronius?—though where he had his intelligence so soon is difficult +to imagine. And now the reader may expect a very extraordinary scene. +There is not abundance of spirit, indeed, nor a great deal of passion, +but there is wisdom more than enough to supply all defects. + + “‘_Syph_. Our first design, my friend, has proved abortive; + Still there remains an after-game to play: + My troops are mounted; their Numidian steeds + Snuff up the winds, and long to scour the desert. + Let but Sempronius lead us in our flight, + We’ll force the gate where Marcus keeps his guard, + And hew down all that would oppose our passage; + A day will bring us into Cæsar’s camp. + + _Semp_. Confusion! I have failed of half my purpose; + Marcia, the charming Marcia’s left behind.’ + +Well, but though he tells us the half-purpose he has failed of, he does +not tell us the half that he has carried. But what does he mean by + + “‘Marcia, the charming Marcia’s left behind’? + +He is now in her own house! and we have neither seen her nor heard of her +anywhere else since the play began. But now let us hear Syphax:— + + “‘What hinders, then, but that you find her out, + And hurry her away by manly force?’ + +But what does old Syphax mean by finding her out? They talk as if she +were as hard to be found as a hare in a frosty morning. + + “‘_Semp_. But how to gain admission?’ + +Oh! she is found out then, it seems. + + “‘But how to gain admission? for access + Is giv’n to none but Juba and her brothers.’ + +But, raillery apart, why access to Juba? For he was owned and received +as a lover neither by the father nor by the daughter. Well, but let that +pass. Syphax puts Sempronius out of pain immediately; and, being a +Numidian, abounding in wiles, supplies him with a stratagem for admission +that, I believe, is a _nonpareil_. + + “‘_Syph_. Thou shalt have Juba’s dress, and Juba’s guards; + The doors will open when Numidia’s prince + Seems to appear before them.’ + +“Sempronius is, it seems, to pass for Juba in full day at Cato’s house, +where they were both so very well known, by having Juba’s dress and his +guards; as if one of the Marshals of France could pass for the Duke of +Bavaria at noonday, at Versailles, by having his dress and liveries. But +how does Syphax pretend to help Sempronius to young Juba’s dress? Does +he serve him in a double capacity, as general and master of his wardrobe? +But why Juba’s guards? For the devil of any guards has Juba appeared +with yet. Well, though this is a mighty politic invention, yet, methinks, +they might have done without it: for, since the advice that Syphax gave +to Sempronius was + + “‘To hurry her away by manly force,’ + +in my opinion the shortest and likeliest way of coming at the lady was by +demolishing, instead of putting on an impertinent disguise to circumvent +two or three slaves. But Sempronius, it seems, is of another opinion. He +extols to the skies the invention of old Syphax:— + + “‘_Semp_. Heavens! what a thought was there!’ + +“Now, I appeal to the reader if I have not been as good as my word. Did I +not tell him that I would lay before him a very wise scene? + +“But now let us lay before the reader that part of the scenery of the +fourth act which may show the absurdities which the author has run into, +through the indiscreet observance of the unity of place. I do not +remember that Aristotle has said anything expressly concerning the unity +of place. ’Tis true, implicitly he has said enough in the rules which he +has laid down for the chorus. For by making the chorus an essential part +of tragedy, and by bringing it on the stage immediately after the opening +of the scene, and retaining it there till the very catastrophe, he has so +determined and fixed the place of action that it was impossible for an +author on the Grecian stage to break through that unity. I am of opinion +that if a modern tragic poet can preserve the amity of place, without +destroying the probability of the incidents, ’tis always best for him to +do it; because by the preservation of that unity, as we have taken notice +above, he adds grace and clearness and comeliness to the representation. +But since there are no express rules about it, and we are under no +compulsion to keep it, since we have no chorus as the Grecian poet had; +if it cannot be preserved without rendering the greater part of the +incidents unreasonable and absurd, and perhaps sometimes monstrous, ’tis +certainly better to break it. + +“Now comes bully Sempronius, comically accoutred and equipped with his +Numidian dress and his Numidian guards. Let the reader attend to him with +all his ears, for the words of the wise are precious:— + + “‘_Semp_. The deer is lodged; I’ve tracked her to her covert.’ + +“Now I would fain know why this deer is said to be lodged, since we have +not heard one word since the play began of her being at all out of +harbour: and if we consider the discourse with which she and Lucia begin +the act, we have reason to believe that they had hardly been talking of +such matters in the street. However, to pleasure Sempronius, let us +suppose, for once, that the deer is lodged:— + + “‘The deer is lodged; I’ve tracked her to her covert.’ + +“If he had seen her in the open field, what occasion had he to track her +when he had so many Numidian dogs at his heels, which, with one halloo, +he might have set upon her haunches? If he did not see her in the open +field, how could he possibly track her? If he had seen her in the +street, why did he not set upon her in the street, since through the +street she must be carried at last? Now here, instead of having his +thoughts upon his business, and upon the present danger; instead of +meditating and contriving how he shall pass with his mistress through the +southern gate, where her brother Marcus is upon the guard, and where he +would certainly prove an impediment to him (which is the Roman word for +the _baggage_); instead of doing this, Sempronius is entertaining himself +with whimsies:— + + “‘_Semp_. How will the young Numidian rave to see + His mistress lost! If aught could glad my soul + Beyond th’ enjoyment of so bright a prize, + ’Twould be to torture that young, gay barbarian. + But hark! what noise? Death to my hopes! ’tis he, + ’Tis Juba’s self! There is but one way left! + He must be murdered, and a passage cut + Through those his guards.’ + +“Pray, what are ‘those guards’? I thought at present that Juba’s guards +had been Sempronius’s tools, and had been dangling after his heels. + +“But now let us sum up all these absurdities together. Sempronius goes at +noon-day, in Juba’s clothes and with Juba’s guards, to Cato’s palace, in +order to pass for Juba, in a place where they were both so very well +known: he meets Juba there, and resolves to murder him with his own +guards. Upon the guards appearing a little bashful, he threatens them:— + + “‘Hah! dastards, do you tremble? + Or act like men; or, by yon azure heav’n!’— + +“But the guards still remaining restive, Sempronius himself attacks Juba, +while each of the guards is representing Mr. Spectator’s sign of the +Gaper, awed, it seems, and terrified by Sempronius’s threats. Juba kills +Sempronius, and takes his own army prisoners, and carries them in triumph +away to Cato. Now I would fain know if any part of Mr. Bayes’s tragedy is +so full of absurdity as this? + +“Upon hearing the clash of swords, Lucia and Marcia come in. The question +is, why no men come in upon hearing the noise of swords in the governor’s +hall? Where was the governor himself? Where were his guards? Where +were his servants? Such an attempt as this, so near the governor of a +place of war, was enough to alarm the whole garrison: and yet, for almost +half an hour after Sempronius was killed, we find none of those appear +who were the likeliest in the world to be alarmed; and the noise of +swords is made to draw only two poor women thither, who were most certain +to run away from it. Upon Lucia and Marcia’s coming in, Lucia appears in +all the symptoms of an hysterical gentlewoman:— + + “‘_Luc_. Sure ’twas the clash of swords! my troubled heart + Is so cast down, and sunk amidst its sorrows, + It throbs with fear, and aches at every sound!’ + +And immediately her old whimsy returns upon her:— + + “O Marcia, should thy brothers, for my sake— + I die away with horror at the thought.’ + +“She fancies that there can be no cutting of throats but it must be for +her. If this is tragical, I would fain know what is comical. Well, upon +this they spy the body of Sempronius; and Marcia, deluded by the habit, +it seems, takes him for Juba; for, says she, + + “‘The face is muffled up within the garment.’ + +“Now, how a man could fight, and fall, with his face muffled up in his +garment, is, I think, a little hard to conceive! Besides, Juba, before +he killed him, knew him to be Sempronius. It was not by his garment that +he knew this; it was by his face, then: his face therefore was not +muffled. Upon seeing this man with his muffled face, Marcia falls +a-raving; and, owning her passion for the supposed defunct, begins to +make his funeral oration. Upon which Juba enters listening, I suppose on +tip-toe; for I cannot imagine how any one can enter listening in any +other posture. I would fain know how it came to pass that, during all +this time, he had sent nobody—no, not so much as a candle-snuffer—to take +away the dead body of Sempronius. Well, but let us regard him listening. +Having left his apprehension behind him, he, at first, applies what +Marcia says to Sempronius; but finding at last, with much ado, that he +himself is the happy man, he quits his eaves-dropping, and discovers +himself just time enough to prevent his being cuckolded by a dead man, of +whom the moment before he had appeared so jealous, and greedily +intercepts the bliss which was fondly designed for one who could not be +the better for it. But here I must ask a question: how comes Juba to +listen here, who had not listened before throughout the play? Or how +comes he to be the only person of this tragedy who listens, when love and +treason were so often talked in so public a place as a hall? I am afraid +the author was driven upon all these absurdities only to introduce this +miserable mistake of Marcia, which, after all, is much below the dignity +of tragedy; as anything is which is the effect or result of trick. + +“But let us come to the scenery of the fifth act. Cato appears first upon +the scene, sitting in a thoughtful posture; in his hand Plato’s Treatise +on the Immortality of the Soul; a drawn sword on the table by him. Now +let us consider the place in which this sight is presented to us. The +place, forsooth, is a long hall. Let us suppose that any one should place +himself in this posture, in the midst of one of our halls in London; that +he should appear solus, in a sullen posture, a drawn sword on the table +by him; in his hand Plato’s Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul, +translated lately by Bernard Lintot: I desire the reader to consider +whether such a person as this would pass with them who beheld him for a +great patriot, a great philosopher, or a general, or some whimsical +person who fancied himself all these? and whether the people who belonged +to the family would think that such a person had a design upon their +midriffs or his own? + +“In short, that Cato should sit long enough in the aforesaid posture, in +the midst of this large hall, to read over Plato’s Treatise on the +Immortality of the Soul, which is a lecture of two long hours; that he +should propose to himself to be private there upon that occasion; that he +should be angry with his son for intruding there; then that he should +leave this hall upon the pretence of sleep, give himself the mortal wound +in his bedchamber, and then be brought back into that hall to expire, +purely to show his good breeding, and save his friends the trouble of +coming up to his bedchamber; all this appears to me to be improbable, +incredible, impossible.” + +Such is the censure of Dennis. There is, as Dryden expresses it, perhaps +“too much horse-play in his railleries;” but if his jests are coarse, his +arguments are strong. Yet, as we love better to be pleased than to be +taught, _Cato_ is read, and the critic is neglected. Flushed with +consciousness of these detections of absurdity in the conduct, he +afterwards attacked the sentiments of Cato; but he then amused himself +with petty cavils and minute objections. + +Of Addison’s smaller poems no particular mention is necessary; they have +little that can employ or require a critic. The parallel of the princes +and gods in his verses to Kneller is often happy, but is too well known +to be quoted. His translations, so far as I compared them, want the +exactness of a scholar. That he understood his authors, cannot be +doubted; but his versions will not teach others to understand them, being +too licentiously paraphrastical. They are, however, for the most part, +smooth and easy; and, what is the first excellence of a translator, such +as may be read with pleasure by those who do not know the originals. His +poetry is polished and pure; the product of a mind too judicious to +commit faults, but not sufficiently vigorous to attain excellence. He has +sometimes a striking line, or a shining paragraph; but in the whole he is +warm rather than fervid, and shows more dexterity than strength. He was, +however, one of our earliest examples of correctness. The versification +which he had learned from Dryden he debased rather than refined. His +rhymes are often dissonant; in his Georgic he admits broken lines. He +uses both triplets and Alexandrines, but triplets more frequently in his +translation than his other works. The mere structure of verses seems +never to have engaged much of his care. But his lines are very smooth in +_Rosamond_, and too smooth in _Cato_. + +Addison is now to be considered as a critic: a name which the present +generation is scarcely willing to allow him. His criticism is condemned +as tentative or experimental rather than scientific; and he is considered +as deciding by taste rather than by principles. + +It is not uncommon for those who have grown wise by the labour of others +to add a little of their own, and overlook their masters. Addison is now +despised by some who perhaps would never have seen his defects but by the +lights which he afforded them. That he always wrote as he would think it +necessary to write now, cannot be affirmed; his instructions were such as +the characters of his readers made proper. That general knowledge which +now circulates in common talk was in his time rarely to be found. Men not +professing learning were not ashamed of ignorance; and, in the female +world, any acquaintance with books was distinguished only to be censured. +His purpose was to infuse literary curiosity, by gentle and unsuspected +conveyance, into the gay, the idle, and the wealthy; he therefore +presented knowledge in the most alluring form, not lofty and austere, but +accessible and familiar. When he showed them their defects, he showed +them likewise that they might be easily supplied. His attempt succeeded; +inquiry was awakened, and comprehension expanded. An emulation of +intellectual elegance was excited, and from this time to our own life has +been gradually exalted, and conversation purified and enlarged. + +Dryden had, not many years before, scattered criticism over his prefaces +with very little parsimony; but though he sometimes condescended to be +somewhat familiar, his manner was in general too scholastic for those who +had yet their rudiments to learn, and found it not easy to understand +their master. His observations were framed rather for those that were +learning to write than for those that read only to talk. + +An instructor like Addison was now wanting, whose remarks, being +superficial, might be easily understood, and being just, might prepare +the mind for more attainments. Had he presented “Paradise Lost” to the +public with all the pomp of system and severity of science, the criticism +would perhaps have been admired, and the poem still have been neglected; +but by the blandishments of gentleness and facility he has made Milton an +universal favourite, with whom readers of every class think it necessary +to be pleased. He descended now and then to lower disquisitions: and by a +serious display of the beauties of “Chevy Chase” exposed himself to the +ridicule of Wagstaff, who bestowed a like pompous character on Tom Thumb; +and to the contempt of Dennis, who, considering the fundamental position +of his criticism, that “Chevy Chase” pleases, and ought to please, +because it is natural, observes; “that there is a way of deviating from +nature, by bombast or tumour, which soars above nature, and enlarges +images beyond their real bulk; by affectation, which forsakes nature in +quest of something unsuitable; and by imbecility, which degrades nature +by faintness and diminution, by obscuring its appearances, and weakening +its effects.” In “Chevy Chase” there is not much of either bombast or +affectation; but there is chill and lifeless imbecility. The story cannot +possibly be told in a manner that shall make less impression on the mind. + +Before the profound observers of the present race repose too securely on +the consciousness of their superiority to Addison, let them consider his +Remarks on Ovid, in which may be found specimens of criticism +sufficiently subtle and refined: let them peruse likewise his Essays on +Wit, and on the Pleasures of Imagination, in which he founds art on the +base of nature, and draws the principles of invention from dispositions +inherent in the mind of man with skill and elegance, such as his +contemners will not easily attain. + +As a describer of life and manners, he must be allowed to stand perhaps +the first of the first rank. His humour, which, as Steele observes, is +peculiar to himself, is so happily diffused as to give the grace of +novelty to domestic scenes and daily occurrences. He never “o’ersteps the +modesty of nature,” nor raises merriment or wonder by the violation of +truth. His figures neither divert by distortion nor amaze by aggravation. +He copies life with so much fidelity that he can be hardly said to +invent; yet his exhibitions have an air so much original, that it is +difficult to suppose them not merely the product of imagination. + +As a teacher of wisdom, he may be confidently followed. His religion has +nothing in it enthusiastic or superstitious: he appears neither weakly +credulous nor wantonly sceptical; his morality is neither dangerously lax +nor impracticably rigid. All the enchantment of fancy, and all the +cogency of argument, are employed to recommend to the reader his real +interest, the care of pleasing the Author of his being. Truth is shown +sometimes as the phantom of a vision; sometimes appears half-veiled in an +allegory; sometimes attracts regard in the robes of fancy; and sometimes +steps forth in the confidence of reason. She wears a thousand dresses, +and in all is pleasing. + + “Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet.” + +His prose is the model of the middle style; on grave subjects not formal, +on light occasions not grovelling; pure without scrupulosity, and exact +without apparent elaboration; always equable, and always easy, without +glowing words or pointed sentences. Addison never deviates from his track +to snatch a grace; he seeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries no +hazardous innovations. His page is always luminous, but never blazes in +unexpected splendour. + +It was apparently his principal endeavour to avoid all harshness and +severity of diction; he is therefore sometimes verbose in his transitions +and connections, and sometimes descends too much to the language of +conversation; yet if his language had been less idiomatical it might have +lost somewhat of its genuine Anglicism. What he attempted, he performed; +he is never feeble and he did not wish to be energetic; he is never rapid +and he never stagnates. His sentences have neither studied amplitude nor +affected brevity; his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble +and easy. Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not +coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights +to the volumes of Addison. + + + + +SAVAGE. + + +IT has been observed in all ages that the advantages of nature or of +fortune have contributed very little to the promotion of happiness: and +that those whom the splendour of their rank, or the extent of their +capacity, has placed upon the summit of human life, have not often given +any just occasion to envy in those who look up to them from a lower +station; whether it be that apparent superiority incites great designs, +and great designs are naturally liable to fatal miscarriages; or that the +general lot of mankind is misery, and the misfortunes of those whose +eminence drew upon them universal attention have been more carefully +recorded, because they were more generally observed, and have in reality +been only more conspicuous than those of others, not more frequent, or +more severe. + +That affluence and power, advantages extrinsic and adventitious, and +therefore easily separable from those by whom they are possessed, should +very often flatter the mind with expectations of felicity which they +cannot give, raises no astonishment: but it seems rational to hope that +intellectual greatness should produce better effects; that minds +qualified for great attainments should first endeavour their own benefit, +and that they who are most able to teach others the way to happiness, +should with most certainty follow it themselves. But this expectation, +however plausible, has been very frequently disappointed. The heroes of +literary as well as civil history have been very often no less remarkable +for what they have suffered than for what they have achieved; and volumes +have been written only to enumerate the miseries of the learned, and +relate their unhappy lives and untimely deaths. + +To these mournful narratives I am about to add the Life of RICHARD +SAVAGE, a man whose writings entitle him to an eminent rank in the +classes of learning, and whose misfortunes claim a degree of compassion +not always due to the unhappy, as they were often the consequences of the +crimes of others rather than his own. + +In the year 1697, Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, having lived some time +upon very uneasy terms with her husband, thought a public confession of +adultery the most obvious and expeditious method of obtaining her +liberty; and therefore declared that the child with which she was then +great, was begotten by the Earl Rivers. This, as may be imagined, made +her husband no less desirous of a separation than herself, and he +prosecuted his design in the most effectual manner: for he applied, not +to the ecclesiastical courts for a divorce, but to the Parliament for an +Act by which his marriage might be dissolved, the nuptial contract +annulled, and the children of his wife illegitimated. This Act, after the +usual deliberation, he obtained, though without the approbation of some, +who considered marriage as an affair only cognisable by ecclesiastical +judges; and on March 3rd was separated from his wife, whose fortune, +which was very great, was repaid her, and who having, as well as her +husband, the liberty of making another choice, she in a short time +married Colonel Brett. + +While the Earl of Macclesfield was prosecuting this affair, his wife was, +on the 10th of January, 1607–8,[sic] delivered of a son: and the Earl +Rivers, by appearing to consider him as his own, left none any reason to +doubt of the sincerity of her declaration; for he was his godfather and +gave him his own name, which was by his direction inserted in the +register of St. Andrew’s parish in Holborn, but unfortunately left him to +the care of his mother, whom, as she was now set free from her husband, +he probably imagined likely to treat with great tenderness the child that +had contributed to so pleasing an event. It is not indeed easy to +discover what motives could be found to overbalance that natural +affection of a parent, or what interest could be promoted by neglect or +cruelty. The dread of shame or of poverty, by which some wretches have +been incited to abandon or murder their children, cannot be supposed to +have affected a woman who had proclaimed her crimes and solicited +reproach, and on whom the clemency of the Legislature had undeservedly +bestowed a fortune, which would have been very little diminished by the +expenses which the care of her child could have brought upon her. It was +therefore not likely that she would be wicked without temptation; that +she would look upon her son from his birth with a kind of resentment and +abhorrence; and, instead of supporting, assisting, and defending him, +delight to see him struggling with misery, or that she would take every +opportunity of aggravating his misfortunes, and obstructing his +resources, and with an implacable and restless cruelty continue her +persecution from the first hour of his life to the last. But whatever +were her motives, no sooner was her son born than she discovered a +resolution of disowning him; and in a very short time removed him from +her sight, by committing him to the care of a poor woman, whom she +directed to educate him as her own, and enjoined never to inform him of +his true parents. + +Such was the beginning of the life of Richard Savage. Born with a legal +claim to honour and to affluence, he was in two months illegitimated by +the Parliament, and disowned by his mother, doomed to poverty and +obscurity, and launched upon the ocean of life only that he might be +swallowed by its quicksands, or dashed upon its rocks. His mother could +not indeed infect others with the same cruelty. As it was impossible to +avoid the inquiries which the curiosity or tenderness of her relations +made after her child, she was obliged to give some account of the +measures she had taken; and her mother, the Lady Mason, whether in +approbation of her design, or to prevent more criminal contrivances, +engaged to transact with the nurse, to pay her for her care, and to +superintend the education of the child. + +In this charitable office she was assisted by his godmother, Mrs. Lloyd, +who, while she lived, always looked upon him with that tenderness which +the barbarity of his mother made peculiarly necessary; but her death, +which happened in his tenth year, was another of the misfortunes of his +childhood, for though she kindly endeavoured to alleviate his loss by a +legacy of three hundred pounds, yet as he had none to prosecute his +claim, to shelter him from oppression, or call in law to the assistance +of justice, her will was eluded by the executors, and no part of the +money was ever paid. He was, however, not yet wholly abandoned. The Lady +Mason still continued her care, and directed him to be placed at a small +grammar school near St. Albans, where he was called by the name of his +nurse, without the least intimation that he had a claim to any other. +Here he was initiated in literature, and passed through several of the +classes, with what rapidity or with what applause cannot now be known. As +he always spoke with respect of his master, it is probable that the mean +rank in which he then appeared did not hinder his genius from being +distinguished, or his industry from being rewarded; and if in so low a +state he obtained distinctions and rewards, it is not likely that they +were gained but by genius and industry. + +It is very reasonable to conjecture that his application was equal to his +abilities, because his improvement was more than proportioned to the +opportunities which he enjoyed; nor can it be doubted that if his +earliest productions had been preserved, like those of happier students, +we might in some have found vigorous sallies of that sprightly humour +which distinguishes “The Author to be Let,” and in others strong touches +of that imagination which painted the solemn scenes of “The Wanderer.” + +While he was thus cultivating his genius, his father, the Earl Rivers, +was seized with a distemper, which in a short time put an end to his +life. He had frequently inquired after his son, and had always been +amused with fallacious and evasive answers; but being now in his own +opinion on his death-bed, he thought it his duty to provide for him among +his other natural children, and therefore demanded a positive account of +him, with an importunity not to be diverted or denied. His mother, who +could no longer refuse an answer, determined at least to give such as +should cut him off for ever from that happiness which competence affords, +and therefore declared that he was dead; which is perhaps the first +instance of a lie invented by a mother to deprive her son of a provision +which was designed him by another, and which she could not expect +herself, though he should lose it. This was therefore an act of +wickedness which could not be defeated, because it could not be +suspected; the earl did not imagine that there could exist in a human +form a mother that would ruin her son without enriching herself, and +therefore bestowed upon some other person six thousand pounds which he +had in his will bequeathed to Savage. + +The same cruelty which incited his mother to intercept this provision +which had been intended him, prompted her in a short time to another +project, a project worthy of such a disposition. She endeavoured to rid +herself from the danger of being at any time made known to him, by +sending him secretly to the American Plantations. By whose kindness this +scheme was counteracted, or by whose interposition she was induced to lay +aside her design, I know not; it is not improbable that the Lady Mason +might persuade or compel her to desist, or perhaps she could not easily +find accomplices wicked enough to concur in so cruel an action; for it +may be conceived that those who had by a long gradation of guilt hardened +their hearts against the sense of common wickedness, would yet be shocked +at the design of a mother to expose her son to slavery and want, to +expose him without interest, and without provocation; and Savage might on +this occasion find protectors and advocates among those who had long +traded in crimes, and whom compassion had never touched before. + +Being hindered, by whatever means, from banishing him into another +country, she formed soon after a scheme for burying him in poverty and +obscurity in his own; and that his station of life, if not the place of +his residence, might keep him for ever at a distance from her, she +ordered him to be placed with a shoemaker in Holborn, that, after the +usual time of trial, he might become his apprentice. + +It is generally reported that this project was for some time successful, +and that Savage was employed at the awl longer than he was willing to +confess: nor was it perhaps any great advantage to him, that an +unexpected discovery determined him to quit his occupation. + +About this time his nurse, who had always treated him as her own son, +died; and it was natural for him to take care of those effects which by +her death were, as he imagined, become his own: he therefore went to her +house, opened her boxes, and examined her papers, among which he found +some letters written to her by the Lady Mason, which informed him of his +birth, and the reasons for which it was concealed. He was no longer +satisfied with the employment which had been allotted him, but thought he +had a right to share the affluence of his mother; and therefore without +scruple applied to her as her son, and made use of every art to awaken +her tenderness and attract her regard. But neither his letters, nor the +interposition of those friends which his merit or his distress procured +him, made any impression on her mind. She still resolved to neglect, +though she could no longer disown him. It was to no purpose that he +frequently solicited her to admit him to see her; she avoided him with +the most vigilant precaution, and ordered him to be excluded from her +house, by whomsoever he might be introduced, and what reason soever he +might give for entering it. + +Savage was at the same time so touched with the discovery of his real +mother, that it was his frequent practice to walk in the dark evenings +for several hours before her door, in hopes of seeing her as she might +come by accident to the window, or cross her apartment with a candle in +her hand. But all his assiduity and tenderness were without effect, for +he could neither soften her heart nor open her hand, and was reduced to +the utmost miseries of want, while he was endeavouring to awaken the +affection of a mother. He was therefore obliged to seek some other means +of support; and, having no profession, became by necessity an author. + +At this time the attention of the literary world was engrossed by the +Bangorian controversy, which filled the press with pamphlets, and the +coffee-houses with disputants. Of this subject, as most popular, he made +choice for his first attempt, and, without any other knowledge of the +question than he had casually collected from conversation, published a +poem against the bishop. What was the success or merit of this +performance I know not; it was probably lost among the innumerable +pamphlets to which that dispute gave occasion. Mr. Savage was himself in +a little time ashamed of it, and endeavoured to suppress it, by +destroying all the copies that he could collect. He then attempted a more +gainful kind of writing, and in his eighteenth year offered to the stage +a comedy borrowed from a Spanish plot, which was refused by the players, +and was therefore given by him to Mr. Bullock, who, having more interest, +made some slight alterations, and brought it upon the stage, under the +title of _Woman’s a Riddle_, but allowed the unhappy author no part of +the profit. + +Not discouraged, however, at his repulse, he wrote two years afterwards +_Love in a Veil_, another comedy, borrowed likewise from the Spanish, but +with little better success than before; for though it was received and +acted, yet it appeared so late in the year, that the author obtained no +other advantage from it than the acquaintance of Sir Richard Steele and +Mr. Wilks, by whom he was pitied, caressed, and relieved. + +Sir Richard Steele, having declared in his favour with all the ardour of +benevolence which constituted his character, promoted his interest with +the utmost zeal, related his misfortunes, applauded his merit, took all +the opportunities of recommending him, and asserted that “the inhumanity +of his mother had given him a right to find every good man his father.” +Nor was Mr. Savage admitted to his acquaintance only, but to his +confidence, of which he sometimes related an instance too extraordinary +to be omitted, as it affords a very just idea of his patron’s character. +He was once desired by Sir Richard, with an air of the utmost importance, +to come very early to his house the next morning. Mr. Savage came as he +had promised, found the chariot at the door, and Sir Richard waiting for +him, and ready to go out. What was intended, and whither they were to go, +Savage could not conjecture, and was not willing to inquire; but +immediately seated himself with Sir Richard. The coachman was ordered to +drive, and they hurried with the utmost expedition to Hyde Park Corner, +where they stopped at a petty tavern, and retired to a private room. Sir +Richard then informed him that he intended to publish a pamphlet, and +that he had desired him to come thither that he might write for him. He +soon sat down to the work. Sir Richard dictated, and Savage wrote, till +the dinner that had been ordered was put upon the table. Savage was +surprised at the meanness of the entertainment, and after some hesitation +ventured to ask for wine, which Sir Richard, not without reluctance, +ordered to be brought. They then finished their dinner, and proceeded in +their pamphlet, which they concluded in the afternoon. + +Mr. Savage then imagined his task over, and expected that Sir Richard +would call for the reckoning, and return home; but his expectations +deceived him, for Sir Richard told him that he was without money, and +that the pamphlet must be sold before the dinner could be paid for; and +Savage was therefore obliged to go and offer their new production to sale +for two guineas, which with some difficulty he obtained. Sir Richard then +returned home, having retired that day only to avoid his creditors, and +composed the pamphlet only to discharge his reckoning. + +Mr. Savage related another fact equally uncommon, which, though it has no +relation to his life, ought to be preserved. Sir Richard Steele having +one day invited to his house a great number of persons of the first +quality, they were surprised at the number of liveries which surrounded +the table; and after dinner, when wine and mirth had set them free from +the observation of a rigid ceremony, one of them inquired of Sir Richard +how such an expensive train of domestics could be consistent with his +fortune. Sir Richard very frankly confessed that they were fellows of +whom he would very willingly be rid. And being then asked why he did not +discharge them, declared that they were bailiffs, who had introduced +themselves with an execution, and whom, since he could not send them +away, he had thought it convenient to embellish with liveries, that they +might do him credit while they stayed. His friends were diverted with the +expedient, and by paying the debt, discharged their attendance, having +obliged Sir Richard to promise that they should never again find him +graced with a retinue of the same kind. + +Under such a tutor, Mr. Savage was not likely to learn prudence or +frugality; and perhaps many of the misfortunes which the want of those +virtues brought upon him in the following parts of his life, might be +justly imputed to so unimproving an example. Nor did the kindness of Sir +Richard end in common favours. He proposed to have established him in +some settled scheme of life, and to have contracted a kind of alliance +with him, by marrying him to a natural daughter, on whom he intended to +bestow a thousand pounds. But though he was always lavish of future +bounties, he conducted his affairs in such a manner that he was very +seldom able to keep his promises, or execute his own intentions; and, as +he was never able to raise the sum which he had offered, the marriage was +delayed. In the meantime he was officiously informed that Mr. Savage had +ridiculed him; by which he was so much exasperated that he withdrew the +allowance which he had paid him, and never afterwards admitted him to his +house. + +It is not, indeed, unlikely that Savage might by his imprudence expose +himself to the malice of a talebearer; for his patron had many follies, +which, as his discernment easily discovered, his imagination might +sometimes incite him to mention too ludicrously. A little knowledge of +the world is sufficient to discover that such weakness is very common, +and that there are few who do not sometimes, in the wantonness of +thoughtless mirth, or the heat of transient resentment, speak of their +friends and benefactors with levity and contempt, though in their cooler +moments they want neither sense of their kindness nor reverence for their +virtue; the fault, therefore, of Mr. Savage was rather negligence than +ingratitude. But Sir Richard must likewise be acquitted of severity, for +who is there that can patiently bear contempt from one whom he has +relieved and supported, whose establishment he has laboured, and whose +interest he has promoted? + +He was now again abandoned to fortune without any other friend than Mr. +Wilks; a man who, whatever were his abilities or skill as an actor, +deserves at least to be remembered for his virtues, which are not often +to be found in the world, and perhaps less often in his profession than +in others. To be humane, generous, and candid is a very high degree of +merit in any case; but those qualifications deserve still greater praise +when they are found in that condition which makes almost every other man, +for whatever reason, contemptuous, insolent, petulant, selfish, and +brutal. + +As Mr. Wilks was one of those to whom calamity seldom complained without +relief, he naturally took an unfortunate wit into his protection, and not +only assisted him in any casual distresses, but continued an equal and +steady kindness to the time of his death. By this interposition Mr. +Savage once obtained from his mother fifty pounds, and a promise of one +hundred and fifty more; but it was the fate of this unhappy man that few +promises of any advantage to him were performed. His mother was infected, +among others, with the general madness of the South Sea traffic; and +having been disappointed in her expectations, refused to pay what perhaps +nothing but the prospect of sudden affluence prompted her to promise. + +Being thus obliged to depend upon the friendship of Mr. Wilks, he was +consequently an assiduous frequenter of the theatres: and in a short time +the amusements of the stage took such possession of his mind that he +never was absent from a play in several years. This constant attendance +naturally procured him the acquaintance of the players, and, among +others, of Mrs. Oldfield, who was so much pleased with his conversation, +and touched with his misfortunes, that she allowed him a settled pension +of fifty pounds a year, which was during her life regularly paid. That +this act of generosity may receive its due praise, and that the good +actions of Mrs. Oldfield may not be sullied by her general character, it +is proper to mention that Mr. Savage often declared, in the strongest +terms, that he never saw her alone, or in any other place than behind the +scenes. + +At her death he endeavoured to show his gratitude in the most decent +manner, by wearing mourning as for a mother; but did not celebrate her in +elegies, because he knew that too great a profusion of praise would only +have revived those faults which his natural equity did not allow him to +think less because they were committed by one who favoured him; but of +which, though his virtue would not endeavour to palliate them, his +gratitude would not suffer him to prolong the memory or diffuse the +censure. + +In his “Wanderer” he has indeed taken an opportunity of mentioning her; +but celebrates her not for her virtue, but her beauty, an excellence +which none ever denied her: this is the only encomium with which he has +rewarded her liberality, and perhaps he has even in this been too lavish +of his praise. He seems to have thought that never to mention his +benefactress would have an appearance of ingratitude, though to have +dedicated any particular performance to her memory would have only +betrayed an officious partiality, and that without exalting her character +would have depressed his own. He had sometimes, by the kindness of Mr. +Wilks, the advantage of a benefit, on which occasions he often received +uncommon marks of regard and compassion; and was once told by the Duke of +Dorset that it was just to consider him as an injured nobleman, and that +in his opinion the nobility ought to think themselves obliged, without +solicitation, to take every opportunity of supporting him by their +countenance and patronage. But he had generally the mortification to hear +that the whole interest of his mother was employed to frustrate his +applications, and that she never left any expedient untried by which he +might be cut off from the possibility of supporting life. The same +disposition she endeavoured to diffuse among all those over whom nature +or fortune gave her any influence, and indeed succeeded too well in her +design; but could not always propagate her effrontery with her cruelty; +for some of those whom she incited against him were ashamed of their own +conduct, and boasted of that relief which they never gave him. In this +censure I do not indiscriminately involve all his relations; for he has +mentioned with gratitude the humanity of one lady, whose name I am now +unable to recollect, and to whom, therefore, I cannot pay the praises +which she deserves for having acted well in opposition to influence, +precept, and example. + +The punishment which our laws inflict upon those parents who murder their +infants is well known, nor has its justice ever been contested; but, if +they deserve death who destroy a child in its birth, what pain can be +severe enough for her who forbears to destroy him only to inflict sharper +miseries upon him; who prolongs his life only to make him miserable; and +who exposes him, without care and without pity, to the malice of +oppression, the caprices of chance, and the temptations of poverty; who +rejoices to see him overwhelmed with calamities; and, when his own +industry, or the charity of others, has enabled him to rise for a short +time above his miseries, plunges him again into his former distress? + +The kindness of his friends not affording him any constant supply, and +the prospect of improving his fortune by enlarging his acquaintance +necessarily leading him to places of expense, he found it necessary to +endeavour once more at dramatic poetry; for which he was now better +qualified by a more extensive knowledge and longer observation. But +having been unsuccessful in comedy, though rather for want of +opportunities than genius, he resolved to try whether he should not be +more fortunate in exhibiting a tragedy. The story which he chose for the +subject was that of Sir Thomas Overbury, a story well adapted to the +stage, though perhaps not far enough removed from the present age to +admit properly the fictions necessary to complete the plan; for the mind, +which naturally loves truth, is always most offended with the violation +of those truths of which we are most certain; and we of course conceive +those facts most certain which approach nearer to our own time. Out of +this story he formed a tragedy, which, if the circumstances in which he +wrote it be considered, will afford at once an uncommon proof of strength +of genius and evenness of mind, of a serenity not to be ruffled and an +imagination not to be suppressed. + +During a considerable part of the time in which he was employed upon this +performance, he was without lodging, and often without meat; nor had he +any other conveniences for study than the fields or the streets allowed +him; there he used to walk and form his speeches, and afterwards step +into a shop, beg for a few moments the use of the pen and ink, and write +down what he had composed upon paper which he had picked up by accident. + +If the performance of a writer thus distressed is not perfect, its faults +ought surely to be imputed to a cause very different from want of genius, +and must rather excite pity than provoke censure. But when, under these +discouragements, the tragedy was finished, there yet remained the labour +of introducing it on the stage, an undertaking which, to an ingenuous +mind, was in a very high degree vexatious and disgusting; for, having +little interest or reputation, he was obliged to submit himself wholly to +the players, and admit, with whatever reluctance, the emendations of Mr. +Cibber, which he always considered as the disgrace of his performance. He +had, indeed, in Mr. Hill another critic of a very different class, from +whose friendship he received great assistance on many occasions, and whom +he never mentioned but with the utmost tenderness and regard. He had been +for some time distinguished by him with very particular kindness, and on +this occasion it was natural to apply to him as an author of an +established character. He therefore sent this tragedy to him, with a +short copy of verses, in which he desired his correction. Mr. Hill, whose +humanity and politeness are generally known, readily complied with his +request; but as he is remarkable for singularity of sentiment, and bold +experiments in language, Mr. Savage did not think this play much improved +by his innovation, and had even at that time the courage to reject +several passages which he could not approve; and, what is still more +laudable, Mr. Hill had the generosity not to resent the neglect of his +alterations, but wrote the prologue and epilogue, in which he touches on +the circumstances of the author with great tenderness. + +After all these obstructions and compliances, he was only able to bring +his play upon the stage in the summer, when the chief actors had retired, +and the rest were in possession of the house for their own advantage. +Among these, Mr. Savage was admitted to play the part of Sir Thomas +Overbury, by which he gained no great reputation, the theatre being a +province for which nature seems not to have designed him; for neither his +voice, look, nor gesture were such as were expected on the stage, and he +was so much ashamed of having been reduced to appear as a player, that he +always blotted out his name from the list when a copy of his tragedy was +to be shown to his friends. + +In the publication of his performance he was more successful, for the +rays of genius that glimmered in it, that glimmered through all the mists +which poverty and Cibber had been able to spread over it, procured him +the notice and esteem of many persons eminent for their rank, their +virtue, and their wit. Of this play, acted, printed, and dedicated, the +accumulated profits arose to a hundred pounds, which he thought at that +time a very large sum, having been never master of so much before. + +In the dedication, for which he received ten guineas, there is nothing +remarkable. The preface contains a very liberal encomium on the blooming +excellence of Mr. Theophilus Cibber, which Mr. Savage could not in the +latter part of his life see his friends about to read without snatching +the play out of their hands. The generosity of Mr. Hill did not end on +this occasion; for afterwards, when Mr. Savage’s necessities returned, he +encouraged a subscription to a Miscellany of Poems in a very +extraordinary manner, by publishing his story in the _Plain Dealer_, with +some affecting lines, which he asserts to have been written by Mr. Savage +upon the treatment received by him from his mother, but of which he was +himself the author, as Mr. Savage afterwards declared. These lines, and +the paper in which they were inserted, had a very powerful effect upon +all but his mother, whom, by making her cruelty more public, they only +hardened in her aversion. + +Mr. Hill not only promoted the subscription to the Miscellany, but +furnished likewise the greatest part of the poems of which it is +composed, and particularly “The Happy Man,” which he published as a +specimen. + +The subscriptions of those whom these papers should influence to +patronise merit in distress, without any other solicitation, were +directed to be left at Button’s Coffee-house; and Mr. Savage going +thither a few days afterwards, without expectation of any effect from his +proposal, found, to his surprise, seventy guineas, which had been sent +him in consequence of the compassion excited by Mr. Hill’s pathetic +representation. + +To this Miscellany he wrote a preface, in which he gives an account of +his mother’s cruelty in a very uncommon strain of humour, and with a +gaiety of imagination which the success of his subscription probably +produced. The dedication is addressed to the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, +whom he flatters without reserve, and, to confess the truth, with very +little art. The same observation may be extended to all his dedications: +his compliments are constrained and violent, heaped together without the +grace of order, or the decency of introduction. He seems to have written +his panegyrics for the perusal only of his patrons, and to imagine that +he had no other task than to pamper them with praises, however gross, and +that flattery would make its way to the heart, without the assistance of +elegance or invention. + +Soon afterwards the death of the king furnished a general subject for a +poetical contest, in which Mr. Savage engaged, and is allowed to have +carried the prize of honour from his competitors: but I know not whether +he gained by his performance any other advantage than the increase of his +reputation, though it must certainly have been with farther views that he +prevailed upon himself to attempt a species of writing, of which all the +topics had been long before exhausted, and which was made at once +difficult by the multitudes that had failed in it, and those that had +succeeded. + +He was now advancing in reputation, and though frequently involved in +very distressful perplexities, appeared, however, to be gaining upon +mankind, when both his fame and his life were endangered by an event, of +which it is not yet determined whether it ought to be mentioned as a +crime or a calamity. + +On the 20th of November, 1727, Mr. Savage came from Richmond, where he +then lodged that he might pursue his studies with less interruption, with +an intent to discharge another lodging which he had in Westminster; and +accidentally meeting two gentlemen, his acquaintances, whose names were +Merchant and Gregory, he went in with them to a neighbouring +coffee-house, and sat drinking till it was late, it being in no time of +Mr. Savage’s life any part of his character to be the first of the +company that desired to separate. He would willingly have gone to bed in +the same house, but there was not room for the whole company, and +therefore they agreed to ramble about the streets, and divert themselves +with such amusements as should offer themselves till morning. In this +walk they happened unluckily to discover a light in Robinson’s +Coffee-house, near Charing Cross, and therefore went in. Merchant with +some rudeness demanded a room, and was told that there was a good fire in +the next parlour, which the company were about to leave, being then +paying their reckoning. Merchant, not satisfied with this answer, rushed +into the room, and was followed by his companions. He then petulantly +placed himself between the company and the fire, and soon after kicked +down the table. This produced a quarrel, swords were drawn on both sides, +and one Mr. James Sinclair was killed. Savage, having likewise wounded a +maid that held him, forced his way, with Merchant, out of the house; but +being intimidated and confused, without resolution either to fly or stay, +they were taken in a back court by one of the company, and some soldiers, +whom he had called to his assistance. Being secured and guarded that +night, they were in the morning carried before three justices, who +committed them to the Gatehouse, from whence, upon the death of Mr. +Sinclair, which happened the same day, they were removed in the night to +Newgate, where they were, however, treated with some distinction, +exempted from the ignominy of chains, and confined, not among the common +criminals, but in the Press yard. + +When the day of trial came, the court was crowded in a very unusual +manner, and the public appeared to interest itself as in a cause of +general concern. The witnesses against Mr. Savage and his friends were, +the woman who kept the house, which was a house of ill-fame, and her +maid, the men who were in the room with Mr. Sinclair, and a woman of the +town, who had been drinking with them, and with whom one of them had been +seen. They swore in general, that Merchant gave the provocation, which +Savage and Gregory drew their swords to justify; that Savage drew first, +and that he stabbed Sinclair when he was not in a posture of defence, or +while Gregory commanded his sword; that after he had given the thrust he +turned pale, and would have retired, but the maid clung round him, and +one of the company endeavoured to detain him, from whom he broke by +cutting the maid on the head, but was afterwards taken in a court. There +was some difference in their depositions; one did not see Savage give the +wound, another saw it given when Sinclair held his point towards the +ground; and the woman of the town asserted that she did not see +Sinclair’s sword at all. This difference, however, was very far from +amounting to inconsistency; but it was sufficient to show, that the hurry +of the dispute was such that it was not easy to discover the truth with +relation to particular circumstances, and that therefore some deductions +were to be made from the credibility of the testimonies. + +Sinclair had declared several times before his death that he received his +wound from Savage: nor did Savage at his trial deny the fact, but +endeavoured partly to extenuate it, by urging the suddenness of the whole +action, and the impossibility of any ill design or premeditated malice; +and partly to justify it by the necessity of self-defence, and the hazard +of his own life, if he had lost that opportunity of giving the thrust: he +observed, that neither reason nor law obliged a man to wait for the blow +which was threatened, and which, if he should suffer it, he might never +be able to return; that it was allowable to prevent an assault, and to +preserve life by taking away that of the adversary by whom it was +endangered. With regard to the violence with which he endeavoured to +escape, he declared that it was not his design to fly from justice, or +decline a trial, but to avoid the expenses and severities of a prison; +and that he intended to appear at the bar without compulsion. + +This defence, which took up more than an hour, was heard by the multitude +that thronged the court with the most attentive and respectful silence. +Those who thought he ought not to be acquitted owned that applause could +not be refused him; and those who before pitied his misfortunes now +reverenced his abilities. The witnesses which appeared against him were +proved to be persons of characters which did not entitle them to much +credit; a common strumpet, a woman by whom strumpets were entertained, a +man by whom they were supported: and the character of Savage was by +several persons of distinction asserted to be that of a modest, +inoffensive man, not inclined to broils or to insolence, and who had, to +that time, been only known for his misfortunes and his wit. Had his +audience been his judges, he had undoubtedly been acquitted, but Mr. +Page, who was then upon the bench, treated him with his usual insolence +and severity, and when he had summed up the evidence, endeavoured to +exasperate the jury, as Mr. Savage used to relate it, with this eloquent +harangue:— + +“Gentlemen of the jury, you are to consider that Mr. Savage is a very +great man, a much greater man than you or I, gentlemen of the jury; that +he wears very fine clothes, much finer clothes than you or I, gentlemen +of the jury; that he has abundance of money in his pockets, much more +money than you or I, gentlemen of the jury; but, gentlemen of the jury, +is it not a very hard case, gentlemen of the jury, that Mr. Savage should +therefore kill you or me, gentlemen of the jury?” + +Mr. Savage, hearing his defence thus misrepresented, and the men who were +to decide his fate incited against him by invidious comparisons, +resolutely asserted that his cause was not candidly explained, and began +to recapitulate what he had before said with regard to his condition, and +the necessity of endeavouring to escape the expenses of imprisonment; but +the judge having ordered him to be silent, and repeated his orders +without effect, commanded that he should be taken from the bar by force. + +The jury then heard the opinion of the judge, that good characters were +of no weight against positive evidence, though they might turn the scale +where it was doubtful; and that though, when two men attack each other, +the death of either is only manslaughter; but where one is the aggressor, +as in the case before them, and, in pursuance of his first attack, kills +the other, the law supposes the action, however sudden, to be malicious. +They then deliberated upon their verdict, and determined that Mr. Savage +and Mr. Gregory were guilty of murder, and Mr. Merchant, who had no +sword, only of manslaughter. + +Thus ended this memorable trial, which lasted eight hours. Mr. Savage and +Mr. Gregory were conducted back to prison, where they were more closely +confined, and loaded with irons of fifty pounds’ weight. Four days +afterwards they were sent back to the court to receive sentence, on which +occasion Mr. Savage made, as far as it could be retained in memory, the +following speech:— + +“It is now, my lord, too late to offer anything by way of defence or +vindication; nor can we expect from your lordships, in this court, but +the sentence which the law requires you, as judges, to pronounce against +men of our calamitous condition. But we are also persuaded that as mere +men, and out of this seat of rigorous justice, you are susceptive of the +tender passions, and too humane not to commiserate the unhappy situation +of those whom the law sometimes perhaps exacts from you to pronounce +upon. No doubt you distinguish between offences which arise out of +premeditation, and a disposition habituated to vice or immorality, and +transgressions which are the unhappy and unforeseen effects of casual +absence of reason, and sudden impulse of passion. We therefore hope you +will contribute all you can to an extension of that mercy which the +gentlemen of the jury have been pleased to show to Mr. Merchant, who +(allowing facts as sworn against us by the evidence) has led us into this +our calamity. I hope this will not be construed as if we meant to reflect +upon that gentleman, or remove anything from us upon him, or that we +repine the more at our fate because he has no participation of it. No, my +Lord! For my part, I declare nothing could more soften my grief than to +be without any companion in so great a misfortune.” + +Mr. Savage had now no hopes of life but from the mercy of the Crown, +which was very earnestly solicited by his friends, and which, with +whatever difficulty the story may obtain belief, was obstructed only by +his mother. + +To prejudice the queen against him, she made use of an incident which was +omitted in the order of time, that it might be mentioned together with +the purpose which it was made to serve. Mr. Savage, when he had +discovered his birth, had an incessant desire to speak to his mother, who +always avoided him in public, and refused him admission into her house. +One evening, walking, as was his custom, in the street that she +inhabited, he saw the door of her house by accident open; he entered it, +and finding no person in the passage to hinder him, went up-stairs to +salute her. She discovered him before he entered the chamber, alarmed the +family with the most distressful outcries, and when she had by her +screams gathered them about her, ordered them to drive out of the house +that villain, who had forced himself in upon her and endeavoured to +murder her. Savage, who had attempted with the most submissive tenderness +to soften her rage, hearing her utter so detestable an accusation, +thought it prudent to retire, and, I believe, never attempted afterwards +to speak to her. + +But shocked as he was with her falsehood and her cruelty, he imagined +that she intended no other use of her lie than to set herself free from +his embraces and solicitations, and was very far from suspecting that she +would treasure it in her memory as an instrument of future wickedness, or +that she would endeavour for this fictitious assault to deprive him of +his life. But when the queen was solicited for his pardon, and informed +of the severe treatment which he had suffered from his judge, she +answered that, however unjustifiable might be the manner of his trial, or +whatever extenuation the action for which he was condemned might admit, +she could not think that man a proper object of the king’s mercy who had +been capable of entering his mother’s house in the night with an intent +to murder her. + +By whom this atrocious calumny had been transmitted to the queen, whether +she that invented had the front to relate it, whether she found any one +weak enough to credit it, or corrupt enough to concur with her in her +hateful design, I know not, but methods had been taken to persuade the +queen so strongly of the truth of it, that she for a long time refused to +hear any one of those who petitioned for his life. + +Thus had Savage perished by the evidence of a bawd, a strumpet, and his +mother, had not justice and compassion procured him an advocate of rank +too great to be rejected unheard, and of virtue too eminent to be heard +without being believed. His merit and his calamities happened to reach +the ear of the Countess of Hertford, who engaged in his support with all +the tenderness that is excited by pity, and all the zeal which is kindled +by generosity, and, demanding an audience of the queen, laid before her +the whole series of his mother’s cruelty, exposed the improbability of an +accusation by which he was charged with an intent to commit a murder that +could produce no advantage, and soon convinced her how little his former +conduct could deserve to be mentioned as a reason for extraordinary +severity. + +The interposition of this lady was so successful, that he was soon after +admitted to bail, and, on the 9th of March, 1728, pleaded the king’s +pardon. + +It is natural to inquire upon what motives his mother could persecute him +in a manner so outrageous and implacable; for what reason she could +employ all the arts of malice, and all the snares of calumny, to take +away the life of her own son, of a son who never injured her, who was +never supported by her expense, nor obstructed any prospect of pleasure +or advantage. Why she would endeavour to destroy him by a lie—a lie which +could not gain credit, but must vanish of itself at the first moment of +examination, and of which only this can be said to make it probable, that +it may be observed from her conduct that the most execrable crimes are +sometimes committed without apparent temptation. + +This mother is still (1744) alive, and may perhaps even yet, though her +malice was so often defeated, enjoy the pleasure of reflecting that the +life which she often endeavoured to destroy was at last shortened by her +maternal offices; that though she could not transport her son to the +plantations, bury him in the shop of a mechanic, or hasten the hand of +the public executioner, she has yet had the satisfaction of embittering +all his hours, and forcing him into exigencies that hurried on his death. +It is by no means necessary to aggravate the enormity of this woman’s +conduct by placing it in opposition to that of the Countess of Hertford. +No one can fail to observe how much more amiable it is to relieve than to +oppress, and to rescue innocence from destruction than to destroy without +an injury. + +Mr. Savage, during his imprisonment, his trial, and the time in which he +lay under sentence of death, behaved with great firmness and equality of +mind, and confirmed by his fortitude the esteem of those who before +admired him for his abilities. The peculiar circumstances of his life +were made more generally known by a short account which was then +published, and of which several thousands were in a few weeks dispersed +over the nation; and the compassion of mankind operated so powerfully in +his favour, that he was enabled, by frequent presents, not only to +support himself, but to assist Mr. Gregory in prison; and when he was +pardoned and released, he found the number of his friends not lessened. + +The nature of the act for which he had been tried was in itself doubtful; +of the evidences which appeared against him, the character of the man was +not unexceptionable, that of the woman notoriously infamous; she whose +testimony chiefly influenced the jury to condemn him afterwards retracted +her assertions. He always himself denied that he was drunk, as had been +generally reported. Mr. Gregory, who is now (1744) collector of Antigua, +is said to declare him far less criminal than he was imagined, even by +some who favoured him; and Page himself afterwards confessed that he had +treated him with uncommon rigour. When all these particulars are rated +together, perhaps the memory of Savage may not be much sullied by his +trial. Some time after he obtained his liberty, he met in the street the +woman who had sworn with so much malignity against him. She informed him +that she was in distress, and, with a degree of confidence not easily +attainable, desired him to relieve her. He, instead of insulting her +misery, and taking pleasure in the calamities of one who had brought his +life into danger, reproved her gently for her perjury, and, changing the +only guinea that he had, divided it equally between her and himself. This +is an action which in some ages would have made a saint, and perhaps in +others a hero, and which, without any hyperbolical encomiums, must be +allowed to be an instance of uncommon generosity, an act of complicated +virtue, by which he at once relieved the poor, corrected the vicious, and +forgave an enemy; by which he at once remitted the strongest +provocations, and exercised the most ardent charity. Compassion was +indeed the distinguishing quality of Savage: he never appeared inclined +to take advantage of weakness, to attack the defenceless, or to press +upon the falling. Whoever was distressed was certain at least of his good +wishes; and when he could give no assistance to extricate them from +misfortunes, he endeavoured to soothe them by sympathy and tenderness. +But when his heart was not softened by the sight of misery, he was +sometimes obstinate in his resentment, and did not quickly lose the +remembrance of an injury. He always continued to speak with anger of the +insolence and partiality of Page, and a short time before his death +revenged it by a satire. + +It is natural to inquire in what terms Mr. Savage spoke of this fatal +action when the danger was over, and he was under no necessity of using +any art to set his conduct in the fairest light. He was not willing to +dwell upon it; and, if he transiently mentioned it, appeared neither to +consider himself as a murderer, nor as a man wholly free from the guilt +of blood. How much and how long he regretted it appeared in a poem which +he published many years afterwards. On occasion of a copy of verses, in +which the failings of good men are recounted, and in which the author had +endeavoured to illustrate his position, that “the best may sometimes +deviate from virtue,” by an instance of murder committed by Savage in the +heat of wine, Savage remarked that it was no very just representation of +a good man, to suppose him liable to drunkenness, and disposed in his +riots to cut throats. + +He was now indeed at liberty, but was, as before, without any other +support than accidental favours and uncertain patronage afforded him; +sources by which he was sometimes very liberally supplied, and which at +other times were suddenly stopped; so that he spent his life between want +and plenty, or, what was yet worse, between beggary and extravagance, +for, as whatever he received was the gift of chance, which might as well +favour him at one time as another, he was tempted to squander what he had +because he always hoped to be immediately supplied. Another cause of his +profusion was the absurd kindness of his friends, who at once rewarded +and enjoyed his abilities by treating him at taverns, and habituating him +to pleasures which he could not afford to enjoy, and which he was not +able to deny himself, though he purchased the luxury of a single night by +the anguish of cold and hunger for a week. + +The experience of these inconveniences determined him to endeavour after +some settled income, which, having long found submission and entreaties +fruitless, he attempted to extort from his mother by rougher methods. He +had now, as he acknowledged, lost that tenderness for her which the whole +series of her cruelty had not been able wholly to repress, till he found, +by the efforts which she made for his destruction, that she was not +content with refusing to assist him, and being neutral in his struggles +with poverty, but was ready to snatch every opportunity of adding to his +misfortunes; and that she was now to be considered as an enemy implacably +malicious, whom nothing but his blood could satisfy. He therefore +threatened to harass her with lampoons, and to publish a copious +narrative of her conduct, unless she consented to purchase an exemption +from infamy by allowing him a pension. + +This expedient proved successful. Whether shame still survived, though +virtue was extinct, or whether her relations had more delicacy than +herself, and imagined that some of the darts which satire might point at +her would glance upon them, Lord Tyrconnel, whatever were his motives, +upon his promise to lay aside his design of exposing the cruelty of his +mother, received him into his family, treated him as his equal, and +engaged to allow him a pension of two hundred pounds a year. This was the +golden part of Mr. Savage’s life; and for some time he had no reason to +complain of fortune. His appearance was splendid, his expenses large, and +his acquaintance extensive. He was courted by all who endeavoured to be +thought men of genius, and caressed by all who valued themselves upon a +refined taste. To admire Mr. Savage was a proof of discernment; and to be +acquainted with him was a title to poetical reputation. His presence was +sufficient to make any place of public entertainment popular, and his +approbation and example constituted the fashion. So powerful is genius, +when it is invested with the glitter of affluence! Men willingly pay to +fortune that regard which they owe to merit, and are pleased when they +have an opportunity at once of gratifying their vanity and practising +their duty. + +This interval of prosperity furnished him with opportunities of enlarging +his knowledge of human nature, by contemplating life from its highest +gradations to its lowest; and, had he afterwards applied to dramatic +poetry, he would perhaps not have had many superiors, for, as he never +suffered any scene to pass before his eyes without notice, he had +treasured in his mind all the different combinations of passions, and the +innumerable mixtures of vice and virtue, which distinguished one +character from another; and, as his conception was strong, his +expressions were clear, he easily received impressions from objects, and +very forcibly transmitted them to others. Of his exact observations on +human life he has left a proof, which would do honour to the greatest +names, in a small pamphlet, called “The Author to be Let,” where he +introduces Iscariot Hackney, a prostitute scribbler, giving an account of +his birth, his education, his disposition and morals, habits of life, and +maxims of conduct. In the introduction are related many secret histories +of the petty writers of that time, but sometimes mixed with ungenerous +reflections on their birth, their circumstances, or those of their +relations; nor can it be denied that some passages are such as Iscariot +Hackney might himself have produced. He was accused likewise of living in +an appearance of friendship with some whom he satirised, and of making +use of the confidence which he gained by a seeming kindness, to discover +failings and expose them. It must be confessed that Mr. Savage’s esteem +was no very certain possession, and that he would lampoon at one time +those whom he had praised at another. + +It may be alleged that the same man may change his principles, and that +he who was once deservedly commended may be afterwards satirised with +equal justice, or that the poet was dazzled with the appearance of +virtue, and found the man whom he had celebrated, when he had an +opportunity of examining him more narrowly, unworthy of the panegyric +which he had too hastily bestowed; and that, as a false satire ought to +be recanted, for the sake of him whose reputation may be injured, false +praise ought likewise to be obviated, lest the distinction between vice +and virtue should be lost, lest a bad man should be trusted upon the +credit of his encomiast, or lest others should endeavour to obtain like +praises by the same means. But though these excuses may be often +plausible, and sometimes just, they are very seldom satisfactory to +mankind; and the writer who is not constant to his subject, quickly sinks +into contempt, his satire loses its force, and his panegyric its value; +and he is only considered at one time as a flatterer, and a calumniator +at another. To avoid these imputations, it is only necessary to follow +the rules of virtue, and to preserve an unvaried regard to truth. For +though it is undoubtedly possible that a man, however cautious, may be +sometimes deceived by an artful appearance of virtue, or by false +evidences of guilt, such errors will not be frequent; and it will be +allowed that the name of an author would never have been made +contemptible had no man ever said what he did not think, or misled others +but when he was himself deceived. + +“The Author to be Let” was first published in a single pamphlet, and +afterwards inserted in a collection of pieces relating to the “Dunciad,” +which were addressed by Mr. Savage to the Earl of Middlesex, in a +dedication which he was prevailed upon to sign, though he did not write +it, and in which there are some positions that the true author would +perhaps not have published under his own name, and on which Mr. Savage +afterwards reflected with no great satisfaction. The enumeration of the +bad effects of the uncontrolled freedom of the press, and the assertion +that the “liberties taken by the writers of journals with their superiors +were exorbitant and unjustifiable,” very ill became men who have +themselves not always shown the exactest regard to the laws of +subordination in their writings, and who have often satirised those that +at least thought themselves their superiors, as they were eminent for +their hereditary rank, and employed in the highest offices of the +kingdom. But this is only an instance of that partiality which almost +every man indulges with regard to himself: the liberty of the press is a +blessing when we are inclined to write against others, and a calamity +when we find ourselves overborne by the multitude of our assailants; as +the power of the Crown is always thought too great by those who suffer by +its influence, and too little by those in whose favour it is exerted; and +a standing army is generally accounted necessary by those who command, +and dangerous and oppressive by those who support it. + +Mr. Savage was likewise very far from believing that the letters annexed +to each species of bad poets in the Bathos were, as he was directed to +assert, “set down at random;” for when he was charged by one of his +friends with putting his name to such an improbability, he had no other +answer to make than that “he did not think of it;” and his friend had too +much tenderness to reply, that next to the crime of writing contrary to +what he thought was that of writing without thinking. + +After having remarked what is false in this dedication, it is proper that +I observe the impartiality which I recommend, by declaring what Savage +asserted—that the account of the circumstances which attended the +publication of the “Dunciad,” however strange and improbable, was exactly +true. + +The publication of this piece at this time raised Mr. Savage a great +number of enemies among those that were attacked by Mr. Pope, with whom +he was considered as a kind of confederate, and whom he was suspected of +supplying with private intelligence and secret incidents; so that the +ignominy of an informer was added to the terror of a satirist. That he +was not altogether free from literary hypocrisy, and that he sometimes +spoke one thing and wrote another, cannot be denied, because he himself +confessed that, when he lived with great familiarity with Dennis, he +wrote an epigram against him. + +Mr. Savage, however, set all the malice of all the pigmy writers at +defiance, and thought the friendship of Mr. Pope cheaply purchased by +being exposed to their censure and their hatred; nor had he any reason to +repent of the preference, for he found Mr. Pope a steady and unalienable +friend almost to the end of his life. + +About this time, notwithstanding his avowed neutrality with regard to +party, he published a panegyric on Sir Robert Walpole, for which he was +rewarded by him with twenty guineas, a sum not very large, if either the +excellence of the performance or the affluence of the patron be +considered; but greater than he afterwards obtained from a person of yet +higher rank, and more desirous in appearance of being distinguished as a +patron of literature. + +As he was very far from approving the conduct of Sir Robert Walpole, and +in conversation mentioned him sometimes with acrimony, and generally with +contempt, as he was one of those who were always zealous in their +assertions of the justice of the late opposition, jealous of the rights +of the people, and alarmed by the long-continued triumph of the Court, it +was natural to ask him what could induce him to employ his poetry in +praise of that man who was, in his opinion, an enemy to liberty, and an +oppressor of his country? He alleged that he was then dependent upon the +Lord Tyrconnel, who was an implicit follower of the ministry: and that, +being enjoined by him, not without menaces, to write in praise of the +leader, he had not resolution sufficient to sacrifice the pleasure of +affluence to that of integrity. + +On this, and on many other occasions, he was ready to lament the misery +of living at the tables of other men, which was his fate from the +beginning to the end of his life; for I know not whether he ever had, for +three months together, a settled habitation, in which he could claim a +right of residence. + +To this unhappy state it is just to impute much of the inconsistency of +his conduct, for though a readiness to comply with the inclinations of +others was no part of his natural character, yet he was sometimes obliged +to relax his obstinacy, and submit his own judgment, and even his virtue, +to the government of those by whom he was supported. So that if his +miseries were sometimes the consequences of his faults, he ought not yet +to be wholly excluded from compassion, because his faults were very often +the effects of his misfortunes. + +In this gay period of his life, while he was surrounded by affluence and +pleasure, he published “The Wanderer,” a moral poem, of which the design +is comprised in these lines:— + + “I fly all public care, all venal strife, + To try the still, compared with active, life; + To prove, by these, the sons of men may owe + The fruits of bliss to bursting clouds of woe; + That ev’n calamity, by thought refined, + Inspirits and adorns the thinking mind.” + +And more distinctly in the following passage:— + + “By woe, the soul to daring action swells; + By woe, in plaintless patience it excels: + From patience prudent, clear experience springs, + And traces knowledge through the course of things. + Thence hope is formed, thence fortitude, success, + Renown—whate’er men covet and caress.” + +This performance was always considered by himself as his masterpiece; and +Mr. Pope, when he asked his opinion of it, told him that he read it once +over, and was not displeased with it; that it gave him more pleasure at +the second perusal, and delighted him still more at the third. + +It has been generally objected to “The Wanderer,” that the disposition of +the parts is irregular; that the design is obscure, and the plan +perplexed; that the images, however beautiful, succeed each other without +order; and that the whole performance is not so much a regular fabric, as +a heap of shining materials thrown together by accident, which strikes +rather with the solemn magnificence of a stupendous ruin than the elegant +grandeur of a finished pile. This criticism is universal, and therefore +it is reasonable to believe it at least in a degree just; but Mr. Savage +was always of a contrary opinion, and thought his drift could only be +missed by negligence or stupidity, and that the whole plan was regular, +and the parts distinct. It was never denied to abound with strong +representations of nature, and just observations upon life; and it may +easily be observed that most of his pictures have an evident tendency to +illustrate his first great position, “that good is the consequence of +evil.” The sun that burns up the mountains fructifies the vales; the +deluge that rushes down the broken rocks with dreadful impetuosity is +separated into purling brooks; and the rage of the hurricane purifies the +air. + +Even in this poem he has not been able to forbear one touch upon the +cruelty of his mother, which, though remarkably delicate and tender, is a +proof how deep an impression it had upon his mind. This must be at least +acknowledged, which ought to be thought equivalent to many other +excellences, that this poem can promote no other purposes than those of +virtue, and that it is written with a very strong sense of the efficacy +of religion. But my province is rather to give the history of Mr. +Savage’s performances than to display their beauties, or to obviate the +criticisms which they have occasioned, and therefore I shall not dwell +upon the particular passages which deserve applause. I shall neither show +the excellence of his descriptions, nor expatiate on the terrific +portrait of suicide, nor point out the artful touches by which he has +distinguished the intellectual features of the rebels, who suffer death +in his last canto. It is, however, proper to observe, that Mr. Savage +always declared the characters wholly fictitious, and without the least +allusion to any real persons or actions. + +From a poem so diligently laboured, and so successfully finished, it +might be reasonably expected that he should have gained considerable +advantage; nor can it, without some degree of indignation and concern, be +told, that he sold the copy for ten guineas, of which he afterwards +returned two, that the two last sheets of the work might be reprinted, of +which he had in his absence entrusted the correction to a friend, who was +too indolent to perform it with accuracy. + +A superstitious regard to the correction of his sheets was one of Mr. +Savage’s peculiarities: he often altered, revised, recurred to his first +reading or punctuation, and again adopted the alteration; he was dubious +and irresolute without end, as on a question of the last importance, and +at last was seldom satisfied. The intrusion or omission of a comma was +sufficient to discompose him, and he would lament an error of a single +letter as a heavy calamity. In one of his letters relating to an +impression of some verses he remarks that he had, with regard to the +correction of the proof, “a spell upon him;” and indeed the anxiety with +which he dwelt upon the minutest and most trifling niceties, deserved no +other name than that of fascination. That he sold so valuable a +performance for so small a price was not to be imputed either to +necessity, by which the learned and ingenious are often obliged to submit +to very hard conditions, or to avarice, by which the booksellers are +frequently incited to oppress that genius by which they are supported, +but to that intemperate desire of pleasure, and habitual slavery to his +passions, which involved him in many perplexities. He happened at that +time to be engaged in the pursuit of some trifling gratification, and, +being without money for the present occasion, sold his poem to the first +bidder, and perhaps for the first price that was proposed, and would +probably have been content with less if less had been offered him. + +This poem was addressed to the Lord Tyrconnel, not only in the first +lines, but in a formal dedication filled with the highest strains of +panegyric, and the warmest professions of gratitude, but by no means +remarkable for delicacy of connection or elegance of style. These praises +in a short time he found himself inclined to retract, being discarded by +the man on whom he had bestowed them, and whom he then immediately +discovered not to have deserved them. Of this quarrel, which every day +made more bitter, Lord Tyrconnel and Mr. Savage assigned very different +reasons, which might perhaps all in reality concur, though they were not +all convenient to be alleged by either party. Lord Tyrconnel affirmed +that it was the constant practice of Mr. Savage to enter a tavern with +any company that proposed it, drink the most expensive wines with great +profusion, and when the reckoning was demanded to be without money. If, +as it often happened, his company were willing to defray his part, the +affair ended without any ill consequences; but if they were refractory, +and expected that the wine should be paid for by him that drank it, his +method of composition was, to take them with him to his own apartment, +assume the government of the house, and order the butler in an imperious +manner to set the best wine in the cellar before his company, who often +drank till they forgot the respect due to the house in which they were +entertained, indulged themselves in the utmost extravagance of merriment, +practised the most licentious frolics, and committed all the outrages of +drunkenness. Nor was this the only charge which Lord Tyrconnel brought +against him. Having given him a collection of valuable books, stamped +with his own arms, he had the mortification to see them in a short time +exposed to sale upon the stalls, it being usual with Mr. Savage, when he +wanted a small sum, to take his books to the pawnbroker. + +Whoever was acquainted with Mr. Savage easily credited both these +accusations; for having been obliged, from his first entrance into the +world, to subsist upon expedients, affluence was not able to exalt him +above them; and so much was he delighted with wine and conversation, and +so long had he been accustomed to live by chance, that he would at any +time go to the tavern without scruple, and trust for the reckoning to the +liberality of his company, and frequently of company to whom he was very +little known. This conduct, indeed, very seldom drew upon him those +inconveniences that might be feared by any other person, for his +conversation was so entertaining, and his address so pleasing, that few +thought the pleasure which they received from him dearly purchased by +paying for his wine. It was his peculiar happiness that he scarcely ever +found a stranger whom he did not leave a friend; but it must likewise be +added, that he had not often a friend long without obliging him to become +a stranger. + +Mr. Savage, on the other hand, declared that Lord Tyrconnel quarrelled +with him because he would not subtract from his own luxury and +extravagance what he had promised to allow him, and that his resentment +was only a plea for the violation of his promise. He asserted that he had +done nothing that ought to exclude him from that subsistence which he +thought not so much a favour as a debt, since it was offered him upon +conditions which he had never broken: and that his only fault was, that +he could not be supported with nothing. He acknowledged that Lord +Tyrconnel often exhorted him to regulate his method of life, and not to +spend all his nights in taverns, and that he appeared desirous that he +would pass those hours with him which he so freely bestowed upon others. +This demand Mr. Savage considered as a censure of his conduct which he +could never patiently bear, and which, in the latter and cooler parts of +his life, was so offensive to him, that he declared it as his resolution +“to spurn that friend who should pretend to dictate to him;” and it is +not likely that in his earlier years he received admonitions with more +calmness. He was likewise inclined to resent such expectations, as +tending to infringe his liberty, of which he was very jealous, when it +was necessary to the gratification of his passions; and declared that the +request was still more unreasonable as the company to which he was to +have been confined was insupportably disagreeable. This assertion affords +another instance of that inconsistency of his writings with his +conversation which was so often to be observed. He forgot how lavishly he +had, in his dedication to “The Wanderer,” extolled the delicacy and +penetration, the humanity and generosity, the candour and politeness of +the man whom, when he no longer loved him, he declared to be a wretch +without understanding, without good nature, and without justice; of whose +name he thought himself obliged to leave no trace in any future edition +of his writings, and accordingly blotted it out of that copy of “The +Wanderer” which was in his hands. + +During his continuance with the Lord Tyrconnel, he wrote “The Triumph of +Health and Mirth,” on the recovery of Lady Tyrconnel from a languishing +illness. This performance is remarkable, not only for the gaiety of the +ideas and the melody of the numbers, but for the agreeable fiction upon +which it is formed. Mirth, overwhelmed with sorrow for the sickness of +her favourite, takes a flight in quest of her sister Health, whom she +finds reclined upon the brow of a lofty mountain, amidst the fragrance of +perpetual spring, with the breezes of the morning sporting about her. +Being solicited by her sister Mirth, she readily promises her assistance, +flies away in a cloud, and impregnates the waters of Bath with new +virtues, by which the sickness of Belinda is relieved. As the reputation +of his abilities, the particular circumstances of his birth and life, the +splendour of his appearance, and the distinction which was for some time +paid him by Lord Tyrconnel, entitled him to familiarity with persons of +higher rank than those to whose conversation he had been before admitted, +he did not fail to gratify that curiosity which induced him to take a +nearer view of those whom their birth, their employments, or their +fortunes necessarily placed at a distance from the greatest part of +mankind, and to examine whether their merit was magnified or diminished +by the medium through which it was contemplated; whether the splendour +with which they dazzled their admirers was inherent in themselves, or +only reflected on them by the objects that surrounded them; and whether +great men were selected for high stations, or high stations made great +men. + +For this purpose he took all opportunities of conversing familiarly with +those who were most conspicuous at that time for their power or their +influence; he watched their looser moments, and examined their domestic +behaviour, with that acuteness which nature had given him, and which the +uncommon variety of his life had contributed to increase, and that +inquisitiveness which must always be produced in a vigorous mind by an +absolute freedom from all pressing or domestic engagements. His +discernment was quick, and therefore he soon found in every person, and +in every affair, something that deserved attention; he was supported by +others, without any care for himself, and was therefore at leisure to +pursue his observations. More circumstances to constitute a critic on +human life could not easily concur; nor, indeed, could any man, who +assumed from accidental advantages more praise than he could justly claim +from his real merit, admit any acquaintance more dangerous than that of +Savage; of whom likewise it must be confessed, that abilities really +exalted above the common level, or virtue refined from passion, or proof +against corruption, could not easily find an abler judge or a warmer +advocate. + +What was the result of Mr. Savage’s inquiry, though he was not much +accustomed to conceal his discoveries, it may not be entirely safe to +relate, because the persons whose characters he criticised are powerful, +and power and resentment are seldom strangers; nor would it perhaps be +wholly just, because what he asserted in conversation might, though true +in general, be heightened by some momentary ardour of imagination, and as +it can be delivered only from memory, may be imperfectly represented, so +that the picture, at first aggravated, and then unskilfully copied, may +be justly suspected to retain no great resemblance of the original. + +It may, however, be observed, that he did not appear to have formed very +elevated ideas of those to whom the administration of affairs, or the +conduct of parties, has been intrusted; who have been considered as the +advocates of the Crown, or the guardians of the people; and who have +obtained the most implicit confidence, and the loudest applauses. Of one +particular person, who has been at one time so popular as to be generally +esteemed, and at another so formidable as to be universally detested, he +observed that his acquisitions had been small, or that his capacity was +narrow, and that the whole range of his mind was from obscenity to +politics, and from politics to obscenity. + +But the opportunity of indulging his speculations on great characters was +now at an end. He was banished from the table of Lord Tyrconnel, and +turned again adrift upon the world, without prospect of finding quickly +any other harbour. As prudence was not one of the virtues by which he was +distinguished, he made no provision against a misfortune like this. And +though it is not to be imagined but that the separation must for some +time have been preceded by coldness, peevishness, or neglect, though it +was undoubtedly the consequence of accumulated provocations on both +sides, yet every one that knew Savage will readily believe that to him it +was sudden as a stroke of thunder; that, though he might have transiently +suspected it, he had never suffered any thought so unpleasing to sink +into his mind, but that he had driven it away by amusements or dreams of +future felicity and affluence, and had never taken any measures by which +he might prevent a precipitation from plenty to indigence. This quarrel +and separation, and the difficulties to which Mr. Savage was exposed by +them, were soon known both to his friends and enemies; nor was it long +before he perceived, from the behaviour of both, how much is added to the +lustre of genius by the ornaments of wealth. His condition did not appear +to excite much compassion, for he had not been always careful to use the +advantages he enjoyed with that moderation which ought to have been with +more than usual caution preserved by him, who knew, if he had reflected, +that he was only a dependent on the bounty of another, whom he could +expect to support him no longer than he endeavoured to preserve his +favour by complying with his inclinations, and whom he nevertheless set +at defiance, and was continually irritating by negligence or +encroachments. + +Examples need not be sought at any great distance to prove that +superiority of fortune has a natural tendency to kindle pride, and that +pride seldom fails to exert itself in contempt and insult; and if this is +often the effect of hereditary wealth, and of honours enjoyed only by the +merits of others, it is some extenuation of any indecent triumphs to +which this unhappy man may have been betrayed, that his prosperity was +heightened by the force of novelty, and made more intoxicating by a sense +of the misery in which he had so long languished, and perhaps of the +insults which he had formerly borne, and which he might now think himself +entitled to revenge. It is too common for those who have unjustly +suffered pain to inflict it likewise in their turn with the same +injustice, and to imagine that they have a right to treat others as they +have themselves been treated. + +That Mr. Savage was too much elevated by any good fortune is generally +known; and some passages of his Introduction to “The Author to be Let” +sufficiently show that he did not wholly refrain from such satire, as he +afterwards thought very unjust when he was exposed to it himself; for, +when he was afterwards ridiculed in the character of a distressed poet, +he very easily discovered that distress was not a proper subject for +merriment or topic of invective. He was then able to discern, that if +misery be the effect of virtue, it ought to be reverenced; if of ill +fortune, to be pitied; and if of vice, not to be insulted, because it is +perhaps itself a punishment adequate to the crime by which it was +produced. And the humanity of that man can deserve no panegyric who is +capable of reproaching a criminal in the hands of the executioner. But +these reflections, though they readily occurred to him in the first and +last parts of his life, were, I am afraid, for a long time forgotten; at +least they were, like many other maxims, treasured up in his mind rather +for show than use, and operated very little upon his conduct, however +elegantly he might sometimes explain, or however forcibly he might +inculcate them. His degradation, therefore, from the condition which he +had enjoyed with such wanton thoughtlessness, was considered by many as +an occasion of triumph. Those who had before paid their court to him +without success soon returned the contempt which they had suffered; and +they who had received favours from him, for of such favours as he could +bestow he was very liberal, did not always remember them. So much more +certain are the effects of resentment than of gratitude. It is not only +to many more pleasing to recollect those faults which place others below +them, than those virtues by which they are themselves comparatively +depressed: but it is likewise more easy to neglect than to recompense. +And though there are few who will practise a laborious virtue, there will +never be wanting multitudes that will indulge in easy vice. + +Savage, however, was very little disturbed at the marks of contempt which +his ill fortune brought upon him from those whom he never esteemed, and +with whom he never considered himself as levelled by any calamities: and +though it was not without some uneasiness that he saw some whose +friendship he valued change their behaviour, he yet observed their +coldness without much emotion, considered them as the slaves of fortune, +and the worshippers of prosperity, and was more inclined to despise them +than to lament himself. + +It does not appear that after this return of his wants he found mankind +equally favourable to him, as at his first appearance in the world. His +story, though in reality not less melancholy, was less affecting, because +it was no longer new. It therefore procured him no new friends, and those +that had formerly relieved him thought they might now consign him to +others. He was now likewise considered by many rather as criminal than as +unhappy, for the friends of Lord Tyrconnel, and of his mother, were +sufficiently industrious to publish his weaknesses, which were indeed +very numerous, and nothing was forgotten that might make him either +hateful or ridiculous. It cannot but be imagined that such +representations of his faults must make great numbers less sensible of +his distress; many who had only an opportunity to hear one part made no +scruple to propagate the account which they received; many assisted their +circulation from malice or revenge; and perhaps many pretended to credit +them, that they might with a better grace withdraw their regard, or +withhold their assistance. + +Savage, however, was not one of those who suffered himself to be injured +without resistance, nor was he less diligent in exposing the faults of +Lord Tyrconnel, over whom he obtained at least this advantage, that he +drove him first to the practice of outrage and violence; for he was so +much provoked by the wit and virulence of Savage, that he came with a +number of attendants, that did no honour to his courage, to beat him at a +coffee-house. But it happened that he had left the place a few minutes, +and his lordship had, without danger, the pleasure of boasting how he +would have treated him. Mr. Savage went next day to repay his visit at +his own house, but was prevailed on by his domestics to retire without +insisting on seeing him. + +Lord Tyrconnel was accused by Mr. Savage of some actions which scarcely +any provocation will be thought sufficient to justify, such as seizing +what he had in his lodgings, and other instances of wanton cruelty, by +which he increased the distress of Savage without any advantage to +himself. + +These mutual accusations were retorted on both sides, for many years, +with the utmost degree of virulence and rage; and time seemed rather to +augment than diminish their resentment. That the anger of Mr. Savage +should be kept alive is not strange, because he felt every day the +consequences of the quarrel; but it might reasonably have been hoped that +Lord Tyrconnel might have relented, and at length have forgot those +provocations, which, however they might have once inflamed him, had not +in reality much hurt him. The spirit of Mr. Savage, indeed, never +suffered him to solicit a reconciliation; he returned reproach for +reproach, and insult for insult; his superiority of wit supplied the +disadvantages of his fortune, and enabled him to form a party, and +prejudice great numbers in his favour. But though this might be some +gratification of his vanity, it afforded very little relief to his +necessities, and he was frequently reduced to uncommon hardships, of +which, however, he never made any mean or importunate complaints, being +formed rather to bear misery with fortitude than enjoy prosperity with +moderation. + +He now thought himself again at liberty to expose the cruelty of his +mother; and therefore, I believe, about this time, published “The +Bastard,” a poem remarkable for the vivacious sallies of thought in the +beginning, where he makes a pompous enumeration of the imaginary +advantages of base birth, and the pathetic sentiments at the end, where +he recounts the real calamities which he suffered by the crime of his +parents. The vigour and spirit of the verses, the peculiar circumstances +of the author, the novelty of the subject, and the notoriety of the story +to which the allusions are made, procured this performance a very +favourable reception; great numbers were immediately dispersed, and +editions were multiplied with unusual rapidity. + +One circumstance attended the publication which Savage used to relate +with great satisfaction. His mother, to whom the poem was with “due +reverence” inscribed, happened then to be at Bath, where she could not +conveniently retire from censure, or conceal herself from observation; +and no sooner did the reputation of the poem begin to spread, than she +heard it repeated in all places of concourse; nor could she enter the +assembly-rooms or cross the walks without being saluted with some lines +from “The Bastard.” + +This was perhaps the first time that she ever discovered a sense of +shame, and on this occasion the power of wit was very conspicuous; the +wretch who had, without scruple, proclaimed herself an adulteress, and +who had first endeavoured to starve her son, then to transport him, and +afterwards to hang him, was not able to bear the representation of her +own conduct, but fled from reproach, though she felt no pain from guilt, +and left Bath in the utmost haste to shelter herself among the crowds of +London. Thus Savage had the satisfaction of finding that, though he could +not reform his mother, he could punish her, and that he did not always +suffer alone. + +The pleasure which he received from this increase of his poetical +reputation was sufficient for some time to overbalance the miseries of +want, which this performance did not much alleviate; for it was sold for +a very trivial sum to a bookseller, who, though the success was so +uncommon that five impressions were sold, of which many were undoubtedly +very numerous, had not generosity sufficient to admit the unhappy writer +to any part of the profit. The sale of this poem was always mentioned by +Mr. Savage with the utmost elevation of heart, and referred to by him as +an incontestable proof of a general acknowledgment of his abilities. It +was, indeed, the only production of which he could justly boast a general +reception. But, though he did not lose the opportunity which success gave +him of setting a high rate on his abilities, but paid due deference to +the suffrages of mankind when they were given in his favour, he did not +suffer his esteem of himself to depend upon others, nor found anything +sacred in the voice of the people when they were inclined to censure him; +he then readily showed the folly of expecting that the public should +judge right, observed how slowly poetical merit had often forced its way +into the world; he contented himself with the applause of men of +judgment, and was somewhat disposed to exclude all those from the +character of men of judgment who did not applaud him. But he was at other +times more favourable to mankind than to think them blind to the beauties +of his works, and imputed the slowness of their sale to other causes; +either they were published at a time when the town was empty, or when the +attention of the public was engrossed by some struggle in the Parliament +or some other object of general concern; or they were, by the neglect of +the publisher, not diligently dispersed, or, by his avarice, not +advertised with sufficient frequency. Address, or industry, or liberality +was always wanting, and the blame was laid rather on any person than the +author. + +By arts like these, arts which every man practises in some degree, and to +which too much of the little tranquillity of life is to be ascribed, +Savage was always able to live at peace with himself. Had he, indeed, +only made use of these expedients to alleviate the loss or want of +fortune or reputation, or any other advantages which it is not in a man’s +power to bestow upon himself, they might have been justly mentioned as +instances of a philosophical mind, and very properly proposed to the +imitation of multitudes who, for want of diverting their imaginations +with the same dexterity, languish under afflictions which might be easily +removed. + +It were doubtless to be wished that truth and reason were universally +prevalent; that everything were esteemed according to its real value; and +that men would secure themselves from being disappointed, in their +endeavours after happiness, by placing it only in virtue, which is always +to be obtained; but, if adventitious and foreign pleasures must be +pursued, it would be perhaps of some benefit, since that pursuit must +frequently be fruitless, if the practice of Savage could be taught, that +folly might be an antidote to folly, and one fallacy be obviated by +another. But the danger of this pleasing intoxication must not be +concealed; nor, indeed, can any one, after having observed the life of +Savage, need to be cautioned against it. By imputing none of his miseries +to himself, he continued to act upon the same principles, and to follow +the same path; was never made wiser by his sufferings, nor preserved by +one misfortune from falling into another. He proceeded throughout his +life to tread the same steps on the same circle; always applauding his +past conduct, or at least forgetting it, to amuse himself with phantoms +of happiness, which were dancing before him; and willingly turned his +eyes from the light of reason, when it would have discovered the +illusion, and shown him, what he never wished to see, his real state. He +is even accused, after having lulled his imagination with those ideal +opiates, of having tried the same experiment upon his conscience; and, +having accustomed himself to impute all deviations from the right to +foreign causes, it is certain that he was upon every occasion too easily +reconciled to himself, and that he appeared very little to regret those +practices which had impaired his reputation. The reigning error of his +life was that he mistook the love for the practice of virtue, and was +indeed not so much a good man as the friend of goodness. + +This, at least, must be allowed him, that he always preserved a strong +sense of the dignity, the beauty, and the necessity of virtue; and that +he never contributed deliberately to spread corruption amongst mankind. +His actions, which were generally precipitate, were often blameable; but +his writings, being the production of study, uniformly tended to the +exaltation of the mind and the propagation of morality and piety. These +writings may improve mankind when his failings shall be forgotten; and +therefore he must be considered, upon the whole, as a benefactor to the +world. Nor can his personal example do any hurt, since whoever hears of +his faults will hear of the miseries which they brought upon him, and +which would deserve less pity had not his condition been such as made his +faults pardonable. He may be considered as a child exposed to all the +temptations of indigence, at an age when resolution was not yet +strengthened by conviction, nor virtue confirmed by habit; a circumstance +which, in his “Bastard,” he laments in a very affecting manner:— + + “No mother’s care + Shielded my infant innocence with prayer; + No father’s guardian hand my youth maintained, + Called forth my virtues, or from vice restrained.” + +“The Bastard,” however it might provoke or mortify his mother, could not +be expected to melt her to compassion, so that he was still under the +same want of the necessaries of life; and he therefore exerted all the +interest which his wit, or his birth, or his misfortunes could procure to +obtain, upon the death of Eusden, the place of Poet Laureate, and +prosecuted his application with so much diligence that the king publicly +declared it his intention to bestow it upon him; but such was the fate of +Savage that even the king, when he intended his advantage, was +disappointed in his schemes; for the Lord Chamberlain, who has the +disposal of the laurel as one of the appendages of his office, either did +not know the king’s design, or did not approve it, or thought the +nomination of the Laureate an encroachment upon his rights, and therefore +bestowed the laurel upon Colley Cibber. + +Mr. Savage, thus disappointed, took a resolution of applying to the +queen, that, having once given him life, she would enable him to support +it, and therefore published a short poem on her birthday, to which he +gave the odd title of “Volunteer Laureate.” The event of this essay he +has himself related in the following letter, which he prefixed to the +poem when he afterwards reprinted it in _The Gentleman’s Magazine_, +whence I have copied it entire, as this was one of the few attempts in +which Mr. Savage succeeded. + + “MR. URBAN,—In your Magazine for February you published the last + ‘Volunteer Laureate,’ written on a very melancholy occasion, the + death of the royal patroness of arts and literature in general, and + of the author of that poem in particular; I now send you the first + that Mr. Savage wrote under that title. This gentleman, + notwithstanding a very considerable interest, being, on the death of + Mr. Eusden, disappointed of the Laureate’s place, wrote the following + verses; which were no sooner published, but the late queen sent to a + bookseller for them. The author had not at that time a friend either + to get him introduced, or his poem presented at Court; yet, such was + the unspeakable goodness of that princess, that, notwithstanding this + act of ceremony was wanting, in a few days after publication Mr. + Savage received a bank-bill of fifty pounds, and a gracious message + from her Majesty, by the Lord North and Guilford, to this effect: + ‘That her Majesty was highly pleased with the verses; that she took + particularly kind his lines there relating to the king; that he had + permission to write annually on the same subject; and that he should + yearly receive the like present, till something better (which was her + Majesty’s intention) could be done for him.’ After this he was + permitted to present one of his annual poems to her Majesty, had the + honour of kissing her hand, and met with the most gracious reception. + + “Yours, etc.” + +Such was the performance, and such its reception; a reception which, +though by no means unkind, was yet not in the highest degree generous. To +chain down the genius of a writer to an annual panegyric showed in the +queen too much desire of hearing her own praises, and a greater regard to +herself than to him on whom her bounty was conferred. It was a kind of +avaricious generosity, by which flattery was rather purchased than genius +rewarded. + +Mrs. Oldfield had formerly given him the same allowance with much more +heroic intention: she had no other view than to enable him to prosecute +his studies, and to set himself above the want of assistance, and was +contented with doing good without stipulating for encomiums. + + + +Mr. Savage, however, was not at liberty to make exceptions, but was +ravished with the favours which he had received, and probably yet more +with those which he was promised: he considered himself now as a +favourite of the queen, and did not doubt but a few annual poems would +establish him in some profitable employment. He therefore assumed the +title of “Volunteer Laureate,” not without some reprehensions from +Cibber, who informed him that the title of “Laureate” was a mark of +honour conferred by the king, from whom all honour is derived, and which, +therefore, no man has a right to bestow upon himself; and added that he +might with equal propriety style himself a Volunteer Lord or Volunteer +Baronet. It cannot be denied that the remark was just; but Savage did not +think any title which was conferred upon Mr. Cibber so honourable as that +the usurpation of it could be imputed to him as an instance of very +exorbitant vanity, and therefore continued to write under the same title, +and received every year the same reward. He did not appear to consider +these encomiums as tests of his abilities, or as anything more than +annual hints to the queen of her promise, or acts of ceremony, by the +performance of which he was entitled to his pension, and therefore did +not labour them with great diligence, or print more than fifty each year, +except that for some of the last years he regularly inserted them in _The +Gentleman’s Magazine_, by which they were dispersed over the kingdom. + +Of some of them he had himself so low an opinion that he intended to omit +them in the collection of poems for which he printed proposals, and +solicited subscriptions; nor can it seem strange that, being confined to +the same subject, he should be at some times indolent and at others +unsuccessful; that he should sometimes delay a disagreeable task till it +was too late to perform it well; or that he should sometimes repeat the +same sentiment on the same occasion, or at others be misled by an attempt +after novelty to forced conceptions and far-fetched images. He wrote +indeed with a double intention, which supplied him with some variety; for +his business was to praise the queen for the favours which he had +received, and to complain to her of the delay of those which she had +promised: in some of his pieces, therefore, gratitude is predominant, and +in some discontent; in some, he represents himself as happy in her +patronage; and, in others, as disconsolate to find himself neglected. Her +promise, like other promises made to this unfortunate man, was never +performed, though he took sufficient care that it should not be +forgotten. The publication of his “Volunteer Laureate” procured him no +other reward than a regular remittance of fifty pounds. He was not so +depressed by his disappointments as to neglect any opportunity that was +offered of advancing his interest. When the Princess Anne was married, he +wrote a poem upon her departure, only, as he declared, “because it was +expected from him,” and he was not willing to bar his own prospects by +any appearance of neglect. He never mentioned any advantage gained by +this poem, or any regard that was paid to it; and therefore it is likely +that it was considered at Court as an act of duty, to which he was +obliged by his dependence, and which it was therefore not necessary to +reward by any new favour: or perhaps the queen really intended his +advancement, and therefore thought it superfluous to lavish presents upon +a man whom she intended to establish for life. + +About this time not only his hopes were in danger of being frustrated, +but his pension likewise of being obstructed, by an accidental calumny. +The writer of _The Daily Courant_, a paper then published under the +direction of the Ministry, charged him with a crime, which, though very +great in itself, would have been remarkably invidious in him, and might +very justly have incensed the queen against him. He was accused by name +of influencing elections against the Court by appearing at the head of a +Tory mob; nor did the accuser fail to aggravate his crime by representing +it as the effect of the most atrocious ingratitude, and a kind of +rebellion against the queen, who had first preserved him from an infamous +death, and afterwards distinguished him by her favour, and supported him +by her charity. The charge, as it was open and confident, was likewise by +good fortune very particular. The place of the transaction was mentioned, +and the whole series of the rioter’s conduct related. This exactness made +Mr. Savage’s vindication easy; for he never had in his life seen the +place which was declared to be the scene of his wickedness, nor ever had +been present in any town when its representatives were chosen. This +answer he therefore made haste to publish, with all the circumstances +necessary to make it credible; and very reasonably demanded that the +accusation should be retracted in the same paper, that he might no longer +suffer the imputation of sedition and ingratitude. This demand was +likewise pressed by him in a private letter to the author of the paper, +who, either trusting to the protection of those whose defence he had +undertaken, or having entertained some personal malice against Mr. +Savage, or fearing lest, by retracting so confident an assertion, he +should impair the credit of his paper, refused to give him that +satisfaction. Mr. Savage therefore thought it necessary, to his own +vindication, to prosecute him in the King’s Bench; but as he did not find +any ill effects from the accusation, having sufficiently cleared his +innocence, he thought any further procedure would have the appearance of +revenge; and therefore willingly dropped it. He saw soon afterwards a +process commenced in the same court against himself, on an information in +which he was accused of writing and publishing an obscene pamphlet. + +It was always Mr. Savage’s desire to be distinguished; and, when any +controversy became popular, he never wanted some reason for engaging in +it with great ardour, and appearing at the head of the party which he had +chosen. As he was never celebrated for his prudence, he had no sooner +taken his side, and informed himself of the chief topics of the dispute, +than he took all opportunities of asserting and propagating his +principles, without much regard to his own interest, or any other visible +design than that of drawing upon himself the attention of mankind. + +The dispute between the Bishop of London and the chancellor is well known +to have been for some time the chief topic of political conversation; and +therefore Mr. Savage, in pursuance of his character, endeavoured to +become conspicuous among the controvertists with which every coffee-house +was filled on that occasion. He was an indefatigable opposer of all the +claims of ecclesiastical power, though he did not know on what they were +founded; and was therefore no friend to the Bishop of London. But he had +another reason for appearing as a warm advocate for Dr. Rundle; for he +was the friend of Mr. Foster and Mr. Thomson, who were the friends of Mr. +Savage. + +Thus remote was his interest in the question, which, however, as he +imagined, concerned him so nearly, that it was not sufficient to harangue +and dispute, but necessary likewise to write upon it. He therefore +engaged with great ardour in a new poem, called by him, “The Progress of +a Divine;” in which he conducts a profligate priest, by all the +gradations of wickedness, from a poor curacy in the country to the +highest preferments of the Church; and describes, with that humour which +was natural to him, and that knowledge which was extended to all the +diversities of human life, his behaviour in every station; and insinuates +that this priest, thus accomplished, found at last a patron in the Bishop +of London. When he was asked, by one of his friends, on what pretence he +could charge the bishop with such an action, he had no more to say than +that he had only inverted the accusation; and that he thought it +reasonable to believe that he who obstructed the rise of a good man +without reason would for bad reasons promote the exaltation of a villain. +The clergy were universally provoked by this satire; and Savage, who, as +was his constant practice, had set his name to his performance, was +censured in _The Weekly Miscellany_ with severity, which he did not seem +inclined to forget. + +But return of invective was not thought a sufficient punishment. The +Court of King’s Bench was therefore moved against him; and he was obliged +to return an answer to a charge of obscenity. It was urged, in his +defence, that obscenity was criminal when it was intended to promote the +practice of vice; but that Mr. Savage had only introduced obscene ideas +with the view of exposing them to detestation, and of amending the age by +showing the deformity of wickedness. This plea was admitted; and Sir +Philip Yorke, who then presided in that court, dismissed the information, +with encomiums upon the purity and excellence of Mr. Savage’s writings. +The prosecution, however, answered in some measure the purpose of those +by whom it was set on foot; for Mr. Savage was so far intimidated by it +that, when the edition of his poem was sold, he did not venture to +reprint it; so that it was in a short time forgotten, or forgotten by all +but those whom it offended. It is said that some endeavours were used to +incense the queen against him: but he found advocates to obviate at least +part of their effect; for though he was never advanced, he still +continued to receive his pension. + +This poem drew more infamy upon him than any incident of his life; and, +as his conduct cannot be vindicated, it is proper to secure his memory +from reproach by informing those whom he made his enemies that he never +intended to repeat the provocation; and that, though whenever he thought +he had any reason to complain of the clergy, he used to threaten them +with a new edition of “The Progress of a Divine,” it was his calm and +settled resolution to suppress it for ever. + +He once intended to have made a better reparation for the folly or +injustice with which he might be charged, by writing another poem, called +“The Progress of a Free-thinker,” whom he intended to lead through all +the stages of vice and folly, to convert him from virtue to wickedness, +and from religion to infidelity, by all the modish sophistry used for +that purpose; and at last to dismiss him by his own hand into the other +world. That he did not execute this design is a real loss to mankind; for +he was too well acquainted with all the scenes of debauchery to have +failed in his representations of them, and too zealous for virtue not to +have represented them in such a manner as should expose them either to +ridicule or detestation. But this plan was, like others, formed and laid +aside, till the vigour of his imagination was spent, and the +effervescence of invention had subsided; but soon gave way to some other +design, which pleased by its novelty for awhile, and then was neglected +like the former. + +He was still in his usual exigencies, having no certain support but the +pension allowed him by the queen, which, though it might have kept an +exact economist from want, was very far from being sufficient for Mr. +Savage, who had never been accustomed to dismiss any of his appetites +without the gratification which they solicited, and whom nothing but want +of money withheld from partaking of every pleasure that fell within his +view. His conduct with regard to his pension was very particular. No +sooner had he changed the bill than he vanished from the sight of all his +acquaintance, and lay for some time out of the reach of all the inquiries +that friendship or curiosity could make after him. At length he appeared +again, penniless as before, but never informed even those whom he seemed +to regard most where he had been; nor was his retreat ever discovered. +This was his constant practice during the whole time that he received the +pension from the queen: he regularly disappeared and returned. He, +indeed, affirmed that he retired to study, and that the money supported +him in solitude for many months; but his friends declared that the short +time in which it was spent sufficiently confuted his own account of his +conduct. + +His politeness and his wit still raised him friends who were desirous of +setting him at length free from that indigence by which he had been +hitherto oppressed; and therefore solicited Sir Robert Walpole in his +favour with so much earnestness that they obtained a promise of the next +place that should become vacant, not exceeding two hundred pounds a year. +This promise was made with an uncommon declaration, “that it was not the +promise of a minister to a petitioner, but of a friend to his friend.” + +Mr. Savage now concluded himself set at ease for ever, and, as he +observes in a poem written on that incident of his life, trusted, and was +trusted; but soon found that his confidence was ill-grounded, and this +friendly promise was not inviolable. He spent a long time in +solicitations, and at last despaired and desisted. He did not indeed deny +that he had given the minister some reason to believe that he should not +strengthen his own interest by advancing him, for he had taken care to +distinguish himself in coffee-houses, as an advocate for the ministry of +the last years of Queen Anne, and was always ready to justify the +conduct, and exalt the character, of Lord Bolingbroke, whom he mentions +with great regard in an Epistle upon Authors, which he wrote about that +time, but was too wise to publish, and of which only some fragments have +appeared, inserted by him in the Magazine after his retirement. + +To despair was not, however, the character of Savage; when one patronage +failed, he had recourse to another. The Prince was now extremely popular, +and had very liberally rewarded the merit of some writers whom Mr. Savage +did not think superior to himself, and therefore he resolved to address a +poem to him. For this purpose he made choice of a subject which could +regard only persons of the highest rank and greatest affluence, and which +was therefore proper for a poem intended to procure the patronage of a +prince; and having retired for some time to Richmond, that he might +prosecute his design in full tranquillity, without the temptations of +pleasure, or the solicitations of creditors, by which his meditations +were in equal danger of being disconcerted, he produced a poem “On Public +Spirit, with regard to Public Works.” + +The plan of this poem is very extensive, and comprises a multitude of +topics, each of which might furnish matter sufficient for a long +performance, and of which some have already employed more eminent +writers; but as he was perhaps not fully acquainted with the whole extent +of his own design, and was writing to obtain a supply of wants too +pressing to admit of long or accurate inquiries, he passes negligently +over many public works which, even in his own opinion, deserved to be +more elaborately treated. + +But though he may sometimes disappoint his reader by transient touches +upon these subjects, which have often been considered, and therefore +naturally raise expectations, he must be allowed amply to compensate his +omissions by expatiating, in the conclusion of his work, upon a kind of +beneficence not yet celebrated by any eminent poet, though it now appears +more susceptible of embellishments, more adapted to exalt the ideas and +affect the passions, than many of those which have hitherto been thought +most worthy of the ornament of verse. The settlement of colonies in +uninhabited countries, the establishment of those in security whose +misfortunes have made their own country no longer pleasing or safe, the +acquisition of property without injury to any, the appropriation of the +waste and luxuriant bounties of nature, and the enjoyment of those gifts +which Heaven has scattered upon regions uncultivated and unoccupied, +cannot be considered without giving rise to a great number of pleasing +ideas, and bewildering the imagination in delightful prospects; and +therefore, whatever speculations they may produce in those who have +confined themselves to political studies, naturally fixed the attention, +and excited the applause, of a poet. The politician, when he considers +men driven into other countries for shelter, and obliged to retire to +forests and deserts, and pass their lives and fix their posterity in the +remotest corners of the world to avoid those hardships which they suffer +or fear in their native place, may very properly inquire why the +legislature does not provide a remedy for these miseries rather than +encourage an escape from them. He may conclude that the flight of every +honest man is a loss to the community; that those who are unhappy without +guilt ought to be relieved; and the life which is overburthened by +accidental calamities set at ease by the care of the public; and that +those who have by misconduct forfeited their claim to favour ought rather +to be made useful to the society which they have injured than be driven +from it. But the poet is employed in a more pleasing undertaking than +that of proposing laws which, however just or expedient, will never be +made; or endeavouring to reduce to rational schemes of government +societies which were formed by chance, and are conducted by the private +passions of those who preside in them. He guides the unhappy fugitive, +from want and persecution, to plenty, quiet, and security, and seats him +in scenes of peaceful solitude and undisturbed repose. + +Savage has not forgotten, amidst the pleasing sentiments which this +prospect of retirement suggested to him, to censure those crimes which +have been generally committed by the discoverers of new regions, and to +expose the enormous wickedness of making war upon barbarous nations +because they cannot resist, and of invading countries because they are +fruitful; of extending navigation only to propagate vice; and of visiting +distant lands only to lay them waste. He has asserted the natural +equality of mankind, and endeavoured to suppress that pride which +inclines men to imagine that right is the consequence of power. His +description of the various miseries which force men to seek for refuge in +distant countries affords another instance of his proficiency in the +important and extensive study of human life; and the tenderness with +which he recounts them, another proof of his humanity and benevolence. + +It is observable that the close of this poem discovers a change which +experience had made in Mr. Savage’s opinions. In a poem written by him in +his youth, and published in his Miscellanies, he declares his contempt of +the contracted views and narrow prospects of the middle state of life, +and declares his resolution either to tower like the cedar, or be +trampled like the shrub; but in this poem, though addressed to a prince, +he mentions this state of life as comprising those who ought most to +attract reward, those who merit most the confidence of power and the +familiarity of greatness; and, accidentally mentioning this passage to +one of his friends, declared that in his opinion all the virtue of +mankind was comprehended in that state. + +In describing villas and gardens he did not omit to condemn that absurd +custom which prevails among the English of permitting servants to receive +money from strangers for the entertainment that they receive, and +therefore inserted in his poem these lines: + + “But what the flowering pride of gardens rare, + However royal, or however fair, + If gates which to excess should still give way, + Ope but, like Peter’s paradise, for pay; + If perquisited varlets frequent stand, + And each new walk must a new tax demand; + What foreign eye but with contempt surveys? + What Muse shall from oblivion snatch their praise?” + +But before the publication of his performance he recollected that the +queen allowed her garden and cave at Richmond to be shown for money; and +that she so openly countenanced the practice that she had bestowed the +privilege of showing them as a place of profit on a man whose merit she +valued herself upon rewarding, though she gave him only the liberty of +disgracing his country. He therefore thought, with more prudence than was +often exerted by him, that the publication of these lines might be +officiously represented as an insult upon the queen, to whom he owed his +life and his subsistence; and that the propriety of his observation would +be no security against the censures which the unseasonableness of it +might draw upon him; he therefore suppressed the passage in the first +edition, but after the queen’s death thought the same caution no longer +necessary, and restored it to the proper place. The poem was, therefore, +published without any political faults, and inscribed to the prince; but +Mr. Savage, having no friend upon whom he could prevail to present it to +him, had no other method of attracting his observation than the +publication of frequent advertisements, and therefore received no reward +from his patron, however generous on other occasions. This disappointment +he never mentioned without indignation, being by some means or other +confident that the prince was not ignorant of his address to him; and +insinuated that if any advances in popularity could have been made by +distinguishing him, he had not written without notice or without reward. +He was once inclined to have presented his poem in person and sent to the +printer for a copy with that design; but either his opinion changed or +his resolution deserted him, and he continued to resent neglect without +attempting to force himself into regard. Nor was the public much more +favourable than his patron; for only seventy-two were sold, though the +performance was much commended by some whose judgment in that kind of +writing is generally allowed. But Savage easily reconciled himself to +mankind without imputing any defect to his work, by observing that his +poem was unluckily published two days after the prorogation of the +parliament, and by consequence at a time when all those who could be +expected to regard it were in the hurry of preparing for their departure, +or engaged in taking leave of others upon their dismission from public +affairs. It must be however allowed, in justification of the public, that +this performance is not the most excellent of Mr. Savage’s works; and +that, though it cannot be denied to contain many striking sentiments, +majestic lines, and just observations, it is in general not sufficiently +polished in the language, or enlivened in the imagery, or digested in the +plan. Thus his poem contributed nothing to the alleviation of his +poverty, which was such as very few could have supported with equal +patience; but to which it must likewise be confessed that few would have +been exposed who received punctually fifty pounds a year; a salary which, +though by no means equal to the demands of vanity and luxury, is yet +found sufficient to support families above want, and was undoubtedly more +than the necessities of life require. + +But no sooner had he received his pension than he withdrew to his darling +privacy, from which he returned in a short time to his former distress, +and for some part of the year generally lived by chance, eating only when +he was invited to the tables of his acquaintances, from which the +meanness of his dress often excluded him, when the politeness and variety +of his conversation would have been thought a sufficient recompense for +his entertainment. He lodged as much by accident as he dined, and passed +the night sometimes in mean houses which are set open at night to any +casual wanderers; sometimes in cellars, among the riot and filth of the +meanest and most profligate of the rabble; and sometimes, when he had not +money to support even the expenses of these receptacles, walked about the +streets till he was weary, and lay down in the summer upon the bulk, or +in the winter, with his associate, in poverty, among the ashes of a +glass-house. + +In this manner were passed those days and those nights which nature had +enabled him to have employed in elevated speculations, useful studies, or +pleasing conversation. On a bulk, in a cellar, or in a glass-house, among +thieves and beggars, was to be found the author of “The Wanderer,” the +man of exalted sentiments, extensive views, and curious observations; the +man whose remarks on life might have assisted the statesman, whose ideas +of virtue might have enlightened the moralist, whose eloquence might have +influenced senates, and whose delicacy might have polished courts. It +cannot but be imagined that such necessities might sometimes force him +upon disreputable practices; and it is probable that these lines in “The +Wanderer” were occasioned by his reflections on his own conduct: + + “Though misery leads to happiness and truth, + Unequal to the load this languid youth, + (Oh, let none censure, if, untried by grief, + If, amidst woe, untempted by relief), + He stooped reluctant to low arts of shame, + Which then, e’en then, he scorned, and blushed to name.” + +Whoever was acquainted with him was certain to be solicited for small +sums, which the frequency of the request made in time considerable; and +he was therefore quickly shunned by those who were become familiar enough +to be trusted with his necessities; but his rambling manner of life, and +constant appearance at houses of public resort, always procured him a new +succession of friends whose kindness had not been exhausted by repeated +requests; so that he was seldom absolutely without resources, but had in +his utmost exigencies this comfort, that he always imagined himself sure +of speedy relief. It was observed that he always asked favours of this +kind without the least submission or apparent consciousness of +dependence, and that he did not seem to look upon a compliance with his +request as an obligation that deserved any extraordinary acknowledgments; +but a refusal was resented by him as an affront, or complained of as an +injury; nor did he readily reconcile himself to those who either denied +to lend, or gave him afterwards any intimation that they expected to be +repaid. He was sometimes so far compassionated by those who knew both his +merit and distresses that they received him into their families, but they +soon discovered him to be a very incommodious inmate; for, being always +accustomed to an irregular manner of life, he could not confine himself +to any stated hours, or pay any regard to the rules of a family, but +would prolong his conversation till midnight, without considering that +business might require his friend’s application in the morning; and, when +he had persuaded himself to retire to bed, was not, without equal +difficulty, called up to dinner: it was therefore impossible to pay him +any distinction without the entire subversion of all economy, a kind of +establishment which, wherever he went, he always appeared ambitious to +overthrow. It must therefore be acknowledged, in justification of +mankind, that it was not always by the negligence or coldness of his +friends that Savage was distressed, but because it was in reality very +difficult to preserve him long in a state of ease. To supply him with +money was a hopeless attempt; for no sooner did he see himself master of +a sum sufficient to set him free from care for a day than he became +profuse and luxurious. When once he had entered a tavern, or engaged in a +scheme of pleasure, he never retired till want of money obliged him to +some new expedient. If he was entertained in a family, nothing was any +longer to be regarded there but amusement and jollity; wherever Savage +entered, he immediately expected that order and business should fly +before him, that all should thenceforward be left to hazard, and that no +dull principle of domestic management should be opposed to his +inclination or intrude upon his gaiety. His distresses, however +afflictive, never dejected him; in his lowest state he wanted not spirit +to assert the natural dignity of wit, and was always ready to repress +that insolence which the superiority of fortune incited, and to trample +on that reputation which rose upon any other basis than that of merit: he +never admitted any gross familiarities, or submitted to be treated +otherwise than as an equal. Once when he was without lodging, meat, or +clothes, one of his friends, a man indeed not remarkable for moderation +in his prosperity, left a message that he desired to see him about nine +in the morning. Savage knew that his intention was to assist him, but was +very much disgusted that he should presume to prescribe the hour of his +attendance, and, I believe, refused to visit him, and rejected his +kindness. + +The same invincible temper, whether firmness or obstinacy, appeared in +his conduct to the Lord Tyrconnel, from whom he very frequently demanded +that the allowance which was once paid him should be restored; but with +whom he never appeared to entertain for a moment the thought of +soliciting a reconciliation, and whom he treated at once with all the +haughtiness of superiority and all the bitterness of resentment. He wrote +to him, not in a style of supplication or respect, but of reproach, +menace, and contempt; and appeared determined, if he ever regained his +allowance, to hold it only by the right of conquest. + +As many more can discover that a man is richer than that he is wiser than +themselves, superiority of understanding is not so readily acknowledged +as that of fortune; nor is that haughtiness which the consciousness of +great abilities incites, borne with the same submission as the tyranny of +affluence; and therefore Savage, by asserting his claim to deference and +regard, and by treating those with contempt whom better fortune animated +to rebel against him, did not fail to raise a great number of enemies in +the different classes of mankind. Those who thought themselves raised +above him by the advantages of riches hated him because they found no +protection from the petulance of his wit. Those who were esteemed for +their writings feared him as a critic, and maligned him as a rival; and +almost all the smaller wits were his professed enemies. + +Among these Mr. Miller so far indulged his resentment as to introduce him +in a farce, and direct him to be personated on the stage in a dress like +that which he then wore; a mean insult, which only insinuated that Savage +had but one coat, and which was therefore despised by him rather than +resented; for, though he wrote a lampoon against Miller, he never printed +it: and as no other person ought to prosecute that revenge from which the +person who was injured desisted, I shall not preserve what Mr. Savage +suppressed; of which the publication would indeed have been a punishment +too severe for so impotent an assault. + +The great hardships of poverty were to Savage not the want of lodging or +food, but the neglect and contempt which it drew upon him. He complained +that, as his affairs grew desperate, he found his reputation for capacity +visibly decline; that his opinion in questions of criticism was no longer +regarded when his coat was out of fashion; and that those who, in the +interval of his prosperity, were always encouraging him to great +undertakings by encomiums on his genius and assurances of success, now +received any mention of his designs with coldness, thought that the +subjects on which he proposed to write were very difficult, and were +ready to inform him that the event of a poem was uncertain, that an +author ought to employ much time in the consideration of his plan, and +not presume to sit down to write in consequence of a few cursory ideas +and a superficial knowledge; difficulties were started on all sides, and +he was no longer qualified for any performance but “The Volunteer +Laureate.” + +Yet even this kind of contempt never depressed him: for he always +preserved a steady confidence in his own capacity, and believed nothing +above his reach which he should at any time earnestly endeavour to +attain. He formed schemes of the same kind with regard to knowledge and +to fortune, and flattered himself with advances to be made in science, as +with riches, to be enjoyed in some distant period of his life. For the +acquisition of knowledge he was indeed much better qualified than for +that of riches; for he was naturally inquisitive, and desirous of the +conversation of those from whom any information was to be obtained, but +by no means solicitous to improve those opportunities that were sometimes +offered of raising his fortune; and he was remarkably retentive of his +ideas, which, when once he was in possession of them, rarely forsook him; +a quality which could never be communicated to his money. + +While he was thus wearing out his life in expectation that the queen +would some time recollect her promise, he had recourse to the usual +practice of writers, and published proposals for printing his works by +subscription, to which he was encouraged by the success of many who had +not a better right to the favour of the public; but, whatever was the +reason, he did not find the world equally inclined to favour him; and he +observed with some discontent, that though he offered his works at half a +guinea, he was able to procure but a small number in comparison with +those who subscribed twice as much to Duck. Nor was it without +indignation that he saw his proposals neglected by the queen, who +patronised Mr. Duck’s with uncommon ardour, and incited a competition +among those who attended the court who should most promote his interest, +and who should first offer a subscription. This was a distinction to +which Mr. Savage made no scruple of asserting that his birth, his +misfortunes, and his genius, gave a fairer title than could be pleaded by +him on whom it was conferred. + +Savage’s applications were, however, not universally unsuccessful; for +some of the nobility countenanced his design, encouraged his proposals, +and subscribed with great liberality. He related of the Duke of Chandos +particularly, that upon receiving his proposals he sent him ten guineas. +But the money which his subscriptions afforded him was not less volatile +than that which he received from his other schemes; whenever a +subscription was paid him, he went to a tavern; and as money so collected +is necessarily received in small sums, he never was able to send his +poems to the press, but for many years continued his solicitation, and +squandered whatever he obtained. + +The project of printing his works was frequently revived; and as his +proposals grew obsolete, new ones were printed with fresher dates. To +form schemes for the publication was one of his favourite amusements; nor +was he ever more at ease than when, with any friend who readily fell in +with his schemes, he was adjusting the print, forming the advertisements, +and regulating the dispersion of his new edition, which he really +intended some time to publish, and which, as long as experience had shown +him the impossibility of printing the volume together, he at last +determined to divide into weekly or monthly numbers, that the profits of +the first might supply the expenses of the next. + +Thus he spent his time in mean expedients and tormenting suspense, living +for the greatest part in fear of prosecutions from his creditors, and +consequently skulking in obscure parts of the town, of which he was no +stranger to the remotest corners. But wherever he came, his address +secured him friends, whom his necessities soon alienated; so that he had +perhaps a more numerous acquaintance than any man ever before attained, +there being scarcely any person eminent on any account to whom he was not +known, or whose character he was not in some degree able to delineate. To +the acquisition of this extensive acquaintance every circumstance of his +life contributed. He excelled in the arts of conversation, and therefore +willingly practised them. He had seldom any home, or even a lodging, in +which he could be private, and therefore was driven into public-houses +for the common conveniences of life and supports of nature. He was always +ready to comply with every invitation, having no employment to withhold +him, and often no money to provide for himself; and by dining with one +company he never failed of obtaining an introduction into another. + +Thus dissipated was his life, and thus casual his subsistence; yet did +not the distraction of his views hinder him from reflection, nor the +uncertainty of his condition depress his gaiety. When he had wandered +about without any fortunate adventure by which he was led into a tavern, +he sometimes retired into the fields, and was able to employ his mind in +study, to amuse it with pleasing imaginations; and seldom appeared to be +melancholy but when some sudden misfortune had just fallen upon him; and +even then in a few moments he would disentangle himself from his +perplexity, adopt the subject of conversation, and apply his mind wholly +to the objects that others presented to it. This life, unhappy as it may +be already imagined, was yet embittered in 1738 with new calamities. The +death of the queen deprived him of all the prospects of preferment with +which he so long entertained his imagination; and as Sir Robert Walpole +had before given him reason to believe that he never intended the +performance of his promise, he was now abandoned again to fortune. He +was, however, at that time supported by a friend; and as it was not his +custom to look out for distant calamities, or to feel any other pain than +that which forced itself upon his senses, he was not much afflicted at +his loss, and perhaps comforted himself that his pension would be now +continued without the annual tribute of a panegyric. Another expectation +contributed likewise to support him; he had taken a resolution to write a +second tragedy upon the story of Sir Thomas Overbury, in which he +preserved a few lines of his former play, but made a total alteration of +the plan, added new incidents, and introduced new characters; so that it +was a new tragedy, not a revival of the former. + +Many of his friends blamed him for not making choice of another subject; +but in vindication of himself he asserted that it was not easy to find a +better; and that he thought it his interest to extinguish the memory of +the first tragedy, which he could only do by writing one less defective +upon the same story; by which he should entirely defeat the artifice of +the booksellers, who, after the death of any author of reputation, are +always industrious to swell his works by uniting his worst productions +with his best. In the execution of this scheme, however, he proceeded but +slowly, and probably only employed himself upon it when he could find no +other amusement; but he pleased himself with counting the profits, and +perhaps imagined that the theatrical reputation which he was about to +acquire would be equivalent to all that he had lost by the death of his +patroness. He did not, in confidence of his approaching riches, neglect +the measures proper to secure the continuance of his pension, though some +of his favourers thought him culpable for omitting to write on her death; +but on her birthday next year he gave a proof of the solidity of his +judgment and the power of his genius. He knew that the track of elegy had +been so long beaten that it was impossible to travel in it without +treading in the footsteps of those who had gone before him; and that +therefore it was necessary, that he might distinguish himself from the +herd of encomiasts, to find out some new walk of funeral panegyric. This +difficult task he performed in such a manner that his poem may be justly +ranked among the best pieces that the death of princes has produced. By +transferring the mention of her death to her birthday, he has formed a +happy combination of topics which any other man would have thought it +very difficult to connect in one view, but which he has united in such a +manner that the relation between them appears natural; and it may be +justly said that what no other man would have thought on, it now appears +scarcely possible for any man to miss. + +The beauty of this peculiar combination of images is so masterly that it +is sufficient to set this poem above censure; and therefore it is not +necessary to mention many other delicate touches which may be found in +it, and which would deservedly be admired in any other performance. To +these proofs of his genius may be added, from the same poem, an instance +of his prudence, an excellence for which he was not so often +distinguished; he does not forget to remind the king, in the most +delicate and artful manner, of continuing his pension. + +With regard to the success of his address he was for some time in +suspense, but was in no great degree solicitous about it; and continued +his labour upon his new tragedy with great tranquillity, till the friend +who had for a considerable time supported him, removing his family to +another place, took occasion to dismiss him. It then became necessary to +inquire more diligently what was determined in his affair, having reason +to suspect that no great favour was intended him, because he had not +received his pension at the usual time. + +It is said that he did not take those methods of retrieving his interest +which were most likely to succeed; and some of those who were employed in +the Exchequer cautioned him against too much violence in his proceedings; +but Mr. Savage, who seldom regulated his conduct by the advice of others, +gave way to his passion, and demanded of Sir Robert Walpole, at his +levée, the reason of the distinction that was made between him and the +other pensioners of the queen, with a degree of roughness which perhaps +determined him to withdraw what had been only delayed. + +Whatever was the crime of which he was accused or suspected, and whatever +influence was employed against him, he received soon after an account +that took from him all hopes of regaining his pension; and he had now no +prospect of subsistence but from his play, and he knew no way of living +for the time required to finish it. + +So peculiar were the misfortunes of this man, deprived of an estate and +title by a particular law, exposed and abandoned by a mother, defrauded +by a mother of a fortune which his father had allotted him, he entered +the world without a friend; and though his abilities forced themselves +into esteem and reputation, he was never able to obtain any real +advantage; and whatever prospects arose, were always intercepted as he +began to approach them. The king’s intentions in his favour were +frustrated; his dedication to the prince, whose generosity on every other +occasion was eminent, procured him no reward; Sir Robert Walpole, who +valued himself upon keeping his promise to others, broke it to him +without regret; and the bounty of the queen was, after her death, +withdrawn from him, and from him only. + +Such were his misfortunes, which yet he bore, not only with decency, but +with cheerfulness; nor was his gaiety clouded even by his last +disappointments, though he was in a short time reduced to the lowest +degree of distress, and often wanted both lodging and food. At this time +he gave another instance of the insurmountable obstinacy of his spirit: +his clothes were worn out, and he received notice that at a coffee-house +some clothes and linen were left for him: the person who sent them did +not, I believe, inform him to whom he was to be obliged, that he might +spare the perplexity of acknowledging the benefit; but though the offer +was so far generous, it was made with some neglect of ceremonies, which +Mr. Savage so much resented that he refused the present, and declined to +enter the house till the clothes that had been designed for him were +taken away. + +His distress was now publicly known, and his friends therefore thought it +proper to concert some measures for his relief; and one of them [Pope] +wrote a letter to him, in which he expressed his concern “for the +miserable withdrawing of this pension;” and gave him hopes that in a +short time he should find himself supplied with a competence, “without +any dependence on those little creatures which we are pleased to call the +Great.” The scheme proposed for this happy and independent subsistence +was, that he should retire into Wales, and receive an allowance of fifty +pounds a year, to be raised by a subscription, on which he was to live +privately in a cheap place, without aspiring any more to affluence, or +having any further care of reputation. This offer Mr. Savage gladly +accepted, though with intentions very different from those of his +friends; for they proposed that he should continue an exile from London +for ever, and spend all the remaining part of his life at Swansea; but he +designed only to take the opportunity which their scheme offered him of +retreating for a short time, that he might prepare his play for the +stage, and his other works for the press, and then to return to London to +exhibit his tragedy, and live upon the profits of his own labour. With +regard to his works he proposed very great improvements, which would have +required much time or great application; and, when he had finished them, +he designed to do justice to his subscribers by publishing them according +to his proposals. As he was ready to entertain himself with future +pleasures, he had planned out a scheme of life for the country, of which +he had no knowledge but from pastorals and songs. He imagined that he +should be transported to scenes of flowery felicity, like those which one +poet has reflected to another; and had projected a perpetual round of +innocent pleasures, of which he suspected no interruption from pride, or +ignorance, or brutality. With these expectations he was so enchanted that +when he was once gently reproached by a friend for submitting to live +upon a subscription, and advised rather by a resolute exertion of his +abilities to support himself, he could not bear to debar himself from the +happiness which was to be found in the calm of a cottage, or lose the +opportunity of listening, without intermission, to the melody of the +nightingale, which he believed was to be heard from every bramble, and +which he did not fail to mention as a very important part of the +happiness of a country life. + +While this scheme was ripening, his friends directed him to take a +lodging in the liberties of the Fleet, that he might be secure from his +creditors, and sent him every Monday a guinea, which he commonly spent +before the next morning, and trusted, after his usual manner, the +remaining part of the week to the bounty of fortune. + +He now began very sensibly to feel the miseries of dependence. Those by +whom he was to be supported began to prescribe to him with an air of +authority, which he knew not how decently to resent, nor patiently to +bear; and he soon discovered from the conduct of most of his subscribers, +that he was yet in the hands of “little creatures.” Of the insolence +that he was obliged to suffer he gave many instances, of which none +appeared to raise his indignation to a greater height than the method +which was taken of furnishing him with clothes. Instead of consulting +him, and allowing him to send a tailor his orders for what they thought +proper to allow him, they proposed to send for a tailor to take his +measure, and then to consult how they should equip him. This treatment +was not very delicate, nor was it such as Savage’s humanity would have +suggested to him on a like occasion; but it had scarcely deserved +mention, had it not, by affecting him in an uncommon degree, shown the +peculiarity of his character. Upon hearing the design that was formed, he +came to the lodging of a friend with the most violent agonies of rage; +and, being asked what it could be that gave him such disturbance, he +replied with the utmost vehemence of indignation, “That they had sent for +a tailor to measure him.” + +How the affair ended was never inquired, for fear of renewing his +uneasiness. It is probable that, upon recollection, he submitted with a +good grace to what he could not avoid, and that he discovered no +resentment where he had no power. He was, however, not humbled to +implicit and universal compliance; for when the gentleman who had first +informed him of the design to support him by a subscription attempted to +procure a reconciliation with the Lord Tyrconnel, he could by no means be +prevailed upon to comply with the measures that were proposed. + +A letter was written for him to Sir William Lemon, to prevail upon him to +interpose his good offices with Lord Tyrconnel, in which he solicited Sir +William’s assistance “for a man who really needed it as much as any man +could well do;” and informed him that he was retiring “for ever to a +place where he should no more trouble his relations, friends, or +enemies;” he confessed that his passion had betrayed him to some conduct, +with regard to Lord Tyrconnel, for which he could not but heartily ask +his pardon; and as he imagined Lord Tyrconnel’s passion might be yet so +high, that he would not “receive a letter from him,” begged that Sir +William would endeavour to soften him; and expressed his hopes that he +would comply with this request, and that “so small a relation would not +harden his heart against him.” + +That any man should presume to dictate a letter to him was not very +agreeable to Mr. Savage; and therefore he was, before he had opened it, +not much inclined to approve it. But when he read it he found it +contained sentiments entirely opposite to his own, and, as he asserted, +to the truth; and therefore, instead of copying it, wrote his friend a +letter full of masculine resentment and warm expostulations. He very +justly observed, that the style was too supplicatory, and the +representation too abject, and that he ought at least to have made him +complain with “the dignity of a gentleman in distress.” He declared that +he would not write the paragraph in which he was to ask Lord Tyrconnel’s +pardon; for, “he despised his pardon, and therefore could not heartily, +and would not hypocritically, ask it.” He remarked that his friend made +a very unreasonable distinction between himself and him; for, says he, +“when you mention men of high rank in your own character,” they are +“those little creatures whom we are pleased to call the Great;” but when +you address them “in mine,” no servility is sufficiently humble. He then +with propriety explained the ill consequences which might be expected +from such a letter, which his relations would print in their own defence, +and which would for ever be produced as a full answer to all that he +should allege against them; for he always intended to publish a minute +account of the treatment which he had received. It is to be remembered, +to the honour of the gentleman by whom this letter was drawn up, that he +yielded to Mr. Savage’s reasons, and agreed that it ought to be +suppressed. + +After many alterations and delays, a subscription was at length raised, +which did not amount to fifty pounds a year, though twenty were paid by +one gentleman; such was the generosity of mankind, that what had been +done by a player without solicitation, could not now be effected by +application and interest; and Savage had a great number to court and to +obey for a pension less than that which Mrs. Oldfield paid him without +exacting any servilities. Mr. Savage, however, was satisfied, and willing +to retire, and was convinced that the allowance, though scanty, would be +more than sufficient for him, being now determined to commence a rigid +economist, and to live according to the exact rules of frugality; for +nothing was in his opinion more contemptible than a man who, when he knew +his income, exceeded it; and yet he confessed that instances of such +folly were too common, and lamented that some men were not trusted with +their own money. + +Full of these salutary resolutions, he left London in July, 1739, having +taken leave with great tenderness of his friends, and parted from the +author of this narrative with tears in his eyes. He was furnished with +fifteen guineas, and informed that they would be sufficient, not only for +the expense of his journey, but for his support in Wales for some time; +and that there remained but little more of the first collection. He +promised a strict adherence to his maxims of parsimony, and went away in +the stage-coach; nor did his friends expect to hear from him till he +informed them of his arrival at Swansea. But when they least expected, +arrived a letter dated the fourteenth day after his departure, in which +he sent them word that he was yet upon the road, and without money; and +that he therefore could not proceed without a remittance. They then sent +him the money that was in their hands, with which he was enabled to reach +Bristol, from whence he was to go to Swansea by water. + +At Bristol he found an embargo laid upon the shipping, so that he could +not immediately obtain a passage; and being therefore obliged to stay +there some time, he with his usual felicity ingratiated himself with many +of the principal inhabitants, was invited to their houses, distinguished +at their public feasts, and treated with a regard that gratified his +vanity, and therefore easily engaged his affection. + +He began very early after his retirement to complain of the conduct of +his friends in London, and irritated many of them so much by his letters, +that they withdrew, however honourably, their contributions; and it is +believed that little more was paid him than the twenty pounds a year, +which were allowed him by the gentleman who proposed the subscription. + +After some stay at Bristol he retired to Swansea, the place originally +proposed for his residence, where he lived about a year, very much +dissatisfied with the diminution of his salary; but contracted, as in +other places, acquaintance with those who were most distinguished in that +country, among whom he has celebrated Mr. Powel and Mrs. Jones, by some +verses which he inserted in _The Gentleman’s Magazine_. Here he completed +his tragedy, of which two acts were wanting when he left London; and was +desirous of coming to town, to bring it upon the stage. This design was +very warmly opposed; and he was advised, by his chief benefactor, to put +it into the hands of Mr. Thomson and Mr. Mallet, that it might be fitted +for the stage, and to allow his friends to receive the profits, out of +which an annual pension should be paid him. + +This proposal he rejected with the utmost contempt. He was by no means +convinced that the judgment of those to whom he was required to submit +was superior to his own. He was now determined, as he expressed it, to be +“no longer kept in leading-strings,” and had no elevated idea of “his +bounty, who proposed to pension him out of the profits of his own +labours.” + +He attempted in Wales to promote a subscription for his works, and had +once hopes of success; but in a short time afterwards formed a resolution +of leaving that part of the country, to which he thought it not +reasonable to be confined for the gratification of those who, having +promised him a liberal income, had no sooner banished him to a remote +corner than they reduced his allowance to a salary scarcely equal to the +necessities of life. His resentment of this treatment, which, in his own +opinion at least, he had not deserved, was such, that he broke off all +correspondence with most of his contributors, and appeared to consider +them as persecutors and oppressors; and in the latter part of his life +declared that their conduct towards him since his departure from London +“had been perfidiousness improving on perfidiousness, and inhumanity on +inhumanity.” + +It is not to be supposed that the necessities of Mr. Savage did not +sometimes incite him to satirical exaggerations of the behaviour of those +by whom he thought himself reduced to them. But it must be granted that +the diminution of his allowance was a great hardship, and that those who +withdrew their subscription from a man who, upon the faith of their +promise, had gone into a kind of banishment, and abandoned all those by +whom he had been before relieved in his distresses, will find it no easy +task to vindicate their conduct. It may be alleged, and perhaps justly, +that he was petulant and contemptuous; that he more frequently reproached +his subscribers for not giving him more, than thanked them for what he +received; but it is to be remembered that his conduct, and this is the +worst charge that can be drawn up against him, did them no real injury, +and that it therefore ought rather to have been pitied than resented; at +least the resentment it might provoke ought to have been generous and +manly; epithets which his conduct will hardly deserve that starves the +man whom he has persuaded to put himself into his power. + +It might have been reasonably demanded by Savage, that they should, +before they had taken away what they promised, have replaced him in his +former state, that they should have taken no advantages from the +situation to which the appearance of their kindness had reduced him, and +that he should have been recalled to London before he was abandoned. He +might justly represent, that he ought to have been considered as a lion +in the toils, and demand to be released before the dogs should be loosed +upon him. He endeavoured, indeed, to release himself, and, with an intent +to return to London, went to Bristol, where a repetition of the kindness +which he had formerly found, invited him to stay. He was not only +caressed and treated, but had a collection made for him of about thirty +pounds, with which it had been happy if he had immediately departed for +London; but his negligence did not suffer him to consider that such +proofs of kindness were not often to be expected, and that this ardour of +benevolence was in a great degree the effect of novelty, and might, +probably, be every day less; and therefore he took no care to improve the +happy time, but was encouraged by one favour to hope for another, till at +length generosity was exhausted, and officiousness wearied. + +Another part of his misconduct was the practice of prolonging his visits +to unseasonable hours, and disconcerting all the families into which he +was admitted. This was an error in a place of commerce which all the +charms of his conversation could not compensate; for what trader would +purchase such airy satisfaction by the loss of solid gain, which must be +the consequence of midnight merriment, as those hours which were gained +at night were generally lost in the morning? Thus Mr. Savage, after the +curiosity of the inhabitants was gratified, found the number of his +friends daily decreasing, perhaps without suspecting for what reason +their conduct was altered; for he still continued to harass, with his +nocturnal intrusions, those that yet countenanced him, and admitted him +to their houses. + +But he did not spend all the time of his residence at Bristol in visits +or at taverns, for he sometimes returned to his studies, and began +several considerable designs. When he felt an inclination to write, he +always retired from the knowledge of his friends, and lay hid in an +obscure part of the suburbs, till he found himself again desirous of +company, to which it is likely that intervals of absence made him more +welcome. He was always full of his design of returning to London, to +bring his tragedy upon the stage; but, having neglected to depart with +the money that was raised for him, he could not afterwards procure a sum +sufficient to defray the expenses of his journey; nor perhaps would a +fresh supply have had any other effect than, by putting immediate +pleasures into his power, to have driven the thoughts of his journey out +of his mind. While he was thus spending the day in contriving a scheme +for the morrow, distress stole upon him by imperceptible degrees. His +conduct had already wearied some of those who were at first enamoured of +his conversation; but he might, perhaps, still have devolved to others, +whom he might have entertained with equal success, had not the decay of +his clothes made it no longer consistent with their vanity to admit him +to their tables, or to associate with him in public places. He now began +to find every man from home at whose house he called; and was therefore +no longer able to procure the necessaries of life, but wandered about the +town, slighted and neglected, in quest of a dinner, which he did not +always obtain. + +To complete his misery, he was pursued by the officers for small debts +which he had contracted; and was therefore obliged to withdraw from the +small number of friends from whom he had still reason to hope for +favours. His custom was to lie in bed the greatest part of the day, and +to get out in the dark with the utmost privacy, and, after having paid +his visit, return again before morning to his lodging, which was in the +garret of an obscure inn. Being thus excluded on one hand, and confined +on the other, he suffered the utmost extremities of poverty, and often +fasted so long that he was seized with faintness, and had lost his +appetite, not being able to bear the smell of meat till the action of his +stomach was restored by a cordial. In this distress, he received a +remittance of five pounds from London, with which he provided himself a +decent coat, and determined to go to London, but unhappily spent his +money at a favourite tavern. Thus was he again confined to Bristol, where +he was every day hunted by bailiffs. In this exigence he once more found +a friend, who sheltered him in his house, though at the usual +inconveniences with which his company was attended; for he could neither +be persuaded to go to bed in the night nor to rise in the day. + +It is observable, that in these various scenes of misery he was always +disengaged and cheerful: he at some times pursued his studies, and at +others continued or enlarged his epistolary correspondence; nor was he +ever so far dejected as to endeavour to procure an increase of his +allowance by any other methods than accusations and reproaches. + +He had now no longer any hopes of assistance from his friends at Bristol, +who as merchants, and by consequence sufficiently studious of profit, +cannot be supposed to have looked with much compassion upon negligence +and extravagance, or to think any excellence equivalent to a fault of +such consequence as neglect of economy. It is natural to imagine, that +many of those who would have relieved his real wants, were discouraged +from the exertion of their benevolence by observation of the use which +was made of their favours, and conviction that relief would be only +momentary, and that the same necessity would quickly return. + +At last he quitted the house of his friend, and returned to his lodgings +at the inn, still intending to set out in a few days for London, but on +the 10th of January, 1742–3, having been at supper with two of his +friends, he was at his return to his lodgings arrested for a debt of +about eight pounds, which he owed at a coffee-house, and conducted to the +house of a sheriff’s officer. The account which he gives of this +misfortune, in a letter to one of the gentlemen with whom he had supped, +is too remarkable to be omitted. + +“It was not a little unfortunate for me, that I spent yesterday’s evening +with you; because the hour hindered me from entering on my new lodging; +however, I have now got one, but such an one as I believe nobody would +choose. + +“I was arrested at the suit of Mrs. Read, just as I was going upstairs to +bed, at Mr. Bowyer’s; but taken in so private a manner, that I believe +nobody at the White Lion is apprised of it; though I let the officers +know the strength, or rather weakness, of my pocket, yet they treated me +with the utmost civility; and even when they conducted me to confinement, +it was in such a manner, that I verily believe I could have escaped, +which I would rather be ruined than have done, notwithstanding the whole +amount of my finances was but threepence halfpenny. + +“In the first place, I must insist that you will industriously conceal +this from Mrs. S—s, because I would not have her good nature suffer that +pain which I know she would be apt to feel on this occasion. + +“Next, I conjure you, dear sir, by all the ties of friendship, by no +means to have one uneasy thought on my account; but to have the same +pleasantry of countenance, and unruffled serenity of mind, which (God be +praised!) I have in this, and have had in a much severer calamity. +Furthermore, I charge you, if you value my friendship as truly as I do +yours, not to utter, or even harbour, the least resentment against Mrs. +Read. I believe she has ruined me, but I freely forgive her; and (though +I will never more have any intimacy with her) I would, at a due distance, +rather do her an act of good than ill-will. Lastly (pardon the +expression), I absolutely command you not to offer me any pecuniary +assistance nor to attempt getting me any from any one of your friends. At +another time, or on any other occasion, you may, dear friend, be well +assured I would rather write to you in the submissive style of a request +than that of a peremptory command. + +“However, that my truly valuable friend may not think I am too proud to +ask a favour, let me entreat you to let me have your boy to attend me for +this day, not only for the sake of saving me the expense of porters, but +for the delivery of some letters to people whose names I would not have +known to strangers. + +“The civil treatment I have thus far met from those whose prisoner I am, +makes me thankful to the Almighty, that though He has thought fit to +visit me (on my birth-night) with affliction, yet (such is His great +goodness!) my affliction is not without alleviating circumstances. I +murmur not; but am all resignation to the divine will. As to the world, I +hope that I shall be endued by Heaven with that presence of mind, that +serene dignity in misfortune, that constitutes the character of a true +nobleman; a dignity far beyond that of coronets; a nobility arising from +the just principles of philosophy, refined and exalted by those of +Christianity.” + +He continued five days at the officer’s, in hopes that he should be able +to procure bail, and avoid the necessity of going to prison. The state in +which he passed his time, and the treatment which he received, are very +justly expressed by him in a letter which he wrote to a friend: “The +whole day,” says he, “has been employed in various people’s filling my +head with their foolish chimerical systems, which has obliged me coolly +(as far as nature will admit) to digest, and accommodate myself to every +different person’s way of thinking; hurried from one wild system to +another, till it has quite made a chaos of my imagination, and nothing +done—promised—disappointed—ordered to send, every hour, from one part of +the town to the other.” + +When his friends, who had hitherto caressed and applauded, found that to +give bail and pay the debt was the same, they all refused to preserve him +from a prison at the expense of eight pounds: and therefore, after having +been for some time at the officer’s house “at an immense expense,” as he +observes in his letter, he was at length removed to Newgate. This expense +he was enabled to support by the generosity of Mr. Nash at Bath, who, +upon receiving from him an account of his condition, immediately sent him +five guineas, and promised to promote his subscription at Bath with all +his interest. + +By his removal to Newgate he obtained at least a freedom from suspense, +and rest from the disturbing vicissitudes of hope and disappointment: he +now found that his friends were only companions who were willing to share +his gaiety, but not to partake of his misfortunes; and therefore he no +longer expected any assistance from them. It must, however, be observed +of one gentleman, that he offered to release him by paying the debt, but +that Mr. Savage would not consent, I suppose because he thought he had +before been too burthensome to him. He was offered by some of his friends +that a collection should be made for his enlargement; but he “treated the +proposal,” and declared “he should again treat it, with disdain. As to +writing any mendicant letters, he had too high a spirit, and determined +only to write to some ministers of state, to try to regain his pension.” + +He continued to complain of those that had sent him into the country, and +objected to them, that he had “lost the profits of his play, which had +been finished three years;” and in another letter declares his resolution +to publish a pamphlet, that the world might know how “he had been used.” + +This pamphlet was never written; for he in a very short time recovered +his usual tranquillity, and cheerfully applied himself to more +inoffensive studies. He, indeed, steadily declared that he was promised a +yearly allowance of fifty pounds, and never received half the sum; but he +seemed to resign himself to that as well as to other misfortunes, and +lose the remembrance of it in his amusements and employments. The +cheerfulness with which he bore his confinement appears from the +following letter, which he wrote January the 30th, to one of his friends +in London: + +“I now write to you from my confinement in Newgate, where I have been +ever since Monday last was se’nnight, and where I enjoy myself with much +more tranquillity than I have known for upwards of a twelvemonth past; +having a room entirely to myself, and pursuing the amusement of my +poetical studies, uninterrupted, and agreeable to my mind. I thank the +Almighty, I am now all collected in myself; and, though my person is in +confinement, my mind can expatiate on ample and useful subjects with all +the freedom imaginable. I am now more conversant with the Nine than ever, +and if, instead of a Newgate bird, I may be allowed to be a bird of the +Muses, I assure you, sir, I sing very freely in my cage; sometimes, +indeed, in the plaintive notes of the nightingale; but at others, in the +cheerful strains of the lark.” + +In another letter he observes, that he ranges from one subject to +another, without confining himself to any particular task; and that he +was employed one week upon one attempt, and the next upon another. + +Surely the fortitude of this man deserves, at least, to be mentioned with +applause; and, whatever faults may be imputed to him, the virtue of +suffering well cannot be denied him. The two powers which, in the opinion +of Epictetus, constituted a wise man, are those of bearing and +forbearing, which it cannot indeed be affirmed to have been equally +possessed by Savage; and indeed the want of one obliged him very +frequently to practise the other. He was treated by Mr. Dagge, the keeper +of the prison, with great humanity; was supported by him at his own +table, without any certainty of a recompense; had a room to himself, to +which he could at any time retire from all disturbance; was allowed to +stand at the door of the prison, and sometimes taken out into the fields; +so that he suffered fewer hardships in prison than he had been accustomed +to undergo in the greatest part of his life. + +The keeper did not confine his benevolence to a gentle execution of his +office, but made some overtures to the creditor for his release, though +without effect; and continued, during the whole time of his imprisonment, +to treat him with the utmost tenderness and civility. + +Virtue is undoubtedly most laudable in that state which makes it most +difficult; and therefore the humanity of a gaoler certainly deserves this +public attestation; and the man whose heart has not been hardened by such +an employment may be justly proposed as a pattern of benevolence. If an +inscription was once engraved “to the honest toll-gatherer,” less honours +ought not to be paid “to the tender gaoler.” + +Mr. Savage very frequently received visits, and sometimes presents, from +his acquaintances: but they did not amount to a subsistence, for the +greater part of which he was indebted to the generosity of this keeper; +but these favours, however they might endear to him the particular +persons from whom he received them, were very far from impressing upon +his mind any advantageous ideas of the people of Bristol, and therefore +he thought he could not more properly employ himself in prison than in +writing a poem called “London and Bristol Delineated.” + +When he had brought this poem to its present state, which, without +considering the chasm, is not perfect, he wrote to London an account of +his design, and informed his friend that he was determined to print it +with his name; but enjoined him not to communicate his intention to his +Bristol acquaintance. The gentleman, surprised at his resolution, +endeavoured to persuade him from publishing it, at least from prefixing +his name; and declared that he could not reconcile the injunction of +secrecy with his resolution to own it at its first appearance. To this +Mr. Savage returned an answer agreeable to his character, in the +following terms:— + + “I received yours this morning; and not without a little surprise at + the contents. To answer a question with a question, you ask me + concerning London and Bristol, why will I add _delineated_? Why did + Mr. Woolaston add the same word to his Religion of Nature? I suppose + that it was his will and pleasure to add it in his case: and it is + mine to do so in my own. You are pleased to tell me that you + understand not why secrecy is enjoined, and yet I intend to set my + name to it. My answer is,—I have my private reasons, which I am not + obliged to explain to any one. You doubt my friend Mr. S— would not + approve of it. And what is it to me whether he does or not? Do you + imagine that Mr. S— is to dictate to me? If any man who calls + himself my friend should assume such an air, I would spurn at his + friendship with contempt. You say, I seem to think so by not letting + him know it. And suppose I do, what then? Perhaps I can give reasons + for that disapprobation, very foreign from what you would imagine. + You go on in saying, Suppose I should not put my name to it. My + answer is, that I will not suppose any such thing, being determined + to the contrary: neither, sir, would I have you suppose that I + applied to you for want of another press: nor would I have you + imagine that I owe Mr. S— obligations which I do not.” + +Such was his imprudence, and such his obstinate adherence to his own +resolutions, however absurd! A prisoner! supported by charity! and, +whatever insults he might have received during the latter part of his +stay at Bristol, once caressed, esteemed, and presented with a liberal +collection, he could forget on a sudden his danger and his obligations, +to gratify the petulance of his wit or the eagerness of his resentment, +and publish a satire by which he might reasonably expect that he should +alienate those who then supported him, and provoke those whom he could +neither resist nor escape. + +This resolution, from the execution of which it is probable that only his +death could have hindered him, is sufficient to show how much he +disregarded all considerations that opposed his present passions, and how +readily he hazarded all future advantages for any immediate +gratifications. Whatever was his predominant inclination, neither hope +nor fear hindered him from complying with it; nor had opposition any +other effect than to heighten his ardour and irritate his vehemence. + +This performance was, however, laid aside while he was employed in +soliciting assistance from several great persons; and one interruption +succeeding another, hindered him from supplying the chasm, and perhaps +from retouching the other parts, which he can hardly be imagined to have +finished in his own opinion; for it is very unequal, and some of the +lines are rather inserted to rhyme to others, than to support or improve +the sense; but the first and last parts are worked up with great spirit +and elegance. + +His time was spent in the prison for the most part in study, or in +receiving visits; but sometimes he descended to lower amusements, and +diverted himself in the kitchen with the conversation of the criminals; +for it was not pleasing to him to be much without company; and though he +was very capable of a judicious choice, he was often contented with the +first that offered. For this he was sometimes reproved by his friends, +who found him surrounded with felons; but the reproof was on that, as on +other occasions, thrown away; he continued to gratify himself, and to set +very little value on the opinion of others. But here, as in every other +scene of his life, he made use of such opportunities as occurred of +benefiting those who were more miserable than himself, and was always +ready to perform any office of humanity to his fellow-prisoners. + +He had now ceased from corresponding with any of his subscribers except +one, who yet continued to remit him the twenty pounds a year which he had +promised him, and by whom it was expected that he would have been in a +very short time enlarged, because he had directed the keeper to inquire +after the state of his debts. However, he took care to enter his name +according to the forms of the court, that the creditor might be obliged +to make him some allowance, if he was continued a prisoner, and when on +that occasion he appeared in the hall, was treated with very unusual +respect. But the resentment of the city was afterwards raised by some +accounts that had been spread of the satire; and he was informed that +some of the merchants intended to pay the allowance which the law +required, and to detain him a prisoner at their own expense. This he +treated as an empty menace; and perhaps might have hastened the +publication, only to show how much he was superior to their insults, had +not all his schemes been suddenly destroyed. + +When he had been six months in prison, he received from one of his +friends, in whose kindness he had the greatest confidence, and on whose +assistance he chiefly depended, a letter that contained a charge of very +atrocious ingratitude, drawn up in such terms as sudden resentment +dictated. Henley, in one of his advertisements, had mentioned “Pope’s +treatment of Savage.” This was supposed by Pope to be the consequence of +a complaint made by Savage to Henley, and was therefore mentioned by him +with much resentment. Mr. Savage returned a very solemn protestation of +his innocence, but, however, appeared much disturbed at the accusation. +Some days afterwards he was seized with a pain in his back and side, +which, as it was not violent, was not suspected to be dangerous; but +growing daily more languid and dejected, on the 25th of July he confined +himself to his room, and a fever seized his spirits. The symptoms grew +every day more formidable, but his condition did not enable him to +procure any assistance. The last time that the keeper saw him was on July +the 31st, 1743; when Savage, seeing him at his bedside, said, with an +uncommon earnestness, “I have something to say to you, sir;” but, after a +pause, moved his hand in a melancholy manner; and, finding himself unable +to recollect what he was going to communicate, said, “’Tis gone!” The +keeper soon after left him; and the next morning he died. He was buried +in the churchyard of St. Peter, at the expense of the keeper. + +Such were the life and death of Richard Savage, a man equally +distinguished by his virtues and vices; and at once remarkable for his +weaknesses and abilities. He was of a middle stature, of a thin habit of +body, a long visage, coarse features, and melancholy aspect; of a grave +and manly deportment, a solemn dignity of mien, but which, upon a nearer +acquaintance, softened into an engaging easiness of manners. His walk was +slow, and his voice tremulous and mournful. He was easily excited to +smiles, but very seldom provoked to laughter. His mind was in an uncommon +degree vigorous and active. His judgment was accurate, his apprehension +quick, and his memory so tenacious, that he was frequently observed to +know what he had learned from others, in a short time, better that those +by whom he was informed; and could frequently recollect incidents with +all their combination of circumstances, which few would have regarded at +the present time, but which the quickness of his apprehension impressed +upon him. He had the art of escaping from his own reflections, and +accommodating himself to every new scene. + +To this quality is to be imputed the extent of his knowledge, compared +with the small time which he spent in visible endeavours to acquire it. +He mingled in cursory conversation with the same steadiness of attention +as others apply to a lecture; and amidst the appearance of thoughtless +gaiety lost no new idea that was started, nor any hint that could be +improved. He had therefore made in coffee-houses the same proficiency as +others in their closets; and it is remarkable that the writings of a man +of little education and little reading have an air of learning scarcely +to be found in any other performances, but which perhaps as often +obscures as embellishes them. + +His judgment was eminently exact both with regard to writings and to men. +The knowledge of life was indeed his chief attainment; and it is not +without some satisfaction that I can produce the suffrage of Savage in +favour of human nature, of which he never appeared to entertain such +odious ideas as some who perhaps had neither his judgment nor experience, +have published, either in ostentation of their sagacity, vindication of +their crimes, or gratification of their malice. + +His method of life particularly qualified him for conversation, of which +he knew how to practise all the graces. He was never vehement or loud, +but at once modest and easy, open and respectful; his language was +vivacious or elegant, and equally happy upon grave and humorous subjects. +He was generally censured for not knowing when to retire; but that was +not the defect of his judgment, but of his fortune: when he left his +company he used frequently to spend the remaining part of the night in +the street, or at least was abandoned to gloomy reflections, which it is +not strange that he delayed as long as he could; and sometimes forgot +that he gave others pain to avoid it himself. + +It cannot be said that he made use of his abilities for the direction of +his own conduct; an irregular and dissipated manner of life had made him +the slave of every passion that happened to be excited by the presence of +its object, and that slavery to his passions reciprocally produced a life +irregular and dissipated. He was not master of his own motions, nor could +promise anything for the next day. + +With regard to his economy, nothing can be added to the relation of his +life. He appeared to think himself born to be supported by others, and +dispensed from all necessity of providing for himself; he therefore never +prosecuted any scheme of advantage, nor endeavoured even to secure the +profits which his writings might have afforded him. His temper was, in +consequence of the dominion of his passions, uncertain and capricious; he +was easily engaged, and easily disgusted; but he is accused of retaining +his hatred more tenaciously than his benevolence. He was compassionate +both by nature and principle, and always ready to perform offices of +humanity; but when he was provoked (and very small offences were +sufficient to provoke him), he would prosecute his revenge with the +utmost acrimony till his passion had subsided. + +His friendship was therefore of little value; for though he was zealous +in the support or vindication of those whom he loved, yet it was always +dangerous to trust him, because he considered himself as discharged by +the first quarrel from all ties of honour and gratitude; and would betray +those secrets which in the warmth of confidence had been imparted to him. +This practice drew upon him an universal accusation of ingratitude; nor +can it be denied that he was very ready to set himself free from the load +of an obligation; for he could not bear to conceive himself in a state of +dependence, his pride being equally powerful with his other passions, and +appearing in the form of insolence at one time, and of vanity at another. +Vanity, the most innocent species of pride, was most frequently +predominant: he could not easily leave off, when he had once begun to +mention himself or his works; nor ever read his verses without stealing +his eyes from the page, to discover in the faces of his audience how they +were affected with any favourite passage. + +A kinder name than that of vanity ought to be given to the delicacy with +which he was always careful to separate his own merit from every other +man’s, and to reject that praise to which he had no claim. He did not +forget, in mentioning his performances, to mark every line that had been +suggested or amended; and was so accurate as to relate that he owed +_three words_ in “The Wanderer” to the advice of his friends. His +veracity was questioned, but with little reason; his accounts, though not +indeed always the same, were generally consistent. When he loved any man, +he suppressed all his faults; and when he had been offended by him, +concealed all his virtues; but his characters were generally true, so far +as he proceeded; though it cannot be denied that his partiality might +have sometimes the effect of falsehood. + +In cases indifferent he was zealous for virtue, truth, and justice: he +knew very well the necessity of goodness to the present and future +happiness of mankind; nor is there perhaps any writer who has less +endeavoured to please by flattering the appetites, or perverting the +judgment. + +As an author, therefore, and he now ceases to influence mankind in any +other character, if one piece which he had resolved to suppress be +excepted, he has very little to fear from the strictest moral or +religious censure. And though he may not be altogether secure against the +objections of the critic, it must however be acknowledged that his works +are the productions of a genius truly poetical; and, what many writers +who have been more lavishly applauded cannot boast, that they have an +original air, which has no resemblance of any foregoing writer, that the +versification and sentiments have a cast peculiar to themselves, which no +man can imitate with success, because what was nature in Savage would in +another be affectation. It must be confessed that his descriptions are +striking, his images animated, his fictions justly imagined, and his +allegories artfully pursued; that his diction is elevated, though +sometimes forced, and his numbers sonorous and majestic, though +frequently sluggish and encumbered. Of his style the general fault is +harshness, and its general excellence is dignity; of his sentiments, the +prevailing beauty is simplicity, and uniformity the prevailing defect. + +For his life, or for his writings, none who candidly consider his fortune +will think an apology either necessary or difficult. If he was not always +sufficiently instructed in his subject, his knowledge was at least +greater than could have been attained by others in the same state. If his +works were sometimes unfinished, accuracy cannot reasonably be expected +from a man oppressed with want, which he has no hope of relieving but by +a speedy publication. The insolence and resentment of which he is accused +were not easily to be avoided by a great mind irritated by perpetual +hardships and constrained hourly to return the spurns of contempt, and +repress the insolence of prosperity; and vanity surely may be readily +pardoned in him, to whom life afforded no other comforts than barren +praises, and the consciousness of deserving them. + +Those are no proper judges of his conduct who have slumbered away their +time on the down of plenty; nor will any wise man easily presume to say, +“Had I been in Savage’s condition, I should have lived or written better +than Savage.” + +This relation will not be wholly without its use, if those who languish +under any part of his sufferings shall be enabled to fortify their +patience by reflecting that they feel only these afflictions from which +the abilities of Savage did not exempt him; or those who, in confidence +of superior capacities or attainments, disregard the common maxims of +life, shall be reminded that nothing will supply the want of prudence; +and that negligence and irregularity, long continued, will make knowledge +useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible. + + + + +SWIFT. + + +AN account of Dr. Swift has been already collected, with great diligence +and acuteness, by Dr. Hawkesworth, according to a scheme which I laid +before him in the intimacy of our friendship. I cannot therefore be +expected to say much of a life, concerning which I had long since +communicated my thoughts to a man capable of dignifying his narrations +with so much elegance of language and force of sentiment. + +Jonathan Swift was, according to an account said to be written by +himself, the son of Jonathan Swift, an attorney, and was born at Dublin +on St. Andrew’s day, 1667: according to his own report, as delivered by +Pope to Spence, he was born at Leicester, the son of a clergyman who was +minister of a parish in Herefordshire. During his life the place of his +birth was undetermined. He was contented to be called an Irishman by the +Irish; but would occasionally call himself an Englishman. The question +may, without much regret, be left in the obscurity in which he delighted +to involve it. + +Whatever was his birth, his education was Irish. He was sent at the age +of six to the school at Kilkenny, and in his fifteenth year (1682) was +admitted into the University of Dublin. In his academical studies he was +either not diligent or not happy. It must disappoint every reader’s +expectation, that, when at the usual time he claimed the Bachelorship of +Arts, he was found by the examiners too conspicuously deficient for +regular admission, and obtained his degree at last by _special favour_; a +term used in that university to denote want of merit. + +Of this disgrace it may be easily supposed that he was much ashamed, and +shame had its proper effect in producing reformation. He resolved from +that time to study eight hours a day, and continued his industry for +seven years, with what improvement is sufficiently known. This part of +his story well deserves to be remembered; it may afford useful admonition +and powerful encouragement to men whose abilities have been made for a +time useless by their passions or pleasures, and who having lost one part +of life in idleness, are tempted to throw away the remainder in despair. +In this course of daily application he continued three years longer at +Dublin; and in this time, if the observation and memory of an old +companion may be trusted, he drew the first sketch of his “Tale of a +Tub.” + +When he was about one-and-twenty (1688), being by the death of Godwin +Swift, his uncle, who had supported him, left without subsistence, he +went to consult his mother, who then lived at Leicester, about the future +course of his life; and by her direction solicited the advice and +patronage of Sir William Temple, who had married one of Mrs. Swift’s +relations, and whose father Sir John Temple, Master of the Rolls in +Ireland, had lived in great familiarity of friendship with Godwin Swift, +by whom Jonathan had been to that time maintained. + +Temple received with sufficient kindness the nephew of his father’s +friend, with whom he was, when they conversed together, so much pleased, +that he detained him two years in his house. Here he became known to King +William, who sometimes visited Temple, when he was disabled by the gout, +and, being attended by Swift in the garden, showed him how to cut +asparagus in the Dutch way. King William’s notions were all military; and +he expressed his kindness to Swift by offering to make him a captain of +horse. + +When Temple removed to Moor Park, he took Swift with him; and when he was +consulted by the Earl of Portland about the expedience of complying with +a bill then depending for making parliaments triennial, against which +King William was strongly prejudiced, after having in vain tried to show +the earl that the proposal involved nothing dangerous to royal power, he +sent Swift for the same purpose to the king. Swift, who probably was +proud of his employment, and went with all the confidence of a young man, +found his arguments, and his art of displaying them, made totally +ineffectual by the predetermination of the king; and used to mention this +disappointment as his first antidote against vanity. Before he left +Ireland he contracted a disorder, as he thought, by eating too much +fruit. The original of diseases is commonly obscure. Almost everybody +eats as much fruit as he can get, without any great inconvenience. The +disease of Swift was giddiness with deafness, which attacked him from +time to time, began very early, pursued him through life, and at last +sent him to the grave, deprived of reason. Being much oppressed at Moor +Park by this grievous malady, he was advised to try his native air, and +went to Ireland; but finding no benefit, returned to Sir William, at +whose house he continued his studies, and is known to have read, among +other books, Cyprian and Irenæus. He thought exercise of great necessity, +and used to run half a mile up and down a hill every two hours. + +It is easy to imagine that the mode in which his first degree was +conferred left him no great fondness for the University of Dublin, and +therefore he resolved to become a Master of Arts at Oxford. In the +testimonial which he produced the words of disgrace were omitted; and he +took his Master’s degree (July 5, 1692) with such reception and regard as +fully contented him. + +While he lived with Temple, he used to pay his mother at Leicester a +yearly visit. He travelled on foot, unless some violence of weather drove +him into a waggon; and at night he would go to a penny lodging, where he +purchased clean sheets for sixpence. This practice Lord Orrery imputes to +his innate love of grossness and vulgarity: some may ascribe it to his +desire of surveying human life through all its varieties: and others, +perhaps with equal probability, to a passion which seems to have been +deeply fixed in his heart, the love of a shilling. In time he began to +think that his attendance at Moor Park deserved some other recompense +than the pleasure, however mingled with improvement, of Temple’s +conversation; and grew so impatient, that (1694) he went away in +discontent. Temple, conscious of having given reason for complaint, is +said to have made him deputy Master of the Rolls in Ireland; which, +according to his kinsman’s account, was an office which he knew him not +able to discharge. Swift therefore resolved to enter into the Church, in +which he had at first no higher hopes than of the chaplainship to the +Factory at Lisbon; but being recommended to Lord Capel, he obtained the +prebend of Kilroot in Connor, of about a hundred pounds a year. But the +infirmities of Temple made a companion like Swift so necessary, that he +invited him back, with a promise to procure him English preferment in +exchange for the prebend, which he desired him to resign. With this +request Swift complied, having perhaps equally repented their separation, +and they lived on together with mutual satisfaction; and, in the four +years that passed between his return and Temple’s death, it is probable +that he wrote the “Tale of a Tub,” and the “Battle of the Books.” + +Swift began early to think, or to hope, that he was a poet, and wrote +Pindaric Odes to Temple, to the king, and to the Athenian Society, a knot +of obscure men, who published a periodical pamphlet of answers to +questions, sent, or supposed to be sent, by letters. I have been told +that Dryden, having perused these verses, said, “Cousin Swift, you will +never be a poet;” and that this denunciation was the motive of Swift’s +perpetual malevolence to Dryden. In 1699 Temple died, and left a legacy +with his manuscripts to Swift, for whom he had obtained, from King +William, a promise of the first prebend that should be vacant at +Westminster or Canterbury. That this promise might not be forgotten, +Swift dedicated to the king the posthumous works with which he was +intrusted; but neither the dedication, nor tenderness for the man whom he +once had treated with confidence and fondness, revived in King William +the remembrance of his promise. Swift awhile attended the Court; but soon +found his solicitations hopeless. He was then invited by the Earl of +Berkeley to accompany him into Ireland, as his private secretary; but, +after having done the business till their arrival at Dublin, he then +found that one Bush had persuaded the earl that a clergyman was not a +proper secretary, and had obtained the office for himself. In a man like +Swift, such circumvention and inconstancy must have excited violent +indignation. But he had yet more to suffer. Lord Berkeley had the +disposal of the deanery of Derry, and Swift expected to obtain it; but by +the secretary’s influence, supposed to have been secured by a bribe, it +was bestowed on somebody else; and Swift was dismissed with the livings +of Laracor and Rathbeggin in the diocese of Meath, which together did not +equal half the value of the deanery. At Laracor he increased the +parochial duty by reading prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and +performed all the offices of his profession with great decency and +exactness. + +Soon after his settlement at Laracor, he invited to Ireland the +unfortunate Stella, a young woman whose name was Johnson, the daughter of +the steward of Sir William Temple, who, in consideration of her father’s +virtues, left her a thousand pounds. With her came Mrs. Dingley, whose +whole fortune was twenty-seven pounds a year for her life. With these +ladies he passed his hours of relaxation, and to them he opened his +bosom; but they never resided in the same house, nor did he see either +without a witness. They lived at the Parsonage when Swift was away, and, +when he returned, removed to a lodging, or to the house of a neighbouring +clergyman. + +Swift was not one of those minds which amaze the world with early +pregnancy: his first work, except his few poetical Essays, was the +“Dissensions in Athens and Rome,” published (1701) in his thirty-fourth +year. After its appearance, paying a visit to some bishop, he heard +mention made of the new pamphlet that Burnet had written, replete with +political knowledge. When he seemed to doubt Burnet’s right to the work, +he was told by the bishop that he was “a young man,” and still persisting +to doubt, that he was “a very positive young man.” + +Three years afterwards (1704) was published “The Tale of a Tub;” of this +book charity may be persuaded to think that it might be written by a man +of a peculiar character without ill intention; but it is certainly of +dangerous example. That Swift was its author, though it be universally +believed, was never owned by himself, nor very well proved by any +evidence; but no other claimant can be produced, and he did not deny it +when Archbishop Sharp and the Duchess of Somerset, by showing it to the +queen, debarred him from a bishopric. When this wild work first raised +the attention of the public, Sacheverell, meeting Smalridge, tried to +flatter him by seeming to think him the author, but Smalridge answered +with indignation, “Not all that you and I have in the world, nor all that +ever we shall have, should hire me to write the ‘Tale of a Tub.’” + +The digression relating to Wotton and Bentley must be confessed to +discover want of knowledge or want of integrity; he did not understand +the two controversies, or he willingly misrepresented them. But Wit can +stand its ground against Truth only a little while. The honours due to +Learning have been justly distributed by the decision of posterity. + +“The Battle of the Books” is so like the “_Combat des Livres_,” which the +same question concerning the Ancients and Moderns had produced in France, +that the improbability of such a coincidence of thoughts without +communication, is not, in my opinion, balanced by the anonymous +protestation prefixed, in which all knowledge of the French book is +peremptorily disowned. + +For some time after, Swift was probably employed in solitary study, +gaining the qualifications requisite for future eminence. How often he +visited England, and with what diligence he attended his parishes, I know +not. It was not till about four years afterwards that he became a +professed author; and then one year (1708) produced “The Sentiments of a +Church of England Man;” the ridicule of Astrology under the name of +“Bickerstaff;” the “Argument against abolishing Christianity;” and the +defence of the “Sacramental Test.” + +“The Sentiments of a Church of England Man” is written with great +coolness, moderation, ease, and perspicuity. The “Argument against +abolishing Christianity” is a very happy and judicious irony. One passage +in it deserves to be selected:— + +“If Christianity were once abolished, how could the free-thinkers, the +strong reasoners, and the men of profound learning, be able to find +another subject so calculated, in all points, whereon to display their +abilities? What wonderful productions of wit should we be deprived of +from those whose genius, by continual practice, hath been wholly turned +upon raillery and invectives against religion, and would therefore never +be able to shine or distinguish themselves upon any other subject! We +are daily complaining of the great decline of wit among us, and would +take away the greatest, perhaps the only topic we have left. Who would +ever have suspected Asgill for a wit, or Toland for a philosopher, if the +inexhaustible stock of Christianity had not been at hand to provide them +with materials? What other subject, through all art or nature, could +have produced Tindal for a profound author, or furnished him with +readers? It is the wise choice of the subject that alone adorns and +distinguishes the writer. For had a hundred such pens as these been +employed on the side of religion, they would have immediately sunk into +silence and oblivion.” + +The reasonableness of a _Test_ is not hard to be proved; but perhaps it +must be allowed that the proper test has not been chosen. The attention +paid to the papers published under the name of “Bickerstaff,” induced +Steele, when he projected the _Tatler_, to assume an appellation which +had already gained possession of the reader’s notice. + +In the year following he wrote a “Project for the Advancement of +Religion,” addressed to Lady Berkeley, by whose kindness it is not +unlikely that he was advanced to his benefices. To this project, which is +formed with great purity of intention, and displayed with sprightliness +and elegance, it can only be objected, that, like many projects, it is, +if not generally impracticable, yet evidently hopeless, as it supposes +more zeal, concord, and perseverance than a view of mankind gives reason +for expecting. He wrote likewise this year a “Vindication of +Bickerstaff,” and an explanation of an “Ancient Prophecy,” part written +after the facts, and the rest never completed, but well planned to excite +amazement. + +Soon after began the busy and important part of Swift’s life. He was +employed (1710) by the Primate of Ireland to solicit the queen for a +remission of the First Fruits and Twentieth Parts to the Irish Clergy. +With this purpose he had recourse to Mr. Harley, to whom he was mentioned +as a man neglected and oppressed by the last Ministry, because he had +refused to co-operate with some of their schemes. What he had refused has +never been told; what he had suffered was, I suppose, the exclusion from +a bishopric by the remonstrances of Sharp, whom he describes as “the +harmless tool of others’ hate,” and whom he represents as afterwards +“suing for pardon.” + +Harley’s designs and situation were such as made him glad of an auxiliary +so well qualified for his service: he therefore soon admitted him to +familiarity, whether ever to confidence some have made a doubt; but it +would have been difficult to excite his zeal without persuading him that +he was trusted, and not very easy to delude him by false persuasions. He +was certainly admitted to those meetings in which the first hints and +original plan of action are supposed to have been formed; and was one of +the sixteen ministers, or agents of the Ministry, who met weekly at each +other’s houses, and were united by the name of “Brother.” Being not +immediately considered as an obdurate Tory, he conversed indiscriminately +with all the wits, and was yet the friend of Steele; who, in the +_Tatler_, which began in April, 1709, confesses the advantage of his +conversation, and mentions something contributed by him to his paper. But +he was now emerging into political controversy; for the year 1710 +produced the _Examiner_, of which Swift wrote thirty-three papers. In +argument he may be allowed to have the advantage: for where a wide system +of conduct, and the whole of a public character, is laid open to inquiry, +the accuser, having the choice of facts, must be very unskilful if he +does not prevail: but with regard to wit, I am afraid none of Swift’s +papers will be found equal to those by which Addison opposed him. + +He wrote in the year 1711 a “Letter to the October Club,” a number of +Tory gentlemen sent from the country to Parliament, who formed themselves +into a club, to the number of about a hundred, and met to animate the +zeal and raise the expectations of each other. They thought, with great +reason, that the Ministers were losing opportunities; that sufficient use +was not made of the ardour of the nation; they called loudly for more +changes, and stronger efforts; and demanded the punishment of part and +the dismission of the rest, of those whom they considered as public +robbers. Their eagerness was not gratified by the queen, or by Harley. +The queen was probably slow because she was afraid; and Harley was slow +because he was doubtful; he was a Tory only by necessity, or for +convenience; and, when he had power in his hands, had no settled purpose +for which he should employ it; forced to gratify to a certain degree the +Tories who supported him, but unwilling to make his reconcilement to the +Whigs utterly desperate, he corresponded at once with the two expectants +of the Crown, and kept, as has been observed, the succession +undetermined. Not knowing what to do, he did nothing; and, with the fate +of a double dealer, at last he lost his power, but kept his enemies. + +Swift seems to have concurred in opinion with the “October Club;” but it +was not in his power to quicken the tardiness of Harley, whom he +stimulated as much as he could, but with little effect. He that knows not +whither to go, is in no haste to move. Harley, who was perhaps not quick +by nature, became yet more slow by irresolution; and was content to hear +that dilatoriness lamented as natural, which he applauded in himself as +politic. Without the Tories, however, nothing could be done; and, as they +were not to be gratified, they must be appeased; and the conduct of the +Minister, if it could not be vindicated, was to be plausibly excused. + +Early in the next year he published a “Proposal for Correcting, +Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue,” in a Letter to the Earl +of Oxford; written without much knowledge of the general nature of +language, and without any accurate inquiry into the history of other +tongues. The certainty and stability which, contrary to all experience, +he thinks attainable, he proposes to secure by instituting an academy; +the decrees of which every man would have been willing, and many would +have been proud, to disobey, and which, being renewed by successive +elections, would in a short time have differed from itself. + +Swift now attained the zenith of his political importance: he published +(1712) the “Conduct of the Allies,” ten days before the Parliament +assembled. The purpose was to persuade the nation to a peace; and never +had any writer more success. The people, who had been amused with +bonfires and triumphal processions, and looked with idolatry on the +General and his friends, who, as they thought, had made England the +arbitress of nations, were confounded between shame and rage, when they +found that “mines had been exhausted, and millions destroyed,” to secure +the Dutch or aggrandise the Emperor, without any advantage to ourselves; +that we had been bribing our neighbours to fight their own quarrel; and +that amongst our enemies we might number our allies. That is now no +longer doubted, of which the nation was then first informed, that the war +was unnecessarily protracted to fill the pockets of Marlborough; and that +it would have been continued without end, if he could have continued his +annual plunder. But Swift, I suppose, did not yet know what he has since +written, that a commission was drawn which would have appointed him +General for life, had it not become ineffectual by the resolution of Lord +Cowper, who refused the seal. + +“Whatever is received,” say the schools, “is received in proportion to +the recipient.” The power of a political treatise depends much upon the +disposition of the people; the nation was then combustible, and a spark +set it on fire. It is boasted, that between November and January eleven +thousand were sold: a great number at that time, when we were not yet a +nation of readers. To its propagation certainly no agency of power or +influence was wanting. It furnished arguments for conversation, speeches +for debate, and materials for parliamentary resolutions. Yet, surely, +whoever surveys this wonder-working pamphlet with cool perusal, will +confess that its efficacy was supplied by the passions of its readers; +that it operates by the mere weight of facts, with very little assistance +from the hand that produced them. + +This year (1712) he published his “Reflections on the Barrier Treaty,” +which carries on the design of his “Conduct of the Allies,” and shows how +little regard in that negotiation had been shown to the interest of +England, and how much of the conquered country had been demanded by the +Dutch. This was followed by “Remarks on the Bishop of Sarum’s +Introduction to his third Volume of the History of the Reformation;” a +pamphlet which Burnet published as an alarm, to warn the nation of the +approach of Popery. Swift, who seems to have disliked the bishop with +something more than political aversion, treats him like one whom he is +glad of an opportunity to insult. + +Swift, being now the declared favourite and supposed confidant of the +Tory Ministry, was treated by all that depended on the Court with the +respect which dependents know how to pay. He soon began to feel part of +the misery of greatness; he that could say that he knew him, considered +himself as having fortune in his power. Commissions, solicitations, +remonstrances crowded about him; he was expected to do every man’s +business; to procure employment for one, and to retain it for another. In +assisting those who addressed him, he represents himself as sufficiently +diligent; and desires to have others believe what he probably believed +himself, that by his interposition many Whigs of merit, and among them +Addison and Congreve, were continued in their places. But every man of +known influence has so many petitions which he cannot grant, that he must +necessarily offend more than he gratifies, because the preference given +to one affords all the rest reason for complaint. “When I give away a +place,” said Lewis XIV., “I make a hundred discontented, and one +ungrateful.” + +Much has been said of the equality and independence which he preserved in +his conversation with the Ministers; of the frankness of his +remonstrances, and the familiarity of his friendship. In accounts of this +kind a few single incidents are set against the general tenour of +behaviour. No man, however, can pay a more servile tribute to the great, +than by suffering his liberty in their presence to aggrandise him in his +own esteem. Between different ranks of the community there is necessarily +some distance; he who is called by his superior to pass the interval, may +properly accept the invitation; but petulance and obtrusion are rarely +produced by magnanimity; nor have often any nobler cause than the pride +of importance, and the malice of inferiority. He who knows himself +necessary may set, while that necessity lasts, a high value upon himself; +as, in a lower condition, a servant eminently skilful may be saucy; but +he is saucy only because he is servile. Swift appears to have preserved +the kindness of the great when they wanted him no longer; and therefore +it must be allowed, that the childish freedom, to which he seems enough +inclined, was overpowered by his better qualities. His disinterestedness +has likewise been mentioned; a strain of heroism which would have been in +his condition romantic and superfluous. Ecclesiastical benefices, when +they become vacant, must be given away; and the friends of power may, if +there be no inherent disqualification, reasonably expect them. Swift +accepted (1713) the deanery of St. Patrick, the best preferment that his +friends could venture to give him. That Ministry was in a great degree +supported by the clergy, who were not yet reconciled to the author of the +“Tale of a Tub,” and would not without much discontent and indignation +have borne to see him installed in an English cathedral. He refused, +indeed, fifty pounds from Lord Oxford; but he accepted afterwards a +draught of a thousand upon the Exchequer, which was intercepted by the +queen’s death, and which he resigned, as he says himself, “_multa +gemens_, with many a groan.” In the midst of his power and his politics, +he kept a journal of his visits, his walks, his interviews with +Ministers, and quarrels with his servant, and transmitted it to Mrs. +Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, to whom he knew that whatever befell him was +interesting, and no accounts could be too minute. Whether these diurnal +trifles were properly exposed to eyes which had never received any +pleasure from the presence of the Dean may be reasonably doubted: they +have, however, some odd attraction; the reader, finding frequent mention +of names which he has been used to consider as important, goes on in hope +of information; and as there is nothing to fatigue attention, if he is +disappointed he can hardly complain. It is easy to perceive, from every +page, that though ambition pressed Swift into a life of bustle, the wish +for a life of ease was always returning. He went to take possession of +his deanery as soon as he had obtained it; but he was not suffered to +stay in Ireland more than a fortnight before he was recalled to England, +that he might reconcile Lord Oxford and Lord Bolingbroke, who began to +look on one another with malevolence, which every day increased, and +which Bolingbroke appeared to retain in his last years. + +Swift contrived an interview, from which they both departed discontented; +he procured a second, which only convinced him that the feud was +irreconcilable; he told them his opinion, that all was lost. This +denunciation was contradicted by Oxford; but Bolingbroke whispered that +he was right. Before this violent dissension had shattered the Ministry, +Swift had published, in the beginning of the year (1714), “The Public +Spirit of the Whigs,” in answer to “The Crisis,” a pamphlet for which +Steele was expelled from the House of Commons. Swift was now so far +alienated from Steele, as to think him no longer entitled to decency, and +therefore treats him sometimes with contempt, and sometimes with +abhorrence. In this pamphlet the Scotch were mentioned in terms so +provoking to that irritable nation, that resolving “not to be offended +with impunity,” the Scotch lords in a body demanded an audience of the +queen, and solicited reparation. A proclamation was issued, in which +three hundred pounds were offered for the discovery of the author. From +this storm he was, as he relates, “secured by a sleight;” of what kind, +or by whose prudence, is not known; and such was the increase of his +reputation, that the Scottish nation “applied again that he would be +their friend.” He was become so formidable to the Whigs, that his +familiarity with the Ministers was clamoured at in Parliament, +particularly by two men, afterwards of great note, Aislabie and Walpole. +But, by the disunion of his great friends, his importance and designs +were now at an end; and seeing his services at last useless, he retired +about June (1714) into Berkshire, where, in the house of a friend, he +wrote what was then suppressed, but has since appeared under the title of +“Free Thoughts on the present State of Affairs.” While he was waiting in +this retirement for events which time or chance might bring to pass, the +death of the Queen broke down at once the whole system of Tory politics; +and nothing remained but to withdraw from the implacability of triumphant +Whiggism, and shelter himself in unenvied obscurity. + +The accounts of his reception in Ireland, given by Lord Orrery and Dr. +Delany, are so different, that the credit of the writers, both +undoubtedly veracious, cannot be saved, but by supposing, what I think is +true, that they speak of different times. When Delany says, that he was +received with respect, he means for the first fortnight, when he came to +take legal possession; and when Lord Orrery tells that he was pelted by +the populace, he is to be understood of the time when, after the Queen’s +death, he became a settled resident. + +The Archbishop of Dublin gave him at first some disturbance in the +exercise of his jurisdiction; but it was soon discovered, that between +prudence and integrity, he was seldom in the wrong; and that, when he was +right, his spirit did not easily yield to opposition. + +Having so lately quitted the tumults of a party, and the intrigues of a +court, they still kept his thoughts in agitation, as the sea fluctuates a +while when the storm has ceased. He therefore filled his hours with some +historical attempts, relating to the “Change of the Ministers,” and “The +Conduct of the Ministry.” He likewise is said to have written a “History +of the Four last Years of Queen Anne,” which he began in her lifetime, +and afterwards laboured with great attention, but never published. It was +after his death in the hands of Lord Orrery and Dr. King. A book under +that title was published with Swift’s name by Dr. Lucas; of which I can +only say, that it seemed by no means to correspond with the notions that +I had formed of it, from a conversation which I once heard between the +Earl of Orrery and old Mr. Lewis. + +Swift now, much against his will, commenced Irishman for life, and was to +contrive how he might be best accommodated in a country where he +considered himself as in a state of exile. It seems that his first +recourse was to piety. The thoughts of death rushed upon him at this time +with such incessant importunity, that they took possession of his mind, +when he first waked, for many years together. He opened his house by a +public table two days a week, and found his entertainments gradually +frequented by more and more visitants of learning among the men, and of +elegance among the women. Mrs. Johnson had left the country, and lived in +lodgings not far from the deanery. On his public days she regulated the +table, but appeared at it as a mere guest, like other ladies. On other +days he often dined, at a stated price, with Mr. Worral, a clergyman of +his cathedral, whose house was recommended by the peculiar neatness and +pleasantry of his wife. To this frugal mode of living, he was first +disposed by care to pay some debts which he had contracted, and he +continued it for the pleasure of accumulating money. His avarice, +however, was not suffered to obstruct the claims of his dignity; he was +served in plate, and used to say that he was the poorest gentleman in +Ireland that ate upon plate, and the richest that lived without a coach. +How he spent the rest of his time, and how he employed his hours of +study, has been inquired with hopeless curiosity. For who can give an +account of another’s studies? Swift was not likely to admit any to his +privacies, or to impart a minute account of his business or his leisure. + +Soon after (1716), in his forty-ninth year, he was privately married to +Mrs. Johnson, by Dr. Ashe, Bishop of Clogher, as Dr. Madden told me, in +the garden. The marriage made no change in their mode of life; they lived +in different houses, as before; nor did she ever lodge in the deanery but +when Swift was seized with a fit of giddiness. “It would be difficult,” +says Lord Orrery, “to prove that they were ever afterwards together +without a third person.” + +The Dean of St. Patrick’s lived in a private manner, known and regarded +only by his friends; till, about the year 1720, he, by a pamphlet, +recommended to the Irish the use, and consequently the improvement, of +their manufactures. For a man to use the productions of his own labour is +surely a natural right, and to like best what he makes himself is a +natural passion. But to excite this passion, and enforce this right, +appeared so criminal to those who had an interest in the English trade, +that the printer was imprisoned; and, as Hawkesworth justly observes, the +attention of the public being, by this outrageous resentment, turned upon +the proposal, the author was by consequence made popular. + +In 1723 died Mrs. Van Homrigh, a woman made unhappy by her admiration of +wit, and ignominiously distinguished by the name of Vanessa, whose +conduct has been already sufficiently discussed, and whose history is too +well known to be minutely repeated. She was a young woman fond of +literature, whom Decanus, the dean, called _Cadenus_ by transposition of +the letters, took pleasure in directing and instructing: till, from being +proud of his praise, she grew fond of his person. Swift was then about +forty-seven, at an age when vanity is strongly excited by the amorous +attention of a young woman. If it be said that Swift should have checked +a passion which he never meant to gratify, recourse must be had to that +extenuation which he so much despised, “men are but men;” perhaps, +however, he did not at first know his own mind, and, as he represents +himself, was undetermined. For his admission of her courtship, and his +indulgence of her hopes after his marriage to Stella, no other honest +plea can be found than that he delayed a disagreeable discovery from time +to time, dreading the immediate bursts of distress, and watching for a +favourable moment. She thought herself neglected, and died of +disappointment, having ordered, by her will, the poem to be published, in +which Cadenus had proclaimed her excellence and confessed his love. The +effect of the publication upon the Dean and Stella is thus related by +Delany:— + + “I have good reason to believe that they both were greatly shocked + and distressed (though it may be differently) upon this occasion. The + Dean made a tour to the south of Ireland for about two months at this + time, to dissipate his thoughts and give place to obloquy. And Stella + retired (upon the earnest invitation of the owner) to the house of a + cheerful, generous, good-natured friend of the Dean’s, whom she + always much loved and honoured. There my informer often saw her, and, + I have reason to believe, used his utmost endeavours to relieve, + support, and amuse her, in this sad situation. One little incident he + told me of on that occasion I think I shall never forget. As his + friend was an hospitable, open-hearted man, well beloved and largely + acquainted, it happened one day that some gentlemen dropped in to + dinner, who were strangers to Stella’s situation; and as the poem of + _Cadenus and Vanessa_ was then the general topic of conversation, one + of them said, ‘Surely that Vanessa must be an extraordinary woman + that could inspire the Dean to write so finely upon her.’ Mrs. + Johnson smiled, and answered, ‘that she thought that point not quite + so clear; for it was well known that the Dean could write finely upon + a broomstick.’” + +The great acquisition of esteem and influence was made by the “Drapier’s +Letters,” in 1724. One Wood, of Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, a man +enterprising and rapacious, had, as is said, by a present to the Duchess +of Munster, obtained a patent, empowering him to coin one hundred and +eighty thousand pounds of halfpence and farthings for the kingdom of +Ireland, in which there was a very inconvenient and embarrassing scarcity +of copper coin, so that it was possible to run in debt upon the credit of +a piece of money; for the cook or keeper of an alehouse could not refuse +to supply a man that had silver in his hand, and the buyer would not +leave his money without change. The project was therefore plausible. The +scarcity, which was already great, Wood took care to make greater, by +agents who gathered up the old halfpence; and was about to turn his brass +into gold, by pouring the treasures of his new mint upon Ireland, when +Swift, finding that the metal was debased to an enormous degree, wrote +letters, under the name of _M. B. Drapier_, to show the folly of +receiving, and the mischief that must ensue by giving gold and silver for +coin worth perhaps not a third part of its nominal value. The nation was +alarmed; the new coin was universally refused, but the governors of +Ireland considered resistance to the king’s patent as highly criminal; +and one Whitshed, then Chief Justice, who had tried the printer of the +former pamphlet, and sent out the jury nine times, till by clamour and +menaces they were frightened into a special verdict, now presented the +Drapier, but could not prevail on the grand jury to find the bill. + +Lord Carteret and the Privy Council published a proclamation, offering +three hundred pounds for discovering the author of the Fourth Letter. +Swift had concealed himself from his printers and trusted only his +butler, who transcribed the paper. The man, immediately after the +appearance of the proclamation, strolled from the house, and stayed out +all night, and part of the next day. There was reason enough to fear that +he had betrayed his master for the reward; but he came home, and the Dean +ordered him to put off his livery, and leave the house; “for,” says he, +“I know that my life is in your power, and I will not bear, out of fear, +either your insolence or negligence.” The man excused his fault with +great submission, and begged that he might be confined in the house while +it was in his power to endanger the master; but the Dean resolutely +turned him out, without taking further notice of him, till the term of +the information had expired, and then received him again. Soon afterwards +he ordered him and the rest of his servants into his presence, without +telling his intentions, and bade them take notice that their +fellow-servant was no longer Robert the butler, but that his integrity +had made him Mr. Blakeney, verger of St. Patrick’s, an officer whose +income was between thirty and forty pounds a year; yet he still continued +for some years to serve his old master as his butler. + +Swift was known from this time by the appellation of _The Dean_. He was +honoured by the populace as the champion, patron, and instructor of +Ireland; and gained such power as, considered both in its extent and +duration, scarcely any man has ever enjoyed without greater wealth or +higher station. He was from this important year the oracle of the +traders, and the idol of the rabble, and by consequence was feared and +courted by all to whom the kindness of the traders or the populace was +necessary. The _Drapier_ was a sign; the _Drapier_ was a health; and +which way soever the eye or the ear was turned, some tokens were found of +the nation’s gratitude to the _Drapier_. + +The benefit was indeed great; he had rescued Ireland from a very +oppressive and predatory invasion, and the popularity which he had gained +he was diligent to keep, by appearing forward and zealous on every +occasion where the public interest was supposed to be involved. Nor did +he much scruple to boast his influence; for when, upon some attempts to +regulate the coin, Archbishop Boulter, then one of the justices, accused +him of exasperating the people, he exculpated himself by saying, “If I +had lifted up my finger, they would have torn you to pieces.” But the +pleasure of popularity was soon interrupted by domestic misery. Mrs. +Johnson, whose conversation was to him the great softener of the ills of +life, began in the year of the _Drapier’s_ triumph to decline, and two +years afterwards was so wasted with sickness that her recovery was +considered as hopeless. Swift was then in England, and had been invited +by Lord Bolingbroke to pass the winter with him in France; but this call +of calamity hastened him to Ireland, where perhaps his presence +contributed to restore her to imperfect and tottering health. He was now +so much at ease, that (1727) he returned to England, where he collected +three volumes of Miscellanies in conjunction with Pope, who prefixed a +querulous and apologetical Preface. + +This important year sent likewise into the world “Gulliver’s Travels,” a +production so new and strange, that it filled the reader with a mingled +emotion of merriment and amazement. It was received with such avidity, +that the price of the first edition was raised before the second could be +made; it was read by the high and the low, the learned and illiterate. +Criticism was for a while lost in wonder; no rules of judgment were +applied to a book written in open defiance of truth and regularity. But +when distinctions came to be made, the part which gave the least pleasure +was that which describes the Flying Island, and that which gave most +disgust must be the history of Houyhnhnms. + +While Swift was enjoying the reputation of his new work, the news of the +king’s death arrived, and he kissed the hands of the new king and queen +three days after their accession. By the queen, when she was princess, he +had been treated with some distinction, and was well received by her in +her exaltation; but whether she gave hopes which she never took care to +satisfy, or he formed expectations which she never meant to raise, the +event was that he always afterwards thought on her with malevolence, and +particularly charged her with breaking her promise of some medals which +she engaged to send him. I know not whether she had not, in her turn, +some reason for complaint. A letter was sent her, not so much entreating, +as requiring her patronage of Mrs. Barber, an ingenious Irishwoman, who +was then begging subscriptions for her Poems. To this letter was +subscribed the name of Swift, and it has all the appearance of his +diction and sentiments; but it was not written in his hand, and had some +little improprieties. When he was charged with this letter, he laid hold +of the inaccuracies, and urged the improbability of the accusation, but +never denied it: he shuffles between cowardice and veracity, and talks +big when he says nothing. He seems desirous enough of recommencing +courtier, and endeavoured to gain the kindness of Mrs. Howard, +remembering what Mrs. Masham had performed in former times; but his +flatteries were, like those of other wits, unsuccessful; the lady either +wanted power, or had no ambition of poetical immortality. He was seized +not long afterwards by a fit of giddiness, and again heard of the +sickness and danger of Mrs. Johnson. He then left the house of Pope, as +it seems, with very little ceremony, finding “that two sick friends +cannot live together;” and did not write to him till he found himself at +Chester. He turned to a home of sorrow: poor Stella was sinking into the +grave, and, after a languishing decay of about two months, died in her +forty-fourth year, on January 28, 1728. How much he wished her life his +papers show; nor can it be doubted that he dreaded the death of her whom +he loved most, aggravated by the consciousness that himself had hastened +it. + +Beauty and the power of pleasing, the greatest external advantages that +woman can desire or possess, were fatal to the unfortunate Stella. The +man whom she had the misfortune to love was, as Delany observes, fond of +singularity, and desirous to make a mode of happiness for himself, +different from the general course of things and order of Providence. From +the time of her arrival in Ireland he seems resolved to keep her in his +power, and therefore hindered a match sufficiently advantageous by +accumulating unreasonable demands, and prescribing conditions that could +not be performed. While she was at her own disposal he did not consider +his possession as secure; resentment, ambition, or caprice might separate +them: he was therefore resolved to make “assurance doubly sure,” and to +appropriate her by a private marriage, to which he had annexed the +expectation of all the pleasures of perfect friendship, without the +uneasiness of conjugal restraint. But with this state poor Stella was not +satisfied; she never was treated as a wife, and to the world she had the +appearance of a mistress. She lived sullenly on, in hope that in time he +would own and receive her; but the time did not come till the change of +his manners and depravation of his mind made her tell him, when he +offered to acknowledge her, that “it was too late.” She then gave up +herself to sorrowful resentment, and died under the tyranny of him by +whom she was in the highest degree loved and honoured. What were her +claims to this eccentric tenderness, by which the laws of nature were +violated to restrain her, curiosity will inquire; but how shall it be +gratified? Swift was a lover; his testimony may be suspected. Delany and +the Irish saw with Swift’s eyes, and therefore add little confirmation. +That she was virtuous, beautiful, and elegant, in a very high degree, +such admiration from such a lover makes it very probable: but she had not +much literature, for she could not spell her own language; and of her +wit, so loudly vaunted, the smart sayings which Swift himself has +collected afford no splendid specimen. + +The reader of Swift’s “Letter to a Lady on her Marriage,” may be allowed +to doubt whether his opinion of female excellence ought implicitly to be +admitted; for, if his general thoughts on women were such as he exhibits, +a very little sense in a lady would enrapture, and a very little virtue +would astonish him. Stella’s supremacy, therefore, was perhaps only +local; she was great because her associates were little. + +In some Remarks lately published on the Life of Swift, his marriage is +mentioned as fabulous, or doubtful; but, alas! poor Stella, as Dr. Madden +told me, related her melancholy story to Dr. Sheridan, when he attended +her as a clergyman to prepare her for death; and Delany mentions it not +with doubt, but only with regret. Swift never mentioned her without a +sigh. The rest of his life was spent in Ireland, in a country to which +not even power almost despotic, nor flattery almost idolatrous, could +reconcile him. He sometimes wished to visit England, but always found +some reason of delay. He tells Pope, in the decline of life, that he +hopes once more to see him; “but if not,” says he, “we must part as all +human beings have parted.” + +After the death of Stella, his benevolence was contracted, and his +severity exasperated; he drove his acquaintance from his table, and +wondered why he was deserted. But he continued his attention to the +public, and wrote from time to time such directions, admonitions, or +censures, as the exigence of affairs, in his opinion, made proper; and +nothing fell from his pen in vain. In a short poem on the Presbyterians, +whom he always regarded with detestation, he bestowed one stricture upon +Bettesworth, a lawyer eminent for his insolence to the clergy, which, +from very considerable reputation, brought him into immediate and +universal contempt. Bettesworth, enraged at his disgrace and loss, went +to Swift, and demanded whether he was the author of that poem? “Mr. +Bettesworth,” answered he, “I was in my youth acquainted with great +lawyers, who, knowing my disposition to satire, advised me, that if any +scoundrel or blockhead whom I had lampooned should ask, ‘Are you the +author of this paper?’ I should tell him that I was not the author; and +therefore, I tell you, Mr. Bettesworth, that I am not the author of these +lines.” + +Bettesworth was so little satisfied with this account, that he publicly +professed his resolution of a violent and corporal revenge; but the +inhabitants of St. Patrick’s district embodied themselves in the Dean’s +defence. Bettesworth declared in Parliament that Swift had deprived him +of twelve hundred pounds a year. + +Swift was popular awhile by another mode of beneficence. He set aside +some hundreds to be lent in small sums to the poor, from five shillings, +I think, to five pounds. He took no interest, and only required that, at +repayment, a small fee should be given to the accountant, but he required +that the day of promised payment should be exactly kept. A severe and +punctilious temper is ill qualified for transactions with the poor: the +day was often broken, and the loan was not repaid. This might have been +easily foreseen; but for this Swift had made no provision of patience or +pity. He ordered his debtors to be sued. A severe creditor has no popular +character; what then was likely to be said of him who employs the +catchpoll under the appearance of charity? The clamour against him was +loud, and the resentment of the populace outrageous; he was therefore +forced to drop his scheme, and own the folly of expecting punctuality +from the poor. + +His asperity continually increasing, condemned him to solitude; and his +resentment of solitude sharpened his asperity. He was not, however, +totally deserted; some men of learning, and some women of elegance, often +visited him; and he wrote from time to time either verse or prose: of his +verses he willingly gave copies, and is supposed to have felt no +discontent when he saw them printed. His favourite maxim was “Vive la +bagatelle:” he thought trifles a necessary part of life, and perhaps +found them necessary to himself. It seems impossible to him to be idle, +and his disorders made it difficult or dangerous to be long seriously +studious, or laboriously diligent. The love of ease is always gaining +upon age, and he had one temptation to petty amusements peculiar to +himself; whatever he did, he was sure to hear applauded; and such was his +predominance over all that approached, that all their applauses were +probably sincere. He that is much flattered soon learns to flatter +himself; we are commonly taught our duty by fear or shame, and how can +they act upon the man who hears nothing but his own praises? As his +years increased, his fits of giddiness and deafness grew more frequent, +and his deafness made conversation difficult; they grew likewise more +severe, till in 1736, as he was writing a poem called “The Legion Club,” +he was seized with a fit so painful and so long continued, that he never +after thought it proper to attempt any work of thought or labour. He was +always careful of his money, and was therefore no liberal entertainer, +but was less frugal of his wine than of his meat. When his friends of +either sex came to him in expectation of a dinner, his custom was to give +every one a shilling, that they might please themselves with their +provision. At last his avarice grew too powerful for his kindness; he +would refuse a bottle of wine, and in Ireland no man visits where he +cannot drink. Having thus excluded conversation, and desisted from study, +he had neither business nor amusement; for, having by some ridiculous +resolution, or mad vow, determined never to wear spectacles, he could +make like little use of books in his latter years; his ideas, therefore, +being neither renovated by discourse, nor increased by reading, wore +gradually away, and left his mind vacant to the vexations of the hour, +till at last his anger was heightened into madness. He, however, +permitted one book to be published, which had been the production of +former years—“Polite Conversation,” which appeared in 1738. The +“Directions for Servants,” was printed soon after his death. These two +performances show a mind incessantly attentive, and, when it was not +employed upon great things, busy with minute occurrences. It is apparent +that he must have had the habit of noting whatever he observed; for such +a number of particulars could never have been assembled by the power of +recollection. He grew more violent, and his mental powers declined, till +(1741) it was found necessary that legal guardians should be appointed of +his person and fortune. He now lost distinction. His madness was +compounded of rage and fatuity. The last face that he knew was that of +Mrs. Whiteway; and her he ceased to know in a little time. His meat was +brought him cut into mouthfuls: but he would never touch it while the +servant stayed, and at last, after it had stood perhaps an hour, would +eat it walking; for he continued his old habit, and was on his feet ten +hours a day. Next year (1742) he had an inflammation in his left eye, +which swelled it to the size of an egg, with boils in other parts; he was +kept long waking with the pain, and was not easily restrained by five +attendants from tearing out his eye. + +The tumour at last subsided; and a short interval of reason ensuing; in +which he knew his physician and his family, gave hopes of his recovery; +but in a few days he sank into a lethargic stupidity, motionless, +heedless, and speechless. But it is said that after a year of total +silence, when his housekeeper, on the 30th of November, told him that the +usual bonfires and illuminations were preparing to celebrate his +birthday, he answered, “It is all folly; they had better let it alone.” + +It is remembered that he afterwards spoke now and then, or gave some +intimation of a meaning; but at last sank into a perfect silence, which +continued till about the end of October, 1744, when, in his +seventy-eighth year, he expired without a struggle. + +When Swift is considered as an author, it is just to estimate his powers +by their effects. In the reign of Queen Anne he turned the stream of +popularity against the Whigs, and must be confessed to have dictated for +a time the political opinions of the English nation. In the succeeding +reign he delivered Ireland from plunder and oppression: and showed that +wit, confederated with truth, had such force as authority was unable to +resist. He said truly of himself, that Ireland “was his debtor.” It was +from the time when he first began to patronise the Irish, that they may +date their riches and prosperity. He taught them first to know their own +interest, their weight, and their strength, and gave them spirit to +assert that equality with their fellow-subjects to which they have ever +since been making vigorous advances, and to claim those rights which they +have at last established. Nor can they be charged with ingratitude to +their benefactor; for they reverenced him as a guardian, and obeyed him +as a dictator. + +In his works he has given very different specimens both of sentiments and +expression. His “Tale of a Tub” has little resemblance to his other +pieces. It exhibits a vehemence and rapidity of mind, a copiousness of +images, and vivacity of diction, such as he afterwards never possessed, +or never exerted. It is of a mode so distinct and peculiar, that it must +be considered by itself; what is true of that, is not true of anything +else which he has written. In his other works is found an equable tenour +of easy language, which rather trickles than flows. His delight was in +simplicity. That he has in his works no metaphor, as has been said, is +not true; but his few metaphors seem to be received rather by necessity +than choice. He studied purity; and though perhaps all his strictures are +not exact, yet it is not often that solecisms can be found; and whoever +depends on his authority may generally conclude himself safe. His +sentences are never too much dilated or contracted; and it will not be +easy to find any embarrassment in the complication of his clauses, any +inconsequence in his connections, or abruptness in his transitions. His +style was well suited to his thoughts, which are never subtilised by nice +disquisitions, decorated by sparkling conceits, elevated by ambitious +sentences, or variegated by far-sought learning. He pays no court to the +passions; he excites neither surprise nor admiration: he always +understands himself, and his readers always understand him: the peruser +of Swift wants little previous knowledge; it will be sufficient that he +is acquainted with common words and common things; he is neither required +to mount elevations, nor to explore profundities; his passage is always +on a level, along solid ground, without asperities, without obstruction. +This easy and safe conveyance of meaning it was Swift’s desire to attain, +and for having attained he deserves praise. For purposes merely didactic, +when something is to be told that was not known before, it is the best +mode; but against that inattention by which known truths are suffered to +lie neglected, it makes no provision; it instructs, but does not +persuade. + +By his political education he was associated with the Whigs; but he +deserted them when they deserted their principles, yet without running +into the contrary extreme; he continued throughout his life to retain the +disposition which he assigns to the “Church-of-England Man,” of thinking +commonly with the Whigs of the State, and with the Tories of the Church. +He was a Churchman, rationally zealous; he desired the prosperity, and +maintained the honour of the clergy; of the Dissenters he did not wish to +infringe the Toleration, but he opposed their encroachments. To his duty +as Dean he was very attentive. He managed the revenues of his church with +exact economy; and it is said by Delany, that more money was, under his +direction, laid out in repairs, than had ever been in the same time since +its first erection. Of his choir he was eminently careful; and though he +neither loved nor understood music, took care that all the singers were +well qualified, admitting none without the testimony of skilful judges. + +In his church he restored the practice of weekly communion, and +distributed the sacramental elements in the most solemn and devout manner +with his own hand. He came to church every morning, preached commonly in +his turn, and attended the evening anthem, that it might not be +negligently performed. He read the service, “rather with a strong, +nervous voice, than in a graceful manner; his voice was sharp and +high-toned, rather than harmonious.” He entered upon the clerical state +with hope to excel in preaching; but complained that, from the time of +his political controversies, “he could only preach pamphlets.” This +censure of himself, if judgment be made from those sermons which have +been printed, was unreasonably severe. + +The suspicions of his irreligion proceeded in a great measure from his +dread of hypocrisy; instead of wishing to seem better, he delighted in +seeming worse than he was. He went in London to early prayers, lest he +should be seen at church; he read prayers to his servants every morning +with such dexterous secrecy, that Dr. Delany was six months in his house +before he knew it. He was not only careful to hide the good which he did, +but willingly incurred the suspicion of evil which he did not. He forgot +what himself had formerly asserted, that hypocrisy is less mischievous +than open impiety. Dr. Delany, with all his zeal for his honour, has +justly condemned this part of his character. + +The person of Swift had not many recommendations. He had a kind of muddy +complexion, which, though he washed himself with Oriental scrupulosity, +did not look clear. He had a countenance sour and severe, which he seldom +softened by any appearance of gaiety. He stubbornly resisted any tendency +to laughter. To his domestics he was naturally rough: and a man of a +rigorous temper, with that vigilance of minute attention which his works +discover, must have been a master that few could bear. That he was +disposed to do his servants good, on important occasions, is no great +mitigation; benefaction can be but rare, and tyrannic peevishness is +perpetual. He did not spare the servants of others. Once, when he dined +alone with the Earl of Orrery, he said of one that waited in the room, +“That man has, since we sat to the table, committed fifteen faults.” +What the faults were, Lord Orrery, from whom I heard the story, had not +been attentive enough to discover. My number may perhaps not be exact. + +In his economy he practised a peculiar and offensive parsimony, without +disguise or apology. The practice of saving being once necessary, became +habitual, and grew first ridiculous, and at last detestable. But his +avarice, though it might exclude pleasure, was never suffered to encroach +upon his virtue. He was frugal by inclination, but liberal by principle: +and if the purpose to which he destined his little accumulations be +remembered, with his distribution of occasional charity, it will perhaps +appear that he only liked one mode of expense better than another, and +saved merely that he might have something to give. He did not grow rich +by injuring his successors, but left both Laracor and the Deanery more +valuable than he found them. With all this talk of his covetousness and +generosity, it should be remembered that he was never rich. The revenue +of his Deanery was not much more than seven hundred a year. His +beneficence was not graced with tenderness or civility; he relieved +without pity, and assisted without kindness; so that those who were fed +by him could hardly love him. He made a rule to himself to give but one +piece at a time, and therefore always stored his pocket with coins of +different value. Whatever he did he seemed willing to do in a manner +peculiar to himself, without sufficiently considering that singularity, +as it implies a contempt of the general practice, is a kind of defiance +which justly provokes the hostility of ridicule; he, therefore, who +indulges peculiar habits, is worse than others, if he be not better. + +Of his humour, a story told by Pope may afford a specimen. + + “Dr. Swift has an odd, blunt way, that is mistaken by strangers for + ill nature.—’Tis so odd, that there’s no describing it but by facts. + I’ll tell you one that first comes into my head. One evening Gay and + I went to see him: you know how intimately we were all acquainted. On + our coming in, ‘Heyday, gentlemen’ (says the doctor), ‘what’s the + meaning of this visit? How came you to leave the great Lords that + you are so fond of, to come hither to see a poor Dean?’—‘Because we + would rather see you than any of them.’—‘Ay, anyone that did not know + so well as I do might believe you. But since you are come, I must get + some supper for you, I suppose.’—‘No, Doctor, we have supped + already.’—‘Supped already? that’s impossible! why, ’tis not eight + o’clock yet: that’s very strange; but if you had not supped, I must + have got something for you. Let me see, what should I have had? A + couple of lobsters; ay, that would have done very well; two + shillings—tarts, a shilling; but you will drink a glass of wine with + me, though you supped so much before your usual time only to spare my + pocket?’—‘No, we had rather talk with you than drink with you.’—‘But + if you had supped with me, as in all reason you ought to have done, + you must then have drunk with me. A bottle of wine, two shillings—two + and two is four, and one is five; just two-and-sixpence a-piece. + There, Pope, there’s half a crown for you, and there’s another for + you, sir; for I won’t save anything by you. I am determined.’—This + was all said and done with his usual seriousness on such occasions; + and, in spite of everything we could say to the contrary, he actually + obliged us to take the money.” + +In the intercourse of familiar life, he indulged his disposition to +petulance and sarcasm, and thought himself injured if the licentiousness +of his raillery, the freedom of his censures, or the petulance of his +frolics was resented or repressed. He predominated over his companions +with very high ascendancy, and probably would bear none over whom he +could not predominate. To give him advice was, in the style of his friend +Delany, “to venture to speak to him.” This customary superiority soon +grew too delicate for truth; and Swift, with all his penetration, allowed +himself to be delighted with low flattery. On all common occasions, he +habitually affects a style of arrogance, and dictates rather than +persuades. This authoritative and magisterial language he expected to be +received as his peculiar mode of jocularity: but he apparently flattered +his own arrogance by an assumed imperiousness, in which he was ironical +only to the resentful, and to the submissive sufficiently serious. He +told stories with great felicity, and delighted in doing what he knew +himself to do well; he was therefore captivated by the respectful silence +of a steady listener, and told the same tales too often. He did not, +however, claim the right of talking alone; for it was his rule, when he +had spoken a minute, to give room by a pause for any other speaker. Of +time, on all occasions, he was an exact computer, and knew the minutes +required to every common operation. + +It may be justly supposed that there was in his conversation, what +appears so frequently in his Letters, an affectation of familiarity with +the great, an ambition of momentary equality sought and enjoyed by the +neglect of those ceremonies which custom has established as the barriers +between one order of society and another. This transgression of +regularity was by himself and his admirers termed greatness of soul. But +a great mind disdains to hold anything by courtesy, and therefore never +usurps what a lawful claimant may take away. He that encroaches on +another’s dignity puts himself in his power; he is either repelled with +helpless indignity, or endured by clemency and condescension. + +Of Swift’s general habits of thinking, if his Letters can be supposed to +afford any evidence, he was not a man to be either loved or envied. He +seems to have wasted life in discontent, by the rage of neglected pride, +and the languishment of unsatisfied desire. He is querulous and +fastidious, arrogant and malignant; he scarcely speaks of himself but +with indignant lamentations, or of others but with insolent superiority +when he is gay, and with angry contempt when he is gloomy. From the +letters that passed between him and Pope it might be inferred that they, +with Arbuthnot and Gay, had engrossed all the understanding and virtue of +mankind; that their merits filled the world; or that there was no hope of +more. They show the age involved in darkness, and shade the picture with +sullen emulation. + +When the Queen’s death drove him into Ireland, he might be allowed to +regret for a time the interception of his views, the extinction of his +hopes, and his ejection from gay scenes, important employment, and +splendid friendships; but when time had enabled reason to prevail over +vexation, the complaints, which at first were natural, became ridiculous +because they were useless. But querulousness was now grown habitual, and +he cried out when he probably had ceased to feel. His reiterated wailings +persuaded Bolingbroke that he was really willing to quit his deanery for +an English parish; and Bolingbroke procured an exchange, which was +rejected; and Swift still retained the pleasure of complaining. + +The greatest difficulty that occurs, in analysing his character, is to +discover by what depravity of intellect he took delight in revolving +ideas, from which almost every other mind shrinks with disgust. The ideas +of pleasure, even when criminal, may solicit the imagination; but what +has disease, deformity, and filth, upon which the thoughts can be allured +to dwell? Delany is willing to think that Swift’s mind was not much +tainted with this gross corruption before his long visit to Pope. He does +not consider how he degrades his hero, by making him at fifty-nine the +pupil of turpitude, and liable to the malignant influence of an ascendant +mind. But the truth is, that Gulliver had described his Yahoos before the +visit; and he that had formed those images had nothing filthy to learn. + +I have here given the character of Swift as he exhibits himself to my +perception; but now let another be heard who knew him better. Dr. Delany, +after long acquaintance, describes him to Lord Orrery in these terms:— + + “My Lord, when you consider Swift’s singular, peculiar, and most + variegated vein of wit, always rightly intended, although not always + so rightly directed; delightful in many instances, and salutary even + where it is most offensive; when you consider his strict truth, his + fortitude in resisting oppression and arbitrary power; his fidelity + in friendship; his sincere love and zeal for religion; his + uprightness in making right resolutions, and his steadiness in + adhering to them; his care of his church, its choir, its economy, and + its income; his attention to all those who preached in his cathedral, + in order to their amendment in pronunciation and style; as also his + remarkable attention to the interest of his successors preferably to + his own present emoluments; his invincible patriotism, even to a + country which he did not love; his very various, well-devised, + well-judged, and extensive charities, throughout his life; and his + whole fortune (to say nothing of his wife’s) conveyed to the same + Christian purposes at his death; charities, from which he could enjoy + no honour, advantage, or satisfaction of any kind in this world: when + you consider his ironical and humorous, as well as his serious + schemes, for the promotion of true religion and virtue; his success + in soliciting for the First Fruits and Twentieths, to the unspeakable + benefit of the Established Church of Ireland; and his felicity (to + rate it no higher) in giving occasion to the building of fifty new + churches in London: + + “All this considered, the character of his life will appear like that + of his writings; they will both bear to be reconsidered, and + re-examined with the utmost attention, and always discover new + beauties and excellences upon every examination. + + “They will bear to be considered as the sun, in which the brightness + will hide the blemishes; and whenever petulant ignorance, pride, + malignity, or envy interposes to cloud or sully his fame, I take upon + me to pronounce, that the eclipse will not last long. + + “To conclude—No man ever deserved better of his country, than Swift + did of his; a steady, persevering, inflexible friend; a wise, a + watchful, and a faithful counsellor, under many severe trials and + bitter persecutions, to the manifest hazard both of his liberty and + fortune. + + “He lived a blessing, he died a benefactor, and his name will ever + live an honour to Ireland.” + +In the poetical works of Dr. Swift there is not much upon which the +critic can exercise his powers. They are often humorous, almost always +light, and have the qualities which recommend such compositions, easiness +and gaiety. They are, for the most part, what their author intended. The +diction is correct, the numbers are smooth, and the rhymes exact. There +seldom occurs a hard-laboured expression, or a redundant epithet; all his +verses exemplify his own definition of a good style; they consist of +“proper words in proper places.” + +To divide this collection into classes, and show how some pieces are +gross, and some are trifling, would be to tell the reader what he knows +already, and to find faults of which the author could not be ignorant, +who certainly wrote not often to his judgment, but his humour. + +It was said, in a Preface to one of the Irish editions, that Swift had +never been known to take a single thought from any writer, ancient or +modern. This is not literally true; but perhaps no writer can easily be +found that has borrowed so little, or that, in all his excellences and +all his defects, has so well maintained his claim to be considered as +original. + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + Printed by Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE ENGLISH POETS*** + + +******* This file should be named 4679-0.txt or 4679-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/7/7/4679 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Lives of the English Poets + Addison, Savage, Swift + + +Author: Samuel Johnson + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: May 31, 2020 [eBook #4679] +[This book was first released Feburary 26, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE ENGLISH POETS*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1888 Cassell & Company edition by Les +Bowler.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Book cover" +title= +"Book cover" + src="images/cover.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">CASSELL’S NATIONAL LIBRARY.</span></p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<h1><span class="GutSmall">LIVES</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">English Poets</span></h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><b>Addison</b> +<b>Savage</b> <b>Swift</b></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br +/> +SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/tpb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative graphic" +title= +"Decorative graphic" + src="images/tps.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center">CASSELL & COMPANY, <span +class="smcap">Limited</span>:<br /> +<span class="GutSmall"><i>LONDON</i></span><span +class="GutSmall">, </span><span +class="GutSmall"><i>PARIS</i></span><span class="GutSmall">, +</span><span class="GutSmall"><i>NEW YORK & +MELBOURNE</i></span><span class="GutSmall">.</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">1888.</span></p> +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Johnson’s</span> “Lives of the +Poets” were written to serve as Introductions to a trade +edition of the works of poets whom the booksellers selected for +republication. Sometimes, therefore, they dealt briefly with men +in whom the public at large has long ceased to be interested. +Richard Savage would be of this number if Johnson’s account +of his life had not secured for him lasting remembrance. +Johnson’s Life of Savage in this volume has not less +interest than the Lives of Addison and Swift, between which it is +set, although Savage himself has no right at all to be remembered +in such company. Johnson published this piece of biography when +his age was thirty-five; his other lives of poets appeared when +that age was about doubled. He was very poor when the Life of +Savage was written for Cave. Soon after its publication, we are +told, Mr. Harte dined with Cave, and incidentally praised it. +Meeting him again soon afterwards Cave said to Mr. Harte, +“You made a man very happy t’other day.” +“How could that be?” asked Harte. “Nobody was +there but ourselves.” Cave answered by reminding him +that a plate of victuals was sent behind a screen, which was to +Johnson, dressed so shabbily that he did not choose to +appear.</p> +<p>Johnson, struggling, found Savage struggling, and was drawn to +him by faith in the tale he told. We have seen in our own time +how even an Arthur Orton could find sensible and good people to +believe the tale with which he sought to enforce claim upon the +Tichborne baronetcy. Savage had literary skill, and he could +personate the manners of a gentleman in days when there were +still gentlemen of fashion who drank, lied, and swaggered into +midnight brawls. I have no doubt whatever that he was the son of +the nurse with whom the Countess of Macclesfield had placed a +child that died, and that after his mother’s death he found +the papers upon which he built his plot to personate the child, +extort money from the Countess and her family, and bring himself +into a profitable notoriety.</p> +<p>Johnson’s simple truthfulness and ready sympathy made it +hard for him to doubt the story told as Savage told it to him. +But when he told it again himself, though he denounced one whom +he believed to be an unnatural mother, and dealt gently with his +friend, he did not translate evil into good. Through all the +generous and kindly narrative we may see clearly that Savage was +an impostor. There is the heart of Johnson in the noble appeal +against judgment of the self-righteous who have never known the +harder trials of the world, when he says of Savage, “Those +are no proper judges of his conduct, who have slumbered away +their time on the down of plenty; nor will any wise man easily +presume to say, ‘Had I been in Savage’s condition, I +should have lived or written better than +Savage.’” But Johnson, who made large allowance +for temptations pressing on the poor, himself suffered and +overcame the hardest trials, firm always to his duty, true +servant of God and friend of man.</p> +<p>Richard Savage’s whole public life was built upon a lie. +His base nature foiled any attempt made to befriend him; and the +friends he lost, he slandered; Richard Steele among them. Samuel +Johnson was a friend easy to make, and difficult to lose. There +was no money to be got from him, for he was altogether poor in +everything but the large spirit of human kindness. Savage drew +largely on him for sympathy, and had it; although Johnson was too +clear-sighted to be much deceived except in judgment upon the +fraudulent claims which then gave rise to division of opinion. +The Life of Savage is a noble piece of truth, although it rests +on faith put in a fraud.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">H. M.</p> +<h2>ADDISON.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Joseph Addison</span> was born on the 1st +of May, 1672, at Milston, of which his father, Lancelot Addison, +was then rector, near Ambrosebury, in Wiltshire, and, appearing +weak and unlikely to live, he was christened the same day. After +the usual domestic education, which from the character of his +father may be reasonably supposed to have given him strong +impressions of piety, he was committed to the care of Mr. Naish +at Ambrosebury, and afterwards of Mr. Taylor at Salisbury.</p> +<p>Not to name the school or the masters of men illustrious for +literature, is a kind of historical fraud, by which honest fame +is injuriously diminished: I would therefore trace him through +the whole process of his education. In 1683, in the beginning of +his twelfth year, his father, being made Dean of Lichfield, +naturally carried his family to his new residence, and, I +believe, placed him for some time, probably not long, under Mr. +Shaw, then master of the school at Lichfield, father of the late +Dr. Peter Shaw. Of this interval his biographers have given no +account, and I know it only from a story of a <i>barring-out</i>, +told me, when I was a boy, by Andrew Corbet, of Shropshire, who +had heard it from Mr. Pigot, his uncle.</p> +<p>The practice of <i>barring-out</i> was a savage licence, +practised in many schools to the end of the last century, by +which the boys, when the periodical vacation drew near, growing +petulant at the approach of liberty, some days before the time of +regular recess, took possession of the school, of which they +barred the doors, and bade their master defiance from the +windows. It is not easy to suppose that on such occasions the +master would do more than laugh; yet, if tradition may be +credited, he often struggled hard to force or surprise the +garrison. The master, when Pigot was a schoolboy, was <i>barred +out</i> at Lichfield; and the whole operation, as he said, was +planned and conducted by Addison.</p> +<p>To judge better of the probability of this story, I have +inquired when he was sent to the Chartreux; but, as he was not +one of those who enjoyed the founder’s benefaction, there +is no account preserved of his admission. At the school of the +Chartreux, to which he was removed either from that of Salisbury +or Lichfield, he pursued his juvenile studies under the care of +Dr. Ellis, and contracted that intimacy with Sir Richard Steele +which their joint labours have so effectually recorded.</p> +<p>Of this memorable friendship the greater praise must be given +to Steele. It is not hard to love those from whom nothing can be +feared; and Addison never considered Steele as a rival; but +Steele lived, as he confesses, under an habitual subjection to +the predominating genius of Addison, whom he always mentioned +with reverence, and treated with obsequiousness.</p> +<p>Addison, who knew his own dignity, could not always forbear to +show it, by playing a little upon his admirer; but he was in no +danger of retort; his jests were endured without resistance or +resentment. But the sneer of jocularity was not the worst. +Steele, whose imprudence of generosity, or vanity of profusion, +kept him always incurably necessitous, upon some pressing +exigence, in an evil hour, borrowed a hundred pounds of his +friend probably without much purpose of repayment; but Addison, +who seems to have had other notions of a hundred pounds, grew +impatient of delay, and reclaimed his loan by an execution. +Steele felt with great sensibility the obduracy of his creditor, +but with emotions of sorrow rather than of anger.</p> +<p>In 1687 he was entered into Queen’s College in Oxford, +where, in 1689, the accidental perusal of some Latin verses +gained him the patronage of Dr. Lancaster, afterwards Provost of +Queen’s College; by whose recommendation he was elected +into Magdalen College as a demy, a term by which that society +denominates those who are elsewhere called scholars: young men +who partake of the founder’s benefaction, and succeed in +their order to vacant fellowships. Here he continued to cultivate +poetry and criticism, and grew first eminent by his Latin +compositions, which are indeed entitled to particular praise. He +has not confined himself to the imitation of any ancient author, +but has formed his style from the general language, such as a +diligent perusal of the productions of different ages happened to +supply. His Latin compositions seem to have had much of his +fondness, for he collected a second volume of the +“Musæ Anglicanæ” perhaps for a convenient +receptacle, in which all his Latin pieces are inserted, and where +his poem on the Peace has the first place. He afterwards +presented the collection to Boileau, who from that time +“conceived,” says Tickell, “an opinion of the +English genius for poetry.” Nothing is better known +of Boileau than that he had an injudicious and peevish contempt +of modern Latin, and therefore his profession of regard was +probably the effect of his civility rather than approbation.</p> +<p>Three of his Latin poems are upon subjects on which perhaps he +would not have ventured to have written in his own language: +“The Battle of the Pigmies and Cranes,” “The +Barometer,” and “A Bowling-green.” When +the matter is low or scanty, a dead language, in which nothing is +mean because nothing is familiar, affords great conveniences; and +by the sonorous magnificence of Roman syllables, the writer +conceals penury of thought, and want of novelty, often from the +reader and often from himself.</p> +<p>In his twenty-second year he first showed his power of English +poetry by some verses addressed to Dryden; and soon after +published a translation of the greater part of the Fourth Georgic +upon Bees; after which, says Dryden, “my latter swarm is +scarcely worth the hiving.” About the same time he +composed the arguments prefixed to the several books of +Dryden’s Virgil; and produced an Essay on the Georgics, +juvenile, superficial, and uninstructive, without much either of +the scholar’s learning or the critic’s penetration. +His next paper of verses contained a character of the principal +English poets, inscribed to Henry Sacheverell, who was then, if +not a poet, a writer of verses; as is shown by his version of a +small part of Virgil’s Georgics, published in the +Miscellanies; and a Latin encomium on Queen Mary, in the +“Musæ Anglicanæ.” These verses +exhibit all the fondness of friendship; but, on one side or the +other, friendship was afterwards too weak for the malignity of +faction. In this poem is a very confident and discriminate +character of Spenser, whose work he had then never read; so +little sometimes is criticism the effect of judgment. It is +necessary to inform the reader that about this time he was +introduced by Congreve to Montague, then Chancellor of the +Exchequer: Addison was then learning the trade of a courtier, and +subjoined Montague as a poetical name to those of Cowley and of +Dryden. By the influence of Mr. Montague, concurring, according +to Tickell, with his natural modesty, he was diverted from his +original design of entering into holy orders. Montague alleged +the corruption of men who engaged in civil employments without +liberal education; and declared that, though he was represented +as an enemy to the Church, he would never do it any injury but by +withholding Addison from it.</p> +<p>Soon after (in 1695) he wrote a poem to King William, with a +rhyming introduction addressed to Lord Somers. King William had +no regard to elegance or literature; his study was only war; yet +by a choice of Ministers, whose disposition was very different +from his own, he procured, without intention, a very liberal +patronage to poetry. Addison was caressed both by Somers and +Montague.</p> +<p>In 1697 appeared his Latin verses on the Peace of Ryswick, +which he dedicated to Montague, and which was afterwards called, +by Smith, “the best Latin poem since the +‘Æneid.’” Praise must not be too +rigorously examined; but the performance cannot be denied to be +vigorous and elegant. Having yet no public employment, he +obtained (in 1699) a pension of three hundred pounds a year, that +he might be enabled to travel. He stayed a year at Blois, +probably to learn the French language and then proceeded in his +journey to Italy, which he surveyed with the eyes of a poet. +While he was travelling at leisure, he was far from being idle: +for he not only collected his observations on the country, but +found time to write his “Dialogues on Medals,” and +four acts of <i>Cato</i>. Such, at least, is the relation of +Tickell. Perhaps he only collected his materials and formed his +plan. Whatever were his other employments in Italy, he there +wrote the letter to Lord Halifax which is justly considered as +the most elegant, if not the most sublime, of his poetical +productions. But in about two years he found it necessary to +hasten home; being, as Swift informs us, distressed by indigence, +and compelled to become the tutor of a travelling squire, because +his pension was not remitted.</p> +<p>At his return he published his Travels, with a dedication to +Lord Somers. As his stay in foreign countries was short, his +observations are such as might be supplied by a hasty view, and +consist chiefly in comparisons of the present face of the country +with the descriptions left us by the Roman poets, from whom he +made preparatory collections, though he might have spared the +trouble had he known that such collections had been made twice +before by Italian authors.</p> +<p>The most amusing passage of his book is his account of the +minute republic of San Marino; of many parts it is not a very +severe censure to say that they might have been written at home. +His elegance of language, and variegation of prose and verse, +however, gain upon the reader; and the book, though awhile +neglected, became in time so much the favourite of the public +that before it was reprinted it rose to five times its price.</p> +<p>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; and a mind so cultivated gives reason to believe that +little time was lost. But he remained not long neglected or +useless. The victory at Blenheim (1704) spread triumph and +confidence over the nation; and Lord Godolphin, lamenting to Lord +Halifax that it had not been celebrated in a manner equal to the +subject, desired him to propose it to some better poet. Halifax +told him that there was no encouragement for genius; that +worthless men were unprofitably enriched with public money, +without any care to find or employ those whose appearance might +do honour to their country. To this Godolphin replied that such +abuses should in time be rectified; and that, if a man could be +found capable of the task then proposed, he should not want an +ample recompense. Halifax then named Addison, but required that +the Treasurer should apply to him in his own person. Godolphin +sent the message by Mr. Boyle, afterwards Lord Carlton; and +Addison, having undertaken the work, communicated it to the +Treasury while it was yet advanced no further than the simile of +the angel, and was immediately rewarded by succeeding Mr. Locke +in the place of Commissioner of Appeals.</p> +<p>In the following year he was at Hanover with Lord Halifax: and +the year after he was made Under Secretary of State, first to Sir +Charles Hedges, and in a few months more to the Earl of +Sunderland. About this time the prevalent taste for Italian +operas inclined him to try what would be the effect of a musical +drama in our own language. He therefore wrote the opera of +Rosamond, which, when exhibited on the stage, was either hissed +or neglected; but, trusting that the readers would do him more +justice, he published it with an inscription to the Duchess of +Marlborough—a woman without skill, or pretensions to skill, +in poetry or literature. His dedication was therefore an instance +of servile absurdity, to be exceeded only by Joshua +Barnes’s dedication of a Greek Anacreon to the Duke. His +reputation had been somewhat advanced by The Tender Husband, a +comedy which Steele dedicated to him, with a confession that he +owed to him several of the most successful scenes. To this play +Addison supplied a prologue.</p> +<p>When the Marquis of Wharton was appointed Lord Lieutenant of +Ireland, Addison attended him as his secretary; and was made +Keeper of the Records, in Birmingham’s Tower, with a salary +of three hundred pounds a year. The office was little more than +nominal, and the salary was augmented for his accommodation. +Interest and faction allow little to the operation of particular +dispositions or private opinions. Two men of personal characters +more opposite than those of Wharton and Addison could not easily +be brought together. Wharton was impious, profligate, and +shameless; without regard, or appearance of regard, to right and +wrong. Whatever is contrary to this may be said of Addison; but +as agents of a party they were connected, and how they adjusted +their other sentiments we cannot know.</p> +<p>Addison must, however, not be too hastily condemned. It is not +necessary to refuse benefits from a bad man when the acceptance +implies no approbation of his crimes; nor has the subordinate +officer any obligation to examine the opinions or conduct of +those under whom he acts, except that he may not be made the +instrument of wickedness. It is reasonable to suppose that +Addison counteracted, as far as he was able, the malignant and +blasting influence of the Lieutenant; and that at least by his +intervention some good was done, and some mischief prevented. +When he was in office he made a law to himself, as Swift has +recorded, never to remit his regular fees in civility to his +friends: “for,” said he, “I may have a hundred +friends; and if my fee be two guineas, I shall, by relinquishing +my right, lose two hundred guineas, and no friend gain more than +two; there is therefore no proportion between the good imparted +and the evil suffered.” He was in Ireland when +Steele, without any communication of his design, began the +publication of the <i>Tatler</i>; but he was not long concealed; +by inserting a remark on Virgil which Addison had given him he +discovered himself. It is, indeed, not easy for any man to write +upon literature or common life so as not to make himself known to +those with whom he familiarly converses, and who are acquainted +with his track of study, his favourite topic, his peculiar +notions, and his habitual phrases.</p> +<p>If Steele desired to write in secret, he was not lucky; a +single month detected him. His first <i>Tatler</i> was published +April 22 (1709); and Addison’s contribution appeared May +26. Tickell observes that the <i>Tatler</i> began and was +concluded without his concurrence. This is doubtless literally +true; but the work did not suffer much by his unconsciousness of +its commencement, or his absence at its cessation; for he +continued his assistance to December 23, and the paper stopped on +January 2. He did not distinguish his pieces by any signature; +and I know not whether his name was not kept secret till the +papers were collected into volumes.</p> +<p>To the <i>Tatler</i>, in about two months, succeeded the +<i>Spectator</i>: a series of essays of the same kind, but +written with less levity, upon a more regular plan, and published +daily. Such an undertaking showed the writers not to distrust +their own copiousness of materials or facility of composition, +and their performance justified their confidence. They found, +however, in their progress many auxiliaries. To attempt a single +paper was no terrifying labour; many pieces were offered, and +many were received.</p> +<p>Addison had enough of the zeal of party; but Steele had at +that time almost nothing else. The <i>Spectator</i>, in one of +the first papers, showed the political tenets of its authors; but +a resolution was soon taken of courting general approbation by +general topics, and subjects on which faction had produced no +diversity of sentiments—such as literature, morality, and +familiar life. To this practice they adhered with few deviations. +The ardour of Steele once broke out in praise of Marlborough; and +when Dr. Fleetwood prefixed to some sermons a preface overflowing +with Whiggish opinions, that it might be read by the Queen, it +was reprinted in the <i>Spectator</i>.</p> +<p>To teach the minuter decencies and inferior duties, to +regulate the practice of daily conversation, to correct those +depravities which are rather ridiculous than criminal, and remove +those grievances which, if they produce no lasting calamities, +impress hourly vexation, was first attempted by Casa in his book +of “Manners,” and Castiglione in his +“Courtier:” two books yet celebrated in Italy for +purity and elegance, and which, if they are now less read, are +neglected only because they have effected that reformation which +their authors intended, and their precepts now are no longer +wanted. Their usefulness to the age in which they were written is +sufficiently attested by the translations which almost all the +nations of Europe were in haste to obtain.</p> +<p>This species of instruction was continued, and perhaps +advanced, by the French; among whom La Bruyère’s +“Manners of the Age” (though, as Boileau remarked, it +is written without connection) certainly deserves praise for +liveliness of description and justness of observation.</p> +<p>Before the <i>Tatler</i> and <i>Spectator</i>, if the writers +for the theatre are excepted, England had no masters of common +life. No writers had yet undertaken to reform either the +savageness of neglect, or the impertinence of civility; to show +when to speak, or to be silent; how to refuse, or how to comply. +We had many books to teach us our more important duties, and to +settle opinions in philosophy or politics; but an <i>arbiter +elegantiarum</i>, (a judge of propriety) was yet wanting who +should survey the track of daily conversation, and free it from +thorns and prickles, which tease the passer, though they do not +wound him. For this purpose nothing is so proper as the frequent +publication of short papers, which we read, not as study, but +amusement. If the subject be slight, the treatise is short. The +busy may find time, and the idle may find patience. This mode of +conveying cheap and easy knowledge began among us in the civil +war, when it was much the interest of either party to raise and +fix the prejudices of the people. At that time appeared +<i>Mercurius Aulicus</i>, <i>Mercurius Rusticus</i>, and +<i>Mercurius Civicus</i>. It is said that when any title grew +popular, it was stolen by the antagonist, who by this stratagem +conveyed his notions to those who would not have received him had +he not worn the appearance of a friend. The tumult of those +unhappy days left scarcely any man leisure to treasure up +occasional compositions; and so much were they neglected that a +complete collection is nowhere to be found.</p> +<p>These Mercuries were succeeded by L’Estrange’s +<i>Observator</i>; and that by Lesley’s <i>Rehearsal</i>, +and perhaps by others; but hitherto nothing had been conveyed to +the people, in this commodious manner, but controversy relating +to the Church or State; of which they taught many to talk, whom +they could not teach to judge.</p> +<p>It has been suggested that the Royal Society was instituted +soon after the Restoration to divert the attention of the people +from public discontent. The <i>Tatler</i> and <i>Spectator</i> +had the same tendency; they were published at a time when two +parties—loud, restless, and violent, each with plausible +declarations, and each perhaps without any distinct termination +of its views—were agitating the nation; to minds heated +with political contest they supplied cooler and more inoffensive +reflections; and it is said by Addison, in a subsequent work, +that they had a perceptible influence upon the conversation of +that time, and taught the frolic and the gay to unite merriment +with decency—an effect which they can never wholly lose +while they continue to be among the first books by which both +sexes are initiated in the elegances of knowledge.</p> +<p>The <i>Tatler</i> and <i>Spectator</i> adjusted, like Casa, +the unsettled practice of daily intercourse by propriety and +politeness; and, like La Bruyère, exhibited the +“Characters and Manners of the Age.” The +personages introduced in these papers were not merely ideal; they +were then known, and conspicuous in various stations. Of the +<i>Tatler</i> this is told by Steele in his last paper; and of +the <i>Spectator</i> by Budgell in the preface to +“Theophrastus,” a book which Addison has recommended, +and which he was suspected to have revised, if he did not write +it. Of those portraits which may be supposed to be sometimes +embellished, and sometimes aggravated, the originals are now +partly known, and partly forgotten. But to say that they united +the plans of two or three eminent writers, is to give them but a +small part of their due praise; they superadded literature and +criticism, and sometimes towered far above their predecessors; +and taught, with great justness of argument and dignity of +language, the most important duties and sublime truths. All these +topics were happily varied with elegant fictions and refined +allegories, and illuminated with different changes of style and +felicities of invention.</p> +<p>It is recorded by Budgell, that of the characters feigned or +exhibited in the <i>Spectator</i>, the favourite of Addison was +Sir Roger de Coverley, of whom he had formed a very delicate and +discriminate idea, which he would not suffer to be violated; and +therefore when Steele had shown him innocently picking up a girl +in the Temple, and taking her to a tavern, he drew upon himself +so much of his friend’s indignation that he was forced to +appease him by a promise of forbearing Sir Roger for the time to +come.</p> +<p>The reason which induced Cervantes to bring his hero to the +grave, <i>para mi sola nacio Don Quixote</i>, <i>y yo para +el</i>, made Addison declare, with undue vehemence of expression, +that he would kill Sir Roger; being of opinion that they were +born for one another, and that any other hand would do him +wrong.</p> +<p>It may be doubted whether Addison ever filled up his original +delineation. He describes his knight as having his imagination +somewhat warped; but of this perversion he has made very little +use. The irregularities in Sir Roger’s conduct seem not so +much the effects of a mind deviating from the beaten track of +life, by the perpetual pressure of some overwhelming idea, as of +habitual rusticity, and that negligence which solitary grandeur +naturally generates. The variable weather of the mind, the flying +vapours of incipient madness, which from time to time cloud +reason without eclipsing it, it requires so much nicety to +exhibit that Addison seems to have been deterred from prosecuting +his own design.</p> +<p>To Sir Roger (who, as a country gentleman, appears to be a +Tory, or, as it is gently expressed, an adherent to the landed +interest) is opposed Sir Andrew Freeport, a new man, a wealthy +merchant, zealous for the moneyed interest, and a Whig. Of this +contrariety of opinions, it is probable more consequences were at +first intended than could be produced when the resolution was +taken to exclude party from the paper. Sir Andrew does but +little, and that little seems not to have pleased Addison, who, +when he dismissed him from the club, changed his opinions. Steele +had made him, in the true spirit of unfeeling commerce, declare +that he “would not build an hospital for idle +people;” but at last he buys land, settles in the country, +and builds, not a manufactory, but an hospital for twelve old +husbandmen—for men with whom a merchant has little +acquaintance, and whom he commonly considers with little +kindness.</p> +<p>Of essays thus elegant, thus instructive, and thus +commodiously distributed, it is natural to suppose the +approbation general, and the sale numerous. I once heard it +observed that the sale may be calculated by the product of the +tax, related in the last number to produce more than twenty +pounds a week, and therefore stated at one-and-twenty pounds, or +three pounds ten shillings a day: this, at a halfpenny a paper, +will give sixteen hundred and eighty for the daily number. This +sale is not great; yet this, if Swift be credited, was likely to +grow less; for he declares that the <i>Spectator</i>, whom he +ridicules for his endless mention of the <i>fair sex</i>, had +before his recess wearied his readers.</p> +<p>The next year (1713), in which <i>Cato</i> came upon the +stage, was the grand climacteric of Addison’s reputation. +Upon the death of <i>Cato</i> he had, as is said, planned a +tragedy in the time of his travels, and had for several years the +four first acts finished, which were shown to such as were likely +to spread their admiration. They were seen by Pope and by Cibber, +who relates that Steele, when he took back the copy, told him, in +the despicable cant of literary modesty, that, whatever spirit +his friend had shown in the composition, he doubted whether he +would have courage sufficient to expose it to the censure of a +British audience. The time, however, was now come when those who +affected to think liberty in danger affected likewise to think +that a stage-play might preserve it; and Addison was importuned, +in the name of the tutelary deities of Britain, to show his +courage and his zeal by finishing his design.</p> +<p>To resume his work he seemed perversely and unaccountably +unwilling; and by a request, which perhaps he wished to be +denied, desired Mr. Hughes to add a fifth act. Hughes supposed +him serious; and, undertaking the supplement, brought in a few +days some scenes for his examination; but he had in the meantime +gone to work himself, and produced half an act, which he +afterwards completed, but with brevity irregularly +disproportionate to the foregoing parts, like a task performed +with reluctance and hurried to its conclusion.</p> +<p>It may yet be doubted whether <i>Cato</i> was made public by +any change of the author’s purpose; for Dennis charged him +with raising prejudices in his own favour by false positions of +preparatory criticism, and with <i>poisoning the town</i> by +contradicting in the <i>Spectator</i> the established rule of +poetical justice, because his own hero, with all his virtues, was +to fall before a tyrant. The fact is certain; the motives we must +guess.</p> +<p>Addison was, I believe, sufficiently disposed to bar all +avenues against all danger. When Pope brought him the prologue, +which is properly accommodated to the play, there were these +words, “Britains, arise! be worth like this +approved;” meaning nothing more than—Britons, erect +and exalt yourselves to the approbation of public virtue. Addison +was frighted, lest he should be thought a promoter of +insurrection, and the line was liquidated to “Britains, +attend.”</p> +<p>Now “heavily in clouds came on the day, the great, the +important day,” when Addison was to stand the hazard of the +theatre. That there might, however, be left as little hazard as +was possible, on the first night Steele, as himself relates, +undertook to pack an audience. “This,” says Pope, +“had been tried for the first time in favour of the +<i>Distressed Mother</i>; and was now, with more efficacy, +practised for <i>Cato</i>.” The danger was soon over. +The whole nation was at that time on fire with faction. The Whigs +applauded every line in which liberty was mentioned, as a satire +on the Tories; and the Tories echoed every clap, to show that the +satire was unfelt. The story of Bolingbroke is well known; he +called Booth to his box, and gave him fifty guineas for defending +the cause of liberty so well against a perpetual dictator. +“The Whigs,” says Pope, “design a second +present, when they can accompany it with as good a +sentence.”</p> +<p>The play, supported thus by the emulation of factious praise, +was acted night after night for a longer time than, I believe, +the public had allowed to any drama before; and the author, as +Mrs. Porter long afterwards related, wandered through the whole +exhibition behind the scenes with restless and unappeasable +solicitude. When it was printed, notice was given that the Queen +would be pleased if it was dedicated to her; “but, as he +had designed that compliment elsewhere, he found himself +obliged,” says Tickell, “by his duty on the one hand, +and his honour on the other, to send it into the world without +any dedication.”</p> +<p>Human happiness has always its abatements; the brightest +sunshine of success is not without a cloud. No sooner was +<i>Cato</i> offered to the reader than it was attacked by the +acute malignity of Dennis with all the violence of angry +criticism. Dennis, though equally zealous, and probably by his +temper more furious than Addison, for what they called liberty, +and though a flatterer of the Whig Ministry, could not sit quiet +at a successful play; but was eager to tell friends and enemies +that they had misplaced their admirations. The world was too +stubborn for instruction; with the fate of the censurer of +Corneille’s <i>Cid</i>, his animadversions showed his anger +without effect, and <i>Cato</i> continued to be praised.</p> +<p>Pope had now an opportunity of courting the friendship of +Addison by vilifying his old enemy, and could give resentment its +full play without appearing to revenge himself. He therefore +published “A Narrative of the Madness of John +Dennis:” a performance which left the objections to the +play in their full force, and therefore discovered more desire of +vexing the critic than of defending the poet.</p> +<p>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; and +that, whenever he should think fit to answer his remarks, he +would do it in a manner to which nothing could be objected.</p> +<p>The greatest weakness of the play is in the scenes of love, +which are said by Pope to have been added to the original plan +upon a subsequent review, in compliance with the popular practice +of the stage. Such an authority it is hard to reject; yet the +love is so intimately mingled with the whole action that it +cannot easily be thought extrinsic and adventitious; for if it +were taken away, what would be left? or how were the four acts +filled in the first draft? At the publication the wits +seemed proud to pay their attendance with encomiastic verses. The +best are from an unknown hand, which will perhaps lose somewhat +of their praise when the author is known to be Jeffreys.</p> +<p><i>Cato</i> had yet other honours. It was censured as a +party-play by a scholar of Oxford; and defended in a favourable +examination by Dr. Sewel. It was translated by Salvini into +Italian, and acted at Florence; and by the Jesuits of St. +Omer’s into Latin, and played by their pupils. Of this +version a copy was sent to Mr. Addison: it is to be wished that +it could be found, for the sake of comparing their version of the +soliloquy with that of Bland.</p> +<p>A tragedy was written on the same subject by Des Champs, a +French poet, which was translated with a criticism on the English +play. But the translator and the critic are now forgotten.</p> +<p>Dennis lived on unanswered, and therefore little read. Addison +knew the policy of literature too well to make his enemy +important by drawing the attention of the public upon a criticism +which, though sometimes intemperate, was often irrefragable.</p> +<p>While <i>Cato</i> was upon the stage, another daily paper, +called the <i>Guardian</i>, was published by Steele. To this +Addison gave great assistance, whether occasionally or by +previous engagement is not known. The character of +<i>Guardian</i> was too narrow and too serious: it might properly +enough admit both the duties and the decencies of life, but +seemed not to include literary speculations, and was in some +degree violated by merriment and burlesque. What had the +<i>Guardian</i> of the Lizards to do with clubs of tall or of +little men, with nests of ants, or with Strada’s +prolusions? Of this paper nothing is necessary to be said +but that it found many contributors, and that it was a +continuation of the <i>Spectator</i>, with the same elegance and +the same variety, till some unlucky sparkle from a Tory paper set +Steele’s politics on fire, and wit at once blazed into +faction. He was soon too hot for neutral topics, and quitted the +<i>Guardian</i> to write the Englishman.</p> +<p>The papers of Addison are marked in the <i>Spectator</i> by +one of the letters in the name of Clio, and in the +<i>Guardian</i> by a hand; whether it was, as Tickell pretends to +think, that he was unwilling to usurp the praise of others, or as +Steele, with far greater likelihood, insinuates, that he could +not without discontent impart to others any of his own. I have +heard that his avidity did not satisfy itself with the air of +renown, but that with great eagerness he laid hold on his +proportion of the profits.</p> +<p>Many of these papers were written with powers truly comic, +with nice discrimination of characters, and accurate observation +of natural or accidental deviations from propriety; but it was +not supposed that he had tried a comedy on the stage, till Steele +after his death declared him the author of <i>The Drummer</i>. +This, however, Steele did not know to be true by any direct +testimony, for when Addison put the play into his hands, he only +told him it was the work of a “gentleman in the +company;” and when it was received, as is confessed, with +cold disapprobation, he was probably less willing to claim it. +Tickell omitted it in his collection; but the testimony of +Steele, and the total silence of any other claimant, has +determined the public to assign it to Addison, and it is now +printed with other poetry. Steele carried <i>The Drummer</i> to +the play-house, and afterwards to the press, and sold the copy +for fifty guineas.</p> +<p>To the opinion of Steele may be added the proof supplied by +the play itself, of which the characters are such as Addison +would have delineated, and the tendency such as Addison would +have promoted. That it should have been ill received would raise +wonder, did we not daily see the capricious distribution of +theatrical praise.</p> +<p>He was not all this time an indifferent spectator of public +affairs. He wrote, as different exigences required (in 1707), +“The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an +Augmentation;” which, however judicious, being written on +temporary topics, and exhibiting no peculiar powers, laid hold on +no attention, and has naturally sunk by its own weight into +neglect. This cannot be said of the few papers entitled the +<i>Whig Examiner</i>, in which is employed all the force of gay +malevolence and humorous satire. Of this paper, which just +appeared and expired, Swift remarks, with exultation, that +“it is now down among the dead men.” He might +well rejoice at the death of that which he could not have killed. +Every reader of every party, since personal malice is past, and +the papers which once inflamed the nation are read only as +effusions of wit, must wish for more of the <i>Whig +Examiners</i>; for on no occasion was the genius of Addison more +vigorously exerted, and on none did the superiority of his powers +more evidently appear. His “Trial of Count Tariff,” +written to expose the treaty of commerce with France, lived no +longer than the question that produced it.</p> +<p>Not long afterwards an attempt was made to revive the +<i>Spectator</i>, at a time indeed by no means favourable to +literature, when the succession of a new family to the throne +filled the nation with anxiety, discord, and confusion; and +either the turbulence of the times, or the satiety of the +readers, put a stop to the publication after an experiment of +eighty numbers, which were actually collected into an eighth +volume, perhaps more valuable than any of those that went before +it. Addison produced more than a fourth part; and the other +contributors are by no means unworthy of appearing as his +associates. The time that had passed during the suspension of the +<i>Spectator</i>, though it had not lessened his power of humour, +seems to have increased his disposition to seriousness: the +proportion of his religious to his comic papers is greater than +in the former series.</p> +<p>The <i>Spectator</i>, from its re-commencement, was published +only three times a week; and no discriminative marks were added +to the papers. To Addison, Tickell has ascribed twenty-three. The +<i>Spectator</i> had many contributors; and Steele, whose +negligence kept him always in a hurry, when it was his turn to +furnish a paper, called loudly for the letters, of which Addison, +whose materials were more, made little use—having recourse +to sketches and hints, the product of his former studies, which +he now reviewed and completed: among these are named by Tickell +the Essays on Wit, those on the Pleasures of the Imagination, and +the Criticism on Milton.</p> +<p>When the House of Hanover took possession of the throne, it +was reasonable to expect that the zeal of Addison would be +suitably rewarded. Before the arrival of King George, he was made +Secretary to the Regency, and was required by his office to send +notice to Hanover that the Queen was dead, and that the throne +was vacant. To do this would not have been difficult to any man +but Addison, who was so overwhelmed with the greatness of the +event, and so distracted by choice of expression, that the lords, +who could not wait for the niceties of criticism, called Mr. +Southwell, a clerk in the House, and ordered him to despatch the +message. Southwell readily told what was necessary in the common +style of business, and valued himself upon having done what was +too hard for Addison. He was better qualified for the +<i>Freeholder</i>, a paper which he published twice a week, from +December 23, 1715, to the middle of the next year. This was +undertaken in defence of the established Government, sometimes +with argument, and sometimes with mirth. In argument he had many +equals; but his humour was singular and matchless. Bigotry itself +must be delighted with the “Tory Fox-hunter.” +There are, however, some strokes less elegant and less decent; +such as the “Pretender’s Journal,” in which one +topic of ridicule is his poverty. This mode of abuse had been +employed by Milton against King Charles II.</p> +<p +class="poetry"> “Jacobœi.<br +/> +Centum exulantis viscera Marsupii regis.”</p> +<p>And Oldmixon delights to tell of some alderman of London that +he had more money than the exiled princes; but that which might +be expected from Milton’s savageness, or Oldmixon’s +meanness, was not suitable to the delicacy of Addison.</p> +<p>Steele thought the humour of the <i>Freeholder</i> too nice +and gentle for such noisy times, and is reported to have said +that the Ministry made use of a lute, when they should have +called for a trumpet.</p> +<p>This year (1716) he married the Countess Dowager of Warwick, +whom he had solicited by a very long and anxious courtship, +perhaps with behaviour not very unlike that of Sir Roger to his +disdainful widow; and who, I am afraid, diverted herself often by +playing with his passion. He is said to have first known her by +becoming tutor to her son. “He formed,” said Tonson, +“the design of getting that lady from the time when he was +first taken into the family.” In what part of his +life he obtained the recommendation, or how long, and in what +manner he lived in the family, I know not. His advances at first +were certainly timorous, but grew bolder as his reputation and +influence increased; till at last 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. She always remembered her own rank, and thought herself +entitled to treat with very little ceremony the tutor of her son. +Rowe’s ballad of the “Despairing Shepherd” is +said to have been written, either before or after marriage, upon +this memorable pair; and it is certain that Addison has left +behind him no encouragement for ambitious love.</p> +<p>The year after (1717) he rose to his highest elevation, being +made Secretary of State. For this employment he might be justly +supposed qualified by long practice of business, and by his +regular ascent through other offices; but expectation is often +disappointed; it is universally confessed that he was unequal to +the duties of his place. In the House of Commons he could not +speak, and therefore was useless to the defence of the +Government. “In the office,” says Pope, “he +could not issue an order without losing his time in quest of fine +expressions.” What he gained in rank he lost in +credit; and finding by experience his own inability, was forced +to solicit his dismission, with a pension of fifteen hundred +pounds a year. His friends palliated this relinquishment, of +which both friends and enemies knew the true reason, with an +account of declining health, and the necessity of recess and +quiet. He now returned to his vocation, and began to plan +literary occupations for his future life. He purposed a tragedy +on the death of Socrates: a story of which, as Tickell remarks, +the basis is narrow, and to which I know not how love could have +been appended. There would, however, have been no want either of +virtue in the sentiments, or elegance in the language. He engaged +in a nobler work, a “Defence of the Christian +Religion,” of which part was published after his death; and +he designed to have made a new poetical version of the +Psalms.</p> +<p>These pious compositions Pope imputed to a selfish motive, +upon the credit, as he owns, of Tonson; who, having quarrelled +with Addison, and not loving him, said that when he laid down the +Secretary’s office he intended to take orders and obtain a +bishopric; “for,” said he, “I always thought +him a priest in his heart.”</p> +<p>That Pope should have thought this conjecture of Tonson worth +remembrance, is a proof—but indeed, so far as I have found, +the only proof—that he retained some malignity from their +ancient rivalry. Tonson pretended to guess it; no other mortal +ever suspected it; and Pope might have reflected that a man who +had been Secretary of State in the Ministry of Sunderland knew a +nearer way to a bishopric than by defending religion or +translating the Psalms.</p> +<p>It is related that he had once a design to make an English +dictionary, and that he considered Dr. Tillotson as the writer of +highest authority. There was formerly sent to me by Mr. Locker, +clerk of the Leathersellers Company, who was eminent for +curiosity and literature, a collection of examples selected from +Tillotson’s works, as Locker said, by Addison. It came too +late to be of use, so I inspected it but slightly, and remember +it indistinctly. I thought the passages too short. Addison, +however, did not conclude his life in peaceful studies, but +relapsed, when he was near his end, to a political dispute.</p> +<p>It so happened that (1718–19) a controversy was agitated +with great vehemence between those friends of long continuance, +Addison and Steele. It may be asked, in the language of Homer, +what power or what cause should set them at variance. The subject +of their dispute was of great importance. The Earl of Sunderland +proposed an Act, called the “Peerage Bill;” by which +the number of Peers should be fixed, and the King restrained from +any new creation of nobility, unless when an old family should be +extinct. To this the Lords would naturally agree; and the King, +who was yet little acquainted with his own prerogative, and, as +is now well known, almost indifferent to the possessions of the +Crown, had been persuaded to consent. The only difficulty was +found among the Commons, who were not likely to approve the +perpetual exclusion of themselves and their posterity. The Bill, +therefore, was eagerly opposed, and, among others, by Sir Robert +Walpole, whose speech was published.</p> +<p>The Lords might think their dignity diminished by improper +advancements, and particularly by the introduction of twelve new +Peers at once, to produce a majority of Tories in the last reign: +an act of authority violent enough, yet certainly legal, and by +no means to be compared with that contempt of national right with +which some time afterwards, by the instigation of Whiggism, the +Commons, chosen by the people for three years, chose themselves +for seven. But, whatever might be the disposition of the Lords, +the people had no wish to increase their power. The tendency of +the Bill, as Steele observed in a letter to the Earl of Oxford, +was to introduce an aristocracy: for a majority in the House of +Lords, so limited, would have been despotic and irresistible.</p> +<p>To prevent this subversion of the ancient establishment, +Steele, whose pen readily seconded his political passions, +endeavoured to alarm the nation by a pamphlet called “The +Plebeian.” To this an answer was published by +Addison, under the title of “The Old Whig,” in which +it is not discovered that Steele was then known to be the +advocate for the Commons. Steele replied by a second +“Plebeian;” and, whether by ignorance or by courtesy, +confined himself to his question, without any personal notice of +his opponent. Nothing hitherto was committed against the laws of +friendship or proprieties of decency; but controvertists cannot +long retain their kindness for each other. The “Old +Whig” answered “The Plebeian,” and could not +forbear some contempt of “little <i>Dicky</i>, whose trade +it was to write pamphlets.” Dicky, however, did not +lose his settled veneration for his friend, but contented himself +with quoting some lines of <i>Cato</i>, which were at once +detection and reproof. The Bill was laid aside during that +session, and Addison died before the next, in which its +commitment was rejected by two hundred and sixty-five to one +hundred and seventy-seven.</p> +<p>Every reader surely must regret that these two illustrious +friends, after so many years passed in confidence and endearment, +in unity of interest, conformity of opinion, and fellowship of +study, should finally part in acrimonious opposition. Such a +controversy was “bellum plusquam <i>civile</i>,” as +Lucan expresses it. Why could not faction find other +advocates? But among the uncertainties of the human state, +we are doomed to number the instability of friendship. Of this +dispute I have little knowledge but from the “Biographia +Britannica.” “The Old Whig” is not +inserted in Addison’s works: nor is it mentioned by Tickell +in his Life; why it was omitted, the biographers doubtless give +the true reason—the fact was too recent, and those who had +been heated in the contention were not yet cool.</p> +<p>The necessity of complying with times, and of sparing persons, +is the great impediment of biography. History may be formed from +permanent monuments and records: but lives can only be written +from personal knowledge, which is growing every day less, and in +a short time is lost for ever. What is known can seldom be +immediately told; and when it might be told, it is no longer +known. The delicate features of the mind, the nice +discriminations of character, and the minute peculiarities of +conduct, are soon obliterated; and it is surely better that +caprice, obstinacy, frolic, and folly, however they might delight +in the description, should be silently forgotten, than that, by +wanton merriment and unseasonable detection, a pang should be +given to a widow, a daughter, a brother, or a friend. As the +process of these narratives is now bringing me among my +contemporaries, I begin to feel myself “walking upon ashes +under which the fire is not extinguished,” and coming to +the time of which it will be proper rather to say “nothing +that is false, than all that is true.”</p> +<p>The end of this useful life was now approaching. Addison had +for some time been oppressed by shortness of breath, which was +now aggravated by a dropsy; and, finding his danger pressing, he +prepared to die conformably to his own precepts and professions. +During this lingering decay, he sent, as Pope relates, a message +by the Earl of Warwick to Mr. Gay, desiring to see him. Gay, who +had not visited him for some time before, obeyed the summons, and +found himself received with great kindness. The purpose for which +the interview had been solicited was then discovered. Addison +told him that he had injured him; but that, if he recovered, he +would recompense him. What the injury was he did not explain, nor +did Gay ever know; but supposed that some preferment designed for +him had, by Addison’s intervention, been withheld.</p> +<p>Lord Warwick was a young man, of very irregular life, and +perhaps of loose opinions. Addison, for whom he did not want +respect, had very diligently endeavoured to reclaim him, but his +arguments and expostulations had no effect. One experiment, +however, remained to be tried; when he found his life near its +end, he directed the young lord to be called, and when he desired +with great tenderness to hear his last injunctions, told him, +“I have sent for you that you may see how a Christian can +die.” What effect this awful scene had on the earl, I +know not; he likewise died himself in a short time.</p> +<p>In Tickell’s excellent Elegy on his friend are these +lines:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“He taught us how to live; and, oh! too +high<br /> +The price of knowledge, taught us how to die”—</p> +<p>in which he alludes, as he told Dr. Young, to this moving +interview.</p> +<p>Having given directions to Mr. Tickell for the publication of +his works, and dedicated them on his death-bed to his friend Mr. +Craggs, he died June 17, 1719, at Holland House, leaving no child +but a daughter.</p> +<p>Of his virtue it is a sufficient testimony that the resentment +of party has transmitted no charge of any crime. He was not one +of those who are praised only after death; for his merit was so +generally acknowledged that Swift, having observed that his +election passed without a contest, adds that if he proposed +himself for King he would hardly have been refused. His zeal for +his party did not extinguish his kindness for the merit of his +opponents; when he was Secretary in Ireland, he refused to +intermit his acquaintance with Swift. Of his habits or external +manners, nothing is so often mentioned as that timorous or sullen +taciturnity, which his friends called modesty by too mild a name. +Steele mentions with great tenderness “that remarkable +bashfulness which is a cloak that hides and muffles merit;” +and tells us “that his abilities were covered only by +modesty, which doubles the beauties which are seen, and gives +credit and esteem to all that are concealed.” +Chesterfield affirms that “Addison was the most timorous +and awkward man that he ever saw.” And Addison, +speaking of his own deficiency in conversation, used to say of +himself that, with respect to intellectual wealth, “he +could draw bills for a thousand pounds, though he had not a +guinea in his pocket.” That he wanted current coin +for ready payment, and by that want was often obstructed and +distressed; and that he was often oppressed by an improper and +ungraceful timidity, every testimony concurs to prove; but +Chesterfield’s representation is doubtless hyperbolical. +That man cannot be supposed very unexpert in the arts of +conversation and practice of life who, without fortune or +alliance, by his usefulness and dexterity became Secretary of +State, and who died at forty-seven, after having not only stood +long in the highest rank of wit and literature, but filled one of +the most important offices of State.</p> +<p>The time in which he lived had reason to lament his obstinacy +of silence; “for he was,” says Steele, “above +all men in that talent called humour, and enjoyed it in such +perfection that I have often reflected, after a night spent with +him apart from all the world, that I had had the pleasure of +conversing with an intimate acquaintance of Terence and Catullus, +who had all their wit and nature, heightened with humour more +exquisite and delightful than any other man ever +possessed.” This is the fondness of a friend; let us +hear what is told us by a rival. “Addison’s +conversation,” says Pope, “had something in it more +charming than I have found in any other man. But this was only +when familiar: before strangers, or perhaps a single stranger, he +preserved his dignity by a stiff silence.” This +modesty was by no means inconsistent with a very high opinion of +his own merit. He demanded to be the first name in modern wit; +and, with Steele to echo him, used to depreciate Dryden, whom +Pope and Congreve defended against them. There is no reason to +doubt that he suffered too much pain from the prevalence of +Pope’s poetical reputation; nor is it without strong reason +suspected that by some disingenuous acts he endeavoured to +obstruct it; Pope was not the only man whom he insidiously +injured, though the only man of whom he could be afraid. His own +powers were such as might have satisfied him with conscious +excellence. Of very extensive learning he has indeed given no +proofs. He seems to have had small acquaintance with the +sciences, and to have read little except Latin and French; but of +the Latin poets his “Dialogues on Medals” show that +he had perused the works with great diligence and skill. The +abundance of his own mind left him little indeed of adventitious +sentiments; his wit always could suggest what the occasion +demanded. He had read with critical eyes the important volume of +human life, and knew the heart of man, from the depths of +stratagem to the surface of affectation. What he knew he could +easily communicate. “This,” says Steele, “was +particular in this writer—that when he had taken his +resolution, or made his plan for what he designed to write, he +would walk about a room and dictate it into language with as much +freedom and ease as any one could write it down, and attend to +the coherence and grammar of what he dictated.”</p> +<p>Pope, who can be less suspected of favouring his memory, +declares that he wrote very fluently, but was slow and scrupulous +in correcting; that many of his <i>Spectators</i> were written +very fast, and sent immediately to the press; and that it seemed +to be for his advantage not to have time for much revisal. +“He would alter,” says Pope, “anything to +please his friends before publication, but would not re-touch his +pieces afterwards; and I believe not one word of <i>Cato</i> to +which I made an objection was suffered to stand.”</p> +<p>The last line of <i>Cato</i> is Pope’s, having been +originally written—</p> +<p class="poetry">“And oh! ’twas this that ended +Cato’s life.”</p> +<p>Pope might have made more objections to the six concluding +lines. In the first couplet the words “from hence” +are improper; and the second line is taken from Dryden’s +Virgil. Of the next couplet, the first verse, being included in +the second, is therefore useless; and in the third <i>Discord</i> +is made to produce <i>Strife</i>.</p> +<p>Of the course of Addison’s familiar day, before his +marriage, Pope has given a detail. He had in the house with him +Budgell, and perhaps Philips. His chief companions were Steele, +Budgell, Philips [Ambrose], Carey, Davenant, and Colonel Brett. +With one or other of these he always breakfasted. He studied all +morning; then dined at a tavern; and went afterwards to +Button’s. 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 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. In the +bottle discontent seeks for comfort, cowardice for courage, and +bashfulness for confidence. It is not unlikely that Addison was +first seduced to excess by the manumission which he obtained from +the servile timidity of his sober hours. He that feels oppression +from the presence of those to whom he knows himself superior will +desire to set loose his powers of conversation; and who that ever +asked succours from Bacchus was able to preserve himself from +being enslaved by his auxiliary?</p> +<p>Among those friends it was that Addison displayed the elegance +of his colloquial accomplishments, which may easily be supposed +such as Pope represents them. The remark of Mandeville, who, when +he had passed an evening in his company, declared that he was a +parson in a tie-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.</p> +<p>From any minute knowledge of his familiar manners the +intervention of sixty years has now debarred us. Steele once +promised Congreve and the public a complete description of his +character; but the promises of authors are like the vows of +lovers. Steele thought no more on his design, or thought on it +with anxiety that at last disgusted him, and left his friend in +the hands of Tickell.</p> +<p>One slight lineament of his character Swift has preserved. It +was his practice, when he found any man invincibly wrong, to +flatter his opinions by acquiescence, and sink him yet deeper in +absurdity. This artifice of mischief was admired by Stella; and +Swift seems to approve her admiration. His works will supply some +information. It appears, from the various pictures of the world, +that, with all his bashfulness, he had conversed with many +distinct classes of men, had surveyed their ways with very +diligent observation, and marked with great acuteness the effects +of different modes of life. He was a man in whose presence +nothing reprehensible was out of danger; quick in discerning +whatever was wrong or ridiculous, and not unwilling to expose it. +“There are,” says Steele, “in his writings many +oblique strokes upon some of the wittiest men of the +age.” His delight was more to excite merriment than +detestation; and he detects follies rather than crimes. If any +judgment be made from his books of his moral character, nothing +will be found but purity and excellence. Knowledge of mankind, +indeed, less extensive than that of Addison, will show that to +write, and to live, are very different. Many who praise virtue, +do no more than praise it. Yet it is reasonable to believe that +Addison’s professions 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.</p> +<p>It is justly observed by Tickell that he employed wit on the +side of virtue and religion. He not only made the proper use of +wit himself, but taught it to others; and from his time it has +been generally subservient to the cause of reason and of truth. +He has dissipated the prejudice that had long connected gaiety +with vice, and easiness of manners with laxity of principles. He +has restored virtue to its dignity, and taught innocence not to +be ashamed. This is an elevation of literary character +“above all Greek, above all Roman fame.” No +greater felicity can genius attain than that of having purified +intellectual pleasure, separated mirth from indecency, and wit +from licentiousness; of having taught a succession of writers to +bring elegance and gaiety to the aid of goodness; and, if I may +use expressions yet more awful, of having “turned many to +righteousness.”</p> +<p>Addison, in his life and for some time afterwards, was +considered by a greater part of readers as supremely excelling +both in poetry and criticism. Part of his reputation may be +probably ascribed to the advancement of his fortune; when, as +Swift observes, he became a statesman, and saw poets waiting at +his levée, it was no wonder that praise was accumulated +upon him. Much likewise may be more honourably ascribed to his +personal character: he who, if he had claimed it, might have +obtained the diadem, was not likely to be denied the laurel. But +time quickly puts an end to artificial and accidental fame; and +Addison is to pass through futurity protected only by his genius. +Every name which kindness or interest once raised too high is in +danger, lest the next age should, by the vengeance of criticism, +sink it in the same proportion. A great writer has lately styled +him “an indifferent poet, and a worse critic.” +His poetry is first to be considered; of which it must be +confessed that it has not often those felicities of diction which +give lustre to sentiments, or that vigour of sentiment that +animates diction: there is little of ardour, vehemence, or +transport; there is very rarely the awfulness of grandeur, and +not very often the splendour of elegance. He thinks justly, but +he thinks faintly. This is his general character; to which, +doubtless, many single passages will furnish exception. Yet, if +he seldom reaches supreme excellence, he rarely sinks into +dulness, and is still more rarely entangled in absurdity. He did +not trust his powers enough to be negligent. There is in most of +his compositions a calmness and equability, deliberate and +cautious, sometimes with little that delights, but seldom with +anything that offends. Of this kind seem to be his poems to +Dryden, to Somers, and to the King. His ode on St. Cecilia has +been imitated by Pope, and has something in it of Dryden’s +vigour. Of his Account of the English Poets he used to speak as a +“poor thing;” but it is not worse than his usual +strain. He has said, not very judiciously, in his character of +Waller—</p> +<p class="poetry">“Thy verse could show even +Cromwell’s innocence,<br /> +And compliment the storms that bore him hence.<br /> +Oh! had thy Muse not come an age too soon,<br /> +But seen great Nassau on the British throne,<br /> +How had his triumph glittered in thy page!”</p> +<p>What is this but to say that he who could compliment Cromwell +had been the proper poet for King William? Addison, +however, printed the piece.</p> +<p>The Letter from Italy has been always praised, but has never +been praised beyond its merit. It is more correct, with less +appearance of labour, and more elegant, with less ambition of +ornament, than any other of his poems. There is, however, one +broken metaphor, of which notice may properly be +taken:—</p> +<p +class="poetry"> “Fired +with that name—<br /> +I bridle in my struggling Muse with pain,<br /> +That longs to launch into a nobler strain.”</p> +<p>To <i>bridle a goddess</i> is no very delicate idea; but why +must she be <i>bridled</i>? because she <i>longs to launch</i>; +an act which was never hindered by a <i>bridle</i>: and whither +will she <i>launch</i>? into a <i>nobler strain</i>. She is in +the first line a <i>horse</i>, in the second a <i>boat</i>; and +the care of the poet is to keep his <i>horse</i> or his +<i>boat</i> from <i>singing</i>.</p> +<p>The next composition is the far-famed “Campaign,” +which Dr. Warton has termed a “Gazette in Rhyme,” +with harshness not often used by the good-nature of his +criticism. Before a censure so severe is admitted, let us +consider that war is a frequent subject of poetry, and then +inquire who has described it with more justice and force. Many of +our own writers tried their powers upon this year of victory: yet +Addison’s is confessedly the best performance; his poem is +the work of a man not blinded by the dust of learning; his images +are not borrowed merely from books. The superiority which he +confers upon his hero is not personal prowess and “mighty +bone,” but deliberate intrepidity, a calm command of his +passions, and the power of consulting his own mind in the midst +of danger. The rejection and contempt of fiction is rational and +manly. It may be observed that the last line is imitated by +Pope:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“Marlb’rough’s exploits +appear divinely bright—<br /> +Raised of themselves their genuine charms they boast,<br /> +And those that paint them truest, praise them most.”</p> +<p>This Pope had in his thoughts, but, not knowing how to use +what was not his own, he spoiled the thought when he had borrowed +it:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“The well-sung woes shall soothe my +pensive ghost;<br /> +He best can paint them who shall feel them most.”</p> +<p>Martial exploits may be <i>painted</i>; perhaps <i>woes</i> +may be <i>painted</i>; but they are surely not <i>painted</i> by +being <i>well sung</i>: it is not easy to paint in song, or to +sing in colours.</p> +<p>No passage in the “Campaign” has been more often +mentioned than the simile of the angel, which is said in the +<i>Tatler</i> to be “one of the noblest thoughts that ever +entered into the heart of man,” and is therefore worthy of +attentive consideration. Let it be first inquired whether it be a +simile. A poetical simile is the discovery of likeness between +two actions in their general nature dissimilar, or of causes +terminating by different operations in some resemblance of +effect. But the mention of another like consequence from a like +cause, or of a like performance by a like agency, is not a +simile, but an exemplification. It is not a simile to say that +the Thames waters fields, as the Po waters fields; or that as +Hecla vomits flames in Iceland, so Ætna vomits flames in +Sicily. When Horace says of Pindar that he pours his violence and +rapidity of verse, as a river swollen with rain rushes from the +mountain; or of himself, that his genius wanders in quest of +poetical decorations, as the bee wanders to collect honey; he, in +either case, produces a simile: the mind is impressed with the +resemblance of things generally unlike, as unlike as intellect +and body. But if Pindar had been described as writing with the +copiousness and grandeur of Homer, or Horace had told that he +reviewed and finished his own poetry with the same care as +Isocrates polished his orations, instead of similitude, he would +have exhibited almost identity; he would have given the same +portraits with different names. In the poem now examined, when +the English are represented as gaining a fortified pass by +repetition of attack and perseverance of resolution, their +obstinacy of courage and vigour of onset are well illustrated by +the sea that breaks, with incessant battery, the dykes of +Holland. This is a simile. But when Addison, having celebrated +the beauty of Marlborough’s person, tells us that +“Achilles thus was formed of every grace,” here is no +simile, but a mere exemplification. A simile may be compared to +lines converging at a point, and is more excellent as the lines +approach from greater distance: an exemplification may be +considered as two parallel lines, which run on together without +approximation, never far separated, and never joined.</p> +<p>Marlborough is so like the angel in the poem that the action +of both is almost the same, and performed by both in the same +manner. Marlborough “teaches the battle to rage;” the +angel “directs the storm:” Marlborough is +“unmoved in peaceful thought;” the angel is +“calm and serene:” Marlborough stands +“unmoved amidst the shock of hosts;” the angel rides +“calm in the whirlwind.” The lines on +Marlborough are just and noble, but the simile gives almost the +same images a second time. But perhaps this thought, though +hardly a simile, was remote from vulgar conceptions, and required +great labour and research, or dexterity of application. Of this +Dr. Madden, a name which Ireland ought to honour, once gave me +his opinion. “If I had set,” said he, “ten +schoolboys to write on the battle of Blenheim, and eight had +brought me the angel, I should not have been +surprised.”</p> +<p>The opera of <i>Rosamond</i>, though it is seldom mentioned, +is one of the first of Addison’s compositions. The subject +is well chosen, the fiction is pleasing, and the praise of +Marlborough, for which the scene gives an opportunity, is, what +perhaps every human excellence must be, the product of good luck +improved by genius. The thoughts are sometimes great, and +sometimes tender; the versification is easy and gay. There is +doubtless some advantage in the shortness of the lines, which +there is little temptation to load with expletive epithets. The +dialogue seems commonly better than the songs. The two comic +characters of Sir Trusty and Grideline, though of no great value, +are yet such as the poet intended. Sir Trusty’s account of +the death of Rosamond is, I think, too grossly absurd. The whole +drama is airy and elegant; engaging in its process, and pleasing +in its conclusion. If Addison had cultivated the lighter parts of +poetry, he would probably have excelled.</p> +<p>The tragedy of <i>Cato</i>, which, contrary to the rule +observed in selecting the works of other poets, has by the weight +of its character forced its way into the late collection, is +unquestionably the noblest production of Addison’s genius. +Of a work so much read, it is difficult to say anything new. +About things on which the public thinks long, it commonly attains +to think right; and of <i>Cato</i> it has been not unjustly +determined that it is rather a poem in dialogue than a drama, +rather a succession of just sentiments in elegant language than a +representation of natural affections, or of any state probable or +possible in human life. Nothing here “excites or assuages +emotion:” here is “no magical power of raising +phantastic terror or wild anxiety.” The events are +expected without solicitude, and are remembered without joy or +sorrow. Of the agents we have no care; we consider not what they +are doing, or what they are suffering; we wish only to know what +they have to say. <i>Cato</i> is a being above our solicitude; a +man of whom the gods take care, and whom we leave to their care +with heedless confidence. To the rest neither gods nor men can +have much attention; for there is not one amongst them that +strongly attracts either affection or esteem. But they are made +the vehicles of such sentiments and such expression that there is +scarcely a scene in the play which the reader does not wish to +impress upon his memory.</p> +<p>When <i>Cato</i> was shown to Pope, he advised the author to +print it, without any theatrical exhibition, supposing that it +would be read more favourably than heard. Addison declared +himself of the same opinion, but urged the importunity of his +friends for its appearance on the stage. The emulation of parties +made it successful beyond expectation; and its success has +introduced or confirmed among us the use of dialogue too +declamatory, of unaffecting elegance, and chill philosophy. The +universality of applause, however it might quell the censure of +common mortals, had no other effect than to harden Dennis in +fixed dislike; but his dislike was not merely capricious. He +found and showed many faults; he showed them indeed with anger, +but he found them indeed with acuteness, such as ought to rescue +his criticism from oblivion; though, at last, it will have no +other life than it derives from the work which it endeavours to +oppress. Why he pays no regard to the opinion of the audience, he +gives his reason by remarking that—</p> +<p>“A deference is to be paid to a general applause when it +appears that the applause is natural and spontaneous; but that +little regard is to be had to it when it is affected or +artificial. Of all the tragedies which in his memory have had +vast and violent runs, not one has been excellent, few have been +tolerable, most have been scandalous. When a poet writes a +tragedy who knows he has judgment, and who feels he has genius, +that poet presumes upon his own merit, and scorns to make a +cabal. That people come coolly to the representation of such a +tragedy, without any violent expectation, or delusive +imagination, or invincible prepossession; that such an audience +is liable to receive the impressions which the poem shall +naturally make on them, and to judge by their own reason, and +their own judgments; and that reason and judgment are calm and +serene, not formed by nature to make proselytes, and to control +and lord it over the imagination of others. But that when an +author writes a tragedy who knows he has neither genius nor +judgment, he has recourse to the making a party, and he +endeavours to make up in industry what is wanting in talent, and +to supply by poetical craft the absence of poetical art: that +such an author is humbly contented to raise men’s passions +by a plot without doors, since he despairs of doing it by that +which he brings upon the stage. That party and passion, and +prepossession, are clamorous and tumultuous things, and so much +the more clamorous and tumultuous by how much the more erroneous: +that they domineer and tyrannise over the imaginations of persons +who want judgment, and sometimes too of those who have it, and, +like a fierce and outrageous torrent, bear down all opposition +before them.”</p> +<p>He then condemns the neglect of poetical justice, which is one +of his favourite principles:—</p> +<p>“’Tis certainly the duty of every tragic poet, by +the exact distribution of poetical justice, to imitate the Divine +Dispensation, and to inculcate a particular Providence. +’Tis true, indeed, upon the stage of the world, the wicked +sometimes prosper and the guiltless suffer; but that is permitted +by the Governor of the World, to show, from the attribute of His +infinite justice, that there is a compensation in futurity, to +prove the immortality of the human soul, and the certainty of +future rewards and punishments. But the poetical persons in +tragedy exist no longer than the reading or the representation; +the whole extent of their enmity is circumscribed by those; and +therefore, during that reading or representation, according to +their merits or demerits, they must be punished or rewarded. If +this is not done, there is no impartial distribution of poetical +justice, no instructive lecture of a particular Providence, and +no imitation of the Divine Dispensation. And yet the author of +this tragedy does not only run counter to this, in the fate of +his principal character; but everywhere, throughout it, makes +virtue suffer, and vice triumph: for not only Cato is vanquished +by Cæsar, but the treachery and perfidiousness of Syphax +prevail over the honest simplicity and the credulity of Juba; and +the sly subtlety and dissimulation of Portius over the generous +frankness and open-heartedness of Marcus.”</p> +<p>Whatever pleasure there may be in seeing crimes punished and +virtue rewarded, yet, since wickedness often prospers in real +life, the poet is certainly at liberty to give it prosperity on +the stage. For if poetry has an imitation of reality, how are its +laws broken by exhibiting the world in its true form? The +stage may sometimes gratify our wishes; but if it be truly the +“<i>mirror of life</i>,” it ought to show us +sometimes what we are to expect.</p> +<p>Dennis objects to the characters that they are not natural or +reasonable; but as heroes and heroines are not beings that are +seen every day, it is hard to find upon what principles their +conduct shall be tried. It is, however, not useless to consider +what he says of the manner in which Cato receives the account of +his son’s death:—</p> +<p>“Nor is the grief of Cato, in the fourth act, one jot +more in nature than that of his son and Lucia in the third. Cato +receives the news of his son’s death, not only with dry +eyes, but with a sort of satisfaction; and in the same page sheds +tears for the calamity of his country, and does the same thing in +the next page upon the bare apprehension of the danger of his +friends. Now, since the love of one’s country is the love +of one’s countrymen, as I have shown upon another occasion, +I desire to ask these questions:—Of all our countrymen, +which do we love most, those whom we know, or those whom we know +not? And of those whom we know, which do we cherish most, +our friends or our enemies? And of our friends, which are +the dearest to us, those who are related to us, or those who are +not? And of all our relations, for which have we most +tenderness, for those who are near to us, or for those who are +remote? And of our near relations, which are the nearest, +and consequently the dearest to us, our offspring, or +others? Our offspring, most certainly; as Nature, or in +other words Providence, has wisely contrived for the preservation +of mankind. Now, does it not follow, from what has been said, +that for a man to receive the news of his son’s death with +dry eyes, and to weep at the same time for the calamities of his +country, is a wretched affectation and a miserable +inconsistency? Is not that, in plain English, to receive +with dry eyes the news of the deaths of those for whose sake our +country is a name so dear to us, and at the same time to shed +tears for those for whose sakes our country is not a name so dear +to us?”</p> +<p>But this formidable assailant is less resistible when he +attacks the probability of the action and the reasonableness of +the plan. Every critical reader must remark that Addison has, +with a scrupulosity almost unexampled on the English stage, +confined himself in time to a single day, and in place to +rigorous unity. The scene never changes, and the whole action of +the play passes in the great hall of Cato’s house at Utica. +Much, therefore, is done in the hall for which any other place +had been more fit; and this impropriety affords Dennis many hints +of merriment and opportunities of triumph. The passage is long; +but as such disquisitions are not common, and the objections are +skilfully formed and vigorously urged, those who delight in +critical controversy will not think it tedious:—</p> +<p>“Upon the departure of Portius, Sempronius makes but one +soliloquy, and immediately in comes Syphax, and then the two +politicians are at it immediately. They lay their heads together, +with their snuff-boxes in their hands, as Mr. Bayes has it, and +feague it away. But, in the midst of that wise scene, Syphax +seems to give a seasonable caution to Sempronius:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘<i>Syph</i>. But is it true, +Sempronius, that your senate<br /> +Is called together? Gods! thou must be cautious;<br /> +Cato has piercing eyes.’</p> +<p>“There is a great deal of caution shown, indeed, in +meeting in a governor’s own hall to carry on their plot +against him. Whatever opinion they have of his eyes, I suppose +they have none of his ears, or they would never have talked at +this foolish rate so near:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘Gods! thou must be +cautious.’</p> +<p>Oh! yes, very cautious: for if Cato should overhear you, and +turn you off for politicians, Cæsar would never take +you.</p> +<p>“When Cato, Act II., turns the senators out of the hall +upon pretence of acquainting Juba with the result of their +debates, he appears to me to do a thing which is neither +reasonable nor civil. Juba might certainly have better been made +acquainted with the result of that debate in some private +apartment of the palace. But the poet was driven upon this +absurdity to make way for another, and that is to give Juba an +opportunity to demand Marcia of her father. But the quarrel and +rage of Juba and Syphax, in the same act; the invectives of +Syphax against the Romans and Cato; the advice that he gives Juba +in her father’s hall to bear away Marcia by force; and his +brutal and clamorous rage upon his refusal, and at a time when +Cato was scarcely out of sight, and perhaps not out of hearing, +at least some of his guards or domestics must necessarily be +supposed to be within hearing; is a thing that is so far from +being probable, that it is hardly possible.</p> +<p>“Sempronius, in the second act, comes back once more in +the same morning to the governor’s hall to carry on the +conspiracy with Syphax against the governor, his country, and his +family: which is so stupid that it is below the wisdom of the +O—s, the Macs, and the Teagues; even Eustace Commins +himself would never have gone to Justice-hall to have conspired +against the Government. If officers at Portsmouth should lay +their heads together in order to the carrying off J— +G—’s niece or daughter, would they meet in J— +G—’s hall to carry on that conspiracy? There +would be no necessity for their meeting there—at least, +till they came to the execution of their plot—because there +would be other places to meet in. There would be no probability +that they should meet there, because there would be places more +private and more commodious. Now there ought to be nothing in a +tragical action but what is necessary or probable.</p> +<p>“But treason is not the only thing that is carried on in +this hall; that, and love and philosophy take their turns in it, +without any manner of necessity or probability occasioned by the +action, as duly and as regularly, without interrupting one +another, as if there were a triple league between them, and a +mutual agreement that each should give place to and make way for +the other in a due and orderly succession.</p> +<p>“We now come to the third act. Sempronius, in this act, +comes into the governor’s hall with the leaders of the +mutiny; but as soon as Cato is gone, Sempronius, who but just +before had acted like an unparalleled knave, discovers himself, +like an egregious fool, to be an accomplice in the +conspiracy.</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘<i>Semp</i>. Know, villains, when +such paltry slaves presume<br /> +To mix in treason, if the plot succeeds,<br /> +They’re thrown neglected by; but, if it fails,<br /> +They’re sure to die like dogs, as you shall do.<br /> +Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth<br /> +To sudden death.’</p> +<p>“’Tis true, indeed, the second leader says there +are none there but friends; but is that possible at such a +juncture? Can a parcel of rogues attempt to assassinate the +governor of a town of war, in his own house, in midday, and, +after they are discovered and defeated, can there be none near +them but friends? Is it not plain, from these words of +Sempronius—</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘Here, take these factious +monsters, drag them forth<br /> +To sudden death—’</p> +<p>and from the entrance of the guards upon the word of command, +that those guards were within ear-shot? Behold Sempronius, +then, palpably discovered. How comes it to pass, then, that +instead of being hanged up with the rest, he remains secure in +the governor’s hall, and there carries on his conspiracy +against the Government, the third time in the same day, with his +old comrade Syphax, who enters at the same time that the guards +are carrying away the leaders, big with the news of the defeat of +Sempronius?—though where he had his intelligence so soon is +difficult to imagine. And now the reader may expect a very +extraordinary scene. There is not abundance of spirit, indeed, +nor a great deal of passion, but there is wisdom more than enough +to supply all defects.</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘<i>Syph</i>. Our first design, my +friend, has proved abortive;<br /> +Still there remains an after-game to play:<br /> +My troops are mounted; their Numidian steeds<br /> +Snuff up the winds, and long to scour the desert.<br /> +Let but Sempronius lead us in our flight,<br /> +We’ll force the gate where Marcus keeps his guard,<br /> +And hew down all that would oppose our passage;<br /> +A day will bring us into Cæsar’s camp.</p> +<p class="poetry"> <i>Semp</i>. Confusion! I +have failed of half my purpose;<br /> +Marcia, the charming Marcia’s left behind.’</p> +<p>Well, but though he tells us the half-purpose he has failed +of, he does not tell us the half that he has carried. But what +does he mean by</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘Marcia, the charming +Marcia’s left behind’?</p> +<p>He is now in her own house! and we have neither seen her nor +heard of her anywhere else since the play began. But now let us +hear Syphax:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘What hinders, then, but that you +find her out,<br /> +And hurry her away by manly force?’</p> +<p>But what does old Syphax mean by finding her out? They +talk as if she were as hard to be found as a hare in a frosty +morning.</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘<i>Semp</i>. But how to gain +admission?’</p> +<p>Oh! she is found out then, it seems.</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘But how to gain admission? for +access<br /> +Is giv’n to none but Juba and her brothers.’</p> +<p>But, raillery apart, why access to Juba? For he was +owned and received as a lover neither by the father nor by the +daughter. Well, but let that pass. Syphax puts Sempronius out of +pain immediately; and, being a Numidian, abounding in wiles, +supplies him with a stratagem for admission that, I believe, is a +<i>nonpareil</i>.</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘<i>Syph</i>. Thou shalt have +Juba’s dress, and Juba’s guards;<br /> +The doors will open when Numidia’s prince<br /> +Seems to appear before them.’</p> +<p>“Sempronius is, it seems, to pass for Juba in full day +at Cato’s house, where they were both so very well known, +by having Juba’s dress and his guards; as if one of the +Marshals of France could pass for the Duke of Bavaria at noonday, +at Versailles, by having his dress and liveries. But how does +Syphax pretend to help Sempronius to young Juba’s +dress? Does he serve him in a double capacity, as general +and master of his wardrobe? But why Juba’s +guards? For the devil of any guards has Juba appeared with +yet. Well, though this is a mighty politic invention, yet, +methinks, they might have done without it: for, since the advice +that Syphax gave to Sempronius was</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘To hurry her away by manly +force,’</p> +<p>in my opinion the shortest and likeliest way of coming at the +lady was by demolishing, instead of putting on an impertinent +disguise to circumvent two or three slaves. But Sempronius, it +seems, is of another opinion. He extols to the skies the +invention of old Syphax:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘<i>Semp</i>. Heavens! what a +thought was there!’</p> +<p>“Now, I appeal to the reader if I have not been as good +as my word. Did I not tell him that I would lay before him a very +wise scene?</p> +<p>“But now let us lay before the reader that part of the +scenery of the fourth act which may show the absurdities which +the author has run into, through the indiscreet observance of the +unity of place. I do not remember that Aristotle has said +anything expressly concerning the unity of place. ’Tis +true, implicitly he has said enough in the rules which he has +laid down for the chorus. For by making the chorus an essential +part of tragedy, and by bringing it on the stage immediately +after the opening of the scene, and retaining it there till the +very catastrophe, he has so determined and fixed the place of +action that it was impossible for an author on the Grecian stage +to break through that unity. I am of opinion that if a modern +tragic poet can preserve the amity of place, without destroying +the probability of the incidents, ’tis always best for him +to do it; because by the preservation of that unity, as we have +taken notice above, he adds grace and clearness and comeliness to +the representation. But since there are no express rules about +it, and we are under no compulsion to keep it, since we have no +chorus as the Grecian poet had; if it cannot be preserved without +rendering the greater part of the incidents unreasonable and +absurd, and perhaps sometimes monstrous, ’tis certainly +better to break it.</p> +<p>“Now comes bully Sempronius, comically accoutred and +equipped with his Numidian dress and his Numidian guards. Let the +reader attend to him with all his ears, for the words of the wise +are precious:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘<i>Semp</i>. The deer is lodged; +I’ve tracked her to her covert.’</p> +<p>“Now I would fain know why this deer is said to be +lodged, since we have not heard one word since the play began of +her being at all out of harbour: and if we consider the discourse +with which she and Lucia begin the act, we have reason to believe +that they had hardly been talking of such matters in the street. +However, to pleasure Sempronius, let us suppose, for once, that +the deer is lodged:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘The deer is lodged; I’ve +tracked her to her covert.’</p> +<p>“If he had seen her in the open field, what occasion had +he to track her when he had so many Numidian dogs at his heels, +which, with one halloo, he might have set upon her +haunches? If he did not see her in the open field, how +could he possibly track her? If he had seen her in the +street, why did he not set upon her in the street, since through +the street she must be carried at last? Now here, instead +of having his thoughts upon his business, and upon the present +danger; instead of meditating and contriving how he shall pass +with his mistress through the southern gate, where her brother +Marcus is upon the guard, and where he would certainly prove an +impediment to him (which is the Roman word for the +<i>baggage</i>); instead of doing this, Sempronius is +entertaining himself with whimsies:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘<i>Semp</i>. How will the young +Numidian rave to see<br /> +His mistress lost! If aught could glad my soul<br /> +Beyond th’ enjoyment of so bright a prize,<br /> +’Twould be to torture that young, gay barbarian.<br /> +But hark! what noise? Death to my hopes! ’tis he,<br +/> +’Tis Juba’s self! There is but one way left!<br +/> +He must be murdered, and a passage cut<br /> +Through those his guards.’</p> +<p>“Pray, what are ‘those guards’? I +thought at present that Juba’s guards had been +Sempronius’s tools, and had been dangling after his +heels.</p> +<p>“But now let us sum up all these absurdities together. +Sempronius goes at noon-day, in Juba’s clothes and with +Juba’s guards, to Cato’s palace, in order to pass for +Juba, in a place where they were both so very well known: he +meets Juba there, and resolves to murder him with his own guards. +Upon the guards appearing a little bashful, he threatens +them:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘Hah! dastards, do you tremble?<br +/> +Or act like men; or, by yon azure heav’n!’—</p> +<p>“But the guards still remaining restive, Sempronius +himself attacks Juba, while each of the guards is representing +Mr. Spectator’s sign of the Gaper, awed, it seems, and +terrified by Sempronius’s threats. Juba kills Sempronius, +and takes his own army prisoners, and carries them in triumph +away to Cato. Now I would fain know if any part of Mr. +Bayes’s tragedy is so full of absurdity as this?</p> +<p>“Upon hearing the clash of swords, Lucia and Marcia come +in. The question is, why no men come in upon hearing the noise of +swords in the governor’s hall? Where was the governor +himself? Where were his guards? Where were his +servants? Such an attempt as this, so near the governor of +a place of war, was enough to alarm the whole garrison: and yet, +for almost half an hour after Sempronius was killed, we find none +of those appear who were the likeliest in the world to be +alarmed; and the noise of swords is made to draw only two poor +women thither, who were most certain to run away from it. Upon +Lucia and Marcia’s coming in, Lucia appears in all the +symptoms of an hysterical gentlewoman:—</p> +<p class="poetry"> “‘<i>Luc</i>. +Sure ’twas the clash of swords! my troubled heart<br /> +Is so cast down, and sunk amidst its sorrows,<br /> +It throbs with fear, and aches at every sound!’</p> +<p>And immediately her old whimsy returns upon her:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“O Marcia, should thy brothers, for my +sake—<br /> +I die away with horror at the thought.’</p> +<p>“She fancies that there can be no cutting of throats but +it must be for her. If this is tragical, I would fain know what +is comical. Well, upon this they spy the body of Sempronius; and +Marcia, deluded by the habit, it seems, takes him for Juba; for, +says she,</p> +<p class="poetry">“‘The face is muffled up within the +garment.’</p> +<p>“Now, how a man could fight, and fall, with his face +muffled up in his garment, is, I think, a little hard to +conceive! Besides, Juba, before he killed him, knew him to +be Sempronius. It was not by his garment that he knew this; it +was by his face, then: his face therefore was not muffled. Upon +seeing this man with his muffled face, Marcia falls a-raving; +and, owning her passion for the supposed defunct, begins to make +his funeral oration. Upon which Juba enters listening, I suppose +on tip-toe; for I cannot imagine how any one can enter listening +in any other posture. I would fain know how it came to pass that, +during all this time, he had sent nobody—no, not so much as +a candle-snuffer—to take away the dead body of Sempronius. +Well, but let us regard him listening. Having left his +apprehension behind him, he, at first, applies what Marcia says +to Sempronius; but finding at last, with much ado, that he +himself is the happy man, he quits his eaves-dropping, and +discovers himself just time enough to prevent his being cuckolded +by a dead man, of whom the moment before he had appeared so +jealous, and greedily intercepts the bliss which was fondly +designed for one who could not be the better for it. But here I +must ask a question: how comes Juba to listen here, who had not +listened before throughout the play? Or how comes he to be +the only person of this tragedy who listens, when love and +treason were so often talked in so public a place as a +hall? I am afraid the author was driven upon all these +absurdities only to introduce this miserable mistake of Marcia, +which, after all, is much below the dignity of tragedy; as +anything is which is the effect or result of trick.</p> +<p>“But let us come to the scenery of the fifth act. Cato +appears first upon the scene, sitting in a thoughtful posture; in +his hand Plato’s Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul; a +drawn sword on the table by him. Now let us consider the place in +which this sight is presented to us. The place, forsooth, is a +long hall. Let us suppose that any one should place himself in +this posture, in the midst of one of our halls in London; that he +should appear solus, in a sullen posture, a drawn sword on the +table by him; in his hand Plato’s Treatise on the +Immortality of the Soul, translated lately by Bernard Lintot: I +desire the reader to consider whether such a person as this would +pass with them who beheld him for a great patriot, a great +philosopher, or a general, or some whimsical person who fancied +himself all these? and whether the people who belonged to the +family would think that such a person had a design upon their +midriffs or his own?</p> +<p>“In short, that Cato should sit long enough in the +aforesaid posture, in the midst of this large hall, to read over +Plato’s Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul, which is a +lecture of two long hours; that he should propose to himself to +be private there upon that occasion; that he should be angry with +his son for intruding there; then that he should leave this hall +upon the pretence of sleep, give himself the mortal wound in his +bedchamber, and then be brought back into that hall to expire, +purely to show his good breeding, and save his friends the +trouble of coming up to his bedchamber; all this appears to me to +be improbable, incredible, impossible.”</p> +<p>Such is the censure of Dennis. There is, as Dryden expresses +it, perhaps “too much horse-play in his railleries;” +but if his jests are coarse, his arguments are strong. Yet, as we +love better to be pleased than to be taught, <i>Cato</i> is read, +and the critic is neglected. Flushed with consciousness of these +detections of absurdity in the conduct, he afterwards attacked +the sentiments of Cato; but he then amused himself with petty +cavils and minute objections.</p> +<p>Of Addison’s smaller poems no particular mention is +necessary; they have little that can employ or require a critic. +The parallel of the princes and gods in his verses to Kneller is +often happy, but is too well known to be quoted. His +translations, so far as I compared them, want the exactness of a +scholar. That he understood his authors, cannot be doubted; but +his versions will not teach others to understand them, being too +licentiously paraphrastical. They are, however, for the most +part, smooth and easy; and, what is the first excellence of a +translator, such as may be read with pleasure by those who do not +know the originals. His poetry is polished and pure; the product +of a mind too judicious to commit faults, but not sufficiently +vigorous to attain excellence. He has sometimes a striking line, +or a shining paragraph; but in the whole he is warm rather than +fervid, and shows more dexterity than strength. He was, however, +one of our earliest examples of correctness. The versification +which he had learned from Dryden he debased rather than refined. +His rhymes are often dissonant; in his Georgic he admits broken +lines. He uses both triplets and Alexandrines, but triplets more +frequently in his translation than his other works. The mere +structure of verses seems never to have engaged much of his care. +But his lines are very smooth in <i>Rosamond</i>, and too smooth +in <i>Cato</i>.</p> +<p>Addison is now to be considered as a critic: a name which the +present generation is scarcely willing to allow him. His +criticism is condemned as tentative or experimental rather than +scientific; and he is considered as deciding by taste rather than +by principles.</p> +<p>It is not uncommon for those who have grown wise by the labour +of others to add a little of their own, and overlook their +masters. Addison is now despised by some who perhaps would never +have seen his defects but by the lights which he afforded them. +That he always wrote as he would think it necessary to write now, +cannot be affirmed; his instructions were such as the characters +of his readers made proper. That general knowledge which now +circulates in common talk was in his time rarely to be found. Men +not professing learning were not ashamed of ignorance; and, in +the female world, any acquaintance with books was distinguished +only to be censured. His purpose was to infuse literary +curiosity, by gentle and unsuspected conveyance, into the gay, +the idle, and the wealthy; he therefore presented knowledge in +the most alluring form, not lofty and austere, but accessible and +familiar. When he showed them their defects, he showed them +likewise that they might be easily supplied. His attempt +succeeded; inquiry was awakened, and comprehension expanded. An +emulation of intellectual elegance was excited, and from this +time to our own life has been gradually exalted, and conversation +purified and enlarged.</p> +<p>Dryden had, not many years before, scattered criticism over +his prefaces with very little parsimony; but though he sometimes +condescended to be somewhat familiar, his manner was in general +too scholastic for those who had yet their rudiments to learn, +and found it not easy to understand their master. His +observations were framed rather for those that were learning to +write than for those that read only to talk.</p> +<p>An instructor like Addison was now wanting, whose remarks, +being superficial, might be easily understood, and being just, +might prepare the mind for more attainments. Had he presented +“Paradise Lost” to the public with all the pomp of +system and severity of science, the criticism would perhaps have +been admired, and the poem still have been neglected; but by the +blandishments of gentleness and facility he has made Milton an +universal favourite, with whom readers of every class think it +necessary to be pleased. He descended now and then to lower +disquisitions: and by a serious display of the beauties of +“Chevy Chase” exposed himself to the ridicule of +Wagstaff, who bestowed a like pompous character on Tom Thumb; and +to the contempt of Dennis, who, considering the fundamental +position of his criticism, that “Chevy Chase” +pleases, and ought to please, because it is natural, observes; +“that there is a way of deviating from nature, by bombast +or tumour, which soars above nature, and enlarges images beyond +their real bulk; by affectation, which forsakes nature in quest +of something unsuitable; and by imbecility, which degrades nature +by faintness and diminution, by obscuring its appearances, and +weakening its effects.” In “Chevy Chase” +there is not much of either bombast or affectation; but there is +chill and lifeless imbecility. The story cannot possibly be told +in a manner that shall make less impression on the mind.</p> +<p>Before the profound observers of the present race repose too +securely on the consciousness of their superiority to Addison, +let them consider his Remarks on Ovid, in which may be found +specimens of criticism sufficiently subtle and refined: let them +peruse likewise his Essays on Wit, and on the Pleasures of +Imagination, in which he founds art on the base of nature, and +draws the principles of invention from dispositions inherent in +the mind of man with skill and elegance, such as his contemners +will not easily attain.</p> +<p>As a describer of life and manners, he must be allowed to +stand perhaps the first of the first rank. His humour, which, as +Steele observes, is peculiar to himself, is so happily diffused +as to give the grace of novelty to domestic scenes and daily +occurrences. He never “o’ersteps the modesty of +nature,” nor raises merriment or wonder by the violation of +truth. His figures neither divert by distortion nor amaze by +aggravation. He copies life with so much fidelity that he can be +hardly said to invent; yet his exhibitions have an air so much +original, that it is difficult to suppose them not merely the +product of imagination.</p> +<p>As a teacher of wisdom, he may be confidently followed. His +religion has nothing in it enthusiastic or superstitious: he +appears neither weakly credulous nor wantonly sceptical; his +morality is neither dangerously lax nor impracticably rigid. All +the enchantment of fancy, and all the cogency of argument, are +employed to recommend to the reader his real interest, the care +of pleasing the Author of his being. Truth is shown sometimes as +the phantom of a vision; sometimes appears half-veiled in an +allegory; sometimes attracts regard in the robes of fancy; and +sometimes steps forth in the confidence of reason. She wears a +thousand dresses, and in all is pleasing.</p> +<p class="poetry">“Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter +habet.”</p> +<p>His prose is the model of the middle style; on grave subjects +not formal, on light occasions not grovelling; pure without +scrupulosity, and exact without apparent elaboration; always +equable, and always easy, without glowing words or pointed +sentences. Addison never deviates from his track to snatch a +grace; he seeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries no hazardous +innovations. His page is always luminous, but never blazes in +unexpected splendour.</p> +<p>It was apparently his principal endeavour to avoid all +harshness and severity of diction; he is therefore sometimes +verbose in his transitions and connections, and sometimes +descends too much to the language of conversation; yet if his +language had been less idiomatical it might have lost somewhat of +its genuine Anglicism. What he attempted, he performed; he is +never feeble and he did not wish to be energetic; he is never +rapid and he never stagnates. His sentences have neither studied +amplitude nor affected brevity; his periods, though not +diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. Whoever wishes to +attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but +not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of +Addison.</p> +<h2>SAVAGE.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> has been observed in all ages +that the advantages of nature or of fortune have contributed very +little to the promotion of happiness: and that those whom the +splendour of their rank, or the extent of their capacity, has +placed upon the summit of human life, have not often given any +just occasion to envy in those who look up to them from a lower +station; whether it be that apparent superiority incites great +designs, and great designs are naturally liable to fatal +miscarriages; or that the general lot of mankind is misery, and +the misfortunes of those whose eminence drew upon them universal +attention have been more carefully recorded, because they were +more generally observed, and have in reality been only more +conspicuous than those of others, not more frequent, or more +severe.</p> +<p>That affluence and power, advantages extrinsic and +adventitious, and therefore easily separable from those by whom +they are possessed, should very often flatter the mind with +expectations of felicity which they cannot give, raises no +astonishment: but it seems rational to hope that intellectual +greatness should produce better effects; that minds qualified for +great attainments should first endeavour their own benefit, and +that they who are most able to teach others the way to happiness, +should with most certainty follow it themselves. But this +expectation, however plausible, has been very frequently +disappointed. The heroes of literary as well as civil history +have been very often no less remarkable for what they have +suffered than for what they have achieved; and volumes have been +written only to enumerate the miseries of the learned, and relate +their unhappy lives and untimely deaths.</p> +<p>To these mournful narratives I am about to add the Life of +<span class="smcap">Richard Savage</span>, a man whose writings +entitle him to an eminent rank in the classes of learning, and +whose misfortunes claim a degree of compassion not always due to +the unhappy, as they were often the consequences of the crimes of +others rather than his own.</p> +<p>In the year 1697, Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, having lived +some time upon very uneasy terms with her husband, thought a +public confession of adultery the most obvious and expeditious +method of obtaining her liberty; and therefore declared that the +child with which she was then great, was begotten by the Earl +Rivers. This, as may be imagined, made her husband no less +desirous of a separation than herself, and he prosecuted his +design in the most effectual manner: for he applied, not to the +ecclesiastical courts for a divorce, but to the Parliament for an +Act by which his marriage might be dissolved, the nuptial +contract annulled, and the children of his wife illegitimated. +This Act, after the usual deliberation, he obtained, though +without the approbation of some, who considered marriage as an +affair only cognisable by ecclesiastical judges; and on March 3rd +was separated from his wife, whose fortune, which was very great, +was repaid her, and who having, as well as her husband, the +liberty of making another choice, she in a short time married +Colonel Brett.</p> +<p>While the Earl of Macclesfield was prosecuting this affair, +his wife was, on the 10th of January, 1607–8,[sic] +delivered of a son: and the Earl Rivers, by appearing to consider +him as his own, left none any reason to doubt of the sincerity of +her declaration; for he was his godfather and gave him his own +name, which was by his direction inserted in the register of St. +Andrew’s parish in Holborn, but unfortunately left him to +the care of his mother, whom, as she was now set free from her +husband, he probably imagined likely to treat with great +tenderness the child that had contributed to so pleasing an +event. It is not indeed easy to discover what motives could be +found to overbalance that natural affection of a parent, or what +interest could be promoted by neglect or cruelty. The dread of +shame or of poverty, by which some wretches have been incited to +abandon or murder their children, cannot be supposed to have +affected a woman who had proclaimed her crimes and solicited +reproach, and on whom the clemency of the Legislature had +undeservedly bestowed a fortune, which would have been very +little diminished by the expenses which the care of her child +could have brought upon her. It was therefore not likely that she +would be wicked without temptation; that she would look upon her +son from his birth with a kind of resentment and abhorrence; and, +instead of supporting, assisting, and defending him, delight to +see him struggling with misery, or that she would take every +opportunity of aggravating his misfortunes, and obstructing his +resources, and with an implacable and restless cruelty continue +her persecution from the first hour of his life to the last. But +whatever were her motives, no sooner was her son born than she +discovered a resolution of disowning him; and in a very short +time removed him from her sight, by committing him to the care of +a poor woman, whom she directed to educate him as her own, and +enjoined never to inform him of his true parents.</p> +<p>Such was the beginning of the life of Richard Savage. Born +with a legal claim to honour and to affluence, he was in two +months illegitimated by the Parliament, and disowned by his +mother, doomed to poverty and obscurity, and launched upon the +ocean of life only that he might be swallowed by its quicksands, +or dashed upon its rocks. His mother could not indeed infect +others with the same cruelty. As it was impossible to avoid the +inquiries which the curiosity or tenderness of her relations made +after her child, she was obliged to give some account of the +measures she had taken; and her mother, the Lady Mason, whether +in approbation of her design, or to prevent more criminal +contrivances, engaged to transact with the nurse, to pay her for +her care, and to superintend the education of the child.</p> +<p>In this charitable office she was assisted by his godmother, +Mrs. Lloyd, who, while she lived, always looked upon him with +that tenderness which the barbarity of his mother made peculiarly +necessary; but her death, which happened in his tenth year, was +another of the misfortunes of his childhood, for though she +kindly endeavoured to alleviate his loss by a legacy of three +hundred pounds, yet as he had none to prosecute his claim, to +shelter him from oppression, or call in law to the assistance of +justice, her will was eluded by the executors, and no part of the +money was ever paid. He was, however, not yet wholly abandoned. +The Lady Mason still continued her care, and directed him to be +placed at a small grammar school near St. Albans, where he was +called by the name of his nurse, without the least intimation +that he had a claim to any other. Here he was initiated in +literature, and passed through several of the classes, with what +rapidity or with what applause cannot now be known. As he always +spoke with respect of his master, it is probable that the mean +rank in which he then appeared did not hinder his genius from +being distinguished, or his industry from being rewarded; and if +in so low a state he obtained distinctions and rewards, it is not +likely that they were gained but by genius and industry.</p> +<p>It is very reasonable to conjecture that his application was +equal to his abilities, because his improvement was more than +proportioned to the opportunities which he enjoyed; nor can it be +doubted that if his earliest productions had been preserved, like +those of happier students, we might in some have found vigorous +sallies of that sprightly humour which distinguishes “The +Author to be Let,” and in others strong touches of that +imagination which painted the solemn scenes of “The +Wanderer.”</p> +<p>While he was thus cultivating his genius, his father, the Earl +Rivers, was seized with a distemper, which in a short time put an +end to his life. He had frequently inquired after his son, and +had always been amused with fallacious and evasive answers; but +being now in his own opinion on his death-bed, he thought it his +duty to provide for him among his other natural children, and +therefore demanded a positive account of him, with an importunity +not to be diverted or denied. His mother, who could no longer +refuse an answer, determined at least to give such as should cut +him off for ever from that happiness which competence affords, +and therefore declared that he was dead; which is perhaps the +first instance of a lie invented by a mother to deprive her son +of a provision which was designed him by another, and which she +could not expect herself, though he should lose it. This was +therefore an act of wickedness which could not be defeated, +because it could not be suspected; the earl did not imagine that +there could exist in a human form a mother that would ruin her +son without enriching herself, and therefore bestowed upon some +other person six thousand pounds which he had in his will +bequeathed to Savage.</p> +<p>The same cruelty which incited his mother to intercept this +provision which had been intended him, prompted her in a short +time to another project, a project worthy of such a disposition. +She endeavoured to rid herself from the danger of being at any +time made known to him, by sending him secretly to the American +Plantations. By whose kindness this scheme was counteracted, or +by whose interposition she was induced to lay aside her design, I +know not; it is not improbable that the Lady Mason might persuade +or compel her to desist, or perhaps she could not easily find +accomplices wicked enough to concur in so cruel an action; for it +may be conceived that those who had by a long gradation of guilt +hardened their hearts against the sense of common wickedness, +would yet be shocked at the design of a mother to expose her son +to slavery and want, to expose him without interest, and without +provocation; and Savage might on this occasion find protectors +and advocates among those who had long traded in crimes, and whom +compassion had never touched before.</p> +<p>Being hindered, by whatever means, from banishing him into +another country, she formed soon after a scheme for burying him +in poverty and obscurity in his own; and that his station of +life, if not the place of his residence, might keep him for ever +at a distance from her, she ordered him to be placed with a +shoemaker in Holborn, that, after the usual time of trial, he +might become his apprentice.</p> +<p>It is generally reported that this project was for some time +successful, and that Savage was employed at the awl longer than +he was willing to confess: nor was it perhaps any great advantage +to him, that an unexpected discovery determined him to quit his +occupation.</p> +<p>About this time his nurse, who had always treated him as her +own son, died; and it was natural for him to take care of those +effects which by her death were, as he imagined, become his own: +he therefore went to her house, opened her boxes, and examined +her papers, among which he found some letters written to her by +the Lady Mason, which informed him of his birth, and the reasons +for which it was concealed. He was no longer satisfied with the +employment which had been allotted him, but thought he had a +right to share the affluence of his mother; and therefore without +scruple applied to her as her son, and made use of every art to +awaken her tenderness and attract her regard. But neither his +letters, nor the interposition of those friends which his merit +or his distress procured him, made any impression on her mind. +She still resolved to neglect, though she could no longer disown +him. It was to no purpose that he frequently solicited her to +admit him to see her; she avoided him with the most vigilant +precaution, and ordered him to be excluded from her house, by +whomsoever he might be introduced, and what reason soever he +might give for entering it.</p> +<p>Savage was at the same time so touched with the discovery of +his real mother, that it was his frequent practice to walk in the +dark evenings for several hours before her door, in hopes of +seeing her as she might come by accident to the window, or cross +her apartment with a candle in her hand. But all his assiduity +and tenderness were without effect, for he could neither soften +her heart nor open her hand, and was reduced to the utmost +miseries of want, while he was endeavouring to awaken the +affection of a mother. He was therefore obliged to seek some +other means of support; and, having no profession, became by +necessity an author.</p> +<p>At this time the attention of the literary world was engrossed +by the Bangorian controversy, which filled the press with +pamphlets, and the coffee-houses with disputants. Of this +subject, as most popular, he made choice for his first attempt, +and, without any other knowledge of the question than he had +casually collected from conversation, published a poem against +the bishop. What was the success or merit of this performance I +know not; it was probably lost among the innumerable pamphlets to +which that dispute gave occasion. Mr. Savage was himself in a +little time ashamed of it, and endeavoured to suppress it, by +destroying all the copies that he could collect. He then +attempted a more gainful kind of writing, and in his eighteenth +year offered to the stage a comedy borrowed from a Spanish plot, +which was refused by the players, and was therefore given by him +to Mr. Bullock, who, having more interest, made some slight +alterations, and brought it upon the stage, under the title of +<i>Woman’s a Riddle</i>, but allowed the unhappy author no +part of the profit.</p> +<p>Not discouraged, however, at his repulse, he wrote two years +afterwards <i>Love in a Veil</i>, another comedy, borrowed +likewise from the Spanish, but with little better success than +before; for though it was received and acted, yet it appeared so +late in the year, that the author obtained no other advantage +from it than the acquaintance of Sir Richard Steele and Mr. +Wilks, by whom he was pitied, caressed, and relieved.</p> +<p>Sir Richard Steele, having declared in his favour with all the +ardour of benevolence which constituted his character, promoted +his interest with the utmost zeal, related his misfortunes, +applauded his merit, took all the opportunities of recommending +him, and asserted that “the inhumanity of his mother had +given him a right to find every good man his father.” +Nor was Mr. Savage admitted to his acquaintance only, but to his +confidence, of which he sometimes related an instance too +extraordinary to be omitted, as it affords a very just idea of +his patron’s character. He was once desired by Sir Richard, +with an air of the utmost importance, to come very early to his +house the next morning. Mr. Savage came as he had promised, found +the chariot at the door, and Sir Richard waiting for him, and +ready to go out. What was intended, and whither they were to go, +Savage could not conjecture, and was not willing to inquire; but +immediately seated himself with Sir Richard. The coachman was +ordered to drive, and they hurried with the utmost expedition to +Hyde Park Corner, where they stopped at a petty tavern, and +retired to a private room. Sir Richard then informed him that he +intended to publish a pamphlet, and that he had desired him to +come thither that he might write for him. He soon sat down to the +work. Sir Richard dictated, and Savage wrote, till the dinner +that had been ordered was put upon the table. Savage was +surprised at the meanness of the entertainment, and after some +hesitation ventured to ask for wine, which Sir Richard, not +without reluctance, ordered to be brought. They then finished +their dinner, and proceeded in their pamphlet, which they +concluded in the afternoon.</p> +<p>Mr. Savage then imagined his task over, and expected that Sir +Richard would call for the reckoning, and return home; but his +expectations deceived him, for Sir Richard told him that he was +without money, and that the pamphlet must be sold before the +dinner could be paid for; and Savage was therefore obliged to go +and offer their new production to sale for two guineas, which +with some difficulty he obtained. Sir Richard then returned home, +having retired that day only to avoid his creditors, and composed +the pamphlet only to discharge his reckoning.</p> +<p>Mr. Savage related another fact equally uncommon, which, +though it has no relation to his life, ought to be preserved. Sir +Richard Steele having one day invited to his house a great number +of persons of the first quality, they were surprised at the +number of liveries which surrounded the table; and after dinner, +when wine and mirth had set them free from the observation of a +rigid ceremony, one of them inquired of Sir Richard how such an +expensive train of domestics could be consistent with his +fortune. Sir Richard very frankly confessed that they were +fellows of whom he would very willingly be rid. And being then +asked why he did not discharge them, declared that they were +bailiffs, who had introduced themselves with an execution, and +whom, since he could not send them away, he had thought it +convenient to embellish with liveries, that they might do him +credit while they stayed. His friends were diverted with the +expedient, and by paying the debt, discharged their attendance, +having obliged Sir Richard to promise that they should never +again find him graced with a retinue of the same kind.</p> +<p>Under such a tutor, Mr. Savage was not likely to learn +prudence or frugality; and perhaps many of the misfortunes which +the want of those virtues brought upon him in the following parts +of his life, might be justly imputed to so unimproving an +example. Nor did the kindness of Sir Richard end in common +favours. He proposed to have established him in some settled +scheme of life, and to have contracted a kind of alliance with +him, by marrying him to a natural daughter, on whom he intended +to bestow a thousand pounds. But though he was always lavish of +future bounties, he conducted his affairs in such a manner that +he was very seldom able to keep his promises, or execute his own +intentions; and, as he was never able to raise the sum which he +had offered, the marriage was delayed. In the meantime he was +officiously informed that Mr. Savage had ridiculed him; by which +he was so much exasperated that he withdrew the allowance which +he had paid him, and never afterwards admitted him to his +house.</p> +<p>It is not, indeed, unlikely that Savage might by his +imprudence expose himself to the malice of a talebearer; for his +patron had many follies, which, as his discernment easily +discovered, his imagination might sometimes incite him to mention +too ludicrously. A little knowledge of the world is sufficient to +discover that such weakness is very common, and that there are +few who do not sometimes, in the wantonness of thoughtless mirth, +or the heat of transient resentment, speak of their friends and +benefactors with levity and contempt, though in their cooler +moments they want neither sense of their kindness nor reverence +for their virtue; the fault, therefore, of Mr. Savage was rather +negligence than ingratitude. But Sir Richard must likewise be +acquitted of severity, for who is there that can patiently bear +contempt from one whom he has relieved and supported, whose +establishment he has laboured, and whose interest he has +promoted?</p> +<p>He was now again abandoned to fortune without any other friend +than Mr. Wilks; a man who, whatever were his abilities or skill +as an actor, deserves at least to be remembered for his virtues, +which are not often to be found in the world, and perhaps less +often in his profession than in others. To be humane, generous, +and candid is a very high degree of merit in any case; but those +qualifications deserve still greater praise when they are found +in that condition which makes almost every other man, for +whatever reason, contemptuous, insolent, petulant, selfish, and +brutal.</p> +<p>As Mr. Wilks was one of those to whom calamity seldom +complained without relief, he naturally took an unfortunate wit +into his protection, and not only assisted him in any casual +distresses, but continued an equal and steady kindness to the +time of his death. By this interposition Mr. Savage once obtained +from his mother fifty pounds, and a promise of one hundred and +fifty more; but it was the fate of this unhappy man that few +promises of any advantage to him were performed. His mother was +infected, among others, with the general madness of the South Sea +traffic; and having been disappointed in her expectations, +refused to pay what perhaps nothing but the prospect of sudden +affluence prompted her to promise.</p> +<p>Being thus obliged to depend upon the friendship of Mr. Wilks, +he was consequently an assiduous frequenter of the theatres: and +in a short time the amusements of the stage took such possession +of his mind that he never was absent from a play in several +years. This constant attendance naturally procured him the +acquaintance of the players, and, among others, of Mrs. Oldfield, +who was so much pleased with his conversation, and touched with +his misfortunes, that she allowed him a settled pension of fifty +pounds a year, which was during her life regularly paid. That +this act of generosity may receive its due praise, and that the +good actions of Mrs. Oldfield may not be sullied by her general +character, it is proper to mention that Mr. Savage often +declared, in the strongest terms, that he never saw her alone, or +in any other place than behind the scenes.</p> +<p>At her death he endeavoured to show his gratitude in the most +decent manner, by wearing mourning as for a mother; but did not +celebrate her in elegies, because he knew that too great a +profusion of praise would only have revived those faults which +his natural equity did not allow him to think less because they +were committed by one who favoured him; but of which, though his +virtue would not endeavour to palliate them, his gratitude would +not suffer him to prolong the memory or diffuse the censure.</p> +<p>In his “Wanderer” he has indeed taken an +opportunity of mentioning her; but celebrates her not for her +virtue, but her beauty, an excellence which none ever denied her: +this is the only encomium with which he has rewarded her +liberality, and perhaps he has even in this been too lavish of +his praise. He seems to have thought that never to mention his +benefactress would have an appearance of ingratitude, though to +have dedicated any particular performance to her memory would +have only betrayed an officious partiality, and that without +exalting her character would have depressed his own. He had +sometimes, by the kindness of Mr. Wilks, the advantage of a +benefit, on which occasions he often received uncommon marks of +regard and compassion; and was once told by the Duke of Dorset +that it was just to consider him as an injured nobleman, and that +in his opinion the nobility ought to think themselves obliged, +without solicitation, to take every opportunity of supporting him +by their countenance and patronage. But he had generally the +mortification to hear that the whole interest of his mother was +employed to frustrate his applications, and that she never left +any expedient untried by which he might be cut off from the +possibility of supporting life. The same disposition she +endeavoured to diffuse among all those over whom nature or +fortune gave her any influence, and indeed succeeded too well in +her design; but could not always propagate her effrontery with +her cruelty; for some of those whom she incited against him were +ashamed of their own conduct, and boasted of that relief which +they never gave him. In this censure I do not indiscriminately +involve all his relations; for he has mentioned with gratitude +the humanity of one lady, whose name I am now unable to +recollect, and to whom, therefore, I cannot pay the praises which +she deserves for having acted well in opposition to influence, +precept, and example.</p> +<p>The punishment which our laws inflict upon those parents who +murder their infants is well known, nor has its justice ever been +contested; but, if they deserve death who destroy a child in its +birth, what pain can be severe enough for her who forbears to +destroy him only to inflict sharper miseries upon him; who +prolongs his life only to make him miserable; and who exposes +him, without care and without pity, to the malice of oppression, +the caprices of chance, and the temptations of poverty; who +rejoices to see him overwhelmed with calamities; and, when his +own industry, or the charity of others, has enabled him to rise +for a short time above his miseries, plunges him again into his +former distress?</p> +<p>The kindness of his friends not affording him any constant +supply, and the prospect of improving his fortune by enlarging +his acquaintance necessarily leading him to places of expense, he +found it necessary to endeavour once more at dramatic poetry; for +which he was now better qualified by a more extensive knowledge +and longer observation. But having been unsuccessful in comedy, +though rather for want of opportunities than genius, he resolved +to try whether he should not be more fortunate in exhibiting a +tragedy. The story which he chose for the subject was that of Sir +Thomas Overbury, a story well adapted to the stage, though +perhaps not far enough removed from the present age to admit +properly the fictions necessary to complete the plan; for the +mind, which naturally loves truth, is always most offended with +the violation of those truths of which we are most certain; and +we of course conceive those facts most certain which approach +nearer to our own time. Out of this story he formed a tragedy, +which, if the circumstances in which he wrote it be considered, +will afford at once an uncommon proof of strength of genius and +evenness of mind, of a serenity not to be ruffled and an +imagination not to be suppressed.</p> +<p>During a considerable part of the time in which he was +employed upon this performance, he was without lodging, and often +without meat; nor had he any other conveniences for study than +the fields or the streets allowed him; there he used to walk and +form his speeches, and afterwards step into a shop, beg for a few +moments the use of the pen and ink, and write down what he had +composed upon paper which he had picked up by accident.</p> +<p>If the performance of a writer thus distressed is not perfect, +its faults ought surely to be imputed to a cause very different +from want of genius, and must rather excite pity than provoke +censure. But when, under these discouragements, the tragedy was +finished, there yet remained the labour of introducing it on the +stage, an undertaking which, to an ingenuous mind, was in a very +high degree vexatious and disgusting; for, having little interest +or reputation, he was obliged to submit himself wholly to the +players, and admit, with whatever reluctance, the emendations of +Mr. Cibber, which he always considered as the disgrace of his +performance. He had, indeed, in Mr. Hill another critic of a very +different class, from whose friendship he received great +assistance on many occasions, and whom he never mentioned but +with the utmost tenderness and regard. He had been for some time +distinguished by him with very particular kindness, and on this +occasion it was natural to apply to him as an author of an +established character. He therefore sent this tragedy to him, +with a short copy of verses, in which he desired his correction. +Mr. Hill, whose humanity and politeness are generally known, +readily complied with his request; but as he is remarkable for +singularity of sentiment, and bold experiments in language, Mr. +Savage did not think this play much improved by his innovation, +and had even at that time the courage to reject several passages +which he could not approve; and, what is still more laudable, Mr. +Hill had the generosity not to resent the neglect of his +alterations, but wrote the prologue and epilogue, in which he +touches on the circumstances of the author with great +tenderness.</p> +<p>After all these obstructions and compliances, he was only able +to bring his play upon the stage in the summer, when the chief +actors had retired, and the rest were in possession of the house +for their own advantage. Among these, Mr. Savage was admitted to +play the part of Sir Thomas Overbury, by which he gained no great +reputation, the theatre being a province for which nature seems +not to have designed him; for neither his voice, look, nor +gesture were such as were expected on the stage, and he was so +much ashamed of having been reduced to appear as a player, that +he always blotted out his name from the list when a copy of his +tragedy was to be shown to his friends.</p> +<p>In the publication of his performance he was more successful, +for the rays of genius that glimmered in it, that glimmered +through all the mists which poverty and Cibber had been able to +spread over it, procured him the notice and esteem of many +persons eminent for their rank, their virtue, and their wit. Of +this play, acted, printed, and dedicated, the accumulated profits +arose to a hundred pounds, which he thought at that time a very +large sum, having been never master of so much before.</p> +<p>In the dedication, for which he received ten guineas, there is +nothing remarkable. The preface contains a very liberal encomium +on the blooming excellence of Mr. Theophilus Cibber, which Mr. +Savage could not in the latter part of his life see his friends +about to read without snatching the play out of their hands. The +generosity of Mr. Hill did not end on this occasion; for +afterwards, when Mr. Savage’s necessities returned, he +encouraged a subscription to a Miscellany of Poems in a very +extraordinary manner, by publishing his story in the <i>Plain +Dealer</i>, with some affecting lines, which he asserts to have +been written by Mr. Savage upon the treatment received by him +from his mother, but of which he was himself the author, as Mr. +Savage afterwards declared. These lines, and the paper in which +they were inserted, had a very powerful effect upon all but his +mother, whom, by making her cruelty more public, they only +hardened in her aversion.</p> +<p>Mr. Hill not only promoted the subscription to the Miscellany, +but furnished likewise the greatest part of the poems of which it +is composed, and particularly “The Happy Man,” which +he published as a specimen.</p> +<p>The subscriptions of those whom these papers should influence +to patronise merit in distress, without any other solicitation, +were directed to be left at Button’s Coffee-house; and Mr. +Savage going thither a few days afterwards, without expectation +of any effect from his proposal, found, to his surprise, seventy +guineas, which had been sent him in consequence of the compassion +excited by Mr. Hill’s pathetic representation.</p> +<p>To this Miscellany he wrote a preface, in which he gives an +account of his mother’s cruelty in a very uncommon strain +of humour, and with a gaiety of imagination which the success of +his subscription probably produced. The dedication is addressed +to the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whom he flatters without +reserve, and, to confess the truth, with very little art. The +same observation may be extended to all his dedications: his +compliments are constrained and violent, heaped together without +the grace of order, or the decency of introduction. He seems to +have written his panegyrics for the perusal only of his patrons, +and to imagine that he had no other task than to pamper them with +praises, however gross, and that flattery would make its way to +the heart, without the assistance of elegance or invention.</p> +<p>Soon afterwards the death of the king furnished a general +subject for a poetical contest, in which Mr. Savage engaged, and +is allowed to have carried the prize of honour from his +competitors: but I know not whether he gained by his performance +any other advantage than the increase of his reputation, though +it must certainly have been with farther views that he prevailed +upon himself to attempt a species of writing, of which all the +topics had been long before exhausted, and which was made at once +difficult by the multitudes that had failed in it, and those that +had succeeded.</p> +<p>He was now advancing in reputation, and though frequently +involved in very distressful perplexities, appeared, however, to +be gaining upon mankind, when both his fame and his life were +endangered by an event, of which it is not yet determined whether +it ought to be mentioned as a crime or a calamity.</p> +<p>On the 20th of November, 1727, Mr. Savage came from Richmond, +where he then lodged that he might pursue his studies with less +interruption, with an intent to discharge another lodging which +he had in Westminster; and accidentally meeting two gentlemen, +his acquaintances, whose names were Merchant and Gregory, he went +in with them to a neighbouring coffee-house, and sat drinking +till it was late, it being in no time of Mr. Savage’s life +any part of his character to be the first of the company that +desired to separate. He would willingly have gone to bed in the +same house, but there was not room for the whole company, and +therefore they agreed to ramble about the streets, and divert +themselves with such amusements as should offer themselves till +morning. In this walk they happened unluckily to discover a light +in Robinson’s Coffee-house, near Charing Cross, and +therefore went in. Merchant with some rudeness demanded a room, +and was told that there was a good fire in the next parlour, +which the company were about to leave, being then paying their +reckoning. Merchant, not satisfied with this answer, rushed into +the room, and was followed by his companions. He then petulantly +placed himself between the company and the fire, and soon after +kicked down the table. This produced a quarrel, swords were drawn +on both sides, and one Mr. James Sinclair was killed. Savage, +having likewise wounded a maid that held him, forced his way, +with Merchant, out of the house; but being intimidated and +confused, without resolution either to fly or stay, they were +taken in a back court by one of the company, and some soldiers, +whom he had called to his assistance. Being secured and guarded +that night, they were in the morning carried before three +justices, who committed them to the Gatehouse, from whence, upon +the death of Mr. Sinclair, which happened the same day, they were +removed in the night to Newgate, where they were, however, +treated with some distinction, exempted from the ignominy of +chains, and confined, not among the common criminals, but in the +Press yard.</p> +<p>When the day of trial came, the court was crowded in a very +unusual manner, and the public appeared to interest itself as in +a cause of general concern. The witnesses against Mr. Savage and +his friends were, the woman who kept the house, which was a house +of ill-fame, and her maid, the men who were in the room with Mr. +Sinclair, and a woman of the town, who had been drinking with +them, and with whom one of them had been seen. They swore in +general, that Merchant gave the provocation, which Savage and +Gregory drew their swords to justify; that Savage drew first, and +that he stabbed Sinclair when he was not in a posture of defence, +or while Gregory commanded his sword; that after he had given the +thrust he turned pale, and would have retired, but the maid clung +round him, and one of the company endeavoured to detain him, from +whom he broke by cutting the maid on the head, but was afterwards +taken in a court. There was some difference in their depositions; +one did not see Savage give the wound, another saw it given when +Sinclair held his point towards the ground; and the woman of the +town asserted that she did not see Sinclair’s sword at all. +This difference, however, was very far from amounting to +inconsistency; but it was sufficient to show, that the hurry of +the dispute was such that it was not easy to discover the truth +with relation to particular circumstances, and that therefore +some deductions were to be made from the credibility of the +testimonies.</p> +<p>Sinclair had declared several times before his death that he +received his wound from Savage: nor did Savage at his trial deny +the fact, but endeavoured partly to extenuate it, by urging the +suddenness of the whole action, and the impossibility of any ill +design or premeditated malice; and partly to justify it by the +necessity of self-defence, and the hazard of his own life, if he +had lost that opportunity of giving the thrust: he observed, that +neither reason nor law obliged a man to wait for the blow which +was threatened, and which, if he should suffer it, he might never +be able to return; that it was allowable to prevent an assault, +and to preserve life by taking away that of the adversary by whom +it was endangered. With regard to the violence with which he +endeavoured to escape, he declared that it was not his design to +fly from justice, or decline a trial, but to avoid the expenses +and severities of a prison; and that he intended to appear at the +bar without compulsion.</p> +<p>This defence, which took up more than an hour, was heard by +the multitude that thronged the court with the most attentive and +respectful silence. Those who thought he ought not to be +acquitted owned that applause could not be refused him; and those +who before pitied his misfortunes now reverenced his abilities. +The witnesses which appeared against him were proved to be +persons of characters which did not entitle them to much credit; +a common strumpet, a woman by whom strumpets were entertained, a +man by whom they were supported: and the character of Savage was +by several persons of distinction asserted to be that of a +modest, inoffensive man, not inclined to broils or to insolence, +and who had, to that time, been only known for his misfortunes +and his wit. Had his audience been his judges, he had undoubtedly +been acquitted, but Mr. Page, who was then upon the bench, +treated him with his usual insolence and severity, and when he +had summed up the evidence, endeavoured to exasperate the jury, +as Mr. Savage used to relate it, with this eloquent +harangue:—</p> +<p>“Gentlemen of the jury, you are to consider that Mr. +Savage is a very great man, a much greater man than you or I, +gentlemen of the jury; that he wears very fine clothes, much +finer clothes than you or I, gentlemen of the jury; that he has +abundance of money in his pockets, much more money than you or I, +gentlemen of the jury; but, gentlemen of the jury, is it not a +very hard case, gentlemen of the jury, that Mr. Savage should +therefore kill you or me, gentlemen of the jury?”</p> +<p>Mr. Savage, hearing his defence thus misrepresented, and the +men who were to decide his fate incited against him by invidious +comparisons, resolutely asserted that his cause was not candidly +explained, and began to recapitulate what he had before said with +regard to his condition, and the necessity of endeavouring to +escape the expenses of imprisonment; but the judge having ordered +him to be silent, and repeated his orders without effect, +commanded that he should be taken from the bar by force.</p> +<p>The jury then heard the opinion of the judge, that good +characters were of no weight against positive evidence, though +they might turn the scale where it was doubtful; and that though, +when two men attack each other, the death of either is only +manslaughter; but where one is the aggressor, as in the case +before them, and, in pursuance of his first attack, kills the +other, the law supposes the action, however sudden, to be +malicious. They then deliberated upon their verdict, and +determined that Mr. Savage and Mr. Gregory were guilty of murder, +and Mr. Merchant, who had no sword, only of manslaughter.</p> +<p>Thus ended this memorable trial, which lasted eight hours. Mr. +Savage and Mr. Gregory were conducted back to prison, where they +were more closely confined, and loaded with irons of fifty +pounds’ weight. Four days afterwards they were sent back to +the court to receive sentence, on which occasion Mr. Savage made, +as far as it could be retained in memory, the following +speech:—</p> +<p>“It is now, my lord, too late to offer anything by way +of defence or vindication; nor can we expect from your lordships, +in this court, but the sentence which the law requires you, as +judges, to pronounce against men of our calamitous condition. But +we are also persuaded that as mere men, and out of this seat of +rigorous justice, you are susceptive of the tender passions, and +too humane not to commiserate the unhappy situation of those whom +the law sometimes perhaps exacts from you to pronounce upon. No +doubt you distinguish between offences which arise out of +premeditation, and a disposition habituated to vice or +immorality, and transgressions which are the unhappy and +unforeseen effects of casual absence of reason, and sudden +impulse of passion. We therefore hope you will contribute all you +can to an extension of that mercy which the gentlemen of the jury +have been pleased to show to Mr. Merchant, who (allowing facts as +sworn against us by the evidence) has led us into this our +calamity. I hope this will not be construed as if we meant to +reflect upon that gentleman, or remove anything from us upon him, +or that we repine the more at our fate because he has no +participation of it. No, my Lord! For my part, I declare +nothing could more soften my grief than to be without any +companion in so great a misfortune.”</p> +<p>Mr. Savage had now no hopes of life but from the mercy of the +Crown, which was very earnestly solicited by his friends, and +which, with whatever difficulty the story may obtain belief, was +obstructed only by his mother.</p> +<p>To prejudice the queen against him, she made use of an +incident which was omitted in the order of time, that it might be +mentioned together with the purpose which it was made to serve. +Mr. Savage, when he had discovered his birth, had an incessant +desire to speak to his mother, who always avoided him in public, +and refused him admission into her house. One evening, walking, +as was his custom, in the street that she inhabited, he saw the +door of her house by accident open; he entered it, and finding no +person in the passage to hinder him, went up-stairs to salute +her. She discovered him before he entered the chamber, alarmed +the family with the most distressful outcries, and when she had +by her screams gathered them about her, ordered them to drive out +of the house that villain, who had forced himself in upon her and +endeavoured to murder her. Savage, who had attempted with the +most submissive tenderness to soften her rage, hearing her utter +so detestable an accusation, thought it prudent to retire, and, I +believe, never attempted afterwards to speak to her.</p> +<p>But shocked as he was with her falsehood and her cruelty, he +imagined that she intended no other use of her lie than to set +herself free from his embraces and solicitations, and was very +far from suspecting that she would treasure it in her memory as +an instrument of future wickedness, or that she would endeavour +for this fictitious assault to deprive him of his life. But when +the queen was solicited for his pardon, and informed of the +severe treatment which he had suffered from his judge, she +answered that, however unjustifiable might be the manner of his +trial, or whatever extenuation the action for which he was +condemned might admit, she could not think that man a proper +object of the king’s mercy who had been capable of entering +his mother’s house in the night with an intent to murder +her.</p> +<p>By whom this atrocious calumny had been transmitted to the +queen, whether she that invented had the front to relate it, +whether she found any one weak enough to credit it, or corrupt +enough to concur with her in her hateful design, I know not, but +methods had been taken to persuade the queen so strongly of the +truth of it, that she for a long time refused to hear any one of +those who petitioned for his life.</p> +<p>Thus had Savage perished by the evidence of a bawd, a +strumpet, and his mother, had not justice and compassion procured +him an advocate of rank too great to be rejected unheard, and of +virtue too eminent to be heard without being believed. His merit +and his calamities happened to reach the ear of the Countess of +Hertford, who engaged in his support with all the tenderness that +is excited by pity, and all the zeal which is kindled by +generosity, and, demanding an audience of the queen, laid before +her the whole series of his mother’s cruelty, exposed the +improbability of an accusation by which he was charged with an +intent to commit a murder that could produce no advantage, and +soon convinced her how little his former conduct could deserve to +be mentioned as a reason for extraordinary severity.</p> +<p>The interposition of this lady was so successful, that he was +soon after admitted to bail, and, on the 9th of March, 1728, +pleaded the king’s pardon.</p> +<p>It is natural to inquire upon what motives his mother could +persecute him in a manner so outrageous and implacable; for what +reason she could employ all the arts of malice, and all the +snares of calumny, to take away the life of her own son, of a son +who never injured her, who was never supported by her expense, +nor obstructed any prospect of pleasure or advantage. Why she +would endeavour to destroy him by a lie—a lie which could +not gain credit, but must vanish of itself at the first moment of +examination, and of which only this can be said to make it +probable, that it may be observed from her conduct that the most +execrable crimes are sometimes committed without apparent +temptation.</p> +<p>This mother is still (1744) alive, and may perhaps even yet, +though her malice was so often defeated, enjoy the pleasure of +reflecting that the life which she often endeavoured to destroy +was at last shortened by her maternal offices; that though she +could not transport her son to the plantations, bury him in the +shop of a mechanic, or hasten the hand of the public executioner, +she has yet had the satisfaction of embittering all his hours, +and forcing him into exigencies that hurried on his death. It is +by no means necessary to aggravate the enormity of this +woman’s conduct by placing it in opposition to that of the +Countess of Hertford. No one can fail to observe how much more +amiable it is to relieve than to oppress, and to rescue innocence +from destruction than to destroy without an injury.</p> +<p>Mr. Savage, during his imprisonment, his trial, and the time +in which he lay under sentence of death, behaved with great +firmness and equality of mind, and confirmed by his fortitude the +esteem of those who before admired him for his abilities. The +peculiar circumstances of his life were made more generally known +by a short account which was then published, and of which several +thousands were in a few weeks dispersed over the nation; and the +compassion of mankind operated so powerfully in his favour, that +he was enabled, by frequent presents, not only to support +himself, but to assist Mr. Gregory in prison; and when he was +pardoned and released, he found the number of his friends not +lessened.</p> +<p>The nature of the act for which he had been tried was in +itself doubtful; of the evidences which appeared against him, the +character of the man was not unexceptionable, that of the woman +notoriously infamous; she whose testimony chiefly influenced the +jury to condemn him afterwards retracted her assertions. He +always himself denied that he was drunk, as had been generally +reported. Mr. Gregory, who is now (1744) collector of Antigua, is +said to declare him far less criminal than he was imagined, even +by some who favoured him; and Page himself afterwards confessed +that he had treated him with uncommon rigour. When all these +particulars are rated together, perhaps the memory of Savage may +not be much sullied by his trial. Some time after he obtained his +liberty, he met in the street the woman who had sworn with so +much malignity against him. She informed him that she was in +distress, and, with a degree of confidence not easily attainable, +desired him to relieve her. He, instead of insulting her misery, +and taking pleasure in the calamities of one who had brought his +life into danger, reproved her gently for her perjury, and, +changing the only guinea that he had, divided it equally between +her and himself. This is an action which in some ages would have +made a saint, and perhaps in others a hero, and which, without +any hyperbolical encomiums, must be allowed to be an instance of +uncommon generosity, an act of complicated virtue, by which he at +once relieved the poor, corrected the vicious, and forgave an +enemy; by which he at once remitted the strongest provocations, +and exercised the most ardent charity. Compassion was indeed the +distinguishing quality of Savage: he never appeared inclined to +take advantage of weakness, to attack the defenceless, or to +press upon the falling. Whoever was distressed was certain at +least of his good wishes; and when he could give no assistance to +extricate them from misfortunes, he endeavoured to soothe them by +sympathy and tenderness. But when his heart was not softened by +the sight of misery, he was sometimes obstinate in his +resentment, and did not quickly lose the remembrance of an +injury. He always continued to speak with anger of the insolence +and partiality of Page, and a short time before his death +revenged it by a satire.</p> +<p>It is natural to inquire in what terms Mr. Savage spoke of +this fatal action when the danger was over, and he was under no +necessity of using any art to set his conduct in the fairest +light. He was not willing to dwell upon it; and, if he +transiently mentioned it, appeared neither to consider himself as +a murderer, nor as a man wholly free from the guilt of blood. How +much and how long he regretted it appeared in a poem which he +published many years afterwards. On occasion of a copy of verses, +in which the failings of good men are recounted, and in which the +author had endeavoured to illustrate his position, that +“the best may sometimes deviate from virtue,” by an +instance of murder committed by Savage in the heat of wine, +Savage remarked that it was no very just representation of a good +man, to suppose him liable to drunkenness, and disposed in his +riots to cut throats.</p> +<p>He was now indeed at liberty, but was, as before, without any +other support than accidental favours and uncertain patronage +afforded him; sources by which he was sometimes very liberally +supplied, and which at other times were suddenly stopped; so that +he spent his life between want and plenty, or, what was yet +worse, between beggary and extravagance, for, as whatever he +received was the gift of chance, which might as well favour him +at one time as another, he was tempted to squander what he had +because he always hoped to be immediately supplied. Another cause +of his profusion was the absurd kindness of his friends, who at +once rewarded and enjoyed his abilities by treating him at +taverns, and habituating him to pleasures which he could not +afford to enjoy, and which he was not able to deny himself, +though he purchased the luxury of a single night by the anguish +of cold and hunger for a week.</p> +<p>The experience of these inconveniences determined him to +endeavour after some settled income, which, having long found +submission and entreaties fruitless, he attempted to extort from +his mother by rougher methods. He had now, as he acknowledged, +lost that tenderness for her which the whole series of her +cruelty had not been able wholly to repress, till he found, by +the efforts which she made for his destruction, that she was not +content with refusing to assist him, and being neutral in his +struggles with poverty, but was ready to snatch every opportunity +of adding to his misfortunes; and that she was now to be +considered as an enemy implacably malicious, whom nothing but his +blood could satisfy. He therefore threatened to harass her with +lampoons, and to publish a copious narrative of her conduct, +unless she consented to purchase an exemption from infamy by +allowing him a pension.</p> +<p>This expedient proved successful. Whether shame still +survived, though virtue was extinct, or whether her relations had +more delicacy than herself, and imagined that some of the darts +which satire might point at her would glance upon them, Lord +Tyrconnel, whatever were his motives, upon his promise to lay +aside his design of exposing the cruelty of his mother, received +him into his family, treated him as his equal, and engaged to +allow him a pension of two hundred pounds a year. This was the +golden part of Mr. Savage’s life; and for some time he had +no reason to complain of fortune. His appearance was splendid, +his expenses large, and his acquaintance extensive. He was +courted by all who endeavoured to be thought men of genius, and +caressed by all who valued themselves upon a refined taste. To +admire Mr. Savage was a proof of discernment; and to be +acquainted with him was a title to poetical reputation. His +presence was sufficient to make any place of public entertainment +popular, and his approbation and example constituted the fashion. +So powerful is genius, when it is invested with the glitter of +affluence! Men willingly pay to fortune that regard which +they owe to merit, and are pleased when they have an opportunity +at once of gratifying their vanity and practising their duty.</p> +<p>This interval of prosperity furnished him with opportunities +of enlarging his knowledge of human nature, by contemplating life +from its highest gradations to its lowest; and, had he afterwards +applied to dramatic poetry, he would perhaps not have had many +superiors, for, as he never suffered any scene to pass before his +eyes without notice, he had treasured in his mind all the +different combinations of passions, and the innumerable mixtures +of vice and virtue, which distinguished one character from +another; and, as his conception was strong, his expressions were +clear, he easily received impressions from objects, and very +forcibly transmitted them to others. Of his exact observations on +human life he has left a proof, which would do honour to the +greatest names, in a small pamphlet, called “The Author to +be Let,” where he introduces Iscariot Hackney, a prostitute +scribbler, giving an account of his birth, his education, his +disposition and morals, habits of life, and maxims of conduct. In +the introduction are related many secret histories of the petty +writers of that time, but sometimes mixed with ungenerous +reflections on their birth, their circumstances, or those of +their relations; nor can it be denied that some passages are such +as Iscariot Hackney might himself have produced. He was accused +likewise of living in an appearance of friendship with some whom +he satirised, and of making use of the confidence which he gained +by a seeming kindness, to discover failings and expose them. It +must be confessed that Mr. Savage’s esteem was no very +certain possession, and that he would lampoon at one time those +whom he had praised at another.</p> +<p>It may be alleged that the same man may change his principles, +and that he who was once deservedly commended may be afterwards +satirised with equal justice, or that the poet was dazzled with +the appearance of virtue, and found the man whom he had +celebrated, when he had an opportunity of examining him more +narrowly, unworthy of the panegyric which he had too hastily +bestowed; and that, as a false satire ought to be recanted, for +the sake of him whose reputation may be injured, false praise +ought likewise to be obviated, lest the distinction between vice +and virtue should be lost, lest a bad man should be trusted upon +the credit of his encomiast, or lest others should endeavour to +obtain like praises by the same means. But though these excuses +may be often plausible, and sometimes just, they are very seldom +satisfactory to mankind; and the writer who is not constant to +his subject, quickly sinks into contempt, his satire loses its +force, and his panegyric its value; and he is only considered at +one time as a flatterer, and a calumniator at another. To avoid +these imputations, it is only necessary to follow the rules of +virtue, and to preserve an unvaried regard to truth. For though +it is undoubtedly possible that a man, however cautious, may be +sometimes deceived by an artful appearance of virtue, or by false +evidences of guilt, such errors will not be frequent; and it will +be allowed that the name of an author would never have been made +contemptible had no man ever said what he did not think, or +misled others but when he was himself deceived.</p> +<p>“The Author to be Let” was first published in a +single pamphlet, and afterwards inserted in a collection of +pieces relating to the “Dunciad,” which were +addressed by Mr. Savage to the Earl of Middlesex, in a dedication +which he was prevailed upon to sign, though he did not write it, +and in which there are some positions that the true author would +perhaps not have published under his own name, and on which Mr. +Savage afterwards reflected with no great satisfaction. The +enumeration of the bad effects of the uncontrolled freedom of the +press, and the assertion that the “liberties taken by the +writers of journals with their superiors were exorbitant and +unjustifiable,” very ill became men who have themselves not +always shown the exactest regard to the laws of subordination in +their writings, and who have often satirised those that at least +thought themselves their superiors, as they were eminent for +their hereditary rank, and employed in the highest offices of the +kingdom. But this is only an instance of that partiality which +almost every man indulges with regard to himself: the liberty of +the press is a blessing when we are inclined to write against +others, and a calamity when we find ourselves overborne by the +multitude of our assailants; as the power of the Crown is always +thought too great by those who suffer by its influence, and too +little by those in whose favour it is exerted; and a standing +army is generally accounted necessary by those who command, and +dangerous and oppressive by those who support it.</p> +<p>Mr. Savage was likewise very far from believing that the +letters annexed to each species of bad poets in the Bathos were, +as he was directed to assert, “set down at random;” +for when he was charged by one of his friends with putting his +name to such an improbability, he had no other answer to make +than that “he did not think of it;” and his friend +had too much tenderness to reply, that next to the crime of +writing contrary to what he thought was that of writing without +thinking.</p> +<p>After having remarked what is false in this dedication, it is +proper that I observe the impartiality which I recommend, by +declaring what Savage asserted—that the account of the +circumstances which attended the publication of the +“Dunciad,” however strange and improbable, was +exactly true.</p> +<p>The publication of this piece at this time raised Mr. Savage a +great number of enemies among those that were attacked by Mr. +Pope, with whom he was considered as a kind of confederate, and +whom he was suspected of supplying with private intelligence and +secret incidents; so that the ignominy of an informer was added +to the terror of a satirist. That he was not altogether free from +literary hypocrisy, and that he sometimes spoke one thing and +wrote another, cannot be denied, because he himself confessed +that, when he lived with great familiarity with Dennis, he wrote +an epigram against him.</p> +<p>Mr. Savage, however, set all the malice of all the pigmy +writers at defiance, and thought the friendship of Mr. Pope +cheaply purchased by being exposed to their censure and their +hatred; nor had he any reason to repent of the preference, for he +found Mr. Pope a steady and unalienable friend almost to the end +of his life.</p> +<p>About this time, notwithstanding his avowed neutrality with +regard to party, he published a panegyric on Sir Robert Walpole, +for which he was rewarded by him with twenty guineas, a sum not +very large, if either the excellence of the performance or the +affluence of the patron be considered; but greater than he +afterwards obtained from a person of yet higher rank, and more +desirous in appearance of being distinguished as a patron of +literature.</p> +<p>As he was very far from approving the conduct of Sir Robert +Walpole, and in conversation mentioned him sometimes with +acrimony, and generally with contempt, as he was one of those who +were always zealous in their assertions of the justice of the +late opposition, jealous of the rights of the people, and alarmed +by the long-continued triumph of the Court, it was natural to ask +him what could induce him to employ his poetry in praise of that +man who was, in his opinion, an enemy to liberty, and an +oppressor of his country? He alleged that he was then +dependent upon the Lord Tyrconnel, who was an implicit follower +of the ministry: and that, being enjoined by him, not without +menaces, to write in praise of the leader, he had not resolution +sufficient to sacrifice the pleasure of affluence to that of +integrity.</p> +<p>On this, and on many other occasions, he was ready to lament +the misery of living at the tables of other men, which was his +fate from the beginning to the end of his life; for I know not +whether he ever had, for three months together, a settled +habitation, in which he could claim a right of residence.</p> +<p>To this unhappy state it is just to impute much of the +inconsistency of his conduct, for though a readiness to comply +with the inclinations of others was no part of his natural +character, yet he was sometimes obliged to relax his obstinacy, +and submit his own judgment, and even his virtue, to the +government of those by whom he was supported. So that if his +miseries were sometimes the consequences of his faults, he ought +not yet to be wholly excluded from compassion, because his faults +were very often the effects of his misfortunes.</p> +<p>In this gay period of his life, while he was surrounded by +affluence and pleasure, he published “The Wanderer,” +a moral poem, of which the design is comprised in these +lines:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“I fly all public care, all venal +strife,<br /> +To try the still, compared with active, life;<br /> +To prove, by these, the sons of men may owe<br /> +The fruits of bliss to bursting clouds of woe;<br /> +That ev’n calamity, by thought refined,<br /> +Inspirits and adorns the thinking mind.”</p> +<p>And more distinctly in the following passage:—</p> +<p class="poetry">“By woe, the soul to daring action +swells;<br /> +By woe, in plaintless patience it excels:<br /> +From patience prudent, clear experience springs,<br /> +And traces knowledge through the course of things.<br /> +Thence hope is formed, thence fortitude, success,<br /> +Renown—whate’er men covet and caress.”</p> +<p>This performance was always considered by himself as his +masterpiece; and Mr. Pope, when he asked his opinion of it, told +him that he read it once over, and was not displeased with it; +that it gave him more pleasure at the second perusal, and +delighted him still more at the third.</p> +<p>It has been generally objected to “The Wanderer,” +that the disposition of the parts is irregular; that the design +is obscure, and the plan perplexed; that the images, however +beautiful, succeed each other without order; and that the whole +performance is not so much a regular fabric, as a heap of shining +materials thrown together by accident, which strikes rather with +the solemn magnificence of a stupendous ruin than the elegant +grandeur of a finished pile. This criticism is universal, and +therefore it is reasonable to believe it at least in a degree +just; but Mr. Savage was always of a contrary opinion, and +thought his drift could only be missed by negligence or +stupidity, and that the whole plan was regular, and the parts +distinct. It was never denied to abound with strong +representations of nature, and just observations upon life; and +it may easily be observed that most of his pictures have an +evident tendency to illustrate his first great position, +“that good is the consequence of evil.” The sun +that burns up the mountains fructifies the vales; the deluge that +rushes down the broken rocks with dreadful impetuosity is +separated into purling brooks; and the rage of the hurricane +purifies the air.</p> +<p>Even in this poem he has not been able to forbear one touch +upon the cruelty of his mother, which, though remarkably delicate +and tender, is a proof how deep an impression it had upon his +mind. This must be at least acknowledged, which ought to be +thought equivalent to many other excellences, that this poem can +promote no other purposes than those of virtue, and that it is +written with a very strong sense of the efficacy of religion. But +my province is rather to give the history of Mr. Savage’s +performances than to display their beauties, or to obviate the +criticisms which they have occasioned, and therefore I shall not +dwell upon the particular passages which deserve applause. I +shall neither show the excellence of his descriptions, nor +expatiate on the terrific portrait of suicide, nor point out the +artful touches by which he has distinguished the intellectual +features of the rebels, who suffer death in his last canto. It +is, however, proper to observe, that Mr. Savage always declared +the characters wholly fictitious, and without the least allusion +to any real persons or actions.</p> +<p>From a poem so diligently laboured, and so successfully +finished, it might be reasonably expected that he should have +gained considerable advantage; nor can it, without some degree of +indignation and concern, be told, that he sold the copy for ten +guineas, of which he afterwards returned two, that the two last +sheets of the work might be reprinted, of which he had in his +absence entrusted the correction to a friend, who was too +indolent to perform it with accuracy.</p> +<p>A superstitious regard to the correction of his sheets was one +of Mr. Savage’s peculiarities: he often altered, revised, +recurred to his first reading or punctuation, and again adopted +the alteration; he was dubious and irresolute without end, as on +a question of the last importance, and at last was seldom +satisfied. The intrusion or omission of a comma was sufficient to +discompose him, and he would lament an error of a single letter +as a heavy calamity. In one of his letters relating to an +impression of some verses he remarks that he had, with regard to +the correction of the proof, “a spell upon him;” and +indeed the anxiety with which he dwelt upon the minutest and most +trifling niceties, deserved no other name than that of +fascination. That he sold so valuable a performance for so small +a price was not to be imputed either to necessity, by which the +learned and ingenious are often obliged to submit to very hard +conditions, or to avarice, by which the booksellers are +frequently incited to oppress that genius by which they are +supported, but to that intemperate desire of pleasure, and +habitual slavery to his passions, which involved him in many +perplexities. He happened at that time to be engaged in the +pursuit of some trifling gratification, and, being without money +for the present occasion, sold his poem to the first bidder, and +perhaps for the first price that was proposed, and would probably +have been content with less if less had been offered him.</p> +<p>This poem was addressed to the Lord Tyrconnel, not only in the +first lines, but in a formal dedication filled with the highest +strains of panegyric, and the warmest professions of gratitude, +but by no means remarkable for delicacy of connection or elegance +of style. These praises in a short time he found himself inclined +to retract, being discarded by the man on whom he had bestowed +them, and whom he then immediately discovered not to have +deserved them. Of this quarrel, which every day made more bitter, +Lord Tyrconnel and Mr. Savage assigned very different reasons, +which might perhaps all in reality concur, though they were not +all convenient to be alleged by either party. Lord Tyrconnel +affirmed that it was the constant practice of Mr. Savage to enter +a tavern with any company that proposed it, drink the most +expensive wines with great profusion, and when the reckoning was +demanded to be without money. If, as it often happened, his +company were willing to defray his part, the affair ended without +any ill consequences; but if they were refractory, and expected +that the wine should be paid for by him that drank it, his method +of composition was, to take them with him to his own apartment, +assume the government of the house, and order the butler in an +imperious manner to set the best wine in the cellar before his +company, who often drank till they forgot the respect due to the +house in which they were entertained, indulged themselves in the +utmost extravagance of merriment, practised the most licentious +frolics, and committed all the outrages of drunkenness. Nor was +this the only charge which Lord Tyrconnel brought against him. +Having given him a collection of valuable books, stamped with his +own arms, he had the mortification to see them in a short time +exposed to sale upon the stalls, it being usual with Mr. Savage, +when he wanted a small sum, to take his books to the +pawnbroker.</p> +<p>Whoever was acquainted with Mr. Savage easily credited both +these accusations; for having been obliged, from his first +entrance into the world, to subsist upon expedients, affluence +was not able to exalt him above them; and so much was he +delighted with wine and conversation, and so long had he been +accustomed to live by chance, that he would at any time go to the +tavern without scruple, and trust for the reckoning to the +liberality of his company, and frequently of company to whom he +was very little known. This conduct, indeed, very seldom drew +upon him those inconveniences that might be feared by any other +person, for his conversation was so entertaining, and his address +so pleasing, that few thought the pleasure which they received +from him dearly purchased by paying for his wine. It was his +peculiar happiness that he scarcely ever found a stranger whom he +did not leave a friend; but it must likewise be added, that he +had not often a friend long without obliging him to become a +stranger.</p> +<p>Mr. Savage, on the other hand, declared that Lord Tyrconnel +quarrelled with him because he would not subtract from his own +luxury and extravagance what he had promised to allow him, and +that his resentment was only a plea for the violation of his +promise. He asserted that he had done nothing that ought to +exclude him from that subsistence which he thought not so much a +favour as a debt, since it was offered him upon conditions which +he had never broken: and that his only fault was, that he could +not be supported with nothing. He acknowledged that Lord +Tyrconnel often exhorted him to regulate his method of life, and +not to spend all his nights in taverns, and that he appeared +desirous that he would pass those hours with him which he so +freely bestowed upon others. This demand Mr. Savage considered as +a censure of his conduct which he could never patiently bear, and +which, in the latter and cooler parts of his life, was so +offensive to him, that he declared it as his resolution “to +spurn that friend who should pretend to dictate to him;” +and it is not likely that in his earlier years he received +admonitions with more calmness. He was likewise inclined to +resent such expectations, as tending to infringe his liberty, of +which he was very jealous, when it was necessary to the +gratification of his passions; and declared that the request was +still more unreasonable as the company to which he was to have +been confined was insupportably disagreeable. This assertion +affords another instance of that inconsistency of his writings +with his conversation which was so often to be observed. He +forgot how lavishly he had, in his dedication to “The +Wanderer,” extolled the delicacy and penetration, the +humanity and generosity, the candour and politeness of the man +whom, when he no longer loved him, he declared to be a wretch +without understanding, without good nature, and without justice; +of whose name he thought himself obliged to leave no trace in any +future edition of his writings, and accordingly blotted it out of +that copy of “The Wanderer” which was in his +hands.</p> +<p>During his continuance with the Lord Tyrconnel, he wrote +“The Triumph of Health and Mirth,” on the recovery of +Lady Tyrconnel from a languishing illness. This performance is +remarkable, not only for the gaiety of the ideas and the melody +of the numbers, but for the agreeable fiction upon which it is +formed. Mirth, overwhelmed with sorrow for the sickness of her +favourite, takes a flight in quest of her sister Health, whom she +finds reclined upon the brow of a lofty mountain, amidst the +fragrance of perpetual spring, with the breezes of the morning +sporting about her. Being solicited by her sister Mirth, she +readily promises her assistance, flies away in a cloud, and +impregnates the waters of Bath with new virtues, by which the +sickness of Belinda is relieved. As the reputation of his +abilities, the particular circumstances of his birth and life, +the splendour of his appearance, and the distinction which was +for some time paid him by Lord Tyrconnel, entitled him to +familiarity with persons of higher rank than those to whose +conversation he had been before admitted, he did not fail to +gratify that curiosity which induced him to take a nearer view of +those whom their birth, their employments, or their fortunes +necessarily placed at a distance from the greatest part of +mankind, and to examine whether their merit was magnified or +diminished by the medium through which it was contemplated; +whether the splendour with which they dazzled their admirers was +inherent in themselves, or only reflected on them by the objects +that surrounded them; and whether great men were selected for +high stations, or high stations made great men.</p> +<p>For this purpose he took all opportunities of conversing +familiarly with those who were most conspicuous at that time for +their power or their influence; he watched their looser moments, +and examined their domestic behaviour, with that acuteness which +nature had given him, and which the uncommon variety of his life +had contributed to increase, and that inquisitiveness which must +always be produced in a vigorous mind by an absolute freedom from +all pressing or domestic engagements. His discernment was quick, +and therefore he soon found in every person, and in every affair, +something that deserved attention; he was supported by others, +without any care for himself, and was therefore at leisure to +pursue his observations. More circumstances to constitute a +critic on human life could not easily concur; nor, indeed, could +any man, who assumed from accidental advantages more praise than +he could justly claim from his real merit, admit any acquaintance +more dangerous than that of Savage; of whom likewise it must be +confessed, that abilities really exalted above the common level, +or virtue refined from passion, or proof against corruption, +could not easily find an abler judge or a warmer advocate.</p> +<p>What was the result of Mr. Savage’s inquiry, though he +was not much accustomed to conceal his discoveries, it may not be +entirely safe to relate, because the persons whose characters he +criticised are powerful, and power and resentment are seldom +strangers; nor would it perhaps be wholly just, because what he +asserted in conversation might, though true in general, be +heightened by some momentary ardour of imagination, and as it can +be delivered only from memory, may be imperfectly represented, so +that the picture, at first aggravated, and then unskilfully +copied, may be justly suspected to retain no great resemblance of +the original.</p> +<p>It may, however, be observed, that he did not appear to have +formed very elevated ideas of those to whom the administration of +affairs, or the conduct of parties, has been intrusted; who have +been considered as the advocates of the Crown, or the guardians +of the people; and who have obtained the most implicit +confidence, and the loudest applauses. Of one particular person, +who has been at one time so popular as to be generally esteemed, +and at another so formidable as to be universally detested, he +observed that his acquisitions had been small, or that his +capacity was narrow, and that the whole range of his mind was +from obscenity to politics, and from politics to obscenity.</p> +<p>But the opportunity of indulging his speculations on great +characters was now at an end. He was banished from the table of +Lord Tyrconnel, and turned again adrift upon the world, without +prospect of finding quickly any other harbour. As prudence was +not one of the virtues by which he was distinguished, he made no +provision against a misfortune like this. And though it is not to +be imagined but that the separation must for some time have been +preceded by coldness, peevishness, or neglect, though it was +undoubtedly the consequence of accumulated provocations on both +sides, yet every one that knew Savage will readily believe that +to him it was sudden as a stroke of thunder; that, though he +might have transiently suspected it, he had never suffered any +thought so unpleasing to sink into his mind, but that he had +driven it away by amusements or dreams of future felicity and +affluence, and had never taken any measures by which he might +prevent a precipitation from plenty to indigence. This quarrel +and separation, and the difficulties to which Mr. Savage was +exposed by them, were soon known both to his friends and enemies; +nor was it long before he perceived, from the behaviour of both, +how much is added to the lustre of genius by the ornaments of +wealth. His condition did not appear to excite much compassion, +for he had not been always careful to use the advantages he +enjoyed with that moderation which ought to have been with more +than usual caution preserved by him, who knew, if he had +reflected, that he was only a dependent on the bounty of another, +whom he could expect to support him no longer than he endeavoured +to preserve his favour by complying with his inclinations, and +whom he nevertheless set at defiance, and was continually +irritating by negligence or encroachments.</p> +<p>Examples need not be sought at any great distance to prove +that superiority of fortune has a natural tendency to kindle +pride, and that pride seldom fails to exert itself in contempt +and insult; and if this is often the effect of hereditary wealth, +and of honours enjoyed only by the merits of others, it is some +extenuation of any indecent triumphs to which this unhappy man +may have been betrayed, that his prosperity was heightened by the +force of novelty, and made more intoxicating by a sense of the +misery in which he had so long languished, and perhaps of the +insults which he had formerly borne, and which he might now think +himself entitled to revenge. It is too common for those who have +unjustly suffered pain to inflict it likewise in their turn with +the same injustice, and to imagine that they have a right to +treat others as they have themselves been treated.</p> +<p>That Mr. Savage was too much elevated by any good fortune is +generally known; and some passages of his Introduction to +“The Author to be Let” sufficiently show that he did +not wholly refrain from such satire, as he afterwards thought +very unjust when he was exposed to it himself; for, when he was +afterwards ridiculed in the character of a distressed poet, he +very easily discovered that distress was not a proper subject for +merriment or topic of invective. He was then able to discern, +that if misery be the effect of virtue, it ought to be +reverenced; if of ill fortune, to be pitied; and if of vice, not +to be insulted, because it is perhaps itself a punishment +adequate to the crime by which it was produced. And the humanity +of that man can deserve no panegyric who is capable of +reproaching a criminal in the hands of the executioner. But these +reflections, though they readily occurred to him in the first and +last parts of his life, were, I am afraid, for a long time +forgotten; at least they were, like many other maxims, treasured +up in his mind rather for show than use, and operated very little +upon his conduct, however elegantly he might sometimes explain, +or however forcibly he might inculcate them. His degradation, +therefore, from the condition which he had enjoyed with such +wanton thoughtlessness, was considered by many as an occasion of +triumph. Those who had before paid their court to him without +success soon returned the contempt which they had suffered; and +they who had received favours from him, for of such favours as he +could bestow he was very liberal, did not always remember them. +So much more certain are the effects of resentment than of +gratitude. It is not only to many more pleasing to recollect +those faults which place others below them, than those virtues by +which they are themselves comparatively depressed: but it is +likewise more easy to neglect than to recompense. And though +there are few who will practise a laborious virtue, there will +never be wanting multitudes that will indulge in easy vice.</p> +<p>Savage, however, was very little disturbed at the marks of +contempt which his ill fortune brought upon him from those whom +he never esteemed, and with whom he never considered himself as +levelled by any calamities: and though it was not without some +uneasiness that he saw some whose friendship he valued change +their behaviour, he yet observed their coldness without much +emotion, considered them as the slaves of fortune, and the +worshippers of prosperity, and was more inclined to despise them +than to lament himself.</p> +<p>It does not appear that after this return of his wants he +found mankind equally favourable to him, as at his first +appearance in the world. His story, though in reality not less +melancholy, was less affecting, because it was no longer new. It +therefore procured him no new friends, and those that had +formerly relieved him thought they might now consign him to +others. He was now likewise considered by many rather as criminal +than as unhappy, for the friends of Lord Tyrconnel, and of his +mother, were sufficiently industrious to publish his weaknesses, +which were indeed very numerous, and nothing was forgotten that +might make him either hateful or ridiculous. It cannot but be +imagined that such representations of his faults must make great +numbers less sensible of his distress; many who had only an +opportunity to hear one part made no scruple to propagate the +account which they received; many assisted their circulation from +malice or revenge; and perhaps many pretended to credit them, +that they might with a better grace withdraw their regard, or +withhold their assistance.</p> +<p>Savage, however, was not one of those who suffered himself to +be injured without resistance, nor was he less diligent in +exposing the faults of Lord Tyrconnel, over whom he obtained at +least this advantage, that he drove him first to the practice of +outrage and violence; for he was so much provoked by the wit and +virulence of Savage, that he came with a number of attendants, +that did no honour to his courage, to beat him at a coffee-house. +But it happened that he had left the place a few minutes, and his +lordship had, without danger, the pleasure of boasting how he +would have treated him. Mr. Savage went next day to repay his +visit at his own house, but was prevailed on by his domestics to +retire without insisting on seeing him.</p> +<p>Lord Tyrconnel was accused by Mr. Savage of some actions which +scarcely any provocation will be thought sufficient to justify, +such as seizing what he had in his lodgings, and other instances +of wanton cruelty, by which he increased the distress of Savage +without any advantage to himself.</p> +<p>These mutual accusations were retorted on both sides, for many +years, with the utmost degree of virulence and rage; and time +seemed rather to augment than diminish their resentment. That the +anger of Mr. Savage should be kept alive is not strange, because +he felt every day the consequences of the quarrel; but it might +reasonably have been hoped that Lord Tyrconnel might have +relented, and at length have forgot those provocations, which, +however they might have once inflamed him, had not in reality +much hurt him. The spirit of Mr. Savage, indeed, never suffered +him to solicit a reconciliation; he returned reproach for +reproach, and insult for insult; his superiority of wit supplied +the disadvantages of his fortune, and enabled him to form a +party, and prejudice great numbers in his favour. But though this +might be some gratification of his vanity, it afforded very +little relief to his necessities, and he was frequently reduced +to uncommon hardships, of which, however, he never made any mean +or importunate complaints, being formed rather to bear misery +with fortitude than enjoy prosperity with moderation.</p> +<p>He now thought himself again at liberty to expose the cruelty +of his mother; and therefore, I believe, about this time, +published “The Bastard,” a poem remarkable for the +vivacious sallies of thought in the beginning, where he makes a +pompous enumeration of the imaginary advantages of base birth, +and the pathetic sentiments at the end, where he recounts the +real calamities which he suffered by the crime of his parents. +The vigour and spirit of the verses, the peculiar circumstances +of the author, the novelty of the subject, and the notoriety of +the story to which the allusions are made, procured this +performance a very favourable reception; great numbers were +immediately dispersed, and editions were multiplied with unusual +rapidity.</p> +<p>One circumstance attended the publication which Savage used to +relate with great satisfaction. His mother, to whom the poem was +with “due reverence” inscribed, happened then to be +at Bath, where she could not conveniently retire from censure, or +conceal herself from observation; and no sooner did the +reputation of the poem begin to spread, than she heard it +repeated in all places of concourse; nor could she enter the +assembly-rooms or cross the walks without being saluted with some +lines from “The Bastard.”</p> +<p>This was perhaps the first time that she ever discovered a +sense of shame, and on this occasion the power of wit was very +conspicuous; the wretch who had, without scruple, proclaimed +herself an adulteress, and who had first endeavoured to starve +her son, then to transport him, and afterwards to hang him, was +not able to bear the representation of her own conduct, but fled +from reproach, though she felt no pain from guilt, and left Bath +in the utmost haste to shelter herself among the crowds of +London. Thus Savage had the satisfaction of finding that, though +he could not reform his mother, he could punish her, and that he +did not always suffer alone.</p> +<p>The pleasure which he received from this increase of his +poetical reputation was sufficient for some time to overbalance +the miseries of want, which this performance did not much +alleviate; for it was sold for a very trivial sum to a +bookseller, who, though the success was so uncommon that five +impressions were sold, of which many were undoubtedly very +numerous, had not generosity sufficient to admit the unhappy +writer to any part of the profit. The sale of this poem was +always mentioned by Mr. Savage with the utmost elevation of +heart, and referred to by him as an incontestable proof of a +general acknowledgment of his abilities. It was, indeed, the only +production of which he could justly boast a general reception. +But, though he did not lose the opportunity which success gave +him of setting a high rate on his abilities, but paid due +deference to the suffrages of mankind when they were given in his +favour, he did not suffer his esteem of himself to depend upon +others, nor found anything sacred in the voice of the people when +they were inclined to censure him; he then readily showed the +folly of expecting that the public should judge right, observed +how slowly poetical merit had often forced its way into the +world; he contented himself with the applause of men of judgment, +and was somewhat disposed to exclude all those from the character +of men of judgment who did not applaud him. But he was at other +times more favourable to mankind than to think them blind to the +beauties of his works, and imputed the slowness of their sale to +other causes; either they were published at a time when the town +was empty, or when the attention of the public was engrossed by +some struggle in the Parliament or some other object of general +concern; or they were, by the neglect of the publisher, not +diligently dispersed, or, by his avarice, not advertised with +sufficient frequency. Address, or industry, or liberality was +always wanting, and the blame was laid rather on any person than +the author.</p> +<p>By arts like these, arts which every man practises in some +degree, and to which too much of the little tranquillity of life +is to be ascribed, Savage was always able to live at peace with +himself. Had he, indeed, only made use of these expedients to +alleviate the loss or want of fortune or reputation, or any other +advantages which it is not in a man’s power to bestow upon +himself, they might have been justly mentioned as instances of a +philosophical mind, and very properly proposed to the imitation +of multitudes who, for want of diverting their imaginations with +the same dexterity, languish under afflictions which might be +easily removed.</p> +<p>It were doubtless to be wished that truth and reason were +universally prevalent; that everything were esteemed according to +its real value; and that men would secure themselves from being +disappointed, in their endeavours after happiness, by placing it +only in virtue, which is always to be obtained; but, if +adventitious and foreign pleasures must be pursued, it would be +perhaps of some benefit, since that pursuit must frequently be +fruitless, if the practice of Savage could be taught, that folly +might be an antidote to folly, and one fallacy be obviated by +another. But the danger of this pleasing intoxication must not be +concealed; nor, indeed, can any one, after having observed the +life of Savage, need to be cautioned against it. By imputing none +of his miseries to himself, he continued to act upon the same +principles, and to follow the same path; was never made wiser by +his sufferings, nor preserved by one misfortune from falling into +another. He proceeded throughout his life to tread the same steps +on the same circle; always applauding his past conduct, or at +least forgetting it, to amuse himself with phantoms of happiness, +which were dancing before him; and willingly turned his eyes from +the light of reason, when it would have discovered the illusion, +and shown him, what he never wished to see, his real state. He is +even accused, after having lulled his imagination with those +ideal opiates, of having tried the same experiment upon his +conscience; and, having accustomed himself to impute all +deviations from the right to foreign causes, it is certain that +he was upon every occasion too easily reconciled to himself, and +that he appeared very little to regret those practices which had +impaired his reputation. The reigning error of his life was that +he mistook the love for the practice of virtue, and was indeed +not so much a good man as the friend of goodness.</p> +<p>This, at least, must be allowed him, that he always preserved +a strong sense of the dignity, the beauty, and the necessity of +virtue; and that he never contributed deliberately to spread +corruption amongst mankind. His actions, which were generally +precipitate, were often blameable; but his writings, being the +production of study, uniformly tended to the exaltation of the +mind and the propagation of morality and piety. These writings +may improve mankind when his failings shall be forgotten; and +therefore he must be considered, upon the whole, as a benefactor +to the world. Nor can his personal example do any hurt, since +whoever hears of his faults will hear of the miseries which they +brought upon him, and which would deserve less pity had not his +condition been such as made his faults pardonable. He may be +considered as a child exposed to all the temptations of +indigence, at an age when resolution was not yet strengthened by +conviction, nor virtue confirmed by habit; a circumstance which, +in his “Bastard,” he laments in a very affecting +manner:—</p> +<p +class="poetry"> “No +mother’s care<br /> +Shielded my infant innocence with prayer;<br /> +No father’s guardian hand my youth maintained,<br /> +Called forth my virtues, or from vice restrained.”</p> +<p>“The Bastard,” however it might provoke or mortify +his mother, could not be expected to melt her to compassion, so +that he was still under the same want of the necessaries of life; +and he therefore exerted all the interest which his wit, or his +birth, or his misfortunes could procure to obtain, upon the death +of Eusden, the place of Poet Laureate, and prosecuted his +application with so much diligence that the king publicly +declared it his intention to bestow it upon him; but such was the +fate of Savage that even the king, when he intended his +advantage, was disappointed in his schemes; for the Lord +Chamberlain, who has the disposal of the laurel as one of the +appendages of his office, either did not know the king’s +design, or did not approve it, or thought the nomination of the +Laureate an encroachment upon his rights, and therefore bestowed +the laurel upon Colley Cibber.</p> +<p>Mr. Savage, thus disappointed, took a resolution of applying +to the queen, that, having once given him life, she would enable +him to support it, and therefore published a short poem on her +birthday, to which he gave the odd title of “Volunteer +Laureate.” The event of this essay he has himself +related in the following letter, which he prefixed to the poem +when he afterwards reprinted it in <i>The Gentleman’s +Magazine</i>, whence I have copied it entire, as this was one of +the few attempts in which Mr. Savage succeeded.</p> +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">Mr. +Urban</span>,—In your Magazine for February you published +the last ‘Volunteer Laureate,’ written on a very +melancholy occasion, the death of the royal patroness of arts and +literature in general, and of the author of that poem in +particular; I now send you the first that Mr. Savage wrote under +that title. This gentleman, notwithstanding a very considerable +interest, being, on the death of Mr. Eusden, disappointed of the +Laureate’s place, wrote the following verses; which were no +sooner published, but the late queen sent to a bookseller for +them. The author had not at that time a friend either to get him +introduced, or his poem presented at Court; yet, such was the +unspeakable goodness of that princess, that, notwithstanding this +act of ceremony was wanting, in a few days after publication Mr. +Savage received a bank-bill of fifty pounds, and a gracious +message from her Majesty, by the Lord North and Guilford, to this +effect: ‘That her Majesty was highly pleased with the +verses; that she took particularly kind his lines there relating +to the king; that he had permission to write annually on the same +subject; and that he should yearly receive the like present, till +something better (which was her Majesty’s intention) could +be done for him.’ After this he was permitted to +present one of his annual poems to her Majesty, had the honour of +kissing her hand, and met with the most gracious reception.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“Yours, etc.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Such was the performance, and such its reception; a reception +which, though by no means unkind, was yet not in the highest +degree generous. To chain down the genius of a writer to an +annual panegyric showed in the queen too much desire of hearing +her own praises, and a greater regard to herself than to him on +whom her bounty was conferred. It was a kind of avaricious +generosity, by which flattery was rather purchased than genius +rewarded.</p> +<p>Mrs. Oldfield had formerly given him the same allowance with +much more heroic intention: she had no other view than to enable +him to prosecute his studies, and to set himself above the want +of assistance, and was contented with doing good without +stipulating for encomiums.</p> +<p> </p> +<p>Mr. Savage, however, was not at liberty to make exceptions, +but was ravished with the favours which he had received, and +probably yet more with those which he was promised: he considered +himself now as a favourite of the queen, and did not doubt but a +few annual poems would establish him in some profitable +employment. He therefore assumed the title of “Volunteer +Laureate,” not without some reprehensions from Cibber, who +informed him that the title of “Laureate” was a mark +of honour conferred by the king, from whom all honour is derived, +and which, therefore, no man has a right to bestow upon himself; +and added that he might with equal propriety style himself a +Volunteer Lord or Volunteer Baronet. It cannot be denied that the +remark was just; but Savage did not think any title which was +conferred upon Mr. Cibber so honourable as that the usurpation of +it could be imputed to him as an instance of very exorbitant +vanity, and therefore continued to write under the same title, +and received every year the same reward. He did not appear to +consider these encomiums as tests of his abilities, or as +anything more than annual hints to the queen of her promise, or +acts of ceremony, by the performance of which he was entitled to +his pension, and therefore did not labour them with great +diligence, or print more than fifty each year, except that for +some of the last years he regularly inserted them in <i>The +Gentleman’s Magazine</i>, by which they were dispersed over +the kingdom.</p> +<p>Of some of them he had himself so low an opinion that he +intended to omit them in the collection of poems for which he +printed proposals, and solicited subscriptions; nor can it seem +strange that, being confined to the same subject, he should be at +some times indolent and at others unsuccessful; that he should +sometimes delay a disagreeable task till it was too late to +perform it well; or that he should sometimes repeat the same +sentiment on the same occasion, or at others be misled by an +attempt after novelty to forced conceptions and far-fetched +images. He wrote indeed with a double intention, which supplied +him with some variety; for his business was to praise the queen +for the favours which he had received, and to complain to her of +the delay of those which she had promised: in some of his pieces, +therefore, gratitude is predominant, and in some discontent; in +some, he represents himself as happy in her patronage; and, in +others, as disconsolate to find himself neglected. Her promise, +like other promises made to this unfortunate man, was never +performed, though he took sufficient care that it should not be +forgotten. The publication of his “Volunteer +Laureate” procured him no other reward than a regular +remittance of fifty pounds. He was not so depressed by his +disappointments as to neglect any opportunity that was offered of +advancing his interest. When the Princess Anne was married, he +wrote a poem upon her departure, only, as he declared, +“because it was expected from him,” and he was not +willing to bar his own prospects by any appearance of neglect. He +never mentioned any advantage gained by this poem, or any regard +that was paid to it; and therefore it is likely that it was +considered at Court as an act of duty, to which he was obliged by +his dependence, and which it was therefore not necessary to +reward by any new favour: or perhaps the queen really intended +his advancement, and therefore thought it superfluous to lavish +presents upon a man whom she intended to establish for life.</p> +<p>About this time not only his hopes were in danger of being +frustrated, but his pension likewise of being obstructed, by an +accidental calumny. The writer of <i>The Daily Courant</i>, a +paper then published under the direction of the Ministry, charged +him with a crime, which, though very great in itself, would have +been remarkably invidious in him, and might very justly have +incensed the queen against him. He was accused by name of +influencing elections against the Court by appearing at the head +of a Tory mob; nor did the accuser fail to aggravate his crime by +representing it as the effect of the most atrocious ingratitude, +and a kind of rebellion against the queen, who had first +preserved him from an infamous death, and afterwards +distinguished him by her favour, and supported him by her +charity. The charge, as it was open and confident, was likewise +by good fortune very particular. The place of the transaction was +mentioned, and the whole series of the rioter’s conduct +related. This exactness made Mr. Savage’s vindication easy; +for he never had in his life seen the place which was declared to +be the scene of his wickedness, nor ever had been present in any +town when its representatives were chosen. This answer he +therefore made haste to publish, with all the circumstances +necessary to make it credible; and very reasonably demanded that +the accusation should be retracted in the same paper, that he +might no longer suffer the imputation of sedition and +ingratitude. This demand was likewise pressed by him in a private +letter to the author of the paper, who, either trusting to the +protection of those whose defence he had undertaken, or having +entertained some personal malice against Mr. Savage, or fearing +lest, by retracting so confident an assertion, he should impair +the credit of his paper, refused to give him that satisfaction. +Mr. Savage therefore thought it necessary, to his own +vindication, to prosecute him in the King’s Bench; but as +he did not find any ill effects from the accusation, having +sufficiently cleared his innocence, he thought any further +procedure would have the appearance of revenge; and therefore +willingly dropped it. He saw soon afterwards a process commenced +in the same court against himself, on an information in which he +was accused of writing and publishing an obscene pamphlet.</p> +<p>It was always Mr. Savage’s desire to be distinguished; +and, when any controversy became popular, he never wanted some +reason for engaging in it with great ardour, and appearing at the +head of the party which he had chosen. As he was never celebrated +for his prudence, he had no sooner taken his side, and informed +himself of the chief topics of the dispute, than he took all +opportunities of asserting and propagating his principles, +without much regard to his own interest, or any other visible +design than that of drawing upon himself the attention of +mankind.</p> +<p>The dispute between the Bishop of London and the chancellor is +well known to have been for some time the chief topic of +political conversation; and therefore Mr. Savage, in pursuance of +his character, endeavoured to become conspicuous among the +controvertists with which every coffee-house was filled on that +occasion. He was an indefatigable opposer of all the claims of +ecclesiastical power, though he did not know on what they were +founded; and was therefore no friend to the Bishop of London. But +he had another reason for appearing as a warm advocate for Dr. +Rundle; for he was the friend of Mr. Foster and Mr. Thomson, who +were the friends of Mr. Savage.</p> +<p>Thus remote was his interest in the question, which, however, +as he imagined, concerned him so nearly, that it was not +sufficient to harangue and dispute, but necessary likewise to +write upon it. He therefore engaged with great ardour in a new +poem, called by him, “The Progress of a Divine;” in +which he conducts a profligate priest, by all the gradations of +wickedness, from a poor curacy in the country to the highest +preferments of the Church; and describes, with that humour which +was natural to him, and that knowledge which was extended to all +the diversities of human life, his behaviour in every station; +and insinuates that this priest, thus accomplished, found at last +a patron in the Bishop of London. When he was asked, by one of +his friends, on what pretence he could charge the bishop with +such an action, he had no more to say than that he had only +inverted the accusation; and that he thought it reasonable to +believe that he who obstructed the rise of a good man without +reason would for bad reasons promote the exaltation of a villain. +The clergy were universally provoked by this satire; and Savage, +who, as was his constant practice, had set his name to his +performance, was censured in <i>The Weekly Miscellany</i> with +severity, which he did not seem inclined to forget.</p> +<p>But return of invective was not thought a sufficient +punishment. The Court of King’s Bench was therefore moved +against him; and he was obliged to return an answer to a charge +of obscenity. It was urged, in his defence, that obscenity was +criminal when it was intended to promote the practice of vice; +but that Mr. Savage had only introduced obscene ideas with the +view of exposing them to detestation, and of amending the age by +showing the deformity of wickedness. This plea was admitted; and +Sir Philip Yorke, who then presided in that court, dismissed the +information, with encomiums upon the purity and excellence of Mr. +Savage’s writings. The prosecution, however, answered in +some measure the purpose of those by whom it was set on foot; for +Mr. Savage was so far intimidated by it that, when the edition of +his poem was sold, he did not venture to reprint it; so that it +was in a short time forgotten, or forgotten by all but those whom +it offended. It is said that some endeavours were used to incense +the queen against him: but he found advocates to obviate at least +part of their effect; for though he was never advanced, he still +continued to receive his pension.</p> +<p>This poem drew more infamy upon him than any incident of his +life; and, as his conduct cannot be vindicated, it is proper to +secure his memory from reproach by informing those whom he made +his enemies that he never intended to repeat the provocation; and +that, though whenever he thought he had any reason to complain of +the clergy, he used to threaten them with a new edition of +“The Progress of a Divine,” it was his calm and +settled resolution to suppress it for ever.</p> +<p>He once intended to have made a better reparation for the +folly or injustice with which he might be charged, by writing +another poem, called “The Progress of a +Free-thinker,” whom he intended to lead through all the +stages of vice and folly, to convert him from virtue to +wickedness, and from religion to infidelity, by all the modish +sophistry used for that purpose; and at last to dismiss him by +his own hand into the other world. That he did not execute this +design is a real loss to mankind; for he was too well acquainted +with all the scenes of debauchery to have failed in his +representations of them, and too zealous for virtue not to have +represented them in such a manner as should expose them either to +ridicule or detestation. But this plan was, like others, formed +and laid aside, till the vigour of his imagination was spent, and +the effervescence of invention had subsided; but soon gave way to +some other design, which pleased by its novelty for awhile, and +then was neglected like the former.</p> +<p>He was still in his usual exigencies, having no certain +support but the pension allowed him by the queen, which, though +it might have kept an exact economist from want, was very far +from being sufficient for Mr. Savage, who had never been +accustomed to dismiss any of his appetites without the +gratification which they solicited, and whom nothing but want of +money withheld from partaking of every pleasure that fell within +his view. His conduct with regard to his pension was very +particular. No sooner had he changed the bill than he vanished +from the sight of all his acquaintance, and lay for some time out +of the reach of all the inquiries that friendship or curiosity +could make after him. At length he appeared again, penniless as +before, but never informed even those whom he seemed to regard +most where he had been; nor was his retreat ever discovered. This +was his constant practice during the whole time that he received +the pension from the queen: he regularly disappeared and +returned. He, indeed, affirmed that he retired to study, and that +the money supported him in solitude for many months; but his +friends declared that the short time in which it was spent +sufficiently confuted his own account of his conduct.</p> +<p>His politeness and his wit still raised him friends who were +desirous of setting him at length free from that indigence by +which he had been hitherto oppressed; and therefore solicited Sir +Robert Walpole in his favour with so much earnestness that they +obtained a promise of the next place that should become vacant, +not exceeding two hundred pounds a year. This promise was made +with an uncommon declaration, “that it was not the promise +of a minister to a petitioner, but of a friend to his +friend.”</p> +<p>Mr. Savage now concluded himself set at ease for ever, and, as +he observes in a poem written on that incident of his life, +trusted, and was trusted; but soon found that his confidence was +ill-grounded, and this friendly promise was not inviolable. He +spent a long time in solicitations, and at last despaired and +desisted. He did not indeed deny that he had given the minister +some reason to believe that he should not strengthen his own +interest by advancing him, for he had taken care to distinguish +himself in coffee-houses, as an advocate for the ministry of the +last years of Queen Anne, and was always ready to justify the +conduct, and exalt the character, of Lord Bolingbroke, whom he +mentions with great regard in an Epistle upon Authors, which he +wrote about that time, but was too wise to publish, and of which +only some fragments have appeared, inserted by him in the +Magazine after his retirement.</p> +<p>To despair was not, however, the character of Savage; when one +patronage failed, he had recourse to another. The Prince was now +extremely popular, and had very liberally rewarded the merit of +some writers whom Mr. Savage did not think superior to himself, +and therefore he resolved to address a poem to him. For this +purpose he made choice of a subject which could regard only +persons of the highest rank and greatest affluence, and which was +therefore proper for a poem intended to procure the patronage of +a prince; and having retired for some time to Richmond, that he +might prosecute his design in full tranquillity, without the +temptations of pleasure, or the solicitations of creditors, by +which his meditations were in equal danger of being disconcerted, +he produced a poem “On Public Spirit, with regard to Public +Works.”</p> +<p>The plan of this poem is very extensive, and comprises a +multitude of topics, each of which might furnish matter +sufficient for a long performance, and of which some have already +employed more eminent writers; but as he was perhaps not fully +acquainted with the whole extent of his own design, and was +writing to obtain a supply of wants too pressing to admit of long +or accurate inquiries, he passes negligently over many public +works which, even in his own opinion, deserved to be more +elaborately treated.</p> +<p>But though he may sometimes disappoint his reader by transient +touches upon these subjects, which have often been considered, +and therefore naturally raise expectations, he must be allowed +amply to compensate his omissions by expatiating, in the +conclusion of his work, upon a kind of beneficence not yet +celebrated by any eminent poet, though it now appears more +susceptible of embellishments, more adapted to exalt the ideas +and affect the passions, than many of those which have hitherto +been thought most worthy of the ornament of verse. The settlement +of colonies in uninhabited countries, the establishment of those +in security whose misfortunes have made their own country no +longer pleasing or safe, the acquisition of property without +injury to any, the appropriation of the waste and luxuriant +bounties of nature, and the enjoyment of those gifts which Heaven +has scattered upon regions uncultivated and unoccupied, cannot be +considered without giving rise to a great number of pleasing +ideas, and bewildering the imagination in delightful prospects; +and therefore, whatever speculations they may produce in those +who have confined themselves to political studies, naturally +fixed the attention, and excited the applause, of a poet. The +politician, when he considers men driven into other countries for +shelter, and obliged to retire to forests and deserts, and pass +their lives and fix their posterity in the remotest corners of +the world to avoid those hardships which they suffer or fear in +their native place, may very properly inquire why the legislature +does not provide a remedy for these miseries rather than +encourage an escape from them. He may conclude that the flight of +every honest man is a loss to the community; that those who are +unhappy without guilt ought to be relieved; and the life which is +overburthened by accidental calamities set at ease by the care of +the public; and that those who have by misconduct forfeited their +claim to favour ought rather to be made useful to the society +which they have injured than be driven from it. But the poet is +employed in a more pleasing undertaking than that of proposing +laws which, however just or expedient, will never be made; or +endeavouring to reduce to rational schemes of government +societies which were formed by chance, and are conducted by the +private passions of those who preside in them. He guides the +unhappy fugitive, from want and persecution, to plenty, quiet, +and security, and seats him in scenes of peaceful solitude and +undisturbed repose.</p> +<p>Savage has not forgotten, amidst the pleasing sentiments which +this prospect of retirement suggested to him, to censure those +crimes which have been generally committed by the discoverers of +new regions, and to expose the enormous wickedness of making war +upon barbarous nations because they cannot resist, and of +invading countries because they are fruitful; of extending +navigation only to propagate vice; and of visiting distant lands +only to lay them waste. He has asserted the natural equality of +mankind, and endeavoured to suppress that pride which inclines +men to imagine that right is the consequence of power. His +description of the various miseries which force men to seek for +refuge in distant countries affords another instance of his +proficiency in the important and extensive study of human life; +and the tenderness with which he recounts them, another proof of +his humanity and benevolence.</p> +<p>It is observable that the close of this poem discovers a +change which experience had made in Mr. Savage’s opinions. +In a poem written by him in his youth, and published in his +Miscellanies, he declares his contempt of the contracted views +and narrow prospects of the middle state of life, and declares +his resolution either to tower like the cedar, or be trampled +like the shrub; but in this poem, though addressed to a prince, +he mentions this state of life as comprising those who ought most +to attract reward, those who merit most the confidence of power +and the familiarity of greatness; and, accidentally mentioning +this passage to one of his friends, declared that in his opinion +all the virtue of mankind was comprehended in that state.</p> +<p>In describing villas and gardens he did not omit to condemn +that absurd custom which prevails among the English of permitting +servants to receive money from strangers for the entertainment +that they receive, and therefore inserted in his poem these +lines:</p> +<p class="poetry">“But what the flowering pride of gardens +rare,<br /> +However royal, or however fair,<br /> +If gates which to excess should still give way,<br /> +Ope but, like Peter’s paradise, for pay;<br /> +If perquisited varlets frequent stand,<br /> +And each new walk must a new tax demand;<br /> +What foreign eye but with contempt surveys?<br /> +What Muse shall from oblivion snatch their praise?”</p> +<p>But before the publication of his performance he recollected +that the queen allowed her garden and cave at Richmond to be +shown for money; and that she so openly countenanced the practice +that she had bestowed the privilege of showing them as a place of +profit on a man whose merit she valued herself upon rewarding, +though she gave him only the liberty of disgracing his country. +He therefore thought, with more prudence than was often exerted +by him, that the publication of these lines might be officiously +represented as an insult upon the queen, to whom he owed his life +and his subsistence; and that the propriety of his observation +would be no security against the censures which the +unseasonableness of it might draw upon him; he therefore +suppressed the passage in the first edition, but after the +queen’s death thought the same caution no longer necessary, +and restored it to the proper place. The poem was, therefore, +published without any political faults, and inscribed to the +prince; but Mr. Savage, having no friend upon whom he could +prevail to present it to him, had no other method of attracting +his observation than the publication of frequent advertisements, +and therefore received no reward from his patron, however +generous on other occasions. This disappointment he never +mentioned without indignation, being by some means or other +confident that the prince was not ignorant of his address to him; +and insinuated that if any advances in popularity could have been +made by distinguishing him, he had not written without notice or +without reward. He was once inclined to have presented his poem +in person and sent to the printer for a copy with that design; +but either his opinion changed or his resolution deserted him, +and he continued to resent neglect without attempting to force +himself into regard. Nor was the public much more favourable than +his patron; for only seventy-two were sold, though the +performance was much commended by some whose judgment in that +kind of writing is generally allowed. But Savage easily +reconciled himself to mankind without imputing any defect to his +work, by observing that his poem was unluckily published two days +after the prorogation of the parliament, and by consequence at a +time when all those who could be expected to regard it were in +the hurry of preparing for their departure, or engaged in taking +leave of others upon their dismission from public affairs. It +must be however allowed, in justification of the public, that +this performance is not the most excellent of Mr. Savage’s +works; and that, though it cannot be denied to contain many +striking sentiments, majestic lines, and just observations, it is +in general not sufficiently polished in the language, or +enlivened in the imagery, or digested in the plan. Thus his poem +contributed nothing to the alleviation of his poverty, which was +such as very few could have supported with equal patience; but to +which it must likewise be confessed that few would have been +exposed who received punctually fifty pounds a year; a salary +which, though by no means equal to the demands of vanity and +luxury, is yet found sufficient to support families above want, +and was undoubtedly more than the necessities of life +require.</p> +<p>But no sooner had he received his pension than he withdrew to +his darling privacy, from which he returned in a short time to +his former distress, and for some part of the year generally +lived by chance, eating only when he was invited to the tables of +his acquaintances, from which the meanness of his dress often +excluded him, when the politeness and variety of his conversation +would have been thought a sufficient recompense for his +entertainment. He lodged as much by accident as he dined, and +passed the night sometimes in mean houses which are set open at +night to any casual wanderers; sometimes in cellars, among the +riot and filth of the meanest and most profligate of the rabble; +and sometimes, when he had not money to support even the expenses +of these receptacles, walked about the streets till he was weary, +and lay down in the summer upon the bulk, or in the winter, with +his associate, in poverty, among the ashes of a glass-house.</p> +<p>In this manner were passed those days and those nights which +nature had enabled him to have employed in elevated speculations, +useful studies, or pleasing conversation. On a bulk, in a cellar, +or in a glass-house, among thieves and beggars, was to be found +the author of “The Wanderer,” the man of exalted +sentiments, extensive views, and curious observations; the man +whose remarks on life might have assisted the statesman, whose +ideas of virtue might have enlightened the moralist, whose +eloquence might have influenced senates, and whose delicacy might +have polished courts. It cannot but be imagined that such +necessities might sometimes force him upon disreputable +practices; and it is probable that these lines in “The +Wanderer” were occasioned by his reflections on his own +conduct:</p> +<p class="poetry">“Though misery leads to happiness and +truth,<br /> +Unequal to the load this languid youth,<br /> +(Oh, let none censure, if, untried by grief,<br /> +If, amidst woe, untempted by relief),<br /> +He stooped reluctant to low arts of shame,<br /> +Which then, e’en then, he scorned, and blushed to +name.”</p> +<p>Whoever was acquainted with him was certain to be solicited +for small sums, which the frequency of the request made in time +considerable; and he was therefore quickly shunned by those who +were become familiar enough to be trusted with his necessities; +but his rambling manner of life, and constant appearance at +houses of public resort, always procured him a new succession of +friends whose kindness had not been exhausted by repeated +requests; so that he was seldom absolutely without resources, but +had in his utmost exigencies this comfort, that he always +imagined himself sure of speedy relief. It was observed that he +always asked favours of this kind without the least submission or +apparent consciousness of dependence, and that he did not seem to +look upon a compliance with his request as an obligation that +deserved any extraordinary acknowledgments; but a refusal was +resented by him as an affront, or complained of as an injury; nor +did he readily reconcile himself to those who either denied to +lend, or gave him afterwards any intimation that they expected to +be repaid. He was sometimes so far compassionated by those who +knew both his merit and distresses that they received him into +their families, but they soon discovered him to be a very +incommodious inmate; for, being always accustomed to an irregular +manner of life, he could not confine himself to any stated hours, +or pay any regard to the rules of a family, but would prolong his +conversation till midnight, without considering that business +might require his friend’s application in the morning; and, +when he had persuaded himself to retire to bed, was not, without +equal difficulty, called up to dinner: it was therefore +impossible to pay him any distinction without the entire +subversion of all economy, a kind of establishment which, +wherever he went, he always appeared ambitious to overthrow. It +must therefore be acknowledged, in justification of mankind, that +it was not always by the negligence or coldness of his friends +that Savage was distressed, but because it was in reality very +difficult to preserve him long in a state of ease. To supply him +with money was a hopeless attempt; for no sooner did he see +himself master of a sum sufficient to set him free from care for +a day than he became profuse and luxurious. When once he had +entered a tavern, or engaged in a scheme of pleasure, he never +retired till want of money obliged him to some new expedient. If +he was entertained in a family, nothing was any longer to be +regarded there but amusement and jollity; wherever Savage +entered, he immediately expected that order and business should +fly before him, that all should thenceforward be left to hazard, +and that no dull principle of domestic management should be +opposed to his inclination or intrude upon his gaiety. His +distresses, however afflictive, never dejected him; in his lowest +state he wanted not spirit to assert the natural dignity of wit, +and was always ready to repress that insolence which the +superiority of fortune incited, and to trample on that reputation +which rose upon any other basis than that of merit: he never +admitted any gross familiarities, or submitted to be treated +otherwise than as an equal. Once when he was without lodging, +meat, or clothes, one of his friends, a man indeed not remarkable +for moderation in his prosperity, left a message that he desired +to see him about nine in the morning. Savage knew that his +intention was to assist him, but was very much disgusted that he +should presume to prescribe the hour of his attendance, and, I +believe, refused to visit him, and rejected his kindness.</p> +<p>The same invincible temper, whether firmness or obstinacy, +appeared in his conduct to the Lord Tyrconnel, from whom he very +frequently demanded that the allowance which was once paid him +should be restored; but with whom he never appeared to entertain +for a moment the thought of soliciting a reconciliation, and whom +he treated at once with all the haughtiness of superiority and +all the bitterness of resentment. He wrote to him, not in a style +of supplication or respect, but of reproach, menace, and +contempt; and appeared determined, if he ever regained his +allowance, to hold it only by the right of conquest.</p> +<p>As many more can discover that a man is richer than that he is +wiser than themselves, superiority of understanding is not so +readily acknowledged as that of fortune; nor is that haughtiness +which the consciousness of great abilities incites, borne with +the same submission as the tyranny of affluence; and therefore +Savage, by asserting his claim to deference and regard, and by +treating those with contempt whom better fortune animated to +rebel against him, did not fail to raise a great number of +enemies in the different classes of mankind. Those who thought +themselves raised above him by the advantages of riches hated him +because they found no protection from the petulance of his wit. +Those who were esteemed for their writings feared him as a +critic, and maligned him as a rival; and almost all the smaller +wits were his professed enemies.</p> +<p>Among these Mr. Miller so far indulged his resentment as to +introduce him in a farce, and direct him to be personated on the +stage in a dress like that which he then wore; a mean insult, +which only insinuated that Savage had but one coat, and which was +therefore despised by him rather than resented; for, though he +wrote a lampoon against Miller, he never printed it: and as no +other person ought to prosecute that revenge from which the +person who was injured desisted, I shall not preserve what Mr. +Savage suppressed; of which the publication would indeed have +been a punishment too severe for so impotent an assault.</p> +<p>The great hardships of poverty were to Savage not the want of +lodging or food, but the neglect and contempt which it drew upon +him. He complained that, as his affairs grew desperate, he found +his reputation for capacity visibly decline; that his opinion in +questions of criticism was no longer regarded when his coat was +out of fashion; and that those who, in the interval of his +prosperity, were always encouraging him to great undertakings by +encomiums on his genius and assurances of success, now received +any mention of his designs with coldness, thought that the +subjects on which he proposed to write were very difficult, and +were ready to inform him that the event of a poem was uncertain, +that an author ought to employ much time in the consideration of +his plan, and not presume to sit down to write in consequence of +a few cursory ideas and a superficial knowledge; difficulties +were started on all sides, and he was no longer qualified for any +performance but “The Volunteer Laureate.”</p> +<p>Yet even this kind of contempt never depressed him: for he +always preserved a steady confidence in his own capacity, and +believed nothing above his reach which he should at any time +earnestly endeavour to attain. He formed schemes of the same kind +with regard to knowledge and to fortune, and flattered himself +with advances to be made in science, as with riches, to be +enjoyed in some distant period of his life. For the acquisition +of knowledge he was indeed much better qualified than for that of +riches; for he was naturally inquisitive, and desirous of the +conversation of those from whom any information was to be +obtained, but by no means solicitous to improve those +opportunities that were sometimes offered of raising his fortune; +and he was remarkably retentive of his ideas, which, when once he +was in possession of them, rarely forsook him; a quality which +could never be communicated to his money.</p> +<p>While he was thus wearing out his life in expectation that the +queen would some time recollect her promise, he had recourse to +the usual practice of writers, and published proposals for +printing his works by subscription, to which he was encouraged by +the success of many who had not a better right to the favour of +the public; but, whatever was the reason, he did not find the +world equally inclined to favour him; and he observed with some +discontent, that though he offered his works at half a guinea, he +was able to procure but a small number in comparison with those +who subscribed twice as much to Duck. Nor was it without +indignation that he saw his proposals neglected by the queen, who +patronised Mr. Duck’s with uncommon ardour, and incited a +competition among those who attended the court who should most +promote his interest, and who should first offer a subscription. +This was a distinction to which Mr. Savage made no scruple of +asserting that his birth, his misfortunes, and his genius, gave a +fairer title than could be pleaded by him on whom it was +conferred.</p> +<p>Savage’s applications were, however, not universally +unsuccessful; for some of the nobility countenanced his design, +encouraged his proposals, and subscribed with great liberality. +He related of the Duke of Chandos particularly, that upon +receiving his proposals he sent him ten guineas. But the money +which his subscriptions afforded him was not less volatile than +that which he received from his other schemes; whenever a +subscription was paid him, he went to a tavern; and as money so +collected is necessarily received in small sums, he never was +able to send his poems to the press, but for many years continued +his solicitation, and squandered whatever he obtained.</p> +<p>The project of printing his works was frequently revived; and +as his proposals grew obsolete, new ones were printed with +fresher dates. To form schemes for the publication was one of his +favourite amusements; nor was he ever more at ease than when, +with any friend who readily fell in with his schemes, he was +adjusting the print, forming the advertisements, and regulating +the dispersion of his new edition, which he really intended some +time to publish, and which, as long as experience had shown him +the impossibility of printing the volume together, he at last +determined to divide into weekly or monthly numbers, that the +profits of the first might supply the expenses of the next.</p> +<p>Thus he spent his time in mean expedients and tormenting +suspense, living for the greatest part in fear of prosecutions +from his creditors, and consequently skulking in obscure parts of +the town, of which he was no stranger to the remotest corners. +But wherever he came, his address secured him friends, whom his +necessities soon alienated; so that he had perhaps a more +numerous acquaintance than any man ever before attained, there +being scarcely any person eminent on any account to whom he was +not known, or whose character he was not in some degree able to +delineate. To the acquisition of this extensive acquaintance +every circumstance of his life contributed. He excelled in the +arts of conversation, and therefore willingly practised them. He +had seldom any home, or even a lodging, in which he could be +private, and therefore was driven into public-houses for the +common conveniences of life and supports of nature. He was always +ready to comply with every invitation, having no employment to +withhold him, and often no money to provide for himself; and by +dining with one company he never failed of obtaining an +introduction into another.</p> +<p>Thus dissipated was his life, and thus casual his subsistence; +yet did not the distraction of his views hinder him from +reflection, nor the uncertainty of his condition depress his +gaiety. When he had wandered about without any fortunate +adventure by which he was led into a tavern, he sometimes retired +into the fields, and was able to employ his mind in study, to +amuse it with pleasing imaginations; and seldom appeared to be +melancholy but when some sudden misfortune had just fallen upon +him; and even then in a few moments he would disentangle himself +from his perplexity, adopt the subject of conversation, and apply +his mind wholly to the objects that others presented to it. This +life, unhappy as it may be already imagined, was yet embittered +in 1738 with new calamities. The death of the queen deprived him +of all the prospects of preferment with which he so long +entertained his imagination; and as Sir Robert Walpole had before +given him reason to believe that he never intended the +performance of his promise, he was now abandoned again to +fortune. He was, however, at that time supported by a friend; and +as it was not his custom to look out for distant calamities, or +to feel any other pain than that which forced itself upon his +senses, he was not much afflicted at his loss, and perhaps +comforted himself that his pension would be now continued without +the annual tribute of a panegyric. Another expectation +contributed likewise to support him; he had taken a resolution to +write a second tragedy upon the story of Sir Thomas Overbury, in +which he preserved a few lines of his former play, but made a +total alteration of the plan, added new incidents, and introduced +new characters; so that it was a new tragedy, not a revival of +the former.</p> +<p>Many of his friends blamed him for not making choice of +another subject; but in vindication of himself he asserted that +it was not easy to find a better; and that he thought it his +interest to extinguish the memory of the first tragedy, which he +could only do by writing one less defective upon the same story; +by which he should entirely defeat the artifice of the +booksellers, who, after the death of any author of reputation, +are always industrious to swell his works by uniting his worst +productions with his best. In the execution of this scheme, +however, he proceeded but slowly, and probably only employed +himself upon it when he could find no other amusement; but he +pleased himself with counting the profits, and perhaps imagined +that the theatrical reputation which he was about to acquire +would be equivalent to all that he had lost by the death of his +patroness. He did not, in confidence of his approaching riches, +neglect the measures proper to secure the continuance of his +pension, though some of his favourers thought him culpable for +omitting to write on her death; but on her birthday next year he +gave a proof of the solidity of his judgment and the power of his +genius. He knew that the track of elegy had been so long beaten +that it was impossible to travel in it without treading in the +footsteps of those who had gone before him; and that therefore it +was necessary, that he might distinguish himself from the herd of +encomiasts, to find out some new walk of funeral panegyric. This +difficult task he performed in such a manner that his poem may be +justly ranked among the best pieces that the death of princes has +produced. By transferring the mention of her death to her +birthday, he has formed a happy combination of topics which any +other man would have thought it very difficult to connect in one +view, but which he has united in such a manner that the relation +between them appears natural; and it may be justly said that what +no other man would have thought on, it now appears scarcely +possible for any man to miss.</p> +<p>The beauty of this peculiar combination of images is so +masterly that it is sufficient to set this poem above censure; +and therefore it is not necessary to mention many other delicate +touches which may be found in it, and which would deservedly be +admired in any other performance. To these proofs of his genius +may be added, from the same poem, an instance of his prudence, an +excellence for which he was not so often distinguished; he does +not forget to remind the king, in the most delicate and artful +manner, of continuing his pension.</p> +<p>With regard to the success of his address he was for some time +in suspense, but was in no great degree solicitous about it; and +continued his labour upon his new tragedy with great +tranquillity, till the friend who had for a considerable time +supported him, removing his family to another place, took +occasion to dismiss him. It then became necessary to inquire more +diligently what was determined in his affair, having reason to +suspect that no great favour was intended him, because he had not +received his pension at the usual time.</p> +<p>It is said that he did not take those methods of retrieving +his interest which were most likely to succeed; and some of those +who were employed in the Exchequer cautioned him against too much +violence in his proceedings; but Mr. Savage, who seldom regulated +his conduct by the advice of others, gave way to his passion, and +demanded of Sir Robert Walpole, at his levée, the reason +of the distinction that was made between him and the other +pensioners of the queen, with a degree of roughness which perhaps +determined him to withdraw what had been only delayed.</p> +<p>Whatever was the crime of which he was accused or suspected, +and whatever influence was employed against him, he received soon +after an account that took from him all hopes of regaining his +pension; and he had now no prospect of subsistence but from his +play, and he knew no way of living for the time required to +finish it.</p> +<p>So peculiar were the misfortunes of this man, deprived of an +estate and title by a particular law, exposed and abandoned by a +mother, defrauded by a mother of a fortune which his father had +allotted him, he entered the world without a friend; and though +his abilities forced themselves into esteem and reputation, he +was never able to obtain any real advantage; and whatever +prospects arose, were always intercepted as he began to approach +them. The king’s intentions in his favour were frustrated; +his dedication to the prince, whose generosity on every other +occasion was eminent, procured him no reward; Sir Robert Walpole, +who valued himself upon keeping his promise to others, broke it +to him without regret; and the bounty of the queen was, after her +death, withdrawn from him, and from him only.</p> +<p>Such were his misfortunes, which yet he bore, not only with +decency, but with cheerfulness; nor was his gaiety clouded even +by his last disappointments, though he was in a short time +reduced to the lowest degree of distress, and often wanted both +lodging and food. At this time he gave another instance of the +insurmountable obstinacy of his spirit: his clothes were worn +out, and he received notice that at a coffee-house some clothes +and linen were left for him: the person who sent them did not, I +believe, inform him to whom he was to be obliged, that he might +spare the perplexity of acknowledging the benefit; but though the +offer was so far generous, it was made with some neglect of +ceremonies, which Mr. Savage so much resented that he refused the +present, and declined to enter the house till the clothes that +had been designed for him were taken away.</p> +<p>His distress was now publicly known, and his friends therefore +thought it proper to concert some measures for his relief; and +one of them [Pope] wrote a letter to him, in which he expressed +his concern “for the miserable withdrawing of this +pension;” and gave him hopes that in a short time he should +find himself supplied with a competence, “without any +dependence on those little creatures which we are pleased to call +the Great.” The scheme proposed for this happy and +independent subsistence was, that he should retire into Wales, +and receive an allowance of fifty pounds a year, to be raised by +a subscription, on which he was to live privately in a cheap +place, without aspiring any more to affluence, or having any +further care of reputation. This offer Mr. Savage gladly +accepted, though with intentions very different from those of his +friends; for they proposed that he should continue an exile from +London for ever, and spend all the remaining part of his life at +Swansea; but he designed only to take the opportunity which their +scheme offered him of retreating for a short time, that he might +prepare his play for the stage, and his other works for the +press, and then to return to London to exhibit his tragedy, and +live upon the profits of his own labour. With regard to his works +he proposed very great improvements, which would have required +much time or great application; and, when he had finished them, +he designed to do justice to his subscribers by publishing them +according to his proposals. As he was ready to entertain himself +with future pleasures, he had planned out a scheme of life for +the country, of which he had no knowledge but from pastorals and +songs. He imagined that he should be transported to scenes of +flowery felicity, like those which one poet has reflected to +another; and had projected a perpetual round of innocent +pleasures, of which he suspected no interruption from pride, or +ignorance, or brutality. With these expectations he was so +enchanted that when he was once gently reproached by a friend for +submitting to live upon a subscription, and advised rather by a +resolute exertion of his abilities to support himself, he could +not bear to debar himself from the happiness which was to be +found in the calm of a cottage, or lose the opportunity of +listening, without intermission, to the melody of the +nightingale, which he believed was to be heard from every +bramble, and which he did not fail to mention as a very important +part of the happiness of a country life.</p> +<p>While this scheme was ripening, his friends directed him to +take a lodging in the liberties of the Fleet, that he might be +secure from his creditors, and sent him every Monday a guinea, +which he commonly spent before the next morning, and trusted, +after his usual manner, the remaining part of the week to the +bounty of fortune.</p> +<p>He now began very sensibly to feel the miseries of dependence. +Those by whom he was to be supported began to prescribe to him +with an air of authority, which he knew not how decently to +resent, nor patiently to bear; and he soon discovered from the +conduct of most of his subscribers, that he was yet in the hands +of “little creatures.” Of the insolence that he +was obliged to suffer he gave many instances, of which none +appeared to raise his indignation to a greater height than the +method which was taken of furnishing him with clothes. Instead of +consulting him, and allowing him to send a tailor his orders for +what they thought proper to allow him, they proposed to send for +a tailor to take his measure, and then to consult how they should +equip him. This treatment was not very delicate, nor was it such +as Savage’s humanity would have suggested to him on a like +occasion; but it had scarcely deserved mention, had it not, by +affecting him in an uncommon degree, shown the peculiarity of his +character. Upon hearing the design that was formed, he came to +the lodging of a friend with the most violent agonies of rage; +and, being asked what it could be that gave him such disturbance, +he replied with the utmost vehemence of indignation, “That +they had sent for a tailor to measure him.”</p> +<p>How the affair ended was never inquired, for fear of renewing +his uneasiness. It is probable that, upon recollection, he +submitted with a good grace to what he could not avoid, and that +he discovered no resentment where he had no power. He was, +however, not humbled to implicit and universal compliance; for +when the gentleman who had first informed him of the design to +support him by a subscription attempted to procure a +reconciliation with the Lord Tyrconnel, he could by no means be +prevailed upon to comply with the measures that were +proposed.</p> +<p>A letter was written for him to Sir William Lemon, to prevail +upon him to interpose his good offices with Lord Tyrconnel, in +which he solicited Sir William’s assistance “for a +man who really needed it as much as any man could well do;” +and informed him that he was retiring “for ever to a place +where he should no more trouble his relations, friends, or +enemies;” he confessed that his passion had betrayed him to +some conduct, with regard to Lord Tyrconnel, for which he could +not but heartily ask his pardon; and as he imagined Lord +Tyrconnel’s passion might be yet so high, that he would not +“receive a letter from him,” begged that Sir William +would endeavour to soften him; and expressed his hopes that he +would comply with this request, and that “so small a +relation would not harden his heart against him.”</p> +<p>That any man should presume to dictate a letter to him was not +very agreeable to Mr. Savage; and therefore he was, before he had +opened it, not much inclined to approve it. But when he read it +he found it contained sentiments entirely opposite to his own, +and, as he asserted, to the truth; and therefore, instead of +copying it, wrote his friend a letter full of masculine +resentment and warm expostulations. He very justly observed, that +the style was too supplicatory, and the representation too +abject, and that he ought at least to have made him complain with +“the dignity of a gentleman in distress.” He +declared that he would not write the paragraph in which he was to +ask Lord Tyrconnel’s pardon; for, “he despised his +pardon, and therefore could not heartily, and would not +hypocritically, ask it.” He remarked that his friend +made a very unreasonable distinction between himself and him; +for, says he, “when you mention men of high rank in your +own character,” they are “those little creatures whom +we are pleased to call the Great;” but when you address +them “in mine,” no servility is sufficiently humble. +He then with propriety explained the ill consequences which might +be expected from such a letter, which his relations would print +in their own defence, and which would for ever be produced as a +full answer to all that he should allege against them; for he +always intended to publish a minute account of the treatment +which he had received. It is to be remembered, to the honour of +the gentleman by whom this letter was drawn up, that he yielded +to Mr. Savage’s reasons, and agreed that it ought to be +suppressed.</p> +<p>After many alterations and delays, a subscription was at +length raised, which did not amount to fifty pounds a year, +though twenty were paid by one gentleman; such was the generosity +of mankind, that what had been done by a player without +solicitation, could not now be effected by application and +interest; and Savage had a great number to court and to obey for +a pension less than that which Mrs. Oldfield paid him without +exacting any servilities. Mr. Savage, however, was satisfied, and +willing to retire, and was convinced that the allowance, though +scanty, would be more than sufficient for him, being now +determined to commence a rigid economist, and to live according +to the exact rules of frugality; for nothing was in his opinion +more contemptible than a man who, when he knew his income, +exceeded it; and yet he confessed that instances of such folly +were too common, and lamented that some men were not trusted with +their own money.</p> +<p>Full of these salutary resolutions, he left London in July, +1739, having taken leave with great tenderness of his friends, +and parted from the author of this narrative with tears in his +eyes. He was furnished with fifteen guineas, and informed that +they would be sufficient, not only for the expense of his +journey, but for his support in Wales for some time; and that +there remained but little more of the first collection. He +promised a strict adherence to his maxims of parsimony, and went +away in the stage-coach; nor did his friends expect to hear from +him till he informed them of his arrival at Swansea. But when +they least expected, arrived a letter dated the fourteenth day +after his departure, in which he sent them word that he was yet +upon the road, and without money; and that he therefore could not +proceed without a remittance. They then sent him the money that +was in their hands, with which he was enabled to reach Bristol, +from whence he was to go to Swansea by water.</p> +<p>At Bristol he found an embargo laid upon the shipping, so that +he could not immediately obtain a passage; and being therefore +obliged to stay there some time, he with his usual felicity +ingratiated himself with many of the principal inhabitants, was +invited to their houses, distinguished at their public feasts, +and treated with a regard that gratified his vanity, and +therefore easily engaged his affection.</p> +<p>He began very early after his retirement to complain of the +conduct of his friends in London, and irritated many of them so +much by his letters, that they withdrew, however honourably, +their contributions; and it is believed that little more was paid +him than the twenty pounds a year, which were allowed him by the +gentleman who proposed the subscription.</p> +<p>After some stay at Bristol he retired to Swansea, the place +originally proposed for his residence, where he lived about a +year, very much dissatisfied with the diminution of his salary; +but contracted, as in other places, acquaintance with those who +were most distinguished in that country, among whom he has +celebrated Mr. Powel and Mrs. Jones, by some verses which he +inserted in <i>The Gentleman’s Magazine</i>. Here he +completed his tragedy, of which two acts were wanting when he +left London; and was desirous of coming to town, to bring it upon +the stage. This design was very warmly opposed; and he was +advised, by his chief benefactor, to put it into the hands of Mr. +Thomson and Mr. Mallet, that it might be fitted for the stage, +and to allow his friends to receive the profits, out of which an +annual pension should be paid him.</p> +<p>This proposal he rejected with the utmost contempt. He was by +no means convinced that the judgment of those to whom he was +required to submit was superior to his own. He was now +determined, as he expressed it, to be “no longer kept in +leading-strings,” and had no elevated idea of “his +bounty, who proposed to pension him out of the profits of his own +labours.”</p> +<p>He attempted in Wales to promote a subscription for his works, +and had once hopes of success; but in a short time afterwards +formed a resolution of leaving that part of the country, to which +he thought it not reasonable to be confined for the gratification +of those who, having promised him a liberal income, had no sooner +banished him to a remote corner than they reduced his allowance +to a salary scarcely equal to the necessities of life. His +resentment of this treatment, which, in his own opinion at least, +he had not deserved, was such, that he broke off all +correspondence with most of his contributors, and appeared to +consider them as persecutors and oppressors; and in the latter +part of his life declared that their conduct towards him since +his departure from London “had been perfidiousness +improving on perfidiousness, and inhumanity on +inhumanity.”</p> +<p>It is not to be supposed that the necessities of Mr. Savage +did not sometimes incite him to satirical exaggerations of the +behaviour of those by whom he thought himself reduced to them. +But it must be granted that the diminution of his allowance was a +great hardship, and that those who withdrew their subscription +from a man who, upon the faith of their promise, had gone into a +kind of banishment, and abandoned all those by whom he had been +before relieved in his distresses, will find it no easy task to +vindicate their conduct. It may be alleged, and perhaps justly, +that he was petulant and contemptuous; that he more frequently +reproached his subscribers for not giving him more, than thanked +them for what he received; but it is to be remembered that his +conduct, and this is the worst charge that can be drawn up +against him, did them no real injury, and that it therefore ought +rather to have been pitied than resented; at least the resentment +it might provoke ought to have been generous and manly; epithets +which his conduct will hardly deserve that starves the man whom +he has persuaded to put himself into his power.</p> +<p>It might have been reasonably demanded by Savage, that they +should, before they had taken away what they promised, have +replaced him in his former state, that they should have taken no +advantages from the situation to which the appearance of their +kindness had reduced him, and that he should have been recalled +to London before he was abandoned. He might justly represent, +that he ought to have been considered as a lion in the toils, and +demand to be released before the dogs should be loosed upon him. +He endeavoured, indeed, to release himself, and, with an intent +to return to London, went to Bristol, where a repetition of the +kindness which he had formerly found, invited him to stay. He was +not only caressed and treated, but had a collection made for him +of about thirty pounds, with which it had been happy if he had +immediately departed for London; but his negligence did not +suffer him to consider that such proofs of kindness were not +often to be expected, and that this ardour of benevolence was in +a great degree the effect of novelty, and might, probably, be +every day less; and therefore he took no care to improve the +happy time, but was encouraged by one favour to hope for another, +till at length generosity was exhausted, and officiousness +wearied.</p> +<p>Another part of his misconduct was the practice of prolonging +his visits to unseasonable hours, and disconcerting all the +families into which he was admitted. This was an error in a place +of commerce which all the charms of his conversation could not +compensate; for what trader would purchase such airy satisfaction +by the loss of solid gain, which must be the consequence of +midnight merriment, as those hours which were gained at night +were generally lost in the morning? Thus Mr. Savage, after +the curiosity of the inhabitants was gratified, found the number +of his friends daily decreasing, perhaps without suspecting for +what reason their conduct was altered; for he still continued to +harass, with his nocturnal intrusions, those that yet +countenanced him, and admitted him to their houses.</p> +<p>But he did not spend all the time of his residence at Bristol +in visits or at taverns, for he sometimes returned to his +studies, and began several considerable designs. When he felt an +inclination to write, he always retired from the knowledge of his +friends, and lay hid in an obscure part of the suburbs, till he +found himself again desirous of company, to which it is likely +that intervals of absence made him more welcome. He was always +full of his design of returning to London, to bring his tragedy +upon the stage; but, having neglected to depart with the money +that was raised for him, he could not afterwards procure a sum +sufficient to defray the expenses of his journey; nor perhaps +would a fresh supply have had any other effect than, by putting +immediate pleasures into his power, to have driven the thoughts +of his journey out of his mind. While he was thus spending the +day in contriving a scheme for the morrow, distress stole upon +him by imperceptible degrees. His conduct had already wearied +some of those who were at first enamoured of his conversation; +but he might, perhaps, still have devolved to others, whom he +might have entertained with equal success, had not the decay of +his clothes made it no longer consistent with their vanity to +admit him to their tables, or to associate with him in public +places. He now began to find every man from home at whose house +he called; and was therefore no longer able to procure the +necessaries of life, but wandered about the town, slighted and +neglected, in quest of a dinner, which he did not always +obtain.</p> +<p>To complete his misery, he was pursued by the officers for +small debts which he had contracted; and was therefore obliged to +withdraw from the small number of friends from whom he had still +reason to hope for favours. His custom was to lie in bed the +greatest part of the day, and to get out in the dark with the +utmost privacy, and, after having paid his visit, return again +before morning to his lodging, which was in the garret of an +obscure inn. Being thus excluded on one hand, and confined on the +other, he suffered the utmost extremities of poverty, and often +fasted so long that he was seized with faintness, and had lost +his appetite, not being able to bear the smell of meat till the +action of his stomach was restored by a cordial. In this +distress, he received a remittance of five pounds from London, +with which he provided himself a decent coat, and determined to +go to London, but unhappily spent his money at a favourite +tavern. Thus was he again confined to Bristol, where he was every +day hunted by bailiffs. In this exigence he once more found a +friend, who sheltered him in his house, though at the usual +inconveniences with which his company was attended; for he could +neither be persuaded to go to bed in the night nor to rise in the +day.</p> +<p>It is observable, that in these various scenes of misery he +was always disengaged and cheerful: he at some times pursued his +studies, and at others continued or enlarged his epistolary +correspondence; nor was he ever so far dejected as to endeavour +to procure an increase of his allowance by any other methods than +accusations and reproaches.</p> +<p>He had now no longer any hopes of assistance from his friends +at Bristol, who as merchants, and by consequence sufficiently +studious of profit, cannot be supposed to have looked with much +compassion upon negligence and extravagance, or to think any +excellence equivalent to a fault of such consequence as neglect +of economy. It is natural to imagine, that many of those who +would have relieved his real wants, were discouraged from the +exertion of their benevolence by observation of the use which was +made of their favours, and conviction that relief would be only +momentary, and that the same necessity would quickly return.</p> +<p>At last he quitted the house of his friend, and returned to +his lodgings at the inn, still intending to set out in a few days +for London, but on the 10th of January, 1742–3, having been +at supper with two of his friends, he was at his return to his +lodgings arrested for a debt of about eight pounds, which he owed +at a coffee-house, and conducted to the house of a +sheriff’s officer. The account which he gives of this +misfortune, in a letter to one of the gentlemen with whom he had +supped, is too remarkable to be omitted.</p> +<p>“It was not a little unfortunate for me, that I spent +yesterday’s evening with you; because the hour hindered me +from entering on my new lodging; however, I have now got one, but +such an one as I believe nobody would choose.</p> +<p>“I was arrested at the suit of Mrs. Read, just as I was +going upstairs to bed, at Mr. Bowyer’s; but taken in so +private a manner, that I believe nobody at the White Lion is +apprised of it; though I let the officers know the strength, or +rather weakness, of my pocket, yet they treated me with the +utmost civility; and even when they conducted me to confinement, +it was in such a manner, that I verily believe I could have +escaped, which I would rather be ruined than have done, +notwithstanding the whole amount of my finances was but +threepence halfpenny.</p> +<p>“In the first place, I must insist that you will +industriously conceal this from Mrs. S—s, because I would +not have her good nature suffer that pain which I know she would +be apt to feel on this occasion.</p> +<p>“Next, I conjure you, dear sir, by all the ties of +friendship, by no means to have one uneasy thought on my account; +but to have the same pleasantry of countenance, and unruffled +serenity of mind, which (God be praised!) I have in this, and +have had in a much severer calamity. Furthermore, I charge you, +if you value my friendship as truly as I do yours, not to utter, +or even harbour, the least resentment against Mrs. Read. I +believe she has ruined me, but I freely forgive her; and (though +I will never more have any intimacy with her) I would, at a due +distance, rather do her an act of good than ill-will. Lastly +(pardon the expression), I absolutely command you not to offer me +any pecuniary assistance nor to attempt getting me any from any +one of your friends. At another time, or on any other occasion, +you may, dear friend, be well assured I would rather write to you +in the submissive style of a request than that of a peremptory +command.</p> +<p>“However, that my truly valuable friend may not think I +am too proud to ask a favour, let me entreat you to let me have +your boy to attend me for this day, not only for the sake of +saving me the expense of porters, but for the delivery of some +letters to people whose names I would not have known to +strangers.</p> +<p>“The civil treatment I have thus far met from those +whose prisoner I am, makes me thankful to the Almighty, that +though He has thought fit to visit me (on my birth-night) with +affliction, yet (such is His great goodness!) my affliction is +not without alleviating circumstances. I murmur not; but am all +resignation to the divine will. As to the world, I hope that I +shall be endued by Heaven with that presence of mind, that serene +dignity in misfortune, that constitutes the character of a true +nobleman; a dignity far beyond that of coronets; a nobility +arising from the just principles of philosophy, refined and +exalted by those of Christianity.”</p> +<p>He continued five days at the officer’s, in hopes that +he should be able to procure bail, and avoid the necessity of +going to prison. The state in which he passed his time, and the +treatment which he received, are very justly expressed by him in +a letter which he wrote to a friend: “The whole day,” +says he, “has been employed in various people’s +filling my head with their foolish chimerical systems, which has +obliged me coolly (as far as nature will admit) to digest, and +accommodate myself to every different person’s way of +thinking; hurried from one wild system to another, till it has +quite made a chaos of my imagination, and nothing +done—promised—disappointed—ordered to send, +every hour, from one part of the town to the other.”</p> +<p>When his friends, who had hitherto caressed and applauded, +found that to give bail and pay the debt was the same, they all +refused to preserve him from a prison at the expense of eight +pounds: and therefore, after having been for some time at the +officer’s house “at an immense expense,” as he +observes in his letter, he was at length removed to Newgate. This +expense he was enabled to support by the generosity of Mr. Nash +at Bath, who, upon receiving from him an account of his +condition, immediately sent him five guineas, and promised to +promote his subscription at Bath with all his interest.</p> +<p>By his removal to Newgate he obtained at least a freedom from +suspense, and rest from the disturbing vicissitudes of hope and +disappointment: he now found that his friends were only +companions who were willing to share his gaiety, but not to +partake of his misfortunes; and therefore he no longer expected +any assistance from them. It must, however, be observed of one +gentleman, that he offered to release him by paying the debt, but +that Mr. Savage would not consent, I suppose because he thought +he had before been too burthensome to him. He was offered by some +of his friends that a collection should be made for his +enlargement; but he “treated the proposal,” and +declared “he should again treat it, with disdain. As to +writing any mendicant letters, he had too high a spirit, and +determined only to write to some ministers of state, to try to +regain his pension.”</p> +<p>He continued to complain of those that had sent him into the +country, and objected to them, that he had “lost the +profits of his play, which had been finished three years;” +and in another letter declares his resolution to publish a +pamphlet, that the world might know how “he had been +used.”</p> +<p>This pamphlet was never written; for he in a very short time +recovered his usual tranquillity, and cheerfully applied himself +to more inoffensive studies. He, indeed, steadily declared that +he was promised a yearly allowance of fifty pounds, and never +received half the sum; but he seemed to resign himself to that as +well as to other misfortunes, and lose the remembrance of it in +his amusements and employments. The cheerfulness with which he +bore his confinement appears from the following letter, which he +wrote January the 30th, to one of his friends in London:</p> +<p>“I now write to you from my confinement in Newgate, +where I have been ever since Monday last was se’nnight, and +where I enjoy myself with much more tranquillity than I have +known for upwards of a twelvemonth past; having a room entirely +to myself, and pursuing the amusement of my poetical studies, +uninterrupted, and agreeable to my mind. I thank the Almighty, I +am now all collected in myself; and, though my person is in +confinement, my mind can expatiate on ample and useful subjects +with all the freedom imaginable. I am now more conversant with +the Nine than ever, and if, instead of a Newgate bird, I may be +allowed to be a bird of the Muses, I assure you, sir, I sing very +freely in my cage; sometimes, indeed, in the plaintive notes of +the nightingale; but at others, in the cheerful strains of the +lark.”</p> +<p>In another letter he observes, that he ranges from one subject +to another, without confining himself to any particular task; and +that he was employed one week upon one attempt, and the next upon +another.</p> +<p>Surely the fortitude of this man deserves, at least, to be +mentioned with applause; and, whatever faults may be imputed to +him, the virtue of suffering well cannot be denied him. The two +powers which, in the opinion of Epictetus, constituted a wise +man, are those of bearing and forbearing, which it cannot indeed +be affirmed to have been equally possessed by Savage; and indeed +the want of one obliged him very frequently to practise the +other. He was treated by Mr. Dagge, the keeper of the prison, +with great humanity; was supported by him at his own table, +without any certainty of a recompense; had a room to himself, to +which he could at any time retire from all disturbance; was +allowed to stand at the door of the prison, and sometimes taken +out into the fields; so that he suffered fewer hardships in +prison than he had been accustomed to undergo in the greatest +part of his life.</p> +<p>The keeper did not confine his benevolence to a gentle +execution of his office, but made some overtures to the creditor +for his release, though without effect; and continued, during the +whole time of his imprisonment, to treat him with the utmost +tenderness and civility.</p> +<p>Virtue is undoubtedly most laudable in that state which makes +it most difficult; and therefore the humanity of a gaoler +certainly deserves this public attestation; and the man whose +heart has not been hardened by such an employment may be justly +proposed as a pattern of benevolence. If an inscription was once +engraved “to the honest toll-gatherer,” less honours +ought not to be paid “to the tender gaoler.”</p> +<p>Mr. Savage very frequently received visits, and sometimes +presents, from his acquaintances: but they did not amount to a +subsistence, for the greater part of which he was indebted to the +generosity of this keeper; but these favours, however they might +endear to him the particular persons from whom he received them, +were very far from impressing upon his mind any advantageous +ideas of the people of Bristol, and therefore he thought he could +not more properly employ himself in prison than in writing a poem +called “London and Bristol Delineated.”</p> +<p>When he had brought this poem to its present state, which, +without considering the chasm, is not perfect, he wrote to London +an account of his design, and informed his friend that he was +determined to print it with his name; but enjoined him not to +communicate his intention to his Bristol acquaintance. The +gentleman, surprised at his resolution, endeavoured to persuade +him from publishing it, at least from prefixing his name; and +declared that he could not reconcile the injunction of secrecy +with his resolution to own it at its first appearance. To this +Mr. Savage returned an answer agreeable to his character, in the +following terms:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“I received yours this morning; and not +without a little surprise at the contents. To answer a question +with a question, you ask me concerning London and Bristol, why +will I add <i>delineated</i>? Why did Mr. Woolaston add the +same word to his Religion of Nature? I suppose that it was +his will and pleasure to add it in his case: and it is mine to do +so in my own. You are pleased to tell me that you understand not +why secrecy is enjoined, and yet I intend to set my name to it. +My answer is,—I have my private reasons, which I am not +obliged to explain to any one. You doubt my friend Mr. S— +would not approve of it. And what is it to me whether he does or +not? Do you imagine that Mr. S— is to dictate to +me? If any man who calls himself my friend should assume +such an air, I would spurn at his friendship with contempt. You +say, I seem to think so by not letting him know it. And suppose I +do, what then? Perhaps I can give reasons for that +disapprobation, very foreign from what you would imagine. You go +on in saying, Suppose I should not put my name to it. My answer +is, that I will not suppose any such thing, being determined to +the contrary: neither, sir, would I have you suppose that I +applied to you for want of another press: nor would I have you +imagine that I owe Mr. S— obligations which I do +not.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Such was his imprudence, and such his obstinate adherence to +his own resolutions, however absurd! A prisoner! supported +by charity! and, whatever insults he might have received during +the latter part of his stay at Bristol, once caressed, esteemed, +and presented with a liberal collection, he could forget on a +sudden his danger and his obligations, to gratify the petulance +of his wit or the eagerness of his resentment, and publish a +satire by which he might reasonably expect that he should +alienate those who then supported him, and provoke those whom he +could neither resist nor escape.</p> +<p>This resolution, from the execution of which it is probable +that only his death could have hindered him, is sufficient to +show how much he disregarded all considerations that opposed his +present passions, and how readily he hazarded all future +advantages for any immediate gratifications. Whatever was his +predominant inclination, neither hope nor fear hindered him from +complying with it; nor had opposition any other effect than to +heighten his ardour and irritate his vehemence.</p> +<p>This performance was, however, laid aside while he was +employed in soliciting assistance from several great persons; and +one interruption succeeding another, hindered him from supplying +the chasm, and perhaps from retouching the other parts, which he +can hardly be imagined to have finished in his own opinion; for +it is very unequal, and some of the lines are rather inserted to +rhyme to others, than to support or improve the sense; but the +first and last parts are worked up with great spirit and +elegance.</p> +<p>His time was spent in the prison for the most part in study, +or in receiving visits; but sometimes he descended to lower +amusements, and diverted himself in the kitchen with the +conversation of the criminals; for it was not pleasing to him to +be much without company; and though he was very capable of a +judicious choice, he was often contented with the first that +offered. For this he was sometimes reproved by his friends, who +found him surrounded with felons; but the reproof was on that, as +on other occasions, thrown away; he continued to gratify himself, +and to set very little value on the opinion of others. But here, +as in every other scene of his life, he made use of such +opportunities as occurred of benefiting those who were more +miserable than himself, and was always ready to perform any +office of humanity to his fellow-prisoners.</p> +<p>He had now ceased from corresponding with any of his +subscribers except one, who yet continued to remit him the twenty +pounds a year which he had promised him, and by whom it was +expected that he would have been in a very short time enlarged, +because he had directed the keeper to inquire after the state of +his debts. However, he took care to enter his name according to +the forms of the court, that the creditor might be obliged to +make him some allowance, if he was continued a prisoner, and when +on that occasion he appeared in the hall, was treated with very +unusual respect. But the resentment of the city was afterwards +raised by some accounts that had been spread of the satire; and +he was informed that some of the merchants intended to pay the +allowance which the law required, and to detain him a prisoner at +their own expense. This he treated as an empty menace; and +perhaps might have hastened the publication, only to show how +much he was superior to their insults, had not all his schemes +been suddenly destroyed.</p> +<p>When he had been six months in prison, he received from one of +his friends, in whose kindness he had the greatest confidence, +and on whose assistance he chiefly depended, a letter that +contained a charge of very atrocious ingratitude, drawn up in +such terms as sudden resentment dictated. Henley, in one of his +advertisements, had mentioned “Pope’s treatment of +Savage.” This was supposed by Pope to be the +consequence of a complaint made by Savage to Henley, and was +therefore mentioned by him with much resentment. Mr. Savage +returned a very solemn protestation of his innocence, but, +however, appeared much disturbed at the accusation. Some days +afterwards he was seized with a pain in his back and side, which, +as it was not violent, was not suspected to be dangerous; but +growing daily more languid and dejected, on the 25th of July he +confined himself to his room, and a fever seized his spirits. The +symptoms grew every day more formidable, but his condition did +not enable him to procure any assistance. The last time that the +keeper saw him was on July the 31st, 1743; when Savage, seeing +him at his bedside, said, with an uncommon earnestness, “I +have something to say to you, sir;” but, after a pause, +moved his hand in a melancholy manner; and, finding himself +unable to recollect what he was going to communicate, said, +“’Tis gone!” The keeper soon after left +him; and the next morning he died. He was buried in the +churchyard of St. Peter, at the expense of the keeper.</p> +<p>Such were the life and death of Richard Savage, a man equally +distinguished by his virtues and vices; and at once remarkable +for his weaknesses and abilities. He was of a middle stature, of +a thin habit of body, a long visage, coarse features, and +melancholy aspect; of a grave and manly deportment, a solemn +dignity of mien, but which, upon a nearer acquaintance, softened +into an engaging easiness of manners. His walk was slow, and his +voice tremulous and mournful. He was easily excited to smiles, +but very seldom provoked to laughter. His mind was in an uncommon +degree vigorous and active. His judgment was accurate, his +apprehension quick, and his memory so tenacious, that he was +frequently observed to know what he had learned from others, in a +short time, better that those by whom he was informed; and could +frequently recollect incidents with all their combination of +circumstances, which few would have regarded at the present time, +but which the quickness of his apprehension impressed upon him. +He had the art of escaping from his own reflections, and +accommodating himself to every new scene.</p> +<p>To this quality is to be imputed the extent of his knowledge, +compared with the small time which he spent in visible endeavours +to acquire it. He mingled in cursory conversation with the same +steadiness of attention as others apply to a lecture; and amidst +the appearance of thoughtless gaiety lost no new idea that was +started, nor any hint that could be improved. He had therefore +made in coffee-houses the same proficiency as others in their +closets; and it is remarkable that the writings of a man of +little education and little reading have an air of learning +scarcely to be found in any other performances, but which perhaps +as often obscures as embellishes them.</p> +<p>His judgment was eminently exact both with regard to writings +and to men. The knowledge of life was indeed his chief +attainment; and it is not without some satisfaction that I can +produce the suffrage of Savage in favour of human nature, of +which he never appeared to entertain such odious ideas as some +who perhaps had neither his judgment nor experience, have +published, either in ostentation of their sagacity, vindication +of their crimes, or gratification of their malice.</p> +<p>His method of life particularly qualified him for +conversation, of which he knew how to practise all the graces. He +was never vehement or loud, but at once modest and easy, open and +respectful; his language was vivacious or elegant, and equally +happy upon grave and humorous subjects. He was generally censured +for not knowing when to retire; but that was not the defect of +his judgment, but of his fortune: when he left his company he +used frequently to spend the remaining part of the night in the +street, or at least was abandoned to gloomy reflections, which it +is not strange that he delayed as long as he could; and sometimes +forgot that he gave others pain to avoid it himself.</p> +<p>It cannot be said that he made use of his abilities for the +direction of his own conduct; an irregular and dissipated manner +of life had made him the slave of every passion that happened to +be excited by the presence of its object, and that slavery to his +passions reciprocally produced a life irregular and dissipated. +He was not master of his own motions, nor could promise anything +for the next day.</p> +<p>With regard to his economy, nothing can be added to the +relation of his life. He appeared to think himself born to be +supported by others, and dispensed from all necessity of +providing for himself; he therefore never prosecuted any scheme +of advantage, nor endeavoured even to secure the profits which +his writings might have afforded him. His temper was, in +consequence of the dominion of his passions, uncertain and +capricious; he was easily engaged, and easily disgusted; but he +is accused of retaining his hatred more tenaciously than his +benevolence. He was compassionate both by nature and principle, +and always ready to perform offices of humanity; but when he was +provoked (and very small offences were sufficient to provoke +him), he would prosecute his revenge with the utmost acrimony +till his passion had subsided.</p> +<p>His friendship was therefore of little value; for though he +was zealous in the support or vindication of those whom he loved, +yet it was always dangerous to trust him, because he considered +himself as discharged by the first quarrel from all ties of +honour and gratitude; and would betray those secrets which in the +warmth of confidence had been imparted to him. This practice drew +upon him an universal accusation of ingratitude; nor can it be +denied that he was very ready to set himself free from the load +of an obligation; for he could not bear to conceive himself in a +state of dependence, his pride being equally powerful with his +other passions, and appearing in the form of insolence at one +time, and of vanity at another. Vanity, the most innocent species +of pride, was most frequently predominant: he could not easily +leave off, when he had once begun to mention himself or his +works; nor ever read his verses without stealing his eyes from +the page, to discover in the faces of his audience how they were +affected with any favourite passage.</p> +<p>A kinder name than that of vanity ought to be given to the +delicacy with which he was always careful to separate his own +merit from every other man’s, and to reject that praise to +which he had no claim. He did not forget, in mentioning his +performances, to mark every line that had been suggested or +amended; and was so accurate as to relate that he owed <i>three +words</i> in “The Wanderer” to the advice of his +friends. His veracity was questioned, but with little reason; his +accounts, though not indeed always the same, were generally +consistent. When he loved any man, he suppressed all his faults; +and when he had been offended by him, concealed all his virtues; +but his characters were generally true, so far as he proceeded; +though it cannot be denied that his partiality might have +sometimes the effect of falsehood.</p> +<p>In cases indifferent he was zealous for virtue, truth, and +justice: he knew very well the necessity of goodness to the +present and future happiness of mankind; nor is there perhaps any +writer who has less endeavoured to please by flattering the +appetites, or perverting the judgment.</p> +<p>As an author, therefore, and he now ceases to influence +mankind in any other character, if one piece which he had +resolved to suppress be excepted, he has very little to fear from +the strictest moral or religious censure. And though he may not +be altogether secure against the objections of the critic, it +must however be acknowledged that his works are the productions +of a genius truly poetical; and, what many writers who have been +more lavishly applauded cannot boast, that they have an original +air, which has no resemblance of any foregoing writer, that the +versification and sentiments have a cast peculiar to themselves, +which no man can imitate with success, because what was nature in +Savage would in another be affectation. It must be confessed that +his descriptions are striking, his images animated, his fictions +justly imagined, and his allegories artfully pursued; that his +diction is elevated, though sometimes forced, and his numbers +sonorous and majestic, though frequently sluggish and encumbered. +Of his style the general fault is harshness, and its general +excellence is dignity; of his sentiments, the prevailing beauty +is simplicity, and uniformity the prevailing defect.</p> +<p>For his life, or for his writings, none who candidly consider +his fortune will think an apology either necessary or difficult. +If he was not always sufficiently instructed in his subject, his +knowledge was at least greater than could have been attained by +others in the same state. If his works were sometimes unfinished, +accuracy cannot reasonably be expected from a man oppressed with +want, which he has no hope of relieving but by a speedy +publication. The insolence and resentment of which he is accused +were not easily to be avoided by a great mind irritated by +perpetual hardships and constrained hourly to return the spurns +of contempt, and repress the insolence of prosperity; and vanity +surely may be readily pardoned in him, to whom life afforded no +other comforts than barren praises, and the consciousness of +deserving them.</p> +<p>Those are no proper judges of his conduct who have slumbered +away their time on the down of plenty; nor will any wise man +easily presume to say, “Had I been in Savage’s +condition, I should have lived or written better than +Savage.”</p> +<p>This relation will not be wholly without its use, if those who +languish under any part of his sufferings shall be enabled to +fortify their patience by reflecting that they feel only these +afflictions from which the abilities of Savage did not exempt +him; or those who, in confidence of superior capacities or +attainments, disregard the common maxims of life, shall be +reminded that nothing will supply the want of prudence; and that +negligence and irregularity, long continued, will make knowledge +useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible.</p> +<h2>SWIFT.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">An</span> account of Dr. Swift has been +already collected, with great diligence and acuteness, by Dr. +Hawkesworth, according to a scheme which I laid before him in the +intimacy of our friendship. I cannot therefore be expected to say +much of a life, concerning which I had long since communicated my +thoughts to a man capable of dignifying his narrations with so +much elegance of language and force of sentiment.</p> +<p>Jonathan Swift was, according to an account said to be written +by himself, the son of Jonathan Swift, an attorney, and was born +at Dublin on St. Andrew’s day, 1667: according to his own +report, as delivered by Pope to Spence, he was born at Leicester, +the son of a clergyman who was minister of a parish in +Herefordshire. During his life the place of his birth was +undetermined. He was contented to be called an Irishman by the +Irish; but would occasionally call himself an Englishman. The +question may, without much regret, be left in the obscurity in +which he delighted to involve it.</p> +<p>Whatever was his birth, his education was Irish. He was sent +at the age of six to the school at Kilkenny, and in his fifteenth +year (1682) was admitted into the University of Dublin. In his +academical studies he was either not diligent or not happy. It +must disappoint every reader’s expectation, that, when at +the usual time he claimed the Bachelorship of Arts, he was found +by the examiners too conspicuously deficient for regular +admission, and obtained his degree at last by <i>special +favour</i>; a term used in that university to denote want of +merit.</p> +<p>Of this disgrace it may be easily supposed that he was much +ashamed, and shame had its proper effect in producing +reformation. He resolved from that time to study eight hours a +day, and continued his industry for seven years, with what +improvement is sufficiently known. This part of his story well +deserves to be remembered; it may afford useful admonition and +powerful encouragement to men whose abilities have been made for +a time useless by their passions or pleasures, and who having +lost one part of life in idleness, are tempted to throw away the +remainder in despair. In this course of daily application he +continued three years longer at Dublin; and in this time, if the +observation and memory of an old companion may be trusted, he +drew the first sketch of his “Tale of a Tub.”</p> +<p>When he was about one-and-twenty (1688), being by the death of +Godwin Swift, his uncle, who had supported him, left without +subsistence, he went to consult his mother, who then lived at +Leicester, about the future course of his life; and by her +direction solicited the advice and patronage of Sir William +Temple, who had married one of Mrs. Swift’s relations, and +whose father Sir John Temple, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, had +lived in great familiarity of friendship with Godwin Swift, by +whom Jonathan had been to that time maintained.</p> +<p>Temple received with sufficient kindness the nephew of his +father’s friend, with whom he was, when they conversed +together, so much pleased, that he detained him two years in his +house. Here he became known to King William, who sometimes +visited Temple, when he was disabled by the gout, and, being +attended by Swift in the garden, showed him how to cut asparagus +in the Dutch way. King William’s notions were all military; +and he expressed his kindness to Swift by offering to make him a +captain of horse.</p> +<p>When Temple removed to Moor Park, he took Swift with him; and +when he was consulted by the Earl of Portland about the +expedience of complying with a bill then depending for making +parliaments triennial, against which King William was strongly +prejudiced, after having in vain tried to show the earl that the +proposal involved nothing dangerous to royal power, he sent Swift +for the same purpose to the king. Swift, who probably was proud +of his employment, and went with all the confidence of a young +man, found his arguments, and his art of displaying them, made +totally ineffectual by the predetermination of the king; and used +to mention this disappointment as his first antidote against +vanity. Before he left Ireland he contracted a disorder, as he +thought, by eating too much fruit. The original of diseases is +commonly obscure. Almost everybody eats as much fruit as he can +get, without any great inconvenience. The disease of Swift was +giddiness with deafness, which attacked him from time to time, +began very early, pursued him through life, and at last sent him +to the grave, deprived of reason. Being much oppressed at Moor +Park by this grievous malady, he was advised to try his native +air, and went to Ireland; but finding no benefit, returned to Sir +William, at whose house he continued his studies, and is known to +have read, among other books, Cyprian and Irenæus. He +thought exercise of great necessity, and used to run half a mile +up and down a hill every two hours.</p> +<p>It is easy to imagine that the mode in which his first degree +was conferred left him no great fondness for the University of +Dublin, and therefore he resolved to become a Master of Arts at +Oxford. In the testimonial which he produced the words of +disgrace were omitted; and he took his Master’s degree +(July 5, 1692) with such reception and regard as fully contented +him.</p> +<p>While he lived with Temple, he used to pay his mother at +Leicester a yearly visit. He travelled on foot, unless some +violence of weather drove him into a waggon; and at night he +would go to a penny lodging, where he purchased clean sheets for +sixpence. This practice Lord Orrery imputes to his innate love of +grossness and vulgarity: some may ascribe it to his desire of +surveying human life through all its varieties: and others, +perhaps with equal probability, to a passion which seems to have +been deeply fixed in his heart, the love of a shilling. In time +he began to think that his attendance at Moor Park deserved some +other recompense than the pleasure, however mingled with +improvement, of Temple’s conversation; and grew so +impatient, that (1694) he went away in discontent. Temple, +conscious of having given reason for complaint, is said to have +made him deputy Master of the Rolls in Ireland; which, according +to his kinsman’s account, was an office which he knew him +not able to discharge. Swift therefore resolved to enter into the +Church, in which he had at first no higher hopes than of the +chaplainship to the Factory at Lisbon; but being recommended to +Lord Capel, he obtained the prebend of Kilroot in Connor, of +about a hundred pounds a year. But the infirmities of Temple made +a companion like Swift so necessary, that he invited him back, +with a promise to procure him English preferment in exchange for +the prebend, which he desired him to resign. With this request +Swift complied, having perhaps equally repented their separation, +and they lived on together with mutual satisfaction; and, in the +four years that passed between his return and Temple’s +death, it is probable that he wrote the “Tale of a +Tub,” and the “Battle of the Books.”</p> +<p>Swift began early to think, or to hope, that he was a poet, +and wrote Pindaric Odes to Temple, to the king, and to the +Athenian Society, a knot of obscure men, who published a +periodical pamphlet of answers to questions, sent, or supposed to +be sent, by letters. I have been told that Dryden, having perused +these verses, said, “Cousin Swift, you will never be a +poet;” and that this denunciation was the motive of +Swift’s perpetual malevolence to Dryden. In 1699 Temple +died, and left a legacy with his manuscripts to Swift, for whom +he had obtained, from King William, a promise of the first +prebend that should be vacant at Westminster or Canterbury. That +this promise might not be forgotten, Swift dedicated to the king +the posthumous works with which he was intrusted; but neither the +dedication, nor tenderness for the man whom he once had treated +with confidence and fondness, revived in King William the +remembrance of his promise. Swift awhile attended the Court; but +soon found his solicitations hopeless. He was then invited by the +Earl of Berkeley to accompany him into Ireland, as his private +secretary; but, after having done the business till their arrival +at Dublin, he then found that one Bush had persuaded the earl +that a clergyman was not a proper secretary, and had obtained the +office for himself. In a man like Swift, such circumvention and +inconstancy must have excited violent indignation. But he had yet +more to suffer. Lord Berkeley had the disposal of the deanery of +Derry, and Swift expected to obtain it; but by the +secretary’s influence, supposed to have been secured by a +bribe, it was bestowed on somebody else; and Swift was dismissed +with the livings of Laracor and Rathbeggin in the diocese of +Meath, which together did not equal half the value of the +deanery. At Laracor he increased the parochial duty by reading +prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and performed all the offices +of his profession with great decency and exactness.</p> +<p>Soon after his settlement at Laracor, he invited to Ireland +the unfortunate Stella, a young woman whose name was Johnson, the +daughter of the steward of Sir William Temple, who, in +consideration of her father’s virtues, left her a thousand +pounds. With her came Mrs. Dingley, whose whole fortune was +twenty-seven pounds a year for her life. With these ladies he +passed his hours of relaxation, and to them he opened his bosom; +but they never resided in the same house, nor did he see either +without a witness. They lived at the Parsonage when Swift was +away, and, when he returned, removed to a lodging, or to the +house of a neighbouring clergyman.</p> +<p>Swift was not one of those minds which amaze the world with +early pregnancy: his first work, except his few poetical Essays, +was the “Dissensions in Athens and Rome,” published +(1701) in his thirty-fourth year. After its appearance, paying a +visit to some bishop, he heard mention made of the new pamphlet +that Burnet had written, replete with political knowledge. When +he seemed to doubt Burnet’s right to the work, he was told +by the bishop that he was “a young man,” and still +persisting to doubt, that he was “a very positive young +man.”</p> +<p>Three years afterwards (1704) was published “The Tale of +a Tub;” of this book charity may be persuaded to think that +it might be written by a man of a peculiar character without ill +intention; but it is certainly of dangerous example. That Swift +was its author, though it be universally believed, was never +owned by himself, nor very well proved by any evidence; but no +other claimant can be produced, and he did not deny it when +Archbishop Sharp and the Duchess of Somerset, by showing it to +the queen, debarred him from a bishopric. When this wild work +first raised the attention of the public, Sacheverell, meeting +Smalridge, tried to flatter him by seeming to think him the +author, but Smalridge answered with indignation, “Not all +that you and I have in the world, nor all that ever we shall +have, should hire me to write the ‘Tale of a +Tub.’”</p> +<p>The digression relating to Wotton and Bentley must be +confessed to discover want of knowledge or want of integrity; he +did not understand the two controversies, or he willingly +misrepresented them. But Wit can stand its ground against Truth +only a little while. The honours due to Learning have been justly +distributed by the decision of posterity.</p> +<p>“The Battle of the Books” is so like the +“<i>Combat des Livres</i>,” which the same question +concerning the Ancients and Moderns had produced in France, that +the improbability of such a coincidence of thoughts without +communication, is not, in my opinion, balanced by the anonymous +protestation prefixed, in which all knowledge of the French book +is peremptorily disowned.</p> +<p>For some time after, Swift was probably employed in solitary +study, gaining the qualifications requisite for future eminence. +How often he visited England, and with what diligence he attended +his parishes, I know not. It was not till about four years +afterwards that he became a professed author; and then one year +(1708) produced “The Sentiments of a Church of England +Man;” the ridicule of Astrology under the name of +“Bickerstaff;” the “Argument against abolishing +Christianity;” and the defence of the “Sacramental +Test.”</p> +<p>“The Sentiments of a Church of England Man” is +written with great coolness, moderation, ease, and perspicuity. +The “Argument against abolishing Christianity” is a +very happy and judicious irony. One passage in it deserves to be +selected:—</p> +<p>“If Christianity were once abolished, how could the +free-thinkers, the strong reasoners, and the men of profound +learning, be able to find another subject so calculated, in all +points, whereon to display their abilities? What wonderful +productions of wit should we be deprived of from those whose +genius, by continual practice, hath been wholly turned upon +raillery and invectives against religion, and would therefore +never be able to shine or distinguish themselves upon any other +subject! We are daily complaining of the great decline of +wit among us, and would take away the greatest, perhaps the only +topic we have left. Who would ever have suspected Asgill for a +wit, or Toland for a philosopher, if the inexhaustible stock of +Christianity had not been at hand to provide them with +materials? What other subject, through all art or nature, +could have produced Tindal for a profound author, or furnished +him with readers? It is the wise choice of the subject that +alone adorns and distinguishes the writer. For had a hundred such +pens as these been employed on the side of religion, they would +have immediately sunk into silence and oblivion.”</p> +<p>The reasonableness of a <i>Test</i> is not hard to be proved; +but perhaps it must be allowed that the proper test has not been +chosen. The attention paid to the papers published under the name +of “Bickerstaff,” induced Steele, when he projected +the <i>Tatler</i>, to assume an appellation which had already +gained possession of the reader’s notice.</p> +<p>In the year following he wrote a “Project for the +Advancement of Religion,” addressed to Lady Berkeley, by +whose kindness it is not unlikely that he was advanced to his +benefices. To this project, which is formed with great purity of +intention, and displayed with sprightliness and elegance, it can +only be objected, that, like many projects, it is, if not +generally impracticable, yet evidently hopeless, as it supposes +more zeal, concord, and perseverance than a view of mankind gives +reason for expecting. He wrote likewise this year a +“Vindication of Bickerstaff,” and an explanation of +an “Ancient Prophecy,” part written after the facts, +and the rest never completed, but well planned to excite +amazement.</p> +<p>Soon after began the busy and important part of Swift’s +life. He was employed (1710) by the Primate of Ireland to solicit +the queen for a remission of the First Fruits and Twentieth Parts +to the Irish Clergy. With this purpose he had recourse to Mr. +Harley, to whom he was mentioned as a man neglected and oppressed +by the last Ministry, because he had refused to co-operate with +some of their schemes. What he had refused has never been told; +what he had suffered was, I suppose, the exclusion from a +bishopric by the remonstrances of Sharp, whom he describes as +“the harmless tool of others’ hate,” and whom +he represents as afterwards “suing for pardon.”</p> +<p>Harley’s designs and situation were such as made him +glad of an auxiliary so well qualified for his service: he +therefore soon admitted him to familiarity, whether ever to +confidence some have made a doubt; but it would have been +difficult to excite his zeal without persuading him that he was +trusted, and not very easy to delude him by false persuasions. He +was certainly admitted to those meetings in which the first hints +and original plan of action are supposed to have been formed; and +was one of the sixteen ministers, or agents of the Ministry, who +met weekly at each other’s houses, and were united by the +name of “Brother.” Being not immediately +considered as an obdurate Tory, he conversed indiscriminately +with all the wits, and was yet the friend of Steele; who, in the +<i>Tatler</i>, which began in April, 1709, confesses the +advantage of his conversation, and mentions something contributed +by him to his paper. But he was now emerging into political +controversy; for the year 1710 produced the <i>Examiner</i>, of +which Swift wrote thirty-three papers. In argument he may be +allowed to have the advantage: for where a wide system of +conduct, and the whole of a public character, is laid open to +inquiry, the accuser, having the choice of facts, must be very +unskilful if he does not prevail: but with regard to wit, I am +afraid none of Swift’s papers will be found equal to those +by which Addison opposed him.</p> +<p>He wrote in the year 1711 a “Letter to the October +Club,” a number of Tory gentlemen sent from the country to +Parliament, who formed themselves into a club, to the number of +about a hundred, and met to animate the zeal and raise the +expectations of each other. They thought, with great reason, that +the Ministers were losing opportunities; that sufficient use was +not made of the ardour of the nation; they called loudly for more +changes, and stronger efforts; and demanded the punishment of +part and the dismission of the rest, of those whom they +considered as public robbers. Their eagerness was not gratified +by the queen, or by Harley. The queen was probably slow because +she was afraid; and Harley was slow because he was doubtful; he +was a Tory only by necessity, or for convenience; and, when he +had power in his hands, had no settled purpose for which he +should employ it; forced to gratify to a certain degree the +Tories who supported him, but unwilling to make his reconcilement +to the Whigs utterly desperate, he corresponded at once with the +two expectants of the Crown, and kept, as has been observed, the +succession undetermined. Not knowing what to do, he did nothing; +and, with the fate of a double dealer, at last he lost his power, +but kept his enemies.</p> +<p>Swift seems to have concurred in opinion with the +“October Club;” but it was not in his power to +quicken the tardiness of Harley, whom he stimulated as much as he +could, but with little effect. He that knows not whither to go, +is in no haste to move. Harley, who was perhaps not quick by +nature, became yet more slow by irresolution; and was content to +hear that dilatoriness lamented as natural, which he applauded in +himself as politic. Without the Tories, however, nothing could be +done; and, as they were not to be gratified, they must be +appeased; and the conduct of the Minister, if it could not be +vindicated, was to be plausibly excused.</p> +<p>Early in the next year he published a “Proposal for +Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English +Tongue,” in a Letter to the Earl of Oxford; written without +much knowledge of the general nature of language, and without any +accurate inquiry into the history of other tongues. The certainty +and stability which, contrary to all experience, he thinks +attainable, he proposes to secure by instituting an academy; the +decrees of which every man would have been willing, and many +would have been proud, to disobey, and which, being renewed by +successive elections, would in a short time have differed from +itself.</p> +<p>Swift now attained the zenith of his political importance: he +published (1712) the “Conduct of the Allies,” ten +days before the Parliament assembled. The purpose was to persuade +the nation to a peace; and never had any writer more success. The +people, who had been amused with bonfires and triumphal +processions, and looked with idolatry on the General and his +friends, who, as they thought, had made England the arbitress of +nations, were confounded between shame and rage, when they found +that “mines had been exhausted, and millions +destroyed,” to secure the Dutch or aggrandise the Emperor, +without any advantage to ourselves; that we had been bribing our +neighbours to fight their own quarrel; and that amongst our +enemies we might number our allies. That is now no longer +doubted, of which the nation was then first informed, that the +war was unnecessarily protracted to fill the pockets of +Marlborough; and that it would have been continued without end, +if he could have continued his annual plunder. But Swift, I +suppose, did not yet know what he has since written, that a +commission was drawn which would have appointed him General for +life, had it not become ineffectual by the resolution of Lord +Cowper, who refused the seal.</p> +<p>“Whatever is received,” say the schools, “is +received in proportion to the recipient.” The power +of a political treatise depends much upon the disposition of the +people; the nation was then combustible, and a spark set it on +fire. It is boasted, that between November and January eleven +thousand were sold: a great number at that time, when we were not +yet a nation of readers. To its propagation certainly no agency +of power or influence was wanting. It furnished arguments for +conversation, speeches for debate, and materials for +parliamentary resolutions. Yet, surely, whoever surveys this +wonder-working pamphlet with cool perusal, will confess that its +efficacy was supplied by the passions of its readers; that it +operates by the mere weight of facts, with very little assistance +from the hand that produced them.</p> +<p>This year (1712) he published his “Reflections on the +Barrier Treaty,” which carries on the design of his +“Conduct of the Allies,” and shows how little regard +in that negotiation had been shown to the interest of England, +and how much of the conquered country had been demanded by the +Dutch. This was followed by “Remarks on the Bishop of +Sarum’s Introduction to his third Volume of the History of +the Reformation;” a pamphlet which Burnet published as an +alarm, to warn the nation of the approach of Popery. Swift, who +seems to have disliked the bishop with something more than +political aversion, treats him like one whom he is glad of an +opportunity to insult.</p> +<p>Swift, being now the declared favourite and supposed confidant +of the Tory Ministry, was treated by all that depended on the +Court with the respect which dependents know how to pay. He soon +began to feel part of the misery of greatness; he that could say +that he knew him, considered himself as having fortune in his +power. Commissions, solicitations, remonstrances crowded about +him; he was expected to do every man’s business; to procure +employment for one, and to retain it for another. In assisting +those who addressed him, he represents himself as sufficiently +diligent; and desires to have others believe what he probably +believed himself, that by his interposition many Whigs of merit, +and among them Addison and Congreve, were continued in their +places. But every man of known influence has so many petitions +which he cannot grant, that he must necessarily offend more than +he gratifies, because the preference given to one affords all the +rest reason for complaint. “When I give away a +place,” said Lewis XIV., “I make a hundred +discontented, and one ungrateful.”</p> +<p>Much has been said of the equality and independence which he +preserved in his conversation with the Ministers; of the +frankness of his remonstrances, and the familiarity of his +friendship. In accounts of this kind a few single incidents are +set against the general tenour of behaviour. No man, however, can +pay a more servile tribute to the great, than by suffering his +liberty in their presence to aggrandise him in his own esteem. +Between different ranks of the community there is necessarily +some distance; he who is called by his superior to pass the +interval, may properly accept the invitation; but petulance and +obtrusion are rarely produced by magnanimity; nor have often any +nobler cause than the pride of importance, and the malice of +inferiority. He who knows himself necessary may set, while that +necessity lasts, a high value upon himself; as, in a lower +condition, a servant eminently skilful may be saucy; but he is +saucy only because he is servile. Swift appears to have preserved +the kindness of the great when they wanted him no longer; and +therefore it must be allowed, that the childish freedom, to which +he seems enough inclined, was overpowered by his better +qualities. His disinterestedness has likewise been mentioned; a +strain of heroism which would have been in his condition romantic +and superfluous. Ecclesiastical benefices, when they become +vacant, must be given away; and the friends of power may, if +there be no inherent disqualification, reasonably expect them. +Swift accepted (1713) the deanery of St. Patrick, the best +preferment that his friends could venture to give him. That +Ministry was in a great degree supported by the clergy, who were +not yet reconciled to the author of the “Tale of a +Tub,” and would not without much discontent and indignation +have borne to see him installed in an English cathedral. He +refused, indeed, fifty pounds from Lord Oxford; but he accepted +afterwards a draught of a thousand upon the Exchequer, which was +intercepted by the queen’s death, and which he resigned, as +he says himself, “<i>multa gemens</i>, with many a +groan.” In the midst of his power and his politics, +he kept a journal of his visits, his walks, his interviews with +Ministers, and quarrels with his servant, and transmitted it to +Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, to whom he knew that whatever +befell him was interesting, and no accounts could be too minute. +Whether these diurnal trifles were properly exposed to eyes which +had never received any pleasure from the presence of the Dean may +be reasonably doubted: they have, however, some odd attraction; +the reader, finding frequent mention of names which he has been +used to consider as important, goes on in hope of information; +and as there is nothing to fatigue attention, if he is +disappointed he can hardly complain. It is easy to perceive, from +every page, that though ambition pressed Swift into a life of +bustle, the wish for a life of ease was always returning. He went +to take possession of his deanery as soon as he had obtained it; +but he was not suffered to stay in Ireland more than a fortnight +before he was recalled to England, that he might reconcile Lord +Oxford and Lord Bolingbroke, who began to look on one another +with malevolence, which every day increased, and which +Bolingbroke appeared to retain in his last years.</p> +<p>Swift contrived an interview, from which they both departed +discontented; he procured a second, which only convinced him that +the feud was irreconcilable; he told them his opinion, that all +was lost. This denunciation was contradicted by Oxford; but +Bolingbroke whispered that he was right. Before this violent +dissension had shattered the Ministry, Swift had published, in +the beginning of the year (1714), “The Public Spirit of the +Whigs,” in answer to “The Crisis,” a pamphlet +for which Steele was expelled from the House of Commons. Swift +was now so far alienated from Steele, as to think him no longer +entitled to decency, and therefore treats him sometimes with +contempt, and sometimes with abhorrence. In this pamphlet the +Scotch were mentioned in terms so provoking to that irritable +nation, that resolving “not to be offended with +impunity,” the Scotch lords in a body demanded an audience +of the queen, and solicited reparation. A proclamation was +issued, in which three hundred pounds were offered for the +discovery of the author. From this storm he was, as he relates, +“secured by a sleight;” of what kind, or by whose +prudence, is not known; and such was the increase of his +reputation, that the Scottish nation “applied again that he +would be their friend.” He was become so formidable +to the Whigs, that his familiarity with the Ministers was +clamoured at in Parliament, particularly by two men, afterwards +of great note, Aislabie and Walpole. But, by the disunion of his +great friends, his importance and designs were now at an end; and +seeing his services at last useless, he retired about June (1714) +into Berkshire, where, in the house of a friend, he wrote what +was then suppressed, but has since appeared under the title of +“Free Thoughts on the present State of +Affairs.” While he was waiting in this retirement for +events which time or chance might bring to pass, the death of the +Queen broke down at once the whole system of Tory politics; and +nothing remained but to withdraw from the implacability of +triumphant Whiggism, and shelter himself in unenvied +obscurity.</p> +<p>The accounts of his reception in Ireland, given by Lord Orrery +and Dr. Delany, are so different, that the credit of the writers, +both undoubtedly veracious, cannot be saved, but by supposing, +what I think is true, that they speak of different times. When +Delany says, that he was received with respect, he means for the +first fortnight, when he came to take legal possession; and when +Lord Orrery tells that he was pelted by the populace, he is to be +understood of the time when, after the Queen’s death, he +became a settled resident.</p> +<p>The Archbishop of Dublin gave him at first some disturbance in +the exercise of his jurisdiction; but it was soon discovered, +that between prudence and integrity, he was seldom in the wrong; +and that, when he was right, his spirit did not easily yield to +opposition.</p> +<p>Having so lately quitted the tumults of a party, and the +intrigues of a court, they still kept his thoughts in agitation, +as the sea fluctuates a while when the storm has ceased. He +therefore filled his hours with some historical attempts, +relating to the “Change of the Ministers,” and +“The Conduct of the Ministry.” He likewise is +said to have written a “History of the Four last Years of +Queen Anne,” which he began in her lifetime, and afterwards +laboured with great attention, but never published. It was after +his death in the hands of Lord Orrery and Dr. King. A book under +that title was published with Swift’s name by Dr. Lucas; of +which I can only say, that it seemed by no means to correspond +with the notions that I had formed of it, from a conversation +which I once heard between the Earl of Orrery and old Mr. +Lewis.</p> +<p>Swift now, much against his will, commenced Irishman for life, +and was to contrive how he might be best accommodated in a +country where he considered himself as in a state of exile. It +seems that his first recourse was to piety. The thoughts of death +rushed upon him at this time with such incessant importunity, +that they took possession of his mind, when he first waked, for +many years together. He opened his house by a public table two +days a week, and found his entertainments gradually frequented by +more and more visitants of learning among the men, and of +elegance among the women. Mrs. Johnson had left the country, and +lived in lodgings not far from the deanery. On his public days +she regulated the table, but appeared at it as a mere guest, like +other ladies. On other days he often dined, at a stated price, +with Mr. Worral, a clergyman of his cathedral, whose house was +recommended by the peculiar neatness and pleasantry of his wife. +To this frugal mode of living, he was first disposed by care to +pay some debts which he had contracted, and he continued it for +the pleasure of accumulating money. His avarice, however, was not +suffered to obstruct the claims of his dignity; he was served in +plate, and used to say that he was the poorest gentleman in +Ireland that ate upon plate, and the richest that lived without a +coach. How he spent the rest of his time, and how he employed his +hours of study, has been inquired with hopeless curiosity. For +who can give an account of another’s studies? Swift +was not likely to admit any to his privacies, or to impart a +minute account of his business or his leisure.</p> +<p>Soon after (1716), in his forty-ninth year, he was privately +married to Mrs. Johnson, by Dr. Ashe, Bishop of Clogher, as Dr. +Madden told me, in the garden. The marriage made no change in +their mode of life; they lived in different houses, as before; +nor did she ever lodge in the deanery but when Swift was seized +with a fit of giddiness. “It would be difficult,” +says Lord Orrery, “to prove that they were ever afterwards +together without a third person.”</p> +<p>The Dean of St. Patrick’s lived in a private manner, +known and regarded only by his friends; till, about the year +1720, he, by a pamphlet, recommended to the Irish the use, and +consequently the improvement, of their manufactures. For a man to +use the productions of his own labour is surely a natural right, +and to like best what he makes himself is a natural passion. But +to excite this passion, and enforce this right, appeared so +criminal to those who had an interest in the English trade, that +the printer was imprisoned; and, as Hawkesworth justly observes, +the attention of the public being, by this outrageous resentment, +turned upon the proposal, the author was by consequence made +popular.</p> +<p>In 1723 died Mrs. Van Homrigh, a woman made unhappy by her +admiration of wit, and ignominiously distinguished by the name of +Vanessa, whose conduct has been already sufficiently discussed, +and whose history is too well known to be minutely repeated. She +was a young woman fond of literature, whom Decanus, the dean, +called <i>Cadenus</i> by transposition of the letters, took +pleasure in directing and instructing: till, from being proud of +his praise, she grew fond of his person. Swift was then about +forty-seven, at an age when vanity is strongly excited by the +amorous attention of a young woman. If it be said that Swift +should have checked a passion which he never meant to gratify, +recourse must be had to that extenuation which he so much +despised, “men are but men;” perhaps, however, he did +not at first know his own mind, and, as he represents himself, +was undetermined. For his admission of her courtship, and his +indulgence of her hopes after his marriage to Stella, no other +honest plea can be found than that he delayed a disagreeable +discovery from time to time, dreading the immediate bursts of +distress, and watching for a favourable moment. She thought +herself neglected, and died of disappointment, having ordered, by +her will, the poem to be published, in which Cadenus had +proclaimed her excellence and confessed his love. The effect of +the publication upon the Dean and Stella is thus related by +Delany:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“I have good reason to believe that they +both were greatly shocked and distressed (though it may be +differently) upon this occasion. The Dean made a tour to the +south of Ireland for about two months at this time, to dissipate +his thoughts and give place to obloquy. And Stella retired (upon +the earnest invitation of the owner) to the house of a cheerful, +generous, good-natured friend of the Dean’s, whom she +always much loved and honoured. There my informer often saw her, +and, I have reason to believe, used his utmost endeavours to +relieve, support, and amuse her, in this sad situation. One +little incident he told me of on that occasion I think I shall +never forget. As his friend was an hospitable, open-hearted man, +well beloved and largely acquainted, it happened one day that +some gentlemen dropped in to dinner, who were strangers to +Stella’s situation; and as the poem of <i>Cadenus and +Vanessa</i> was then the general topic of conversation, one of +them said, ‘Surely that Vanessa must be an extraordinary +woman that could inspire the Dean to write so finely upon +her.’ Mrs. Johnson smiled, and answered, ‘that +she thought that point not quite so clear; for it was well known +that the Dean could write finely upon a +broomstick.’”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The great acquisition of esteem and influence was made by the +“Drapier’s Letters,” in 1724. One Wood, of +Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, a man enterprising and +rapacious, had, as is said, by a present to the Duchess of +Munster, obtained a patent, empowering him to coin one hundred +and eighty thousand pounds of halfpence and farthings for the +kingdom of Ireland, in which there was a very inconvenient and +embarrassing scarcity of copper coin, so that it was possible to +run in debt upon the credit of a piece of money; for the cook or +keeper of an alehouse could not refuse to supply a man that had +silver in his hand, and the buyer would not leave his money +without change. The project was therefore plausible. The +scarcity, which was already great, Wood took care to make +greater, by agents who gathered up the old halfpence; and was +about to turn his brass into gold, by pouring the treasures of +his new mint upon Ireland, when Swift, finding that the metal was +debased to an enormous degree, wrote letters, under the name of +<i>M. B. Drapier</i>, to show the folly of receiving, and the +mischief that must ensue by giving gold and silver for coin worth +perhaps not a third part of its nominal value. The nation was +alarmed; the new coin was universally refused, but the governors +of Ireland considered resistance to the king’s patent as +highly criminal; and one Whitshed, then Chief Justice, who had +tried the printer of the former pamphlet, and sent out the jury +nine times, till by clamour and menaces they were frightened into +a special verdict, now presented the Drapier, but could not +prevail on the grand jury to find the bill.</p> +<p>Lord Carteret and the Privy Council published a proclamation, +offering three hundred pounds for discovering the author of the +Fourth Letter. Swift had concealed himself from his printers and +trusted only his butler, who transcribed the paper. The man, +immediately after the appearance of the proclamation, strolled +from the house, and stayed out all night, and part of the next +day. There was reason enough to fear that he had betrayed his +master for the reward; but he came home, and the Dean ordered him +to put off his livery, and leave the house; “for,” +says he, “I know that my life is in your power, and I will +not bear, out of fear, either your insolence or +negligence.” The man excused his fault with great +submission, and begged that he might be confined in the house +while it was in his power to endanger the master; but the Dean +resolutely turned him out, without taking further notice of him, +till the term of the information had expired, and then received +him again. Soon afterwards he ordered him and the rest of his +servants into his presence, without telling his intentions, and +bade them take notice that their fellow-servant was no longer +Robert the butler, but that his integrity had made him Mr. +Blakeney, verger of St. Patrick’s, an officer whose income +was between thirty and forty pounds a year; yet he still +continued for some years to serve his old master as his +butler.</p> +<p>Swift was known from this time by the appellation of <i>The +Dean</i>. He was honoured by the populace as the champion, +patron, and instructor of Ireland; and gained such power as, +considered both in its extent and duration, scarcely any man has +ever enjoyed without greater wealth or higher station. He was +from this important year the oracle of the traders, and the idol +of the rabble, and by consequence was feared and courted by all +to whom the kindness of the traders or the populace was +necessary. The <i>Drapier</i> was a sign; the <i>Drapier</i> was +a health; and which way soever the eye or the ear was turned, +some tokens were found of the nation’s gratitude to the +<i>Drapier</i>.</p> +<p>The benefit was indeed great; he had rescued Ireland from a +very oppressive and predatory invasion, and the popularity which +he had gained he was diligent to keep, by appearing forward and +zealous on every occasion where the public interest was supposed +to be involved. Nor did he much scruple to boast his influence; +for when, upon some attempts to regulate the coin, Archbishop +Boulter, then one of the justices, accused him of exasperating +the people, he exculpated himself by saying, “If I had +lifted up my finger, they would have torn you to +pieces.” But the pleasure of popularity was soon +interrupted by domestic misery. Mrs. Johnson, whose conversation +was to him the great softener of the ills of life, began in the +year of the <i>Drapier’s</i> triumph to decline, and two +years afterwards was so wasted with sickness that her recovery +was considered as hopeless. Swift was then in England, and had +been invited by Lord Bolingbroke to pass the winter with him in +France; but this call of calamity hastened him to Ireland, where +perhaps his presence contributed to restore her to imperfect and +tottering health. He was now so much at ease, that (1727) he +returned to England, where he collected three volumes of +Miscellanies in conjunction with Pope, who prefixed a querulous +and apologetical Preface.</p> +<p>This important year sent likewise into the world +“Gulliver’s Travels,” a production so new and +strange, that it filled the reader with a mingled emotion of +merriment and amazement. It was received with such avidity, that +the price of the first edition was raised before the second could +be made; it was read by the high and the low, the learned and +illiterate. Criticism was for a while lost in wonder; no rules of +judgment were applied to a book written in open defiance of truth +and regularity. But when distinctions came to be made, the part +which gave the least pleasure was that which describes the Flying +Island, and that which gave most disgust must be the history of +Houyhnhnms.</p> +<p>While Swift was enjoying the reputation of his new work, the +news of the king’s death arrived, and he kissed the hands +of the new king and queen three days after their accession. By +the queen, when she was princess, he had been treated with some +distinction, and was well received by her in her exaltation; but +whether she gave hopes which she never took care to satisfy, or +he formed expectations which she never meant to raise, the event +was that he always afterwards thought on her with malevolence, +and particularly charged her with breaking her promise of some +medals which she engaged to send him. I know not whether she had +not, in her turn, some reason for complaint. A letter was sent +her, not so much entreating, as requiring her patronage of Mrs. +Barber, an ingenious Irishwoman, who was then begging +subscriptions for her Poems. To this letter was subscribed the +name of Swift, and it has all the appearance of his diction and +sentiments; but it was not written in his hand, and had some +little improprieties. When he was charged with this letter, he +laid hold of the inaccuracies, and urged the improbability of the +accusation, but never denied it: he shuffles between cowardice +and veracity, and talks big when he says nothing. He seems +desirous enough of recommencing courtier, and endeavoured to gain +the kindness of Mrs. Howard, remembering what Mrs. Masham had +performed in former times; but his flatteries were, like those of +other wits, unsuccessful; the lady either wanted power, or had no +ambition of poetical immortality. He was seized not long +afterwards by a fit of giddiness, and again heard of the sickness +and danger of Mrs. Johnson. He then left the house of Pope, as it +seems, with very little ceremony, finding “that two sick +friends cannot live together;” and did not write to him +till he found himself at Chester. He turned to a home of sorrow: +poor Stella was sinking into the grave, and, after a languishing +decay of about two months, died in her forty-fourth year, on +January 28, 1728. How much he wished her life his papers show; +nor can it be doubted that he dreaded the death of her whom he +loved most, aggravated by the consciousness that himself had +hastened it.</p> +<p>Beauty and the power of pleasing, the greatest external +advantages that woman can desire or possess, were fatal to the +unfortunate Stella. The man whom she had the misfortune to love +was, as Delany observes, fond of singularity, and desirous to +make a mode of happiness for himself, different from the general +course of things and order of Providence. From the time of her +arrival in Ireland he seems resolved to keep her in his power, +and therefore hindered a match sufficiently advantageous by +accumulating unreasonable demands, and prescribing conditions +that could not be performed. While she was at her own disposal he +did not consider his possession as secure; resentment, ambition, +or caprice might separate them: he was therefore resolved to make +“assurance doubly sure,” and to appropriate her by a +private marriage, to which he had annexed the expectation of all +the pleasures of perfect friendship, without the uneasiness of +conjugal restraint. But with this state poor Stella was not +satisfied; she never was treated as a wife, and to the world she +had the appearance of a mistress. She lived sullenly on, in hope +that in time he would own and receive her; but the time did not +come till the change of his manners and depravation of his mind +made her tell him, when he offered to acknowledge her, that +“it was too late.” She then gave up herself to +sorrowful resentment, and died under the tyranny of him by whom +she was in the highest degree loved and honoured. What were her +claims to this eccentric tenderness, by which the laws of nature +were violated to restrain her, curiosity will inquire; but how +shall it be gratified? Swift was a lover; his testimony may +be suspected. Delany and the Irish saw with Swift’s eyes, +and therefore add little confirmation. That she was virtuous, +beautiful, and elegant, in a very high degree, such admiration +from such a lover makes it very probable: but she had not much +literature, for she could not spell her own language; and of her +wit, so loudly vaunted, the smart sayings which Swift himself has +collected afford no splendid specimen.</p> +<p>The reader of Swift’s “Letter to a Lady on her +Marriage,” may be allowed to doubt whether his opinion of +female excellence ought implicitly to be admitted; for, if his +general thoughts on women were such as he exhibits, a very little +sense in a lady would enrapture, and a very little virtue would +astonish him. Stella’s supremacy, therefore, was perhaps +only local; she was great because her associates were little.</p> +<p>In some Remarks lately published on the Life of Swift, his +marriage is mentioned as fabulous, or doubtful; but, alas! poor +Stella, as Dr. Madden told me, related her melancholy story to +Dr. Sheridan, when he attended her as a clergyman to prepare her +for death; and Delany mentions it not with doubt, but only with +regret. Swift never mentioned her without a sigh. The rest of his +life was spent in Ireland, in a country to which not even power +almost despotic, nor flattery almost idolatrous, could reconcile +him. He sometimes wished to visit England, but always found some +reason of delay. He tells Pope, in the decline of life, that he +hopes once more to see him; “but if not,” says he, +“we must part as all human beings have parted.”</p> +<p>After the death of Stella, his benevolence was contracted, and +his severity exasperated; he drove his acquaintance from his +table, and wondered why he was deserted. But he continued his +attention to the public, and wrote from time to time such +directions, admonitions, or censures, as the exigence of affairs, +in his opinion, made proper; and nothing fell from his pen in +vain. In a short poem on the Presbyterians, whom he always +regarded with detestation, he bestowed one stricture upon +Bettesworth, a lawyer eminent for his insolence to the clergy, +which, from very considerable reputation, brought him into +immediate and universal contempt. Bettesworth, enraged at his +disgrace and loss, went to Swift, and demanded whether he was the +author of that poem? “Mr. Bettesworth,” +answered he, “I was in my youth acquainted with great +lawyers, who, knowing my disposition to satire, advised me, that +if any scoundrel or blockhead whom I had lampooned should ask, +‘Are you the author of this paper?’ I should tell him +that I was not the author; and therefore, I tell you, Mr. +Bettesworth, that I am not the author of these lines.”</p> +<p>Bettesworth was so little satisfied with this account, that he +publicly professed his resolution of a violent and corporal +revenge; but the inhabitants of St. Patrick’s district +embodied themselves in the Dean’s defence. Bettesworth +declared in Parliament that Swift had deprived him of twelve +hundred pounds a year.</p> +<p>Swift was popular awhile by another mode of beneficence. He +set aside some hundreds to be lent in small sums to the poor, +from five shillings, I think, to five pounds. He took no +interest, and only required that, at repayment, a small fee +should be given to the accountant, but he required that the day +of promised payment should be exactly kept. A severe and +punctilious temper is ill qualified for transactions with the +poor: the day was often broken, and the loan was not repaid. This +might have been easily foreseen; but for this Swift had made no +provision of patience or pity. He ordered his debtors to be sued. +A severe creditor has no popular character; what then was likely +to be said of him who employs the catchpoll under the appearance +of charity? The clamour against him was loud, and the +resentment of the populace outrageous; he was therefore forced to +drop his scheme, and own the folly of expecting punctuality from +the poor.</p> +<p>His asperity continually increasing, condemned him to +solitude; and his resentment of solitude sharpened his asperity. +He was not, however, totally deserted; some men of learning, and +some women of elegance, often visited him; and he wrote from time +to time either verse or prose: of his verses he willingly gave +copies, and is supposed to have felt no discontent when he saw +them printed. His favourite maxim was “Vive la +bagatelle:” he thought trifles a necessary part of life, +and perhaps found them necessary to himself. It seems impossible +to him to be idle, and his disorders made it difficult or +dangerous to be long seriously studious, or laboriously diligent. +The love of ease is always gaining upon age, and he had one +temptation to petty amusements peculiar to himself; whatever he +did, he was sure to hear applauded; and such was his predominance +over all that approached, that all their applauses were probably +sincere. He that is much flattered soon learns to flatter +himself; we are commonly taught our duty by fear or shame, and +how can they act upon the man who hears nothing but his own +praises? As his years increased, his fits of giddiness and +deafness grew more frequent, and his deafness made conversation +difficult; they grew likewise more severe, till in 1736, as he +was writing a poem called “The Legion Club,” he was +seized with a fit so painful and so long continued, that he never +after thought it proper to attempt any work of thought or labour. +He was always careful of his money, and was therefore no liberal +entertainer, but was less frugal of his wine than of his meat. +When his friends of either sex came to him in expectation of a +dinner, his custom was to give every one a shilling, that they +might please themselves with their provision. At last his avarice +grew too powerful for his kindness; he would refuse a bottle of +wine, and in Ireland no man visits where he cannot drink. Having +thus excluded conversation, and desisted from study, he had +neither business nor amusement; for, having by some ridiculous +resolution, or mad vow, determined never to wear spectacles, he +could make like little use of books in his latter years; his +ideas, therefore, being neither renovated by discourse, nor +increased by reading, wore gradually away, and left his mind +vacant to the vexations of the hour, till at last his anger was +heightened into madness. He, however, permitted one book to be +published, which had been the production of former +years—“Polite Conversation,” which appeared in +1738. The “Directions for Servants,” was printed soon +after his death. These two performances show a mind incessantly +attentive, and, when it was not employed upon great things, busy +with minute occurrences. It is apparent that he must have had the +habit of noting whatever he observed; for such a number of +particulars could never have been assembled by the power of +recollection. He grew more violent, and his mental powers +declined, till (1741) it was found necessary that legal guardians +should be appointed of his person and fortune. He now lost +distinction. His madness was compounded of rage and fatuity. The +last face that he knew was that of Mrs. Whiteway; and her he +ceased to know in a little time. His meat was brought him cut +into mouthfuls: but he would never touch it while the servant +stayed, and at last, after it had stood perhaps an hour, would +eat it walking; for he continued his old habit, and was on his +feet ten hours a day. Next year (1742) he had an inflammation in +his left eye, which swelled it to the size of an egg, with boils +in other parts; he was kept long waking with the pain, and was +not easily restrained by five attendants from tearing out his +eye.</p> +<p>The tumour at last subsided; and a short interval of reason +ensuing; in which he knew his physician and his family, gave +hopes of his recovery; but in a few days he sank into a lethargic +stupidity, motionless, heedless, and speechless. But it is said +that after a year of total silence, when his housekeeper, on the +30th of November, told him that the usual bonfires and +illuminations were preparing to celebrate his birthday, he +answered, “It is all folly; they had better let it +alone.”</p> +<p>It is remembered that he afterwards spoke now and then, or +gave some intimation of a meaning; but at last sank into a +perfect silence, which continued till about the end of October, +1744, when, in his seventy-eighth year, he expired without a +struggle.</p> +<p>When Swift is considered as an author, it is just to estimate +his powers by their effects. In the reign of Queen Anne he turned +the stream of popularity against the Whigs, and must be confessed +to have dictated for a time the political opinions of the English +nation. In the succeeding reign he delivered Ireland from plunder +and oppression: and showed that wit, confederated with truth, had +such force as authority was unable to resist. He said truly of +himself, that Ireland “was his debtor.” It was +from the time when he first began to patronise the Irish, that +they may date their riches and prosperity. He taught them first +to know their own interest, their weight, and their strength, and +gave them spirit to assert that equality with their +fellow-subjects to which they have ever since been making +vigorous advances, and to claim those rights which they have at +last established. Nor can they be charged with ingratitude to +their benefactor; for they reverenced him as a guardian, and +obeyed him as a dictator.</p> +<p>In his works he has given very different specimens both of +sentiments and expression. His “Tale of a Tub” has +little resemblance to his other pieces. It exhibits a vehemence +and rapidity of mind, a copiousness of images, and vivacity of +diction, such as he afterwards never possessed, or never exerted. +It is of a mode so distinct and peculiar, that it must be +considered by itself; what is true of that, is not true of +anything else which he has written. In his other works is found +an equable tenour of easy language, which rather trickles than +flows. His delight was in simplicity. That he has in his works no +metaphor, as has been said, is not true; but his few metaphors +seem to be received rather by necessity than choice. He studied +purity; and though perhaps all his strictures are not exact, yet +it is not often that solecisms can be found; and whoever depends +on his authority may generally conclude himself safe. His +sentences are never too much dilated or contracted; and it will +not be easy to find any embarrassment in the complication of his +clauses, any inconsequence in his connections, or abruptness in +his transitions. His style was well suited to his thoughts, which +are never subtilised by nice disquisitions, decorated by +sparkling conceits, elevated by ambitious sentences, or +variegated by far-sought learning. He pays no court to the +passions; he excites neither surprise nor admiration: he always +understands himself, and his readers always understand him: the +peruser of Swift wants little previous knowledge; it will be +sufficient that he is acquainted with common words and common +things; he is neither required to mount elevations, nor to +explore profundities; his passage is always on a level, along +solid ground, without asperities, without obstruction. This easy +and safe conveyance of meaning it was Swift’s desire to +attain, and for having attained he deserves praise. For purposes +merely didactic, when something is to be told that was not known +before, it is the best mode; but against that inattention by +which known truths are suffered to lie neglected, it makes no +provision; it instructs, but does not persuade.</p> +<p>By his political education he was associated with the Whigs; +but he deserted them when they deserted their principles, yet +without running into the contrary extreme; he continued +throughout his life to retain the disposition which he assigns to +the “Church-of-England Man,” of thinking commonly +with the Whigs of the State, and with the Tories of the Church. +He was a Churchman, rationally zealous; he desired the +prosperity, and maintained the honour of the clergy; of the +Dissenters he did not wish to infringe the Toleration, but he +opposed their encroachments. To his duty as Dean he was very +attentive. He managed the revenues of his church with exact +economy; and it is said by Delany, that more money was, under his +direction, laid out in repairs, than had ever been in the same +time since its first erection. Of his choir he was eminently +careful; and though he neither loved nor understood music, took +care that all the singers were well qualified, admitting none +without the testimony of skilful judges.</p> +<p>In his church he restored the practice of weekly communion, +and distributed the sacramental elements in the most solemn and +devout manner with his own hand. He came to church every morning, +preached commonly in his turn, and attended the evening anthem, +that it might not be negligently performed. He read the service, +“rather with a strong, nervous voice, than in a graceful +manner; his voice was sharp and high-toned, rather than +harmonious.” He entered upon the clerical state with +hope to excel in preaching; but complained that, from the time of +his political controversies, “he could only preach +pamphlets.” This censure of himself, if judgment be +made from those sermons which have been printed, was unreasonably +severe.</p> +<p>The suspicions of his irreligion proceeded in a great measure +from his dread of hypocrisy; instead of wishing to seem better, +he delighted in seeming worse than he was. He went in London to +early prayers, lest he should be seen at church; he read prayers +to his servants every morning with such dexterous secrecy, that +Dr. Delany was six months in his house before he knew it. He was +not only careful to hide the good which he did, but willingly +incurred the suspicion of evil which he did not. He forgot what +himself had formerly asserted, that hypocrisy is less mischievous +than open impiety. Dr. Delany, with all his zeal for his honour, +has justly condemned this part of his character.</p> +<p>The person of Swift had not many recommendations. He had a +kind of muddy complexion, which, though he washed himself with +Oriental scrupulosity, did not look clear. He had a countenance +sour and severe, which he seldom softened by any appearance of +gaiety. He stubbornly resisted any tendency to laughter. To his +domestics he was naturally rough: and a man of a rigorous temper, +with that vigilance of minute attention which his works discover, +must have been a master that few could bear. That he was disposed +to do his servants good, on important occasions, is no great +mitigation; benefaction can be but rare, and tyrannic peevishness +is perpetual. He did not spare the servants of others. Once, when +he dined alone with the Earl of Orrery, he said of one that +waited in the room, “That man has, since we sat to the +table, committed fifteen faults.” What the faults +were, Lord Orrery, from whom I heard the story, had not been +attentive enough to discover. My number may perhaps not be +exact.</p> +<p>In his economy he practised a peculiar and offensive +parsimony, without disguise or apology. The practice of saving +being once necessary, became habitual, and grew first ridiculous, +and at last detestable. But his avarice, though it might exclude +pleasure, was never suffered to encroach upon his virtue. He was +frugal by inclination, but liberal by principle: and if the +purpose to which he destined his little accumulations be +remembered, with his distribution of occasional charity, it will +perhaps appear that he only liked one mode of expense better than +another, and saved merely that he might have something to give. +He did not grow rich by injuring his successors, but left both +Laracor and the Deanery more valuable than he found them. With +all this talk of his covetousness and generosity, it should be +remembered that he was never rich. The revenue of his Deanery was +not much more than seven hundred a year. His beneficence was not +graced with tenderness or civility; he relieved without pity, and +assisted without kindness; so that those who were fed by him +could hardly love him. He made a rule to himself to give but one +piece at a time, and therefore always stored his pocket with +coins of different value. Whatever he did he seemed willing to do +in a manner peculiar to himself, without sufficiently considering +that singularity, as it implies a contempt of the general +practice, is a kind of defiance which justly provokes the +hostility of ridicule; he, therefore, who indulges peculiar +habits, is worse than others, if he be not better.</p> +<p>Of his humour, a story told by Pope may afford a specimen.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Dr. Swift has an odd, blunt way, that is +mistaken by strangers for ill nature.—’Tis so odd, +that there’s no describing it but by facts. I’ll tell +you one that first comes into my head. One evening Gay and I went +to see him: you know how intimately we were all acquainted. On +our coming in, ‘Heyday, gentlemen’ (says the doctor), +‘what’s the meaning of this visit? How came you +to leave the great Lords that you are so fond of, to come hither +to see a poor Dean?’—‘Because we would rather +see you than any of them.’—‘Ay, anyone that did +not know so well as I do might believe you. But since you are +come, I must get some supper for you, I +suppose.’—‘No, Doctor, we have supped +already.’—‘Supped already? that’s +impossible! why, ’tis not eight o’clock yet: +that’s very strange; but if you had not supped, I must have +got something for you. Let me see, what should I have had? +A couple of lobsters; ay, that would have done very well; two +shillings—tarts, a shilling; but you will drink a glass of +wine with me, though you supped so much before your usual time +only to spare my pocket?’—‘No, we had rather +talk with you than drink with you.’—‘But if you +had supped with me, as in all reason you ought to have done, you +must then have drunk with me. A bottle of wine, two +shillings—two and two is four, and one is five; just +two-and-sixpence a-piece. There, Pope, there’s half a crown +for you, and there’s another for you, sir; for I +won’t save anything by you. I am +determined.’—This was all said and done with his +usual seriousness on such occasions; and, in spite of everything +we could say to the contrary, he actually obliged us to take the +money.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In the intercourse of familiar life, he indulged his +disposition to petulance and sarcasm, and thought himself injured +if the licentiousness of his raillery, the freedom of his +censures, or the petulance of his frolics was resented or +repressed. He predominated over his companions with very high +ascendancy, and probably would bear none over whom he could not +predominate. To give him advice was, in the style of his friend +Delany, “to venture to speak to him.” This +customary superiority soon grew too delicate for truth; and +Swift, with all his penetration, allowed himself to be delighted +with low flattery. On all common occasions, he habitually affects +a style of arrogance, and dictates rather than persuades. This +authoritative and magisterial language he expected to be received +as his peculiar mode of jocularity: but he apparently flattered +his own arrogance by an assumed imperiousness, in which he was +ironical only to the resentful, and to the submissive +sufficiently serious. He told stories with great felicity, and +delighted in doing what he knew himself to do well; he was +therefore captivated by the respectful silence of a steady +listener, and told the same tales too often. He did not, however, +claim the right of talking alone; for it was his rule, when he +had spoken a minute, to give room by a pause for any other +speaker. Of time, on all occasions, he was an exact computer, and +knew the minutes required to every common operation.</p> +<p>It may be justly supposed that there was in his conversation, +what appears so frequently in his Letters, an affectation of +familiarity with the great, an ambition of momentary equality +sought and enjoyed by the neglect of those ceremonies which +custom has established as the barriers between one order of +society and another. This transgression of regularity was by +himself and his admirers termed greatness of soul. But a great +mind disdains to hold anything by courtesy, and therefore never +usurps what a lawful claimant may take away. He that encroaches +on another’s dignity puts himself in his power; he is +either repelled with helpless indignity, or endured by clemency +and condescension.</p> +<p>Of Swift’s general habits of thinking, if his Letters +can be supposed to afford any evidence, he was not a man to be +either loved or envied. He seems to have wasted life in +discontent, by the rage of neglected pride, and the languishment +of unsatisfied desire. He is querulous and fastidious, arrogant +and malignant; he scarcely speaks of himself but with indignant +lamentations, or of others but with insolent superiority when he +is gay, and with angry contempt when he is gloomy. From the +letters that passed between him and Pope it might be inferred +that they, with Arbuthnot and Gay, had engrossed all the +understanding and virtue of mankind; that their merits filled the +world; or that there was no hope of more. They show the age +involved in darkness, and shade the picture with sullen +emulation.</p> +<p>When the Queen’s death drove him into Ireland, he might +be allowed to regret for a time the interception of his views, +the extinction of his hopes, and his ejection from gay scenes, +important employment, and splendid friendships; but when time had +enabled reason to prevail over vexation, the complaints, which at +first were natural, became ridiculous because they were useless. +But querulousness was now grown habitual, and he cried out when +he probably had ceased to feel. His reiterated wailings persuaded +Bolingbroke that he was really willing to quit his deanery for an +English parish; and Bolingbroke procured an exchange, which was +rejected; and Swift still retained the pleasure of +complaining.</p> +<p>The greatest difficulty that occurs, in analysing his +character, is to discover by what depravity of intellect he took +delight in revolving ideas, from which almost every other mind +shrinks with disgust. The ideas of pleasure, even when criminal, +may solicit the imagination; but what has disease, deformity, and +filth, upon which the thoughts can be allured to dwell? +Delany is willing to think that Swift’s mind was not much +tainted with this gross corruption before his long visit to Pope. +He does not consider how he degrades his hero, by making him at +fifty-nine the pupil of turpitude, and liable to the malignant +influence of an ascendant mind. But the truth is, that Gulliver +had described his Yahoos before the visit; and he that had formed +those images had nothing filthy to learn.</p> +<p>I have here given the character of Swift as he exhibits +himself to my perception; but now let another be heard who knew +him better. Dr. Delany, after long acquaintance, describes him to +Lord Orrery in these terms:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“My Lord, when you consider Swift’s +singular, peculiar, and most variegated vein of wit, always +rightly intended, although not always so rightly directed; +delightful in many instances, and salutary even where it is most +offensive; when you consider his strict truth, his fortitude in +resisting oppression and arbitrary power; his fidelity in +friendship; his sincere love and zeal for religion; his +uprightness in making right resolutions, and his steadiness in +adhering to them; his care of his church, its choir, its economy, +and its income; his attention to all those who preached in his +cathedral, in order to their amendment in pronunciation and +style; as also his remarkable attention to the interest of his +successors preferably to his own present emoluments; his +invincible patriotism, even to a country which he did not love; +his very various, well-devised, well-judged, and extensive +charities, throughout his life; and his whole fortune (to say +nothing of his wife’s) conveyed to the same Christian +purposes at his death; charities, from which he could enjoy no +honour, advantage, or satisfaction of any kind in this world: +when you consider his ironical and humorous, as well as his +serious schemes, for the promotion of true religion and virtue; +his success in soliciting for the First Fruits and Twentieths, to +the unspeakable benefit of the Established Church of Ireland; and +his felicity (to rate it no higher) in giving occasion to the +building of fifty new churches in London:</p> +<p>“All this considered, the character of his life will +appear like that of his writings; they will both bear to be +reconsidered, and re-examined with the utmost attention, and +always discover new beauties and excellences upon every +examination.</p> +<p>“They will bear to be considered as the sun, in which +the brightness will hide the blemishes; and whenever petulant +ignorance, pride, malignity, or envy interposes to cloud or sully +his fame, I take upon me to pronounce, that the eclipse will not +last long.</p> +<p>“To conclude—No man ever deserved better of his +country, than Swift did of his; a steady, persevering, inflexible +friend; a wise, a watchful, and a faithful counsellor, under many +severe trials and bitter persecutions, to the manifest hazard +both of his liberty and fortune.</p> +<p>“He lived a blessing, he died a benefactor, and his name +will ever live an honour to Ireland.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In the poetical works of Dr. Swift there is not much upon +which the critic can exercise his powers. They are often +humorous, almost always light, and have the qualities which +recommend such compositions, easiness and gaiety. They are, for +the most part, what their author intended. The diction is +correct, the numbers are smooth, and the rhymes exact. There +seldom occurs a hard-laboured expression, or a redundant epithet; +all his verses exemplify his own definition of a good style; they +consist of “proper words in proper places.”</p> +<p>To divide this collection into classes, and show how some +pieces are gross, and some are trifling, would be to tell the +reader what he knows already, and to find faults of which the +author could not be ignorant, who certainly wrote not often to +his judgment, but his humour.</p> +<p>It was said, in a Preface to one of the Irish editions, that +Swift had never been known to take a single thought from any +writer, ancient or modern. This is not literally true; but +perhaps no writer can easily be found that has borrowed so +little, or that, in all his excellences and all his defects, has +so well maintained his claim to be considered as original.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> + +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">Printed by +Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, +E.C.</span></p> +<pre> + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE ENGLISH POETS*** + + +***** This file should be named 4679-h.htm or 4679-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/7/7/4679 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lives of the Poets: Addison, Savage, and Swift + +Author: Samuel Johnson + +Commentator: Henry Morley + +Release Date: November, 2003 [EBook #4679] +Posting Date: January 8, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE POETS *** + + + + +Produced by Les Bowler + + + + + +LIVES OF THE POETS: ADDISON, SAVAGE, and SWIFT + + +By Samuel Johnson + + + +Contents. + + Introduction by Henry Morley. + Joseph Addison. + Richard Savage. + Jonathan Swift. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +Johnson's "Lives of the Poets" were written to serve as Introductions to +a trade edition of the works of poets whom the booksellers selected for +republication. Sometimes, therefore, they dealt briefly with men in whom +the public at large has long ceased to be interested. Richard Savage +would be of this number if Johnson's account of his life had not secured +for him lasting remembrance. Johnson's Life of Savage in this volume has +not less interest than the Lives of Addison and Swift, between which it +is set, although Savage himself has no right at all to be remembered in +such company. Johnson published this piece of biography when his age was +thirty-five; his other lives of poets appeared when that age was about +doubled. He was very poor when the Life of Savage was written for Cave. +Soon after its publication, we are told, Mr. Harte dined with Cave, and +incidentally praised it. Meeting him again soon afterwards Cave said to +Mr. Harte, "You made a man very happy t'other day." "How could that +be?" asked Harte. "Nobody was there but ourselves." Cave answered by +reminding him that a plate of victuals was sent behind a screen, which +was to Johnson, dressed so shabbily that he did not choose to appear. + +Johnson, struggling, found Savage struggling, and was drawn to him by +faith in the tale he told. We have seen in our own time how even an +Arthur Orton could find sensible and good people to believe the tale +with which he sought to enforce claim upon the Tichborne baronetcy. +Savage had literary skill, and he could personate the manners of a +gentleman in days when there were still gentlemen of fashion who drank, +lied, and swaggered into midnight brawls. I have no doubt whatever that +he was the son of the nurse with whom the Countess of Macclesfield had +placed a child that died, and that after his mother's death he found the +papers upon which he built his plot to personate the child, extort money +from the Countess and her family, and bring himself into a profitable +notoriety. + +Johnson's simple truthfulness and ready sympathy made it hard for him to +doubt the story told as Savage told it to him. But when he told it again +himself, though he denounced one whom he believed to be an unnatural +mother, and dealt gently with his friend, he did not translate evil into +good. Through all the generous and kindly narrative we may see clearly +that Savage was an impostor. There is the heart of Johnson in the noble +appeal against judgment of the self-righteous who have never known the +harder trials of the world, when he says of Savage, "Those are no proper +judges of his conduct, who have slumbered away their time on the down +of plenty; nor will any wise man easily presume to say, 'Had I been in +Savage's condition, I should have lived or written better than Savage.'" +But Johnson, who made large allowance for temptations pressing on the +poor, himself suffered and overcame the hardest trials, firm always to +his duty, true servant of God and friend of man. + +Richard Savage's whole public life was built upon a lie. His base nature +foiled any attempt made to befriend him; and the friends he lost, he +slandered; Richard Steele among them. Samuel Johnson was a friend easy +to make, and difficult to lose. There was no money to be got from him, +for he was altogether poor in everything but the large spirit of human +kindness. Savage drew largely on him for sympathy, and had it; although +Johnson was too clear-sighted to be much deceived except in judgment +upon the fraudulent claims which then gave rise to division of opinion. +The Life of Savage is a noble piece of truth, although it rests on faith +put in a fraud. + +H. M. + + + + +ADDISON. + + +Joseph Addison was born on the 1st of May, 1672, at Milston, of which +his father, Lancelot Addison, was then rector, near Ambrosebury, in +Wiltshire, and, appearing weak and unlikely to live, he was christened +the same day. After the usual domestic education, which from the +character of his father may be reasonably supposed to have given him +strong impressions of piety, he was committed to the care of Mr. Naish +at Ambrosebury, and afterwards of Mr. Taylor at Salisbury. + +Not to name the school or the masters of men illustrious for literature, +is a kind of historical fraud, by which honest fame is injuriously +diminished: I would therefore trace him through the whole process of his +education. In 1683, in the beginning of his twelfth year, his father, +being made Dean of Lichfield, naturally carried his family to his new +residence, and, I believe, placed him for some time, probably not long, +under Mr. Shaw, then master of the school at Lichfield, father of the +late Dr. Peter Shaw. Of this interval his biographers have given no +account, and I know it only from a story of a BARRING-OUT, told me, when +I was a boy, by Andrew Corbet, of Shropshire, who had heard it from Mr. +Pigot, his uncle. + +The practice of BARRING-OUT was a savage licence, practised in many +schools to the end of the last century, by which the boys, when the +periodical vacation drew near, growing petulant at the approach of +liberty, some days before the time of regular recess, took possession +of the school, of which they barred the doors, and bade their master +defiance from the windows. It is not easy to suppose that on such +occasions the master would do more than laugh; yet, if tradition may be +credited, he often struggled hard to force or surprise the garrison. The +master, when Pigot was a schoolboy, was BARRED OUT at Lichfield; and the +whole operation, as he said, was planned and conducted by Addison. + +To judge better of the probability of this story, I have inquired +when he was sent to the Chartreux; but, as he was not one of those who +enjoyed the founder's benefaction, there is no account preserved of +his admission. At the school of the Chartreux, to which he was removed +either from that of Salisbury or Lichfield, he pursued his juvenile +studies under the care of Dr. Ellis, and contracted that intimacy +with Sir Richard Steele which their joint labours have so effectually +recorded. + +Of this memorable friendship the greater praise must be given to Steele. +It is not hard to love those from whom nothing can be feared; and +Addison never considered Steele as a rival; but Steele lived, as he +confesses, under an habitual subjection to the predominating genius +of Addison, whom he always mentioned with reverence, and treated with +obsequiousness. + +Addison, who knew his own dignity, could not always forbear to show it, +by playing a little upon his admirer; but he was in no danger of retort; +his jests were endured without resistance or resentment. But the sneer +of jocularity was not the worst. Steele, whose imprudence of generosity, +or vanity of profusion, kept him always incurably necessitous, upon some +pressing exigence, in an evil hour, borrowed a hundred pounds of his +friend probably without much purpose of repayment; but Addison, who +seems to have had other notions of a hundred pounds, grew impatient of +delay, and reclaimed his loan by an execution. Steele felt with great +sensibility the obduracy of his creditor, but with emotions of sorrow +rather than of anger. + +In 1687 he was entered into Queen's College in Oxford, where, in 1689, +the accidental perusal of some Latin verses gained him the patronage +of Dr. Lancaster, afterwards Provost of Queen's College; by whose +recommendation he was elected into Magdalen College as a demy, a term by +which that society denominates those who are elsewhere called scholars: +young men who partake of the founder's benefaction, and succeed in their +order to vacant fellowships. Here he continued to cultivate poetry and +criticism, and grew first eminent by his Latin compositions, which are +indeed entitled to particular praise. He has not confined himself to +the imitation of any ancient author, but has formed his style from +the general language, such as a diligent perusal of the productions of +different ages happened to supply. His Latin compositions seem to have +had much of his fondness, for he collected a second volume of the "Musae +Anglicanae" perhaps for a convenient receptacle, in which all his Latin +pieces are inserted, and where his poem on the Peace has the first +place. He afterwards presented the collection to Boileau, who from that +time "conceived," says Tickell, "an opinion of the English genius +for poetry." Nothing is better known of Boileau than that he had an +injudicious and peevish contempt of modern Latin, and therefore his +profession of regard was probably the effect of his civility rather than +approbation. + +Three of his Latin poems are upon subjects on which perhaps he would not +have ventured to have written in his own language: "The Battle of the +Pigmies and Cranes," "The Barometer," and "A Bowling-green." When the +matter is low or scanty, a dead language, in which nothing is mean +because nothing is familiar, affords great conveniences; and by the +sonorous magnificence of Roman syllables, the writer conceals penury +of thought, and want of novelty, often from the reader and often from +himself. + +In his twenty-second year he first showed his power of English poetry by +some verses addressed to Dryden; and soon after published a translation +of the greater part of the Fourth Georgic upon Bees; after which, says +Dryden, "my latter swarm is scarcely worth the hiving." About the same +time he composed the arguments prefixed to the several books of Dryden's +Virgil; and produced an Essay on the Georgics, juvenile, superficial, +and uninstructive, without much either of the scholar's learning or the +critic's penetration. His next paper of verses contained a character +of the principal English poets, inscribed to Henry Sacheverell, who was +then, if not a poet, a writer of verses; as is shown by his version of +a small part of Virgil's Georgics, published in the Miscellanies; and +a Latin encomium on Queen Mary, in the "Musae Anglicanae." These verses +exhibit all the fondness of friendship; but, on one side or the other, +friendship was afterwards too weak for the malignity of faction. In this +poem is a very confident and discriminate character of Spenser, whose +work he had then never read; so little sometimes is criticism the effect +of judgment. It is necessary to inform the reader that about this +time he was introduced by Congreve to Montague, then Chancellor of +the Exchequer: Addison was then learning the trade of a courtier, and +subjoined Montague as a poetical name to those of Cowley and of Dryden. +By the influence of Mr. Montague, concurring, according to Tickell, +with his natural modesty, he was diverted from his original design of +entering into holy orders. Montague alleged the corruption of men who +engaged in civil employments without liberal education; and declared +that, though he was represented as an enemy to the Church, he would +never do it any injury but by withholding Addison from it. + +Soon after (in 1695) he wrote a poem to King William, with a rhyming +introduction addressed to Lord Somers. King William had no regard to +elegance or literature; his study was only war; yet by a choice of +Ministers, whose disposition was very different from his own, he +procured, without intention, a very liberal patronage to poetry. Addison +was caressed both by Somers and Montague. + +In 1697 appeared his Latin verses on the Peace of Ryswick, which he +dedicated to Montague, and which was afterwards called, by Smith, "the +best Latin poem since the 'AEneid.'" Praise must not be too rigorously +examined; but the performance cannot be denied to be vigorous and +elegant. Having yet no public employment, he obtained (in 1699) a +pension of three hundred pounds a year, that he might be enabled to +travel. He stayed a year at Blois, probably to learn the French language +and then proceeded in his journey to Italy, which he surveyed with the +eyes of a poet. While he was travelling at leisure, he was far from +being idle: for he not only collected his observations on the country, +but found time to write his "Dialogues on Medals," and four acts of +Cato. Such, at least, is the relation of Tickell. Perhaps he only +collected his materials and formed his plan. Whatever were his other +employments in Italy, he there wrote the letter to Lord Halifax which is +justly considered as the most elegant, if not the most sublime, of his +poetical productions. But in about two years he found it necessary to +hasten home; being, as Swift informs us, distressed by indigence, +and compelled to become the tutor of a travelling squire, because his +pension was not remitted. + +At his return he published his Travels, with a dedication to Lord +Somers. As his stay in foreign countries was short, his observations +are such as might be supplied by a hasty view, and consist chiefly in +comparisons of the present face of the country with the descriptions +left us by the Roman poets, from whom he made preparatory collections, +though he might have spared the trouble had he known that such +collections had been made twice before by Italian authors. + +The most amusing passage of his book is his account of the minute +republic of San Marino; of many parts it is not a very severe censure to +say that they might have been written at home. His elegance of language, +and variegation of prose and verse, however, gain upon the reader; and +the book, though awhile neglected, became in time so much the favourite +of the public that before it was reprinted it rose to five times its +price. + +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; and a mind so cultivated +gives reason to believe that little time was lost. But he remained not +long neglected or useless. The victory at Blenheim (1704) spread triumph +and confidence over the nation; and Lord Godolphin, lamenting to +Lord Halifax that it had not been celebrated in a manner equal to the +subject, desired him to propose it to some better poet. Halifax told +him that there was no encouragement for genius; that worthless men were +unprofitably enriched with public money, without any care to find or +employ those whose appearance might do honour to their country. To this +Godolphin replied that such abuses should in time be rectified; and +that, if a man could be found capable of the task then proposed, he +should not want an ample recompense. Halifax then named Addison, but +required that the Treasurer should apply to him in his own person. +Godolphin sent the message by Mr. Boyle, afterwards Lord Carlton; and +Addison, having undertaken the work, communicated it to the Treasury +while it was yet advanced no further than the simile of the angel, +and was immediately rewarded by succeeding Mr. Locke in the place of +Commissioner of Appeals. + +In the following year he was at Hanover with Lord Halifax: and the year +after he was made Under Secretary of State, first to Sir Charles Hedges, +and in a few months more to the Earl of Sunderland. About this time the +prevalent taste for Italian operas inclined him to try what would be the +effect of a musical drama in our own language. He therefore wrote the +opera of Rosamond, which, when exhibited on the stage, was either hissed +or neglected; but, trusting that the readers would do him more justice, +he published it with an inscription to the Duchess of Marlborough--a +woman without skill, or pretensions to skill, in poetry or literature. +His dedication was therefore an instance of servile absurdity, to be +exceeded only by Joshua Barnes's dedication of a Greek Anacreon to the +Duke. His reputation had been somewhat advanced by The Tender Husband, a +comedy which Steele dedicated to him, with a confession that he owed to +him several of the most successful scenes. To this play Addison supplied +a prologue. + +When the Marquis of Wharton was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, +Addison attended him as his secretary; and was made Keeper of the +Records, in Birmingham's Tower, with a salary of three hundred pounds +a year. The office was little more than nominal, and the salary was +augmented for his accommodation. Interest and faction allow little to +the operation of particular dispositions or private opinions. Two men +of personal characters more opposite than those of Wharton and Addison +could not easily be brought together. Wharton was impious, profligate, +and shameless; without regard, or appearance of regard, to right and +wrong. Whatever is contrary to this may be said of Addison; but as +agents of a party they were connected, and how they adjusted their other +sentiments we cannot know. + +Addison must, however, not be too hastily condemned. It is not necessary +to refuse benefits from a bad man when the acceptance implies no +approbation of his crimes; nor has the subordinate officer any +obligation to examine the opinions or conduct of those under whom he +acts, except that he may not be made the instrument of wickedness. It is +reasonable to suppose that Addison counteracted, as far as he was able, +the malignant and blasting influence of the Lieutenant; and that +at least by his intervention some good was done, and some mischief +prevented. When he was in office he made a law to himself, as Swift has +recorded, never to remit his regular fees in civility to his friends: +"for," said he, "I may have a hundred friends; and if my fee be two +guineas, I shall, by relinquishing my right, lose two hundred guineas, +and no friend gain more than two; there is therefore no proportion +between the good imparted and the evil suffered." He was in Ireland when +Steele, without any communication of his design, began the publication +of the Tatler; but he was not long concealed; by inserting a remark on +Virgil which Addison had given him he discovered himself. It is, indeed, +not easy for any man to write upon literature or common life so as not +to make himself known to those with whom he familiarly converses, and +who are acquainted with his track of study, his favourite topic, his +peculiar notions, and his habitual phrases. + +If Steele desired to write in secret, he was not lucky; a single month +detected him. His first Tatler was published April 22 (1709); and +Addison's contribution appeared May 26. Tickell observes that the Tatler +began and was concluded without his concurrence. This is doubtless +literally true; but the work did not suffer much by his unconsciousness +of its commencement, or his absence at its cessation; for he continued +his assistance to December 23, and the paper stopped on January 2. He +did not distinguish his pieces by any signature; and I know not whether +his name was not kept secret till the papers were collected into +volumes. + +To the Tatler, in about two months, succeeded the Spectator: a series +of essays of the same kind, but written with less levity, upon a more +regular plan, and published daily. Such an undertaking showed the +writers not to distrust their own copiousness of materials or facility +of composition, and their performance justified their confidence. They +found, however, in their progress many auxiliaries. To attempt a single +paper was no terrifying labour; many pieces were offered, and many were +received. + +Addison had enough of the zeal of party; but Steele had at that time +almost nothing else. The Spectator, in one of the first papers, showed +the political tenets of its authors; but a resolution was soon taken of +courting general approbation by general topics, and subjects on which +faction had produced no diversity of sentiments--such as literature, +morality, and familiar life. To this practice they adhered with +few deviations. The ardour of Steele once broke out in praise of +Marlborough; and when Dr. Fleetwood prefixed to some sermons a preface +overflowing with Whiggish opinions, that it might be read by the Queen, +it was reprinted in the Spectator. + +To teach the minuter decencies and inferior duties, to regulate the +practice of daily conversation, to correct those depravities which are +rather ridiculous than criminal, and remove those grievances which, if +they produce no lasting calamities, impress hourly vexation, was first +attempted by Casa in his book of "Manners," and Castiglione in his +"Courtier:" two books yet celebrated in Italy for purity and elegance, +and which, if they are now less read, are neglected only because they +have effected that reformation which their authors intended, and their +precepts now are no longer wanted. Their usefulness to the age in which +they were written is sufficiently attested by the translations which +almost all the nations of Europe were in haste to obtain. + +This species of instruction was continued, and perhaps advanced, by the +French; among whom La Bruyere's "Manners of the Age" (though, as Boileau +remarked, it is written without connection) certainly deserves praise +for liveliness of description and justness of observation. Before the +Tatler and Spectator, if the writers for the theatre are excepted, +England had no masters of common life. No writers had yet undertaken +to reform either the savageness of neglect, or the impertinence of +civility; to show when to speak, or to be silent; how to refuse, or how +to comply. We had many books to teach us our more important duties, +and to settle opinions in philosophy or politics; but an arbiter +elegantiarum, (a judge of propriety) was yet wanting who should survey +the track of daily conversation, and free it from thorns and prickles, +which tease the passer, though they do not wound him. For this purpose +nothing is so proper as the frequent publication of short papers, which +we read, not as study, but amusement. If the subject be slight, the +treatise is short. The busy may find time, and the idle may find +patience. This mode of conveying cheap and easy knowledge began among us +in the civil war, when it was much the interest of either party to raise +and fix the prejudices of the people. At that time appeared Mercurius +Aulicus, Mercurius Rusticus, and Mercurius Civicus. It is said that when +any title grew popular, it was stolen by the antagonist, who by this +stratagem conveyed his notions to those who would not have received him +had he not worn the appearance of a friend. The tumult of those +unhappy days left scarcely any man leisure to treasure up occasional +compositions; and so much were they neglected that a complete collection +is nowhere to be found. + +These Mercuries were succeeded by L'Estrange's Observator; and that by +Lesley's Rehearsal, and perhaps by others; but hitherto nothing had +been conveyed to the people, in this commodious manner, but controversy +relating to the Church or State; of which they taught many to talk, whom +they could not teach to judge. + +It has been suggested that the Royal Society was instituted soon after +the Restoration to divert the attention of the people from public +discontent. The Tatler and Spectator had the same tendency; they were +published at a time when two parties--loud, restless, and violent, +each with plausible declarations, and each perhaps without any distinct +termination of its views--were agitating the nation; to minds heated +with political contest they supplied cooler and more inoffensive +reflections; and it is said by Addison, in a subsequent work, that they +had a perceptible influence upon the conversation of that time, and +taught the frolic and the gay to unite merriment with decency--an effect +which they can never wholly lose while they continue to be among the +first books by which both sexes are initiated in the elegances of +knowledge. + +The Tatler and Spectator adjusted, like Casa, the unsettled practice +of daily intercourse by propriety and politeness; and, like La Bruyere, +exhibited the "Characters and Manners of the Age." The personages +introduced in these papers were not merely ideal; they were then known, +and conspicuous in various stations. Of the Tatler this is told by +Steele in his last paper; and of the Spectator by Budgell in the preface +to "Theophrastus," a book which Addison has recommended, and which +he was suspected to have revised, if he did not write it. Of those +portraits which may be supposed to be sometimes embellished, and +sometimes aggravated, the originals are now partly known, and partly +forgotten. But to say that they united the plans of two or three eminent +writers, is to give them but a small part of their due praise; they +superadded literature and criticism, and sometimes towered far above +their predecessors; and taught, with great justness of argument and +dignity of language, the most important duties and sublime truths. +All these topics were happily varied with elegant fictions and refined +allegories, and illuminated with different changes of style and +felicities of invention. + +It is recorded by Budgell, that of the characters feigned or exhibited +in the Spectator, the favourite of Addison was Sir Roger de Coverley, of +whom he had formed a very delicate and discriminate idea, which he +would not suffer to be violated; and therefore when Steele had shown him +innocently picking up a girl in the Temple, and taking her to a tavern, +he drew upon himself so much of his friend's indignation that he was +forced to appease him by a promise of forbearing Sir Roger for the time +to come. + +The reason which induced Cervantes to bring his hero to the grave, para +mi sola nacio Don Quixote, y yo para el, made Addison declare, with +undue vehemence of expression, that he would kill Sir Roger; being of +opinion that they were born for one another, and that any other hand +would do him wrong. + +It may be doubted whether Addison ever filled up his original +delineation. He describes his knight as having his imagination somewhat +warped; but of this perversion he has made very little use. The +irregularities in Sir Roger's conduct seem not so much the effects of a +mind deviating from the beaten track of life, by the perpetual pressure +of some overwhelming idea, as of habitual rusticity, and that negligence +which solitary grandeur naturally generates. The variable weather of the +mind, the flying vapours of incipient madness, which from time to time +cloud reason without eclipsing it, it requires so much nicety to exhibit +that Addison seems to have been deterred from prosecuting his own +design. + +To Sir Roger (who, as a country gentleman, appears to be a Tory, or, as +it is gently expressed, an adherent to the landed interest) is opposed +Sir Andrew Freeport, a new man, a wealthy merchant, zealous for the +moneyed interest, and a Whig. Of this contrariety of opinions, it is +probable more consequences were at first intended than could be produced +when the resolution was taken to exclude party from the paper. Sir +Andrew does but little, and that little seems not to have pleased +Addison, who, when he dismissed him from the club, changed his opinions. +Steele had made him, in the true spirit of unfeeling commerce, declare +that he "would not build an hospital for idle people;" but at last he +buys land, settles in the country, and builds, not a manufactory, but +an hospital for twelve old husbandmen--for men with whom a merchant +has little acquaintance, and whom he commonly considers with little +kindness. + +Of essays thus elegant, thus instructive, and thus commodiously +distributed, it is natural to suppose the approbation general, and the +sale numerous. I once heard it observed that the sale may be calculated +by the product of the tax, related in the last number to produce more +than twenty pounds a week, and therefore stated at one-and-twenty +pounds, or three pounds ten shillings a day: this, at a halfpenny a +paper, will give sixteen hundred and eighty for the daily number. This +sale is not great; yet this, if Swift be credited, was likely to grow +less; for he declares that the Spectator, whom he ridicules for his +endless mention of the FAIR sex, had before his recess wearied his +readers. + +The next year (1713), in which Cato came upon the stage, was the grand +climacteric of Addison's reputation. Upon the death of Cato he had, +as is said, planned a tragedy in the time of his travels, and had for +several years the four first acts finished, which were shown to such as +were likely to spread their admiration. They were seen by Pope and by +Cibber, who relates that Steele, when he took back the copy, told him, +in the despicable cant of literary modesty, that, whatever spirit his +friend had shown in the composition, he doubted whether he would have +courage sufficient to expose it to the censure of a British audience. +The time, however, was now come when those who affected to think liberty +in danger affected likewise to think that a stage-play might preserve +it; and Addison was importuned, in the name of the tutelary deities of +Britain, to show his courage and his zeal by finishing his design. + +To resume his work he seemed perversely and unaccountably unwilling; and +by a request, which perhaps he wished to be denied, desired Mr. Hughes +to add a fifth act. Hughes supposed him serious; and, undertaking the +supplement, brought in a few days some scenes for his examination; but +he had in the meantime gone to work himself, and produced half an +act, which he afterwards completed, but with brevity irregularly +disproportionate to the foregoing parts, like a task performed with +reluctance and hurried to its conclusion. + +It may yet be doubted whether Cato was made public by any change of the +author's purpose; for Dennis charged him with raising prejudices in +his own favour by false positions of preparatory criticism, and with +POISONING THE TOWN by contradicting in the Spectator the established +rule of poetical justice, because his own hero, with all his virtues, +was to fall before a tyrant. The fact is certain; the motives we must +guess. + +Addison was, I believe, sufficiently disposed to bar all avenues against +all danger. When Pope brought him the prologue, which is properly +accommodated to the play, there were these words, "Britains, arise! be +worth like this approved;" meaning nothing more than--Britons, erect +and exalt yourselves to the approbation of public virtue. Addison was +frighted, lest he should be thought a promoter of insurrection, and the +line was liquidated to "Britains, attend." + +Now "heavily in clouds came on the day, the great, the important day," +when Addison was to stand the hazard of the theatre. That there might, +however, be left as little hazard as was possible, on the first night +Steele, as himself relates, undertook to pack an audience. "This," says +Pope, "had been tried for the first time in favour of the Distressed +Mother; and was now, with more efficacy, practised for Cato." The danger +was soon over. The whole nation was at that time on fire with faction. +The Whigs applauded every line in which liberty was mentioned, as a +satire on the Tories; and the Tories echoed every clap, to show that +the satire was unfelt. The story of Bolingbroke is well known; he called +Booth to his box, and gave him fifty guineas for defending the cause of +liberty so well against a perpetual dictator. "The Whigs," says Pope, +"design a second present, when they can accompany it with as good a +sentence." + +The play, supported thus by the emulation of factious praise, was acted +night after night for a longer time than, I believe, the public had +allowed to any drama before; and the author, as Mrs. Porter long +afterwards related, wandered through the whole exhibition behind the +scenes with restless and unappeasable solicitude. When it was printed, +notice was given that the Queen would be pleased if it was dedicated +to her; "but, as he had designed that compliment elsewhere, he found +himself obliged," says Tickell, "by his duty on the one hand, and his +honour on the other, to send it into the world without any dedication." + +Human happiness has always its abatements; the brightest sunshine of +success is not without a cloud. No sooner was Cato offered to the reader +than it was attacked by the acute malignity of Dennis with all the +violence of angry criticism. Dennis, though equally zealous, and +probably by his temper more furious than Addison, for what they called +liberty, and though a flatterer of the Whig Ministry, could not sit +quiet at a successful play; but was eager to tell friends and enemies +that they had misplaced their admirations. The world was too stubborn +for instruction; with the fate of the censurer of Corneille's Cid, his +animadversions showed his anger without effect, and Cato continued to be +praised. + +Pope had now an opportunity of courting the friendship of Addison by +vilifying his old enemy, and could give resentment its full play without +appearing to revenge himself. He therefore published "A Narrative of the +Madness of John Dennis:" a performance which left the objections to the +play in their full force, and therefore discovered more desire of vexing +the critic than of defending the poet. + +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; and that, whenever he should think fit +to answer his remarks, he would do it in a manner to which nothing could +be objected. + +The greatest weakness of the play is in the scenes of love, which are +said by Pope to have been added to the original plan upon a subsequent +review, in compliance with the popular practice of the stage. Such an +authority it is hard to reject; yet the love is so intimately mingled +with the whole action that it cannot easily be thought extrinsic and +adventitious; for if it were taken away, what would be left? or how were +the four acts filled in the first draft? At the publication the wits +seemed proud to pay their attendance with encomiastic verses. The best +are from an unknown hand, which will perhaps lose somewhat of their +praise when the author is known to be Jeffreys. + +Cato had yet other honours. It was censured as a party-play by a scholar +of Oxford; and defended in a favourable examination by Dr. Sewel. It was +translated by Salvini into Italian, and acted at Florence; and by the +Jesuits of St. Omer's into Latin, and played by their pupils. Of this +version a copy was sent to Mr. Addison: it is to be wished that it could +be found, for the sake of comparing their version of the soliloquy with +that of Bland. + +A tragedy was written on the same subject by Des Champs, a French poet, +which was translated with a criticism on the English play. But the +translator and the critic are now forgotten. + +Dennis lived on unanswered, and therefore little read. Addison knew the +policy of literature too well to make his enemy important by drawing +the attention of the public upon a criticism which, though sometimes +intemperate, was often irrefragable. + +While Cato was upon the stage, another daily paper, called the Guardian, +was published by Steele. To this Addison gave great assistance, whether +occasionally or by previous engagement is not known. The character of +Guardian was too narrow and too serious: it might properly enough admit +both the duties and the decencies of life, but seemed not to include +literary speculations, and was in some degree violated by merriment and +burlesque. What had the Guardian of the Lizards to do with clubs of tall +or of little men, with nests of ants, or with Strada's prolusions? +Of this paper nothing is necessary to be said but that it found many +contributors, and that it was a continuation of the Spectator, with the +same elegance and the same variety, till some unlucky sparkle from a +Tory paper set Steele's politics on fire, and wit at once blazed +into faction. He was soon too hot for neutral topics, and quitted the +Guardian to write the Englishman. + +The papers of Addison are marked in the Spectator by one of the letters +in the name of Clio, and in the Guardian by a hand; whether it was, as +Tickell pretends to think, that he was unwilling to usurp the praise of +others, or as Steele, with far greater likelihood, insinuates, that he +could not without discontent impart to others any of his own. I have +heard that his avidity did not satisfy itself with the air of renown, +but that with great eagerness he laid hold on his proportion of the +profits. + +Many of these papers were written with powers truly comic, with nice +discrimination of characters, and accurate observation of natural or +accidental deviations from propriety; but it was not supposed that he +had tried a comedy on the stage, till Steele after his death declared +him the author of The Drummer. This, however, Steele did not know to +be true by any direct testimony, for when Addison put the play into his +hands, he only told him it was the work of a "gentleman in the company;" +and when it was received, as is confessed, with cold disapprobation, +he was probably less willing to claim it. Tickell omitted it in his +collection; but the testimony of Steele, and the total silence of any +other claimant, has determined the public to assign it to Addison, and +it is now printed with other poetry. Steele carried The Drummer to the +play-house, and afterwards to the press, and sold the copy for fifty +guineas. + +To the opinion of Steele may be added the proof supplied by the +play itself, of which the characters are such as Addison would have +delineated, and the tendency such as Addison would have promoted. That +it should have been ill received would raise wonder, did we not daily +see the capricious distribution of theatrical praise. + +He was not all this time an indifferent spectator of public affairs. He +wrote, as different exigences required (in 1707), "The Present State +of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation;" which, however +judicious, being written on temporary topics, and exhibiting no peculiar +powers, laid hold on no attention, and has naturally sunk by its own +weight into neglect. This cannot be said of the few papers entitled the +Whig Examiner, in which is employed all the force of gay malevolence and +humorous satire. Of this paper, which just appeared and expired, Swift +remarks, with exultation, that "it is now down among the dead men." He +might well rejoice at the death of that which he could not have killed. +Every reader of every party, since personal malice is past, and the +papers which once inflamed the nation are read only as effusions of wit, +must wish for more of the Whig Examiners; for on no occasion was +the genius of Addison more vigorously exerted, and on none did the +superiority of his powers more evidently appear. His "Trial of Count +Tariff," written to expose the treaty of commerce with France, lived no +longer than the question that produced it. + +Not long afterwards an attempt was made to revive the Spectator, at a +time indeed by no means favourable to literature, when the succession of +a new family to the throne filled the nation with anxiety, discord, and +confusion; and either the turbulence of the times, or the satiety of +the readers, put a stop to the publication after an experiment of eighty +numbers, which were actually collected into an eighth volume, perhaps +more valuable than any of those that went before it. Addison produced +more than a fourth part; and the other contributors are by no means +unworthy of appearing as his associates. The time that had passed during +the suspension of the Spectator, though it had not lessened his power +of humour, seems to have increased his disposition to seriousness: the +proportion of his religious to his comic papers is greater than in the +former series. + +The Spectator, from its re-commencement, was published only three +times a week; and no discriminative marks were added to the papers. +To Addison, Tickell has ascribed twenty-three. The Spectator had many +contributors; and Steele, whose negligence kept him always in a hurry, +when it was his turn to furnish a paper, called loudly for the letters, +of which Addison, whose materials were more, made little use--having +recourse to sketches and hints, the product of his former studies, which +he now reviewed and completed: among these are named by Tickell the +Essays on Wit, those on the Pleasures of the Imagination, and the +Criticism on Milton. + +When the House of Hanover took possession of the throne, it was +reasonable to expect that the zeal of Addison would be suitably +rewarded. Before the arrival of King George, he was made Secretary to +the Regency, and was required by his office to send notice to Hanover +that the Queen was dead, and that the throne was vacant. To do this +would not have been difficult to any man but Addison, who was so +overwhelmed with the greatness of the event, and so distracted by choice +of expression, that the lords, who could not wait for the niceties of +criticism, called Mr. Southwell, a clerk in the House, and ordered him +to despatch the message. Southwell readily told what was necessary in +the common style of business, and valued himself upon having done what +was too hard for Addison. He was better qualified for the Freeholder, +a paper which he published twice a week, from December 23, 1715, to +the middle of the next year. This was undertaken in defence of the +established Government, sometimes with argument, and sometimes with +mirth. In argument he had many equals; but his humour was singular and +matchless. Bigotry itself must be delighted with the "Tory Fox-hunter." +There are, however, some strokes less elegant and less decent; such +as the "Pretender's Journal," in which one topic of ridicule is his +poverty. This mode of abuse had been employed by Milton against King +Charles II. + + "Jacoboei. + Centum exulantis viscera Marsupii regis." + +And Oldmixon delights to tell of some alderman of London that he had +more money than the exiled princes; but that which might be expected +from Milton's savageness, or Oldmixon's meanness, was not suitable to +the delicacy of Addison. + +Steele thought the humour of the Freeholder too nice and gentle for such +noisy times, and is reported to have said that the Ministry made use of +a lute, when they should have called for a trumpet. + +This year (1716) he married the Countess Dowager of Warwick, whom he had +solicited by a very long and anxious courtship, perhaps with behaviour +not very unlike that of Sir Roger to his disdainful widow; and who, I am +afraid, diverted herself often by playing with his passion. He is said +to have first known her by becoming tutor to her son. "He formed," said +Tonson, "the design of getting that lady from the time when he was +first taken into the family." In what part of his life he obtained the +recommendation, or how long, and in what manner he lived in the family, +I know not. His advances at first were certainly timorous, but grew +bolder as his reputation and influence increased; till at last 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. She always +remembered her own rank, and thought herself entitled to treat with very +little ceremony the tutor of her son. Rowe's ballad of the "Despairing +Shepherd" is said to have been written, either before or after marriage, +upon this memorable pair; and it is certain that Addison has left behind +him no encouragement for ambitious love. + +The year after (1717) he rose to his highest elevation, being made +Secretary of State. For this employment he might be justly supposed +qualified by long practice of business, and by his regular ascent +through other offices; but expectation is often disappointed; it is +universally confessed that he was unequal to the duties of his place. +In the House of Commons he could not speak, and therefore was useless to +the defence of the Government. "In the office," says Pope, "he could not +issue an order without losing his time in quest of fine expressions." +What he gained in rank he lost in credit; and finding by experience his +own inability, was forced to solicit his dismission, with a pension +of fifteen hundred pounds a year. His friends palliated this +relinquishment, of which both friends and enemies knew the true reason, +with an account of declining health, and the necessity of recess and +quiet. He now returned to his vocation, and began to plan literary +occupations for his future life. He purposed a tragedy on the death of +Socrates: a story of which, as Tickell remarks, the basis is narrow, +and to which I know not how love could have been appended. There would, +however, have been no want either of virtue in the sentiments, or +elegance in the language. He engaged in a nobler work, a "Defence of the +Christian Religion," of which part was published after his death; and he +designed to have made a new poetical version of the Psalms. + +These pious compositions Pope imputed to a selfish motive, upon the +credit, as he owns, of Tonson; who, having quarrelled with Addison, and +not loving him, said that when he laid down the Secretary's office +he intended to take orders and obtain a bishopric; "for," said he, "I +always thought him a priest in his heart." + +That Pope should have thought this conjecture of Tonson worth +remembrance, is a proof--but indeed, so far as I have found, the only +proof--that he retained some malignity from their ancient rivalry. +Tonson pretended to guess it; no other mortal ever suspected it; and +Pope might have reflected that a man who had been Secretary of State +in the Ministry of Sunderland knew a nearer way to a bishopric than by +defending religion or translating the Psalms. + +It is related that he had once a design to make an English dictionary, +and that he considered Dr. Tillotson as the writer of highest authority. +There was formerly sent to me by Mr. Locker, clerk of the Leathersellers +Company, who was eminent for curiosity and literature, a collection of +examples selected from Tillotson's works, as Locker said, by Addison. It +came too late to be of use, so I inspected it but slightly, and remember +it indistinctly. I thought the passages too short. Addison, however, +did not conclude his life in peaceful studies, but relapsed, when he was +near his end, to a political dispute. + +It so happened that (1718-19) a controversy was agitated with great +vehemence between those friends of long continuance, Addison and Steele. +It may be asked, in the language of Homer, what power or what cause +should set them at variance. The subject of their dispute was of great +importance. The Earl of Sunderland proposed an Act, called the "Peerage +Bill;" by which the number of Peers should be fixed, and the King +restrained from any new creation of nobility, unless when an old family +should be extinct. To this the Lords would naturally agree; and the +King, who was yet little acquainted with his own prerogative, and, as is +now well known, almost indifferent to the possessions of the Crown, +had been persuaded to consent. The only difficulty was found among +the Commons, who were not likely to approve the perpetual exclusion +of themselves and their posterity. The Bill, therefore, was eagerly +opposed, and, among others, by Sir Robert Walpole, whose speech was +published. + +The Lords might think their dignity diminished by improper advancements, +and particularly by the introduction of twelve new Peers at once, to +produce a majority of Tories in the last reign: an act of authority +violent enough, yet certainly legal, and by no means to be compared with +that contempt of national right with which some time afterwards, by the +instigation of Whiggism, the Commons, chosen by the people for +three years, chose themselves for seven. But, whatever might be the +disposition of the Lords, the people had no wish to increase their +power. The tendency of the Bill, as Steele observed in a letter to the +Earl of Oxford, was to introduce an aristocracy: for a majority in the +House of Lords, so limited, would have been despotic and irresistible. + +To prevent this subversion of the ancient establishment, Steele, whose +pen readily seconded his political passions, endeavoured to alarm +the nation by a pamphlet called "The Plebeian." To this an answer was +published by Addison, under the title of "The Old Whig," in which it +is not discovered that Steele was then known to be the advocate for +the Commons. Steele replied by a second "Plebeian;" and, whether by +ignorance or by courtesy, confined himself to his question, without any +personal notice of his opponent. Nothing hitherto was committed against +the laws of friendship or proprieties of decency; but controvertists +cannot long retain their kindness for each other. The "Old Whig" +answered "The Plebeian," and could not forbear some contempt of "little +DICKY, whose trade it was to write pamphlets." Dicky, however, did not +lose his settled veneration for his friend, but contented himself with +quoting some lines of Cato, which were at once detection and reproof. +The Bill was laid aside during that session, and Addison died before the +next, in which its commitment was rejected by two hundred and sixty-five +to one hundred and seventy-seven. + +Every reader surely must regret that these two illustrious friends, +after so many years passed in confidence and endearment, in unity of +interest, conformity of opinion, and fellowship of study, should finally +part in acrimonious opposition. Such a controversy was "bellum plusquam +CIVILE," as Lucan expresses it. Why could not faction find other +advocates? But among the uncertainties of the human state, we are doomed +to number the instability of friendship. Of this dispute I have little +knowledge but from the "Biographia Britannica." "The Old Whig" is not +inserted in Addison's works: nor is it mentioned by Tickell in his Life; +why it was omitted, the biographers doubtless give the true reason--the +fact was too recent, and those who had been heated in the contention +were not yet cool. + +The necessity of complying with times, and of sparing persons, is the +great impediment of biography. History may be formed from permanent +monuments and records: but lives can only be written from personal +knowledge, which is growing every day less, and in a short time is lost +for ever. What is known can seldom be immediately told; and when it +might be told, it is no longer known. The delicate features of the mind, +the nice discriminations of character, and the minute peculiarities of +conduct, are soon obliterated; and it is surely better that caprice, +obstinacy, frolic, and folly, however they might delight in the +description, should be silently forgotten, than that, by wanton +merriment and unseasonable detection, a pang should be given to a widow, +a daughter, a brother, or a friend. As the process of these narratives +is now bringing me among my contemporaries, I begin to feel myself +"walking upon ashes under which the fire is not extinguished," and +coming to the time of which it will be proper rather to say "nothing +that is false, than all that is true." + +The end of this useful life was now approaching. Addison had for some +time been oppressed by shortness of breath, which was now aggravated +by a dropsy; and, finding his danger pressing, he prepared to die +conformably to his own precepts and professions. During this lingering +decay, he sent, as Pope relates, a message by the Earl of Warwick to +Mr. Gay, desiring to see him. Gay, who had not visited him for some +time before, obeyed the summons, and found himself received with great +kindness. The purpose for which the interview had been solicited was +then discovered. Addison told him that he had injured him; but that, if +he recovered, he would recompense him. What the injury was he did +not explain, nor did Gay ever know; but supposed that some preferment +designed for him had, by Addison's intervention, been withheld. + +Lord Warwick was a young man, of very irregular life, and perhaps of +loose opinions. Addison, for whom he did not want respect, had +very diligently endeavoured to reclaim him, but his arguments and +expostulations had no effect. One experiment, however, remained to be +tried; when he found his life near its end, he directed the young lord +to be called, and when he desired with great tenderness to hear his +last injunctions, told him, "I have sent for you that you may see how a +Christian can die." What effect this awful scene had on the earl, I know +not; he likewise died himself in a short time. + +In Tickell's excellent Elegy on his friend are these lines:-- + + "He taught us how to live; and, oh! too high + The price of knowledge, taught us how to die"-- + +in which he alludes, as he told Dr. Young, to this moving interview. + +Having given directions to Mr. Tickell for the publication of his works, +and dedicated them on his death-bed to his friend Mr. Craggs, he died +June 17, 1719, at Holland House, leaving no child but a daughter. + +Of his virtue it is a sufficient testimony that the resentment of party +has transmitted no charge of any crime. He was not one of those who are +praised only after death; for his merit was so generally acknowledged +that Swift, having observed that his election passed without a contest, +adds that if he proposed himself for King he would hardly have been +refused. His zeal for his party did not extinguish his kindness for the +merit of his opponents; when he was Secretary in Ireland, he refused to +intermit his acquaintance with Swift. Of his habits or external manners, +nothing is so often mentioned as that timorous or sullen taciturnity, +which his friends called modesty by too mild a name. Steele mentions +with great tenderness "that remarkable bashfulness which is a cloak that +hides and muffles merit;" and tells us "that his abilities were covered +only by modesty, which doubles the beauties which are seen, and gives +credit and esteem to all that are concealed." Chesterfield affirms that +"Addison was the most timorous and awkward man that he ever saw." And +Addison, speaking of his own deficiency in conversation, used to say of +himself that, with respect to intellectual wealth, "he could draw bills +for a thousand pounds, though he had not a guinea in his pocket." That +he wanted current coin for ready payment, and by that want was often +obstructed and distressed; and that he was often oppressed by an +improper and ungraceful timidity, every testimony concurs to prove; but +Chesterfield's representation is doubtless hyperbolical. That man cannot +be supposed very unexpert in the arts of conversation and practice of +life who, without fortune or alliance, by his usefulness and dexterity +became Secretary of State, and who died at forty-seven, after having not +only stood long in the highest rank of wit and literature, but filled +one of the most important offices of State. + +The time in which he lived had reason to lament his obstinacy of +silence; "for he was," says Steele, "above all men in that talent called +humour, and enjoyed it in such perfection that I have often reflected, +after a night spent with him apart from all the world, that I had had +the pleasure of conversing with an intimate acquaintance of Terence and +Catullus, who had all their wit and nature, heightened with humour more +exquisite and delightful than any other man ever possessed." This is the +fondness of a friend; let us hear what is told us by a rival. "Addison's +conversation," says Pope, "had something in it more charming than I +have found in any other man. But this was only when familiar: before +strangers, or perhaps a single stranger, he preserved his dignity by a +stiff silence." This modesty was by no means inconsistent with a very +high opinion of his own merit. He demanded to be the first name in +modern wit; and, with Steele to echo him, used to depreciate Dryden, +whom Pope and Congreve defended against them. There is no reason to +doubt that he suffered too much pain from the prevalence of Pope's +poetical reputation; nor is it without strong reason suspected that by +some disingenuous acts he endeavoured to obstruct it; Pope was not the +only man whom he insidiously injured, though the only man of whom he +could be afraid. His own powers were such as might have satisfied him +with conscious excellence. Of very extensive learning he has indeed +given no proofs. He seems to have had small acquaintance with the +sciences, and to have read little except Latin and French; but of the +Latin poets his "Dialogues on Medals" show that he had perused the works +with great diligence and skill. The abundance of his own mind left him +little indeed of adventitious sentiments; his wit always could suggest +what the occasion demanded. He had read with critical eyes the important +volume of human life, and knew the heart of man, from the depths of +stratagem to the surface of affectation. What he knew he could easily +communicate. "This," says Steele, "was particular in this writer--that +when he had taken his resolution, or made his plan for what he designed +to write, he would walk about a room and dictate it into language with +as much freedom and ease as any one could write it down, and attend to +the coherence and grammar of what he dictated." + +Pope, who can be less suspected of favouring his memory, declares that +he wrote very fluently, but was slow and scrupulous in correcting; that +many of his Spectators were written very fast, and sent immediately to +the press; and that it seemed to be for his advantage not to have time +for much revisal. "He would alter," says Pope, "anything to please +his friends before publication, but would not re-touch his pieces +afterwards; and I believe not one word of Cato to which I made an +objection was suffered to stand." + +The last line of Cato is Pope's, having been originally written-- + + "And oh! 'twas this that ended Cato's life." + +Pope might have made more objections to the six concluding lines. In the +first couplet the words "from hence" are improper; and the second line +is taken from Dryden's Virgil. Of the next couplet, the first verse, +being included in the second, is therefore useless; and in the third +Discord is made to produce Strife. + +Of the course of Addison's familiar day, before his marriage, Pope +has given a detail. He had in the house with him Budgell, and perhaps +Philips. His chief companions were Steele, Budgell, Philips [Ambrose], +Carey, Davenant, and Colonel Brett. With one or other of these he always +breakfasted. He studied all morning; then dined at a tavern; and went +afterwards to Button's. 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 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. +In the bottle discontent seeks for comfort, cowardice for courage, and +bashfulness for confidence. It is not unlikely that Addison was first +seduced to excess by the manumission which he obtained from the servile +timidity of his sober hours. He that feels oppression from the presence +of those to whom he knows himself superior will desire to set loose his +powers of conversation; and who that ever asked succours from Bacchus +was able to preserve himself from being enslaved by his auxiliary? + +Among those friends it was that Addison displayed the elegance of his +colloquial accomplishments, which may easily be supposed such as Pope +represents them. The remark of Mandeville, who, when he had passed an +evening in his company, declared that he was a parson in a tie-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. + +From any minute knowledge of his familiar manners the intervention of +sixty years has now debarred us. Steele once promised Congreve and the +public a complete description of his character; but the promises of +authors are like the vows of lovers. Steele thought no more on his +design, or thought on it with anxiety that at last disgusted him, and +left his friend in the hands of Tickell. + +One slight lineament of his character Swift has preserved. It was +his practice, when he found any man invincibly wrong, to flatter his +opinions by acquiescence, and sink him yet deeper in absurdity. This +artifice of mischief was admired by Stella; and Swift seems to approve +her admiration. His works will supply some information. It appears, from +the various pictures of the world, that, with all his bashfulness, he +had conversed with many distinct classes of men, had surveyed their +ways with very diligent observation, and marked with great acuteness +the effects of different modes of life. He was a man in whose presence +nothing reprehensible was out of danger; quick in discerning whatever +was wrong or ridiculous, and not unwilling to expose it. "There are," +says Steele, "in his writings many oblique strokes upon some of the +wittiest men of the age." His delight was more to excite merriment than +detestation; and he detects follies rather than crimes. If any judgment +be made from his books of his moral character, nothing will be found but +purity and excellence. Knowledge of mankind, indeed, less extensive +than that of Addison, will show that to write, and to live, are very +different. Many who praise virtue, do no more than praise it. Yet it is +reasonable to believe that Addison's professions 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. + +It is justly observed by Tickell that he employed wit on the side of +virtue and religion. He not only made the proper use of wit himself, but +taught it to others; and from his time it has been generally subservient +to the cause of reason and of truth. He has dissipated the prejudice +that had long connected gaiety with vice, and easiness of manners with +laxity of principles. He has restored virtue to its dignity, and taught +innocence not to be ashamed. This is an elevation of literary character +"above all Greek, above all Roman fame." No greater felicity can genius +attain than that of having purified intellectual pleasure, separated +mirth from indecency, and wit from licentiousness; of having taught +a succession of writers to bring elegance and gaiety to the aid of +goodness; and, if I may use expressions yet more awful, of having +"turned many to righteousness." + +Addison, in his life and for some time afterwards, was considered by +a greater part of readers as supremely excelling both in poetry and +criticism. Part of his reputation may be probably ascribed to the +advancement of his fortune; when, as Swift observes, he became a +statesman, and saw poets waiting at his levee, it was no wonder that +praise was accumulated upon him. Much likewise may be more honourably +ascribed to his personal character: he who, if he had claimed it, might +have obtained the diadem, was not likely to be denied the laurel. But +time quickly puts an end to artificial and accidental fame; and Addison +is to pass through futurity protected only by his genius. Every name +which kindness or interest once raised too high is in danger, lest the +next age should, by the vengeance of criticism, sink it in the same +proportion. A great writer has lately styled him "an indifferent poet, +and a worse critic." His poetry is first to be considered; of which +it must be confessed that it has not often those felicities of diction +which give lustre to sentiments, or that vigour of sentiment that +animates diction: there is little of ardour, vehemence, or transport; +there is very rarely the awfulness of grandeur, and not very often the +splendour of elegance. He thinks justly, but he thinks faintly. This is +his general character; to which, doubtless, many single passages will +furnish exception. Yet, if he seldom reaches supreme excellence, +he rarely sinks into dulness, and is still more rarely entangled in +absurdity. He did not trust his powers enough to be negligent. There is +in most of his compositions a calmness and equability, deliberate and +cautious, sometimes with little that delights, but seldom with anything +that offends. Of this kind seem to be his poems to Dryden, to Somers, +and to the King. His ode on St. Cecilia has been imitated by Pope, and +has something in it of Dryden's vigour. Of his Account of the English +Poets he used to speak as a "poor thing;" but it is not worse than his +usual strain. He has said, not very judiciously, in his character of +Waller-- + + "Thy verse could show even Cromwell's innocence, + And compliment the storms that bore him hence. + Oh! had thy Muse not come an age too soon, + But seen great Nassau on the British throne, + How had his triumph glittered in thy page!" + +What is this but to say that he who could compliment Cromwell had been +the proper poet for King William? Addison, however, printed the piece. + +The Letter from Italy has been always praised, but has never been +praised beyond its merit. It is more correct, with less appearance of +labour, and more elegant, with less ambition of ornament, than any other +of his poems. There is, however, one broken metaphor, of which notice +may properly be taken:-- + + "Fired with that name-- + I bridle in my struggling Muse with pain, + That longs to launch into a nobler strain." + +To BRIDLE A GODDESS is no very delicate idea; but why must she be +BRIDLED? because she LONGS TO LAUNCH; an act which was never hindered by +a BRIDLE: and whither will she LAUNCH? into a NOBLER STRAIN. She is in +the first line a HORSE, in the second a BOAT; and the care of the poet +is to keep his HORSE or his BOAT from SINGING. + +The next composition is the far-famed "Campaign," which Dr. Warton +has termed a "Gazette in Rhyme," with harshness not often used by the +good-nature of his criticism. Before a censure so severe is admitted, +let us consider that war is a frequent subject of poetry, and then +inquire who has described it with more justice and force. Many of our +own writers tried their powers upon this year of victory: yet Addison's +is confessedly the best performance; his poem is the work of a man not +blinded by the dust of learning; his images are not borrowed merely from +books. The superiority which he confers upon his hero is not personal +prowess and "mighty bone," but deliberate intrepidity, a calm command of +his passions, and the power of consulting his own mind in the midst of +danger. The rejection and contempt of fiction is rational and manly. It +may be observed that the last line is imitated by Pope:-- + + "Marlb'rough's exploits appear divinely bright-- + Raised of themselves their genuine charms they boast, + And those that paint them truest, praise them most." + +This Pope had in his thoughts, but, not knowing how to use what was not +his own, he spoiled the thought when he had borrowed it:-- + + "The well-sung woes shall soothe my pensive ghost; + He best can paint them who shall feel them most." + +Martial exploits may be PAINTED; perhaps WOES may be PAINTED; but they +are surely not PAINTED by being WELL SUNG: it is not easy to paint in +song, or to sing in colours. + +No passage in the "Campaign" has been more often mentioned than the +simile of the angel, which is said in the Tatler to be "one of the +noblest thoughts that ever entered into the heart of man," and is +therefore worthy of attentive consideration. Let it be first inquired +whether it be a simile. A poetical simile is the discovery of likeness +between two actions in their general nature dissimilar, or of causes +terminating by different operations in some resemblance of effect. But +the mention of another like consequence from a like cause, or of a like +performance by a like agency, is not a simile, but an exemplification. +It is not a simile to say that the Thames waters fields, as the Po +waters fields; or that as Hecla vomits flames in Iceland, so AEtna +vomits flames in Sicily. When Horace says of Pindar that he pours his +violence and rapidity of verse, as a river swollen with rain rushes +from the mountain; or of himself, that his genius wanders in quest of +poetical decorations, as the bee wanders to collect honey; he, in either +case, produces a simile: the mind is impressed with the resemblance of +things generally unlike, as unlike as intellect and body. But if Pindar +had been described as writing with the copiousness and grandeur of +Homer, or Horace had told that he reviewed and finished his own poetry +with the same care as Isocrates polished his orations, instead of +similitude, he would have exhibited almost identity; he would have given +the same portraits with different names. In the poem now examined, when +the English are represented as gaining a fortified pass by repetition +of attack and perseverance of resolution, their obstinacy of courage +and vigour of onset are well illustrated by the sea that breaks, with +incessant battery, the dykes of Holland. This is a simile. But when +Addison, having celebrated the beauty of Marlborough's person, tells us +that "Achilles thus was formed of every grace," here is no simile, but a +mere exemplification. A simile may be compared to lines converging at +a point, and is more excellent as the lines approach from greater +distance: an exemplification may be considered as two parallel lines, +which run on together without approximation, never far separated, and +never joined. + +Marlborough is so like the angel in the poem that the action of both is +almost the same, and performed by both in the same manner. Marlborough +"teaches the battle to rage;" the angel "directs the storm:" Marlborough +is "unmoved in peaceful thought;" the angel is "calm and serene:" +Marlborough stands "unmoved amidst the shock of hosts;" the angel rides +"calm in the whirlwind." The lines on Marlborough are just and noble, +but the simile gives almost the same images a second time. But +perhaps this thought, though hardly a simile, was remote from vulgar +conceptions, and required great labour and research, or dexterity of +application. Of this Dr. Madden, a name which Ireland ought to honour, +once gave me his opinion. "If I had set," said he, "ten schoolboys to +write on the battle of Blenheim, and eight had brought me the angel, I +should not have been surprised." + +The opera of Rosamond, though it is seldom mentioned, is one of the +first of Addison's compositions. The subject is well chosen, the fiction +is pleasing, and the praise of Marlborough, for which the scene gives +an opportunity, is, what perhaps every human excellence must be, the +product of good luck improved by genius. The thoughts are sometimes +great, and sometimes tender; the versification is easy and gay. There is +doubtless some advantage in the shortness of the lines, which there is +little temptation to load with expletive epithets. The dialogue seems +commonly better than the songs. The two comic characters of Sir Trusty +and Grideline, though of no great value, are yet such as the poet +intended. Sir Trusty's account of the death of Rosamond is, I think, +too grossly absurd. The whole drama is airy and elegant; engaging in its +process, and pleasing in its conclusion. If Addison had cultivated the +lighter parts of poetry, he would probably have excelled. + +The tragedy of Cato, which, contrary to the rule observed in selecting +the works of other poets, has by the weight of its character forced its +way into the late collection, is unquestionably the noblest production +of Addison's genius. Of a work so much read, it is difficult to say +anything new. About things on which the public thinks long, it commonly +attains to think right; and of Cato it has been not unjustly determined +that it is rather a poem in dialogue than a drama, rather a succession +of just sentiments in elegant language than a representation of natural +affections, or of any state probable or possible in human life. Nothing +here "excites or assuages emotion:" here is "no magical power of raising +phantastic terror or wild anxiety." The events are expected without +solicitude, and are remembered without joy or sorrow. Of the agents +we have no care; we consider not what they are doing, or what they are +suffering; we wish only to know what they have to say. Cato is a being +above our solicitude; a man of whom the gods take care, and whom we +leave to their care with heedless confidence. To the rest neither gods +nor men can have much attention; for there is not one amongst them that +strongly attracts either affection or esteem. But they are made the +vehicles of such sentiments and such expression that there is scarcely +a scene in the play which the reader does not wish to impress upon his +memory. + +When Cato was shown to Pope, he advised the author to print it, +without any theatrical exhibition, supposing that it would be read more +favourably than heard. Addison declared himself of the same opinion, but +urged the importunity of his friends for its appearance on the stage. +The emulation of parties made it successful beyond expectation; and its +success has introduced or confirmed among us the use of dialogue +too declamatory, of unaffecting elegance, and chill philosophy. The +universality of applause, however it might quell the censure of common +mortals, had no other effect than to harden Dennis in fixed dislike; but +his dislike was not merely capricious. He found and showed many +faults; he showed them indeed with anger, but he found them indeed with +acuteness, such as ought to rescue his criticism from oblivion; though, +at last, it will have no other life than it derives from the work which +it endeavours to oppress. Why he pays no regard to the opinion of the +audience, he gives his reason by remarking that-- + +"A deference is to be paid to a general applause when it appears that +the applause is natural and spontaneous; but that little regard is to be +had to it when it is affected or artificial. Of all the tragedies +which in his memory have had vast and violent runs, not one has been +excellent, few have been tolerable, most have been scandalous. When a +poet writes a tragedy who knows he has judgment, and who feels he has +genius, that poet presumes upon his own merit, and scorns to make a +cabal. That people come coolly to the representation of such a tragedy, +without any violent expectation, or delusive imagination, or invincible +prepossession; that such an audience is liable to receive the +impressions which the poem shall naturally make on them, and to judge by +their own reason, and their own judgments; and that reason and judgment +are calm and serene, not formed by nature to make proselytes, and to +control and lord it over the imagination of others. But that when an +author writes a tragedy who knows he has neither genius nor judgment, +he has recourse to the making a party, and he endeavours to make up in +industry what is wanting in talent, and to supply by poetical craft +the absence of poetical art: that such an author is humbly contented to +raise men's passions by a plot without doors, since he despairs of doing +it by that which he brings upon the stage. That party and passion, and +prepossession, are clamorous and tumultuous things, and so much the +more clamorous and tumultuous by how much the more erroneous: that +they domineer and tyrannise over the imaginations of persons who want +judgment, and sometimes too of those who have it, and, like a fierce and +outrageous torrent, bear down all opposition before them." + +He then condemns the neglect of poetical justice, which is one of his +favourite principles:-- + +"'Tis certainly the duty of every tragic poet, by the exact distribution +of poetical justice, to imitate the Divine Dispensation, and to +inculcate a particular Providence. 'Tis true, indeed, upon the stage of +the world, the wicked sometimes prosper and the guiltless suffer; +but that is permitted by the Governor of the World, to show, from the +attribute of His infinite justice, that there is a compensation in +futurity, to prove the immortality of the human soul, and the certainty +of future rewards and punishments. But the poetical persons in tragedy +exist no longer than the reading or the representation; the whole extent +of their enmity is circumscribed by those; and therefore, during that +reading or representation, according to their merits or demerits, they +must be punished or rewarded. If this is not done, there is no impartial +distribution of poetical justice, no instructive lecture of a particular +Providence, and no imitation of the Divine Dispensation. And yet the +author of this tragedy does not only run counter to this, in the fate +of his principal character; but everywhere, throughout it, makes virtue +suffer, and vice triumph: for not only Cato is vanquished by Caesar, +but the treachery and perfidiousness of Syphax prevail over the +honest simplicity and the credulity of Juba; and the sly subtlety +and dissimulation of Portius over the generous frankness and +open-heartedness of Marcus." + +Whatever pleasure there may be in seeing crimes punished and virtue +rewarded, yet, since wickedness often prospers in real life, the poet is +certainly at liberty to give it prosperity on the stage. For if poetry +has an imitation of reality, how are its laws broken by exhibiting the +world in its true form? The stage may sometimes gratify our wishes; but +if it be truly the "MIRROR OF LIFE," it ought to show us sometimes what +we are to expect. + +Dennis objects to the characters that they are not natural or +reasonable; but as heroes and heroines are not beings that are seen +every day, it is hard to find upon what principles their conduct shall +be tried. It is, however, not useless to consider what he says of the +manner in which Cato receives the account of his son's death:-- + +"Nor is the grief of Cato, in the fourth act, one jot more in nature +than that of his son and Lucia in the third. Cato receives the news +of his son's death, not only with dry eyes, but with a sort of +satisfaction; and in the same page sheds tears for the calamity of +his country, and does the same thing in the next page upon the bare +apprehension of the danger of his friends. Now, since the love of one's +country is the love of one's countrymen, as I have shown upon another +occasion, I desire to ask these questions:--Of all our countrymen, which +do we love most, those whom we know, or those whom we know not? And +of those whom we know, which do we cherish most, our friends or our +enemies? And of our friends, which are the dearest to us, those who are +related to us, or those who are not? And of all our relations, for which +have we most tenderness, for those who are near to us, or for those +who are remote? And of our near relations, which are the nearest, and +consequently the dearest to us, our offspring, or others? Our offspring, +most certainly; as Nature, or in other words Providence, has wisely +contrived for the preservation of mankind. Now, does it not follow, +from what has been said, that for a man to receive the news of his son's +death with dry eyes, and to weep at the same time for the calamities of +his country, is a wretched affectation and a miserable inconsistency? +Is not that, in plain English, to receive with dry eyes the news of the +deaths of those for whose sake our country is a name so dear to us, and +at the same time to shed tears for those for whose sakes our country is +not a name so dear to us?" + +But this formidable assailant is less resistible when he attacks the +probability of the action and the reasonableness of the plan. Every +critical reader must remark that Addison has, with a scrupulosity almost +unexampled on the English stage, confined himself in time to a single +day, and in place to rigorous unity. The scene never changes, and the +whole action of the play passes in the great hall of Cato's house at +Utica. Much, therefore, is done in the hall for which any other place +had been more fit; and this impropriety affords Dennis many hints of +merriment and opportunities of triumph. The passage is long; but as such +disquisitions are not common, and the objections are skilfully formed +and vigorously urged, those who delight in critical controversy will not +think it tedious:-- + +"Upon the departure of Portius, Sempronius makes but one soliloquy, +and immediately in comes Syphax, and then the two politicians are at it +immediately. They lay their heads together, with their snuff-boxes in +their hands, as Mr. Bayes has it, and feague it away. But, in the +midst of that wise scene, Syphax seems to give a seasonable caution to +Sempronius:-- + + "'SYPH. But is it true, Sempronius, that your senate + Is called together? Gods! thou must be cautious; + Cato has piercing eyes.' + +"There is a great deal of caution shown, indeed, in meeting in a +governor's own hall to carry on their plot against him. Whatever opinion +they have of his eyes, I suppose they have none of his ears, or they +would never have talked at this foolish rate so near:-- + + "'Gods! thou must be cautious.' + +Oh! yes, very cautious: for if Cato should overhear you, and turn you +off for politicians, Caesar would never take you. + +"When Cato, Act II., turns the senators out of the hall upon pretence of +acquainting Juba with the result of their debates, he appears to me to +do a thing which is neither reasonable nor civil. Juba might certainly +have better been made acquainted with the result of that debate in +some private apartment of the palace. But the poet was driven upon +this absurdity to make way for another, and that is to give Juba an +opportunity to demand Marcia of her father. But the quarrel and rage of +Juba and Syphax, in the same act; the invectives of Syphax against the +Romans and Cato; the advice that he gives Juba in her father's hall to +bear away Marcia by force; and his brutal and clamorous rage upon his +refusal, and at a time when Cato was scarcely out of sight, and perhaps +not out of hearing, at least some of his guards or domestics must +necessarily be supposed to be within hearing; is a thing that is so far +from being probable, that it is hardly possible. + +"Sempronius, in the second act, comes back once more in the same morning +to the governor's hall to carry on the conspiracy with Syphax against +the governor, his country, and his family: which is so stupid that it is +below the wisdom of the O---s, the Macs, and the Teagues; even Eustace +Commins himself would never have gone to Justice-hall to have conspired +against the Government. If officers at Portsmouth should lay their heads +together in order to the carrying off J--- G---'s niece or daughter, +would they meet in J---G---'s hall to carry on that conspiracy? There +would be no necessity for their meeting there--at least, till they came +to the execution of their plot--because there would be other places +to meet in. There would be no probability that they should meet there, +because there would be places more private and more commodious. Now +there ought to be nothing in a tragical action but what is necessary or +probable. + +"But treason is not the only thing that is carried on in this hall; +that, and love and philosophy take their turns in it, without any manner +of necessity or probability occasioned by the action, as duly and as +regularly, without interrupting one another, as if there were a triple +league between them, and a mutual agreement that each should give place +to and make way for the other in a due and orderly succession. + +"We now come to the third act. Sempronius, in this act, comes into the +governor's hall with the leaders of the mutiny; but as soon as Cato is +gone, Sempronius, who but just before had acted like an unparalleled +knave, discovers himself, like an egregious fool, to be an accomplice in +the conspiracy. + + "'SEMP. Know, villains, when such paltry slaves presume + To mix in treason, if the plot succeeds, + They're thrown neglected by; but, if it fails, + They're sure to die like dogs, as you shall do. + Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth + To sudden death.' + +"'Tis true, indeed, the second leader says there are none there but +friends; but is that possible at such a juncture? Can a parcel of rogues +attempt to assassinate the governor of a town of war, in his own house, +in midday, and, after they are discovered and defeated, can there +be none near them but friends? Is it not plain, from these words of +Sempronius-- + + "'Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth + To sudden death--' + +and from the entrance of the guards upon the word of command, that +those guards were within ear-shot? Behold Sempronius, then, palpably +discovered. How comes it to pass, then, that instead of being hanged +up with the rest, he remains secure in the governor's hall, and there +carries on his conspiracy against the Government, the third time in the +same day, with his old comrade Syphax, who enters at the same time +that the guards are carrying away the leaders, big with the news of the +defeat of Sempronius?--though where he had his intelligence so soon is +difficult to imagine. And now the reader may expect a very extraordinary +scene. There is not abundance of spirit, indeed, nor a great deal of +passion, but there is wisdom more than enough to supply all defects. + + "'SYPH. Our first design, my friend, has proved abortive; + Still there remains an after-game to play: + My troops are mounted; their Numidian steeds + Snuff up the winds, and long to scour the desert. + Let but Sempronius lead us in our flight, + We'll force the gate where Marcus keeps his guard, + And hew down all that would oppose our passage; + A day will bring us into Caesar's camp. + SEMP. Confusion! I have failed of half my purpose; + Marcia, the charming Marcia's left behind.' + +Well, but though he tells us the half-purpose he has failed of, he does +not tell us the half that he has carried. But what does he mean by + + "'Marcia, the charming Marcia's left behind'? + +He is now in her own house! and we have neither seen her nor heard of +her anywhere else since the play began. But now let us hear Syphax:-- + + "'What hinders, then, but that you find her out, + And hurry her away by manly force?' + +But what does old Syphax mean by finding her out? They talk as if she +were as hard to be found as a hare in a frosty morning. + + "'SEMP. But how to gain admission?' + +Oh! she is found out then, it seems. + + "'But how to gain admission? for access + Is giv'n to none but Juba and her brothers.' + +But, raillery apart, why access to Juba? For he was owned and received +as a lover neither by the father nor by the daughter. Well, but let +that pass. Syphax puts Sempronius out of pain immediately; and, being +a Numidian, abounding in wiles, supplies him with a stratagem for +admission that, I believe, is a nonpareil. + + "'SYPH. Thou shalt have Juba's dress, and Juba's guards; + The doors will open when Numidia's prince + Seems to appear before them.' + +"Sempronius is, it seems, to pass for Juba in full day at Cato's house, +where they were both so very well known, by having Juba's dress and his +guards; as if one of the Marshals of France could pass for the Duke of +Bavaria at noonday, at Versailles, by having his dress and liveries. But +how does Syphax pretend to help Sempronius to young Juba's dress? +Does he serve him in a double capacity, as general and master of his +wardrobe? But why Juba's guards? For the devil of any guards has Juba +appeared with yet. Well, though this is a mighty politic invention, yet, +methinks, they might have done without it: for, since the advice that +Syphax gave to Sempronius was + + "'To hurry her away by manly force,' + +in my opinion the shortest and likeliest way of coming at the lady +was by demolishing, instead of putting on an impertinent disguise to +circumvent two or three slaves. But Sempronius, it seems, is of another +opinion. He extols to the skies the invention of old Syphax:-- + + "'SEMP. Heavens! what a thought was there!' + +"Now, I appeal to the reader if I have not been as good as my word. Did +I not tell him that I would lay before him a very wise scene? + +"But now let us lay before the reader that part of the scenery of the +fourth act which may show the absurdities which the author has run +into, through the indiscreet observance of the unity of place. I do not +remember that Aristotle has said anything expressly concerning the unity +of place. 'Tis true, implicitly he has said enough in the rules which he +has laid down for the chorus. For by making the chorus an essential +part of tragedy, and by bringing it on the stage immediately after the +opening of the scene, and retaining it there till the very catastrophe, +he has so determined and fixed the place of action that it was +impossible for an author on the Grecian stage to break through that +unity. I am of opinion that if a modern tragic poet can preserve the +amity of place, without destroying the probability of the incidents, +'tis always best for him to do it; because by the preservation of that +unity, as we have taken notice above, he adds grace and clearness and +comeliness to the representation. But since there are no express rules +about it, and we are under no compulsion to keep it, since we have +no chorus as the Grecian poet had; if it cannot be preserved without +rendering the greater part of the incidents unreasonable and absurd, and +perhaps sometimes monstrous, 'tis certainly better to break it. + +"Now comes bully Sempronius, comically accoutred and equipped with his +Numidian dress and his Numidian guards. Let the reader attend to him +with all his ears, for the words of the wise are precious:-- + + "'SEMP. The deer is lodged; I've tracked her to her covert.' + +"Now I would fain know why this deer is said to be lodged, since we +have not heard one word since the play began of her being at all out of +harbour: and if we consider the discourse with which she and Lucia begin +the act, we have reason to believe that they had hardly been talking +of such matters in the street. However, to pleasure Sempronius, let us +suppose, for once, that the deer is lodged:-- + + "'The deer is lodged; I've tracked her to her covert.' + +"If he had seen her in the open field, what occasion had he to track her +when he had so many Numidian dogs at his heels, which, with one halloo, +he might have set upon her haunches? If he did not see her in the +open field, how could he possibly track her? If he had seen her in the +street, why did he not set upon her in the street, since through the +street she must be carried at last? Now here, instead of having his +thoughts upon his business, and upon the present danger; instead of +meditating and contriving how he shall pass with his mistress through +the southern gate, where her brother Marcus is upon the guard, and where +he would certainly prove an impediment to him (which is the Roman word +for the BAGGAGE); instead of doing this, Sempronius is entertaining +himself with whimsies:-- + + "'Semp. How will the young Numidian rave to see + His mistress lost! If aught could glad my soul + Beyond th' enjoyment of so bright a prize, + 'Twould be to torture that young, gay barbarian. + But hark! what noise? Death to my hopes! 'tis he, + 'Tis Juba's self! There is but one way left! + He must be murdered, and a passage cut + Through those his guards.' + +"Pray, what are 'those guards'? I thought at present that Juba's guards +had been Sempronius's tools, and had been dangling after his heels. + +"But now let us sum up all these absurdities together. Sempronius goes +at noon-day, in Juba's clothes and with Juba's guards, to Cato's palace, +in order to pass for Juba, in a place where they were both so very well +known: he meets Juba there, and resolves to murder him with his own +guards. Upon the guards appearing a little bashful, he threatens them:-- + + "'Hah! dastards, do you tremble? + Or act like men; or, by yon azure heav'n!'-- + +"But the guards still remaining restive, Sempronius himself attacks +Juba, while each of the guards is representing Mr. Spectator's sign of +the Gaper, awed, it seems, and terrified by Sempronius's threats. Juba +kills Sempronius, and takes his own army prisoners, and carries them in +triumph away to Cato. Now I would fain know if any part of Mr. Bayes's +tragedy is so full of absurdity as this? + +"Upon hearing the clash of swords, Lucia and Marcia come in. The +question is, why no men come in upon hearing the noise of swords in the +governor's hall? Where was the governor himself? Where were his guards? +Where were his servants? Such an attempt as this, so near the governor +of a place of war, was enough to alarm the whole garrison: and yet, for +almost half an hour after Sempronius was killed, we find none of those +appear who were the likeliest in the world to be alarmed; and the noise +of swords is made to draw only two poor women thither, who were most +certain to run away from it. Upon Lucia and Marcia's coming in, Lucia +appears in all the symptoms of an hysterical gentlewoman:-- + + "'Luc. Sure 'twas the clash of swords! my troubled heart + Is so cast down, and sunk amidst its sorrows, + It throbs with fear, and aches at every sound!' + +And immediately her old whimsy returns upon her:-- + + "O Marcia, should thy brothers, for my sake-- + I die away with horror at the thought.' + +"She fancies that there can be no cutting of throats but it must be for +her. If this is tragical, I would fain know what is comical. Well, upon +this they spy the body of Sempronius; and Marcia, deluded by the habit, +it seems, takes him for Juba; for, says she, + + "'The face is muffled up within the garment.' + +"Now, how a man could fight, and fall, with his face muffled up in his +garment, is, I think, a little hard to conceive! Besides, Juba, before +he killed him, knew him to be Sempronius. It was not by his garment +that he knew this; it was by his face, then: his face therefore was +not muffled. Upon seeing this man with his muffled face, Marcia falls +a-raving; and, owning her passion for the supposed defunct, begins to +make his funeral oration. Upon which Juba enters listening, I suppose +on tip-toe; for I cannot imagine how any one can enter listening in any +other posture. I would fain know how it came to pass that, during all +this time, he had sent nobody--no, not so much as a candle-snuffer--to +take away the dead body of Sempronius. Well, but let us regard him +listening. Having left his apprehension behind him, he, at first, +applies what Marcia says to Sempronius; but finding at last, with much +ado, that he himself is the happy man, he quits his eaves-dropping, and +discovers himself just time enough to prevent his being cuckolded by +a dead man, of whom the moment before he had appeared so jealous, and +greedily intercepts the bliss which was fondly designed for one who +could not be the better for it. But here I must ask a question: how +comes Juba to listen here, who had not listened before throughout the +play? Or how comes he to be the only person of this tragedy who listens, +when love and treason were so often talked in so public a place as a +hall? I am afraid the author was driven upon all these absurdities only +to introduce this miserable mistake of Marcia, which, after all, is +much below the dignity of tragedy; as anything is which is the effect or +result of trick. + +"But let us come to the scenery of the fifth act. Cato appears first +upon the scene, sitting in a thoughtful posture; in his hand Plato's +Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul; a drawn sword on the table by +him. Now let us consider the place in which this sight is presented to +us. The place, forsooth, is a long hall. Let us suppose that any one +should place himself in this posture, in the midst of one of our halls +in London; that he should appear solus, in a sullen posture, a +drawn sword on the table by him; in his hand Plato's Treatise on the +Immortality of the Soul, translated lately by Bernard Lintot: I desire +the reader to consider whether such a person as this would pass with +them who beheld him for a great patriot, a great philosopher, or a +general, or some whimsical person who fancied himself all these? and +whether the people who belonged to the family would think that such a +person had a design upon their midriffs or his own? + +"In short, that Cato should sit long enough in the aforesaid posture, +in the midst of this large hall, to read over Plato's Treatise on the +Immortality of the Soul, which is a lecture of two long hours; that he +should propose to himself to be private there upon that occasion; that +he should be angry with his son for intruding there; then that he should +leave this hall upon the pretence of sleep, give himself the mortal +wound in his bedchamber, and then be brought back into that hall to +expire, purely to show his good breeding, and save his friends the +trouble of coming up to his bedchamber; all this appears to me to be +improbable, incredible, impossible." + +Such is the censure of Dennis. There is, as Dryden expresses it, perhaps +"too much horse-play in his railleries;" but if his jests are coarse, +his arguments are strong. Yet, as we love better to be pleased than +to be taught, Cato is read, and the critic is neglected. Flushed with +consciousness of these detections of absurdity in the conduct, he +afterwards attacked the sentiments of Cato; but he then amused himself +with petty cavils and minute objections. + +Of Addison's smaller poems no particular mention is necessary; they have +little that can employ or require a critic. The parallel of the princes +and gods in his verses to Kneller is often happy, but is too well known +to be quoted. His translations, so far as I compared them, want the +exactness of a scholar. That he understood his authors, cannot be +doubted; but his versions will not teach others to understand them, +being too licentiously paraphrastical. They are, however, for the +most part, smooth and easy; and, what is the first excellence of a +translator, such as may be read with pleasure by those who do not know +the originals. His poetry is polished and pure; the product of a mind +too judicious to commit faults, but not sufficiently vigorous to attain +excellence. He has sometimes a striking line, or a shining paragraph; +but in the whole he is warm rather than fervid, and shows more dexterity +than strength. He was, however, one of our earliest examples of +correctness. The versification which he had learned from Dryden he +debased rather than refined. His rhymes are often dissonant; in his +Georgic he admits broken lines. He uses both triplets and Alexandrines, +but triplets more frequently in his translation than his other works. +The mere structure of verses seems never to have engaged much of his +care. But his lines are very smooth in Rosamond, and too smooth in Cato. + +Addison is now to be considered as a critic: a name which the present +generation is scarcely willing to allow him. His criticism is condemned +as tentative or experimental rather than scientific; and he is +considered as deciding by taste rather than by principles. + +It is not uncommon for those who have grown wise by the labour of others +to add a little of their own, and overlook their masters. Addison is now +despised by some who perhaps would never have seen his defects but by +the lights which he afforded them. That he always wrote as he would +think it necessary to write now, cannot be affirmed; his instructions +were such as the characters of his readers made proper. That general +knowledge which now circulates in common talk was in his time rarely +to be found. Men not professing learning were not ashamed of ignorance; +and, in the female world, any acquaintance with books was distinguished +only to be censured. His purpose was to infuse literary curiosity, +by gentle and unsuspected conveyance, into the gay, the idle, and the +wealthy; he therefore presented knowledge in the most alluring form, +not lofty and austere, but accessible and familiar. When he showed +them their defects, he showed them likewise that they might be easily +supplied. His attempt succeeded; inquiry was awakened, and comprehension +expanded. An emulation of intellectual elegance was excited, and from +this time to our own life has been gradually exalted, and conversation +purified and enlarged. + +Dryden had, not many years before, scattered criticism over his prefaces +with very little parsimony; but though he sometimes condescended to be +somewhat familiar, his manner was in general too scholastic for +those who had yet their rudiments to learn, and found it not easy to +understand their master. His observations were framed rather for those +that were learning to write than for those that read only to talk. + +An instructor like Addison was now wanting, whose remarks, being +superficial, might be easily understood, and being just, might prepare +the mind for more attainments. Had he presented "Paradise Lost" to +the public with all the pomp of system and severity of science, the +criticism would perhaps have been admired, and the poem still have been +neglected; but by the blandishments of gentleness and facility he has +made Milton an universal favourite, with whom readers of every class +think it necessary to be pleased. He descended now and then to lower +disquisitions: and by a serious display of the beauties of "Chevy Chase" +exposed himself to the ridicule of Wagstaff, who bestowed a like pompous +character on Tom Thumb; and to the contempt of Dennis, who, considering +the fundamental position of his criticism, that "Chevy Chase" pleases, +and ought to please, because it is natural, observes; "that there is a +way of deviating from nature, by bombast or tumour, which soars above +nature, and enlarges images beyond their real bulk; by affectation, +which forsakes nature in quest of something unsuitable; and by +imbecility, which degrades nature by faintness and diminution, by +obscuring its appearances, and weakening its effects." In "Chevy Chase" +there is not much of either bombast or affectation; but there is chill +and lifeless imbecility. The story cannot possibly be told in a manner +that shall make less impression on the mind. + +Before the profound observers of the present race repose too securely on +the consciousness of their superiority to Addison, let them consider +his Remarks on Ovid, in which may be found specimens of criticism +sufficiently subtle and refined: let them peruse likewise his Essays on +Wit, and on the Pleasures of Imagination, in which he founds art on the +base of nature, and draws the principles of invention from dispositions +inherent in the mind of man with skill and elegance, such as his +contemners will not easily attain. + +As a describer of life and manners, he must be allowed to stand perhaps +the first of the first rank. His humour, which, as Steele observes, +is peculiar to himself, is so happily diffused as to give the grace of +novelty to domestic scenes and daily occurrences. He never "o'ersteps +the modesty of nature," nor raises merriment or wonder by the violation +of truth. His figures neither divert by distortion nor amaze by +aggravation. He copies life with so much fidelity that he can be hardly +said to invent; yet his exhibitions have an air so much original, that +it is difficult to suppose them not merely the product of imagination. + +As a teacher of wisdom, he may be confidently followed. His religion has +nothing in it enthusiastic or superstitious: he appears neither weakly +credulous nor wantonly sceptical; his morality is neither dangerously +lax nor impracticably rigid. All the enchantment of fancy, and all the +cogency of argument, are employed to recommend to the reader his real +interest, the care of pleasing the Author of his being. Truth is shown +sometimes as the phantom of a vision; sometimes appears half-veiled +in an allegory; sometimes attracts regard in the robes of fancy; and +sometimes steps forth in the confidence of reason. She wears a thousand +dresses, and in all is pleasing. + + "Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet." + +His prose is the model of the middle style; on grave subjects not +formal, on light occasions not grovelling; pure without scrupulosity, +and exact without apparent elaboration; always equable, and always easy, +without glowing words or pointed sentences. Addison never deviates from +his track to snatch a grace; he seeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries +no hazardous innovations. His page is always luminous, but never blazes +in unexpected splendour. + +It was apparently his principal endeavour to avoid all harshness +and severity of diction; he is therefore sometimes verbose in his +transitions and connections, and sometimes descends too much to the +language of conversation; yet if his language had been less idiomatical +it might have lost somewhat of its genuine Anglicism. What he attempted, +he performed; he is never feeble and he did not wish to be energetic; +he is never rapid and he never stagnates. His sentences have neither +studied amplitude nor affected brevity; his periods, though not +diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. Whoever wishes to attain +an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not +ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison. + + + + +SAVAGE. + + +It has been observed in all ages that the advantages of nature or of +fortune have contributed very little to the promotion of happiness: +and that those whom the splendour of their rank, or the extent of their +capacity, has placed upon the summit of human life, have not often given +any just occasion to envy in those who look up to them from a lower +station; whether it be that apparent superiority incites great designs, +and great designs are naturally liable to fatal miscarriages; or that +the general lot of mankind is misery, and the misfortunes of those whose +eminence drew upon them universal attention have been more carefully +recorded, because they were more generally observed, and have in reality +been only more conspicuous than those of others, not more frequent, or +more severe. + +That affluence and power, advantages extrinsic and adventitious, and +therefore easily separable from those by whom they are possessed, should +very often flatter the mind with expectations of felicity which they +cannot give, raises no astonishment: but it seems rational to hope +that intellectual greatness should produce better effects; that minds +qualified for great attainments should first endeavour their own +benefit, and that they who are most able to teach others the way to +happiness, should with most certainty follow it themselves. But this +expectation, however plausible, has been very frequently disappointed. +The heroes of literary as well as civil history have been very often +no less remarkable for what they have suffered than for what they have +achieved; and volumes have been written only to enumerate the miseries +of the learned, and relate their unhappy lives and untimely deaths. + +To these mournful narratives I am about to add the Life of RICHARD +SAVAGE, a man whose writings entitle him to an eminent rank in the +classes of learning, and whose misfortunes claim a degree of compassion +not always due to the unhappy, as they were often the consequences of +the crimes of others rather than his own. + +In the year 1697, Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, having lived some time +upon very uneasy terms with her husband, thought a public confession +of adultery the most obvious and expeditious method of obtaining her +liberty; and therefore declared that the child with which she was then +great, was begotten by the Earl Rivers. This, as may be imagined, +made her husband no less desirous of a separation than herself, and he +prosecuted his design in the most effectual manner: for he applied, not +to the ecclesiastical courts for a divorce, but to the Parliament for +an Act by which his marriage might be dissolved, the nuptial contract +annulled, and the children of his wife illegitimated. This Act, after +the usual deliberation, he obtained, though without the approbation +of some, who considered marriage as an affair only cognisable by +ecclesiastical judges; and on March 3rd was separated from his wife, +whose fortune, which was very great, was repaid her, and who having, +as well as her husband, the liberty of making another choice, she in a +short time married Colonel Brett. + +While the Earl of Macclesfield was prosecuting this affair, his wife +was, on the 10th of January, 1607-8,[sic] delivered of a son: and the +Earl Rivers, by appearing to consider him as his own, left none any +reason to doubt of the sincerity of her declaration; for he was his +godfather and gave him his own name, which was by his direction inserted +in the register of St. Andrew's parish in Holborn, but unfortunately +left him to the care of his mother, whom, as she was now set free from +her husband, he probably imagined likely to treat with great tenderness +the child that had contributed to so pleasing an event. It is not indeed +easy to discover what motives could be found to overbalance that natural +affection of a parent, or what interest could be promoted by neglect or +cruelty. The dread of shame or of poverty, by which some wretches have +been incited to abandon or murder their children, cannot be supposed +to have affected a woman who had proclaimed her crimes and solicited +reproach, and on whom the clemency of the Legislature had undeservedly +bestowed a fortune, which would have been very little diminished by the +expenses which the care of her child could have brought upon her. It was +therefore not likely that she would be wicked without temptation; that +she would look upon her son from his birth with a kind of resentment and +abhorrence; and, instead of supporting, assisting, and defending him, +delight to see him struggling with misery, or that she would take +every opportunity of aggravating his misfortunes, and obstructing his +resources, and with an implacable and restless cruelty continue her +persecution from the first hour of his life to the last. But whatever +were her motives, no sooner was her son born than she discovered a +resolution of disowning him; and in a very short time removed him from +her sight, by committing him to the care of a poor woman, whom she +directed to educate him as her own, and enjoined never to inform him of +his true parents. + +Such was the beginning of the life of Richard Savage. Born with a legal +claim to honour and to affluence, he was in two months illegitimated +by the Parliament, and disowned by his mother, doomed to poverty and +obscurity, and launched upon the ocean of life only that he might be +swallowed by its quicksands, or dashed upon its rocks. His mother could +not indeed infect others with the same cruelty. As it was impossible to +avoid the inquiries which the curiosity or tenderness of her relations +made after her child, she was obliged to give some account of the +measures she had taken; and her mother, the Lady Mason, whether in +approbation of her design, or to prevent more criminal contrivances, +engaged to transact with the nurse, to pay her for her care, and to +superintend the education of the child. + +In this charitable office she was assisted by his godmother, Mrs. Lloyd, +who, while she lived, always looked upon him with that tenderness which +the barbarity of his mother made peculiarly necessary; but her death, +which happened in his tenth year, was another of the misfortunes of his +childhood, for though she kindly endeavoured to alleviate his loss by +a legacy of three hundred pounds, yet as he had none to prosecute his +claim, to shelter him from oppression, or call in law to the assistance +of justice, her will was eluded by the executors, and no part of the +money was ever paid. He was, however, not yet wholly abandoned. The Lady +Mason still continued her care, and directed him to be placed at a small +grammar school near St. Albans, where he was called by the name of his +nurse, without the least intimation that he had a claim to any other. +Here he was initiated in literature, and passed through several of the +classes, with what rapidity or with what applause cannot now be known. +As he always spoke with respect of his master, it is probable that the +mean rank in which he then appeared did not hinder his genius from being +distinguished, or his industry from being rewarded; and if in so low a +state he obtained distinctions and rewards, it is not likely that they +were gained but by genius and industry. + +It is very reasonable to conjecture that his application was equal to +his abilities, because his improvement was more than proportioned to +the opportunities which he enjoyed; nor can it be doubted that if his +earliest productions had been preserved, like those of happier students, +we might in some have found vigorous sallies of that sprightly humour +which distinguishes "The Author to be Let," and in others strong touches +of that imagination which painted the solemn scenes of "The Wanderer." + +While he was thus cultivating his genius, his father, the Earl Rivers, +was seized with a distemper, which in a short time put an end to his +life. He had frequently inquired after his son, and had always been +amused with fallacious and evasive answers; but being now in his own +opinion on his death-bed, he thought it his duty to provide for him +among his other natural children, and therefore demanded a positive +account of him, with an importunity not to be diverted or denied. His +mother, who could no longer refuse an answer, determined at least to +give such as should cut him off for ever from that happiness which +competence affords, and therefore declared that he was dead; which is +perhaps the first instance of a lie invented by a mother to deprive +her son of a provision which was designed him by another, and which she +could not expect herself, though he should lose it. This was therefore +an act of wickedness which could not be defeated, because it could not +be suspected; the earl did not imagine that there could exist in a human +form a mother that would ruin her son without enriching herself, and +therefore bestowed upon some other person six thousand pounds which he +had in his will bequeathed to Savage. + +The same cruelty which incited his mother to intercept this provision +which had been intended him, prompted her in a short time to another +project, a project worthy of such a disposition. She endeavoured to +rid herself from the danger of being at any time made known to him, by +sending him secretly to the American Plantations. By whose kindness this +scheme was counteracted, or by whose interposition she was induced to +lay aside her design, I know not; it is not improbable that the Lady +Mason might persuade or compel her to desist, or perhaps she could not +easily find accomplices wicked enough to concur in so cruel an action; +for it may be conceived that those who had by a long gradation of guilt +hardened their hearts against the sense of common wickedness, would yet +be shocked at the design of a mother to expose her son to slavery and +want, to expose him without interest, and without provocation; and +Savage might on this occasion find protectors and advocates among those +who had long traded in crimes, and whom compassion had never touched +before. + +Being hindered, by whatever means, from banishing him into another +country, she formed soon after a scheme for burying him in poverty and +obscurity in his own; and that his station of life, if not the place +of his residence, might keep him for ever at a distance from her, she +ordered him to be placed with a shoemaker in Holborn, that, after the +usual time of trial, he might become his apprentice. + +It is generally reported that this project was for some time successful, +and that Savage was employed at the awl longer than he was willing +to confess: nor was it perhaps any great advantage to him, that an +unexpected discovery determined him to quit his occupation. + +About this time his nurse, who had always treated him as her own son, +died; and it was natural for him to take care of those effects which by +her death were, as he imagined, become his own: he therefore went to her +house, opened her boxes, and examined her papers, among which he found +some letters written to her by the Lady Mason, which informed him of +his birth, and the reasons for which it was concealed. He was no longer +satisfied with the employment which had been allotted him, but thought +he had a right to share the affluence of his mother; and therefore +without scruple applied to her as her son, and made use of every art to +awaken her tenderness and attract her regard. But neither his letters, +nor the interposition of those friends which his merit or his distress +procured him, made any impression on her mind. She still resolved to +neglect, though she could no longer disown him. It was to no purpose +that he frequently solicited her to admit him to see her; she avoided +him with the most vigilant precaution, and ordered him to be excluded +from her house, by whomsoever he might be introduced, and what reason +soever he might give for entering it. + +Savage was at the same time so touched with the discovery of his real +mother, that it was his frequent practice to walk in the dark evenings +for several hours before her door, in hopes of seeing her as she might +come by accident to the window, or cross her apartment with a candle in +her hand. But all his assiduity and tenderness were without effect, for +he could neither soften her heart nor open her hand, and was reduced +to the utmost miseries of want, while he was endeavouring to awaken the +affection of a mother. He was therefore obliged to seek some other means +of support; and, having no profession, became by necessity an author. + +At this time the attention of the literary world was engrossed by the +Bangorian controversy, which filled the press with pamphlets, and the +coffee-houses with disputants. Of this subject, as most popular, he made +choice for his first attempt, and, without any other knowledge of the +question than he had casually collected from conversation, published +a poem against the bishop. What was the success or merit of this +performance I know not; it was probably lost among the innumerable +pamphlets to which that dispute gave occasion. Mr. Savage was himself +in a little time ashamed of it, and endeavoured to suppress it, by +destroying all the copies that he could collect. He then attempted a +more gainful kind of writing, and in his eighteenth year offered to the +stage a comedy borrowed from a Spanish plot, which was refused by the +players, and was therefore given by him to Mr. Bullock, who, having more +interest, made some slight alterations, and brought it upon the stage, +under the title of Woman's a Riddle, but allowed the unhappy author no +part of the profit. + +Not discouraged, however, at his repulse, he wrote two years afterwards +Love in a Veil, another comedy, borrowed likewise from the Spanish, but +with little better success than before; for though it was received and +acted, yet it appeared so late in the year, that the author obtained no +other advantage from it than the acquaintance of Sir Richard Steele and +Mr. Wilks, by whom he was pitied, caressed, and relieved. + +Sir Richard Steele, having declared in his favour with all the ardour of +benevolence which constituted his character, promoted his interest with +the utmost zeal, related his misfortunes, applauded his merit, took all +the opportunities of recommending him, and asserted that "the inhumanity +of his mother had given him a right to find every good man his father." +Nor was Mr. Savage admitted to his acquaintance only, but to his +confidence, of which he sometimes related an instance too extraordinary +to be omitted, as it affords a very just idea of his patron's +character. He was once desired by Sir Richard, with an air of the utmost +importance, to come very early to his house the next morning. Mr. Savage +came as he had promised, found the chariot at the door, and Sir Richard +waiting for him, and ready to go out. What was intended, and whither +they were to go, Savage could not conjecture, and was not willing to +inquire; but immediately seated himself with Sir Richard. The coachman +was ordered to drive, and they hurried with the utmost expedition to +Hyde Park Corner, where they stopped at a petty tavern, and retired to a +private room. Sir Richard then informed him that he intended to publish +a pamphlet, and that he had desired him to come thither that he might +write for him. He soon sat down to the work. Sir Richard dictated, and +Savage wrote, till the dinner that had been ordered was put upon the +table. Savage was surprised at the meanness of the entertainment, and +after some hesitation ventured to ask for wine, which Sir Richard, not +without reluctance, ordered to be brought. They then finished their +dinner, and proceeded in their pamphlet, which they concluded in the +afternoon. + +Mr. Savage then imagined his task over, and expected that Sir Richard +would call for the reckoning, and return home; but his expectations +deceived him, for Sir Richard told him that he was without money, and +that the pamphlet must be sold before the dinner could be paid for; and +Savage was therefore obliged to go and offer their new production +to sale for two guineas, which with some difficulty he obtained. Sir +Richard then returned home, having retired that day only to avoid his +creditors, and composed the pamphlet only to discharge his reckoning. + +Mr. Savage related another fact equally uncommon, which, though it +has no relation to his life, ought to be preserved. Sir Richard Steele +having one day invited to his house a great number of persons of the +first quality, they were surprised at the number of liveries which +surrounded the table; and after dinner, when wine and mirth had set them +free from the observation of a rigid ceremony, one of them inquired of +Sir Richard how such an expensive train of domestics could be consistent +with his fortune. Sir Richard very frankly confessed that they were +fellows of whom he would very willingly be rid. And being then asked +why he did not discharge them, declared that they were bailiffs, who had +introduced themselves with an execution, and whom, since he could not +send them away, he had thought it convenient to embellish with liveries, +that they might do him credit while they stayed. His friends were +diverted with the expedient, and by paying the debt, discharged their +attendance, having obliged Sir Richard to promise that they should never +again find him graced with a retinue of the same kind. + +Under such a tutor, Mr. Savage was not likely to learn prudence or +frugality; and perhaps many of the misfortunes which the want of those +virtues brought upon him in the following parts of his life, might be +justly imputed to so unimproving an example. Nor did the kindness of Sir +Richard end in common favours. He proposed to have established him in +some settled scheme of life, and to have contracted a kind of alliance +with him, by marrying him to a natural daughter, on whom he intended +to bestow a thousand pounds. But though he was always lavish of future +bounties, he conducted his affairs in such a manner that he was very +seldom able to keep his promises, or execute his own intentions; and, +as he was never able to raise the sum which he had offered, the marriage +was delayed. In the meantime he was officiously informed that Mr. Savage +had ridiculed him; by which he was so much exasperated that he withdrew +the allowance which he had paid him, and never afterwards admitted him +to his house. + +It is not, indeed, unlikely that Savage might by his imprudence expose +himself to the malice of a talebearer; for his patron had many follies, +which, as his discernment easily discovered, his imagination might +sometimes incite him to mention too ludicrously. A little knowledge of +the world is sufficient to discover that such weakness is very common, +and that there are few who do not sometimes, in the wantonness of +thoughtless mirth, or the heat of transient resentment, speak of their +friends and benefactors with levity and contempt, though in their cooler +moments they want neither sense of their kindness nor reverence for +their virtue; the fault, therefore, of Mr. Savage was rather negligence +than ingratitude. But Sir Richard must likewise be acquitted of +severity, for who is there that can patiently bear contempt from one +whom he has relieved and supported, whose establishment he has laboured, +and whose interest he has promoted? + +He was now again abandoned to fortune without any other friend than +Mr. Wilks; a man who, whatever were his abilities or skill as an actor, +deserves at least to be remembered for his virtues, which are not often +to be found in the world, and perhaps less often in his profession than +in others. To be humane, generous, and candid is a very high degree of +merit in any case; but those qualifications deserve still greater praise +when they are found in that condition which makes almost every other +man, for whatever reason, contemptuous, insolent, petulant, selfish, and +brutal. + +As Mr. Wilks was one of those to whom calamity seldom complained without +relief, he naturally took an unfortunate wit into his protection, and +not only assisted him in any casual distresses, but continued an equal +and steady kindness to the time of his death. By this interposition Mr. +Savage once obtained from his mother fifty pounds, and a promise of one +hundred and fifty more; but it was the fate of this unhappy man that +few promises of any advantage to him were performed. His mother was +infected, among others, with the general madness of the South Sea +traffic; and having been disappointed in her expectations, refused to +pay what perhaps nothing but the prospect of sudden affluence prompted +her to promise. + +Being thus obliged to depend upon the friendship of Mr. Wilks, he was +consequently an assiduous frequenter of the theatres: and in a short +time the amusements of the stage took such possession of his mind +that he never was absent from a play in several years. This constant +attendance naturally procured him the acquaintance of the players, +and, among others, of Mrs. Oldfield, who was so much pleased with his +conversation, and touched with his misfortunes, that she allowed him +a settled pension of fifty pounds a year, which was during her life +regularly paid. That this act of generosity may receive its due praise, +and that the good actions of Mrs. Oldfield may not be sullied by +her general character, it is proper to mention that Mr. Savage often +declared, in the strongest terms, that he never saw her alone, or in any +other place than behind the scenes. + +At her death he endeavoured to show his gratitude in the most decent +manner, by wearing mourning as for a mother; but did not celebrate her +in elegies, because he knew that too great a profusion of praise would +only have revived those faults which his natural equity did not allow +him to think less because they were committed by one who favoured him; +but of which, though his virtue would not endeavour to palliate them, +his gratitude would not suffer him to prolong the memory or diffuse the +censure. + +In his "Wanderer" he has indeed taken an opportunity of mentioning her; +but celebrates her not for her virtue, but her beauty, an excellence +which none ever denied her: this is the only encomium with which he has +rewarded her liberality, and perhaps he has even in this been too +lavish of his praise. He seems to have thought that never to mention +his benefactress would have an appearance of ingratitude, though to +have dedicated any particular performance to her memory would have +only betrayed an officious partiality, and that without exalting +her character would have depressed his own. He had sometimes, by the +kindness of Mr. Wilks, the advantage of a benefit, on which occasions +he often received uncommon marks of regard and compassion; and was +once told by the Duke of Dorset that it was just to consider him as an +injured nobleman, and that in his opinion the nobility ought to think +themselves obliged, without solicitation, to take every opportunity of +supporting him by their countenance and patronage. But he had generally +the mortification to hear that the whole interest of his mother was +employed to frustrate his applications, and that she never left any +expedient untried by which he might be cut off from the possibility of +supporting life. The same disposition she endeavoured to diffuse among +all those over whom nature or fortune gave her any influence, and indeed +succeeded too well in her design; but could not always propagate her +effrontery with her cruelty; for some of those whom she incited against +him were ashamed of their own conduct, and boasted of that relief which +they never gave him. In this censure I do not indiscriminately involve +all his relations; for he has mentioned with gratitude the humanity +of one lady, whose name I am now unable to recollect, and to whom, +therefore, I cannot pay the praises which she deserves for having acted +well in opposition to influence, precept, and example. + +The punishment which our laws inflict upon those parents who murder +their infants is well known, nor has its justice ever been contested; +but, if they deserve death who destroy a child in its birth, what pain +can be severe enough for her who forbears to destroy him only to inflict +sharper miseries upon him; who prolongs his life only to make him +miserable; and who exposes him, without care and without pity, to the +malice of oppression, the caprices of chance, and the temptations of +poverty; who rejoices to see him overwhelmed with calamities; and, when +his own industry, or the charity of others, has enabled him to rise +for a short time above his miseries, plunges him again into his former +distress? + +The kindness of his friends not affording him any constant supply, and +the prospect of improving his fortune by enlarging his acquaintance +necessarily leading him to places of expense, he found it necessary +to endeavour once more at dramatic poetry; for which he was now better +qualified by a more extensive knowledge and longer observation. +But having been unsuccessful in comedy, though rather for want of +opportunities than genius, he resolved to try whether he should not be +more fortunate in exhibiting a tragedy. The story which he chose for +the subject was that of Sir Thomas Overbury, a story well adapted to +the stage, though perhaps not far enough removed from the present age +to admit properly the fictions necessary to complete the plan; for the +mind, which naturally loves truth, is always most offended with the +violation of those truths of which we are most certain; and we of course +conceive those facts most certain which approach nearer to our own time. +Out of this story he formed a tragedy, which, if the circumstances in +which he wrote it be considered, will afford at once an uncommon proof +of strength of genius and evenness of mind, of a serenity not to be +ruffled and an imagination not to be suppressed. + +During a considerable part of the time in which he was employed upon +this performance, he was without lodging, and often without meat; nor +had he any other conveniences for study than the fields or the streets +allowed him; there he used to walk and form his speeches, and afterwards +step into a shop, beg for a few moments the use of the pen and ink, and +write down what he had composed upon paper which he had picked up by +accident. + +If the performance of a writer thus distressed is not perfect, its +faults ought surely to be imputed to a cause very different from want +of genius, and must rather excite pity than provoke censure. But +when, under these discouragements, the tragedy was finished, there +yet remained the labour of introducing it on the stage, an undertaking +which, to an ingenuous mind, was in a very high degree vexatious and +disgusting; for, having little interest or reputation, he was obliged +to submit himself wholly to the players, and admit, with whatever +reluctance, the emendations of Mr. Cibber, which he always considered +as the disgrace of his performance. He had, indeed, in Mr. Hill another +critic of a very different class, from whose friendship he received +great assistance on many occasions, and whom he never mentioned but +with the utmost tenderness and regard. He had been for some time +distinguished by him with very particular kindness, and on this occasion +it was natural to apply to him as an author of an established character. +He therefore sent this tragedy to him, with a short copy of verses, in +which he desired his correction. Mr. Hill, whose humanity and politeness +are generally known, readily complied with his request; but as he +is remarkable for singularity of sentiment, and bold experiments in +language, Mr. Savage did not think this play much improved by his +innovation, and had even at that time the courage to reject several +passages which he could not approve; and, what is still more +laudable, Mr. Hill had the generosity not to resent the neglect of his +alterations, but wrote the prologue and epilogue, in which he touches on +the circumstances of the author with great tenderness. + +After all these obstructions and compliances, he was only able to +bring his play upon the stage in the summer, when the chief actors had +retired, and the rest were in possession of the house for their own +advantage. Among these, Mr. Savage was admitted to play the part of Sir +Thomas Overbury, by which he gained no great reputation, the theatre +being a province for which nature seems not to have designed him; for +neither his voice, look, nor gesture were such as were expected on the +stage, and he was so much ashamed of having been reduced to appear as a +player, that he always blotted out his name from the list when a copy of +his tragedy was to be shown to his friends. + +In the publication of his performance he was more successful, for the +rays of genius that glimmered in it, that glimmered through all the +mists which poverty and Cibber had been able to spread over it, procured +him the notice and esteem of many persons eminent for their rank, their +virtue, and their wit. Of this play, acted, printed, and dedicated, the +accumulated profits arose to a hundred pounds, which he thought at that +time a very large sum, having been never master of so much before. + +In the dedication, for which he received ten guineas, there is nothing +remarkable. The preface contains a very liberal encomium on the blooming +excellence of Mr. Theophilus Cibber, which Mr. Savage could not in the +latter part of his life see his friends about to read without snatching +the play out of their hands. The generosity of Mr. Hill did not end on +this occasion; for afterwards, when Mr. Savage's necessities returned, +he encouraged a subscription to a Miscellany of Poems in a very +extraordinary manner, by publishing his story in the Plain Dealer, +with some affecting lines, which he asserts to have been written by Mr. +Savage upon the treatment received by him from his mother, but of which +he was himself the author, as Mr. Savage afterwards declared. These +lines, and the paper in which they were inserted, had a very powerful +effect upon all but his mother, whom, by making her cruelty more public, +they only hardened in her aversion. + +Mr. Hill not only promoted the subscription to the Miscellany, but +furnished likewise the greatest part of the poems of which it is +composed, and particularly "The Happy Man," which he published as a +specimen. + +The subscriptions of those whom these papers should influence to +patronise merit in distress, without any other solicitation, were +directed to be left at Button's Coffee-house; and Mr. Savage going +thither a few days afterwards, without expectation of any effect from +his proposal, found, to his surprise, seventy guineas, which had been +sent him in consequence of the compassion excited by Mr. Hill's pathetic +representation. + +To this Miscellany he wrote a preface, in which he gives an account of +his mother's cruelty in a very uncommon strain of humour, and with a +gaiety of imagination which the success of his subscription probably +produced. The dedication is addressed to the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, +whom he flatters without reserve, and, to confess the truth, with very +little art. The same observation may be extended to all his dedications: +his compliments are constrained and violent, heaped together without the +grace of order, or the decency of introduction. He seems to have written +his panegyrics for the perusal only of his patrons, and to imagine that +he had no other task than to pamper them with praises, however +gross, and that flattery would make its way to the heart, without the +assistance of elegance or invention. + +Soon afterwards the death of the king furnished a general subject for +a poetical contest, in which Mr. Savage engaged, and is allowed to have +carried the prize of honour from his competitors: but I know not whether +he gained by his performance any other advantage than the increase of +his reputation, though it must certainly have been with farther views +that he prevailed upon himself to attempt a species of writing, of which +all the topics had been long before exhausted, and which was made at +once difficult by the multitudes that had failed in it, and those that +had succeeded. + +He was now advancing in reputation, and though frequently involved in +very distressful perplexities, appeared, however, to be gaining upon +mankind, when both his fame and his life were endangered by an event, +of which it is not yet determined whether it ought to be mentioned as a +crime or a calamity. + +On the 20th of November, 1727, Mr. Savage came from Richmond, where he +then lodged that he might pursue his studies with less interruption, +with an intent to discharge another lodging which he had in Westminster; +and accidentally meeting two gentlemen, his acquaintances, whose names +were Merchant and Gregory, he went in with them to a neighbouring +coffee-house, and sat drinking till it was late, it being in no time +of Mr. Savage's life any part of his character to be the first of the +company that desired to separate. He would willingly have gone to bed +in the same house, but there was not room for the whole company, and +therefore they agreed to ramble about the streets, and divert themselves +with such amusements as should offer themselves till morning. In +this walk they happened unluckily to discover a light in Robinson's +Coffee-house, near Charing Cross, and therefore went in. Merchant with +some rudeness demanded a room, and was told that there was a good fire +in the next parlour, which the company were about to leave, being then +paying their reckoning. Merchant, not satisfied with this answer, rushed +into the room, and was followed by his companions. He then petulantly +placed himself between the company and the fire, and soon after kicked +down the table. This produced a quarrel, swords were drawn on both +sides, and one Mr. James Sinclair was killed. Savage, having likewise +wounded a maid that held him, forced his way, with Merchant, out of the +house; but being intimidated and confused, without resolution either to +fly or stay, they were taken in a back court by one of the company, and +some soldiers, whom he had called to his assistance. Being secured +and guarded that night, they were in the morning carried before three +justices, who committed them to the Gatehouse, from whence, upon the +death of Mr. Sinclair, which happened the same day, they were removed +in the night to Newgate, where they were, however, treated with some +distinction, exempted from the ignominy of chains, and confined, not +among the common criminals, but in the Press yard. + +When the day of trial came, the court was crowded in a very unusual +manner, and the public appeared to interest itself as in a cause of +general concern. The witnesses against Mr. Savage and his friends were, +the woman who kept the house, which was a house of ill-fame, and her +maid, the men who were in the room with Mr. Sinclair, and a woman of +the town, who had been drinking with them, and with whom one of them had +been seen. They swore in general, that Merchant gave the provocation, +which Savage and Gregory drew their swords to justify; that Savage drew +first, and that he stabbed Sinclair when he was not in a posture of +defence, or while Gregory commanded his sword; that after he had given +the thrust he turned pale, and would have retired, but the maid clung +round him, and one of the company endeavoured to detain him, from whom +he broke by cutting the maid on the head, but was afterwards taken in a +court. There was some difference in their depositions; one did not see +Savage give the wound, another saw it given when Sinclair held his point +towards the ground; and the woman of the town asserted that she did not +see Sinclair's sword at all. This difference, however, was very far +from amounting to inconsistency; but it was sufficient to show, that the +hurry of the dispute was such that it was not easy to discover the +truth with relation to particular circumstances, and that therefore some +deductions were to be made from the credibility of the testimonies. + +Sinclair had declared several times before his death that he received +his wound from Savage: nor did Savage at his trial deny the fact, but +endeavoured partly to extenuate it, by urging the suddenness of the +whole action, and the impossibility of any ill design or premeditated +malice; and partly to justify it by the necessity of self-defence, and +the hazard of his own life, if he had lost that opportunity of giving +the thrust: he observed, that neither reason nor law obliged a man to +wait for the blow which was threatened, and which, if he should suffer +it, he might never be able to return; that it was allowable to prevent +an assault, and to preserve life by taking away that of the adversary +by whom it was endangered. With regard to the violence with which he +endeavoured to escape, he declared that it was not his design to +fly from justice, or decline a trial, but to avoid the expenses and +severities of a prison; and that he intended to appear at the bar +without compulsion. + +This defence, which took up more than an hour, was heard by the +multitude that thronged the court with the most attentive and respectful +silence. Those who thought he ought not to be acquitted owned that +applause could not be refused him; and those who before pitied his +misfortunes now reverenced his abilities. The witnesses which appeared +against him were proved to be persons of characters which did not +entitle them to much credit; a common strumpet, a woman by whom +strumpets were entertained, a man by whom they were supported: and the +character of Savage was by several persons of distinction asserted to +be that of a modest, inoffensive man, not inclined to broils or +to insolence, and who had, to that time, been only known for his +misfortunes and his wit. Had his audience been his judges, he had +undoubtedly been acquitted, but Mr. Page, who was then upon the bench, +treated him with his usual insolence and severity, and when he had +summed up the evidence, endeavoured to exasperate the jury, as Mr. +Savage used to relate it, with this eloquent harangue:-- + +"Gentlemen of the jury, you are to consider that Mr. Savage is a very +great man, a much greater man than you or I, gentlemen of the jury; that +he wears very fine clothes, much finer clothes than you or I, gentlemen +of the jury; that he has abundance of money in his pockets, much more +money than you or I, gentlemen of the jury; but, gentlemen of the jury, +is it not a very hard case, gentlemen of the jury, that Mr. Savage +should therefore kill you or me, gentlemen of the jury?" + +Mr. Savage, hearing his defence thus misrepresented, and the men who +were to decide his fate incited against him by invidious comparisons, +resolutely asserted that his cause was not candidly explained, and began +to recapitulate what he had before said with regard to his condition, +and the necessity of endeavouring to escape the expenses of +imprisonment; but the judge having ordered him to be silent, and +repeated his orders without effect, commanded that he should be taken +from the bar by force. + +The jury then heard the opinion of the judge, that good characters were +of no weight against positive evidence, though they might turn the scale +where it was doubtful; and that though, when two men attack each +other, the death of either is only manslaughter; but where one is the +aggressor, as in the case before them, and, in pursuance of his first +attack, kills the other, the law supposes the action, however sudden, to +be malicious. They then deliberated upon their verdict, and determined +that Mr. Savage and Mr. Gregory were guilty of murder, and Mr. Merchant, +who had no sword, only of manslaughter. + +Thus ended this memorable trial, which lasted eight hours. Mr. Savage +and Mr. Gregory were conducted back to prison, where they were more +closely confined, and loaded with irons of fifty pounds' weight. Four +days afterwards they were sent back to the court to receive sentence, +on which occasion Mr. Savage made, as far as it could be retained in +memory, the following speech:-- + +"It is now, my lord, too late to offer anything by way of defence or +vindication; nor can we expect from your lordships, in this court, but +the sentence which the law requires you, as judges, to pronounce against +men of our calamitous condition. But we are also persuaded that as mere +men, and out of this seat of rigorous justice, you are susceptive of the +tender passions, and too humane not to commiserate the unhappy situation +of those whom the law sometimes perhaps exacts from you to pronounce +upon. No doubt you distinguish between offences which arise out of +premeditation, and a disposition habituated to vice or immorality, and +transgressions which are the unhappy and unforeseen effects of casual +absence of reason, and sudden impulse of passion. We therefore hope +you will contribute all you can to an extension of that mercy which the +gentlemen of the jury have been pleased to show to Mr. Merchant, who +(allowing facts as sworn against us by the evidence) has led us into +this our calamity. I hope this will not be construed as if we meant to +reflect upon that gentleman, or remove anything from us upon him, or +that we repine the more at our fate because he has no participation of +it. No, my Lord! For my part, I declare nothing could more soften my +grief than to be without any companion in so great a misfortune." + +Mr. Savage had now no hopes of life but from the mercy of the Crown, +which was very earnestly solicited by his friends, and which, with +whatever difficulty the story may obtain belief, was obstructed only by +his mother. + +To prejudice the queen against him, she made use of an incident which +was omitted in the order of time, that it might be mentioned together +with the purpose which it was made to serve. Mr. Savage, when he had +discovered his birth, had an incessant desire to speak to his mother, +who always avoided him in public, and refused him admission into her +house. One evening, walking, as was his custom, in the street that she +inhabited, he saw the door of her house by accident open; he entered it, +and finding no person in the passage to hinder him, went up-stairs to +salute her. She discovered him before he entered the chamber, alarmed +the family with the most distressful outcries, and when she had by her +screams gathered them about her, ordered them to drive out of the house +that villain, who had forced himself in upon her and endeavoured +to murder her. Savage, who had attempted with the most submissive +tenderness to soften her rage, hearing her utter so detestable an +accusation, thought it prudent to retire, and, I believe, never +attempted afterwards to speak to her. + +But shocked as he was with her falsehood and her cruelty, he imagined +that she intended no other use of her lie than to set herself free from +his embraces and solicitations, and was very far from suspecting +that she would treasure it in her memory as an instrument of future +wickedness, or that she would endeavour for this fictitious assault +to deprive him of his life. But when the queen was solicited for his +pardon, and informed of the severe treatment which he had suffered from +his judge, she answered that, however unjustifiable might be the manner +of his trial, or whatever extenuation the action for which he was +condemned might admit, she could not think that man a proper object of +the king's mercy who had been capable of entering his mother's house in +the night with an intent to murder her. + +By whom this atrocious calumny had been transmitted to the queen, +whether she that invented had the front to relate it, whether she found +any one weak enough to credit it, or corrupt enough to concur with +her in her hateful design, I know not, but methods had been taken to +persuade the queen so strongly of the truth of it, that she for a long +time refused to hear any one of those who petitioned for his life. + +Thus had Savage perished by the evidence of a bawd, a strumpet, and his +mother, had not justice and compassion procured him an advocate of rank +too great to be rejected unheard, and of virtue too eminent to be heard +without being believed. His merit and his calamities happened to reach +the ear of the Countess of Hertford, who engaged in his support with +all the tenderness that is excited by pity, and all the zeal which is +kindled by generosity, and, demanding an audience of the queen, laid +before her the whole series of his mother's cruelty, exposed the +improbability of an accusation by which he was charged with an intent to +commit a murder that could produce no advantage, and soon convinced her +how little his former conduct could deserve to be mentioned as a reason +for extraordinary severity. + +The interposition of this lady was so successful, that he was soon after +admitted to bail, and, on the 9th of March, 1728, pleaded the king's +pardon. + +It is natural to inquire upon what motives his mother could persecute +him in a manner so outrageous and implacable; for what reason she could +employ all the arts of malice, and all the snares of calumny, to take +away the life of her own son, of a son who never injured her, who was +never supported by her expense, nor obstructed any prospect of pleasure +or advantage. Why she would endeavour to destroy him by a lie--a lie +which could not gain credit, but must vanish of itself at the first +moment of examination, and of which only this can be said to make +it probable, that it may be observed from her conduct that the most +execrable crimes are sometimes committed without apparent temptation. + +This mother is still (1744) alive, and may perhaps even yet, though her +malice was so often defeated, enjoy the pleasure of reflecting that the +life which she often endeavoured to destroy was at last shortened by +her maternal offices; that though she could not transport her son to the +plantations, bury him in the shop of a mechanic, or hasten the hand of +the public executioner, she has yet had the satisfaction of embittering +all his hours, and forcing him into exigencies that hurried on his +death. It is by no means necessary to aggravate the enormity of this +woman's conduct by placing it in opposition to that of the Countess +of Hertford. No one can fail to observe how much more amiable it is to +relieve than to oppress, and to rescue innocence from destruction than +to destroy without an injury. + +Mr. Savage, during his imprisonment, his trial, and the time in which he +lay under sentence of death, behaved with great firmness and equality +of mind, and confirmed by his fortitude the esteem of those who before +admired him for his abilities. The peculiar circumstances of his +life were made more generally known by a short account which was then +published, and of which several thousands were in a few weeks dispersed +over the nation; and the compassion of mankind operated so powerfully +in his favour, that he was enabled, by frequent presents, not only to +support himself, but to assist Mr. Gregory in prison; and when he was +pardoned and released, he found the number of his friends not lessened. + +The nature of the act for which he had been tried was in itself +doubtful; of the evidences which appeared against him, the character of +the man was not unexceptionable, that of the woman notoriously +infamous; she whose testimony chiefly influenced the jury to condemn him +afterwards retracted her assertions. He always himself denied that +he was drunk, as had been generally reported. Mr. Gregory, who is now +(1744) collector of Antigua, is said to declare him far less criminal +than he was imagined, even by some who favoured him; and Page himself +afterwards confessed that he had treated him with uncommon rigour. When +all these particulars are rated together, perhaps the memory of Savage +may not be much sullied by his trial. Some time after he obtained his +liberty, he met in the street the woman who had sworn with so much +malignity against him. She informed him that she was in distress, +and, with a degree of confidence not easily attainable, desired him to +relieve her. He, instead of insulting her misery, and taking pleasure in +the calamities of one who had brought his life into danger, reproved +her gently for her perjury, and, changing the only guinea that he had, +divided it equally between her and himself. This is an action which in +some ages would have made a saint, and perhaps in others a hero, and +which, without any hyperbolical encomiums, must be allowed to be an +instance of uncommon generosity, an act of complicated virtue, by which +he at once relieved the poor, corrected the vicious, and forgave an +enemy; by which he at once remitted the strongest provocations, +and exercised the most ardent charity. Compassion was indeed the +distinguishing quality of Savage: he never appeared inclined to take +advantage of weakness, to attack the defenceless, or to press upon the +falling. Whoever was distressed was certain at least of his good wishes; +and when he could give no assistance to extricate them from misfortunes, +he endeavoured to soothe them by sympathy and tenderness. But when +his heart was not softened by the sight of misery, he was sometimes +obstinate in his resentment, and did not quickly lose the remembrance of +an injury. He always continued to speak with anger of the insolence and +partiality of Page, and a short time before his death revenged it by a +satire. + +It is natural to inquire in what terms Mr. Savage spoke of this fatal +action when the danger was over, and he was under no necessity of using +any art to set his conduct in the fairest light. He was not willing to +dwell upon it; and, if he transiently mentioned it, appeared neither to +consider himself as a murderer, nor as a man wholly free from the guilt +of blood. How much and how long he regretted it appeared in a poem which +he published many years afterwards. On occasion of a copy of verses, in +which the failings of good men are recounted, and in which the author +had endeavoured to illustrate his position, that "the best may sometimes +deviate from virtue," by an instance of murder committed by Savage +in the heat of wine, Savage remarked that it was no very just +representation of a good man, to suppose him liable to drunkenness, and +disposed in his riots to cut throats. + +He was now indeed at liberty, but was, as before, without any other +support than accidental favours and uncertain patronage afforded him; +sources by which he was sometimes very liberally supplied, and which +at other times were suddenly stopped; so that he spent his life +between want and plenty, or, what was yet worse, between beggary and +extravagance, for, as whatever he received was the gift of chance, +which might as well favour him at one time as another, he was tempted to +squander what he had because he always hoped to be immediately supplied. +Another cause of his profusion was the absurd kindness of his friends, +who at once rewarded and enjoyed his abilities by treating him at +taverns, and habituating him to pleasures which he could not afford to +enjoy, and which he was not able to deny himself, though he purchased +the luxury of a single night by the anguish of cold and hunger for a +week. + +The experience of these inconveniences determined him to endeavour after +some settled income, which, having long found submission and entreaties +fruitless, he attempted to extort from his mother by rougher methods. +He had now, as he acknowledged, lost that tenderness for her which the +whole series of her cruelty had not been able wholly to repress, till he +found, by the efforts which she made for his destruction, that she +was not content with refusing to assist him, and being neutral in his +struggles with poverty, but was ready to snatch every opportunity of +adding to his misfortunes; and that she was now to be considered as an +enemy implacably malicious, whom nothing but his blood could satisfy. +He therefore threatened to harass her with lampoons, and to publish a +copious narrative of her conduct, unless she consented to purchase an +exemption from infamy by allowing him a pension. + +This expedient proved successful. Whether shame still survived, though +virtue was extinct, or whether her relations had more delicacy than +herself, and imagined that some of the darts which satire might point at +her would glance upon them, Lord Tyrconnel, whatever were his motives, +upon his promise to lay aside his design of exposing the cruelty of +his mother, received him into his family, treated him as his equal, and +engaged to allow him a pension of two hundred pounds a year. This was +the golden part of Mr. Savage's life; and for some time he had no reason +to complain of fortune. His appearance was splendid, his expenses large, +and his acquaintance extensive. He was courted by all who endeavoured to +be thought men of genius, and caressed by all who valued themselves upon +a refined taste. To admire Mr. Savage was a proof of discernment; and to +be acquainted with him was a title to poetical reputation. His presence +was sufficient to make any place of public entertainment popular, and +his approbation and example constituted the fashion. So powerful is +genius, when it is invested with the glitter of affluence! Men willingly +pay to fortune that regard which they owe to merit, and are pleased +when they have an opportunity at once of gratifying their vanity and +practising their duty. + +This interval of prosperity furnished him with opportunities of +enlarging his knowledge of human nature, by contemplating life from +its highest gradations to its lowest; and, had he afterwards applied to +dramatic poetry, he would perhaps not have had many superiors, for, as +he never suffered any scene to pass before his eyes without notice, he +had treasured in his mind all the different combinations of passions, +and the innumerable mixtures of vice and virtue, which distinguished +one character from another; and, as his conception was strong, his +expressions were clear, he easily received impressions from objects, and +very forcibly transmitted them to others. Of his exact observations on +human life he has left a proof, which would do honour to the greatest +names, in a small pamphlet, called "The Author to be Let," where he +introduces Iscariot Hackney, a prostitute scribbler, giving an account +of his birth, his education, his disposition and morals, habits of +life, and maxims of conduct. In the introduction are related many secret +histories of the petty writers of that time, but sometimes mixed with +ungenerous reflections on their birth, their circumstances, or those +of their relations; nor can it be denied that some passages are such as +Iscariot Hackney might himself have produced. He was accused likewise of +living in an appearance of friendship with some whom he satirised, and +of making use of the confidence which he gained by a seeming kindness, +to discover failings and expose them. It must be confessed that Mr. +Savage's esteem was no very certain possession, and that he would +lampoon at one time those whom he had praised at another. + +It may be alleged that the same man may change his principles, and that +he who was once deservedly commended may be afterwards satirised with +equal justice, or that the poet was dazzled with the appearance of +virtue, and found the man whom he had celebrated, when he had an +opportunity of examining him more narrowly, unworthy of the panegyric +which he had too hastily bestowed; and that, as a false satire ought to +be recanted, for the sake of him whose reputation may be injured, false +praise ought likewise to be obviated, lest the distinction between vice +and virtue should be lost, lest a bad man should be trusted upon the +credit of his encomiast, or lest others should endeavour to obtain +like praises by the same means. But though these excuses may be often +plausible, and sometimes just, they are very seldom satisfactory to +mankind; and the writer who is not constant to his subject, quickly +sinks into contempt, his satire loses its force, and his panegyric +its value; and he is only considered at one time as a flatterer, and a +calumniator at another. To avoid these imputations, it is only necessary +to follow the rules of virtue, and to preserve an unvaried regard +to truth. For though it is undoubtedly possible that a man, however +cautious, may be sometimes deceived by an artful appearance of virtue, +or by false evidences of guilt, such errors will not be frequent; and +it will be allowed that the name of an author would never have been +made contemptible had no man ever said what he did not think, or misled +others but when he was himself deceived. + +"The Author to be Let" was first published in a single pamphlet, and +afterwards inserted in a collection of pieces relating to the "Dunciad," +which were addressed by Mr. Savage to the Earl of Middlesex, in a +dedication which he was prevailed upon to sign, though he did not write +it, and in which there are some positions that the true author would +perhaps not have published under his own name, and on which Mr. Savage +afterwards reflected with no great satisfaction. The enumeration of the +bad effects of the uncontrolled freedom of the press, and the assertion +that the "liberties taken by the writers of journals with their +superiors were exorbitant and unjustifiable," very ill became men who +have themselves not always shown the exactest regard to the laws of +subordination in their writings, and who have often satirised those that +at least thought themselves their superiors, as they were eminent +for their hereditary rank, and employed in the highest offices of the +kingdom. But this is only an instance of that partiality which almost +every man indulges with regard to himself: the liberty of the press is +a blessing when we are inclined to write against others, and a calamity +when we find ourselves overborne by the multitude of our assailants; as +the power of the Crown is always thought too great by those who suffer +by its influence, and too little by those in whose favour it is exerted; +and a standing army is generally accounted necessary by those who +command, and dangerous and oppressive by those who support it. + +Mr. Savage was likewise very far from believing that the letters annexed +to each species of bad poets in the Bathos were, as he was directed +to assert, "set down at random;" for when he was charged by one of his +friends with putting his name to such an improbability, he had no other +answer to make than that "he did not think of it;" and his friend had +too much tenderness to reply, that next to the crime of writing contrary +to what he thought was that of writing without thinking. + +After having remarked what is false in this dedication, it is proper +that I observe the impartiality which I recommend, by declaring what +Savage asserted--that the account of the circumstances which attended +the publication of the "Dunciad," however strange and improbable, was +exactly true. + +The publication of this piece at this time raised Mr. Savage a great +number of enemies among those that were attacked by Mr. Pope, with whom +he was considered as a kind of confederate, and whom he was suspected +of supplying with private intelligence and secret incidents; so that the +ignominy of an informer was added to the terror of a satirist. That he +was not altogether free from literary hypocrisy, and that he sometimes +spoke one thing and wrote another, cannot be denied, because he himself +confessed that, when he lived with great familiarity with Dennis, he +wrote an epigram against him. + +Mr. Savage, however, set all the malice of all the pigmy writers at +defiance, and thought the friendship of Mr. Pope cheaply purchased by +being exposed to their censure and their hatred; nor had he any +reason to repent of the preference, for he found Mr. Pope a steady and +unalienable friend almost to the end of his life. + +About this time, notwithstanding his avowed neutrality with regard to +party, he published a panegyric on Sir Robert Walpole, for which he was +rewarded by him with twenty guineas, a sum not very large, if either +the excellence of the performance or the affluence of the patron be +considered; but greater than he afterwards obtained from a person of yet +higher rank, and more desirous in appearance of being distinguished as a +patron of literature. + +As he was very far from approving the conduct of Sir Robert Walpole, +and in conversation mentioned him sometimes with acrimony, and generally +with contempt, as he was one of those who were always zealous in their +assertions of the justice of the late opposition, jealous of the rights +of the people, and alarmed by the long-continued triumph of the Court, +it was natural to ask him what could induce him to employ his poetry in +praise of that man who was, in his opinion, an enemy to liberty, and an +oppressor of his country? He alleged that he was then dependent upon the +Lord Tyrconnel, who was an implicit follower of the ministry: and that, +being enjoined by him, not without menaces, to write in praise of the +leader, he had not resolution sufficient to sacrifice the pleasure of +affluence to that of integrity. + +On this, and on many other occasions, he was ready to lament the misery +of living at the tables of other men, which was his fate from the +beginning to the end of his life; for I know not whether he ever had, +for three months together, a settled habitation, in which he could claim +a right of residence. + +To this unhappy state it is just to impute much of the inconsistency of +his conduct, for though a readiness to comply with the inclinations +of others was no part of his natural character, yet he was sometimes +obliged to relax his obstinacy, and submit his own judgment, and even +his virtue, to the government of those by whom he was supported. So that +if his miseries were sometimes the consequences of his faults, he ought +not yet to be wholly excluded from compassion, because his faults were +very often the effects of his misfortunes. + +In this gay period of his life, while he was surrounded by affluence and +pleasure, he published "The Wanderer," a moral poem, of which the design +is comprised in these lines:-- + + "I fly all public care, all venal strife, + To try the still, compared with active, life; + To prove, by these, the sons of men may owe + The fruits of bliss to bursting clouds of woe; + That ev'n calamity, by thought refined, + Inspirits and adorns the thinking mind." + +And more distinctly in the following passage:-- + + "By woe, the soul to daring action swells; + By woe, in plaintless patience it excels: + From patience prudent, clear experience springs, + And traces knowledge through the course of things. + Thence hope is formed, thence fortitude, success, + Renown--whate'er men covet and caress." + +This performance was always considered by himself as his masterpiece; +and Mr. Pope, when he asked his opinion of it, told him that he read +it once over, and was not displeased with it; that it gave him more +pleasure at the second perusal, and delighted him still more at the +third. + +It has been generally objected to "The Wanderer," that the disposition +of the parts is irregular; that the design is obscure, and the plan +perplexed; that the images, however beautiful, succeed each other +without order; and that the whole performance is not so much a regular +fabric, as a heap of shining materials thrown together by accident, +which strikes rather with the solemn magnificence of a stupendous +ruin than the elegant grandeur of a finished pile. This criticism is +universal, and therefore it is reasonable to believe it at least in +a degree just; but Mr. Savage was always of a contrary opinion, and +thought his drift could only be missed by negligence or stupidity, and +that the whole plan was regular, and the parts distinct. It was never +denied to abound with strong representations of nature, and just +observations upon life; and it may easily be observed that most of +his pictures have an evident tendency to illustrate his first great +position, "that good is the consequence of evil." The sun that burns +up the mountains fructifies the vales; the deluge that rushes down the +broken rocks with dreadful impetuosity is separated into purling brooks; +and the rage of the hurricane purifies the air. + +Even in this poem he has not been able to forbear one touch upon the +cruelty of his mother, which, though remarkably delicate and tender, +is a proof how deep an impression it had upon his mind. This must be at +least acknowledged, which ought to be thought equivalent to many other +excellences, that this poem can promote no other purposes than those of +virtue, and that it is written with a very strong sense of the efficacy +of religion. But my province is rather to give the history of Mr. +Savage's performances than to display their beauties, or to obviate the +criticisms which they have occasioned, and therefore I shall not dwell +upon the particular passages which deserve applause. I shall neither +show the excellence of his descriptions, nor expatiate on the terrific +portrait of suicide, nor point out the artful touches by which he has +distinguished the intellectual features of the rebels, who suffer death +in his last canto. It is, however, proper to observe, that Mr. Savage +always declared the characters wholly fictitious, and without the least +allusion to any real persons or actions. + +From a poem so diligently laboured, and so successfully finished, it +might be reasonably expected that he should have gained considerable +advantage; nor can it, without some degree of indignation and concern, +be told, that he sold the copy for ten guineas, of which he afterwards +returned two, that the two last sheets of the work might be reprinted, +of which he had in his absence entrusted the correction to a friend, who +was too indolent to perform it with accuracy. + +A superstitious regard to the correction of his sheets was one of Mr. +Savage's peculiarities: he often altered, revised, recurred to his first +reading or punctuation, and again adopted the alteration; he was dubious +and irresolute without end, as on a question of the last importance, and +at last was seldom satisfied. The intrusion or omission of a comma was +sufficient to discompose him, and he would lament an error of a single +letter as a heavy calamity. In one of his letters relating to an +impression of some verses he remarks that he had, with regard to the +correction of the proof, "a spell upon him;" and indeed the anxiety with +which he dwelt upon the minutest and most trifling niceties, deserved +no other name than that of fascination. That he sold so valuable +a performance for so small a price was not to be imputed either to +necessity, by which the learned and ingenious are often obliged to +submit to very hard conditions, or to avarice, by which the booksellers +are frequently incited to oppress that genius by which they are +supported, but to that intemperate desire of pleasure, and habitual +slavery to his passions, which involved him in many perplexities. He +happened at that time to be engaged in the pursuit of some trifling +gratification, and, being without money for the present occasion, sold +his poem to the first bidder, and perhaps for the first price that was +proposed, and would probably have been content with less if less had +been offered him. + +This poem was addressed to the Lord Tyrconnel, not only in the first +lines, but in a formal dedication filled with the highest strains of +panegyric, and the warmest professions of gratitude, but by no means +remarkable for delicacy of connection or elegance of style. These +praises in a short time he found himself inclined to retract, being +discarded by the man on whom he had bestowed them, and whom he then +immediately discovered not to have deserved them. Of this quarrel, which +every day made more bitter, Lord Tyrconnel and Mr. Savage assigned very +different reasons, which might perhaps all in reality concur, though +they were not all convenient to be alleged by either party. Lord +Tyrconnel affirmed that it was the constant practice of Mr. Savage +to enter a tavern with any company that proposed it, drink the most +expensive wines with great profusion, and when the reckoning was +demanded to be without money. If, as it often happened, his company +were willing to defray his part, the affair ended without any ill +consequences; but if they were refractory, and expected that the wine +should be paid for by him that drank it, his method of composition was, +to take them with him to his own apartment, assume the government of the +house, and order the butler in an imperious manner to set the best wine +in the cellar before his company, who often drank till they forgot +the respect due to the house in which they were entertained, indulged +themselves in the utmost extravagance of merriment, practised the most +licentious frolics, and committed all the outrages of drunkenness. +Nor was this the only charge which Lord Tyrconnel brought against him. +Having given him a collection of valuable books, stamped with his own +arms, he had the mortification to see them in a short time exposed to +sale upon the stalls, it being usual with Mr. Savage, when he wanted a +small sum, to take his books to the pawnbroker. + +Whoever was acquainted with Mr. Savage easily credited both these +accusations; for having been obliged, from his first entrance into the +world, to subsist upon expedients, affluence was not able to exalt him +above them; and so much was he delighted with wine and conversation, and +so long had he been accustomed to live by chance, that he would at any +time go to the tavern without scruple, and trust for the reckoning to +the liberality of his company, and frequently of company to whom he was +very little known. This conduct, indeed, very seldom drew upon him +those inconveniences that might be feared by any other person, for his +conversation was so entertaining, and his address so pleasing, that few +thought the pleasure which they received from him dearly purchased by +paying for his wine. It was his peculiar happiness that he scarcely ever +found a stranger whom he did not leave a friend; but it must likewise +be added, that he had not often a friend long without obliging him to +become a stranger. + +Mr. Savage, on the other hand, declared that Lord Tyrconnel quarrelled +with him because he would not subtract from his own luxury and +extravagance what he had promised to allow him, and that his resentment +was only a plea for the violation of his promise. He asserted that he +had done nothing that ought to exclude him from that subsistence which +he thought not so much a favour as a debt, since it was offered him upon +conditions which he had never broken: and that his only fault was, +that he could not be supported with nothing. He acknowledged that Lord +Tyrconnel often exhorted him to regulate his method of life, and not to +spend all his nights in taverns, and that he appeared desirous that he +would pass those hours with him which he so freely bestowed upon others. +This demand Mr. Savage considered as a censure of his conduct which he +could never patiently bear, and which, in the latter and cooler parts of +his life, was so offensive to him, that he declared it as his resolution +"to spurn that friend who should pretend to dictate to him;" and it is +not likely that in his earlier years he received admonitions with more +calmness. He was likewise inclined to resent such expectations, as +tending to infringe his liberty, of which he was very jealous, when it +was necessary to the gratification of his passions; and declared that +the request was still more unreasonable as the company to which he was +to have been confined was insupportably disagreeable. This assertion +affords another instance of that inconsistency of his writings with his +conversation which was so often to be observed. He forgot how lavishly +he had, in his dedication to "The Wanderer," extolled the delicacy and +penetration, the humanity and generosity, the candour and politeness of +the man whom, when he no longer loved him, he declared to be a wretch +without understanding, without good nature, and without justice; of +whose name he thought himself obliged to leave no trace in any future +edition of his writings, and accordingly blotted it out of that copy of +"The Wanderer" which was in his hands. + +During his continuance with the Lord Tyrconnel, he wrote "The Triumph of +Health and Mirth," on the recovery of Lady Tyrconnel from a languishing +illness. This performance is remarkable, not only for the gaiety of the +ideas and the melody of the numbers, but for the agreeable fiction upon +which it is formed. Mirth, overwhelmed with sorrow for the sickness of +her favourite, takes a flight in quest of her sister Health, whom she +finds reclined upon the brow of a lofty mountain, amidst the fragrance +of perpetual spring, with the breezes of the morning sporting about +her. Being solicited by her sister Mirth, she readily promises her +assistance, flies away in a cloud, and impregnates the waters of Bath +with new virtues, by which the sickness of Belinda is relieved. As the +reputation of his abilities, the particular circumstances of his birth +and life, the splendour of his appearance, and the distinction which was +for some time paid him by Lord Tyrconnel, entitled him to familiarity +with persons of higher rank than those to whose conversation he had been +before admitted, he did not fail to gratify that curiosity which induced +him to take a nearer view of those whom their birth, their employments, +or their fortunes necessarily placed at a distance from the greatest +part of mankind, and to examine whether their merit was magnified or +diminished by the medium through which it was contemplated; whether +the splendour with which they dazzled their admirers was inherent in +themselves, or only reflected on them by the objects that surrounded +them; and whether great men were selected for high stations, or high +stations made great men. + +For this purpose he took all opportunities of conversing familiarly with +those who were most conspicuous at that time for their power or their +influence; he watched their looser moments, and examined their domestic +behaviour, with that acuteness which nature had given him, and which +the uncommon variety of his life had contributed to increase, and that +inquisitiveness which must always be produced in a vigorous mind by +an absolute freedom from all pressing or domestic engagements. His +discernment was quick, and therefore he soon found in every person, and +in every affair, something that deserved attention; he was supported by +others, without any care for himself, and was therefore at leisure to +pursue his observations. More circumstances to constitute a critic on +human life could not easily concur; nor, indeed, could any man, who +assumed from accidental advantages more praise than he could justly +claim from his real merit, admit any acquaintance more dangerous than +that of Savage; of whom likewise it must be confessed, that abilities +really exalted above the common level, or virtue refined from passion, +or proof against corruption, could not easily find an abler judge or a +warmer advocate. + +What was the result of Mr. Savage's inquiry, though he was not much +accustomed to conceal his discoveries, it may not be entirely safe to +relate, because the persons whose characters he criticised are powerful, +and power and resentment are seldom strangers; nor would it perhaps be +wholly just, because what he asserted in conversation might, though true +in general, be heightened by some momentary ardour of imagination, and +as it can be delivered only from memory, may be imperfectly represented, +so that the picture, at first aggravated, and then unskilfully copied, +may be justly suspected to retain no great resemblance of the original. + +It may, however, be observed, that he did not appear to have formed very +elevated ideas of those to whom the administration of affairs, or the +conduct of parties, has been intrusted; who have been considered as the +advocates of the Crown, or the guardians of the people; and who have +obtained the most implicit confidence, and the loudest applauses. Of +one particular person, who has been at one time so popular as to be +generally esteemed, and at another so formidable as to be universally +detested, he observed that his acquisitions had been small, or that +his capacity was narrow, and that the whole range of his mind was from +obscenity to politics, and from politics to obscenity. + +But the opportunity of indulging his speculations on great characters +was now at an end. He was banished from the table of Lord Tyrconnel, and +turned again adrift upon the world, without prospect of finding quickly +any other harbour. As prudence was not one of the virtues by which he +was distinguished, he made no provision against a misfortune like this. +And though it is not to be imagined but that the separation must for +some time have been preceded by coldness, peevishness, or neglect, +though it was undoubtedly the consequence of accumulated provocations on +both sides, yet every one that knew Savage will readily believe that +to him it was sudden as a stroke of thunder; that, though he might +have transiently suspected it, he had never suffered any thought so +unpleasing to sink into his mind, but that he had driven it away by +amusements or dreams of future felicity and affluence, and had never +taken any measures by which he might prevent a precipitation from plenty +to indigence. This quarrel and separation, and the difficulties to which +Mr. Savage was exposed by them, were soon known both to his friends +and enemies; nor was it long before he perceived, from the behaviour +of both, how much is added to the lustre of genius by the ornaments of +wealth. His condition did not appear to excite much compassion, for he +had not been always careful to use the advantages he enjoyed with +that moderation which ought to have been with more than usual caution +preserved by him, who knew, if he had reflected, that he was only a +dependent on the bounty of another, whom he could expect to support him +no longer than he endeavoured to preserve his favour by complying with +his inclinations, and whom he nevertheless set at defiance, and was +continually irritating by negligence or encroachments. + +Examples need not be sought at any great distance to prove that +superiority of fortune has a natural tendency to kindle pride, and that +pride seldom fails to exert itself in contempt and insult; and if this +is often the effect of hereditary wealth, and of honours enjoyed only by +the merits of others, it is some extenuation of any indecent triumphs to +which this unhappy man may have been betrayed, that his prosperity was +heightened by the force of novelty, and made more intoxicating by a +sense of the misery in which he had so long languished, and perhaps of +the insults which he had formerly borne, and which he might now think +himself entitled to revenge. It is too common for those who have +unjustly suffered pain to inflict it likewise in their turn with the +same injustice, and to imagine that they have a right to treat others as +they have themselves been treated. + +That Mr. Savage was too much elevated by any good fortune is generally +known; and some passages of his Introduction to "The Author to be Let" +sufficiently show that he did not wholly refrain from such satire, as he +afterwards thought very unjust when he was exposed to it himself; for, +when he was afterwards ridiculed in the character of a distressed poet, +he very easily discovered that distress was not a proper subject for +merriment or topic of invective. He was then able to discern, that if +misery be the effect of virtue, it ought to be reverenced; if of ill +fortune, to be pitied; and if of vice, not to be insulted, because it +is perhaps itself a punishment adequate to the crime by which it was +produced. And the humanity of that man can deserve no panegyric who is +capable of reproaching a criminal in the hands of the executioner. But +these reflections, though they readily occurred to him in the first and +last parts of his life, were, I am afraid, for a long time forgotten; at +least they were, like many other maxims, treasured up in his mind rather +for show than use, and operated very little upon his conduct, however +elegantly he might sometimes explain, or however forcibly he might +inculcate them. His degradation, therefore, from the condition which he +had enjoyed with such wanton thoughtlessness, was considered by many +as an occasion of triumph. Those who had before paid their court to him +without success soon returned the contempt which they had suffered; and +they who had received favours from him, for of such favours as he could +bestow he was very liberal, did not always remember them. So much more +certain are the effects of resentment than of gratitude. It is not only +to many more pleasing to recollect those faults which place others below +them, than those virtues by which they are themselves comparatively +depressed: but it is likewise more easy to neglect than to recompense. +And though there are few who will practise a laborious virtue, there +will never be wanting multitudes that will indulge in easy vice. + +Savage, however, was very little disturbed at the marks of contempt +which his ill fortune brought upon him from those whom he never +esteemed, and with whom he never considered himself as levelled by any +calamities: and though it was not without some uneasiness that he saw +some whose friendship he valued change their behaviour, he yet observed +their coldness without much emotion, considered them as the slaves of +fortune, and the worshippers of prosperity, and was more inclined to +despise them than to lament himself. + +It does not appear that after this return of his wants he found mankind +equally favourable to him, as at his first appearance in the world. +His story, though in reality not less melancholy, was less affecting, +because it was no longer new. It therefore procured him no new friends, +and those that had formerly relieved him thought they might now consign +him to others. He was now likewise considered by many rather as criminal +than as unhappy, for the friends of Lord Tyrconnel, and of his mother, +were sufficiently industrious to publish his weaknesses, which were +indeed very numerous, and nothing was forgotten that might make him +either hateful or ridiculous. It cannot but be imagined that such +representations of his faults must make great numbers less sensible of +his distress; many who had only an opportunity to hear one part made +no scruple to propagate the account which they received; many assisted +their circulation from malice or revenge; and perhaps many pretended to +credit them, that they might with a better grace withdraw their regard, +or withhold their assistance. + +Savage, however, was not one of those who suffered himself to be injured +without resistance, nor was he less diligent in exposing the faults of +Lord Tyrconnel, over whom he obtained at least this advantage, that he +drove him first to the practice of outrage and violence; for he was so +much provoked by the wit and virulence of Savage, that he came with a +number of attendants, that did no honour to his courage, to beat him +at a coffee-house. But it happened that he had left the place a few +minutes, and his lordship had, without danger, the pleasure of boasting +how he would have treated him. Mr. Savage went next day to repay his +visit at his own house, but was prevailed on by his domestics to retire +without insisting on seeing him. + +Lord Tyrconnel was accused by Mr. Savage of some actions which scarcely +any provocation will be thought sufficient to justify, such as seizing +what he had in his lodgings, and other instances of wanton cruelty, +by which he increased the distress of Savage without any advantage to +himself. + +These mutual accusations were retorted on both sides, for many years, +with the utmost degree of virulence and rage; and time seemed rather +to augment than diminish their resentment. That the anger of Mr. Savage +should be kept alive is not strange, because he felt every day the +consequences of the quarrel; but it might reasonably have been hoped +that Lord Tyrconnel might have relented, and at length have forgot those +provocations, which, however they might have once inflamed him, had +not in reality much hurt him. The spirit of Mr. Savage, indeed, never +suffered him to solicit a reconciliation; he returned reproach for +reproach, and insult for insult; his superiority of wit supplied the +disadvantages of his fortune, and enabled him to form a party, and +prejudice great numbers in his favour. But though this might be some +gratification of his vanity, it afforded very little relief to his +necessities, and he was frequently reduced to uncommon hardships, of +which, however, he never made any mean or importunate complaints, being +formed rather to bear misery with fortitude than enjoy prosperity with +moderation. + +He now thought himself again at liberty to expose the cruelty of his +mother; and therefore, I believe, about this time, published "The +Bastard," a poem remarkable for the vivacious sallies of thought in +the beginning, where he makes a pompous enumeration of the imaginary +advantages of base birth, and the pathetic sentiments at the end, where +he recounts the real calamities which he suffered by the crime of his +parents. The vigour and spirit of the verses, the peculiar circumstances +of the author, the novelty of the subject, and the notoriety of the +story to which the allusions are made, procured this performance a very +favourable reception; great numbers were immediately dispersed, and +editions were multiplied with unusual rapidity. + +One circumstance attended the publication which Savage used to relate +with great satisfaction. His mother, to whom the poem was with "due +reverence" inscribed, happened then to be at Bath, where she could not +conveniently retire from censure, or conceal herself from observation; +and no sooner did the reputation of the poem begin to spread, than she +heard it repeated in all places of concourse; nor could she enter the +assembly-rooms or cross the walks without being saluted with some lines +from "The Bastard." + +This was perhaps the first time that she ever discovered a sense of +shame, and on this occasion the power of wit was very conspicuous; the +wretch who had, without scruple, proclaimed herself an adulteress, and +who had first endeavoured to starve her son, then to transport him, and +afterwards to hang him, was not able to bear the representation of her +own conduct, but fled from reproach, though she felt no pain from guilt, +and left Bath in the utmost haste to shelter herself among the crowds +of London. Thus Savage had the satisfaction of finding that, though he +could not reform his mother, he could punish her, and that he did not +always suffer alone. + +The pleasure which he received from this increase of his poetical +reputation was sufficient for some time to overbalance the miseries of +want, which this performance did not much alleviate; for it was sold +for a very trivial sum to a bookseller, who, though the success was so +uncommon that five impressions were sold, of which many were undoubtedly +very numerous, had not generosity sufficient to admit the unhappy writer +to any part of the profit. The sale of this poem was always mentioned by +Mr. Savage with the utmost elevation of heart, and referred to by him as +an incontestable proof of a general acknowledgment of his abilities. +It was, indeed, the only production of which he could justly boast a +general reception. But, though he did not lose the opportunity which +success gave him of setting a high rate on his abilities, but paid +due deference to the suffrages of mankind when they were given in his +favour, he did not suffer his esteem of himself to depend upon others, +nor found anything sacred in the voice of the people when they were +inclined to censure him; he then readily showed the folly of expecting +that the public should judge right, observed how slowly poetical merit +had often forced its way into the world; he contented himself with the +applause of men of judgment, and was somewhat disposed to exclude all +those from the character of men of judgment who did not applaud him. +But he was at other times more favourable to mankind than to think them +blind to the beauties of his works, and imputed the slowness of their +sale to other causes; either they were published at a time when the town +was empty, or when the attention of the public was engrossed by some +struggle in the Parliament or some other object of general concern; or +they were, by the neglect of the publisher, not diligently dispersed, +or, by his avarice, not advertised with sufficient frequency. Address, +or industry, or liberality was always wanting, and the blame was laid +rather on any person than the author. + +By arts like these, arts which every man practises in some degree, and +to which too much of the little tranquillity of life is to be ascribed, +Savage was always able to live at peace with himself. Had he, indeed, +only made use of these expedients to alleviate the loss or want of +fortune or reputation, or any other advantages which it is not in +a man's power to bestow upon himself, they might have been justly +mentioned as instances of a philosophical mind, and very properly +proposed to the imitation of multitudes who, for want of diverting their +imaginations with the same dexterity, languish under afflictions which +might be easily removed. + +It were doubtless to be wished that truth and reason were universally +prevalent; that everything were esteemed according to its real value; +and that men would secure themselves from being disappointed, in their +endeavours after happiness, by placing it only in virtue, which is +always to be obtained; but, if adventitious and foreign pleasures must +be pursued, it would be perhaps of some benefit, since that pursuit must +frequently be fruitless, if the practice of Savage could be taught, +that folly might be an antidote to folly, and one fallacy be obviated +by another. But the danger of this pleasing intoxication must not be +concealed; nor, indeed, can any one, after having observed the life +of Savage, need to be cautioned against it. By imputing none of his +miseries to himself, he continued to act upon the same principles, and +to follow the same path; was never made wiser by his sufferings, nor +preserved by one misfortune from falling into another. He proceeded +throughout his life to tread the same steps on the same circle; always +applauding his past conduct, or at least forgetting it, to amuse himself +with phantoms of happiness, which were dancing before him; and willingly +turned his eyes from the light of reason, when it would have discovered +the illusion, and shown him, what he never wished to see, his real +state. He is even accused, after having lulled his imagination with +those ideal opiates, of having tried the same experiment upon his +conscience; and, having accustomed himself to impute all deviations +from the right to foreign causes, it is certain that he was upon every +occasion too easily reconciled to himself, and that he appeared very +little to regret those practices which had impaired his reputation. The +reigning error of his life was that he mistook the love for the practice +of virtue, and was indeed not so much a good man as the friend of +goodness. + +This, at least, must be allowed him, that he always preserved a strong +sense of the dignity, the beauty, and the necessity of virtue; and that +he never contributed deliberately to spread corruption amongst mankind. +His actions, which were generally precipitate, were often blameable; +but his writings, being the production of study, uniformly tended to the +exaltation of the mind and the propagation of morality and piety. These +writings may improve mankind when his failings shall be forgotten; and +therefore he must be considered, upon the whole, as a benefactor to the +world. Nor can his personal example do any hurt, since whoever hears of +his faults will hear of the miseries which they brought upon him, and +which would deserve less pity had not his condition been such as made +his faults pardonable. He may be considered as a child exposed to all +the temptations of indigence, at an age when resolution was not +yet strengthened by conviction, nor virtue confirmed by habit; a +circumstance which, in his "Bastard," he laments in a very affecting +manner:-- + + "No mother's care + Shielded my infant innocence with prayer; + No father's guardian hand my youth maintained, + Called forth my virtues, or from vice restrained." + +"The Bastard," however it might provoke or mortify his mother, could not +be expected to melt her to compassion, so that he was still under the +same want of the necessaries of life; and he therefore exerted all the +interest which his wit, or his birth, or his misfortunes could procure +to obtain, upon the death of Eusden, the place of Poet Laureate, and +prosecuted his application with so much diligence that the king publicly +declared it his intention to bestow it upon him; but such was the +fate of Savage that even the king, when he intended his advantage, +was disappointed in his schemes; for the Lord Chamberlain, who has the +disposal of the laurel as one of the appendages of his office, either +did not know the king's design, or did not approve it, or thought +the nomination of the Laureate an encroachment upon his rights, and +therefore bestowed the laurel upon Colley Cibber. + +Mr. Savage, thus disappointed, took a resolution of applying to the +queen, that, having once given him life, she would enable him to support +it, and therefore published a short poem on her birthday, to which he +gave the odd title of "Volunteer Laureate." The event of this essay he +has himself related in the following letter, which he prefixed to the +poem when he afterwards reprinted it in The Gentleman's Magazine, whence +I have copied it entire, as this was one of the few attempts in which +Mr. Savage succeeded. + +"MR. URBAN,--In your Magazine for February you published the last +'Volunteer Laureate,' written on a very melancholy occasion, the death +of the royal patroness of arts and literature in general, and of the +author of that poem in particular; I now send you the first that Mr. +Savage wrote under that title. This gentleman, notwithstanding a very +considerable interest, being, on the death of Mr. Eusden, disappointed +of the Laureate's place, wrote the following verses; which were no +sooner published, but the late queen sent to a bookseller for them. The +author had not at that time a friend either to get him introduced, or +his poem presented at Court; yet, such was the unspeakable goodness of +that princess, that, notwithstanding this act of ceremony was wanting, +in a few days after publication Mr. Savage received a bank-bill of fifty +pounds, and a gracious message from her Majesty, by the Lord North and +Guilford, to this effect: 'That her Majesty was highly pleased with the +verses; that she took particularly kind his lines there relating to the +king; that he had permission to write annually on the same subject; and +that he should yearly receive the like present, till something better +(which was her Majesty's intention) could be done for him.' After this +he was permitted to present one of his annual poems to her Majesty, +had the honour of kissing her hand, and met with the most gracious +reception. + +"Yours, etc." + + +Such was the performance, and such its reception; a reception which, +though by no means unkind, was yet not in the highest degree generous. +To chain down the genius of a writer to an annual panegyric showed in +the queen too much desire of hearing her own praises, and a greater +regard to herself than to him on whom her bounty was conferred. It was +a kind of avaricious generosity, by which flattery was rather purchased +than genius rewarded. + +Mrs. Oldfield had formerly given him the same allowance with much more +heroic intention: she had no other view than to enable him to prosecute +his studies, and to set himself above the want of assistance, and was +contented with doing good without stipulating for encomiums. + +Mr. Savage, however, was not at liberty to make exceptions, but was +ravished with the favours which he had received, and probably yet +more with those which he was promised: he considered himself now as a +favourite of the queen, and did not doubt but a few annual poems would +establish him in some profitable employment. He therefore assumed the +title of "Volunteer Laureate," not without some reprehensions from +Cibber, who informed him that the title of "Laureate" was a mark of +honour conferred by the king, from whom all honour is derived, and +which, therefore, no man has a right to bestow upon himself; and added +that he might with equal propriety style himself a Volunteer Lord or +Volunteer Baronet. It cannot be denied that the remark was just; but +Savage did not think any title which was conferred upon Mr. Cibber so +honourable as that the usurpation of it could be imputed to him as an +instance of very exorbitant vanity, and therefore continued to write +under the same title, and received every year the same reward. He did +not appear to consider these encomiums as tests of his abilities, or as +anything more than annual hints to the queen of her promise, or acts of +ceremony, by the performance of which he was entitled to his pension, +and therefore did not labour them with great diligence, or print +more than fifty each year, except that for some of the last years he +regularly inserted them in The Gentleman's Magazine, by which they were +dispersed over the kingdom. + +Of some of them he had himself so low an opinion that he intended to +omit them in the collection of poems for which he printed proposals, and +solicited subscriptions; nor can it seem strange that, being confined +to the same subject, he should be at some times indolent and at others +unsuccessful; that he should sometimes delay a disagreeable task till it +was too late to perform it well; or that he should sometimes repeat +the same sentiment on the same occasion, or at others be misled by an +attempt after novelty to forced conceptions and far-fetched images. +He wrote indeed with a double intention, which supplied him with some +variety; for his business was to praise the queen for the favours which +he had received, and to complain to her of the delay of those which +she had promised: in some of his pieces, therefore, gratitude is +predominant, and in some discontent; in some, he represents himself as +happy in her patronage; and, in others, as disconsolate to find himself +neglected. Her promise, like other promises made to this unfortunate +man, was never performed, though he took sufficient care that it should +not be forgotten. The publication of his "Volunteer Laureate" procured +him no other reward than a regular remittance of fifty pounds. He was +not so depressed by his disappointments as to neglect any opportunity +that was offered of advancing his interest. When the Princess Anne +was married, he wrote a poem upon her departure, only, as he declared, +"because it was expected from him," and he was not willing to bar his +own prospects by any appearance of neglect. He never mentioned any +advantage gained by this poem, or any regard that was paid to it; and +therefore it is likely that it was considered at Court as an act of +duty, to which he was obliged by his dependence, and which it was +therefore not necessary to reward by any new favour: or perhaps +the queen really intended his advancement, and therefore thought it +superfluous to lavish presents upon a man whom she intended to establish +for life. + +About this time not only his hopes were in danger of being frustrated, +but his pension likewise of being obstructed, by an accidental calumny. +The writer of The Daily Courant, a paper then published under the +direction of the Ministry, charged him with a crime, which, though very +great in itself, would have been remarkably invidious in him, and might +very justly have incensed the queen against him. He was accused by name +of influencing elections against the Court by appearing at the head of +a Tory mob; nor did the accuser fail to aggravate his crime by +representing it as the effect of the most atrocious ingratitude, and a +kind of rebellion against the queen, who had first preserved him from +an infamous death, and afterwards distinguished him by her favour, and +supported him by her charity. The charge, as it was open and confident, +was likewise by good fortune very particular. The place of the +transaction was mentioned, and the whole series of the rioter's conduct +related. This exactness made Mr. Savage's vindication easy; for he never +had in his life seen the place which was declared to be the scene of +his wickedness, nor ever had been present in any town when its +representatives were chosen. This answer he therefore made haste to +publish, with all the circumstances necessary to make it credible; and +very reasonably demanded that the accusation should be retracted in the +same paper, that he might no longer suffer the imputation of sedition +and ingratitude. This demand was likewise pressed by him in a private +letter to the author of the paper, who, either trusting to the +protection of those whose defence he had undertaken, or having +entertained some personal malice against Mr. Savage, or fearing lest, by +retracting so confident an assertion, he should impair the credit of +his paper, refused to give him that satisfaction. Mr. Savage therefore +thought it necessary, to his own vindication, to prosecute him in +the King's Bench; but as he did not find any ill effects from the +accusation, having sufficiently cleared his innocence, he thought any +further procedure would have the appearance of revenge; and therefore +willingly dropped it. He saw soon afterwards a process commenced in the +same court against himself, on an information in which he was accused of +writing and publishing an obscene pamphlet. + +It was always Mr Savage's desire to be distinguished; and, when any +controversy became popular, he never wanted some reason for engaging in +it with great ardour, and appearing at the head of the party which +he had chosen. As he was never celebrated for his prudence, he had no +sooner taken his side, and informed himself of the chief topics of the +dispute, than he took all opportunities of asserting and propagating +his principles, without much regard to his own interest, or any other +visible design than that of drawing upon himself the attention of +mankind. + +The dispute between the Bishop of London and the chancellor is +well known to have been for some time the chief topic of political +conversation; and therefore Mr. Savage, in pursuance of his character, +endeavoured to become conspicuous among the controvertists with which +every coffee-house was filled on that occasion. He was an indefatigable +opposer of all the claims of ecclesiastical power, though he did not +know on what they were founded; and was therefore no friend to the +Bishop of London. But he had another reason for appearing as a warm +advocate for Dr. Rundle; for he was the friend of Mr. Foster and Mr. +Thomson, who were the friends of Mr. Savage. + +Thus remote was his interest in the question, which, however, as +he imagined, concerned him so nearly, that it was not sufficient to +harangue and dispute, but necessary likewise to write upon it. He +therefore engaged with great ardour in a new poem, called by him, "The +Progress of a Divine;" in which he conducts a profligate priest, by all +the gradations of wickedness, from a poor curacy in the country to the +highest preferments of the Church; and describes, with that humour which +was natural to him, and that knowledge which was extended to all +the diversities of human life, his behaviour in every station; and +insinuates that this priest, thus accomplished, found at last a patron +in the Bishop of London. When he was asked, by one of his friends, on +what pretence he could charge the bishop with such an action, he had no +more to say than that he had only inverted the accusation; and that he +thought it reasonable to believe that he who obstructed the rise of a +good man without reason would for bad reasons promote the exaltation +of a villain. The clergy were universally provoked by this satire; +and Savage, who, as was his constant practice, had set his name to his +performance, was censured in The Weekly Miscellany with severity, which +he did not seem inclined to forget. + +But return of invective was not thought a sufficient punishment. The +Court of King's Bench was therefore moved against him; and he was +obliged to return an answer to a charge of obscenity. It was urged, in +his defence, that obscenity was criminal when it was intended to promote +the practice of vice; but that Mr. Savage had only introduced obscene +ideas with the view of exposing them to detestation, and of amending the +age by showing the deformity of wickedness. This plea was admitted; +and Sir Philip Yorke, who then presided in that court, dismissed the +information, with encomiums upon the purity and excellence of Mr. +Savage's writings. The prosecution, however, answered in some measure +the purpose of those by whom it was set on foot; for Mr. Savage was so +far intimidated by it that, when the edition of his poem was sold, he +did not venture to reprint it; so that it was in a short time forgotten, +or forgotten by all but those whom it offended. It is said that some +endeavours were used to incense the queen against him: but he found +advocates to obviate at least part of their effect; for though he was +never advanced, he still continued to receive his pension. + +This poem drew more infamy upon him than any incident of his life; and, +as his conduct cannot be vindicated, it is proper to secure his memory +from reproach by informing those whom he made his enemies that he never +intended to repeat the provocation; and that, though whenever he thought +he had any reason to complain of the clergy, he used to threaten them +with a new edition of "The Progress of a Divine," it was his calm and +settled resolution to suppress it for ever. + +He once intended to have made a better reparation for the folly or +injustice with which he might be charged, by writing another poem, +called "The Progress of a Free-thinker," whom he intended to lead +through all the stages of vice and folly, to convert him from virtue to +wickedness, and from religion to infidelity, by all the modish sophistry +used for that purpose; and at last to dismiss him by his own hand into +the other world. That he did not execute this design is a real loss +to mankind; for he was too well acquainted with all the scenes of +debauchery to have failed in his representations of them, and too +zealous for virtue not to have represented them in such a manner as +should expose them either to ridicule or detestation. But this plan was, +like others, formed and laid aside, till the vigour of his imagination +was spent, and the effervescence of invention had subsided; but soon +gave way to some other design, which pleased by its novelty for awhile, +and then was neglected like the former. + +He was still in his usual exigencies, having no certain support but the +pension allowed him by the queen, which, though it might have kept an +exact economist from want, was very far from being sufficient for Mr. +Savage, who had never been accustomed to dismiss any of his appetites +without the gratification which they solicited, and whom nothing but +want of money withheld from partaking of every pleasure that fell within +his view. His conduct with regard to his pension was very particular. +No sooner had he changed the bill than he vanished from the sight of +all his acquaintance, and lay for some time out of the reach of all the +inquiries that friendship or curiosity could make after him. At length +he appeared again, penniless as before, but never informed even those +whom he seemed to regard most where he had been; nor was his retreat +ever discovered. This was his constant practice during the whole time +that he received the pension from the queen: he regularly disappeared +and returned. He, indeed, affirmed that he retired to study, and that +the money supported him in solitude for many months; but his friends +declared that the short time in which it was spent sufficiently confuted +his own account of his conduct. + +His politeness and his wit still raised him friends who were desirous +of setting him at length free from that indigence by which he had been +hitherto oppressed; and therefore solicited Sir Robert Walpole in his +favour with so much earnestness that they obtained a promise of the +next place that should become vacant, not exceeding two hundred pounds +a year. This promise was made with an uncommon declaration, "that it was +not the promise of a minister to a petitioner, but of a friend to his +friend." + +Mr. Savage now concluded himself set at ease for ever, and, as he +observes in a poem written on that incident of his life, trusted, and +was trusted; but soon found that his confidence was ill-grounded, +and this friendly promise was not inviolable. He spent a long time in +solicitations, and at last despaired and desisted. He did not indeed +deny that he had given the minister some reason to believe that he +should not strengthen his own interest by advancing him, for he had +taken care to distinguish himself in coffee-houses, as an advocate for +the ministry of the last years of Queen Anne, and was always ready to +justify the conduct, and exalt the character, of Lord Bolingbroke, whom +he mentions with great regard in an Epistle upon Authors, which he wrote +about that time, but was too wise to publish, and of which only some +fragments have appeared, inserted by him in the Magazine after his +retirement. + +To despair was not, however, the character of Savage; when one patronage +failed, he had recourse to another. The Prince was now extremely +popular, and had very liberally rewarded the merit of some writers whom +Mr. Savage did not think superior to himself, and therefore he resolved +to address a poem to him. For this purpose he made choice of a subject +which could regard only persons of the highest rank and greatest +affluence, and which was therefore proper for a poem intended to procure +the patronage of a prince; and having retired for some time to Richmond, +that he might prosecute his design in full tranquillity, without the +temptations of pleasure, or the solicitations of creditors, by which his +meditations were in equal danger of being disconcerted, he produced a +poem "On Public Spirit, with regard to Public Works." + +The plan of this poem is very extensive, and comprises a multitude +of topics, each of which might furnish matter sufficient for a long +performance, and of which some have already employed more eminent +writers; but as he was perhaps not fully acquainted with the whole +extent of his own design, and was writing to obtain a supply of +wants too pressing to admit of long or accurate inquiries, he passes +negligently over many public works which, even in his own opinion, +deserved to be more elaborately treated. + +But though he may sometimes disappoint his reader by transient touches +upon these subjects, which have often been considered, and therefore +naturally raise expectations, he must be allowed amply to compensate his +omissions by expatiating, in the conclusion of his work, upon a kind +of beneficence not yet celebrated by any eminent poet, though it now +appears more susceptible of embellishments, more adapted to exalt the +ideas and affect the passions, than many of those which have hitherto +been thought most worthy of the ornament of verse. The settlement +of colonies in uninhabited countries, the establishment of those +in security whose misfortunes have made their own country no longer +pleasing or safe, the acquisition of property without injury to any, +the appropriation of the waste and luxuriant bounties of nature, and +the enjoyment of those gifts which Heaven has scattered upon regions +uncultivated and unoccupied, cannot be considered without giving rise +to a great number of pleasing ideas, and bewildering the imagination +in delightful prospects; and therefore, whatever speculations they may +produce in those who have confined themselves to political studies, +naturally fixed the attention, and excited the applause, of a poet. +The politician, when he considers men driven into other countries for +shelter, and obliged to retire to forests and deserts, and pass their +lives and fix their posterity in the remotest corners of the world to +avoid those hardships which they suffer or fear in their native place, +may very properly inquire why the legislature does not provide a remedy +for these miseries rather than encourage an escape from them. He may +conclude that the flight of every honest man is a loss to the community; +that those who are unhappy without guilt ought to be relieved; and the +life which is overburthened by accidental calamities set at ease by +the care of the public; and that those who have by misconduct forfeited +their claim to favour ought rather to be made useful to the society +which they have injured than be driven from it. But the poet is employed +in a more pleasing undertaking than that of proposing laws which, +however just or expedient, will never be made; or endeavouring to reduce +to rational schemes of government societies which were formed by chance, +and are conducted by the private passions of those who preside in them. +He guides the unhappy fugitive, from want and persecution, to plenty, +quiet, and security, and seats him in scenes of peaceful solitude and +undisturbed repose. + +Savage has not forgotten, amidst the pleasing sentiments which this +prospect of retirement suggested to him, to censure those crimes which +have been generally committed by the discoverers of new regions, and +to expose the enormous wickedness of making war upon barbarous nations +because they cannot resist, and of invading countries because they +are fruitful; of extending navigation only to propagate vice; and of +visiting distant lands only to lay them waste. He has asserted the +natural equality of mankind, and endeavoured to suppress that pride +which inclines men to imagine that right is the consequence of power. +His description of the various miseries which force men to seek for +refuge in distant countries affords another instance of his proficiency +in the important and extensive study of human life; and the tenderness +with which he recounts them, another proof of his humanity and +benevolence. + +It is observable that the close of this poem discovers a change which +experience had made in Mr. Savage's opinions. In a poem written by +him in his youth, and published in his Miscellanies, he declares his +contempt of the contracted views and narrow prospects of the middle +state of life, and declares his resolution either to tower like the +cedar, or be trampled like the shrub; but in this poem, though addressed +to a prince, he mentions this state of life as comprising those who +ought most to attract reward, those who merit most the confidence of +power and the familiarity of greatness; and, accidentally mentioning +this passage to one of his friends, declared that in his opinion all the +virtue of mankind was comprehended in that state. + +In describing villas and gardens he did not omit to condemn that absurd +custom which prevails among the English of permitting servants to +receive money from strangers for the entertainment that they receive, +and therefore inserted in his poem these lines: + + "But what the flowering pride of gardens rare, + However royal, or however fair, + If gates which to excess should still give way, + Ope but, like Peter's paradise, for pay; + If perquisited varlets frequent stand, + And each new walk must a new tax demand; + What foreign eye but with contempt surveys? + What Muse shall from oblivion snatch their praise?" + +But before the publication of his performance he recollected that the +queen allowed her garden and cave at Richmond to be shown for money; and +that she so openly countenanced the practice that she had bestowed the +privilege of showing them as a place of profit on a man whose merit she +valued herself upon rewarding, though she gave him only the liberty of +disgracing his country. He therefore thought, with more prudence than +was often exerted by him, that the publication of these lines might be +officiously represented as an insult upon the queen, to whom he owed +his life and his subsistence; and that the propriety of his observation +would be no security against the censures which the unseasonableness of +it might draw upon him; he therefore suppressed the passage in the first +edition, but after the queen's death thought the same caution no longer +necessary, and restored it to the proper place. The poem was, therefore, +published without any political faults, and inscribed to the prince; but +Mr. Savage, having no friend upon whom he could prevail to present it +to him, had no other method of attracting his observation than the +publication of frequent advertisements, and therefore received no +reward from his patron, however generous on other occasions. This +disappointment he never mentioned without indignation, being by some +means or other confident that the prince was not ignorant of his address +to him; and insinuated that if any advances in popularity could have +been made by distinguishing him, he had not written without notice +or without reward. He was once inclined to have presented his poem in +person and sent to the printer for a copy with that design; but either +his opinion changed or his resolution deserted him, and he continued to +resent neglect without attempting to force himself into regard. Nor was +the public much more favourable than his patron; for only seventy-two +were sold, though the performance was much commended by some whose +judgment in that kind of writing is generally allowed. But Savage easily +reconciled himself to mankind without imputing any defect to his work, +by observing that his poem was unluckily published two days after the +prorogation of the parliament, and by consequence at a time when all +those who could be expected to regard it were in the hurry of preparing +for their departure, or engaged in taking leave of others upon +their dismission from public affairs. It must be however allowed, in +justification of the public, that this performance is not the most +excellent of Mr. Savage's works; and that, though it cannot be denied to +contain many striking sentiments, majestic lines, and just observations, +it is in general not sufficiently polished in the language, or enlivened +in the imagery, or digested in the plan. Thus his poem contributed +nothing to the alleviation of his poverty, which was such as very few +could have supported with equal patience; but to which it must likewise +be confessed that few would have been exposed who received punctually +fifty pounds a year; a salary which, though by no means equal to +the demands of vanity and luxury, is yet found sufficient to support +families above want, and was undoubtedly more than the necessities of +life require. + +But no sooner had he received his pension than he withdrew to his +darling privacy, from which he returned in a short time to his former +distress, and for some part of the year generally lived by chance, +eating only when he was invited to the tables of his acquaintances, from +which the meanness of his dress often excluded him, when the politeness +and variety of his conversation would have been thought a sufficient +recompense for his entertainment. He lodged as much by accident as he +dined, and passed the night sometimes in mean houses which are set open +at night to any casual wanderers; sometimes in cellars, among the +riot and filth of the meanest and most profligate of the rabble; and +sometimes, when he had not money to support even the expenses of these +receptacles, walked about the streets till he was weary, and lay down +in the summer upon the bulk, or in the winter, with his associate, in +poverty, among the ashes of a glass-house. + +In this manner were passed those days and those nights which nature had +enabled him to have employed in elevated speculations, useful studies, +or pleasing conversation. On a bulk, in a cellar, or in a glass-house, +among thieves and beggars, was to be found the author of "The +Wanderer," the man of exalted sentiments, extensive views, and curious +observations; the man whose remarks on life might have assisted the +statesman, whose ideas of virtue might have enlightened the moralist, +whose eloquence might have influenced senates, and whose delicacy might +have polished courts. It cannot but be imagined that such necessities +might sometimes force him upon disreputable practices; and it is +probable that these lines in "The Wanderer" were occasioned by his +reflections on his own conduct: + + "Though misery leads to happiness and truth, + Unequal to the load this languid youth, + (Oh, let none censure, if, untried by grief, + If, amidst woe, untempted by relief), + He stooped reluctant to low arts of shame, + Which then, e'en then, he scorned, and blushed to name." + +Whoever was acquainted with him was certain to be solicited for small +sums, which the frequency of the request made in time considerable; +and he was therefore quickly shunned by those who were become familiar +enough to be trusted with his necessities; but his rambling manner +of life, and constant appearance at houses of public resort, always +procured him a new succession of friends whose kindness had not been +exhausted by repeated requests; so that he was seldom absolutely without +resources, but had in his utmost exigencies this comfort, that he always +imagined himself sure of speedy relief. It was observed that he always +asked favours of this kind without the least submission or apparent +consciousness of dependence, and that he did not seem to look upon +a compliance with his request as an obligation that deserved any +extraordinary acknowledgments; but a refusal was resented by him as an +affront, or complained of as an injury; nor did he readily reconcile +himself to those who either denied to lend, or gave him afterwards any +intimation that they expected to be repaid. He was sometimes so far +compassionated by those who knew both his merit and distresses that they +received him into their families, but they soon discovered him to be a +very incommodious inmate; for, being always accustomed to an irregular +manner of life, he could not confine himself to any stated hours, or pay +any regard to the rules of a family, but would prolong his conversation +till midnight, without considering that business might require his +friend's application in the morning; and, when he had persuaded himself +to retire to bed, was not, without equal difficulty, called up to +dinner: it was therefore impossible to pay him any distinction without +the entire subversion of all economy, a kind of establishment which, +wherever he went, he always appeared ambitious to overthrow. It must +therefore be acknowledged, in justification of mankind, that it was +not always by the negligence or coldness of his friends that Savage was +distressed, but because it was in reality very difficult to preserve +him long in a state of ease. To supply him with money was a hopeless +attempt; for no sooner did he see himself master of a sum sufficient to +set him free from care for a day than he became profuse and luxurious. +When once he had entered a tavern, or engaged in a scheme of pleasure, +he never retired till want of money obliged him to some new expedient. +If he was entertained in a family, nothing was any longer to be regarded +there but amusement and jollity; wherever Savage entered, he immediately +expected that order and business should fly before him, that all should +thenceforward be left to hazard, and that no dull principle of domestic +management should be opposed to his inclination or intrude upon his +gaiety. His distresses, however afflictive, never dejected him; in his +lowest state he wanted not spirit to assert the natural dignity of wit, +and was always ready to repress that insolence which the superiority of +fortune incited, and to trample on that reputation which rose upon +any other basis than that of merit: he never admitted any gross +familiarities, or submitted to be treated otherwise than as an equal. +Once when he was without lodging, meat, or clothes, one of his friends, +a man indeed not remarkable for moderation in his prosperity, left a +message that he desired to see him about nine in the morning. Savage +knew that his intention was to assist him, but was very much disgusted +that he should presume to prescribe the hour of his attendance, and, I +believe, refused to visit him, and rejected his kindness. + +The same invincible temper, whether firmness or obstinacy, appeared in +his conduct to the Lord Tyrconnel, from whom he very frequently demanded +that the allowance which was once paid him should be restored; but +with whom he never appeared to entertain for a moment the thought of +soliciting a reconciliation, and whom he treated at once with all the +haughtiness of superiority and all the bitterness of resentment. +He wrote to him, not in a style of supplication or respect, but of +reproach, menace, and contempt; and appeared determined, if he ever +regained his allowance, to hold it only by the right of conquest. + +As many more can discover that a man is richer than that he is wiser +than themselves, superiority of understanding is not so readily +acknowledged as that of fortune; nor is that haughtiness which the +consciousness of great abilities incites, borne with the same submission +as the tyranny of affluence; and therefore Savage, by asserting his +claim to deference and regard, and by treating those with contempt whom +better fortune animated to rebel against him, did not fail to raise a +great number of enemies in the different classes of mankind. Those who +thought themselves raised above him by the advantages of riches hated +him because they found no protection from the petulance of his wit. +Those who were esteemed for their writings feared him as a critic, +and maligned him as a rival; and almost all the smaller wits were his +professed enemies. + +Among these Mr. Miller so far indulged his resentment as to introduce +him in a farce, and direct him to be personated on the stage in a dress +like that which he then wore; a mean insult, which only insinuated that +Savage had but one coat, and which was therefore despised by him rather +than resented; for, though he wrote a lampoon against Miller, he never +printed it: and as no other person ought to prosecute that revenge from +which the person who was injured desisted, I shall not preserve what +Mr. Savage suppressed; of which the publication would indeed have been a +punishment too severe for so impotent an assault. + +The great hardships of poverty were to Savage not the want of lodging or +food, but the neglect and contempt which it drew upon him. He complained +that, as his affairs grew desperate, he found his reputation for +capacity visibly decline; that his opinion in questions of criticism was +no longer regarded when his coat was out of fashion; and that those who, +in the interval of his prosperity, were always encouraging him to great +undertakings by encomiums on his genius and assurances of success, now +received any mention of his designs with coldness, thought that the +subjects on which he proposed to write were very difficult, and were +ready to inform him that the event of a poem was uncertain, that an +author ought to employ much time in the consideration of his plan, and +not presume to sit down to write in consequence of a few cursory ideas +and a superficial knowledge; difficulties were started on all sides, +and he was no longer qualified for any performance but "The Volunteer +Laureate." + +Yet even this kind of contempt never depressed him: for he always +preserved a steady confidence in his own capacity, and believed nothing +above his reach which he should at any time earnestly endeavour to +attain. He formed schemes of the same kind with regard to knowledge and +to fortune, and flattered himself with advances to be made in science, +as with riches, to be enjoyed in some distant period of his life. For +the acquisition of knowledge he was indeed much better qualified than +for that of riches; for he was naturally inquisitive, and desirous of +the conversation of those from whom any information was to be obtained, +but by no means solicitous to improve those opportunities that were +sometimes offered of raising his fortune; and he was remarkably +retentive of his ideas, which, when once he was in possession of them, +rarely forsook him; a quality which could never be communicated to his +money. + +While he was thus wearing out his life in expectation that the queen +would some time recollect her promise, he had recourse to the usual +practice of writers, and published proposals for printing his works by +subscription, to which he was encouraged by the success of many who had +not a better right to the favour of the public; but, whatever was the +reason, he did not find the world equally inclined to favour him; and he +observed with some discontent, that though he offered his works at half +a guinea, he was able to procure but a small number in comparison +with those who subscribed twice as much to Duck. Nor was it without +indignation that he saw his proposals neglected by the queen, who +patronised Mr. Duck's with uncommon ardour, and incited a competition +among those who attended the court who should most promote his interest, +and who should first offer a subscription. This was a distinction +to which Mr. Savage made no scruple of asserting that his birth, his +misfortunes, and his genius, gave a fairer title than could be pleaded +by him on whom it was conferred. + +Savage's applications were, however, not universally unsuccessful; for +some of the nobility countenanced his design, encouraged his proposals, +and subscribed with great liberality. He related of the Duke of Chandos +particularly, that upon receiving his proposals he sent him ten guineas. +But the money which his subscriptions afforded him was not less +volatile than that which he received from his other schemes; whenever +a subscription was paid him, he went to a tavern; and as money so +collected is necessarily received in small sums, he never was able +to send his poems to the press, but for many years continued his +solicitation, and squandered whatever he obtained. + +The project of printing his works was frequently revived; and as his +proposals grew obsolete, new ones were printed with fresher dates. To +form schemes for the publication was one of his favourite amusements; +nor was he ever more at ease than when, with any friend who readily +fell in with his schemes, he was adjusting the print, forming the +advertisements, and regulating the dispersion of his new edition, +which he really intended some time to publish, and which, as long +as experience had shown him the impossibility of printing the volume +together, he at last determined to divide into weekly or monthly +numbers, that the profits of the first might supply the expenses of the +next. + +Thus he spent his time in mean expedients and tormenting suspense, +living for the greatest part in fear of prosecutions from his creditors, +and consequently skulking in obscure parts of the town, of which he was +no stranger to the remotest corners. But wherever he came, his address +secured him friends, whom his necessities soon alienated; so that he had +perhaps a more numerous acquaintance than any man ever before attained, +there being scarcely any person eminent on any account to whom he +was not known, or whose character he was not in some degree able to +delineate. To the acquisition of this extensive acquaintance every +circumstance of his life contributed. He excelled in the arts of +conversation, and therefore willingly practised them. He had seldom any +home, or even a lodging, in which he could be private, and therefore +was driven into public-houses for the common conveniences of life and +supports of nature. He was always ready to comply with every invitation, +having no employment to withhold him, and often no money to provide for +himself; and by dining with one company he never failed of obtaining an +introduction into another. + +Thus dissipated was his life, and thus casual his subsistence; yet did +not the distraction of his views hinder him from reflection, nor the +uncertainty of his condition depress his gaiety. When he had wandered +about without any fortunate adventure by which he was led into a tavern, +he sometimes retired into the fields, and was able to employ his mind in +study, to amuse it with pleasing imaginations; and seldom appeared to be +melancholy but when some sudden misfortune had just fallen upon him; +and even then in a few moments he would disentangle himself from his +perplexity, adopt the subject of conversation, and apply his mind wholly +to the objects that others presented to it. This life, unhappy as it may +be already imagined, was yet embittered in 1738 with new calamities. The +death of the queen deprived him of all the prospects of preferment with +which he so long entertained his imagination; and as Sir Robert Walpole +had before given him reason to believe that he never intended the +performance of his promise, he was now abandoned again to fortune. He +was, however, at that time supported by a friend; and as it was not his +custom to look out for distant calamities, or to feel any other pain +than that which forced itself upon his senses, he was not much afflicted +at his loss, and perhaps comforted himself that his pension would be now +continued without the annual tribute of a panegyric. Another expectation +contributed likewise to support him; he had taken a resolution to write +a second tragedy upon the story of Sir Thomas Overbury, in which he +preserved a few lines of his former play, but made a total alteration of +the plan, added new incidents, and introduced new characters; so that it +was a new tragedy, not a revival of the former. + +Many of his friends blamed him for not making choice of another subject; +but in vindication of himself he asserted that it was not easy to find a +better; and that he thought it his interest to extinguish the memory of +the first tragedy, which he could only do by writing one less defective +upon the same story; by which he should entirely defeat the artifice of +the booksellers, who, after the death of any author of reputation, are +always industrious to swell his works by uniting his worst productions +with his best. In the execution of this scheme, however, he proceeded +but slowly, and probably only employed himself upon it when he could +find no other amusement; but he pleased himself with counting the +profits, and perhaps imagined that the theatrical reputation which he +was about to acquire would be equivalent to all that he had lost by the +death of his patroness. He did not, in confidence of his approaching +riches, neglect the measures proper to secure the continuance of his +pension, though some of his favourers thought him culpable for omitting +to write on her death; but on her birthday next year he gave a proof of +the solidity of his judgment and the power of his genius. He knew that +the track of elegy had been so long beaten that it was impossible to +travel in it without treading in the footsteps of those who had +gone before him; and that therefore it was necessary, that he might +distinguish himself from the herd of encomiasts, to find out some new +walk of funeral panegyric. This difficult task he performed in such a +manner that his poem may be justly ranked among the best pieces that the +death of princes has produced. By transferring the mention of her death +to her birthday, he has formed a happy combination of topics which any +other man would have thought it very difficult to connect in one view, +but which he has united in such a manner that the relation between them +appears natural; and it may be justly said that what no other man would +have thought on, it now appears scarcely possible for any man to miss. + +The beauty of this peculiar combination of images is so masterly that +it is sufficient to set this poem above censure; and therefore it is not +necessary to mention many other delicate touches which may be found in +it, and which would deservedly be admired in any other performance. To +these proofs of his genius may be added, from the same poem, an +instance of his prudence, an excellence for which he was not so often +distinguished; he does not forget to remind the king, in the most +delicate and artful manner, of continuing his pension. + +With regard to the success of his address he was for some time in +suspense, but was in no great degree solicitous about it; and continued +his labour upon his new tragedy with great tranquillity, till the friend +who had for a considerable time supported him, removing his family to +another place, took occasion to dismiss him. It then became necessary to +inquire more diligently what was determined in his affair, having reason +to suspect that no great favour was intended him, because he had not +received his pension at the usual time. + +It is said that he did not take those methods of retrieving his interest +which were most likely to succeed; and some of those who were employed +in the Exchequer cautioned him against too much violence in his +proceedings; but Mr. Savage, who seldom regulated his conduct by the +advice of others, gave way to his passion, and demanded of Sir Robert +Walpole, at his levee, the reason of the distinction that was made +between him and the other pensioners of the queen, with a degree of +roughness which perhaps determined him to withdraw what had been only +delayed. + +Whatever was the crime of which he was accused or suspected, and +whatever influence was employed against him, he received soon after an +account that took from him all hopes of regaining his pension; and he +had now no prospect of subsistence but from his play, and he knew no way +of living for the time required to finish it. + +So peculiar were the misfortunes of this man, deprived of an estate and +title by a particular law, exposed and abandoned by a mother, defrauded +by a mother of a fortune which his father had allotted him, he entered +the world without a friend; and though his abilities forced themselves +into esteem and reputation, he was never able to obtain any real +advantage; and whatever prospects arose, were always intercepted as +he began to approach them. The king's intentions in his favour were +frustrated; his dedication to the prince, whose generosity on every +other occasion was eminent, procured him no reward; Sir Robert Walpole, +who valued himself upon keeping his promise to others, broke it to +him without regret; and the bounty of the queen was, after her death, +withdrawn from him, and from him only. + +Such were his misfortunes, which yet he bore, not only with decency, +but with cheerfulness; nor was his gaiety clouded even by his last +disappointments, though he was in a short time reduced to the lowest +degree of distress, and often wanted both lodging and food. At this time +he gave another instance of the insurmountable obstinacy of his spirit: +his clothes were worn out, and he received notice that at a coffee-house +some clothes and linen were left for him: the person who sent them did +not, I believe, inform him to whom he was to be obliged, that he might +spare the perplexity of acknowledging the benefit; but though the offer +was so far generous, it was made with some neglect of ceremonies, which +Mr. Savage so much resented that he refused the present, and declined +to enter the house till the clothes that had been designed for him were +taken away. + +His distress was now publicly known, and his friends therefore thought +it proper to concert some measures for his relief; and one of them +[Pope] wrote a letter to him, in which he expressed his concern "for +the miserable withdrawing of this pension;" and gave him hopes that in +a short time he should find himself supplied with a competence, "without +any dependence on those little creatures which we are pleased to +call the Great." The scheme proposed for this happy and independent +subsistence was, that he should retire into Wales, and receive an +allowance of fifty pounds a year, to be raised by a subscription, on +which he was to live privately in a cheap place, without aspiring any +more to affluence, or having any further care of reputation. This offer +Mr. Savage gladly accepted, though with intentions very different from +those of his friends; for they proposed that he should continue an exile +from London for ever, and spend all the remaining part of his life at +Swansea; but he designed only to take the opportunity which their scheme +offered him of retreating for a short time, that he might prepare his +play for the stage, and his other works for the press, and then to +return to London to exhibit his tragedy, and live upon the profits +of his own labour. With regard to his works he proposed very great +improvements, which would have required much time or great application; +and, when he had finished them, he designed to do justice to his +subscribers by publishing them according to his proposals. As he was +ready to entertain himself with future pleasures, he had planned out a +scheme of life for the country, of which he had no knowledge but from +pastorals and songs. He imagined that he should be transported to scenes +of flowery felicity, like those which one poet has reflected to another; +and had projected a perpetual round of innocent pleasures, of which he +suspected no interruption from pride, or ignorance, or brutality. With +these expectations he was so enchanted that when he was once gently +reproached by a friend for submitting to live upon a subscription, +and advised rather by a resolute exertion of his abilities to support +himself, he could not bear to debar himself from the happiness which +was to be found in the calm of a cottage, or lose the opportunity of +listening, without intermission, to the melody of the nightingale, which +he believed was to be heard from every bramble, and which he did not +fail to mention as a very important part of the happiness of a country +life. + +While this scheme was ripening, his friends directed him to take a +lodging in the liberties of the Fleet, that he might be secure from his +creditors, and sent him every Monday a guinea, which he commonly spent +before the next morning, and trusted, after his usual manner, the +remaining part of the week to the bounty of fortune. + +He now began very sensibly to feel the miseries of dependence. Those +by whom he was to be supported began to prescribe to him with an air of +authority, which he knew not how decently to resent, nor patiently +to bear; and he soon discovered from the conduct of most of his +subscribers, that he was yet in the hands of "little creatures." Of the +insolence that he was obliged to suffer he gave many instances, of which +none appeared to raise his indignation to a greater height than the +method which was taken of furnishing him with clothes. Instead of +consulting him, and allowing him to send a tailor his orders for what +they thought proper to allow him, they proposed to send for a tailor to +take his measure, and then to consult how they should equip him. This +treatment was not very delicate, nor was it such as Savage's humanity +would have suggested to him on a like occasion; but it had scarcely +deserved mention, had it not, by affecting him in an uncommon degree, +shown the peculiarity of his character. Upon hearing the design that was +formed, he came to the lodging of a friend with the most violent +agonies of rage; and, being asked what it could be that gave him such +disturbance, he replied with the utmost vehemence of indignation, "That +they had sent for a tailor to measure him." + +How the affair ended was never inquired, for fear of renewing his +uneasiness. It is probable that, upon recollection, he submitted with +a good grace to what he could not avoid, and that he discovered no +resentment where he had no power. He was, however, not humbled to +implicit and universal compliance; for when the gentleman who had first +informed him of the design to support him by a subscription attempted to +procure a reconciliation with the Lord Tyrconnel, he could by no means +be prevailed upon to comply with the measures that were proposed. + +A letter was written for him to Sir William Lemon, to prevail upon him +to interpose his good offices with Lord Tyrconnel, in which he solicited +Sir William's assistance "for a man who really needed it as much as any +man could well do;" and informed him that he was retiring "for ever to +a place where he should no more trouble his relations, friends, or +enemies;" he confessed that his passion had betrayed him to some +conduct, with regard to Lord Tyrconnel, for which he could not but +heartily ask his pardon; and as he imagined Lord Tyrconnel's passion +might be yet so high, that he would not "receive a letter from him," +begged that Sir William would endeavour to soften him; and expressed +his hopes that he would comply with this request, and that "so small a +relation would not harden his heart against him." + +That any man should presume to dictate a letter to him was not very +agreeable to Mr. Savage; and therefore he was, before he had opened +it, not much inclined to approve it. But when he read it he found it +contained sentiments entirely opposite to his own, and, as he asserted, +to the truth; and therefore, instead of copying it, wrote his friend +a letter full of masculine resentment and warm expostulations. He +very justly observed, that the style was too supplicatory, and the +representation too abject, and that he ought at least to have made him +complain with "the dignity of a gentleman in distress." He declared that +he would not write the paragraph in which he was to ask Lord Tyrconnel's +pardon; for, "he despised his pardon, and therefore could not heartily, +and would not hypocritically, ask it." He remarked that his friend made +a very unreasonable distinction between himself and him; for, says he, +"when you mention men of high rank in your own character," they are +"those little creatures whom we are pleased to call the Great;" but when +you address them "in mine," no servility is sufficiently humble. He then +with propriety explained the ill consequences which might be expected +from such a letter, which his relations would print in their own +defence, and which would for ever be produced as a full answer to all +that he should allege against them; for he always intended to publish +a minute account of the treatment which he had received. It is to be +remembered, to the honour of the gentleman by whom this letter was drawn +up, that he yielded to Mr. Savage's reasons, and agreed that it ought to +be suppressed. + +After many alterations and delays, a subscription was at length raised, +which did not amount to fifty pounds a year, though twenty were paid by +one gentleman; such was the generosity of mankind, that what had been +done by a player without solicitation, could not now be effected by +application and interest; and Savage had a great number to court and to +obey for a pension less than that which Mrs. Oldfield paid him without +exacting any servilities. Mr. Savage, however, was satisfied, and +willing to retire, and was convinced that the allowance, though scanty, +would be more than sufficient for him, being now determined to +commence a rigid economist, and to live according to the exact rules of +frugality; for nothing was in his opinion more contemptible than a man +who, when he knew his income, exceeded it; and yet he confessed that +instances of such folly were too common, and lamented that some men were +not trusted with their own money. + +Full of these salutary resolutions, he left London in July, 1739, having +taken leave with great tenderness of his friends, and parted from the +author of this narrative with tears in his eyes. He was furnished with +fifteen guineas, and informed that they would be sufficient, not only +for the expense of his journey, but for his support in Wales for some +time; and that there remained but little more of the first collection. +He promised a strict adherence to his maxims of parsimony, and went away +in the stage-coach; nor did his friends expect to hear from him till he +informed them of his arrival at Swansea. But when they least expected, +arrived a letter dated the fourteenth day after his departure, in which +he sent them word that he was yet upon the road, and without money; and +that he therefore could not proceed without a remittance. They then +sent him the money that was in their hands, with which he was enabled to +reach Bristol, from whence he was to go to Swansea by water. + +At Bristol he found an embargo laid upon the shipping, so that he could +not immediately obtain a passage; and being therefore obliged to stay +there some time, he with his usual felicity ingratiated himself +with many of the principal inhabitants, was invited to their houses, +distinguished at their public feasts, and treated with a regard that +gratified his vanity, and therefore easily engaged his affection. + +He began very early after his retirement to complain of the conduct +of his friends in London, and irritated many of them so much by his +letters, that they withdrew, however honourably, their contributions; +and it is believed that little more was paid him than the twenty +pounds a year, which were allowed him by the gentleman who proposed the +subscription. + +After some stay at Bristol he retired to Swansea, the place originally +proposed for his residence, where he lived about a year, very much +dissatisfied with the diminution of his salary; but contracted, as in +other places, acquaintance with those who were most distinguished in +that country, among whom he has celebrated Mr. Powel and Mrs. Jones, +by some verses which he inserted in The Gentleman's Magazine. Here +he completed his tragedy, of which two acts were wanting when he left +London; and was desirous of coming to town, to bring it upon the stage. +This design was very warmly opposed; and he was advised, by his chief +benefactor, to put it into the hands of Mr. Thomson and Mr. Mallet, that +it might be fitted for the stage, and to allow his friends to receive +the profits, out of which an annual pension should be paid him. + +This proposal he rejected with the utmost contempt. He was by no means +convinced that the judgment of those to whom he was required to submit +was superior to his own. He was now determined, as he expressed it, to +be "no longer kept in leading-strings," and had no elevated idea of +"his bounty, who proposed to pension him out of the profits of his own +labours." + +He attempted in Wales to promote a subscription for his works, and +had once hopes of success; but in a short time afterwards formed a +resolution of leaving that part of the country, to which he thought it +not reasonable to be confined for the gratification of those who, having +promised him a liberal income, had no sooner banished him to a remote +corner than they reduced his allowance to a salary scarcely equal to the +necessities of life. His resentment of this treatment, which, in his own +opinion at least, he had not deserved, was such, that he broke off all +correspondence with most of his contributors, and appeared to consider +them as persecutors and oppressors; and in the latter part of his life +declared that their conduct towards him since his departure from London +"had been perfidiousness improving on perfidiousness, and inhumanity on +inhumanity." + +It is not to be supposed that the necessities of Mr. Savage did not +sometimes incite him to satirical exaggerations of the behaviour of +those by whom he thought himself reduced to them. But it must be granted +that the diminution of his allowance was a great hardship, and that +those who withdrew their subscription from a man who, upon the faith +of their promise, had gone into a kind of banishment, and abandoned all +those by whom he had been before relieved in his distresses, will find +it no easy task to vindicate their conduct. It may be alleged, and +perhaps justly, that he was petulant and contemptuous; that he more +frequently reproached his subscribers for not giving him more, than +thanked them for what he received; but it is to be remembered that his +conduct, and this is the worst charge that can be drawn up against him, +did them no real injury, and that it therefore ought rather to have been +pitied than resented; at least the resentment it might provoke ought +to have been generous and manly; epithets which his conduct will hardly +deserve that starves the man whom he has persuaded to put himself into +his power. + +It might have been reasonably demanded by Savage, that they should, +before they had taken away what they promised, have replaced him in +his former state, that they should have taken no advantages from the +situation to which the appearance of their kindness had reduced him, and +that he should have been recalled to London before he was abandoned. He +might justly represent, that he ought to have been considered as a lion +in the toils, and demand to be released before the dogs should be loosed +upon him. He endeavoured, indeed, to release himself, and, with an +intent to return to London, went to Bristol, where a repetition of the +kindness which he had formerly found, invited him to stay. He was not +only caressed and treated, but had a collection made for him of about +thirty pounds, with which it had been happy if he had immediately +departed for London; but his negligence did not suffer him to consider +that such proofs of kindness were not often to be expected, and that +this ardour of benevolence was in a great degree the effect of novelty, +and might, probably, be every day less; and therefore he took no care +to improve the happy time, but was encouraged by one favour to hope +for another, till at length generosity was exhausted, and officiousness +wearied. + +Another part of his misconduct was the practice of prolonging his visits +to unseasonable hours, and disconcerting all the families into which +he was admitted. This was an error in a place of commerce which all the +charms of his conversation could not compensate; for what trader would +purchase such airy satisfaction by the loss of solid gain, which must be +the consequence of midnight merriment, as those hours which were gained +at night were generally lost in the morning? Thus Mr. Savage, after +the curiosity of the inhabitants was gratified, found the number of his +friends daily decreasing, perhaps without suspecting for what reason +their conduct was altered; for he still continued to harass, with his +nocturnal intrusions, those that yet countenanced him, and admitted him +to their houses. + +But he did not spend all the time of his residence at Bristol in visits +or at taverns, for he sometimes returned to his studies, and began +several considerable designs. When he felt an inclination to write, +he always retired from the knowledge of his friends, and lay hid in an +obscure part of the suburbs, till he found himself again desirous of +company, to which it is likely that intervals of absence made him more +welcome. He was always full of his design of returning to London, to +bring his tragedy upon the stage; but, having neglected to depart with +the money that was raised for him, he could not afterwards procure a sum +sufficient to defray the expenses of his journey; nor perhaps would +a fresh supply have had any other effect than, by putting immediate +pleasures into his power, to have driven the thoughts of his journey out +of his mind. While he was thus spending the day in contriving a scheme +for the morrow, distress stole upon him by imperceptible degrees. His +conduct had already wearied some of those who were at first enamoured of +his conversation; but he might, perhaps, still have devolved to others, +whom he might have entertained with equal success, had not the decay of +his clothes made it no longer consistent with their vanity to admit him +to their tables, or to associate with him in public places. He now began +to find every man from home at whose house he called; and was therefore +no longer able to procure the necessaries of life, but wandered about +the town, slighted and neglected, in quest of a dinner, which he did not +always obtain. + +To complete his misery, he was pursued by the officers for small debts +which he had contracted; and was therefore obliged to withdraw from +the small number of friends from whom he had still reason to hope for +favours. His custom was to lie in bed the greatest part of the day, and +to get out in the dark with the utmost privacy, and, after having paid +his visit, return again before morning to his lodging, which was in the +garret of an obscure inn. Being thus excluded on one hand, and confined +on the other, he suffered the utmost extremities of poverty, and often +fasted so long that he was seized with faintness, and had lost his +appetite, not being able to bear the smell of meat till the action of +his stomach was restored by a cordial. In this distress, he received a +remittance of five pounds from London, with which he provided himself +a decent coat, and determined to go to London, but unhappily spent his +money at a favourite tavern. Thus was he again confined to Bristol, +where he was every day hunted by bailiffs. In this exigence he once +more found a friend, who sheltered him in his house, though at the usual +inconveniences with which his company was attended; for he could neither +be persuaded to go to bed in the night nor to rise in the day. + +It is observable, that in these various scenes of misery he was always +disengaged and cheerful: he at some times pursued his studies, and at +others continued or enlarged his epistolary correspondence; nor was +he ever so far dejected as to endeavour to procure an increase of his +allowance by any other methods than accusations and reproaches. + +He had now no longer any hopes of assistance from his friends at +Bristol, who as merchants, and by consequence sufficiently studious +of profit, cannot be supposed to have looked with much compassion upon +negligence and extravagance, or to think any excellence equivalent to +a fault of such consequence as neglect of economy. It is natural to +imagine, that many of those who would have relieved his real wants, were +discouraged from the exertion of their benevolence by observation of the +use which was made of their favours, and conviction that relief would be +only momentary, and that the same necessity would quickly return. + +At last he quitted the house of his friend, and returned to his lodgings +at the inn, still intending to set out in a few days for London, but +on the 10th of January, 1742-3, having been at supper with two of his +friends, he was at his return to his lodgings arrested for a debt of +about eight pounds, which he owed at a coffee-house, and conducted to +the house of a sheriff's officer. The account which he gives of this +misfortune, in a letter to one of the gentlemen with whom he had supped, +is too remarkable to be omitted. + +"It was not a little unfortunate for me, that I spent yesterday's +evening with you; because the hour hindered me from entering on my +new lodging; however, I have now got one, but such an one as I believe +nobody would choose. + +"I was arrested at the suit of Mrs. Read, just as I was going upstairs +to bed, at Mr. Bowyer's; but taken in so private a manner, that I +believe nobody at the White Lion is apprised of it; though I let the +officers know the strength, or rather weakness, of my pocket, yet they +treated me with the utmost civility; and even when they conducted me to +confinement, it was in such a manner, that I verily believe I could have +escaped, which I would rather be ruined than have done, notwithstanding +the whole amount of my finances was but threepence halfpenny. + +"In the first place, I must insist that you will industriously conceal +this from Mrs. S---s, because I would not have her good nature suffer +that pain which I know she would be apt to feel on this occasion. + +"Next, I conjure you, dear sir, by all the ties of friendship, by no +means to have one uneasy thought on my account; but to have the same +pleasantry of countenance, and unruffled serenity of mind, which (God +be praised!) I have in this, and have had in a much severer calamity. +Furthermore, I charge you, if you value my friendship as truly as I do +yours, not to utter, or even harbour, the least resentment against Mrs. +Read. I believe she has ruined me, but I freely forgive her; and +(though I will never more have any intimacy with her) I would, at a due +distance, rather do her an act of good than ill-will. Lastly (pardon +the expression), I absolutely command you not to offer me any pecuniary +assistance nor to attempt getting me any from any one of your friends. +At another time, or on any other occasion, you may, dear friend, be well +assured I would rather write to you in the submissive style of a request +than that of a peremptory command. + +"However, that my truly valuable friend may not think I am too proud to +ask a favour, let me entreat you to let me have your boy to attend me +for this day, not only for the sake of saving me the expense of porters, +but for the delivery of some letters to people whose names I would not +have known to strangers. + +"The civil treatment I have thus far met from those whose prisoner I +am, makes me thankful to the Almighty, that though He has thought fit +to visit me (on my birth-night) with affliction, yet (such is His great +goodness!) my affliction is not without alleviating circumstances. I +murmur not; but am all resignation to the divine will. As to the world, +I hope that I shall be endued by Heaven with that presence of mind, that +serene dignity in misfortune, that constitutes the character of a true +nobleman; a dignity far beyond that of coronets; a nobility arising +from the just principles of philosophy, refined and exalted by those of +Christianity." + +He continued five days at the officer's, in hopes that he should be able +to procure bail, and avoid the necessity of going to prison. The state +in which he passed his time, and the treatment which he received, are +very justly expressed by him in a letter which he wrote to a friend: +"The whole day," says he, "has been employed in various people's filling +my head with their foolish chimerical systems, which has obliged me +coolly (as far as nature will admit) to digest, and accommodate myself +to every different person's way of thinking; hurried from one wild +system to another, till it has quite made a chaos of my imagination, and +nothing done--promised--disappointed--ordered to send, every hour, from +one part of the town to the other." + +When his friends, who had hitherto caressed and applauded, found that +to give bail and pay the debt was the same, they all refused to preserve +him from a prison at the expense of eight pounds: and therefore, +after having been for some time at the officer's house "at an immense +expense," as he observes in his letter, he was at length removed to +Newgate. This expense he was enabled to support by the generosity of Mr. +Nash at Bath, who, upon receiving from him an account of his condition, +immediately sent him five guineas, and promised to promote his +subscription at Bath with all his interest. + +By his removal to Newgate he obtained at least a freedom from suspense, +and rest from the disturbing vicissitudes of hope and disappointment: +he now found that his friends were only companions who were willing to +share his gaiety, but not to partake of his misfortunes; and therefore +he no longer expected any assistance from them. It must, however, be +observed of one gentleman, that he offered to release him by paying +the debt, but that Mr. Savage would not consent, I suppose because he +thought he had before been too burthensome to him. He was offered +by some of his friends that a collection should be made for his +enlargement; but he "treated the proposal," and declared "he should +again treat it, with disdain. As to writing any mendicant letters, he +had too high a spirit, and determined only to write to some ministers of +state, to try to regain his pension." + +He continued to complain of those that had sent him into the country, +and objected to them, that he had "lost the profits of his play, which +had been finished three years;" and in another letter declares his +resolution to publish a pamphlet, that the world might know how "he had +been used." + +This pamphlet was never written; for he in a very short time recovered +his usual tranquillity, and cheerfully applied himself to more +inoffensive studies. He, indeed, steadily declared that he was promised +a yearly allowance of fifty pounds, and never received half the sum; but +he seemed to resign himself to that as well as to other misfortunes, +and lose the remembrance of it in his amusements and employments. +The cheerfulness with which he bore his confinement appears from the +following letter, which he wrote January the 30th, to one of his friends +in London: + +"I now write to you from my confinement in Newgate, where I have been +ever since Monday last was se'nnight, and where I enjoy myself with much +more tranquillity than I have known for upwards of a twelvemonth past; +having a room entirely to myself, and pursuing the amusement of my +poetical studies, uninterrupted, and agreeable to my mind. I thank the +Almighty, I am now all collected in myself; and, though my person is in +confinement, my mind can expatiate on ample and useful subjects with +all the freedom imaginable. I am now more conversant with the Nine than +ever, and if, instead of a Newgate bird, I may be allowed to be a +bird of the Muses, I assure you, sir, I sing very freely in my cage; +sometimes, indeed, in the plaintive notes of the nightingale; but at +others, in the cheerful strains of the lark." + +In another letter he observes, that he ranges from one subject to +another, without confining himself to any particular task; and that he +was employed one week upon one attempt, and the next upon another. + +Surely the fortitude of this man deserves, at least, to be mentioned +with applause; and, whatever faults may be imputed to him, the virtue +of suffering well cannot be denied him. The two powers which, in the +opinion of Epictetus, constituted a wise man, are those of bearing and +forbearing, which it cannot indeed be affirmed to have been equally +possessed by Savage; and indeed the want of one obliged him very +frequently to practise the other. He was treated by Mr. Dagge, the +keeper of the prison, with great humanity; was supported by him at his +own table, without any certainty of a recompense; had a room to himself, +to which he could at any time retire from all disturbance; was allowed +to stand at the door of the prison, and sometimes taken out into the +fields; so that he suffered fewer hardships in prison than he had been +accustomed to undergo in the greatest part of his life. + +The keeper did not confine his benevolence to a gentle execution of his +office, but made some overtures to the creditor for his release, +though without effect; and continued, during the whole time of his +imprisonment, to treat him with the utmost tenderness and civility. + +Virtue is undoubtedly most laudable in that state which makes it most +difficult; and therefore the humanity of a gaoler certainly deserves +this public attestation; and the man whose heart has not been +hardened by such an employment may be justly proposed as a pattern +of benevolence. If an inscription was once engraved "to the honest +toll-gatherer," less honours ought not to be paid "to the tender +gaoler." + +Mr. Savage very frequently received visits, and sometimes presents, from +his acquaintances: but they did not amount to a subsistence, for the +greater part of which he was indebted to the generosity of this keeper; +but these favours, however they might endear to him the particular +persons from whom he received them, were very far from impressing upon +his mind any advantageous ideas of the people of Bristol, and therefore +he thought he could not more properly employ himself in prison than in +writing a poem called "London and Bristol Delineated." + +When he had brought this poem to its present state, which, without +considering the chasm, is not perfect, he wrote to London an account of +his design, and informed his friend that he was determined to print it +with his name; but enjoined him not to communicate his intention to +his Bristol acquaintance. The gentleman, surprised at his resolution, +endeavoured to persuade him from publishing it, at least from prefixing +his name; and declared that he could not reconcile the injunction of +secrecy with his resolution to own it at its first appearance. To +this Mr. Savage returned an answer agreeable to his character, in the +following terms:-- + +"I received yours this morning; and not without a little surprise at the +contents. To answer a question with a question, you ask me concerning +London and Bristol, why will I add DELINEATED? Why did Mr. Woolaston add +the same word to his Religion of Nature? I suppose that it was his will +and pleasure to add it in his case: and it is mine to do so in my +own. You are pleased to tell me that you understand not why secrecy is +enjoined, and yet I intend to set my name to it. My answer is,--I have +my private reasons, which I am not obliged to explain to any one. You +doubt my friend Mr. S----would not approve of it. And what is it to me +whether he does or not? Do you imagine that Mr. S---- is to dictate to +me? If any man who calls himself my friend should assume such an air, I +would spurn at his friendship with contempt. You say, I seem to think so +by not letting him know it. And suppose I do, what then? Perhaps I can +give reasons for that disapprobation, very foreign from what you would +imagine. You go on in saying, Suppose I should not put my name to it. My +answer is, that I will not suppose any such thing, being determined to +the contrary: neither, sir, would I have you suppose that I applied to +you for want of another press: nor would I have you imagine that I owe +Mr. S---- obligations which I do not." + +Such was his imprudence, and such his obstinate adherence to his own +resolutions, however absurd! A prisoner! supported by charity! and, +whatever insults he might have received during the latter part of his +stay at Bristol, once caressed, esteemed, and presented with a liberal +collection, he could forget on a sudden his danger and his obligations, +to gratify the petulance of his wit or the eagerness of his resentment, +and publish a satire by which he might reasonably expect that he should +alienate those who then supported him, and provoke those whom he could +neither resist nor escape. + +This resolution, from the execution of which it is probable that only +his death could have hindered him, is sufficient to show how much he +disregarded all considerations that opposed his present passions, +and how readily he hazarded all future advantages for any immediate +gratifications. Whatever was his predominant inclination, neither hope +nor fear hindered him from complying with it; nor had opposition any +other effect than to heighten his ardour and irritate his vehemence. + +This performance was, however, laid aside while he was employed in +soliciting assistance from several great persons; and one interruption +succeeding another, hindered him from supplying the chasm, and perhaps +from retouching the other parts, which he can hardly be imagined to have +finished in his own opinion; for it is very unequal, and some of the +lines are rather inserted to rhyme to others, than to support or improve +the sense; but the first and last parts are worked up with great spirit +and elegance. + +His time was spent in the prison for the most part in study, or in +receiving visits; but sometimes he descended to lower amusements, and +diverted himself in the kitchen with the conversation of the criminals; +for it was not pleasing to him to be much without company; and though he +was very capable of a judicious choice, he was often contented with the +first that offered. For this he was sometimes reproved by his friends, +who found him surrounded with felons; but the reproof was on that, as +on other occasions, thrown away; he continued to gratify himself, and +to set very little value on the opinion of others. But here, as in every +other scene of his life, he made use of such opportunities as occurred +of benefiting those who were more miserable than himself, and was always +ready to perform any office of humanity to his fellow-prisoners. + +He had now ceased from corresponding with any of his subscribers except +one, who yet continued to remit him the twenty pounds a year which he +had promised him, and by whom it was expected that he would have been +in a very short time enlarged, because he had directed the keeper to +inquire after the state of his debts. However, he took care to enter +his name according to the forms of the court, that the creditor might be +obliged to make him some allowance, if he was continued a prisoner, and +when on that occasion he appeared in the hall, was treated with very +unusual respect. But the resentment of the city was afterwards raised +by some accounts that had been spread of the satire; and he was informed +that some of the merchants intended to pay the allowance which the law +required, and to detain him a prisoner at their own expense. This +he treated as an empty menace; and perhaps might have hastened the +publication, only to show how much he was superior to their insults, had +not all his schemes been suddenly destroyed. + +When he had been six months in prison, he received from one of his +friends, in whose kindness he had the greatest confidence, and on whose +assistance he chiefly depended, a letter that contained a charge of +very atrocious ingratitude, drawn up in such terms as sudden resentment +dictated. Henley, in one of his advertisements, had mentioned "Pope's +treatment of Savage." This was supposed by Pope to be the consequence of +a complaint made by Savage to Henley, and was therefore mentioned by him +with much resentment. Mr. Savage returned a very solemn protestation of +his innocence, but, however, appeared much disturbed at the accusation. +Some days afterwards he was seized with a pain in his back and side, +which, as it was not violent, was not suspected to be dangerous; but +growing daily more languid and dejected, on the 25th of July he confined +himself to his room, and a fever seized his spirits. The symptoms grew +every day more formidable, but his condition did not enable him to +procure any assistance. The last time that the keeper saw him was on +July the 31st, 1743; when Savage, seeing him at his bedside, said, with +an uncommon earnestness, "I have something to say to you, sir;" but, +after a pause, moved his hand in a melancholy manner; and, finding +himself unable to recollect what he was going to communicate, said, +"'Tis gone!" The keeper soon after left him; and the next morning he +died. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Peter, at the expense of +the keeper. + +Such were the life and death of Richard Savage, a man equally +distinguished by his virtues and vices; and at once remarkable for his +weaknesses and abilities. He was of a middle stature, of a thin habit of +body, a long visage, coarse features, and melancholy aspect; of a grave +and manly deportment, a solemn dignity of mien, but which, upon a nearer +acquaintance, softened into an engaging easiness of manners. His walk +was slow, and his voice tremulous and mournful. He was easily excited +to smiles, but very seldom provoked to laughter. His mind was in an +uncommon degree vigorous and active. His judgment was accurate, his +apprehension quick, and his memory so tenacious, that he was frequently +observed to know what he had learned from others, in a short time, +better that those by whom he was informed; and could frequently +recollect incidents with all their combination of circumstances, which +few would have regarded at the present time, but which the quickness of +his apprehension impressed upon him. He had the art of escaping from his +own reflections, and accommodating himself to every new scene. + +To this quality is to be imputed the extent of his knowledge, compared +with the small time which he spent in visible endeavours to acquire it. +He mingled in cursory conversation with the same steadiness of attention +as others apply to a lecture; and amidst the appearance of thoughtless +gaiety lost no new idea that was started, nor any hint that could be +improved. He had therefore made in coffee-houses the same proficiency as +others in their closets; and it is remarkable that the writings of a man +of little education and little reading have an air of learning scarcely +to be found in any other performances, but which perhaps as often +obscures as embellishes them. + +His judgment was eminently exact both with regard to writings and to +men. The knowledge of life was indeed his chief attainment; and it is +not without some satisfaction that I can produce the suffrage of Savage +in favour of human nature, of which he never appeared to entertain +such odious ideas as some who perhaps had neither his judgment nor +experience, have published, either in ostentation of their sagacity, +vindication of their crimes, or gratification of their malice. + +His method of life particularly qualified him for conversation, of which +he knew how to practise all the graces. He was never vehement or loud, +but at once modest and easy, open and respectful; his language was +vivacious or elegant, and equally happy upon grave and humorous +subjects. He was generally censured for not knowing when to retire; but +that was not the defect of his judgment, but of his fortune: when he +left his company he used frequently to spend the remaining part of the +night in the street, or at least was abandoned to gloomy reflections, +which it is not strange that he delayed as long as he could; and +sometimes forgot that he gave others pain to avoid it himself. + +It cannot be said that he made use of his abilities for the direction of +his own conduct; an irregular and dissipated manner of life had made him +the slave of every passion that happened to be excited by the presence +of its object, and that slavery to his passions reciprocally produced a +life irregular and dissipated. He was not master of his own motions, nor +could promise anything for the next day. + +With regard to his economy, nothing can be added to the relation of his +life. He appeared to think himself born to be supported by others, and +dispensed from all necessity of providing for himself; he therefore +never prosecuted any scheme of advantage, nor endeavoured even to secure +the profits which his writings might have afforded him. His temper +was, in consequence of the dominion of his passions, uncertain and +capricious; he was easily engaged, and easily disgusted; but he is +accused of retaining his hatred more tenaciously than his benevolence. +He was compassionate both by nature and principle, and always ready to +perform offices of humanity; but when he was provoked (and very small +offences were sufficient to provoke him), he would prosecute his revenge +with the utmost acrimony till his passion had subsided. + +His friendship was therefore of little value; for though he was zealous +in the support or vindication of those whom he loved, yet it was always +dangerous to trust him, because he considered himself as discharged +by the first quarrel from all ties of honour and gratitude; and would +betray those secrets which in the warmth of confidence had been +imparted to him. This practice drew upon him an universal accusation of +ingratitude; nor can it be denied that he was very ready to set himself +free from the load of an obligation; for he could not bear to conceive +himself in a state of dependence, his pride being equally powerful with +his other passions, and appearing in the form of insolence at one time, +and of vanity at another. Vanity, the most innocent species of pride, +was most frequently predominant: he could not easily leave off, when he +had once begun to mention himself or his works; nor ever read his verses +without stealing his eyes from the page, to discover in the faces of his +audience how they were affected with any favourite passage. + +A kinder name than that of vanity ought to be given to the delicacy with +which he was always careful to separate his own merit from every other +man's, and to reject that praise to which he had no claim. He did not +forget, in mentioning his performances, to mark every line that had +been suggested or amended; and was so accurate as to relate that he owed +three words in "The Wanderer" to the advice of his friends. His veracity +was questioned, but with little reason; his accounts, though not indeed +always the same, were generally consistent. When he loved any man, +he suppressed all his faults; and when he had been offended by him, +concealed all his virtues; but his characters were generally true, so +far as he proceeded; though it cannot be denied that his partiality +might have sometimes the effect of falsehood. + +In cases indifferent he was zealous for virtue, truth, and justice: +he knew very well the necessity of goodness to the present and future +happiness of mankind; nor is there perhaps any writer who has less +endeavoured to please by flattering the appetites, or perverting the +judgment. + +As an author, therefore, and he now ceases to influence mankind in +any other character, if one piece which he had resolved to suppress +be excepted, he has very little to fear from the strictest moral or +religious censure. And though he may not be altogether secure against +the objections of the critic, it must however be acknowledged that his +works are the productions of a genius truly poetical; and, what many +writers who have been more lavishly applauded cannot boast, that they +have an original air, which has no resemblance of any foregoing +writer, that the versification and sentiments have a cast peculiar to +themselves, which no man can imitate with success, because what was +nature in Savage would in another be affectation. It must be confessed +that his descriptions are striking, his images animated, his fictions +justly imagined, and his allegories artfully pursued; that his diction +is elevated, though sometimes forced, and his numbers sonorous and +majestic, though frequently sluggish and encumbered. Of his style the +general fault is harshness, and its general excellence is dignity; of +his sentiments, the prevailing beauty is simplicity, and uniformity the +prevailing defect. + +For his life, or for his writings, none who candidly consider his +fortune will think an apology either necessary or difficult. If he was +not always sufficiently instructed in his subject, his knowledge was at +least greater than could have been attained by others in the same state. +If his works were sometimes unfinished, accuracy cannot reasonably +be expected from a man oppressed with want, which he has no hope of +relieving but by a speedy publication. The insolence and resentment +of which he is accused were not easily to be avoided by a great mind +irritated by perpetual hardships and constrained hourly to return the +spurns of contempt, and repress the insolence of prosperity; and vanity +surely may be readily pardoned in him, to whom life afforded no other +comforts than barren praises, and the consciousness of deserving them. + +Those are no proper judges of his conduct who have slumbered away their +time on the down of plenty; nor will any wise man easily presume to say, +"Had I been in Savage's condition, I should have lived or written better +than Savage." + +This relation will not be wholly without its use, if those who languish +under any part of his sufferings shall be enabled to fortify their +patience by reflecting that they feel only these afflictions from which +the abilities of Savage did not exempt him; or those who, in confidence +of superior capacities or attainments, disregard the common maxims of +life, shall be reminded that nothing will supply the want of prudence; +and that negligence and irregularity, long continued, will make +knowledge useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible. + + + + +SWIFT. + + +An account of Dr. Swift has been already collected, with great diligence +and acuteness, by Dr. Hawkesworth, according to a scheme which I laid +before him in the intimacy of our friendship. I cannot therefore be +expected to say much of a life, concerning which I had long since +communicated my thoughts to a man capable of dignifying his narrations +with so much elegance of language and force of sentiment. + +Jonathan Swift was, according to an account said to be written by +himself, the son of Jonathan Swift, an attorney, and was born at Dublin +on St. Andrew's day, 1667: according to his own report, as delivered by +Pope to Spence, he was born at Leicester, the son of a clergyman who was +minister of a parish in Herefordshire. During his life the place of his +birth was undetermined. He was contented to be called an Irishman by the +Irish; but would occasionally call himself an Englishman. The question +may, without much regret, be left in the obscurity in which he delighted +to involve it. + +Whatever was his birth, his education was Irish. He was sent at the age +of six to the school at Kilkenny, and in his fifteenth year (1682) was +admitted into the University of Dublin. In his academical studies he +was either not diligent or not happy. It must disappoint every reader's +expectation, that, when at the usual time he claimed the Bachelorship +of Arts, he was found by the examiners too conspicuously deficient for +regular admission, and obtained his degree at last by SPECIAL FAVOUR; a +term used in that university to denote want of merit. + +Of this disgrace it may be easily supposed that he was much ashamed, and +shame had its proper effect in producing reformation. He resolved from +that time to study eight hours a day, and continued his industry for +seven years, with what improvement is sufficiently known. This part +of his story well deserves to be remembered; it may afford useful +admonition and powerful encouragement to men whose abilities have been +made for a time useless by their passions or pleasures, and who having +lost one part of life in idleness, are tempted to throw away the +remainder in despair. In this course of daily application he continued +three years longer at Dublin; and in this time, if the observation and +memory of an old companion may be trusted, he drew the first sketch of +his "Tale of a Tub." + +When he was about one-and-twenty (1688), being by the death of Godwin +Swift, his uncle, who had supported him, left without subsistence, +he went to consult his mother, who then lived at Leicester, about the +future course of his life; and by her direction solicited the advice +and patronage of Sir William Temple, who had married one of Mrs. Swift's +relations, and whose father Sir John Temple, Master of the Rolls in +Ireland, had lived in great familiarity of friendship with Godwin Swift, +by whom Jonathan had been to that time maintained. + +Temple received with sufficient kindness the nephew of his father's +friend, with whom he was, when they conversed together, so much pleased, +that he detained him two years in his house. Here he became known to +King William, who sometimes visited Temple, when he was disabled by the +gout, and, being attended by Swift in the garden, showed him how to cut +asparagus in the Dutch way. King William's notions were all military; +and he expressed his kindness to Swift by offering to make him a captain +of horse. + +When Temple removed to Moor Park, he took Swift with him; and when he +was consulted by the Earl of Portland about the expedience of complying +with a bill then depending for making parliaments triennial, against +which King William was strongly prejudiced, after having in vain tried +to show the earl that the proposal involved nothing dangerous to royal +power, he sent Swift for the same purpose to the king. Swift, who +probably was proud of his employment, and went with all the confidence +of a young man, found his arguments, and his art of displaying them, +made totally ineffectual by the predetermination of the king; and used +to mention this disappointment as his first antidote against vanity. +Before he left Ireland he contracted a disorder, as he thought, by +eating too much fruit. The original of diseases is commonly obscure. +Almost everybody eats as much fruit as he can get, without any great +inconvenience. The disease of Swift was giddiness with deafness, which +attacked him from time to time, began very early, pursued him through +life, and at last sent him to the grave, deprived of reason. Being much +oppressed at Moor Park by this grievous malady, he was advised to try +his native air, and went to Ireland; but finding no benefit, returned +to Sir William, at whose house he continued his studies, and is known to +have read, among other books, Cyprian and Irenaeus. He thought exercise +of great necessity, and used to run half a mile up and down a hill every +two hours. + +It is easy to imagine that the mode in which his first degree was +conferred left him no great fondness for the University of Dublin, +and therefore he resolved to become a Master of Arts at Oxford. In the +testimonial which he produced the words of disgrace were omitted; and he +took his Master's degree (July 5, 1692) with such reception and regard +as fully contented him. + +While he lived with Temple, he used to pay his mother at Leicester a +yearly visit. He travelled on foot, unless some violence of weather +drove him into a waggon; and at night he would go to a penny lodging, +where he purchased clean sheets for sixpence. This practice Lord Orrery +imputes to his innate love of grossness and vulgarity: some may ascribe +it to his desire of surveying human life through all its varieties: and +others, perhaps with equal probability, to a passion which seems to have +been deeply fixed in his heart, the love of a shilling. In time he began +to think that his attendance at Moor Park deserved some other recompense +than the pleasure, however mingled with improvement, of Temple's +conversation; and grew so impatient, that (1694) he went away in +discontent. Temple, conscious of having given reason for complaint, +is said to have made him deputy Master of the Rolls in Ireland; which, +according to his kinsman's account, was an office which he knew him not +able to discharge. Swift therefore resolved to enter into the Church, +in which he had at first no higher hopes than of the chaplainship to the +Factory at Lisbon; but being recommended to Lord Capel, he obtained the +prebend of Kilroot in Connor, of about a hundred pounds a year. But the +infirmities of Temple made a companion like Swift so necessary, that he +invited him back, with a promise to procure him English preferment in +exchange for the prebend, which he desired him to resign. With +this request Swift complied, having perhaps equally repented their +separation, and they lived on together with mutual satisfaction; and, in +the four years that passed between his return and Temple's death, it +is probable that he wrote the "Tale of a Tub," and the "Battle of the +Books." + +Swift began early to think, or to hope, that he was a poet, and wrote +Pindaric Odes to Temple, to the king, and to the Athenian Society, a +knot of obscure men, who published a periodical pamphlet of answers to +questions, sent, or supposed to be sent, by letters. I have been told +that Dryden, having perused these verses, said, "Cousin Swift, you will +never be a poet;" and that this denunciation was the motive of Swift's +perpetual malevolence to Dryden. In 1699 Temple died, and left a legacy +with his manuscripts to Swift, for whom he had obtained, from King +William, a promise of the first prebend that should be vacant at +Westminster or Canterbury. That this promise might not be forgotten, +Swift dedicated to the king the posthumous works with which he was +intrusted; but neither the dedication, nor tenderness for the man +whom he once had treated with confidence and fondness, revived in King +William the remembrance of his promise. Swift awhile attended the Court; +but soon found his solicitations hopeless. He was then invited by +the Earl of Berkeley to accompany him into Ireland, as his private +secretary; but, after having done the business till their arrival +at Dublin, he then found that one Bush had persuaded the earl that a +clergyman was not a proper secretary, and had obtained the office for +himself. In a man like Swift, such circumvention and inconstancy must +have excited violent indignation. But he had yet more to suffer. Lord +Berkeley had the disposal of the deanery of Derry, and Swift expected +to obtain it; but by the secretary's influence, supposed to have been +secured by a bribe, it was bestowed on somebody else; and Swift was +dismissed with the livings of Laracor and Rathbeggin in the diocese of +Meath, which together did not equal half the value of the deanery. At +Laracor he increased the parochial duty by reading prayers on Wednesdays +and Fridays, and performed all the offices of his profession with great +decency and exactness. + +Soon after his settlement at Laracor, he invited to Ireland the +unfortunate Stella, a young woman whose name was Johnson, the daughter +of the steward of Sir William Temple, who, in consideration of her +father's virtues, left her a thousand pounds. With her came Mrs. +Dingley, whose whole fortune was twenty-seven pounds a year for her +life. With these ladies he passed his hours of relaxation, and to them +he opened his bosom; but they never resided in the same house, nor did +he see either without a witness. They lived at the Parsonage when Swift +was away, and, when he returned, removed to a lodging, or to the house +of a neighbouring clergyman. + +Swift was not one of those minds which amaze the world with early +pregnancy: his first work, except his few poetical Essays, was the +"Dissensions in Athens and Rome," published (1701) in his thirty-fourth +year. After its appearance, paying a visit to some bishop, he heard +mention made of the new pamphlet that Burnet had written, replete with +political knowledge. When he seemed to doubt Burnet's right to the +work, he was told by the bishop that he was "a young man," and still +persisting to doubt, that he was "a very positive young man." + +Three years afterwards (1704) was published "The Tale of a Tub;" of this +book charity may be persuaded to think that it might be written by a man +of a peculiar character without ill intention; but it is certainly of +dangerous example. That Swift was its author, though it be universally +believed, was never owned by himself, nor very well proved by any +evidence; but no other claimant can be produced, and he did not deny it +when Archbishop Sharp and the Duchess of Somerset, by showing it to the +queen, debarred him from a bishopric. When this wild work first raised +the attention of the public, Sacheverell, meeting Smalridge, tried to +flatter him by seeming to think him the author, but Smalridge answered +with indignation, "Not all that you and I have in the world, nor all +that ever we shall have, should hire me to write the 'Tale of a Tub.'" + +The digression relating to Wotton and Bentley must be confessed to +discover want of knowledge or want of integrity; he did not understand +the two controversies, or he willingly misrepresented them. But Wit can +stand its ground against Truth only a little while. The honours due to +Learning have been justly distributed by the decision of posterity. + +"The Battle of the Books" is so like the "Combat des Livres," which +the same question concerning the Ancients and Moderns had produced in +France, that the improbability of such a coincidence of thoughts +without communication, is not, in my opinion, balanced by the anonymous +protestation prefixed, in which all knowledge of the French book is +peremptorily disowned. + +For some time after, Swift was probably employed in solitary study, +gaining the qualifications requisite for future eminence. How often he +visited England, and with what diligence he attended his parishes, I +know not. It was not till about four years afterwards that he became a +professed author; and then one year (1708) produced "The Sentiments of +a Church of England Man;" the ridicule of Astrology under the name of +"Bickerstaff;" the "Argument against abolishing Christianity;" and the +defence of the "Sacramental Test." + +"The Sentiments of a Church of England Man" is written with great +coolness, moderation, ease, and perspicuity. The "Argument against +abolishing Christianity" is a very happy and judicious irony. One +passage in it deserves to be selected:-- + +"If Christianity were once abolished, how could the free-thinkers, the +strong reasoners, and the men of profound learning, be able to find +another subject so calculated, in all points, whereon to display their +abilities? What wonderful productions of wit should we be deprived of +from those whose genius, by continual practice, hath been wholly turned +upon raillery and invectives against religion, and would therefore never +be able to shine or distinguish themselves upon any other subject! We +are daily complaining of the great decline of wit among us, and would +take away the greatest, perhaps the only topic we have left. Who would +ever have suspected Asgill for a wit, or Toland for a philosopher, if +the inexhaustible stock of Christianity had not been at hand to provide +them with materials? What other subject, through all art or nature, +could have produced Tindal for a profound author, or furnished him with +readers? It is the wise choice of the subject that alone adorns and +distinguishes the writer. For had a hundred such pens as these been +employed on the side of religion, they would have immediately sunk into +silence and oblivion." + +The reasonableness of a "Test" is not hard to be proved; but perhaps it +must be allowed that the proper test has not been chosen. The attention +paid to the papers published under the name of "Bickerstaff," induced +Steele, when he projected the Tatler, to assume an appellation which had +already gained possession of the reader's notice. + +In the year following he wrote a "Project for the Advancement of +Religion," addressed to Lady Berkeley, by whose kindness it is not +unlikely that he was advanced to his benefices. To this project, +which is formed with great purity of intention, and displayed with +sprightliness and elegance, it can only be objected, that, like many +projects, it is, if not generally impracticable, yet evidently hopeless, +as it supposes more zeal, concord, and perseverance than a view of +mankind gives reason for expecting. He wrote likewise this year +a "Vindication of Bickerstaff," and an explanation of an "Ancient +Prophecy," part written after the facts, and the rest never completed, +but well planned to excite amazement. + +Soon after began the busy and important part of Swift's life. He was +employed (1710) by the Primate of Ireland to solicit the queen for a +remission of the First Fruits and Twentieth Parts to the Irish Clergy. +With this purpose he had recourse to Mr. Harley, to whom he was +mentioned as a man neglected and oppressed by the last Ministry, because +he had refused to co-operate with some of their schemes. What he had +refused has never been told; what he had suffered was, I suppose, +the exclusion from a bishopric by the remonstrances of Sharp, whom he +describes as "the harmless tool of others' hate," and whom he represents +as afterwards "suing for pardon." + +Harley's designs and situation were such as made him glad of an +auxiliary so well qualified for his service: he therefore soon admitted +him to familiarity, whether ever to confidence some have made a doubt; +but it would have been difficult to excite his zeal without persuading +him that he was trusted, and not very easy to delude him by false +persuasions. He was certainly admitted to those meetings in which +the first hints and original plan of action are supposed to have been +formed; and was one of the sixteen ministers, or agents of the Ministry, +who met weekly at each other's houses, and were united by the name of +"Brother." Being not immediately considered as an obdurate Tory, he +conversed indiscriminately with all the wits, and was yet the friend of +Steele; who, in the Tatler, which began in April, 1709, confesses the +advantage of his conversation, and mentions something contributed by him +to his paper. But he was now emerging into political controversy; for +the year 1710 produced the Examiner, of which Swift wrote thirty-three +papers. In argument he may be allowed to have the advantage: for where +a wide system of conduct, and the whole of a public character, is laid +open to inquiry, the accuser, having the choice of facts, must be very +unskilful if he does not prevail: but with regard to wit, I am afraid +none of Swift's papers will be found equal to those by which Addison +opposed him. + +He wrote in the year 1711 a "Letter to the October Club," a number +of Tory gentlemen sent from the country to Parliament, who formed +themselves into a club, to the number of about a hundred, and met to +animate the zeal and raise the expectations of each other. They thought, +with great reason, that the Ministers were losing opportunities; that +sufficient use was not made of the ardour of the nation; they called +loudly for more changes, and stronger efforts; and demanded the +punishment of part and the dismission of the rest, of those whom they +considered as public robbers. Their eagerness was not gratified by the +queen, or by Harley. The queen was probably slow because she was afraid; +and Harley was slow because he was doubtful; he was a Tory only by +necessity, or for convenience; and, when he had power in his hands, had +no settled purpose for which he should employ it; forced to gratify to +a certain degree the Tories who supported him, but unwilling to make his +reconcilement to the Whigs utterly desperate, he corresponded at once +with the two expectants of the Crown, and kept, as has been observed, +the succession undetermined. Not knowing what to do, he did nothing; +and, with the fate of a double dealer, at last he lost his power, but +kept his enemies. + +Swift seems to have concurred in opinion with the "October Club;" but +it was not in his power to quicken the tardiness of Harley, whom he +stimulated as much as he could, but with little effect. He that knows +not whither to go, is in no haste to move. Harley, who was perhaps not +quick by nature, became yet more slow by irresolution; and was content +to hear that dilatoriness lamented as natural, which he applauded in +himself as politic. Without the Tories, however, nothing could be done; +and, as they were not to be gratified, they must be appeased; and +the conduct of the Minister, if it could not be vindicated, was to be +plausibly excused. + +Early in the next year he published a "Proposal for Correcting, +Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue," in a Letter to the +Earl of Oxford; written without much knowledge of the general nature +of language, and without any accurate inquiry into the history of other +tongues. The certainty and stability which, contrary to all experience, +he thinks attainable, he proposes to secure by instituting an academy; +the decrees of which every man would have been willing, and many would +have been proud, to disobey, and which, being renewed by successive +elections, would in a short time have differed from itself. + +Swift now attained the zenith of his political importance: he published +(1712) the "Conduct of the Allies," ten days before the Parliament +assembled. The purpose was to persuade the nation to a peace; and +never had any writer more success. The people, who had been amused with +bonfires and triumphal processions, and looked with idolatry on the +General and his friends, who, as they thought, had made England the +arbitress of nations, were confounded between shame and rage, when they +found that "mines had been exhausted, and millions destroyed," to secure +the Dutch or aggrandise the Emperor, without any advantage to ourselves; +that we had been bribing our neighbours to fight their own quarrel; +and that amongst our enemies we might number our allies. That is now no +longer doubted, of which the nation was then first informed, that the +war was unnecessarily protracted to fill the pockets of Marlborough; +and that it would have been continued without end, if he could have +continued his annual plunder. But Swift, I suppose, did not yet know +what he has since written, that a commission was drawn which would have +appointed him General for life, had it not become ineffectual by the +resolution of Lord Cowper, who refused the seal. + +"Whatever is received," say the schools, "is received in proportion to +the recipient." The power of a political treatise depends much upon the +disposition of the people; the nation was then combustible, and a spark +set it on fire. It is boasted, that between November and January eleven +thousand were sold: a great number at that time, when we were not yet +a nation of readers. To its propagation certainly no agency of power or +influence was wanting. It furnished arguments for conversation, speeches +for debate, and materials for parliamentary resolutions. Yet, surely, +whoever surveys this wonder-working pamphlet with cool perusal, will +confess that its efficacy was supplied by the passions of its readers; +that it operates by the mere weight of facts, with very little +assistance from the hand that produced them. + +This year (1712) he published his "Reflections on the Barrier Treaty," +which carries on the design of his "Conduct of the Allies," and shows +how little regard in that negotiation had been shown to the interest of +England, and how much of the conquered country had been demanded by +the Dutch. This was followed by "Remarks on the Bishop of Sarum's +Introduction to his third Volume of the History of the Reformation;" a +pamphlet which Burnet published as an alarm, to warn the nation of the +approach of Popery. Swift, who seems to have disliked the bishop with +something more than political aversion, treats him like one whom he is +glad of an opportunity to insult. + +Swift, being now the declared favourite and supposed confidant of the +Tory Ministry, was treated by all that depended on the Court with the +respect which dependents know how to pay. He soon began to feel part of +the misery of greatness; he that could say that he knew him, considered +himself as having fortune in his power. Commissions, solicitations, +remonstrances crowded about him; he was expected to do every man's +business; to procure employment for one, and to retain it for another. +In assisting those who addressed him, he represents himself as +sufficiently diligent; and desires to have others believe what he +probably believed himself, that by his interposition many Whigs of +merit, and among them Addison and Congreve, were continued in their +places. But every man of known influence has so many petitions which he +cannot grant, that he must necessarily offend more than he gratifies, +because the preference given to one affords all the rest reason for +complaint. "When I give away a place," said Lewis XIV., "I make a +hundred discontented, and one ungrateful." + +Much has been said of the equality and independence which he preserved +in his conversation with the Ministers; of the frankness of his +remonstrances, and the familiarity of his friendship. In accounts of +this kind a few single incidents are set against the general tenour of +behaviour. No man, however, can pay a more servile tribute to the great, +than by suffering his liberty in their presence to aggrandise him in +his own esteem. Between different ranks of the community there is +necessarily some distance; he who is called by his superior to pass +the interval, may properly accept the invitation; but petulance and +obtrusion are rarely produced by magnanimity; nor have often any nobler +cause than the pride of importance, and the malice of inferiority. He +who knows himself necessary may set, while that necessity lasts, a +high value upon himself; as, in a lower condition, a servant eminently +skilful may be saucy; but he is saucy only because he is servile. Swift +appears to have preserved the kindness of the great when they wanted him +no longer; and therefore it must be allowed, that the childish freedom, +to which he seems enough inclined, was overpowered by his better +qualities. His disinterestedness has likewise been mentioned; a +strain of heroism which would have been in his condition romantic and +superfluous. Ecclesiastical benefices, when they become vacant, must +be given away; and the friends of power may, if there be no inherent +disqualification, reasonably expect them. Swift accepted (1713) the +deanery of St. Patrick, the best preferment that his friends could +venture to give him. That Ministry was in a great degree supported by +the clergy, who were not yet reconciled to the author of the "Tale of a +Tub," and would not without much discontent and indignation have borne +to see him installed in an English cathedral. He refused, indeed, fifty +pounds from Lord Oxford; but he accepted afterwards a draught of a +thousand upon the Exchequer, which was intercepted by the queen's death, +and which he resigned, as he says himself, "multa gemens, with many a +groan." In the midst of his power and his politics, he kept a journal of +his visits, his walks, his interviews with Ministers, and quarrels with +his servant, and transmitted it to Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, to +whom he knew that whatever befell him was interesting, and no accounts +could be too minute. Whether these diurnal trifles were properly exposed +to eyes which had never received any pleasure from the presence of the +Dean may be reasonably doubted: they have, however, some odd attraction; +the reader, finding frequent mention of names which he has been used to +consider as important, goes on in hope of information; and as there +is nothing to fatigue attention, if he is disappointed he can hardly +complain. It is easy to perceive, from every page, that though ambition +pressed Swift into a life of bustle, the wish for a life of ease was +always returning. He went to take possession of his deanery as soon as +he had obtained it; but he was not suffered to stay in Ireland more than +a fortnight before he was recalled to England, that he might reconcile +Lord Oxford and Lord Bolingbroke, who began to look on one another with +malevolence, which every day increased, and which Bolingbroke appeared +to retain in his last years. + +Swift contrived an interview, from which they both departed +discontented; he procured a second, which only convinced him that the +feud was irreconcilable; he told them his opinion, that all was lost. +This denunciation was contradicted by Oxford; but Bolingbroke whispered +that he was right. Before this violent dissension had shattered the +Ministry, Swift had published, in the beginning of the year (1714), "The +Public Spirit of the Whigs," in answer to "The Crisis," a pamphlet for +which Steele was expelled from the House of Commons. Swift was now +so far alienated from Steele, as to think him no longer entitled to +decency, and therefore treats him sometimes with contempt, and sometimes +with abhorrence. In this pamphlet the Scotch were mentioned in terms so +provoking to that irritable nation, that resolving "not to be offended +with impunity," the Scotch lords in a body demanded an audience of the +queen, and solicited reparation. A proclamation was issued, in which +three hundred pounds were offered for the discovery of the author. From +this storm he was, as he relates, "secured by a sleight;" of what kind, +or by whose prudence, is not known; and such was the increase of his +reputation, that the Scottish nation "applied again that he would +be their friend." He was become so formidable to the Whigs, that +his familiarity with the Ministers was clamoured at in Parliament, +particularly by two men, afterwards of great note, Aislabie and Walpole. +But, by the disunion of his great friends, his importance and designs +were now at an end; and seeing his services at last useless, he retired +about June (1714) into Berkshire, where, in the house of a friend, he +wrote what was then suppressed, but has since appeared under the title +of "Free Thoughts on the present State of Affairs." While he was waiting +in this retirement for events which time or chance might bring to pass, +the death of the Queen broke down at once the whole system of Tory +politics; and nothing remained but to withdraw from the implacability of +triumphant Whiggism, and shelter himself in unenvied obscurity. + +The accounts of his reception in Ireland, given by Lord Orrery and +Dr. Delany, are so different, that the credit of the writers, both +undoubtedly veracious, cannot be saved, but by supposing, what I think +is true, that they speak of different times. When Delany says, that he +was received with respect, he means for the first fortnight, when he +came to take legal possession; and when Lord Orrery tells that he was +pelted by the populace, he is to be understood of the time when, after +the Queen's death, he became a settled resident. + +The Archbishop of Dublin gave him at first some disturbance in the +exercise of his jurisdiction; but it was soon discovered, that between +prudence and integrity, he was seldom in the wrong; and that, when he +was right, his spirit did not easily yield to opposition. + +Having so lately quitted the tumults of a party, and the intrigues of a +court, they still kept his thoughts in agitation, as the sea fluctuates +a while when the storm has ceased. He therefore filled his hours with +some historical attempts, relating to the "Change of the Ministers," +and "The Conduct of the Ministry." He likewise is said to have written +a "History of the Four last Years of Queen Anne," which he began in +her lifetime, and afterwards laboured with great attention, but never +published. It was after his death in the hands of Lord Orrery and Dr. +King. A book under that title was published with Swift's name by Dr. +Lucas; of which I can only say, that it seemed by no means to correspond +with the notions that I had formed of it, from a conversation which I +once heard between the Earl of Orrery and old Mr. Lewis. + +Swift now, much against his will, commenced Irishman for life, and was +to contrive how he might be best accommodated in a country where he +considered himself as in a state of exile. It seems that his first +recourse was to piety. The thoughts of death rushed upon him at this +time with such incessant importunity, that they took possession of his +mind, when he first waked, for many years together. He opened his +house by a public table two days a week, and found his entertainments +gradually frequented by more and more visitants of learning among the +men, and of elegance among the women. Mrs. Johnson had left the country, +and lived in lodgings not far from the deanery. On his public days she +regulated the table, but appeared at it as a mere guest, like other +ladies. On other days he often dined, at a stated price, with Mr. +Worral, a clergyman of his cathedral, whose house was recommended by +the peculiar neatness and pleasantry of his wife. To this frugal mode +of living, he was first disposed by care to pay some debts which he had +contracted, and he continued it for the pleasure of accumulating money. +His avarice, however, was not suffered to obstruct the claims of his +dignity; he was served in plate, and used to say that he was the poorest +gentleman in Ireland that ate upon plate, and the richest that lived +without a coach. How he spent the rest of his time, and how he employed +his hours of study, has been inquired with hopeless curiosity. For who +can give an account of another's studies? Swift was not likely to admit +any to his privacies, or to impart a minute account of his business or +his leisure. + +Soon after (1716), in his forty-ninth year, he was privately married to +Mrs. Johnson, by Dr. Ashe, Bishop of Clogher, as Dr. Madden told me, +in the garden. The marriage made no change in their mode of life; they +lived in different houses, as before; nor did she ever lodge in the +deanery but when Swift was seized with a fit of giddiness. "It would be +difficult," says Lord Orrery, "to prove that they were ever afterwards +together without a third person." + +The Dean of St. Patrick's lived in a private manner, known and regarded +only by his friends; till, about the year 1720, he, by a pamphlet, +recommended to the Irish the use, and consequently the improvement, of +their manufactures. For a man to use the productions of his own labour +is surely a natural right, and to like best what he makes himself is +a natural passion. But to excite this passion, and enforce this right, +appeared so criminal to those who had an interest in the English trade, +that the printer was imprisoned; and, as Hawkesworth justly observes, +the attention of the public being, by this outrageous resentment, turned +upon the proposal, the author was by consequence made popular. + +In 1723 died Mrs. Van Homrigh, a woman made unhappy by her admiration +of wit, and ignominiously distinguished by the name of Vanessa, whose +conduct has been already sufficiently discussed, and whose history is +too well known to be minutely repeated. She was a young woman fond of +literature, whom Decanus, the dean, called Cadenus by transposition +of the letters, took pleasure in directing and instructing: till, from +being proud of his praise, she grew fond of his person. Swift was then +about forty-seven, at an age when vanity is strongly excited by the +amorous attention of a young woman. If it be said that Swift should have +checked a passion which he never meant to gratify, recourse must be +had to that extenuation which he so much despised, "men are but men;" +perhaps, however, he did not at first know his own mind, and, as +he represents himself, was undetermined. For his admission of her +courtship, and his indulgence of her hopes after his marriage to Stella, +no other honest plea can be found than that he delayed a disagreeable +discovery from time to time, dreading the immediate bursts of distress, +and watching for a favourable moment. She thought herself neglected, +and died of disappointment, having ordered, by her will, the poem to be +published, in which Cadenus had proclaimed her excellence and confessed +his love. The effect of the publication upon the Dean and Stella is thus +related by Delany:-- + +"I have good reason to believe that they both were greatly shocked and +distressed (though it may be differently) upon this occasion. The Dean +made a tour to the south of Ireland for about two months at this time, +to dissipate his thoughts and give place to obloquy. And Stella retired +(upon the earnest invitation of the owner) to the house of a cheerful, +generous, good-natured friend of the Dean's, whom she always much loved +and honoured. There my informer often saw her, and, I have reason to +believe, used his utmost endeavours to relieve, support, and amuse +her, in this sad situation. One little incident he told me of on that +occasion I think I shall never forget. As his friend was an hospitable, +open-hearted man, well beloved and largely acquainted, it happened one +day that some gentlemen dropped in to dinner, who were strangers to +Stella's situation; and as the poem of 'Cadenus and Vanessa' was then +the general topic of conversation, one of them said, 'Surely that +Vanessa must be an extraordinary woman that could inspire the Dean to +write so finely upon her.' Mrs. Johnson smiled, and answered, 'that she +thought that point not quite so clear; for it was well known that the +Dean could write finely upon a broomstick.'" + +The great acquisition of esteem and influence was made by the "Drapier's +Letters," in 1724. One Wood, of Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, a man +enterprising and rapacious, had, as is said, by a present to the Duchess +of Munster, obtained a patent, empowering him to coin one hundred and +eighty thousand pounds of halfpence and farthings for the kingdom +of Ireland, in which there was a very inconvenient and embarrassing +scarcity of copper coin, so that it was possible to run in debt upon the +credit of a piece of money; for the cook or keeper of an alehouse could +not refuse to supply a man that had silver in his hand, and the buyer +would not leave his money without change. The project was therefore +plausible. The scarcity, which was already great, Wood took care to make +greater, by agents who gathered up the old halfpence; and was about to +turn his brass into gold, by pouring the treasures of his new mint upon +Ireland, when Swift, finding that the metal was debased to an enormous +degree, wrote letters, under the name of M. B. Drapier, to show the +folly of receiving, and the mischief that must ensue by giving gold and +silver for coin worth perhaps not a third part of its nominal value. +The nation was alarmed; the new coin was universally refused, but the +governors of Ireland considered resistance to the king's patent as +highly criminal; and one Whitshed, then Chief Justice, who had tried the +printer of the former pamphlet, and sent out the jury nine times, till +by clamour and menaces they were frightened into a special verdict, now +presented the Drapier, but could not prevail on the grand jury to find +the bill. + +Lord Carteret and the Privy Council published a proclamation, offering +three hundred pounds for discovering the author of the Fourth Letter. +Swift had concealed himself from his printers and trusted only his +butler, who transcribed the paper. The man, immediately after the +appearance of the proclamation, strolled from the house, and stayed out +all night, and part of the next day. There was reason enough to fear +that he had betrayed his master for the reward; but he came home, and +the Dean ordered him to put off his livery, and leave the house; "for," +says he, "I know that my life is in your power, and I will not bear, out +of fear, either your insolence or negligence." The man excused his fault +with great submission, and begged that he might be confined in the +house while it was in his power to endanger the master; but the Dean +resolutely turned him out, without taking further notice of him, till +the term of the information had expired, and then received him again. +Soon afterwards he ordered him and the rest of his servants into his +presence, without telling his intentions, and bade them take notice +that their fellow-servant was no longer Robert the butler, but that his +integrity had made him Mr. Blakeney, verger of St. Patrick's, an officer +whose income was between thirty and forty pounds a year; yet he still +continued for some years to serve his old master as his butler. + +Swift was known from this time by the appellation of The Dean. He was +honoured by the populace as the champion, patron, and instructor of +Ireland; and gained such power as, considered both in its extent and +duration, scarcely any man has ever enjoyed without greater wealth +or higher station. He was from this important year the oracle of the +traders, and the idol of the rabble, and by consequence was feared and +courted by all to whom the kindness of the traders or the populace was +necessary. The Drapier was a sign; the Drapier was a health; and which +way soever the eye or the ear was turned, some tokens were found of the +nation's gratitude to the Drapier. + +The benefit was indeed great; he had rescued Ireland from a very +oppressive and predatory invasion, and the popularity which he had +gained he was diligent to keep, by appearing forward and zealous on +every occasion where the public interest was supposed to be involved. +Nor did he much scruple to boast his influence; for when, upon some +attempts to regulate the coin, Archbishop Boulter, then one of the +justices, accused him of exasperating the people, he exculpated himself +by saying, "If I had lifted up my finger, they would have torn you to +pieces." But the pleasure of popularity was soon interrupted by domestic +misery. Mrs. Johnson, whose conversation was to him the great softener +of the ills of life, began in the year of the Drapier's triumph to +decline, and two years afterwards was so wasted with sickness that her +recovery was considered as hopeless. Swift was then in England, and had +been invited by Lord Bolingbroke to pass the winter with him in France; +but this call of calamity hastened him to Ireland, where perhaps his +presence contributed to restore her to imperfect and tottering health. +He was now so much at ease, that (1727) he returned to England, where +he collected three volumes of Miscellanies in conjunction with Pope, who +prefixed a querulous and apologetical Preface. + +This important year sent likewise into the world "Gulliver's Travels," a +production so new and strange, that it filled the reader with a mingled +emotion of merriment and amazement. It was received with such avidity, +that the price of the first edition was raised before the second +could be made; it was read by the high and the low, the learned and +illiterate. Criticism was for a while lost in wonder; no rules of +judgment were applied to a book written in open defiance of truth and +regularity. But when distinctions came to be made, the part which gave +the least pleasure was that which describes the Flying Island, and that +which gave most disgust must be the history of Houyhnhnms. + +While Swift was enjoying the reputation of his new work, the news of the +king's death arrived, and he kissed the hands of the new king and queen +three days after their accession. By the queen, when she was princess, +he had been treated with some distinction, and was well received by her +in her exaltation; but whether she gave hopes which she never took care +to satisfy, or he formed expectations which she never meant to raise, +the event was that he always afterwards thought on her with malevolence, +and particularly charged her with breaking her promise of some medals +which she engaged to send him. I know not whether she had not, in her +turn, some reason for complaint. A letter was sent her, not so much +entreating, as requiring her patronage of Mrs. Barber, an ingenious +Irishwoman, who was then begging subscriptions for her Poems. To this +letter was subscribed the name of Swift, and it has all the appearance +of his diction and sentiments; but it was not written in his hand, and +had some little improprieties. When he was charged with this letter, +he laid hold of the inaccuracies, and urged the improbability of the +accusation, but never denied it: he shuffles between cowardice and +veracity, and talks big when he says nothing. He seems desirous enough +of recommencing courtier, and endeavoured to gain the kindness of Mrs. +Howard, remembering what Mrs. Masham had performed in former times; but +his flatteries were, like those of other wits, unsuccessful; the lady +either wanted power, or had no ambition of poetical immortality. He was +seized not long afterwards by a fit of giddiness, and again heard of the +sickness and danger of Mrs. Johnson. He then left the house of Pope, +as it seems, with very little ceremony, finding "that two sick friends +cannot live together;" and did not write to him till he found himself at +Chester. He turned to a home of sorrow: poor Stella was sinking into the +grave, and, after a languishing decay of about two months, died in her +forty-fourth year, on January 28, 1728. How much he wished her life his +papers show; nor can it be doubted that he dreaded the death of her whom +he loved most, aggravated by the consciousness that himself had hastened +it. + +Beauty and the power of pleasing, the greatest external advantages that +woman can desire or possess, were fatal to the unfortunate Stella. The +man whom she had the misfortune to love was, as Delany observes, fond +of singularity, and desirous to make a mode of happiness for himself, +different from the general course of things and order of Providence. +From the time of her arrival in Ireland he seems resolved to keep her in +his power, and therefore hindered a match sufficiently advantageous by +accumulating unreasonable demands, and prescribing conditions that could +not be performed. While she was at her own disposal he did not consider +his possession as secure; resentment, ambition, or caprice might +separate them: he was therefore resolved to make "assurance doubly +sure," and to appropriate her by a private marriage, to which he had +annexed the expectation of all the pleasures of perfect friendship, +without the uneasiness of conjugal restraint. But with this state poor +Stella was not satisfied; she never was treated as a wife, and to the +world she had the appearance of a mistress. She lived sullenly on, in +hope that in time he would own and receive her; but the time did not +come till the change of his manners and depravation of his mind made her +tell him, when he offered to acknowledge her, that "it was too late." +She then gave up herself to sorrowful resentment, and died under the +tyranny of him by whom she was in the highest degree loved and honoured. +What were her claims to this eccentric tenderness, by which the laws of +nature were violated to restrain her, curiosity will inquire; but +how shall it be gratified? Swift was a lover; his testimony may be +suspected. Delany and the Irish saw with Swift's eyes, and therefore add +little confirmation. That she was virtuous, beautiful, and elegant, in +a very high degree, such admiration from such a lover makes it very +probable: but she had not much literature, for she could not spell her +own language; and of her wit, so loudly vaunted, the smart sayings which +Swift himself has collected afford no splendid specimen. + +The reader of Swift's "Letter to a Lady on her Marriage," may be allowed +to doubt whether his opinion of female excellence ought implicitly to +be admitted; for, if his general thoughts on women were such as he +exhibits, a very little sense in a lady would enrapture, and a very +little virtue would astonish him. Stella's supremacy, therefore, was +perhaps only local; she was great because her associates were little. + +In some Remarks lately published on the Life of Swift, his marriage +is mentioned as fabulous, or doubtful; but, alas! poor Stella, as Dr. +Madden told me, related her melancholy story to Dr. Sheridan, when +he attended her as a clergyman to prepare her for death; and Delany +mentions it not with doubt, but only with regret. Swift never mentioned +her without a sigh. The rest of his life was spent in Ireland, in a +country to which not even power almost despotic, nor flattery almost +idolatrous, could reconcile him. He sometimes wished to visit England, +but always found some reason of delay. He tells Pope, in the decline +of life, that he hopes once more to see him; "but if not," says he, "we +must part as all human beings have parted." + +After the death of Stella, his benevolence was contracted, and his +severity exasperated; he drove his acquaintance from his table, and +wondered why he was deserted. But he continued his attention to the +public, and wrote from time to time such directions, admonitions, or +censures, as the exigence of affairs, in his opinion, made proper; and +nothing fell from his pen in vain. In a short poem on the Presbyterians, +whom he always regarded with detestation, he bestowed one stricture upon +Bettesworth, a lawyer eminent for his insolence to the clergy, which, +from very considerable reputation, brought him into immediate and +universal contempt. Bettesworth, enraged at his disgrace and loss, went +to Swift, and demanded whether he was the author of that poem? "Mr. +Bettesworth," answered he, "I was in my youth acquainted with great +lawyers, who, knowing my disposition to satire, advised me, that if any +scoundrel or blockhead whom I had lampooned should ask, 'Are you the +author of this paper?' I should tell him that I was not the author; +and therefore, I tell you, Mr. Bettesworth, that I am not the author of +these lines." + +Bettesworth was so little satisfied with this account, that he publicly +professed his resolution of a violent and corporal revenge; but the +inhabitants of St. Patrick's district embodied themselves in the Dean's +defence. Bettesworth declared in Parliament that Swift had deprived him +of twelve hundred pounds a year. + +Swift was popular awhile by another mode of beneficence. He set aside +some hundreds to be lent in small sums to the poor, from five shillings, +I think, to five pounds. He took no interest, and only required that, +at repayment, a small fee should be given to the accountant, but he +required that the day of promised payment should be exactly kept. A +severe and punctilious temper is ill qualified for transactions with the +poor: the day was often broken, and the loan was not repaid. This might +have been easily foreseen; but for this Swift had made no provision of +patience or pity. He ordered his debtors to be sued. A severe creditor +has no popular character; what then was likely to be said of him who +employs the catchpoll under the appearance of charity? The clamour +against him was loud, and the resentment of the populace outrageous; he +was therefore forced to drop his scheme, and own the folly of expecting +punctuality from the poor. + +His asperity continually increasing, condemned him to solitude; and +his resentment of solitude sharpened his asperity. He was not, however, +totally deserted; some men of learning, and some women of elegance, +often visited him; and he wrote from time to time either verse or prose: +of his verses he willingly gave copies, and is supposed to have felt no +discontent when he saw them printed. His favourite maxim was "Vive la +bagatelle:" he thought trifles a necessary part of life, and perhaps +found them necessary to himself. It seems impossible to him to be idle, +and his disorders made it difficult or dangerous to be long seriously +studious, or laboriously diligent. The love of ease is always gaining +upon age, and he had one temptation to petty amusements peculiar to +himself; whatever he did, he was sure to hear applauded; and such was +his predominance over all that approached, that all their applauses +were probably sincere. He that is much flattered soon learns to flatter +himself; we are commonly taught our duty by fear or shame, and how can +they act upon the man who hears nothing but his own praises? As his +years increased, his fits of giddiness and deafness grew more frequent, +and his deafness made conversation difficult; they grew likewise more +severe, till in 1736, as he was writing a poem called "The Legion Club," +he was seized with a fit so painful and so long continued, that he never +after thought it proper to attempt any work of thought or labour. He was +always careful of his money, and was therefore no liberal entertainer, +but was less frugal of his wine than of his meat. When his friends of +either sex came to him in expectation of a dinner, his custom was to +give every one a shilling, that they might please themselves with their +provision. At last his avarice grew too powerful for his kindness; he +would refuse a bottle of wine, and in Ireland no man visits where he +cannot drink. Having thus excluded conversation, and desisted from +study, he had neither business nor amusement; for, having by some +ridiculous resolution, or mad vow, determined never to wear spectacles, +he could make like little use of books in his latter years; his ideas, +therefore, being neither renovated by discourse, nor increased by +reading, wore gradually away, and left his mind vacant to the vexations +of the hour, till at last his anger was heightened into madness. +He, however, permitted one book to be published, which had been the +production of former years--"Polite Conversation," which appeared in +1738. The "Directions for Servants," was printed soon after his death. +These two performances show a mind incessantly attentive, and, when it +was not employed upon great things, busy with minute occurrences. It is +apparent that he must have had the habit of noting whatever he observed; +for such a number of particulars could never have been assembled by +the power of recollection. He grew more violent, and his mental powers +declined, till (1741) it was found necessary that legal guardians should +be appointed of his person and fortune. He now lost distinction. His +madness was compounded of rage and fatuity. The last face that he knew +was that of Mrs. Whiteway; and her he ceased to know in a little time. +His meat was brought him cut into mouthfuls: but he would never touch +it while the servant stayed, and at last, after it had stood perhaps an +hour, would eat it walking; for he continued his old habit, and was on +his feet ten hours a day. Next year (1742) he had an inflammation in his +left eye, which swelled it to the size of an egg, with boils in other +parts; he was kept long waking with the pain, and was not easily +restrained by five attendants from tearing out his eye. + +The tumour at last subsided; and a short interval of reason ensuing; in +which he knew his physician and his family, gave hopes of his recovery; +but in a few days he sank into a lethargic stupidity, motionless, +heedless, and speechless. But it is said that after a year of total +silence, when his housekeeper, on the 30th of November, told him that +the usual bonfires and illuminations were preparing to celebrate his +birthday, he answered, "It is all folly; they had better let it alone." + +It is remembered that he afterwards spoke now and then, or gave some +intimation of a meaning; but at last sank into a perfect silence, +which continued till about the end of October, 1744, when, in his +seventy-eighth year, he expired without a struggle. + +When Swift is considered as an author, it is just to estimate his powers +by their effects. In the reign of Queen Anne he turned the stream of +popularity against the Whigs, and must be confessed to have dictated for +a time the political opinions of the English nation. In the succeeding +reign he delivered Ireland from plunder and oppression: and showed that +wit, confederated with truth, had such force as authority was unable to +resist. He said truly of himself, that Ireland "was his debtor." It was +from the time when he first began to patronise the Irish, that they may +date their riches and prosperity. He taught them first to know their +own interest, their weight, and their strength, and gave them spirit to +assert that equality with their fellow-subjects to which they have ever +since been making vigorous advances, and to claim those rights which +they have at last established. Nor can they be charged with ingratitude +to their benefactor; for they reverenced him as a guardian, and obeyed +him as a dictator. + +In his works he has given very different specimens both of sentiments +and expression. His "Tale of a Tub" has little resemblance to his other +pieces. It exhibits a vehemence and rapidity of mind, a copiousness of +images, and vivacity of diction, such as he afterwards never possessed, +or never exerted. It is of a mode so distinct and peculiar, that it must +be considered by itself; what is true of that, is not true of anything +else which he has written. In his other works is found an equable tenour +of easy language, which rather trickles than flows. His delight was in +simplicity. That he has in his works no metaphor, as has been said, is +not true; but his few metaphors seem to be received rather by necessity +than choice. He studied purity; and though perhaps all his strictures +are not exact, yet it is not often that solecisms can be found; and +whoever depends on his authority may generally conclude himself safe. +His sentences are never too much dilated or contracted; and it will not +be easy to find any embarrassment in the complication of his clauses, +any inconsequence in his connections, or abruptness in his transitions. +His style was well suited to his thoughts, which are never subtilised +by nice disquisitions, decorated by sparkling conceits, elevated by +ambitious sentences, or variegated by far-sought learning. He pays no +court to the passions; he excites neither surprise nor admiration: he +always understands himself, and his readers always understand him: the +peruser of Swift wants little previous knowledge; it will be sufficient +that he is acquainted with common words and common things; he is neither +required to mount elevations, nor to explore profundities; his passage +is always on a level, along solid ground, without asperities, without +obstruction. This easy and safe conveyance of meaning it was Swift's +desire to attain, and for having attained he deserves praise. For +purposes merely didactic, when something is to be told that was not +known before, it is the best mode; but against that inattention by which +known truths are suffered to lie neglected, it makes no provision; it +instructs, but does not persuade. + +By his political education he was associated with the Whigs; but he +deserted them when they deserted their principles, yet without running +into the contrary extreme; he continued throughout his life to retain +the disposition which he assigns to the "Church-of-England Man," of +thinking commonly with the Whigs of the State, and with the Tories +of the Church. He was a Churchman, rationally zealous; he desired the +prosperity, and maintained the honour of the clergy; of the Dissenters +he did not wish to infringe the Toleration, but he opposed their +encroachments. To his duty as Dean he was very attentive. He managed +the revenues of his church with exact economy; and it is said by Delany, +that more money was, under his direction, laid out in repairs, than had +ever been in the same time since its first erection. Of his choir he +was eminently careful; and though he neither loved nor understood music, +took care that all the singers were well qualified, admitting none +without the testimony of skilful judges. + +In his church he restored the practice of weekly communion, and +distributed the sacramental elements in the most solemn and devout +manner with his own hand. He came to church every morning, preached +commonly in his turn, and attended the evening anthem, that it might not +be negligently performed. He read the service, "rather with a strong, +nervous voice, than in a graceful manner; his voice was sharp and +high-toned, rather than harmonious." He entered upon the clerical state +with hope to excel in preaching; but complained that, from the time +of his political controversies, "he could only preach pamphlets." This +censure of himself, if judgment be made from those sermons which have +been printed, was unreasonably severe. + +The suspicions of his irreligion proceeded in a great measure from his +dread of hypocrisy; instead of wishing to seem better, he delighted in +seeming worse than he was. He went in London to early prayers, lest he +should be seen at church; he read prayers to his servants every morning +with such dexterous secrecy, that Dr. Delany was six months in his house +before he knew it. He was not only careful to hide the good which he +did, but willingly incurred the suspicion of evil which he did not. +He forgot what himself had formerly asserted, that hypocrisy is less +mischievous than open impiety. Dr. Delany, with all his zeal for his +honour, has justly condemned this part of his character. + +The person of Swift had not many recommendations. He had a kind of muddy +complexion, which, though he washed himself with Oriental scrupulosity, +did not look clear. He had a countenance sour and severe, which he +seldom softened by any appearance of gaiety. He stubbornly resisted any +tendency to laughter. To his domestics he was naturally rough: and a man +of a rigorous temper, with that vigilance of minute attention which his +works discover, must have been a master that few could bear. That he was +disposed to do his servants good, on important occasions, is no great +mitigation; benefaction can be but rare, and tyrannic peevishness is +perpetual. He did not spare the servants of others. Once, when he dined +alone with the Earl of Orrery, he said of one that waited in the room, +"That man has, since we sat to the table, committed fifteen faults." +What the faults were, Lord Orrery, from whom I heard the story, had not +been attentive enough to discover. My number may perhaps not be exact. + +In his economy he practised a peculiar and offensive parsimony, without +disguise or apology. The practice of saving being once necessary, became +habitual, and grew first ridiculous, and at last detestable. But +his avarice, though it might exclude pleasure, was never suffered to +encroach upon his virtue. He was frugal by inclination, but liberal +by principle: and if the purpose to which he destined his little +accumulations be remembered, with his distribution of occasional +charity, it will perhaps appear that he only liked one mode of expense +better than another, and saved merely that he might have something to +give. He did not grow rich by injuring his successors, but left both +Laracor and the Deanery more valuable than he found them. With all this +talk of his covetousness and generosity, it should be remembered that he +was never rich. The revenue of his Deanery was not much more than +seven hundred a year. His beneficence was not graced with tenderness or +civility; he relieved without pity, and assisted without kindness; so +that those who were fed by him could hardly love him. He made a rule to +himself to give but one piece at a time, and therefore always stored his +pocket with coins of different value. Whatever he did he seemed willing +to do in a manner peculiar to himself, without sufficiently considering +that singularity, as it implies a contempt of the general practice, is +a kind of defiance which justly provokes the hostility of ridicule; he, +therefore, who indulges peculiar habits, is worse than others, if he be +not better. + +Of his humour, a story told by Pope may afford a specimen. + +"Dr. Swift has an odd, blunt way, that is mistaken by strangers for ill +nature.--'Tis so odd, that there's no describing it but by facts. I'll +tell you one that first comes into my head. One evening Gay and I went +to see him: you know how intimately we were all acquainted. On our +coming in, 'Heyday, gentlemen' (says the doctor), 'what's the meaning of +this visit? How came you to leave the great Lords that you are so fond +of, to come hither to see a poor Dean?'--'Because we would rather see +you than any of them.'--'Ay, anyone that did not know so well as I do +might believe you. But since you are come, I must get some supper +for you, I suppose.'--'No, Doctor, we have supped already.'--'Supped +already? that's impossible! why, 'tis not eight o'clock yet: that's very +strange; but if you had not supped, I must have got something for you. +Let me see, what should I have had? A couple of lobsters; ay, that would +have done very well; two shillings--tarts, a shilling; but you will +drink a glass of wine with me, though you supped so much before your +usual time only to spare my pocket?'--'No, we had rather talk with you +than drink with you.'--'But if you had supped with me, as in all reason +you ought to have done, you must then have drunk with me. A bottle +of wine, two shillings--two and two is four, and one is five; just +two-and-sixpence a-piece. There, Pope, there's half a crown for you, +and there's another for you, sir; for I won't save anything by you. I am +determined.'--This was all said and done with his usual seriousness +on such occasions; and, in spite of everything we could say to the +contrary, he actually obliged us to take the money." + +In the intercourse of familiar life, he indulged his disposition to +petulance and sarcasm, and thought himself injured if the licentiousness +of his raillery, the freedom of his censures, or the petulance of his +frolics was resented or repressed. He predominated over his companions +with very high ascendancy, and probably would bear none over whom he +could not predominate. To give him advice was, in the style of his +friend Delany, "to venture to speak to him." This customary superiority +soon grew too delicate for truth; and Swift, with all his penetration, +allowed himself to be delighted with low flattery. On all common +occasions, he habitually affects a style of arrogance, and dictates +rather than persuades. This authoritative and magisterial language +he expected to be received as his peculiar mode of jocularity: but he +apparently flattered his own arrogance by an assumed imperiousness, +in which he was ironical only to the resentful, and to the submissive +sufficiently serious. He told stories with great felicity, and delighted +in doing what he knew himself to do well; he was therefore captivated by +the respectful silence of a steady listener, and told the same tales too +often. He did not, however, claim the right of talking alone; for it was +his rule, when he had spoken a minute, to give room by a pause for any +other speaker. Of time, on all occasions, he was an exact computer, and +knew the minutes required to every common operation. + +It may be justly supposed that there was in his conversation, what +appears so frequently in his Letters, an affectation of familiarity with +the great, an ambition of momentary equality sought and enjoyed by the +neglect of those ceremonies which custom has established as the +barriers between one order of society and another. This transgression of +regularity was by himself and his admirers termed greatness of soul. But +a great mind disdains to hold anything by courtesy, and therefore never +usurps what a lawful claimant may take away. He that encroaches on +another's dignity puts himself in his power; he is either repelled with +helpless indignity, or endured by clemency and condescension. + +Of Swift's general habits of thinking, if his Letters can be supposed to +afford any evidence, he was not a man to be either loved or envied. He +seems to have wasted life in discontent, by the rage of neglected +pride, and the languishment of unsatisfied desire. He is querulous and +fastidious, arrogant and malignant; he scarcely speaks of himself but +with indignant lamentations, or of others but with insolent superiority +when he is gay, and with angry contempt when he is gloomy. From the +letters that passed between him and Pope it might be inferred that they, +with Arbuthnot and Gay, had engrossed all the understanding and virtue +of mankind; that their merits filled the world; or that there was no +hope of more. They show the age involved in darkness, and shade the +picture with sullen emulation. + +When the Queen's death drove him into Ireland, he might be allowed to +regret for a time the interception of his views, the extinction of +his hopes, and his ejection from gay scenes, important employment, and +splendid friendships; but when time had enabled reason to prevail over +vexation, the complaints, which at first were natural, became ridiculous +because they were useless. But querulousness was now grown habitual, +and he cried out when he probably had ceased to feel. His reiterated +wailings persuaded Bolingbroke that he was really willing to quit his +deanery for an English parish; and Bolingbroke procured an exchange, +which was rejected; and Swift still retained the pleasure of +complaining. + +The greatest difficulty that occurs, in analysing his character, is to +discover by what depravity of intellect he took delight in revolving +ideas, from which almost every other mind shrinks with disgust. The +ideas of pleasure, even when criminal, may solicit the imagination; but +what has disease, deformity, and filth, upon which the thoughts can be +allured to dwell? Delany is willing to think that Swift's mind was not +much tainted with this gross corruption before his long visit to +Pope. He does not consider how he degrades his hero, by making him at +fifty-nine the pupil of turpitude, and liable to the malignant influence +of an ascendant mind. But the truth is, that Gulliver had described his +Yahoos before the visit; and he that had formed those images had nothing +filthy to learn. + +I have here given the character of Swift as he exhibits himself to +my perception; but now let another be heard who knew him better. Dr. +Delany, after long acquaintance, describes him to Lord Orrery in these +terms:-- + +"My Lord, when you consider Swift's singular, peculiar, and most +variegated vein of wit, always rightly intended, although not always so +rightly directed; delightful in many instances, and salutary even where +it is most offensive; when you consider his strict truth, his fortitude +in resisting oppression and arbitrary power; his fidelity in friendship; +his sincere love and zeal for religion; his uprightness in making right +resolutions, and his steadiness in adhering to them; his care of his +church, its choir, its economy, and its income; his attention to all +those who preached in his cathedral, in order to their amendment +in pronunciation and style; as also his remarkable attention to the +interest of his successors preferably to his own present emoluments; his +invincible patriotism, even to a country which he did not love; his very +various, well-devised, well-judged, and extensive charities, throughout +his life; and his whole fortune (to say nothing of his wife's) conveyed +to the same Christian purposes at his death; charities, from which he +could enjoy no honour, advantage, or satisfaction of any kind in this +world: when you consider his ironical and humorous, as well as his +serious schemes, for the promotion of true religion and virtue; his +success in soliciting for the First Fruits and Twentieths, to the +unspeakable benefit of the Established Church of Ireland; and his +felicity (to rate it no higher) in giving occasion to the building of +fifty new churches in London: + +"All this considered, the character of his life will appear like that +of his writings; they will both bear to be reconsidered, and re-examined +with the utmost attention, and always discover new beauties and +excellences upon every examination. + +"They will bear to be considered as the sun, in which the brightness +will hide the blemishes; and whenever petulant ignorance, pride, +malignity, or envy interposes to cloud or sully his fame, I take upon me +to pronounce, that the eclipse will not last long. + +"To conclude--No man ever deserved better of his country, than Swift did +of his; a steady, persevering, inflexible friend; a wise, a watchful, +and a faithful counsellor, under many severe trials and bitter +persecutions, to the manifest hazard both of his liberty and fortune. + +"He lived a blessing, he died a benefactor, and his name will ever live +an honour to Ireland." + +In the poetical works of Dr. Swift there is not much upon which the +critic can exercise his powers. They are often humorous, almost always +light, and have the qualities which recommend such compositions, +easiness and gaiety. They are, for the most part, what their author +intended. The diction is correct, the numbers are smooth, and the rhymes +exact. There seldom occurs a hard-laboured expression, or a redundant +epithet; all his verses exemplify his own definition of a good style; +they consist of "proper words in proper places." + +To divide this collection into classes, and show how some pieces are +gross, and some are trifling, would be to tell the reader what he knows +already, and to find faults of which the author could not be ignorant, +who certainly wrote not often to his judgment, but his humour. + +It was said, in a Preface to one of the Irish editions, that Swift had +never been known to take a single thought from any writer, ancient or +modern. This is not literally true; but perhaps no writer can easily be +found that has borrowed so little, or that, in all his excellences and +all his defects, has so well maintained his claim to be considered as +original. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the Poets: Addison, Savage, +and Swift, by Samuel Johnson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE POETS *** + +***** This file should be named 4679.txt or 4679.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/6/7/4679/ + +Produced by Les Bowler + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lives of the Poets: Addison, Savage, and Swift + +Author: Samuel Johnson + +Commentator: Henry Morley + +Release Date: January 8, 2010 [EBook #4679] +Last Updated: February 6, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE POETS *** + + + + +Produced by Les Bowler, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + <i>LIVES OF THE POETS:</i> <br /><br />ADDISON, SAVAGE, <br />and SWIFT + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Samuel Johnson + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION. </a> + </p> + <br /> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>ADDISON.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> <b>SAVAGE.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> <b>SWIFT.</b> </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <table summary="" border="3" cellpadding="0"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> + <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4678/4678-h/4678-h.htm"> <b>GAY, + THOMSON, YOUNG, and OTHERS</b> </a> + </td> + <td> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION. + </h2> + <p> + Johnson's "Lives of the Poets" were written to serve as Introductions to a + trade edition of the works of poets whom the booksellers selected for + republication. Sometimes, therefore, they dealt briefly with men in whom + the public at large has long ceased to be interested. Richard Savage would + be of this number if Johnson's account of his life had not secured for him + lasting remembrance. Johnson's Life of Savage in this volume has not less + interest than the Lives of Addison and Swift, between which it is set, + although Savage himself has no right at all to be remembered in such + company. Johnson published this piece of biography when his age was + thirty-five; his other lives of poets appeared when that age was about + doubled. He was very poor when the Life of Savage was written for Cave. + Soon after its publication, we are told, Mr. Harte dined with Cave, and + incidentally praised it. Meeting him again soon afterwards Cave said to + Mr. Harte, "You made a man very happy t'other day." "How could that be?" + asked Harte. "Nobody was there but ourselves." Cave answered by reminding + him that a plate of victuals was sent behind a screen, which was to + Johnson, dressed so shabbily that he did not choose to appear. + </p> + <p> + Johnson, struggling, found Savage struggling, and was drawn to him by + faith in the tale he told. We have seen in our own time how even an Arthur + Orton could find sensible and good people to believe the tale with which + he sought to enforce claim upon the Tichborne baronetcy. Savage had + literary skill, and he could personate the manners of a gentleman in days + when there were still gentlemen of fashion who drank, lied, and swaggered + into midnight brawls. I have no doubt whatever that he was the son of the + nurse with whom the Countess of Macclesfield had placed a child that died, + and that after his mother's death he found the papers upon which he built + his plot to personate the child, extort money from the Countess and her + family, and bring himself into a profitable notoriety. + </p> + <p> + Johnson's simple truthfulness and ready sympathy made it hard for him to + doubt the story told as Savage told it to him. But when he told it again + himself, though he denounced one whom he believed to be an unnatural + mother, and dealt gently with his friend, he did not translate evil into + good. Through all the generous and kindly narrative we may see clearly + that Savage was an impostor. There is the heart of Johnson in the noble + appeal against judgment of the self-righteous who have never known the + harder trials of the world, when he says of Savage, "Those are no proper + judges of his conduct, who have slumbered away their time on the down of + plenty; nor will any wise man easily presume to say, 'Had I been in + Savage's condition, I should have lived or written better than Savage.'" + But Johnson, who made large allowance for temptations pressing on the + poor, himself suffered and overcame the hardest trials, firm always to his + duty, true servant of God and friend of man. + </p> + <p> + Richard Savage's whole public life was built upon a lie. His base nature + foiled any attempt made to befriend him; and the friends he lost, he + slandered; Richard Steele among them. Samuel Johnson was a friend easy to + make, and difficult to lose. There was no money to be got from him, for he + was altogether poor in everything but the large spirit of human kindness. + Savage drew largely on him for sympathy, and had it; although Johnson was + too clear-sighted to be much deceived except in judgment upon the + fraudulent claims which then gave rise to division of opinion. The Life of + Savage is a noble piece of truth, although it rests on faith put in a + fraud. + </p> + <p> + H. M. <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ADDISON. + </h2> + <p> + Joseph Addison was born on the 1st of May, 1672, at Milston, of which his + father, Lancelot Addison, was then rector, near Ambrosebury, in Wiltshire, + and, appearing weak and unlikely to live, he was christened the same day. + After the usual domestic education, which from the character of his father + may be reasonably supposed to have given him strong impressions of piety, + he was committed to the care of Mr. Naish at Ambrosebury, and afterwards + of Mr. Taylor at Salisbury. + </p> + <p> + Not to name the school or the masters of men illustrious for literature, + is a kind of historical fraud, by which honest fame is injuriously + diminished: I would therefore trace him through the whole process of his + education. In 1683, in the beginning of his twelfth year, his father, + being made Dean of Lichfield, naturally carried his family to his new + residence, and, I believe, placed him for some time, probably not long, + under Mr. Shaw, then master of the school at Lichfield, father of the late + Dr. Peter Shaw. Of this interval his biographers have given no account, + and I know it only from a story of a BARRING-OUT, told me, when I was a + boy, by Andrew Corbet, of Shropshire, who had heard it from Mr. Pigot, his + uncle. + </p> + <p> + The practice of BARRING-OUT was a savage licence, practised in many + schools to the end of the last century, by which the boys, when the + periodical vacation drew near, growing petulant at the approach of + liberty, some days before the time of regular recess, took possession of + the school, of which they barred the doors, and bade their master defiance + from the windows. It is not easy to suppose that on such occasions the + master would do more than laugh; yet, if tradition may be credited, he + often struggled hard to force or surprise the garrison. The master, when + Pigot was a schoolboy, was BARRED OUT at Lichfield; and the whole + operation, as he said, was planned and conducted by Addison. + </p> + <p> + To judge better of the probability of this story, I have inquired when he + was sent to the Chartreux; but, as he was not one of those who enjoyed the + founder's benefaction, there is no account preserved of his admission. At + the school of the Chartreux, to which he was removed either from that of + Salisbury or Lichfield, he pursued his juvenile studies under the care of + Dr. Ellis, and contracted that intimacy with Sir Richard Steele which + their joint labours have so effectually recorded. + </p> + <p> + Of this memorable friendship the greater praise must be given to Steele. + It is not hard to love those from whom nothing can be feared; and Addison + never considered Steele as a rival; but Steele lived, as he confesses, + under an habitual subjection to the predominating genius of Addison, whom + he always mentioned with reverence, and treated with obsequiousness. + </p> + <p> + Addison, who knew his own dignity, could not always forbear to show it, by + playing a little upon his admirer; but he was in no danger of retort; his + jests were endured without resistance or resentment. But the sneer of + jocularity was not the worst. Steele, whose imprudence of generosity, or + vanity of profusion, kept him always incurably necessitous, upon some + pressing exigence, in an evil hour, borrowed a hundred pounds of his + friend probably without much purpose of repayment; but Addison, who seems + to have had other notions of a hundred pounds, grew impatient of delay, + and reclaimed his loan by an execution. Steele felt with great sensibility + the obduracy of his creditor, but with emotions of sorrow rather than of + anger. + </p> + <p> + In 1687 he was entered into Queen's College in Oxford, where, in 1689, the + accidental perusal of some Latin verses gained him the patronage of Dr. + Lancaster, afterwards Provost of Queen's College; by whose recommendation + he was elected into Magdalen College as a demy, a term by which that + society denominates those who are elsewhere called scholars: young men who + partake of the founder's benefaction, and succeed in their order to vacant + fellowships. Here he continued to cultivate poetry and criticism, and grew + first eminent by his Latin compositions, which are indeed entitled to + particular praise. He has not confined himself to the imitation of any + ancient author, but has formed his style from the general language, such + as a diligent perusal of the productions of different ages happened to + supply. His Latin compositions seem to have had much of his fondness, for + he collected a second volume of the "Musae Anglicanae" perhaps for a + convenient receptacle, in which all his Latin pieces are inserted, and + where his poem on the Peace has the first place. He afterwards presented + the collection to Boileau, who from that time "conceived," says Tickell, + "an opinion of the English genius for poetry." Nothing is better known of + Boileau than that he had an injudicious and peevish contempt of modern + Latin, and therefore his profession of regard was probably the effect of + his civility rather than approbation. + </p> + <p> + Three of his Latin poems are upon subjects on which perhaps he would not + have ventured to have written in his own language: "The Battle of the + Pigmies and Cranes," "The Barometer," and "A Bowling-green." When the + matter is low or scanty, a dead language, in which nothing is mean because + nothing is familiar, affords great conveniences; and by the sonorous + magnificence of Roman syllables, the writer conceals penury of thought, + and want of novelty, often from the reader and often from himself. + </p> + <p> + In his twenty-second year he first showed his power of English poetry by + some verses addressed to Dryden; and soon after published a translation of + the greater part of the Fourth Georgic upon Bees; after which, says + Dryden, "my latter swarm is scarcely worth the hiving." About the same + time he composed the arguments prefixed to the several books of Dryden's + Virgil; and produced an Essay on the Georgics, juvenile, superficial, and + uninstructive, without much either of the scholar's learning or the + critic's penetration. His next paper of verses contained a character of + the principal English poets, inscribed to Henry Sacheverell, who was then, + if not a poet, a writer of verses; as is shown by his version of a small + part of Virgil's Georgics, published in the Miscellanies; and a Latin + encomium on Queen Mary, in the "Musae Anglicanae." These verses exhibit + all the fondness of friendship; but, on one side or the other, friendship + was afterwards too weak for the malignity of faction. In this poem is a + very confident and discriminate character of Spenser, whose work he had + then never read; so little sometimes is criticism the effect of judgment. + It is necessary to inform the reader that about this time he was + introduced by Congreve to Montague, then Chancellor of the Exchequer: + Addison was then learning the trade of a courtier, and subjoined Montague + as a poetical name to those of Cowley and of Dryden. By the influence of + Mr. Montague, concurring, according to Tickell, with his natural modesty, + he was diverted from his original design of entering into holy orders. + Montague alleged the corruption of men who engaged in civil employments + without liberal education; and declared that, though he was represented as + an enemy to the Church, he would never do it any injury but by withholding + Addison from it. + </p> + <p> + Soon after (in 1695) he wrote a poem to King William, with a rhyming + introduction addressed to Lord Somers. King William had no regard to + elegance or literature; his study was only war; yet by a choice of + Ministers, whose disposition was very different from his own, he procured, + without intention, a very liberal patronage to poetry. Addison was + caressed both by Somers and Montague. + </p> + <p> + In 1697 appeared his Latin verses on the Peace of Ryswick, which he + dedicated to Montague, and which was afterwards called, by Smith, "the + best Latin poem since the 'AEneid.'" Praise must not be too rigorously + examined; but the performance cannot be denied to be vigorous and elegant. + Having yet no public employment, he obtained (in 1699) a pension of three + hundred pounds a year, that he might be enabled to travel. He stayed a + year at Blois, probably to learn the French language and then proceeded in + his journey to Italy, which he surveyed with the eyes of a poet. While he + was travelling at leisure, he was far from being idle: for he not only + collected his observations on the country, but found time to write his + "Dialogues on Medals," and four acts of Cato. Such, at least, is the + relation of Tickell. Perhaps he only collected his materials and formed + his plan. Whatever were his other employments in Italy, he there wrote the + letter to Lord Halifax which is justly considered as the most elegant, if + not the most sublime, of his poetical productions. But in about two years + he found it necessary to hasten home; being, as Swift informs us, + distressed by indigence, and compelled to become the tutor of a travelling + squire, because his pension was not remitted. + </p> + <p> + At his return he published his Travels, with a dedication to Lord Somers. + As his stay in foreign countries was short, his observations are such as + might be supplied by a hasty view, and consist chiefly in comparisons of + the present face of the country with the descriptions left us by the Roman + poets, from whom he made preparatory collections, though he might have + spared the trouble had he known that such collections had been made twice + before by Italian authors. + </p> + <p> + The most amusing passage of his book is his account of the minute republic + of San Marino; of many parts it is not a very severe censure to say that + they might have been written at home. His elegance of language, and + variegation of prose and verse, however, gain upon the reader; and the + book, though awhile neglected, became in time so much the favourite of the + public that before it was reprinted it rose to five times its price. + </p> + <p> + 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; and a mind so cultivated gives + reason to believe that little time was lost. But he remained not long + neglected or useless. The victory at Blenheim (1704) spread triumph and + confidence over the nation; and Lord Godolphin, lamenting to Lord Halifax + that it had not been celebrated in a manner equal to the subject, desired + him to propose it to some better poet. Halifax told him that there was no + encouragement for genius; that worthless men were unprofitably enriched + with public money, without any care to find or employ those whose + appearance might do honour to their country. To this Godolphin replied + that such abuses should in time be rectified; and that, if a man could be + found capable of the task then proposed, he should not want an ample + recompense. Halifax then named Addison, but required that the Treasurer + should apply to him in his own person. Godolphin sent the message by Mr. + Boyle, afterwards Lord Carlton; and Addison, having undertaken the work, + communicated it to the Treasury while it was yet advanced no further than + the simile of the angel, and was immediately rewarded by succeeding Mr. + Locke in the place of Commissioner of Appeals. + </p> + <p> + In the following year he was at Hanover with Lord Halifax: and the year + after he was made Under Secretary of State, first to Sir Charles Hedges, + and in a few months more to the Earl of Sunderland. About this time the + prevalent taste for Italian operas inclined him to try what would be the + effect of a musical drama in our own language. He therefore wrote the + opera of Rosamond, which, when exhibited on the stage, was either hissed + or neglected; but, trusting that the readers would do him more justice, he + published it with an inscription to the Duchess of Marlborough—a + woman without skill, or pretensions to skill, in poetry or literature. His + dedication was therefore an instance of servile absurdity, to be exceeded + only by Joshua Barnes's dedication of a Greek Anacreon to the Duke. His + reputation had been somewhat advanced by The Tender Husband, a comedy + which Steele dedicated to him, with a confession that he owed to him + several of the most successful scenes. To this play Addison supplied a + prologue. + </p> + <p> + When the Marquis of Wharton was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, + Addison attended him as his secretary; and was made Keeper of the Records, + in Birmingham's Tower, with a salary of three hundred pounds a year. The + office was little more than nominal, and the salary was augmented for his + accommodation. Interest and faction allow little to the operation of + particular dispositions or private opinions. Two men of personal + characters more opposite than those of Wharton and Addison could not + easily be brought together. Wharton was impious, profligate, and + shameless; without regard, or appearance of regard, to right and wrong. + Whatever is contrary to this may be said of Addison; but as agents of a + party they were connected, and how they adjusted their other sentiments we + cannot know. + </p> + <p> + Addison must, however, not be too hastily condemned. It is not necessary + to refuse benefits from a bad man when the acceptance implies no + approbation of his crimes; nor has the subordinate officer any obligation + to examine the opinions or conduct of those under whom he acts, except + that he may not be made the instrument of wickedness. It is reasonable to + suppose that Addison counteracted, as far as he was able, the malignant + and blasting influence of the Lieutenant; and that at least by his + intervention some good was done, and some mischief prevented. When he was + in office he made a law to himself, as Swift has recorded, never to remit + his regular fees in civility to his friends: "for," said he, "I may have a + hundred friends; and if my fee be two guineas, I shall, by relinquishing + my right, lose two hundred guineas, and no friend gain more than two; + there is therefore no proportion between the good imparted and the evil + suffered." He was in Ireland when Steele, without any communication of his + design, began the publication of the Tatler; but he was not long + concealed; by inserting a remark on Virgil which Addison had given him he + discovered himself. It is, indeed, not easy for any man to write upon + literature or common life so as not to make himself known to those with + whom he familiarly converses, and who are acquainted with his track of + study, his favourite topic, his peculiar notions, and his habitual + phrases. + </p> + <p> + If Steele desired to write in secret, he was not lucky; a single month + detected him. His first Tatler was published April 22 (1709); and + Addison's contribution appeared May 26. Tickell observes that the Tatler + began and was concluded without his concurrence. This is doubtless + literally true; but the work did not suffer much by his unconsciousness of + its commencement, or his absence at its cessation; for he continued his + assistance to December 23, and the paper stopped on January 2. He did not + distinguish his pieces by any signature; and I know not whether his name + was not kept secret till the papers were collected into volumes. + </p> + <p> + To the Tatler, in about two months, succeeded the Spectator: a series of + essays of the same kind, but written with less levity, upon a more regular + plan, and published daily. Such an undertaking showed the writers not to + distrust their own copiousness of materials or facility of composition, + and their performance justified their confidence. They found, however, in + their progress many auxiliaries. To attempt a single paper was no + terrifying labour; many pieces were offered, and many were received. + </p> + <p> + Addison had enough of the zeal of party; but Steele had at that time + almost nothing else. The Spectator, in one of the first papers, showed the + political tenets of its authors; but a resolution was soon taken of + courting general approbation by general topics, and subjects on which + faction had produced no diversity of sentiments—such as literature, + morality, and familiar life. To this practice they adhered with few + deviations. The ardour of Steele once broke out in praise of Marlborough; + and when Dr. Fleetwood prefixed to some sermons a preface overflowing with + Whiggish opinions, that it might be read by the Queen, it was reprinted in + the Spectator. + </p> + <p> + To teach the minuter decencies and inferior duties, to regulate the + practice of daily conversation, to correct those depravities which are + rather ridiculous than criminal, and remove those grievances which, if + they produce no lasting calamities, impress hourly vexation, was first + attempted by Casa in his book of "Manners," and Castiglione in his + "Courtier:" two books yet celebrated in Italy for purity and elegance, and + which, if they are now less read, are neglected only because they have + effected that reformation which their authors intended, and their precepts + now are no longer wanted. Their usefulness to the age in which they were + written is sufficiently attested by the translations which almost all the + nations of Europe were in haste to obtain. + </p> + <p> + This species of instruction was continued, and perhaps advanced, by the + French; among whom La Bruyere's "Manners of the Age" (though, as Boileau + remarked, it is written without connection) certainly deserves praise for + liveliness of description and justness of observation. Before the Tatler + and Spectator, if the writers for the theatre are excepted, England had no + masters of common life. No writers had yet undertaken to reform either the + savageness of neglect, or the impertinence of civility; to show when to + speak, or to be silent; how to refuse, or how to comply. We had many books + to teach us our more important duties, and to settle opinions in + philosophy or politics; but an arbiter elegantiarum, (a judge of + propriety) was yet wanting who should survey the track of daily + conversation, and free it from thorns and prickles, which tease the + passer, though they do not wound him. For this purpose nothing is so + proper as the frequent publication of short papers, which we read, not as + study, but amusement. If the subject be slight, the treatise is short. The + busy may find time, and the idle may find patience. This mode of conveying + cheap and easy knowledge began among us in the civil war, when it was much + the interest of either party to raise and fix the prejudices of the + people. At that time appeared Mercurius Aulicus, Mercurius Rusticus, and + Mercurius Civicus. It is said that when any title grew popular, it was + stolen by the antagonist, who by this stratagem conveyed his notions to + those who would not have received him had he not worn the appearance of a + friend. The tumult of those unhappy days left scarcely any man leisure to + treasure up occasional compositions; and so much were they neglected that + a complete collection is nowhere to be found. + </p> + <p> + These Mercuries were succeeded by L'Estrange's Observator; and that by + Lesley's Rehearsal, and perhaps by others; but hitherto nothing had been + conveyed to the people, in this commodious manner, but controversy + relating to the Church or State; of which they taught many to talk, whom + they could not teach to judge. + </p> + <p> + It has been suggested that the Royal Society was instituted soon after the + Restoration to divert the attention of the people from public discontent. + The Tatler and Spectator had the same tendency; they were published at a + time when two parties—loud, restless, and violent, each with + plausible declarations, and each perhaps without any distinct termination + of its views—were agitating the nation; to minds heated with + political contest they supplied cooler and more inoffensive reflections; + and it is said by Addison, in a subsequent work, that they had a + perceptible influence upon the conversation of that time, and taught the + frolic and the gay to unite merriment with decency—an effect which + they can never wholly lose while they continue to be among the first books + by which both sexes are initiated in the elegances of knowledge. + </p> + <p> + The Tatler and Spectator adjusted, like Casa, the unsettled practice of + daily intercourse by propriety and politeness; and, like La Bruyere, + exhibited the "Characters and Manners of the Age." The personages + introduced in these papers were not merely ideal; they were then known, + and conspicuous in various stations. Of the Tatler this is told by Steele + in his last paper; and of the Spectator by Budgell in the preface to + "Theophrastus," a book which Addison has recommended, and which he was + suspected to have revised, if he did not write it. Of those portraits + which may be supposed to be sometimes embellished, and sometimes + aggravated, the originals are now partly known, and partly forgotten. But + to say that they united the plans of two or three eminent writers, is to + give them but a small part of their due praise; they superadded literature + and criticism, and sometimes towered far above their predecessors; and + taught, with great justness of argument and dignity of language, the most + important duties and sublime truths. All these topics were happily varied + with elegant fictions and refined allegories, and illuminated with + different changes of style and felicities of invention. + </p> + <p> + It is recorded by Budgell, that of the characters feigned or exhibited in + the Spectator, the favourite of Addison was Sir Roger de Coverley, of whom + he had formed a very delicate and discriminate idea, which he would not + suffer to be violated; and therefore when Steele had shown him innocently + picking up a girl in the Temple, and taking her to a tavern, he drew upon + himself so much of his friend's indignation that he was forced to appease + him by a promise of forbearing Sir Roger for the time to come. + </p> + <p> + The reason which induced Cervantes to bring his hero to the grave, para mi + sola nacio Don Quixote, y yo para el, made Addison declare, with undue + vehemence of expression, that he would kill Sir Roger; being of opinion + that they were born for one another, and that any other hand would do him + wrong. + </p> + <p> + It may be doubted whether Addison ever filled up his original delineation. + He describes his knight as having his imagination somewhat warped; but of + this perversion he has made very little use. The irregularities in Sir + Roger's conduct seem not so much the effects of a mind deviating from the + beaten track of life, by the perpetual pressure of some overwhelming idea, + as of habitual rusticity, and that negligence which solitary grandeur + naturally generates. The variable weather of the mind, the flying vapours + of incipient madness, which from time to time cloud reason without + eclipsing it, it requires so much nicety to exhibit that Addison seems to + have been deterred from prosecuting his own design. + </p> + <p> + To Sir Roger (who, as a country gentleman, appears to be a Tory, or, as it + is gently expressed, an adherent to the landed interest) is opposed Sir + Andrew Freeport, a new man, a wealthy merchant, zealous for the moneyed + interest, and a Whig. Of this contrariety of opinions, it is probable more + consequences were at first intended than could be produced when the + resolution was taken to exclude party from the paper. Sir Andrew does but + little, and that little seems not to have pleased Addison, who, when he + dismissed him from the club, changed his opinions. Steele had made him, in + the true spirit of unfeeling commerce, declare that he "would not build an + hospital for idle people;" but at last he buys land, settles in the + country, and builds, not a manufactory, but an hospital for twelve old + husbandmen—for men with whom a merchant has little acquaintance, and + whom he commonly considers with little kindness. + </p> + <p> + Of essays thus elegant, thus instructive, and thus commodiously + distributed, it is natural to suppose the approbation general, and the + sale numerous. I once heard it observed that the sale may be calculated by + the product of the tax, related in the last number to produce more than + twenty pounds a week, and therefore stated at one-and-twenty pounds, or + three pounds ten shillings a day: this, at a halfpenny a paper, will give + sixteen hundred and eighty for the daily number. This sale is not great; + yet this, if Swift be credited, was likely to grow less; for he declares + that the Spectator, whom he ridicules for his endless mention of the FAIR + sex, had before his recess wearied his readers. + </p> + <p> + The next year (1713), in which Cato came upon the stage, was the grand + climacteric of Addison's reputation. Upon the death of Cato he had, as is + said, planned a tragedy in the time of his travels, and had for several + years the four first acts finished, which were shown to such as were + likely to spread their admiration. They were seen by Pope and by Cibber, + who relates that Steele, when he took back the copy, told him, in the + despicable cant of literary modesty, that, whatever spirit his friend had + shown in the composition, he doubted whether he would have courage + sufficient to expose it to the censure of a British audience. The time, + however, was now come when those who affected to think liberty in danger + affected likewise to think that a stage-play might preserve it; and + Addison was importuned, in the name of the tutelary deities of Britain, to + show his courage and his zeal by finishing his design. + </p> + <p> + To resume his work he seemed perversely and unaccountably unwilling; and + by a request, which perhaps he wished to be denied, desired Mr. Hughes to + add a fifth act. Hughes supposed him serious; and, undertaking the + supplement, brought in a few days some scenes for his examination; but he + had in the meantime gone to work himself, and produced half an act, which + he afterwards completed, but with brevity irregularly disproportionate to + the foregoing parts, like a task performed with reluctance and hurried to + its conclusion. + </p> + <p> + It may yet be doubted whether Cato was made public by any change of the + author's purpose; for Dennis charged him with raising prejudices in his + own favour by false positions of preparatory criticism, and with POISONING + THE TOWN by contradicting in the Spectator the established rule of + poetical justice, because his own hero, with all his virtues, was to fall + before a tyrant. The fact is certain; the motives we must guess. + </p> + <p> + Addison was, I believe, sufficiently disposed to bar all avenues against + all danger. When Pope brought him the prologue, which is properly + accommodated to the play, there were these words, "Britains, arise! be + worth like this approved;" meaning nothing more than—Britons, erect + and exalt yourselves to the approbation of public virtue. Addison was + frighted, lest he should be thought a promoter of insurrection, and the + line was liquidated to "Britains, attend." + </p> + <p> + Now "heavily in clouds came on the day, the great, the important day," + when Addison was to stand the hazard of the theatre. That there might, + however, be left as little hazard as was possible, on the first night + Steele, as himself relates, undertook to pack an audience. "This," says + Pope, "had been tried for the first time in favour of the Distressed + Mother; and was now, with more efficacy, practised for Cato." The danger + was soon over. The whole nation was at that time on fire with faction. The + Whigs applauded every line in which liberty was mentioned, as a satire on + the Tories; and the Tories echoed every clap, to show that the satire was + unfelt. The story of Bolingbroke is well known; he called Booth to his + box, and gave him fifty guineas for defending the cause of liberty so well + against a perpetual dictator. "The Whigs," says Pope, "design a second + present, when they can accompany it with as good a sentence." + </p> + <p> + The play, supported thus by the emulation of factious praise, was acted + night after night for a longer time than, I believe, the public had + allowed to any drama before; and the author, as Mrs. Porter long + afterwards related, wandered through the whole exhibition behind the + scenes with restless and unappeasable solicitude. When it was printed, + notice was given that the Queen would be pleased if it was dedicated to + her; "but, as he had designed that compliment elsewhere, he found himself + obliged," says Tickell, "by his duty on the one hand, and his honour on + the other, to send it into the world without any dedication." + </p> + <p> + Human happiness has always its abatements; the brightest sunshine of + success is not without a cloud. No sooner was Cato offered to the reader + than it was attacked by the acute malignity of Dennis with all the + violence of angry criticism. Dennis, though equally zealous, and probably + by his temper more furious than Addison, for what they called liberty, and + though a flatterer of the Whig Ministry, could not sit quiet at a + successful play; but was eager to tell friends and enemies that they had + misplaced their admirations. The world was too stubborn for instruction; + with the fate of the censurer of Corneille's Cid, his animadversions + showed his anger without effect, and Cato continued to be praised. + </p> + <p> + Pope had now an opportunity of courting the friendship of Addison by + vilifying his old enemy, and could give resentment its full play without + appearing to revenge himself. He therefore published "A Narrative of the + Madness of John Dennis:" a performance which left the objections to the + play in their full force, and therefore discovered more desire of vexing + the critic than of defending the poet. + </p> + <p> + 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; and that, whenever he should think fit to answer his + remarks, he would do it in a manner to which nothing could be objected. + </p> + <p> + The greatest weakness of the play is in the scenes of love, which are said + by Pope to have been added to the original plan upon a subsequent review, + in compliance with the popular practice of the stage. Such an authority it + is hard to reject; yet the love is so intimately mingled with the whole + action that it cannot easily be thought extrinsic and adventitious; for if + it were taken away, what would be left? or how were the four acts filled + in the first draft? At the publication the wits seemed proud to pay their + attendance with encomiastic verses. The best are from an unknown hand, + which will perhaps lose somewhat of their praise when the author is known + to be Jeffreys. + </p> + <p> + Cato had yet other honours. It was censured as a party-play by a scholar + of Oxford; and defended in a favourable examination by Dr. Sewel. It was + translated by Salvini into Italian, and acted at Florence; and by the + Jesuits of St. Omer's into Latin, and played by their pupils. Of this + version a copy was sent to Mr. Addison: it is to be wished that it could + be found, for the sake of comparing their version of the soliloquy with + that of Bland. + </p> + <p> + A tragedy was written on the same subject by Des Champs, a French poet, + which was translated with a criticism on the English play. But the + translator and the critic are now forgotten. + </p> + <p> + Dennis lived on unanswered, and therefore little read. Addison knew the + policy of literature too well to make his enemy important by drawing the + attention of the public upon a criticism which, though sometimes + intemperate, was often irrefragable. + </p> + <p> + While Cato was upon the stage, another daily paper, called the Guardian, + was published by Steele. To this Addison gave great assistance, whether + occasionally or by previous engagement is not known. The character of + Guardian was too narrow and too serious: it might properly enough admit + both the duties and the decencies of life, but seemed not to include + literary speculations, and was in some degree violated by merriment and + burlesque. What had the Guardian of the Lizards to do with clubs of tall + or of little men, with nests of ants, or with Strada's prolusions? Of this + paper nothing is necessary to be said but that it found many contributors, + and that it was a continuation of the Spectator, with the same elegance + and the same variety, till some unlucky sparkle from a Tory paper set + Steele's politics on fire, and wit at once blazed into faction. He was + soon too hot for neutral topics, and quitted the Guardian to write the + Englishman. + </p> + <p> + The papers of Addison are marked in the Spectator by one of the letters in + the name of Clio, and in the Guardian by a hand; whether it was, as + Tickell pretends to think, that he was unwilling to usurp the praise of + others, or as Steele, with far greater likelihood, insinuates, that he + could not without discontent impart to others any of his own. I have heard + that his avidity did not satisfy itself with the air of renown, but that + with great eagerness he laid hold on his proportion of the profits. + </p> + <p> + Many of these papers were written with powers truly comic, with nice + discrimination of characters, and accurate observation of natural or + accidental deviations from propriety; but it was not supposed that he had + tried a comedy on the stage, till Steele after his death declared him the + author of The Drummer. This, however, Steele did not know to be true by + any direct testimony, for when Addison put the play into his hands, he + only told him it was the work of a "gentleman in the company;" and when it + was received, as is confessed, with cold disapprobation, he was probably + less willing to claim it. Tickell omitted it in his collection; but the + testimony of Steele, and the total silence of any other claimant, has + determined the public to assign it to Addison, and it is now printed with + other poetry. Steele carried The Drummer to the play-house, and afterwards + to the press, and sold the copy for fifty guineas. + </p> + <p> + To the opinion of Steele may be added the proof supplied by the play + itself, of which the characters are such as Addison would have delineated, + and the tendency such as Addison would have promoted. That it should have + been ill received would raise wonder, did we not daily see the capricious + distribution of theatrical praise. + </p> + <p> + He was not all this time an indifferent spectator of public affairs. He + wrote, as different exigences required (in 1707), "The Present State of + the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation;" which, however judicious, + being written on temporary topics, and exhibiting no peculiar powers, laid + hold on no attention, and has naturally sunk by its own weight into + neglect. This cannot be said of the few papers entitled the Whig Examiner, + in which is employed all the force of gay malevolence and humorous satire. + Of this paper, which just appeared and expired, Swift remarks, with + exultation, that "it is now down among the dead men." He might well + rejoice at the death of that which he could not have killed. Every reader + of every party, since personal malice is past, and the papers which once + inflamed the nation are read only as effusions of wit, must wish for more + of the Whig Examiners; for on no occasion was the genius of Addison more + vigorously exerted, and on none did the superiority of his powers more + evidently appear. His "Trial of Count Tariff," written to expose the + treaty of commerce with France, lived no longer than the question that + produced it. + </p> + <p> + Not long afterwards an attempt was made to revive the Spectator, at a time + indeed by no means favourable to literature, when the succession of a new + family to the throne filled the nation with anxiety, discord, and + confusion; and either the turbulence of the times, or the satiety of the + readers, put a stop to the publication after an experiment of eighty + numbers, which were actually collected into an eighth volume, perhaps more + valuable than any of those that went before it. Addison produced more than + a fourth part; and the other contributors are by no means unworthy of + appearing as his associates. The time that had passed during the + suspension of the Spectator, though it had not lessened his power of + humour, seems to have increased his disposition to seriousness: the + proportion of his religious to his comic papers is greater than in the + former series. + </p> + <p> + The Spectator, from its re-commencement, was published only three times a + week; and no discriminative marks were added to the papers. To Addison, + Tickell has ascribed twenty-three. The Spectator had many contributors; + and Steele, whose negligence kept him always in a hurry, when it was his + turn to furnish a paper, called loudly for the letters, of which Addison, + whose materials were more, made little use—having recourse to + sketches and hints, the product of his former studies, which he now + reviewed and completed: among these are named by Tickell the Essays on + Wit, those on the Pleasures of the Imagination, and the Criticism on + Milton. + </p> + <p> + When the House of Hanover took possession of the throne, it was reasonable + to expect that the zeal of Addison would be suitably rewarded. Before the + arrival of King George, he was made Secretary to the Regency, and was + required by his office to send notice to Hanover that the Queen was dead, + and that the throne was vacant. To do this would not have been difficult + to any man but Addison, who was so overwhelmed with the greatness of the + event, and so distracted by choice of expression, that the lords, who + could not wait for the niceties of criticism, called Mr. Southwell, a + clerk in the House, and ordered him to despatch the message. Southwell + readily told what was necessary in the common style of business, and + valued himself upon having done what was too hard for Addison. He was + better qualified for the Freeholder, a paper which he published twice a + week, from December 23, 1715, to the middle of the next year. This was + undertaken in defence of the established Government, sometimes with + argument, and sometimes with mirth. In argument he had many equals; but + his humour was singular and matchless. Bigotry itself must be delighted + with the "Tory Fox-hunter." There are, however, some strokes less elegant + and less decent; such as the "Pretender's Journal," in which one topic of + ridicule is his poverty. This mode of abuse had been employed by Milton + against King Charles II. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Jacoboei. + Centum exulantis viscera Marsupii regis." +</pre> + <p> + And Oldmixon delights to tell of some alderman of London that he had more + money than the exiled princes; but that which might be expected from + Milton's savageness, or Oldmixon's meanness, was not suitable to the + delicacy of Addison. + </p> + <p> + Steele thought the humour of the Freeholder too nice and gentle for such + noisy times, and is reported to have said that the Ministry made use of a + lute, when they should have called for a trumpet. + </p> + <p> + This year (1716) he married the Countess Dowager of Warwick, whom he had + solicited by a very long and anxious courtship, perhaps with behaviour not + very unlike that of Sir Roger to his disdainful widow; and who, I am + afraid, diverted herself often by playing with his passion. He is said to + have first known her by becoming tutor to her son. "He formed," said + Tonson, "the design of getting that lady from the time when he was first + taken into the family." In what part of his life he obtained the + recommendation, or how long, and in what manner he lived in the family, I + know not. His advances at first were certainly timorous, but grew bolder + as his reputation and influence increased; till at last 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. She always remembered her own + rank, and thought herself entitled to treat with very little ceremony the + tutor of her son. Rowe's ballad of the "Despairing Shepherd" is said to + have been written, either before or after marriage, upon this memorable + pair; and it is certain that Addison has left behind him no encouragement + for ambitious love. + </p> + <p> + The year after (1717) he rose to his highest elevation, being made + Secretary of State. For this employment he might be justly supposed + qualified by long practice of business, and by his regular ascent through + other offices; but expectation is often disappointed; it is universally + confessed that he was unequal to the duties of his place. In the House of + Commons he could not speak, and therefore was useless to the defence of + the Government. "In the office," says Pope, "he could not issue an order + without losing his time in quest of fine expressions." What he gained in + rank he lost in credit; and finding by experience his own inability, was + forced to solicit his dismission, with a pension of fifteen hundred pounds + a year. His friends palliated this relinquishment, of which both friends + and enemies knew the true reason, with an account of declining health, and + the necessity of recess and quiet. He now returned to his vocation, and + began to plan literary occupations for his future life. He purposed a + tragedy on the death of Socrates: a story of which, as Tickell remarks, + the basis is narrow, and to which I know not how love could have been + appended. There would, however, have been no want either of virtue in the + sentiments, or elegance in the language. He engaged in a nobler work, a + "Defence of the Christian Religion," of which part was published after his + death; and he designed to have made a new poetical version of the Psalms. + </p> + <p> + These pious compositions Pope imputed to a selfish motive, upon the + credit, as he owns, of Tonson; who, having quarrelled with Addison, and + not loving him, said that when he laid down the Secretary's office he + intended to take orders and obtain a bishopric; "for," said he, "I always + thought him a priest in his heart." + </p> + <p> + That Pope should have thought this conjecture of Tonson worth remembrance, + is a proof—but indeed, so far as I have found, the only proof—that + he retained some malignity from their ancient rivalry. Tonson pretended to + guess it; no other mortal ever suspected it; and Pope might have reflected + that a man who had been Secretary of State in the Ministry of Sunderland + knew a nearer way to a bishopric than by defending religion or translating + the Psalms. + </p> + <p> + It is related that he had once a design to make an English dictionary, and + that he considered Dr. Tillotson as the writer of highest authority. There + was formerly sent to me by Mr. Locker, clerk of the Leathersellers + Company, who was eminent for curiosity and literature, a collection of + examples selected from Tillotson's works, as Locker said, by Addison. It + came too late to be of use, so I inspected it but slightly, and remember + it indistinctly. I thought the passages too short. Addison, however, did + not conclude his life in peaceful studies, but relapsed, when he was near + his end, to a political dispute. + </p> + <p> + It so happened that (1718-19) a controversy was agitated with great + vehemence between those friends of long continuance, Addison and Steele. + It may be asked, in the language of Homer, what power or what cause should + set them at variance. The subject of their dispute was of great + importance. The Earl of Sunderland proposed an Act, called the "Peerage + Bill;" by which the number of Peers should be fixed, and the King + restrained from any new creation of nobility, unless when an old family + should be extinct. To this the Lords would naturally agree; and the King, + who was yet little acquainted with his own prerogative, and, as is now + well known, almost indifferent to the possessions of the Crown, had been + persuaded to consent. The only difficulty was found among the Commons, who + were not likely to approve the perpetual exclusion of themselves and their + posterity. The Bill, therefore, was eagerly opposed, and, among others, by + Sir Robert Walpole, whose speech was published. + </p> + <p> + The Lords might think their dignity diminished by improper advancements, + and particularly by the introduction of twelve new Peers at once, to + produce a majority of Tories in the last reign: an act of authority + violent enough, yet certainly legal, and by no means to be compared with + that contempt of national right with which some time afterwards, by the + instigation of Whiggism, the Commons, chosen by the people for three + years, chose themselves for seven. But, whatever might be the disposition + of the Lords, the people had no wish to increase their power. The tendency + of the Bill, as Steele observed in a letter to the Earl of Oxford, was to + introduce an aristocracy: for a majority in the House of Lords, so + limited, would have been despotic and irresistible. + </p> + <p> + To prevent this subversion of the ancient establishment, Steele, whose pen + readily seconded his political passions, endeavoured to alarm the nation + by a pamphlet called "The Plebeian." To this an answer was published by + Addison, under the title of "The Old Whig," in which it is not discovered + that Steele was then known to be the advocate for the Commons. Steele + replied by a second "Plebeian;" and, whether by ignorance or by courtesy, + confined himself to his question, without any personal notice of his + opponent. Nothing hitherto was committed against the laws of friendship or + proprieties of decency; but controvertists cannot long retain their + kindness for each other. The "Old Whig" answered "The Plebeian," and could + not forbear some contempt of "little DICKY, whose trade it was to write + pamphlets." Dicky, however, did not lose his settled veneration for his + friend, but contented himself with quoting some lines of Cato, which were + at once detection and reproof. The Bill was laid aside during that + session, and Addison died before the next, in which its commitment was + rejected by two hundred and sixty-five to one hundred and seventy-seven. + </p> + <p> + Every reader surely must regret that these two illustrious friends, after + so many years passed in confidence and endearment, in unity of interest, + conformity of opinion, and fellowship of study, should finally part in + acrimonious opposition. Such a controversy was "bellum plusquam CIVILE," + as Lucan expresses it. Why could not faction find other advocates? But + among the uncertainties of the human state, we are doomed to number the + instability of friendship. Of this dispute I have little knowledge but + from the "Biographia Britannica." "The Old Whig" is not inserted in + Addison's works: nor is it mentioned by Tickell in his Life; why it was + omitted, the biographers doubtless give the true reason—the fact was + too recent, and those who had been heated in the contention were not yet + cool. + </p> + <p> + The necessity of complying with times, and of sparing persons, is the + great impediment of biography. History may be formed from permanent + monuments and records: but lives can only be written from personal + knowledge, which is growing every day less, and in a short time is lost + for ever. What is known can seldom be immediately told; and when it might + be told, it is no longer known. The delicate features of the mind, the + nice discriminations of character, and the minute peculiarities of + conduct, are soon obliterated; and it is surely better that caprice, + obstinacy, frolic, and folly, however they might delight in the + description, should be silently forgotten, than that, by wanton merriment + and unseasonable detection, a pang should be given to a widow, a daughter, + a brother, or a friend. As the process of these narratives is now bringing + me among my contemporaries, I begin to feel myself "walking upon ashes + under which the fire is not extinguished," and coming to the time of which + it will be proper rather to say "nothing that is false, than all that is + true." + </p> + <p> + The end of this useful life was now approaching. Addison had for some time + been oppressed by shortness of breath, which was now aggravated by a + dropsy; and, finding his danger pressing, he prepared to die conformably + to his own precepts and professions. During this lingering decay, he sent, + as Pope relates, a message by the Earl of Warwick to Mr. Gay, desiring to + see him. Gay, who had not visited him for some time before, obeyed the + summons, and found himself received with great kindness. The purpose for + which the interview had been solicited was then discovered. Addison told + him that he had injured him; but that, if he recovered, he would + recompense him. What the injury was he did not explain, nor did Gay ever + know; but supposed that some preferment designed for him had, by Addison's + intervention, been withheld. + </p> + <p> + Lord Warwick was a young man, of very irregular life, and perhaps of loose + opinions. Addison, for whom he did not want respect, had very diligently + endeavoured to reclaim him, but his arguments and expostulations had no + effect. One experiment, however, remained to be tried; when he found his + life near its end, he directed the young lord to be called, and when he + desired with great tenderness to hear his last injunctions, told him, "I + have sent for you that you may see how a Christian can die." What effect + this awful scene had on the earl, I know not; he likewise died himself in + a short time. + </p> + <p> + In Tickell's excellent Elegy on his friend are these lines:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "He taught us how to live; and, oh! too high + The price of knowledge, taught us how to die"— +</pre> + <p> + in which he alludes, as he told Dr. Young, to this moving interview. + </p> + <p> + Having given directions to Mr. Tickell for the publication of his works, + and dedicated them on his death-bed to his friend Mr. Craggs, he died June + 17, 1719, at Holland House, leaving no child but a daughter. + </p> + <p> + Of his virtue it is a sufficient testimony that the resentment of party + has transmitted no charge of any crime. He was not one of those who are + praised only after death; for his merit was so generally acknowledged that + Swift, having observed that his election passed without a contest, adds + that if he proposed himself for King he would hardly have been refused. + His zeal for his party did not extinguish his kindness for the merit of + his opponents; when he was Secretary in Ireland, he refused to intermit + his acquaintance with Swift. Of his habits or external manners, nothing is + so often mentioned as that timorous or sullen taciturnity, which his + friends called modesty by too mild a name. Steele mentions with great + tenderness "that remarkable bashfulness which is a cloak that hides and + muffles merit;" and tells us "that his abilities were covered only by + modesty, which doubles the beauties which are seen, and gives credit and + esteem to all that are concealed." Chesterfield affirms that "Addison was + the most timorous and awkward man that he ever saw." And Addison, speaking + of his own deficiency in conversation, used to say of himself that, with + respect to intellectual wealth, "he could draw bills for a thousand + pounds, though he had not a guinea in his pocket." That he wanted current + coin for ready payment, and by that want was often obstructed and + distressed; and that he was often oppressed by an improper and ungraceful + timidity, every testimony concurs to prove; but Chesterfield's + representation is doubtless hyperbolical. That man cannot be supposed very + unexpert in the arts of conversation and practice of life who, without + fortune or alliance, by his usefulness and dexterity became Secretary of + State, and who died at forty-seven, after having not only stood long in + the highest rank of wit and literature, but filled one of the most + important offices of State. + </p> + <p> + The time in which he lived had reason to lament his obstinacy of silence; + "for he was," says Steele, "above all men in that talent called humour, + and enjoyed it in such perfection that I have often reflected, after a + night spent with him apart from all the world, that I had had the pleasure + of conversing with an intimate acquaintance of Terence and Catullus, who + had all their wit and nature, heightened with humour more exquisite and + delightful than any other man ever possessed." This is the fondness of a + friend; let us hear what is told us by a rival. "Addison's conversation," + says Pope, "had something in it more charming than I have found in any + other man. But this was only when familiar: before strangers, or perhaps a + single stranger, he preserved his dignity by a stiff silence." This + modesty was by no means inconsistent with a very high opinion of his own + merit. He demanded to be the first name in modern wit; and, with Steele to + echo him, used to depreciate Dryden, whom Pope and Congreve defended + against them. There is no reason to doubt that he suffered too much pain + from the prevalence of Pope's poetical reputation; nor is it without + strong reason suspected that by some disingenuous acts he endeavoured to + obstruct it; Pope was not the only man whom he insidiously injured, though + the only man of whom he could be afraid. His own powers were such as might + have satisfied him with conscious excellence. Of very extensive learning + he has indeed given no proofs. He seems to have had small acquaintance + with the sciences, and to have read little except Latin and French; but of + the Latin poets his "Dialogues on Medals" show that he had perused the + works with great diligence and skill. The abundance of his own mind left + him little indeed of adventitious sentiments; his wit always could suggest + what the occasion demanded. He had read with critical eyes the important + volume of human life, and knew the heart of man, from the depths of + stratagem to the surface of affectation. What he knew he could easily + communicate. "This," says Steele, "was particular in this writer—that + when he had taken his resolution, or made his plan for what he designed to + write, he would walk about a room and dictate it into language with as + much freedom and ease as any one could write it down, and attend to the + coherence and grammar of what he dictated." + </p> + <p> + Pope, who can be less suspected of favouring his memory, declares that he + wrote very fluently, but was slow and scrupulous in correcting; that many + of his Spectators were written very fast, and sent immediately to the + press; and that it seemed to be for his advantage not to have time for + much revisal. "He would alter," says Pope, "anything to please his friends + before publication, but would not re-touch his pieces afterwards; and I + believe not one word of Cato to which I made an objection was suffered to + stand." + </p> + <p> + The last line of Cato is Pope's, having been originally written— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "And oh! 'twas this that ended Cato's life." +</pre> + <p> + Pope might have made more objections to the six concluding lines. In the + first couplet the words "from hence" are improper; and the second line is + taken from Dryden's Virgil. Of the next couplet, the first verse, being + included in the second, is therefore useless; and in the third Discord is + made to produce Strife. + </p> + <p> + Of the course of Addison's familiar day, before his marriage, Pope has + given a detail. He had in the house with him Budgell, and perhaps Philips. + His chief companions were Steele, Budgell, Philips [Ambrose], Carey, + Davenant, and Colonel Brett. With one or other of these he always + breakfasted. He studied all morning; then dined at a tavern; and went + afterwards to Button's. 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 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. In the bottle + discontent seeks for comfort, cowardice for courage, and bashfulness for + confidence. It is not unlikely that Addison was first seduced to excess by + the manumission which he obtained from the servile timidity of his sober + hours. He that feels oppression from the presence of those to whom he + knows himself superior will desire to set loose his powers of + conversation; and who that ever asked succours from Bacchus was able to + preserve himself from being enslaved by his auxiliary? + </p> + <p> + Among those friends it was that Addison displayed the elegance of his + colloquial accomplishments, which may easily be supposed such as Pope + represents them. The remark of Mandeville, who, when he had passed an + evening in his company, declared that he was a parson in a tie-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. + </p> + <p> + From any minute knowledge of his familiar manners the intervention of + sixty years has now debarred us. Steele once promised Congreve and the + public a complete description of his character; but the promises of + authors are like the vows of lovers. Steele thought no more on his design, + or thought on it with anxiety that at last disgusted him, and left his + friend in the hands of Tickell. + </p> + <p> + One slight lineament of his character Swift has preserved. It was his + practice, when he found any man invincibly wrong, to flatter his opinions + by acquiescence, and sink him yet deeper in absurdity. This artifice of + mischief was admired by Stella; and Swift seems to approve her admiration. + His works will supply some information. It appears, from the various + pictures of the world, that, with all his bashfulness, he had conversed + with many distinct classes of men, had surveyed their ways with very + diligent observation, and marked with great acuteness the effects of + different modes of life. He was a man in whose presence nothing + reprehensible was out of danger; quick in discerning whatever was wrong or + ridiculous, and not unwilling to expose it. "There are," says Steele, "in + his writings many oblique strokes upon some of the wittiest men of the + age." His delight was more to excite merriment than detestation; and he + detects follies rather than crimes. If any judgment be made from his books + of his moral character, nothing will be found but purity and excellence. + Knowledge of mankind, indeed, less extensive than that of Addison, will + show that to write, and to live, are very different. Many who praise + virtue, do no more than praise it. Yet it is reasonable to believe that + Addison's professions 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. + </p> + <p> + It is justly observed by Tickell that he employed wit on the side of + virtue and religion. He not only made the proper use of wit himself, but + taught it to others; and from his time it has been generally subservient + to the cause of reason and of truth. He has dissipated the prejudice that + had long connected gaiety with vice, and easiness of manners with laxity + of principles. He has restored virtue to its dignity, and taught innocence + not to be ashamed. This is an elevation of literary character "above all + Greek, above all Roman fame." No greater felicity can genius attain than + that of having purified intellectual pleasure, separated mirth from + indecency, and wit from licentiousness; of having taught a succession of + writers to bring elegance and gaiety to the aid of goodness; and, if I may + use expressions yet more awful, of having "turned many to righteousness." + </p> + <p> + Addison, in his life and for some time afterwards, was considered by a + greater part of readers as supremely excelling both in poetry and + criticism. Part of his reputation may be probably ascribed to the + advancement of his fortune; when, as Swift observes, he became a + statesman, and saw poets waiting at his levee, it was no wonder that + praise was accumulated upon him. Much likewise may be more honourably + ascribed to his personal character: he who, if he had claimed it, might + have obtained the diadem, was not likely to be denied the laurel. But time + quickly puts an end to artificial and accidental fame; and Addison is to + pass through futurity protected only by his genius. Every name which + kindness or interest once raised too high is in danger, lest the next age + should, by the vengeance of criticism, sink it in the same proportion. A + great writer has lately styled him "an indifferent poet, and a worse + critic." His poetry is first to be considered; of which it must be + confessed that it has not often those felicities of diction which give + lustre to sentiments, or that vigour of sentiment that animates diction: + there is little of ardour, vehemence, or transport; there is very rarely + the awfulness of grandeur, and not very often the splendour of elegance. + He thinks justly, but he thinks faintly. This is his general character; to + which, doubtless, many single passages will furnish exception. Yet, if he + seldom reaches supreme excellence, he rarely sinks into dulness, and is + still more rarely entangled in absurdity. He did not trust his powers + enough to be negligent. There is in most of his compositions a calmness + and equability, deliberate and cautious, sometimes with little that + delights, but seldom with anything that offends. Of this kind seem to be + his poems to Dryden, to Somers, and to the King. His ode on St. Cecilia + has been imitated by Pope, and has something in it of Dryden's vigour. Of + his Account of the English Poets he used to speak as a "poor thing;" but + it is not worse than his usual strain. He has said, not very judiciously, + in his character of Waller— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Thy verse could show even Cromwell's innocence, + And compliment the storms that bore him hence. + Oh! had thy Muse not come an age too soon, + But seen great Nassau on the British throne, + How had his triumph glittered in thy page!" +</pre> + <p> + What is this but to say that he who could compliment Cromwell had been the + proper poet for King William? Addison, however, printed the piece. + </p> + <p> + The Letter from Italy has been always praised, but has never been praised + beyond its merit. It is more correct, with less appearance of labour, and + more elegant, with less ambition of ornament, than any other of his poems. + There is, however, one broken metaphor, of which notice may properly be + taken:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Fired with that name— + I bridle in my struggling Muse with pain, + That longs to launch into a nobler strain." +</pre> + <p> + To BRIDLE A GODDESS is no very delicate idea; but why must she be BRIDLED? + because she LONGS TO LAUNCH; an act which was never hindered by a BRIDLE: + and whither will she LAUNCH? into a NOBLER STRAIN. She is in the first + line a HORSE, in the second a BOAT; and the care of the poet is to keep + his HORSE or his BOAT from SINGING. + </p> + <p> + The next composition is the far-famed "Campaign," which Dr. Warton has + termed a "Gazette in Rhyme," with harshness not often used by the + good-nature of his criticism. Before a censure so severe is admitted, let + us consider that war is a frequent subject of poetry, and then inquire who + has described it with more justice and force. Many of our own writers + tried their powers upon this year of victory: yet Addison's is confessedly + the best performance; his poem is the work of a man not blinded by the + dust of learning; his images are not borrowed merely from books. The + superiority which he confers upon his hero is not personal prowess and + "mighty bone," but deliberate intrepidity, a calm command of his passions, + and the power of consulting his own mind in the midst of danger. The + rejection and contempt of fiction is rational and manly. It may be + observed that the last line is imitated by Pope:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Marlb'rough's exploits appear divinely bright— + Raised of themselves their genuine charms they boast, + And those that paint them truest, praise them most." +</pre> + <p> + This Pope had in his thoughts, but, not knowing how to use what was not + his own, he spoiled the thought when he had borrowed it:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The well-sung woes shall soothe my pensive ghost; + He best can paint them who shall feel them most." +</pre> + <p> + Martial exploits may be PAINTED; perhaps WOES may be PAINTED; but they are + surely not PAINTED by being WELL SUNG: it is not easy to paint in song, or + to sing in colours. + </p> + <p> + No passage in the "Campaign" has been more often mentioned than the simile + of the angel, which is said in the Tatler to be "one of the noblest + thoughts that ever entered into the heart of man," and is therefore worthy + of attentive consideration. Let it be first inquired whether it be a + simile. A poetical simile is the discovery of likeness between two actions + in their general nature dissimilar, or of causes terminating by different + operations in some resemblance of effect. But the mention of another like + consequence from a like cause, or of a like performance by a like agency, + is not a simile, but an exemplification. It is not a simile to say that + the Thames waters fields, as the Po waters fields; or that as Hecla vomits + flames in Iceland, so AEtna vomits flames in Sicily. When Horace says of + Pindar that he pours his violence and rapidity of verse, as a river + swollen with rain rushes from the mountain; or of himself, that his genius + wanders in quest of poetical decorations, as the bee wanders to collect + honey; he, in either case, produces a simile: the mind is impressed with + the resemblance of things generally unlike, as unlike as intellect and + body. But if Pindar had been described as writing with the copiousness and + grandeur of Homer, or Horace had told that he reviewed and finished his + own poetry with the same care as Isocrates polished his orations, instead + of similitude, he would have exhibited almost identity; he would have + given the same portraits with different names. In the poem now examined, + when the English are represented as gaining a fortified pass by repetition + of attack and perseverance of resolution, their obstinacy of courage and + vigour of onset are well illustrated by the sea that breaks, with + incessant battery, the dykes of Holland. This is a simile. But when + Addison, having celebrated the beauty of Marlborough's person, tells us + that "Achilles thus was formed of every grace," here is no simile, but a + mere exemplification. A simile may be compared to lines converging at a + point, and is more excellent as the lines approach from greater distance: + an exemplification may be considered as two parallel lines, which run on + together without approximation, never far separated, and never joined. + </p> + <p> + Marlborough is so like the angel in the poem that the action of both is + almost the same, and performed by both in the same manner. Marlborough + "teaches the battle to rage;" the angel "directs the storm:" Marlborough + is "unmoved in peaceful thought;" the angel is "calm and serene:" + Marlborough stands "unmoved amidst the shock of hosts;" the angel rides + "calm in the whirlwind." The lines on Marlborough are just and noble, but + the simile gives almost the same images a second time. But perhaps this + thought, though hardly a simile, was remote from vulgar conceptions, and + required great labour and research, or dexterity of application. Of this + Dr. Madden, a name which Ireland ought to honour, once gave me his + opinion. "If I had set," said he, "ten schoolboys to write on the battle + of Blenheim, and eight had brought me the angel, I should not have been + surprised." + </p> + <p> + The opera of Rosamond, though it is seldom mentioned, is one of the first + of Addison's compositions. The subject is well chosen, the fiction is + pleasing, and the praise of Marlborough, for which the scene gives an + opportunity, is, what perhaps every human excellence must be, the product + of good luck improved by genius. The thoughts are sometimes great, and + sometimes tender; the versification is easy and gay. There is doubtless + some advantage in the shortness of the lines, which there is little + temptation to load with expletive epithets. The dialogue seems commonly + better than the songs. The two comic characters of Sir Trusty and + Grideline, though of no great value, are yet such as the poet intended. + Sir Trusty's account of the death of Rosamond is, I think, too grossly + absurd. The whole drama is airy and elegant; engaging in its process, and + pleasing in its conclusion. If Addison had cultivated the lighter parts of + poetry, he would probably have excelled. + </p> + <p> + The tragedy of Cato, which, contrary to the rule observed in selecting the + works of other poets, has by the weight of its character forced its way + into the late collection, is unquestionably the noblest production of + Addison's genius. Of a work so much read, it is difficult to say anything + new. About things on which the public thinks long, it commonly attains to + think right; and of Cato it has been not unjustly determined that it is + rather a poem in dialogue than a drama, rather a succession of just + sentiments in elegant language than a representation of natural + affections, or of any state probable or possible in human life. Nothing + here "excites or assuages emotion:" here is "no magical power of raising + phantastic terror or wild anxiety." The events are expected without + solicitude, and are remembered without joy or sorrow. Of the agents we + have no care; we consider not what they are doing, or what they are + suffering; we wish only to know what they have to say. Cato is a being + above our solicitude; a man of whom the gods take care, and whom we leave + to their care with heedless confidence. To the rest neither gods nor men + can have much attention; for there is not one amongst them that strongly + attracts either affection or esteem. But they are made the vehicles of + such sentiments and such expression that there is scarcely a scene in the + play which the reader does not wish to impress upon his memory. + </p> + <p> + When Cato was shown to Pope, he advised the author to print it, without + any theatrical exhibition, supposing that it would be read more favourably + than heard. Addison declared himself of the same opinion, but urged the + importunity of his friends for its appearance on the stage. The emulation + of parties made it successful beyond expectation; and its success has + introduced or confirmed among us the use of dialogue too declamatory, of + unaffecting elegance, and chill philosophy. The universality of applause, + however it might quell the censure of common mortals, had no other effect + than to harden Dennis in fixed dislike; but his dislike was not merely + capricious. He found and showed many faults; he showed them indeed with + anger, but he found them indeed with acuteness, such as ought to rescue + his criticism from oblivion; though, at last, it will have no other life + than it derives from the work which it endeavours to oppress. Why he pays + no regard to the opinion of the audience, he gives his reason by remarking + that— + </p> + <p> + "A deference is to be paid to a general applause when it appears that the + applause is natural and spontaneous; but that little regard is to be had + to it when it is affected or artificial. Of all the tragedies which in his + memory have had vast and violent runs, not one has been excellent, few + have been tolerable, most have been scandalous. When a poet writes a + tragedy who knows he has judgment, and who feels he has genius, that poet + presumes upon his own merit, and scorns to make a cabal. That people come + coolly to the representation of such a tragedy, without any violent + expectation, or delusive imagination, or invincible prepossession; that + such an audience is liable to receive the impressions which the poem shall + naturally make on them, and to judge by their own reason, and their own + judgments; and that reason and judgment are calm and serene, not formed by + nature to make proselytes, and to control and lord it over the imagination + of others. But that when an author writes a tragedy who knows he has + neither genius nor judgment, he has recourse to the making a party, and he + endeavours to make up in industry what is wanting in talent, and to supply + by poetical craft the absence of poetical art: that such an author is + humbly contented to raise men's passions by a plot without doors, since he + despairs of doing it by that which he brings upon the stage. That party + and passion, and prepossession, are clamorous and tumultuous things, and + so much the more clamorous and tumultuous by how much the more erroneous: + that they domineer and tyrannise over the imaginations of persons who want + judgment, and sometimes too of those who have it, and, like a fierce and + outrageous torrent, bear down all opposition before them." + </p> + <p> + He then condemns the neglect of poetical justice, which is one of his + favourite principles:— + </p> + <p> + "'Tis certainly the duty of every tragic poet, by the exact distribution + of poetical justice, to imitate the Divine Dispensation, and to inculcate + a particular Providence. 'Tis true, indeed, upon the stage of the world, + the wicked sometimes prosper and the guiltless suffer; but that is + permitted by the Governor of the World, to show, from the attribute of His + infinite justice, that there is a compensation in futurity, to prove the + immortality of the human soul, and the certainty of future rewards and + punishments. But the poetical persons in tragedy exist no longer than the + reading or the representation; the whole extent of their enmity is + circumscribed by those; and therefore, during that reading or + representation, according to their merits or demerits, they must be + punished or rewarded. If this is not done, there is no impartial + distribution of poetical justice, no instructive lecture of a particular + Providence, and no imitation of the Divine Dispensation. And yet the + author of this tragedy does not only run counter to this, in the fate of + his principal character; but everywhere, throughout it, makes virtue + suffer, and vice triumph: for not only Cato is vanquished by Caesar, but + the treachery and perfidiousness of Syphax prevail over the honest + simplicity and the credulity of Juba; and the sly subtlety and + dissimulation of Portius over the generous frankness and open-heartedness + of Marcus." + </p> + <p> + Whatever pleasure there may be in seeing crimes punished and virtue + rewarded, yet, since wickedness often prospers in real life, the poet is + certainly at liberty to give it prosperity on the stage. For if poetry has + an imitation of reality, how are its laws broken by exhibiting the world + in its true form? The stage may sometimes gratify our wishes; but if it be + truly the "MIRROR OF LIFE," it ought to show us sometimes what we are to + expect. + </p> + <p> + Dennis objects to the characters that they are not natural or reasonable; + but as heroes and heroines are not beings that are seen every day, it is + hard to find upon what principles their conduct shall be tried. It is, + however, not useless to consider what he says of the manner in which Cato + receives the account of his son's death:— + </p> + <p> + "Nor is the grief of Cato, in the fourth act, one jot more in nature than + that of his son and Lucia in the third. Cato receives the news of his + son's death, not only with dry eyes, but with a sort of satisfaction; and + in the same page sheds tears for the calamity of his country, and does the + same thing in the next page upon the bare apprehension of the danger of + his friends. Now, since the love of one's country is the love of one's + countrymen, as I have shown upon another occasion, I desire to ask these + questions:—Of all our countrymen, which do we love most, those whom + we know, or those whom we know not? And of those whom we know, which do we + cherish most, our friends or our enemies? And of our friends, which are + the dearest to us, those who are related to us, or those who are not? And + of all our relations, for which have we most tenderness, for those who are + near to us, or for those who are remote? And of our near relations, which + are the nearest, and consequently the dearest to us, our offspring, or + others? Our offspring, most certainly; as Nature, or in other words + Providence, has wisely contrived for the preservation of mankind. Now, + does it not follow, from what has been said, that for a man to receive the + news of his son's death with dry eyes, and to weep at the same time for + the calamities of his country, is a wretched affectation and a miserable + inconsistency? Is not that, in plain English, to receive with dry eyes the + news of the deaths of those for whose sake our country is a name so dear + to us, and at the same time to shed tears for those for whose sakes our + country is not a name so dear to us?" + </p> + <p> + But this formidable assailant is less resistible when he attacks the + probability of the action and the reasonableness of the plan. Every + critical reader must remark that Addison has, with a scrupulosity almost + unexampled on the English stage, confined himself in time to a single day, + and in place to rigorous unity. The scene never changes, and the whole + action of the play passes in the great hall of Cato's house at Utica. + Much, therefore, is done in the hall for which any other place had been + more fit; and this impropriety affords Dennis many hints of merriment and + opportunities of triumph. The passage is long; but as such disquisitions + are not common, and the objections are skilfully formed and vigorously + urged, those who delight in critical controversy will not think it + tedious:— + </p> + <p> + "Upon the departure of Portius, Sempronius makes but one soliloquy, and + immediately in comes Syphax, and then the two politicians are at it + immediately. They lay their heads together, with their snuff-boxes in + their hands, as Mr. Bayes has it, and feague it away. But, in the midst of + that wise scene, Syphax seems to give a seasonable caution to Sempronius:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'SYPH. But is it true, Sempronius, that your senate + Is called together? Gods! thou must be cautious; + Cato has piercing eyes.' +</pre> + <p> + "There is a great deal of caution shown, indeed, in meeting in a + governor's own hall to carry on their plot against him. Whatever opinion + they have of his eyes, I suppose they have none of his ears, or they would + never have talked at this foolish rate so near:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'Gods! thou must be cautious.' +</pre> + <p> + Oh! yes, very cautious: for if Cato should overhear you, and turn you off + for politicians, Caesar would never take you. + </p> + <p> + "When Cato, Act II., turns the senators out of the hall upon pretence of + acquainting Juba with the result of their debates, he appears to me to do + a thing which is neither reasonable nor civil. Juba might certainly have + better been made acquainted with the result of that debate in some private + apartment of the palace. But the poet was driven upon this absurdity to + make way for another, and that is to give Juba an opportunity to demand + Marcia of her father. But the quarrel and rage of Juba and Syphax, in the + same act; the invectives of Syphax against the Romans and Cato; the advice + that he gives Juba in her father's hall to bear away Marcia by force; and + his brutal and clamorous rage upon his refusal, and at a time when Cato + was scarcely out of sight, and perhaps not out of hearing, at least some + of his guards or domestics must necessarily be supposed to be within + hearing; is a thing that is so far from being probable, that it is hardly + possible. + </p> + <p> + "Sempronius, in the second act, comes back once more in the same morning + to the governor's hall to carry on the conspiracy with Syphax against the + governor, his country, and his family: which is so stupid that it is below + the wisdom of the O—-s, the Macs, and the Teagues; even Eustace + Commins himself would never have gone to Justice-hall to have conspired + against the Government. If officers at Portsmouth should lay their heads + together in order to the carrying off J—- G—-'s niece or + daughter, would they meet in J—-G—-'s hall to carry on that + conspiracy? There would be no necessity for their meeting there—at + least, till they came to the execution of their plot—because there + would be other places to meet in. There would be no probability that they + should meet there, because there would be places more private and more + commodious. Now there ought to be nothing in a tragical action but what is + necessary or probable. + </p> + <p> + "But treason is not the only thing that is carried on in this hall; that, + and love and philosophy take their turns in it, without any manner of + necessity or probability occasioned by the action, as duly and as + regularly, without interrupting one another, as if there were a triple + league between them, and a mutual agreement that each should give place to + and make way for the other in a due and orderly succession. + </p> + <p> + "We now come to the third act. Sempronius, in this act, comes into the + governor's hall with the leaders of the mutiny; but as soon as Cato is + gone, Sempronius, who but just before had acted like an unparalleled + knave, discovers himself, like an egregious fool, to be an accomplice in + the conspiracy. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'SEMP. Know, villains, when such paltry slaves presume + To mix in treason, if the plot succeeds, + They're thrown neglected by; but, if it fails, + They're sure to die like dogs, as you shall do. + Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth + To sudden death.' +</pre> + <p> + "'Tis true, indeed, the second leader says there are none there but + friends; but is that possible at such a juncture? Can a parcel of rogues + attempt to assassinate the governor of a town of war, in his own house, in + midday, and, after they are discovered and defeated, can there be none + near them but friends? Is it not plain, from these words of Sempronius— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth + To sudden death—' +</pre> + <p> + and from the entrance of the guards upon the word of command, that those + guards were within ear-shot? Behold Sempronius, then, palpably discovered. + How comes it to pass, then, that instead of being hanged up with the rest, + he remains secure in the governor's hall, and there carries on his + conspiracy against the Government, the third time in the same day, with + his old comrade Syphax, who enters at the same time that the guards are + carrying away the leaders, big with the news of the defeat of Sempronius?—though + where he had his intelligence so soon is difficult to imagine. And now the + reader may expect a very extraordinary scene. There is not abundance of + spirit, indeed, nor a great deal of passion, but there is wisdom more than + enough to supply all defects. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'SYPH. Our first design, my friend, has proved abortive; + Still there remains an after-game to play: + My troops are mounted; their Numidian steeds + Snuff up the winds, and long to scour the desert. + Let but Sempronius lead us in our flight, + We'll force the gate where Marcus keeps his guard, + And hew down all that would oppose our passage; + A day will bring us into Caesar's camp. + SEMP. Confusion! I have failed of half my purpose; + Marcia, the charming Marcia's left behind.' +</pre> + <p> + Well, but though he tells us the half-purpose he has failed of, he does + not tell us the half that he has carried. But what does he mean by + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'Marcia, the charming Marcia's left behind'? +</pre> + <p> + He is now in her own house! and we have neither seen her nor heard of her + anywhere else since the play began. But now let us hear Syphax:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'What hinders, then, but that you find her out, + And hurry her away by manly force?' +</pre> + <p> + But what does old Syphax mean by finding her out? They talk as if she were + as hard to be found as a hare in a frosty morning. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'SEMP. But how to gain admission?' +</pre> + <p> + Oh! she is found out then, it seems. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'But how to gain admission? for access + Is giv'n to none but Juba and her brothers.' +</pre> + <p> + But, raillery apart, why access to Juba? For he was owned and received as + a lover neither by the father nor by the daughter. Well, but let that + pass. Syphax puts Sempronius out of pain immediately; and, being a + Numidian, abounding in wiles, supplies him with a stratagem for admission + that, I believe, is a nonpareil. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'SYPH. Thou shalt have Juba's dress, and Juba's guards; + The doors will open when Numidia's prince + Seems to appear before them.' +</pre> + <p> + "Sempronius is, it seems, to pass for Juba in full day at Cato's house, + where they were both so very well known, by having Juba's dress and his + guards; as if one of the Marshals of France could pass for the Duke of + Bavaria at noonday, at Versailles, by having his dress and liveries. But + how does Syphax pretend to help Sempronius to young Juba's dress? Does he + serve him in a double capacity, as general and master of his wardrobe? But + why Juba's guards? For the devil of any guards has Juba appeared with yet. + Well, though this is a mighty politic invention, yet, methinks, they might + have done without it: for, since the advice that Syphax gave to Sempronius + was + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'To hurry her away by manly force,' +</pre> + <p> + in my opinion the shortest and likeliest way of coming at the lady was by + demolishing, instead of putting on an impertinent disguise to circumvent + two or three slaves. But Sempronius, it seems, is of another opinion. He + extols to the skies the invention of old Syphax:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'SEMP. Heavens! what a thought was there!' +</pre> + <p> + "Now, I appeal to the reader if I have not been as good as my word. Did I + not tell him that I would lay before him a very wise scene? + </p> + <p> + "But now let us lay before the reader that part of the scenery of the + fourth act which may show the absurdities which the author has run into, + through the indiscreet observance of the unity of place. I do not remember + that Aristotle has said anything expressly concerning the unity of place. + 'Tis true, implicitly he has said enough in the rules which he has laid + down for the chorus. For by making the chorus an essential part of + tragedy, and by bringing it on the stage immediately after the opening of + the scene, and retaining it there till the very catastrophe, he has so + determined and fixed the place of action that it was impossible for an + author on the Grecian stage to break through that unity. I am of opinion + that if a modern tragic poet can preserve the amity of place, without + destroying the probability of the incidents, 'tis always best for him to + do it; because by the preservation of that unity, as we have taken notice + above, he adds grace and clearness and comeliness to the representation. + But since there are no express rules about it, and we are under no + compulsion to keep it, since we have no chorus as the Grecian poet had; if + it cannot be preserved without rendering the greater part of the incidents + unreasonable and absurd, and perhaps sometimes monstrous, 'tis certainly + better to break it. + </p> + <p> + "Now comes bully Sempronius, comically accoutred and equipped with his + Numidian dress and his Numidian guards. Let the reader attend to him with + all his ears, for the words of the wise are precious:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'SEMP. The deer is lodged; I've tracked her to her covert.' +</pre> + <p> + "Now I would fain know why this deer is said to be lodged, since we have + not heard one word since the play began of her being at all out of + harbour: and if we consider the discourse with which she and Lucia begin + the act, we have reason to believe that they had hardly been talking of + such matters in the street. However, to pleasure Sempronius, let us + suppose, for once, that the deer is lodged:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'The deer is lodged; I've tracked her to her covert.' +</pre> + <p> + "If he had seen her in the open field, what occasion had he to track her + when he had so many Numidian dogs at his heels, which, with one halloo, he + might have set upon her haunches? If he did not see her in the open field, + how could he possibly track her? If he had seen her in the street, why did + he not set upon her in the street, since through the street she must be + carried at last? Now here, instead of having his thoughts upon his + business, and upon the present danger; instead of meditating and + contriving how he shall pass with his mistress through the southern gate, + where her brother Marcus is upon the guard, and where he would certainly + prove an impediment to him (which is the Roman word for the BAGGAGE); + instead of doing this, Sempronius is entertaining himself with whimsies:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'Semp. How will the young Numidian rave to see + His mistress lost! If aught could glad my soul + Beyond th' enjoyment of so bright a prize, + 'Twould be to torture that young, gay barbarian. + But hark! what noise? Death to my hopes! 'tis he, + 'Tis Juba's self! There is but one way left! + He must be murdered, and a passage cut + Through those his guards.' +</pre> + <p> + "Pray, what are 'those guards'? I thought at present that Juba's guards + had been Sempronius's tools, and had been dangling after his heels. + </p> + <p> + "But now let us sum up all these absurdities together. Sempronius goes at + noon-day, in Juba's clothes and with Juba's guards, to Cato's palace, in + order to pass for Juba, in a place where they were both so very well + known: he meets Juba there, and resolves to murder him with his own + guards. Upon the guards appearing a little bashful, he threatens them:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'Hah! dastards, do you tremble? + Or act like men; or, by yon azure heav'n!'— +</pre> + <p> + "But the guards still remaining restive, Sempronius himself attacks Juba, + while each of the guards is representing Mr. Spectator's sign of the + Gaper, awed, it seems, and terrified by Sempronius's threats. Juba kills + Sempronius, and takes his own army prisoners, and carries them in triumph + away to Cato. Now I would fain know if any part of Mr. Bayes's tragedy is + so full of absurdity as this? + </p> + <p> + "Upon hearing the clash of swords, Lucia and Marcia come in. The question + is, why no men come in upon hearing the noise of swords in the governor's + hall? Where was the governor himself? Where were his guards? Where were + his servants? Such an attempt as this, so near the governor of a place of + war, was enough to alarm the whole garrison: and yet, for almost half an + hour after Sempronius was killed, we find none of those appear who were + the likeliest in the world to be alarmed; and the noise of swords is made + to draw only two poor women thither, who were most certain to run away + from it. Upon Lucia and Marcia's coming in, Lucia appears in all the + symptoms of an hysterical gentlewoman:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'Luc. Sure 'twas the clash of swords! my troubled heart + Is so cast down, and sunk amidst its sorrows, + It throbs with fear, and aches at every sound!' +</pre> + <p> + And immediately her old whimsy returns upon her:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O Marcia, should thy brothers, for my sake— + I die away with horror at the thought.' +</pre> + <p> + "She fancies that there can be no cutting of throats but it must be for + her. If this is tragical, I would fain know what is comical. Well, upon + this they spy the body of Sempronius; and Marcia, deluded by the habit, it + seems, takes him for Juba; for, says she, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'The face is muffled up within the garment.' +</pre> + <p> + "Now, how a man could fight, and fall, with his face muffled up in his + garment, is, I think, a little hard to conceive! Besides, Juba, before he + killed him, knew him to be Sempronius. It was not by his garment that he + knew this; it was by his face, then: his face therefore was not muffled. + Upon seeing this man with his muffled face, Marcia falls a-raving; and, + owning her passion for the supposed defunct, begins to make his funeral + oration. Upon which Juba enters listening, I suppose on tip-toe; for I + cannot imagine how any one can enter listening in any other posture. I + would fain know how it came to pass that, during all this time, he had + sent nobody—no, not so much as a candle-snuffer—to take away + the dead body of Sempronius. Well, but let us regard him listening. Having + left his apprehension behind him, he, at first, applies what Marcia says + to Sempronius; but finding at last, with much ado, that he himself is the + happy man, he quits his eaves-dropping, and discovers himself just time + enough to prevent his being cuckolded by a dead man, of whom the moment + before he had appeared so jealous, and greedily intercepts the bliss which + was fondly designed for one who could not be the better for it. But here I + must ask a question: how comes Juba to listen here, who had not listened + before throughout the play? Or how comes he to be the only person of this + tragedy who listens, when love and treason were so often talked in so + public a place as a hall? I am afraid the author was driven upon all these + absurdities only to introduce this miserable mistake of Marcia, which, + after all, is much below the dignity of tragedy; as anything is which is + the effect or result of trick. + </p> + <p> + "But let us come to the scenery of the fifth act. Cato appears first upon + the scene, sitting in a thoughtful posture; in his hand Plato's Treatise + on the Immortality of the Soul; a drawn sword on the table by him. Now let + us consider the place in which this sight is presented to us. The place, + forsooth, is a long hall. Let us suppose that any one should place himself + in this posture, in the midst of one of our halls in London; that he + should appear solus, in a sullen posture, a drawn sword on the table by + him; in his hand Plato's Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul, + translated lately by Bernard Lintot: I desire the reader to consider + whether such a person as this would pass with them who beheld him for a + great patriot, a great philosopher, or a general, or some whimsical person + who fancied himself all these? and whether the people who belonged to the + family would think that such a person had a design upon their midriffs or + his own? + </p> + <p> + "In short, that Cato should sit long enough in the aforesaid posture, in + the midst of this large hall, to read over Plato's Treatise on the + Immortality of the Soul, which is a lecture of two long hours; that he + should propose to himself to be private there upon that occasion; that he + should be angry with his son for intruding there; then that he should + leave this hall upon the pretence of sleep, give himself the mortal wound + in his bedchamber, and then be brought back into that hall to expire, + purely to show his good breeding, and save his friends the trouble of + coming up to his bedchamber; all this appears to me to be improbable, + incredible, impossible." + </p> + <p> + Such is the censure of Dennis. There is, as Dryden expresses it, perhaps + "too much horse-play in his railleries;" but if his jests are coarse, his + arguments are strong. Yet, as we love better to be pleased than to be + taught, Cato is read, and the critic is neglected. Flushed with + consciousness of these detections of absurdity in the conduct, he + afterwards attacked the sentiments of Cato; but he then amused himself + with petty cavils and minute objections. + </p> + <p> + Of Addison's smaller poems no particular mention is necessary; they have + little that can employ or require a critic. The parallel of the princes + and gods in his verses to Kneller is often happy, but is too well known to + be quoted. His translations, so far as I compared them, want the exactness + of a scholar. That he understood his authors, cannot be doubted; but his + versions will not teach others to understand them, being too licentiously + paraphrastical. They are, however, for the most part, smooth and easy; + and, what is the first excellence of a translator, such as may be read + with pleasure by those who do not know the originals. His poetry is + polished and pure; the product of a mind too judicious to commit faults, + but not sufficiently vigorous to attain excellence. He has sometimes a + striking line, or a shining paragraph; but in the whole he is warm rather + than fervid, and shows more dexterity than strength. He was, however, one + of our earliest examples of correctness. The versification which he had + learned from Dryden he debased rather than refined. His rhymes are often + dissonant; in his Georgic he admits broken lines. He uses both triplets + and Alexandrines, but triplets more frequently in his translation than his + other works. The mere structure of verses seems never to have engaged much + of his care. But his lines are very smooth in Rosamond, and too smooth in + Cato. + </p> + <p> + Addison is now to be considered as a critic: a name which the present + generation is scarcely willing to allow him. His criticism is condemned as + tentative or experimental rather than scientific; and he is considered as + deciding by taste rather than by principles. + </p> + <p> + It is not uncommon for those who have grown wise by the labour of others + to add a little of their own, and overlook their masters. Addison is now + despised by some who perhaps would never have seen his defects but by the + lights which he afforded them. That he always wrote as he would think it + necessary to write now, cannot be affirmed; his instructions were such as + the characters of his readers made proper. That general knowledge which + now circulates in common talk was in his time rarely to be found. Men not + professing learning were not ashamed of ignorance; and, in the female + world, any acquaintance with books was distinguished only to be censured. + His purpose was to infuse literary curiosity, by gentle and unsuspected + conveyance, into the gay, the idle, and the wealthy; he therefore + presented knowledge in the most alluring form, not lofty and austere, but + accessible and familiar. When he showed them their defects, he showed them + likewise that they might be easily supplied. His attempt succeeded; + inquiry was awakened, and comprehension expanded. An emulation of + intellectual elegance was excited, and from this time to our own life has + been gradually exalted, and conversation purified and enlarged. + </p> + <p> + Dryden had, not many years before, scattered criticism over his prefaces + with very little parsimony; but though he sometimes condescended to be + somewhat familiar, his manner was in general too scholastic for those who + had yet their rudiments to learn, and found it not easy to understand + their master. His observations were framed rather for those that were + learning to write than for those that read only to talk. + </p> + <p> + An instructor like Addison was now wanting, whose remarks, being + superficial, might be easily understood, and being just, might prepare the + mind for more attainments. Had he presented "Paradise Lost" to the public + with all the pomp of system and severity of science, the criticism would + perhaps have been admired, and the poem still have been neglected; but by + the blandishments of gentleness and facility he has made Milton an + universal favourite, with whom readers of every class think it necessary + to be pleased. He descended now and then to lower disquisitions: and by a + serious display of the beauties of "Chevy Chase" exposed himself to the + ridicule of Wagstaff, who bestowed a like pompous character on Tom Thumb; + and to the contempt of Dennis, who, considering the fundamental position + of his criticism, that "Chevy Chase" pleases, and ought to please, because + it is natural, observes; "that there is a way of deviating from nature, by + bombast or tumour, which soars above nature, and enlarges images beyond + their real bulk; by affectation, which forsakes nature in quest of + something unsuitable; and by imbecility, which degrades nature by + faintness and diminution, by obscuring its appearances, and weakening its + effects." In "Chevy Chase" there is not much of either bombast or + affectation; but there is chill and lifeless imbecility. The story cannot + possibly be told in a manner that shall make less impression on the mind. + </p> + <p> + Before the profound observers of the present race repose too securely on + the consciousness of their superiority to Addison, let them consider his + Remarks on Ovid, in which may be found specimens of criticism sufficiently + subtle and refined: let them peruse likewise his Essays on Wit, and on the + Pleasures of Imagination, in which he founds art on the base of nature, + and draws the principles of invention from dispositions inherent in the + mind of man with skill and elegance, such as his contemners will not + easily attain. + </p> + <p> + As a describer of life and manners, he must be allowed to stand perhaps + the first of the first rank. His humour, which, as Steele observes, is + peculiar to himself, is so happily diffused as to give the grace of + novelty to domestic scenes and daily occurrences. He never "o'ersteps the + modesty of nature," nor raises merriment or wonder by the violation of + truth. His figures neither divert by distortion nor amaze by aggravation. + He copies life with so much fidelity that he can be hardly said to invent; + yet his exhibitions have an air so much original, that it is difficult to + suppose them not merely the product of imagination. + </p> + <p> + As a teacher of wisdom, he may be confidently followed. His religion has + nothing in it enthusiastic or superstitious: he appears neither weakly + credulous nor wantonly sceptical; his morality is neither dangerously lax + nor impracticably rigid. All the enchantment of fancy, and all the cogency + of argument, are employed to recommend to the reader his real interest, + the care of pleasing the Author of his being. Truth is shown sometimes as + the phantom of a vision; sometimes appears half-veiled in an allegory; + sometimes attracts regard in the robes of fancy; and sometimes steps forth + in the confidence of reason. She wears a thousand dresses, and in all is + pleasing. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet." +</pre> + <p> + His prose is the model of the middle style; on grave subjects not formal, + on light occasions not grovelling; pure without scrupulosity, and exact + without apparent elaboration; always equable, and always easy, without + glowing words or pointed sentences. Addison never deviates from his track + to snatch a grace; he seeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries no hazardous + innovations. His page is always luminous, but never blazes in unexpected + splendour. + </p> + <p> + It was apparently his principal endeavour to avoid all harshness and + severity of diction; he is therefore sometimes verbose in his transitions + and connections, and sometimes descends too much to the language of + conversation; yet if his language had been less idiomatical it might have + lost somewhat of its genuine Anglicism. What he attempted, he performed; + he is never feeble and he did not wish to be energetic; he is never rapid + and he never stagnates. His sentences have neither studied amplitude nor + affected brevity; his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble + and easy. Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not + coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to + the volumes of Addison. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SAVAGE. + </h2> + <p> + It has been observed in all ages that the advantages of nature or of + fortune have contributed very little to the promotion of happiness: and + that those whom the splendour of their rank, or the extent of their + capacity, has placed upon the summit of human life, have not often given + any just occasion to envy in those who look up to them from a lower + station; whether it be that apparent superiority incites great designs, + and great designs are naturally liable to fatal miscarriages; or that the + general lot of mankind is misery, and the misfortunes of those whose + eminence drew upon them universal attention have been more carefully + recorded, because they were more generally observed, and have in reality + been only more conspicuous than those of others, not more frequent, or + more severe. + </p> + <p> + That affluence and power, advantages extrinsic and adventitious, and + therefore easily separable from those by whom they are possessed, should + very often flatter the mind with expectations of felicity which they + cannot give, raises no astonishment: but it seems rational to hope that + intellectual greatness should produce better effects; that minds qualified + for great attainments should first endeavour their own benefit, and that + they who are most able to teach others the way to happiness, should with + most certainty follow it themselves. But this expectation, however + plausible, has been very frequently disappointed. The heroes of literary + as well as civil history have been very often no less remarkable for what + they have suffered than for what they have achieved; and volumes have been + written only to enumerate the miseries of the learned, and relate their + unhappy lives and untimely deaths. + </p> + <p> + To these mournful narratives I am about to add the Life of RICHARD SAVAGE, + a man whose writings entitle him to an eminent rank in the classes of + learning, and whose misfortunes claim a degree of compassion not always + due to the unhappy, as they were often the consequences of the crimes of + others rather than his own. + </p> + <p> + In the year 1697, Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, having lived some time + upon very uneasy terms with her husband, thought a public confession of + adultery the most obvious and expeditious method of obtaining her liberty; + and therefore declared that the child with which she was then great, was + begotten by the Earl Rivers. This, as may be imagined, made her husband no + less desirous of a separation than herself, and he prosecuted his design + in the most effectual manner: for he applied, not to the ecclesiastical + courts for a divorce, but to the Parliament for an Act by which his + marriage might be dissolved, the nuptial contract annulled, and the + children of his wife illegitimated. This Act, after the usual + deliberation, he obtained, though without the approbation of some, who + considered marriage as an affair only cognisable by ecclesiastical judges; + and on March 3rd was separated from his wife, whose fortune, which was + very great, was repaid her, and who having, as well as her husband, the + liberty of making another choice, she in a short time married Colonel + Brett. + </p> + <p> + While the Earl of Macclesfield was prosecuting this affair, his wife was, + on the 10th of January, 1607-8,[sic] delivered of a son: and the Earl + Rivers, by appearing to consider him as his own, left none any reason to + doubt of the sincerity of her declaration; for he was his godfather and + gave him his own name, which was by his direction inserted in the register + of St. Andrew's parish in Holborn, but unfortunately left him to the care + of his mother, whom, as she was now set free from her husband, he probably + imagined likely to treat with great tenderness the child that had + contributed to so pleasing an event. It is not indeed easy to discover + what motives could be found to overbalance that natural affection of a + parent, or what interest could be promoted by neglect or cruelty. The + dread of shame or of poverty, by which some wretches have been incited to + abandon or murder their children, cannot be supposed to have affected a + woman who had proclaimed her crimes and solicited reproach, and on whom + the clemency of the Legislature had undeservedly bestowed a fortune, which + would have been very little diminished by the expenses which the care of + her child could have brought upon her. It was therefore not likely that + she would be wicked without temptation; that she would look upon her son + from his birth with a kind of resentment and abhorrence; and, instead of + supporting, assisting, and defending him, delight to see him struggling + with misery, or that she would take every opportunity of aggravating his + misfortunes, and obstructing his resources, and with an implacable and + restless cruelty continue her persecution from the first hour of his life + to the last. But whatever were her motives, no sooner was her son born + than she discovered a resolution of disowning him; and in a very short + time removed him from her sight, by committing him to the care of a poor + woman, whom she directed to educate him as her own, and enjoined never to + inform him of his true parents. + </p> + <p> + Such was the beginning of the life of Richard Savage. Born with a legal + claim to honour and to affluence, he was in two months illegitimated by + the Parliament, and disowned by his mother, doomed to poverty and + obscurity, and launched upon the ocean of life only that he might be + swallowed by its quicksands, or dashed upon its rocks. His mother could + not indeed infect others with the same cruelty. As it was impossible to + avoid the inquiries which the curiosity or tenderness of her relations + made after her child, she was obliged to give some account of the measures + she had taken; and her mother, the Lady Mason, whether in approbation of + her design, or to prevent more criminal contrivances, engaged to transact + with the nurse, to pay her for her care, and to superintend the education + of the child. + </p> + <p> + In this charitable office she was assisted by his godmother, Mrs. Lloyd, + who, while she lived, always looked upon him with that tenderness which + the barbarity of his mother made peculiarly necessary; but her death, + which happened in his tenth year, was another of the misfortunes of his + childhood, for though she kindly endeavoured to alleviate his loss by a + legacy of three hundred pounds, yet as he had none to prosecute his claim, + to shelter him from oppression, or call in law to the assistance of + justice, her will was eluded by the executors, and no part of the money + was ever paid. He was, however, not yet wholly abandoned. The Lady Mason + still continued her care, and directed him to be placed at a small grammar + school near St. Albans, where he was called by the name of his nurse, + without the least intimation that he had a claim to any other. Here he was + initiated in literature, and passed through several of the classes, with + what rapidity or with what applause cannot now be known. As he always + spoke with respect of his master, it is probable that the mean rank in + which he then appeared did not hinder his genius from being distinguished, + or his industry from being rewarded; and if in so low a state he obtained + distinctions and rewards, it is not likely that they were gained but by + genius and industry. + </p> + <p> + It is very reasonable to conjecture that his application was equal to his + abilities, because his improvement was more than proportioned to the + opportunities which he enjoyed; nor can it be doubted that if his earliest + productions had been preserved, like those of happier students, we might + in some have found vigorous sallies of that sprightly humour which + distinguishes "The Author to be Let," and in others strong touches of that + imagination which painted the solemn scenes of "The Wanderer." + </p> + <p> + While he was thus cultivating his genius, his father, the Earl Rivers, was + seized with a distemper, which in a short time put an end to his life. He + had frequently inquired after his son, and had always been amused with + fallacious and evasive answers; but being now in his own opinion on his + death-bed, he thought it his duty to provide for him among his other + natural children, and therefore demanded a positive account of him, with + an importunity not to be diverted or denied. His mother, who could no + longer refuse an answer, determined at least to give such as should cut + him off for ever from that happiness which competence affords, and + therefore declared that he was dead; which is perhaps the first instance + of a lie invented by a mother to deprive her son of a provision which was + designed him by another, and which she could not expect herself, though he + should lose it. This was therefore an act of wickedness which could not be + defeated, because it could not be suspected; the earl did not imagine that + there could exist in a human form a mother that would ruin her son without + enriching herself, and therefore bestowed upon some other person six + thousand pounds which he had in his will bequeathed to Savage. + </p> + <p> + The same cruelty which incited his mother to intercept this provision + which had been intended him, prompted her in a short time to another + project, a project worthy of such a disposition. She endeavoured to rid + herself from the danger of being at any time made known to him, by sending + him secretly to the American Plantations. By whose kindness this scheme + was counteracted, or by whose interposition she was induced to lay aside + her design, I know not; it is not improbable that the Lady Mason might + persuade or compel her to desist, or perhaps she could not easily find + accomplices wicked enough to concur in so cruel an action; for it may be + conceived that those who had by a long gradation of guilt hardened their + hearts against the sense of common wickedness, would yet be shocked at the + design of a mother to expose her son to slavery and want, to expose him + without interest, and without provocation; and Savage might on this + occasion find protectors and advocates among those who had long traded in + crimes, and whom compassion had never touched before. + </p> + <p> + Being hindered, by whatever means, from banishing him into another + country, she formed soon after a scheme for burying him in poverty and + obscurity in his own; and that his station of life, if not the place of + his residence, might keep him for ever at a distance from her, she ordered + him to be placed with a shoemaker in Holborn, that, after the usual time + of trial, he might become his apprentice. + </p> + <p> + It is generally reported that this project was for some time successful, + and that Savage was employed at the awl longer than he was willing to + confess: nor was it perhaps any great advantage to him, that an unexpected + discovery determined him to quit his occupation. + </p> + <p> + About this time his nurse, who had always treated him as her own son, + died; and it was natural for him to take care of those effects which by + her death were, as he imagined, become his own: he therefore went to her + house, opened her boxes, and examined her papers, among which he found + some letters written to her by the Lady Mason, which informed him of his + birth, and the reasons for which it was concealed. He was no longer + satisfied with the employment which had been allotted him, but thought he + had a right to share the affluence of his mother; and therefore without + scruple applied to her as her son, and made use of every art to awaken her + tenderness and attract her regard. But neither his letters, nor the + interposition of those friends which his merit or his distress procured + him, made any impression on her mind. She still resolved to neglect, + though she could no longer disown him. It was to no purpose that he + frequently solicited her to admit him to see her; she avoided him with the + most vigilant precaution, and ordered him to be excluded from her house, + by whomsoever he might be introduced, and what reason soever he might give + for entering it. + </p> + <p> + Savage was at the same time so touched with the discovery of his real + mother, that it was his frequent practice to walk in the dark evenings for + several hours before her door, in hopes of seeing her as she might come by + accident to the window, or cross her apartment with a candle in her hand. + But all his assiduity and tenderness were without effect, for he could + neither soften her heart nor open her hand, and was reduced to the utmost + miseries of want, while he was endeavouring to awaken the affection of a + mother. He was therefore obliged to seek some other means of support; and, + having no profession, became by necessity an author. + </p> + <p> + At this time the attention of the literary world was engrossed by the + Bangorian controversy, which filled the press with pamphlets, and the + coffee-houses with disputants. Of this subject, as most popular, he made + choice for his first attempt, and, without any other knowledge of the + question than he had casually collected from conversation, published a + poem against the bishop. What was the success or merit of this performance + I know not; it was probably lost among the innumerable pamphlets to which + that dispute gave occasion. Mr. Savage was himself in a little time + ashamed of it, and endeavoured to suppress it, by destroying all the + copies that he could collect. He then attempted a more gainful kind of + writing, and in his eighteenth year offered to the stage a comedy borrowed + from a Spanish plot, which was refused by the players, and was therefore + given by him to Mr. Bullock, who, having more interest, made some slight + alterations, and brought it upon the stage, under the title of Woman's a + Riddle, but allowed the unhappy author no part of the profit. + </p> + <p> + Not discouraged, however, at his repulse, he wrote two years afterwards + Love in a Veil, another comedy, borrowed likewise from the Spanish, but + with little better success than before; for though it was received and + acted, yet it appeared so late in the year, that the author obtained no + other advantage from it than the acquaintance of Sir Richard Steele and + Mr. Wilks, by whom he was pitied, caressed, and relieved. + </p> + <p> + Sir Richard Steele, having declared in his favour with all the ardour of + benevolence which constituted his character, promoted his interest with + the utmost zeal, related his misfortunes, applauded his merit, took all + the opportunities of recommending him, and asserted that "the inhumanity + of his mother had given him a right to find every good man his father." + Nor was Mr. Savage admitted to his acquaintance only, but to his + confidence, of which he sometimes related an instance too extraordinary to + be omitted, as it affords a very just idea of his patron's character. He + was once desired by Sir Richard, with an air of the utmost importance, to + come very early to his house the next morning. Mr. Savage came as he had + promised, found the chariot at the door, and Sir Richard waiting for him, + and ready to go out. What was intended, and whither they were to go, + Savage could not conjecture, and was not willing to inquire; but + immediately seated himself with Sir Richard. The coachman was ordered to + drive, and they hurried with the utmost expedition to Hyde Park Corner, + where they stopped at a petty tavern, and retired to a private room. Sir + Richard then informed him that he intended to publish a pamphlet, and that + he had desired him to come thither that he might write for him. He soon + sat down to the work. Sir Richard dictated, and Savage wrote, till the + dinner that had been ordered was put upon the table. Savage was surprised + at the meanness of the entertainment, and after some hesitation ventured + to ask for wine, which Sir Richard, not without reluctance, ordered to be + brought. They then finished their dinner, and proceeded in their pamphlet, + which they concluded in the afternoon. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage then imagined his task over, and expected that Sir Richard + would call for the reckoning, and return home; but his expectations + deceived him, for Sir Richard told him that he was without money, and that + the pamphlet must be sold before the dinner could be paid for; and Savage + was therefore obliged to go and offer their new production to sale for two + guineas, which with some difficulty he obtained. Sir Richard then returned + home, having retired that day only to avoid his creditors, and composed + the pamphlet only to discharge his reckoning. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage related another fact equally uncommon, which, though it has no + relation to his life, ought to be preserved. Sir Richard Steele having one + day invited to his house a great number of persons of the first quality, + they were surprised at the number of liveries which surrounded the table; + and after dinner, when wine and mirth had set them free from the + observation of a rigid ceremony, one of them inquired of Sir Richard how + such an expensive train of domestics could be consistent with his fortune. + Sir Richard very frankly confessed that they were fellows of whom he would + very willingly be rid. And being then asked why he did not discharge them, + declared that they were bailiffs, who had introduced themselves with an + execution, and whom, since he could not send them away, he had thought it + convenient to embellish with liveries, that they might do him credit while + they stayed. His friends were diverted with the expedient, and by paying + the debt, discharged their attendance, having obliged Sir Richard to + promise that they should never again find him graced with a retinue of the + same kind. + </p> + <p> + Under such a tutor, Mr. Savage was not likely to learn prudence or + frugality; and perhaps many of the misfortunes which the want of those + virtues brought upon him in the following parts of his life, might be + justly imputed to so unimproving an example. Nor did the kindness of Sir + Richard end in common favours. He proposed to have established him in some + settled scheme of life, and to have contracted a kind of alliance with + him, by marrying him to a natural daughter, on whom he intended to bestow + a thousand pounds. But though he was always lavish of future bounties, he + conducted his affairs in such a manner that he was very seldom able to + keep his promises, or execute his own intentions; and, as he was never + able to raise the sum which he had offered, the marriage was delayed. In + the meantime he was officiously informed that Mr. Savage had ridiculed + him; by which he was so much exasperated that he withdrew the allowance + which he had paid him, and never afterwards admitted him to his house. + </p> + <p> + It is not, indeed, unlikely that Savage might by his imprudence expose + himself to the malice of a talebearer; for his patron had many follies, + which, as his discernment easily discovered, his imagination might + sometimes incite him to mention too ludicrously. A little knowledge of the + world is sufficient to discover that such weakness is very common, and + that there are few who do not sometimes, in the wantonness of thoughtless + mirth, or the heat of transient resentment, speak of their friends and + benefactors with levity and contempt, though in their cooler moments they + want neither sense of their kindness nor reverence for their virtue; the + fault, therefore, of Mr. Savage was rather negligence than ingratitude. + But Sir Richard must likewise be acquitted of severity, for who is there + that can patiently bear contempt from one whom he has relieved and + supported, whose establishment he has laboured, and whose interest he has + promoted? + </p> + <p> + He was now again abandoned to fortune without any other friend than Mr. + Wilks; a man who, whatever were his abilities or skill as an actor, + deserves at least to be remembered for his virtues, which are not often to + be found in the world, and perhaps less often in his profession than in + others. To be humane, generous, and candid is a very high degree of merit + in any case; but those qualifications deserve still greater praise when + they are found in that condition which makes almost every other man, for + whatever reason, contemptuous, insolent, petulant, selfish, and brutal. + </p> + <p> + As Mr. Wilks was one of those to whom calamity seldom complained without + relief, he naturally took an unfortunate wit into his protection, and not + only assisted him in any casual distresses, but continued an equal and + steady kindness to the time of his death. By this interposition Mr. Savage + once obtained from his mother fifty pounds, and a promise of one hundred + and fifty more; but it was the fate of this unhappy man that few promises + of any advantage to him were performed. His mother was infected, among + others, with the general madness of the South Sea traffic; and having been + disappointed in her expectations, refused to pay what perhaps nothing but + the prospect of sudden affluence prompted her to promise. + </p> + <p> + Being thus obliged to depend upon the friendship of Mr. Wilks, he was + consequently an assiduous frequenter of the theatres: and in a short time + the amusements of the stage took such possession of his mind that he never + was absent from a play in several years. This constant attendance + naturally procured him the acquaintance of the players, and, among others, + of Mrs. Oldfield, who was so much pleased with his conversation, and + touched with his misfortunes, that she allowed him a settled pension of + fifty pounds a year, which was during her life regularly paid. That this + act of generosity may receive its due praise, and that the good actions of + Mrs. Oldfield may not be sullied by her general character, it is proper to + mention that Mr. Savage often declared, in the strongest terms, that he + never saw her alone, or in any other place than behind the scenes. + </p> + <p> + At her death he endeavoured to show his gratitude in the most decent + manner, by wearing mourning as for a mother; but did not celebrate her in + elegies, because he knew that too great a profusion of praise would only + have revived those faults which his natural equity did not allow him to + think less because they were committed by one who favoured him; but of + which, though his virtue would not endeavour to palliate them, his + gratitude would not suffer him to prolong the memory or diffuse the + censure. + </p> + <p> + In his "Wanderer" he has indeed taken an opportunity of mentioning her; + but celebrates her not for her virtue, but her beauty, an excellence which + none ever denied her: this is the only encomium with which he has rewarded + her liberality, and perhaps he has even in this been too lavish of his + praise. He seems to have thought that never to mention his benefactress + would have an appearance of ingratitude, though to have dedicated any + particular performance to her memory would have only betrayed an officious + partiality, and that without exalting her character would have depressed + his own. He had sometimes, by the kindness of Mr. Wilks, the advantage of + a benefit, on which occasions he often received uncommon marks of regard + and compassion; and was once told by the Duke of Dorset that it was just + to consider him as an injured nobleman, and that in his opinion the + nobility ought to think themselves obliged, without solicitation, to take + every opportunity of supporting him by their countenance and patronage. + But he had generally the mortification to hear that the whole interest of + his mother was employed to frustrate his applications, and that she never + left any expedient untried by which he might be cut off from the + possibility of supporting life. The same disposition she endeavoured to + diffuse among all those over whom nature or fortune gave her any + influence, and indeed succeeded too well in her design; but could not + always propagate her effrontery with her cruelty; for some of those whom + she incited against him were ashamed of their own conduct, and boasted of + that relief which they never gave him. In this censure I do not + indiscriminately involve all his relations; for he has mentioned with + gratitude the humanity of one lady, whose name I am now unable to + recollect, and to whom, therefore, I cannot pay the praises which she + deserves for having acted well in opposition to influence, precept, and + example. + </p> + <p> + The punishment which our laws inflict upon those parents who murder their + infants is well known, nor has its justice ever been contested; but, if + they deserve death who destroy a child in its birth, what pain can be + severe enough for her who forbears to destroy him only to inflict sharper + miseries upon him; who prolongs his life only to make him miserable; and + who exposes him, without care and without pity, to the malice of + oppression, the caprices of chance, and the temptations of poverty; who + rejoices to see him overwhelmed with calamities; and, when his own + industry, or the charity of others, has enabled him to rise for a short + time above his miseries, plunges him again into his former distress? + </p> + <p> + The kindness of his friends not affording him any constant supply, and the + prospect of improving his fortune by enlarging his acquaintance + necessarily leading him to places of expense, he found it necessary to + endeavour once more at dramatic poetry; for which he was now better + qualified by a more extensive knowledge and longer observation. But having + been unsuccessful in comedy, though rather for want of opportunities than + genius, he resolved to try whether he should not be more fortunate in + exhibiting a tragedy. The story which he chose for the subject was that of + Sir Thomas Overbury, a story well adapted to the stage, though perhaps not + far enough removed from the present age to admit properly the fictions + necessary to complete the plan; for the mind, which naturally loves truth, + is always most offended with the violation of those truths of which we are + most certain; and we of course conceive those facts most certain which + approach nearer to our own time. Out of this story he formed a tragedy, + which, if the circumstances in which he wrote it be considered, will + afford at once an uncommon proof of strength of genius and evenness of + mind, of a serenity not to be ruffled and an imagination not to be + suppressed. + </p> + <p> + During a considerable part of the time in which he was employed upon this + performance, he was without lodging, and often without meat; nor had he + any other conveniences for study than the fields or the streets allowed + him; there he used to walk and form his speeches, and afterwards step into + a shop, beg for a few moments the use of the pen and ink, and write down + what he had composed upon paper which he had picked up by accident. + </p> + <p> + If the performance of a writer thus distressed is not perfect, its faults + ought surely to be imputed to a cause very different from want of genius, + and must rather excite pity than provoke censure. But when, under these + discouragements, the tragedy was finished, there yet remained the labour + of introducing it on the stage, an undertaking which, to an ingenuous + mind, was in a very high degree vexatious and disgusting; for, having + little interest or reputation, he was obliged to submit himself wholly to + the players, and admit, with whatever reluctance, the emendations of Mr. + Cibber, which he always considered as the disgrace of his performance. He + had, indeed, in Mr. Hill another critic of a very different class, from + whose friendship he received great assistance on many occasions, and whom + he never mentioned but with the utmost tenderness and regard. He had been + for some time distinguished by him with very particular kindness, and on + this occasion it was natural to apply to him as an author of an + established character. He therefore sent this tragedy to him, with a short + copy of verses, in which he desired his correction. Mr. Hill, whose + humanity and politeness are generally known, readily complied with his + request; but as he is remarkable for singularity of sentiment, and bold + experiments in language, Mr. Savage did not think this play much improved + by his innovation, and had even at that time the courage to reject several + passages which he could not approve; and, what is still more laudable, Mr. + Hill had the generosity not to resent the neglect of his alterations, but + wrote the prologue and epilogue, in which he touches on the circumstances + of the author with great tenderness. + </p> + <p> + After all these obstructions and compliances, he was only able to bring + his play upon the stage in the summer, when the chief actors had retired, + and the rest were in possession of the house for their own advantage. + Among these, Mr. Savage was admitted to play the part of Sir Thomas + Overbury, by which he gained no great reputation, the theatre being a + province for which nature seems not to have designed him; for neither his + voice, look, nor gesture were such as were expected on the stage, and he + was so much ashamed of having been reduced to appear as a player, that he + always blotted out his name from the list when a copy of his tragedy was + to be shown to his friends. + </p> + <p> + In the publication of his performance he was more successful, for the rays + of genius that glimmered in it, that glimmered through all the mists which + poverty and Cibber had been able to spread over it, procured him the + notice and esteem of many persons eminent for their rank, their virtue, + and their wit. Of this play, acted, printed, and dedicated, the + accumulated profits arose to a hundred pounds, which he thought at that + time a very large sum, having been never master of so much before. + </p> + <p> + In the dedication, for which he received ten guineas, there is nothing + remarkable. The preface contains a very liberal encomium on the blooming + excellence of Mr. Theophilus Cibber, which Mr. Savage could not in the + latter part of his life see his friends about to read without snatching + the play out of their hands. The generosity of Mr. Hill did not end on + this occasion; for afterwards, when Mr. Savage's necessities returned, he + encouraged a subscription to a Miscellany of Poems in a very extraordinary + manner, by publishing his story in the Plain Dealer, with some affecting + lines, which he asserts to have been written by Mr. Savage upon the + treatment received by him from his mother, but of which he was himself the + author, as Mr. Savage afterwards declared. These lines, and the paper in + which they were inserted, had a very powerful effect upon all but his + mother, whom, by making her cruelty more public, they only hardened in her + aversion. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hill not only promoted the subscription to the Miscellany, but + furnished likewise the greatest part of the poems of which it is composed, + and particularly "The Happy Man," which he published as a specimen. + </p> + <p> + The subscriptions of those whom these papers should influence to patronise + merit in distress, without any other solicitation, were directed to be + left at Button's Coffee-house; and Mr. Savage going thither a few days + afterwards, without expectation of any effect from his proposal, found, to + his surprise, seventy guineas, which had been sent him in consequence of + the compassion excited by Mr. Hill's pathetic representation. + </p> + <p> + To this Miscellany he wrote a preface, in which he gives an account of his + mother's cruelty in a very uncommon strain of humour, and with a gaiety of + imagination which the success of his subscription probably produced. The + dedication is addressed to the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whom he flatters + without reserve, and, to confess the truth, with very little art. The same + observation may be extended to all his dedications: his compliments are + constrained and violent, heaped together without the grace of order, or + the decency of introduction. He seems to have written his panegyrics for + the perusal only of his patrons, and to imagine that he had no other task + than to pamper them with praises, however gross, and that flattery would + make its way to the heart, without the assistance of elegance or + invention. + </p> + <p> + Soon afterwards the death of the king furnished a general subject for a + poetical contest, in which Mr. Savage engaged, and is allowed to have + carried the prize of honour from his competitors: but I know not whether + he gained by his performance any other advantage than the increase of his + reputation, though it must certainly have been with farther views that he + prevailed upon himself to attempt a species of writing, of which all the + topics had been long before exhausted, and which was made at once + difficult by the multitudes that had failed in it, and those that had + succeeded. + </p> + <p> + He was now advancing in reputation, and though frequently involved in very + distressful perplexities, appeared, however, to be gaining upon mankind, + when both his fame and his life were endangered by an event, of which it + is not yet determined whether it ought to be mentioned as a crime or a + calamity. + </p> + <p> + On the 20th of November, 1727, Mr. Savage came from Richmond, where he + then lodged that he might pursue his studies with less interruption, with + an intent to discharge another lodging which he had in Westminster; and + accidentally meeting two gentlemen, his acquaintances, whose names were + Merchant and Gregory, he went in with them to a neighbouring coffee-house, + and sat drinking till it was late, it being in no time of Mr. Savage's + life any part of his character to be the first of the company that desired + to separate. He would willingly have gone to bed in the same house, but + there was not room for the whole company, and therefore they agreed to + ramble about the streets, and divert themselves with such amusements as + should offer themselves till morning. In this walk they happened unluckily + to discover a light in Robinson's Coffee-house, near Charing Cross, and + therefore went in. Merchant with some rudeness demanded a room, and was + told that there was a good fire in the next parlour, which the company + were about to leave, being then paying their reckoning. Merchant, not + satisfied with this answer, rushed into the room, and was followed by his + companions. He then petulantly placed himself between the company and the + fire, and soon after kicked down the table. This produced a quarrel, + swords were drawn on both sides, and one Mr. James Sinclair was killed. + Savage, having likewise wounded a maid that held him, forced his way, with + Merchant, out of the house; but being intimidated and confused, without + resolution either to fly or stay, they were taken in a back court by one + of the company, and some soldiers, whom he had called to his assistance. + Being secured and guarded that night, they were in the morning carried + before three justices, who committed them to the Gatehouse, from whence, + upon the death of Mr. Sinclair, which happened the same day, they were + removed in the night to Newgate, where they were, however, treated with + some distinction, exempted from the ignominy of chains, and confined, not + among the common criminals, but in the Press yard. + </p> + <p> + When the day of trial came, the court was crowded in a very unusual + manner, and the public appeared to interest itself as in a cause of + general concern. The witnesses against Mr. Savage and his friends were, + the woman who kept the house, which was a house of ill-fame, and her maid, + the men who were in the room with Mr. Sinclair, and a woman of the town, + who had been drinking with them, and with whom one of them had been seen. + They swore in general, that Merchant gave the provocation, which Savage + and Gregory drew their swords to justify; that Savage drew first, and that + he stabbed Sinclair when he was not in a posture of defence, or while + Gregory commanded his sword; that after he had given the thrust he turned + pale, and would have retired, but the maid clung round him, and one of the + company endeavoured to detain him, from whom he broke by cutting the maid + on the head, but was afterwards taken in a court. There was some + difference in their depositions; one did not see Savage give the wound, + another saw it given when Sinclair held his point towards the ground; and + the woman of the town asserted that she did not see Sinclair's sword at + all. This difference, however, was very far from amounting to + inconsistency; but it was sufficient to show, that the hurry of the + dispute was such that it was not easy to discover the truth with relation + to particular circumstances, and that therefore some deductions were to be + made from the credibility of the testimonies. + </p> + <p> + Sinclair had declared several times before his death that he received his + wound from Savage: nor did Savage at his trial deny the fact, but + endeavoured partly to extenuate it, by urging the suddenness of the whole + action, and the impossibility of any ill design or premeditated malice; + and partly to justify it by the necessity of self-defence, and the hazard + of his own life, if he had lost that opportunity of giving the thrust: he + observed, that neither reason nor law obliged a man to wait for the blow + which was threatened, and which, if he should suffer it, he might never be + able to return; that it was allowable to prevent an assault, and to + preserve life by taking away that of the adversary by whom it was + endangered. With regard to the violence with which he endeavoured to + escape, he declared that it was not his design to fly from justice, or + decline a trial, but to avoid the expenses and severities of a prison; and + that he intended to appear at the bar without compulsion. + </p> + <p> + This defence, which took up more than an hour, was heard by the multitude + that thronged the court with the most attentive and respectful silence. + Those who thought he ought not to be acquitted owned that applause could + not be refused him; and those who before pitied his misfortunes now + reverenced his abilities. The witnesses which appeared against him were + proved to be persons of characters which did not entitle them to much + credit; a common strumpet, a woman by whom strumpets were entertained, a + man by whom they were supported: and the character of Savage was by + several persons of distinction asserted to be that of a modest, + inoffensive man, not inclined to broils or to insolence, and who had, to + that time, been only known for his misfortunes and his wit. Had his + audience been his judges, he had undoubtedly been acquitted, but Mr. Page, + who was then upon the bench, treated him with his usual insolence and + severity, and when he had summed up the evidence, endeavoured to + exasperate the jury, as Mr. Savage used to relate it, with this eloquent + harangue:— + </p> + <p> + "Gentlemen of the jury, you are to consider that Mr. Savage is a very + great man, a much greater man than you or I, gentlemen of the jury; that + he wears very fine clothes, much finer clothes than you or I, gentlemen of + the jury; that he has abundance of money in his pockets, much more money + than you or I, gentlemen of the jury; but, gentlemen of the jury, is it + not a very hard case, gentlemen of the jury, that Mr. Savage should + therefore kill you or me, gentlemen of the jury?" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage, hearing his defence thus misrepresented, and the men who were + to decide his fate incited against him by invidious comparisons, + resolutely asserted that his cause was not candidly explained, and began + to recapitulate what he had before said with regard to his condition, and + the necessity of endeavouring to escape the expenses of imprisonment; but + the judge having ordered him to be silent, and repeated his orders without + effect, commanded that he should be taken from the bar by force. + </p> + <p> + The jury then heard the opinion of the judge, that good characters were of + no weight against positive evidence, though they might turn the scale + where it was doubtful; and that though, when two men attack each other, + the death of either is only manslaughter; but where one is the aggressor, + as in the case before them, and, in pursuance of his first attack, kills + the other, the law supposes the action, however sudden, to be malicious. + They then deliberated upon their verdict, and determined that Mr. Savage + and Mr. Gregory were guilty of murder, and Mr. Merchant, who had no sword, + only of manslaughter. + </p> + <p> + Thus ended this memorable trial, which lasted eight hours. Mr. Savage and + Mr. Gregory were conducted back to prison, where they were more closely + confined, and loaded with irons of fifty pounds' weight. Four days + afterwards they were sent back to the court to receive sentence, on which + occasion Mr. Savage made, as far as it could be retained in memory, the + following speech:— + </p> + <p> + "It is now, my lord, too late to offer anything by way of defence or + vindication; nor can we expect from your lordships, in this court, but the + sentence which the law requires you, as judges, to pronounce against men + of our calamitous condition. But we are also persuaded that as mere men, + and out of this seat of rigorous justice, you are susceptive of the tender + passions, and too humane not to commiserate the unhappy situation of those + whom the law sometimes perhaps exacts from you to pronounce upon. No doubt + you distinguish between offences which arise out of premeditation, and a + disposition habituated to vice or immorality, and transgressions which are + the unhappy and unforeseen effects of casual absence of reason, and sudden + impulse of passion. We therefore hope you will contribute all you can to + an extension of that mercy which the gentlemen of the jury have been + pleased to show to Mr. Merchant, who (allowing facts as sworn against us + by the evidence) has led us into this our calamity. I hope this will not + be construed as if we meant to reflect upon that gentleman, or remove + anything from us upon him, or that we repine the more at our fate because + he has no participation of it. No, my Lord! For my part, I declare nothing + could more soften my grief than to be without any companion in so great a + misfortune." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage had now no hopes of life but from the mercy of the Crown, which + was very earnestly solicited by his friends, and which, with whatever + difficulty the story may obtain belief, was obstructed only by his mother. + </p> + <p> + To prejudice the queen against him, she made use of an incident which was + omitted in the order of time, that it might be mentioned together with the + purpose which it was made to serve. Mr. Savage, when he had discovered his + birth, had an incessant desire to speak to his mother, who always avoided + him in public, and refused him admission into her house. One evening, + walking, as was his custom, in the street that she inhabited, he saw the + door of her house by accident open; he entered it, and finding no person + in the passage to hinder him, went up-stairs to salute her. She discovered + him before he entered the chamber, alarmed the family with the most + distressful outcries, and when she had by her screams gathered them about + her, ordered them to drive out of the house that villain, who had forced + himself in upon her and endeavoured to murder her. Savage, who had + attempted with the most submissive tenderness to soften her rage, hearing + her utter so detestable an accusation, thought it prudent to retire, and, + I believe, never attempted afterwards to speak to her. + </p> + <p> + But shocked as he was with her falsehood and her cruelty, he imagined that + she intended no other use of her lie than to set herself free from his + embraces and solicitations, and was very far from suspecting that she + would treasure it in her memory as an instrument of future wickedness, or + that she would endeavour for this fictitious assault to deprive him of his + life. But when the queen was solicited for his pardon, and informed of the + severe treatment which he had suffered from his judge, she answered that, + however unjustifiable might be the manner of his trial, or whatever + extenuation the action for which he was condemned might admit, she could + not think that man a proper object of the king's mercy who had been + capable of entering his mother's house in the night with an intent to + murder her. + </p> + <p> + By whom this atrocious calumny had been transmitted to the queen, whether + she that invented had the front to relate it, whether she found any one + weak enough to credit it, or corrupt enough to concur with her in her + hateful design, I know not, but methods had been taken to persuade the + queen so strongly of the truth of it, that she for a long time refused to + hear any one of those who petitioned for his life. + </p> + <p> + Thus had Savage perished by the evidence of a bawd, a strumpet, and his + mother, had not justice and compassion procured him an advocate of rank + too great to be rejected unheard, and of virtue too eminent to be heard + without being believed. His merit and his calamities happened to reach the + ear of the Countess of Hertford, who engaged in his support with all the + tenderness that is excited by pity, and all the zeal which is kindled by + generosity, and, demanding an audience of the queen, laid before her the + whole series of his mother's cruelty, exposed the improbability of an + accusation by which he was charged with an intent to commit a murder that + could produce no advantage, and soon convinced her how little his former + conduct could deserve to be mentioned as a reason for extraordinary + severity. + </p> + <p> + The interposition of this lady was so successful, that he was soon after + admitted to bail, and, on the 9th of March, 1728, pleaded the king's + pardon. + </p> + <p> + It is natural to inquire upon what motives his mother could persecute him + in a manner so outrageous and implacable; for what reason she could employ + all the arts of malice, and all the snares of calumny, to take away the + life of her own son, of a son who never injured her, who was never + supported by her expense, nor obstructed any prospect of pleasure or + advantage. Why she would endeavour to destroy him by a lie—a lie + which could not gain credit, but must vanish of itself at the first moment + of examination, and of which only this can be said to make it probable, + that it may be observed from her conduct that the most execrable crimes + are sometimes committed without apparent temptation. + </p> + <p> + This mother is still (1744) alive, and may perhaps even yet, though her + malice was so often defeated, enjoy the pleasure of reflecting that the + life which she often endeavoured to destroy was at last shortened by her + maternal offices; that though she could not transport her son to the + plantations, bury him in the shop of a mechanic, or hasten the hand of the + public executioner, she has yet had the satisfaction of embittering all + his hours, and forcing him into exigencies that hurried on his death. It + is by no means necessary to aggravate the enormity of this woman's conduct + by placing it in opposition to that of the Countess of Hertford. No one + can fail to observe how much more amiable it is to relieve than to + oppress, and to rescue innocence from destruction than to destroy without + an injury. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage, during his imprisonment, his trial, and the time in which he + lay under sentence of death, behaved with great firmness and equality of + mind, and confirmed by his fortitude the esteem of those who before + admired him for his abilities. The peculiar circumstances of his life were + made more generally known by a short account which was then published, and + of which several thousands were in a few weeks dispersed over the nation; + and the compassion of mankind operated so powerfully in his favour, that + he was enabled, by frequent presents, not only to support himself, but to + assist Mr. Gregory in prison; and when he was pardoned and released, he + found the number of his friends not lessened. + </p> + <p> + The nature of the act for which he had been tried was in itself doubtful; + of the evidences which appeared against him, the character of the man was + not unexceptionable, that of the woman notoriously infamous; she whose + testimony chiefly influenced the jury to condemn him afterwards retracted + her assertions. He always himself denied that he was drunk, as had been + generally reported. Mr. Gregory, who is now (1744) collector of Antigua, + is said to declare him far less criminal than he was imagined, even by + some who favoured him; and Page himself afterwards confessed that he had + treated him with uncommon rigour. When all these particulars are rated + together, perhaps the memory of Savage may not be much sullied by his + trial. Some time after he obtained his liberty, he met in the street the + woman who had sworn with so much malignity against him. She informed him + that she was in distress, and, with a degree of confidence not easily + attainable, desired him to relieve her. He, instead of insulting her + misery, and taking pleasure in the calamities of one who had brought his + life into danger, reproved her gently for her perjury, and, changing the + only guinea that he had, divided it equally between her and himself. This + is an action which in some ages would have made a saint, and perhaps in + others a hero, and which, without any hyperbolical encomiums, must be + allowed to be an instance of uncommon generosity, an act of complicated + virtue, by which he at once relieved the poor, corrected the vicious, and + forgave an enemy; by which he at once remitted the strongest provocations, + and exercised the most ardent charity. Compassion was indeed the + distinguishing quality of Savage: he never appeared inclined to take + advantage of weakness, to attack the defenceless, or to press upon the + falling. Whoever was distressed was certain at least of his good wishes; + and when he could give no assistance to extricate them from misfortunes, + he endeavoured to soothe them by sympathy and tenderness. But when his + heart was not softened by the sight of misery, he was sometimes obstinate + in his resentment, and did not quickly lose the remembrance of an injury. + He always continued to speak with anger of the insolence and partiality of + Page, and a short time before his death revenged it by a satire. + </p> + <p> + It is natural to inquire in what terms Mr. Savage spoke of this fatal + action when the danger was over, and he was under no necessity of using + any art to set his conduct in the fairest light. He was not willing to + dwell upon it; and, if he transiently mentioned it, appeared neither to + consider himself as a murderer, nor as a man wholly free from the guilt of + blood. How much and how long he regretted it appeared in a poem which he + published many years afterwards. On occasion of a copy of verses, in which + the failings of good men are recounted, and in which the author had + endeavoured to illustrate his position, that "the best may sometimes + deviate from virtue," by an instance of murder committed by Savage in the + heat of wine, Savage remarked that it was no very just representation of a + good man, to suppose him liable to drunkenness, and disposed in his riots + to cut throats. + </p> + <p> + He was now indeed at liberty, but was, as before, without any other + support than accidental favours and uncertain patronage afforded him; + sources by which he was sometimes very liberally supplied, and which at + other times were suddenly stopped; so that he spent his life between want + and plenty, or, what was yet worse, between beggary and extravagance, for, + as whatever he received was the gift of chance, which might as well favour + him at one time as another, he was tempted to squander what he had because + he always hoped to be immediately supplied. Another cause of his profusion + was the absurd kindness of his friends, who at once rewarded and enjoyed + his abilities by treating him at taverns, and habituating him to pleasures + which he could not afford to enjoy, and which he was not able to deny + himself, though he purchased the luxury of a single night by the anguish + of cold and hunger for a week. + </p> + <p> + The experience of these inconveniences determined him to endeavour after + some settled income, which, having long found submission and entreaties + fruitless, he attempted to extort from his mother by rougher methods. He + had now, as he acknowledged, lost that tenderness for her which the whole + series of her cruelty had not been able wholly to repress, till he found, + by the efforts which she made for his destruction, that she was not + content with refusing to assist him, and being neutral in his struggles + with poverty, but was ready to snatch every opportunity of adding to his + misfortunes; and that she was now to be considered as an enemy implacably + malicious, whom nothing but his blood could satisfy. He therefore + threatened to harass her with lampoons, and to publish a copious narrative + of her conduct, unless she consented to purchase an exemption from infamy + by allowing him a pension. + </p> + <p> + This expedient proved successful. Whether shame still survived, though + virtue was extinct, or whether her relations had more delicacy than + herself, and imagined that some of the darts which satire might point at + her would glance upon them, Lord Tyrconnel, whatever were his motives, + upon his promise to lay aside his design of exposing the cruelty of his + mother, received him into his family, treated him as his equal, and + engaged to allow him a pension of two hundred pounds a year. This was the + golden part of Mr. Savage's life; and for some time he had no reason to + complain of fortune. His appearance was splendid, his expenses large, and + his acquaintance extensive. He was courted by all who endeavoured to be + thought men of genius, and caressed by all who valued themselves upon a + refined taste. To admire Mr. Savage was a proof of discernment; and to be + acquainted with him was a title to poetical reputation. His presence was + sufficient to make any place of public entertainment popular, and his + approbation and example constituted the fashion. So powerful is genius, + when it is invested with the glitter of affluence! Men willingly pay to + fortune that regard which they owe to merit, and are pleased when they + have an opportunity at once of gratifying their vanity and practising + their duty. + </p> + <p> + This interval of prosperity furnished him with opportunities of enlarging + his knowledge of human nature, by contemplating life from its highest + gradations to its lowest; and, had he afterwards applied to dramatic + poetry, he would perhaps not have had many superiors, for, as he never + suffered any scene to pass before his eyes without notice, he had + treasured in his mind all the different combinations of passions, and the + innumerable mixtures of vice and virtue, which distinguished one character + from another; and, as his conception was strong, his expressions were + clear, he easily received impressions from objects, and very forcibly + transmitted them to others. Of his exact observations on human life he has + left a proof, which would do honour to the greatest names, in a small + pamphlet, called "The Author to be Let," where he introduces Iscariot + Hackney, a prostitute scribbler, giving an account of his birth, his + education, his disposition and morals, habits of life, and maxims of + conduct. In the introduction are related many secret histories of the + petty writers of that time, but sometimes mixed with ungenerous + reflections on their birth, their circumstances, or those of their + relations; nor can it be denied that some passages are such as Iscariot + Hackney might himself have produced. He was accused likewise of living in + an appearance of friendship with some whom he satirised, and of making use + of the confidence which he gained by a seeming kindness, to discover + failings and expose them. It must be confessed that Mr. Savage's esteem + was no very certain possession, and that he would lampoon at one time + those whom he had praised at another. + </p> + <p> + It may be alleged that the same man may change his principles, and that he + who was once deservedly commended may be afterwards satirised with equal + justice, or that the poet was dazzled with the appearance of virtue, and + found the man whom he had celebrated, when he had an opportunity of + examining him more narrowly, unworthy of the panegyric which he had too + hastily bestowed; and that, as a false satire ought to be recanted, for + the sake of him whose reputation may be injured, false praise ought + likewise to be obviated, lest the distinction between vice and virtue + should be lost, lest a bad man should be trusted upon the credit of his + encomiast, or lest others should endeavour to obtain like praises by the + same means. But though these excuses may be often plausible, and sometimes + just, they are very seldom satisfactory to mankind; and the writer who is + not constant to his subject, quickly sinks into contempt, his satire loses + its force, and his panegyric its value; and he is only considered at one + time as a flatterer, and a calumniator at another. To avoid these + imputations, it is only necessary to follow the rules of virtue, and to + preserve an unvaried regard to truth. For though it is undoubtedly + possible that a man, however cautious, may be sometimes deceived by an + artful appearance of virtue, or by false evidences of guilt, such errors + will not be frequent; and it will be allowed that the name of an author + would never have been made contemptible had no man ever said what he did + not think, or misled others but when he was himself deceived. + </p> + <p> + "The Author to be Let" was first published in a single pamphlet, and + afterwards inserted in a collection of pieces relating to the "Dunciad," + which were addressed by Mr. Savage to the Earl of Middlesex, in a + dedication which he was prevailed upon to sign, though he did not write + it, and in which there are some positions that the true author would + perhaps not have published under his own name, and on which Mr. Savage + afterwards reflected with no great satisfaction. The enumeration of the + bad effects of the uncontrolled freedom of the press, and the assertion + that the "liberties taken by the writers of journals with their superiors + were exorbitant and unjustifiable," very ill became men who have + themselves not always shown the exactest regard to the laws of + subordination in their writings, and who have often satirised those that + at least thought themselves their superiors, as they were eminent for + their hereditary rank, and employed in the highest offices of the kingdom. + But this is only an instance of that partiality which almost every man + indulges with regard to himself: the liberty of the press is a blessing + when we are inclined to write against others, and a calamity when we find + ourselves overborne by the multitude of our assailants; as the power of + the Crown is always thought too great by those who suffer by its + influence, and too little by those in whose favour it is exerted; and a + standing army is generally accounted necessary by those who command, and + dangerous and oppressive by those who support it. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage was likewise very far from believing that the letters annexed + to each species of bad poets in the Bathos were, as he was directed to + assert, "set down at random;" for when he was charged by one of his + friends with putting his name to such an improbability, he had no other + answer to make than that "he did not think of it;" and his friend had too + much tenderness to reply, that next to the crime of writing contrary to + what he thought was that of writing without thinking. + </p> + <p> + After having remarked what is false in this dedication, it is proper that + I observe the impartiality which I recommend, by declaring what Savage + asserted—that the account of the circumstances which attended the + publication of the "Dunciad," however strange and improbable, was exactly + true. + </p> + <p> + The publication of this piece at this time raised Mr. Savage a great + number of enemies among those that were attacked by Mr. Pope, with whom he + was considered as a kind of confederate, and whom he was suspected of + supplying with private intelligence and secret incidents; so that the + ignominy of an informer was added to the terror of a satirist. That he was + not altogether free from literary hypocrisy, and that he sometimes spoke + one thing and wrote another, cannot be denied, because he himself + confessed that, when he lived with great familiarity with Dennis, he wrote + an epigram against him. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage, however, set all the malice of all the pigmy writers at + defiance, and thought the friendship of Mr. Pope cheaply purchased by + being exposed to their censure and their hatred; nor had he any reason to + repent of the preference, for he found Mr. Pope a steady and unalienable + friend almost to the end of his life. + </p> + <p> + About this time, notwithstanding his avowed neutrality with regard to + party, he published a panegyric on Sir Robert Walpole, for which he was + rewarded by him with twenty guineas, a sum not very large, if either the + excellence of the performance or the affluence of the patron be + considered; but greater than he afterwards obtained from a person of yet + higher rank, and more desirous in appearance of being distinguished as a + patron of literature. + </p> + <p> + As he was very far from approving the conduct of Sir Robert Walpole, and + in conversation mentioned him sometimes with acrimony, and generally with + contempt, as he was one of those who were always zealous in their + assertions of the justice of the late opposition, jealous of the rights of + the people, and alarmed by the long-continued triumph of the Court, it was + natural to ask him what could induce him to employ his poetry in praise of + that man who was, in his opinion, an enemy to liberty, and an oppressor of + his country? He alleged that he was then dependent upon the Lord + Tyrconnel, who was an implicit follower of the ministry: and that, being + enjoined by him, not without menaces, to write in praise of the leader, he + had not resolution sufficient to sacrifice the pleasure of affluence to + that of integrity. + </p> + <p> + On this, and on many other occasions, he was ready to lament the misery of + living at the tables of other men, which was his fate from the beginning + to the end of his life; for I know not whether he ever had, for three + months together, a settled habitation, in which he could claim a right of + residence. + </p> + <p> + To this unhappy state it is just to impute much of the inconsistency of + his conduct, for though a readiness to comply with the inclinations of + others was no part of his natural character, yet he was sometimes obliged + to relax his obstinacy, and submit his own judgment, and even his virtue, + to the government of those by whom he was supported. So that if his + miseries were sometimes the consequences of his faults, he ought not yet + to be wholly excluded from compassion, because his faults were very often + the effects of his misfortunes. + </p> + <p> + In this gay period of his life, while he was surrounded by affluence and + pleasure, he published "The Wanderer," a moral poem, of which the design + is comprised in these lines:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I fly all public care, all venal strife, + To try the still, compared with active, life; + To prove, by these, the sons of men may owe + The fruits of bliss to bursting clouds of woe; + That ev'n calamity, by thought refined, + Inspirits and adorns the thinking mind." +</pre> + <p> + And more distinctly in the following passage:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "By woe, the soul to daring action swells; + By woe, in plaintless patience it excels: + From patience prudent, clear experience springs, + And traces knowledge through the course of things. + Thence hope is formed, thence fortitude, success, + Renown—whate'er men covet and caress." +</pre> + <p> + This performance was always considered by himself as his masterpiece; and + Mr. Pope, when he asked his opinion of it, told him that he read it once + over, and was not displeased with it; that it gave him more pleasure at + the second perusal, and delighted him still more at the third. + </p> + <p> + It has been generally objected to "The Wanderer," that the disposition of + the parts is irregular; that the design is obscure, and the plan + perplexed; that the images, however beautiful, succeed each other without + order; and that the whole performance is not so much a regular fabric, as + a heap of shining materials thrown together by accident, which strikes + rather with the solemn magnificence of a stupendous ruin than the elegant + grandeur of a finished pile. This criticism is universal, and therefore it + is reasonable to believe it at least in a degree just; but Mr. Savage was + always of a contrary opinion, and thought his drift could only be missed + by negligence or stupidity, and that the whole plan was regular, and the + parts distinct. It was never denied to abound with strong representations + of nature, and just observations upon life; and it may easily be observed + that most of his pictures have an evident tendency to illustrate his first + great position, "that good is the consequence of evil." The sun that burns + up the mountains fructifies the vales; the deluge that rushes down the + broken rocks with dreadful impetuosity is separated into purling brooks; + and the rage of the hurricane purifies the air. + </p> + <p> + Even in this poem he has not been able to forbear one touch upon the + cruelty of his mother, which, though remarkably delicate and tender, is a + proof how deep an impression it had upon his mind. This must be at least + acknowledged, which ought to be thought equivalent to many other + excellences, that this poem can promote no other purposes than those of + virtue, and that it is written with a very strong sense of the efficacy of + religion. But my province is rather to give the history of Mr. Savage's + performances than to display their beauties, or to obviate the criticisms + which they have occasioned, and therefore I shall not dwell upon the + particular passages which deserve applause. I shall neither show the + excellence of his descriptions, nor expatiate on the terrific portrait of + suicide, nor point out the artful touches by which he has distinguished + the intellectual features of the rebels, who suffer death in his last + canto. It is, however, proper to observe, that Mr. Savage always declared + the characters wholly fictitious, and without the least allusion to any + real persons or actions. + </p> + <p> + From a poem so diligently laboured, and so successfully finished, it might + be reasonably expected that he should have gained considerable advantage; + nor can it, without some degree of indignation and concern, be told, that + he sold the copy for ten guineas, of which he afterwards returned two, + that the two last sheets of the work might be reprinted, of which he had + in his absence entrusted the correction to a friend, who was too indolent + to perform it with accuracy. + </p> + <p> + A superstitious regard to the correction of his sheets was one of Mr. + Savage's peculiarities: he often altered, revised, recurred to his first + reading or punctuation, and again adopted the alteration; he was dubious + and irresolute without end, as on a question of the last importance, and + at last was seldom satisfied. The intrusion or omission of a comma was + sufficient to discompose him, and he would lament an error of a single + letter as a heavy calamity. In one of his letters relating to an + impression of some verses he remarks that he had, with regard to the + correction of the proof, "a spell upon him;" and indeed the anxiety with + which he dwelt upon the minutest and most trifling niceties, deserved no + other name than that of fascination. That he sold so valuable a + performance for so small a price was not to be imputed either to + necessity, by which the learned and ingenious are often obliged to submit + to very hard conditions, or to avarice, by which the booksellers are + frequently incited to oppress that genius by which they are supported, but + to that intemperate desire of pleasure, and habitual slavery to his + passions, which involved him in many perplexities. He happened at that + time to be engaged in the pursuit of some trifling gratification, and, + being without money for the present occasion, sold his poem to the first + bidder, and perhaps for the first price that was proposed, and would + probably have been content with less if less had been offered him. + </p> + <p> + This poem was addressed to the Lord Tyrconnel, not only in the first + lines, but in a formal dedication filled with the highest strains of + panegyric, and the warmest professions of gratitude, but by no means + remarkable for delicacy of connection or elegance of style. These praises + in a short time he found himself inclined to retract, being discarded by + the man on whom he had bestowed them, and whom he then immediately + discovered not to have deserved them. Of this quarrel, which every day + made more bitter, Lord Tyrconnel and Mr. Savage assigned very different + reasons, which might perhaps all in reality concur, though they were not + all convenient to be alleged by either party. Lord Tyrconnel affirmed that + it was the constant practice of Mr. Savage to enter a tavern with any + company that proposed it, drink the most expensive wines with great + profusion, and when the reckoning was demanded to be without money. If, as + it often happened, his company were willing to defray his part, the affair + ended without any ill consequences; but if they were refractory, and + expected that the wine should be paid for by him that drank it, his method + of composition was, to take them with him to his own apartment, assume the + government of the house, and order the butler in an imperious manner to + set the best wine in the cellar before his company, who often drank till + they forgot the respect due to the house in which they were entertained, + indulged themselves in the utmost extravagance of merriment, practised the + most licentious frolics, and committed all the outrages of drunkenness. + Nor was this the only charge which Lord Tyrconnel brought against him. + Having given him a collection of valuable books, stamped with his own + arms, he had the mortification to see them in a short time exposed to sale + upon the stalls, it being usual with Mr. Savage, when he wanted a small + sum, to take his books to the pawnbroker. + </p> + <p> + Whoever was acquainted with Mr. Savage easily credited both these + accusations; for having been obliged, from his first entrance into the + world, to subsist upon expedients, affluence was not able to exalt him + above them; and so much was he delighted with wine and conversation, and + so long had he been accustomed to live by chance, that he would at any + time go to the tavern without scruple, and trust for the reckoning to the + liberality of his company, and frequently of company to whom he was very + little known. This conduct, indeed, very seldom drew upon him those + inconveniences that might be feared by any other person, for his + conversation was so entertaining, and his address so pleasing, that few + thought the pleasure which they received from him dearly purchased by + paying for his wine. It was his peculiar happiness that he scarcely ever + found a stranger whom he did not leave a friend; but it must likewise be + added, that he had not often a friend long without obliging him to become + a stranger. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage, on the other hand, declared that Lord Tyrconnel quarrelled + with him because he would not subtract from his own luxury and + extravagance what he had promised to allow him, and that his resentment + was only a plea for the violation of his promise. He asserted that he had + done nothing that ought to exclude him from that subsistence which he + thought not so much a favour as a debt, since it was offered him upon + conditions which he had never broken: and that his only fault was, that he + could not be supported with nothing. He acknowledged that Lord Tyrconnel + often exhorted him to regulate his method of life, and not to spend all + his nights in taverns, and that he appeared desirous that he would pass + those hours with him which he so freely bestowed upon others. This demand + Mr. Savage considered as a censure of his conduct which he could never + patiently bear, and which, in the latter and cooler parts of his life, was + so offensive to him, that he declared it as his resolution "to spurn that + friend who should pretend to dictate to him;" and it is not likely that in + his earlier years he received admonitions with more calmness. He was + likewise inclined to resent such expectations, as tending to infringe his + liberty, of which he was very jealous, when it was necessary to the + gratification of his passions; and declared that the request was still + more unreasonable as the company to which he was to have been confined was + insupportably disagreeable. This assertion affords another instance of + that inconsistency of his writings with his conversation which was so + often to be observed. He forgot how lavishly he had, in his dedication to + "The Wanderer," extolled the delicacy and penetration, the humanity and + generosity, the candour and politeness of the man whom, when he no longer + loved him, he declared to be a wretch without understanding, without good + nature, and without justice; of whose name he thought himself obliged to + leave no trace in any future edition of his writings, and accordingly + blotted it out of that copy of "The Wanderer" which was in his hands. + </p> + <p> + During his continuance with the Lord Tyrconnel, he wrote "The Triumph of + Health and Mirth," on the recovery of Lady Tyrconnel from a languishing + illness. This performance is remarkable, not only for the gaiety of the + ideas and the melody of the numbers, but for the agreeable fiction upon + which it is formed. Mirth, overwhelmed with sorrow for the sickness of her + favourite, takes a flight in quest of her sister Health, whom she finds + reclined upon the brow of a lofty mountain, amidst the fragrance of + perpetual spring, with the breezes of the morning sporting about her. + Being solicited by her sister Mirth, she readily promises her assistance, + flies away in a cloud, and impregnates the waters of Bath with new + virtues, by which the sickness of Belinda is relieved. As the reputation + of his abilities, the particular circumstances of his birth and life, the + splendour of his appearance, and the distinction which was for some time + paid him by Lord Tyrconnel, entitled him to familiarity with persons of + higher rank than those to whose conversation he had been before admitted, + he did not fail to gratify that curiosity which induced him to take a + nearer view of those whom their birth, their employments, or their + fortunes necessarily placed at a distance from the greatest part of + mankind, and to examine whether their merit was magnified or diminished by + the medium through which it was contemplated; whether the splendour with + which they dazzled their admirers was inherent in themselves, or only + reflected on them by the objects that surrounded them; and whether great + men were selected for high stations, or high stations made great men. + </p> + <p> + For this purpose he took all opportunities of conversing familiarly with + those who were most conspicuous at that time for their power or their + influence; he watched their looser moments, and examined their domestic + behaviour, with that acuteness which nature had given him, and which the + uncommon variety of his life had contributed to increase, and that + inquisitiveness which must always be produced in a vigorous mind by an + absolute freedom from all pressing or domestic engagements. His + discernment was quick, and therefore he soon found in every person, and in + every affair, something that deserved attention; he was supported by + others, without any care for himself, and was therefore at leisure to + pursue his observations. More circumstances to constitute a critic on + human life could not easily concur; nor, indeed, could any man, who + assumed from accidental advantages more praise than he could justly claim + from his real merit, admit any acquaintance more dangerous than that of + Savage; of whom likewise it must be confessed, that abilities really + exalted above the common level, or virtue refined from passion, or proof + against corruption, could not easily find an abler judge or a warmer + advocate. + </p> + <p> + What was the result of Mr. Savage's inquiry, though he was not much + accustomed to conceal his discoveries, it may not be entirely safe to + relate, because the persons whose characters he criticised are powerful, + and power and resentment are seldom strangers; nor would it perhaps be + wholly just, because what he asserted in conversation might, though true + in general, be heightened by some momentary ardour of imagination, and as + it can be delivered only from memory, may be imperfectly represented, so + that the picture, at first aggravated, and then unskilfully copied, may be + justly suspected to retain no great resemblance of the original. + </p> + <p> + It may, however, be observed, that he did not appear to have formed very + elevated ideas of those to whom the administration of affairs, or the + conduct of parties, has been intrusted; who have been considered as the + advocates of the Crown, or the guardians of the people; and who have + obtained the most implicit confidence, and the loudest applauses. Of one + particular person, who has been at one time so popular as to be generally + esteemed, and at another so formidable as to be universally detested, he + observed that his acquisitions had been small, or that his capacity was + narrow, and that the whole range of his mind was from obscenity to + politics, and from politics to obscenity. + </p> + <p> + But the opportunity of indulging his speculations on great characters was + now at an end. He was banished from the table of Lord Tyrconnel, and + turned again adrift upon the world, without prospect of finding quickly + any other harbour. As prudence was not one of the virtues by which he was + distinguished, he made no provision against a misfortune like this. And + though it is not to be imagined but that the separation must for some time + have been preceded by coldness, peevishness, or neglect, though it was + undoubtedly the consequence of accumulated provocations on both sides, yet + every one that knew Savage will readily believe that to him it was sudden + as a stroke of thunder; that, though he might have transiently suspected + it, he had never suffered any thought so unpleasing to sink into his mind, + but that he had driven it away by amusements or dreams of future felicity + and affluence, and had never taken any measures by which he might prevent + a precipitation from plenty to indigence. This quarrel and separation, and + the difficulties to which Mr. Savage was exposed by them, were soon known + both to his friends and enemies; nor was it long before he perceived, from + the behaviour of both, how much is added to the lustre of genius by the + ornaments of wealth. His condition did not appear to excite much + compassion, for he had not been always careful to use the advantages he + enjoyed with that moderation which ought to have been with more than usual + caution preserved by him, who knew, if he had reflected, that he was only + a dependent on the bounty of another, whom he could expect to support him + no longer than he endeavoured to preserve his favour by complying with his + inclinations, and whom he nevertheless set at defiance, and was + continually irritating by negligence or encroachments. + </p> + <p> + Examples need not be sought at any great distance to prove that + superiority of fortune has a natural tendency to kindle pride, and that + pride seldom fails to exert itself in contempt and insult; and if this is + often the effect of hereditary wealth, and of honours enjoyed only by the + merits of others, it is some extenuation of any indecent triumphs to which + this unhappy man may have been betrayed, that his prosperity was + heightened by the force of novelty, and made more intoxicating by a sense + of the misery in which he had so long languished, and perhaps of the + insults which he had formerly borne, and which he might now think himself + entitled to revenge. It is too common for those who have unjustly suffered + pain to inflict it likewise in their turn with the same injustice, and to + imagine that they have a right to treat others as they have themselves + been treated. + </p> + <p> + That Mr. Savage was too much elevated by any good fortune is generally + known; and some passages of his Introduction to "The Author to be Let" + sufficiently show that he did not wholly refrain from such satire, as he + afterwards thought very unjust when he was exposed to it himself; for, + when he was afterwards ridiculed in the character of a distressed poet, he + very easily discovered that distress was not a proper subject for + merriment or topic of invective. He was then able to discern, that if + misery be the effect of virtue, it ought to be reverenced; if of ill + fortune, to be pitied; and if of vice, not to be insulted, because it is + perhaps itself a punishment adequate to the crime by which it was + produced. And the humanity of that man can deserve no panegyric who is + capable of reproaching a criminal in the hands of the executioner. But + these reflections, though they readily occurred to him in the first and + last parts of his life, were, I am afraid, for a long time forgotten; at + least they were, like many other maxims, treasured up in his mind rather + for show than use, and operated very little upon his conduct, however + elegantly he might sometimes explain, or however forcibly he might + inculcate them. His degradation, therefore, from the condition which he + had enjoyed with such wanton thoughtlessness, was considered by many as an + occasion of triumph. Those who had before paid their court to him without + success soon returned the contempt which they had suffered; and they who + had received favours from him, for of such favours as he could bestow he + was very liberal, did not always remember them. So much more certain are + the effects of resentment than of gratitude. It is not only to many more + pleasing to recollect those faults which place others below them, than + those virtues by which they are themselves comparatively depressed: but it + is likewise more easy to neglect than to recompense. And though there are + few who will practise a laborious virtue, there will never be wanting + multitudes that will indulge in easy vice. + </p> + <p> + Savage, however, was very little disturbed at the marks of contempt which + his ill fortune brought upon him from those whom he never esteemed, and + with whom he never considered himself as levelled by any calamities: and + though it was not without some uneasiness that he saw some whose + friendship he valued change their behaviour, he yet observed their + coldness without much emotion, considered them as the slaves of fortune, + and the worshippers of prosperity, and was more inclined to despise them + than to lament himself. + </p> + <p> + It does not appear that after this return of his wants he found mankind + equally favourable to him, as at his first appearance in the world. His + story, though in reality not less melancholy, was less affecting, because + it was no longer new. It therefore procured him no new friends, and those + that had formerly relieved him thought they might now consign him to + others. He was now likewise considered by many rather as criminal than as + unhappy, for the friends of Lord Tyrconnel, and of his mother, were + sufficiently industrious to publish his weaknesses, which were indeed very + numerous, and nothing was forgotten that might make him either hateful or + ridiculous. It cannot but be imagined that such representations of his + faults must make great numbers less sensible of his distress; many who had + only an opportunity to hear one part made no scruple to propagate the + account which they received; many assisted their circulation from malice + or revenge; and perhaps many pretended to credit them, that they might + with a better grace withdraw their regard, or withhold their assistance. + </p> + <p> + Savage, however, was not one of those who suffered himself to be injured + without resistance, nor was he less diligent in exposing the faults of + Lord Tyrconnel, over whom he obtained at least this advantage, that he + drove him first to the practice of outrage and violence; for he was so + much provoked by the wit and virulence of Savage, that he came with a + number of attendants, that did no honour to his courage, to beat him at a + coffee-house. But it happened that he had left the place a few minutes, + and his lordship had, without danger, the pleasure of boasting how he + would have treated him. Mr. Savage went next day to repay his visit at his + own house, but was prevailed on by his domestics to retire without + insisting on seeing him. + </p> + <p> + Lord Tyrconnel was accused by Mr. Savage of some actions which scarcely + any provocation will be thought sufficient to justify, such as seizing + what he had in his lodgings, and other instances of wanton cruelty, by + which he increased the distress of Savage without any advantage to + himself. + </p> + <p> + These mutual accusations were retorted on both sides, for many years, with + the utmost degree of virulence and rage; and time seemed rather to augment + than diminish their resentment. That the anger of Mr. Savage should be + kept alive is not strange, because he felt every day the consequences of + the quarrel; but it might reasonably have been hoped that Lord Tyrconnel + might have relented, and at length have forgot those provocations, which, + however they might have once inflamed him, had not in reality much hurt + him. The spirit of Mr. Savage, indeed, never suffered him to solicit a + reconciliation; he returned reproach for reproach, and insult for insult; + his superiority of wit supplied the disadvantages of his fortune, and + enabled him to form a party, and prejudice great numbers in his favour. + But though this might be some gratification of his vanity, it afforded + very little relief to his necessities, and he was frequently reduced to + uncommon hardships, of which, however, he never made any mean or + importunate complaints, being formed rather to bear misery with fortitude + than enjoy prosperity with moderation. + </p> + <p> + He now thought himself again at liberty to expose the cruelty of his + mother; and therefore, I believe, about this time, published "The + Bastard," a poem remarkable for the vivacious sallies of thought in the + beginning, where he makes a pompous enumeration of the imaginary + advantages of base birth, and the pathetic sentiments at the end, where he + recounts the real calamities which he suffered by the crime of his + parents. The vigour and spirit of the verses, the peculiar circumstances + of the author, the novelty of the subject, and the notoriety of the story + to which the allusions are made, procured this performance a very + favourable reception; great numbers were immediately dispersed, and + editions were multiplied with unusual rapidity. + </p> + <p> + One circumstance attended the publication which Savage used to relate with + great satisfaction. His mother, to whom the poem was with "due reverence" + inscribed, happened then to be at Bath, where she could not conveniently + retire from censure, or conceal herself from observation; and no sooner + did the reputation of the poem begin to spread, than she heard it repeated + in all places of concourse; nor could she enter the assembly-rooms or + cross the walks without being saluted with some lines from "The Bastard." + </p> + <p> + This was perhaps the first time that she ever discovered a sense of shame, + and on this occasion the power of wit was very conspicuous; the wretch who + had, without scruple, proclaimed herself an adulteress, and who had first + endeavoured to starve her son, then to transport him, and afterwards to + hang him, was not able to bear the representation of her own conduct, but + fled from reproach, though she felt no pain from guilt, and left Bath in + the utmost haste to shelter herself among the crowds of London. Thus + Savage had the satisfaction of finding that, though he could not reform + his mother, he could punish her, and that he did not always suffer alone. + </p> + <p> + The pleasure which he received from this increase of his poetical + reputation was sufficient for some time to overbalance the miseries of + want, which this performance did not much alleviate; for it was sold for a + very trivial sum to a bookseller, who, though the success was so uncommon + that five impressions were sold, of which many were undoubtedly very + numerous, had not generosity sufficient to admit the unhappy writer to any + part of the profit. The sale of this poem was always mentioned by Mr. + Savage with the utmost elevation of heart, and referred to by him as an + incontestable proof of a general acknowledgment of his abilities. It was, + indeed, the only production of which he could justly boast a general + reception. But, though he did not lose the opportunity which success gave + him of setting a high rate on his abilities, but paid due deference to the + suffrages of mankind when they were given in his favour, he did not suffer + his esteem of himself to depend upon others, nor found anything sacred in + the voice of the people when they were inclined to censure him; he then + readily showed the folly of expecting that the public should judge right, + observed how slowly poetical merit had often forced its way into the + world; he contented himself with the applause of men of judgment, and was + somewhat disposed to exclude all those from the character of men of + judgment who did not applaud him. But he was at other times more + favourable to mankind than to think them blind to the beauties of his + works, and imputed the slowness of their sale to other causes; either they + were published at a time when the town was empty, or when the attention of + the public was engrossed by some struggle in the Parliament or some other + object of general concern; or they were, by the neglect of the publisher, + not diligently dispersed, or, by his avarice, not advertised with + sufficient frequency. Address, or industry, or liberality was always + wanting, and the blame was laid rather on any person than the author. + </p> + <p> + By arts like these, arts which every man practises in some degree, and to + which too much of the little tranquillity of life is to be ascribed, + Savage was always able to live at peace with himself. Had he, indeed, only + made use of these expedients to alleviate the loss or want of fortune or + reputation, or any other advantages which it is not in a man's power to + bestow upon himself, they might have been justly mentioned as instances of + a philosophical mind, and very properly proposed to the imitation of + multitudes who, for want of diverting their imaginations with the same + dexterity, languish under afflictions which might be easily removed. + </p> + <p> + It were doubtless to be wished that truth and reason were universally + prevalent; that everything were esteemed according to its real value; and + that men would secure themselves from being disappointed, in their + endeavours after happiness, by placing it only in virtue, which is always + to be obtained; but, if adventitious and foreign pleasures must be + pursued, it would be perhaps of some benefit, since that pursuit must + frequently be fruitless, if the practice of Savage could be taught, that + folly might be an antidote to folly, and one fallacy be obviated by + another. But the danger of this pleasing intoxication must not be + concealed; nor, indeed, can any one, after having observed the life of + Savage, need to be cautioned against it. By imputing none of his miseries + to himself, he continued to act upon the same principles, and to follow + the same path; was never made wiser by his sufferings, nor preserved by + one misfortune from falling into another. He proceeded throughout his life + to tread the same steps on the same circle; always applauding his past + conduct, or at least forgetting it, to amuse himself with phantoms of + happiness, which were dancing before him; and willingly turned his eyes + from the light of reason, when it would have discovered the illusion, and + shown him, what he never wished to see, his real state. He is even + accused, after having lulled his imagination with those ideal opiates, of + having tried the same experiment upon his conscience; and, having + accustomed himself to impute all deviations from the right to foreign + causes, it is certain that he was upon every occasion too easily + reconciled to himself, and that he appeared very little to regret those + practices which had impaired his reputation. The reigning error of his + life was that he mistook the love for the practice of virtue, and was + indeed not so much a good man as the friend of goodness. + </p> + <p> + This, at least, must be allowed him, that he always preserved a strong + sense of the dignity, the beauty, and the necessity of virtue; and that he + never contributed deliberately to spread corruption amongst mankind. His + actions, which were generally precipitate, were often blameable; but his + writings, being the production of study, uniformly tended to the + exaltation of the mind and the propagation of morality and piety. These + writings may improve mankind when his failings shall be forgotten; and + therefore he must be considered, upon the whole, as a benefactor to the + world. Nor can his personal example do any hurt, since whoever hears of + his faults will hear of the miseries which they brought upon him, and + which would deserve less pity had not his condition been such as made his + faults pardonable. He may be considered as a child exposed to all the + temptations of indigence, at an age when resolution was not yet + strengthened by conviction, nor virtue confirmed by habit; a circumstance + which, in his "Bastard," he laments in a very affecting manner:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "No mother's care + Shielded my infant innocence with prayer; + No father's guardian hand my youth maintained, + Called forth my virtues, or from vice restrained." +</pre> + <p> + "The Bastard," however it might provoke or mortify his mother, could not + be expected to melt her to compassion, so that he was still under the same + want of the necessaries of life; and he therefore exerted all the interest + which his wit, or his birth, or his misfortunes could procure to obtain, + upon the death of Eusden, the place of Poet Laureate, and prosecuted his + application with so much diligence that the king publicly declared it his + intention to bestow it upon him; but such was the fate of Savage that even + the king, when he intended his advantage, was disappointed in his schemes; + for the Lord Chamberlain, who has the disposal of the laurel as one of the + appendages of his office, either did not know the king's design, or did + not approve it, or thought the nomination of the Laureate an encroachment + upon his rights, and therefore bestowed the laurel upon Colley Cibber. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage, thus disappointed, took a resolution of applying to the queen, + that, having once given him life, she would enable him to support it, and + therefore published a short poem on her birthday, to which he gave the odd + title of "Volunteer Laureate." The event of this essay he has himself + related in the following letter, which he prefixed to the poem when he + afterwards reprinted it in The Gentleman's Magazine, whence I have copied + it entire, as this was one of the few attempts in which Mr. Savage + succeeded. + </p> + <p> + "MR. URBAN,—In your Magazine for February you published the last + 'Volunteer Laureate,' written on a very melancholy occasion, the death of + the royal patroness of arts and literature in general, and of the author + of that poem in particular; I now send you the first that Mr. Savage wrote + under that title. This gentleman, notwithstanding a very considerable + interest, being, on the death of Mr. Eusden, disappointed of the + Laureate's place, wrote the following verses; which were no sooner + published, but the late queen sent to a bookseller for them. The author + had not at that time a friend either to get him introduced, or his poem + presented at Court; yet, such was the unspeakable goodness of that + princess, that, notwithstanding this act of ceremony was wanting, in a few + days after publication Mr. Savage received a bank-bill of fifty pounds, + and a gracious message from her Majesty, by the Lord North and Guilford, + to this effect: 'That her Majesty was highly pleased with the verses; that + she took particularly kind his lines there relating to the king; that he + had permission to write annually on the same subject; and that he should + yearly receive the like present, till something better (which was her + Majesty's intention) could be done for him.' After this he was permitted + to present one of his annual poems to her Majesty, had the honour of + kissing her hand, and met with the most gracious reception. + </p> + <p> + "Yours, etc." + </p> + <p> + Such was the performance, and such its reception; a reception which, + though by no means unkind, was yet not in the highest degree generous. To + chain down the genius of a writer to an annual panegyric showed in the + queen too much desire of hearing her own praises, and a greater regard to + herself than to him on whom her bounty was conferred. It was a kind of + avaricious generosity, by which flattery was rather purchased than genius + rewarded. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Oldfield had formerly given him the same allowance with much more + heroic intention: she had no other view than to enable him to prosecute + his studies, and to set himself above the want of assistance, and was + contented with doing good without stipulating for encomiums. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage, however, was not at liberty to make exceptions, but was + ravished with the favours which he had received, and probably yet more + with those which he was promised: he considered himself now as a favourite + of the queen, and did not doubt but a few annual poems would establish him + in some profitable employment. He therefore assumed the title of + "Volunteer Laureate," not without some reprehensions from Cibber, who + informed him that the title of "Laureate" was a mark of honour conferred + by the king, from whom all honour is derived, and which, therefore, no man + has a right to bestow upon himself; and added that he might with equal + propriety style himself a Volunteer Lord or Volunteer Baronet. It cannot + be denied that the remark was just; but Savage did not think any title + which was conferred upon Mr. Cibber so honourable as that the usurpation + of it could be imputed to him as an instance of very exorbitant vanity, + and therefore continued to write under the same title, and received every + year the same reward. He did not appear to consider these encomiums as + tests of his abilities, or as anything more than annual hints to the queen + of her promise, or acts of ceremony, by the performance of which he was + entitled to his pension, and therefore did not labour them with great + diligence, or print more than fifty each year, except that for some of the + last years he regularly inserted them in The Gentleman's Magazine, by + which they were dispersed over the kingdom. + </p> + <p> + Of some of them he had himself so low an opinion that he intended to omit + them in the collection of poems for which he printed proposals, and + solicited subscriptions; nor can it seem strange that, being confined to + the same subject, he should be at some times indolent and at others + unsuccessful; that he should sometimes delay a disagreeable task till it + was too late to perform it well; or that he should sometimes repeat the + same sentiment on the same occasion, or at others be misled by an attempt + after novelty to forced conceptions and far-fetched images. He wrote + indeed with a double intention, which supplied him with some variety; for + his business was to praise the queen for the favours which he had + received, and to complain to her of the delay of those which she had + promised: in some of his pieces, therefore, gratitude is predominant, and + in some discontent; in some, he represents himself as happy in her + patronage; and, in others, as disconsolate to find himself neglected. Her + promise, like other promises made to this unfortunate man, was never + performed, though he took sufficient care that it should not be forgotten. + The publication of his "Volunteer Laureate" procured him no other reward + than a regular remittance of fifty pounds. He was not so depressed by his + disappointments as to neglect any opportunity that was offered of + advancing his interest. When the Princess Anne was married, he wrote a + poem upon her departure, only, as he declared, "because it was expected + from him," and he was not willing to bar his own prospects by any + appearance of neglect. He never mentioned any advantage gained by this + poem, or any regard that was paid to it; and therefore it is likely that + it was considered at Court as an act of duty, to which he was obliged by + his dependence, and which it was therefore not necessary to reward by any + new favour: or perhaps the queen really intended his advancement, and + therefore thought it superfluous to lavish presents upon a man whom she + intended to establish for life. + </p> + <p> + About this time not only his hopes were in danger of being frustrated, but + his pension likewise of being obstructed, by an accidental calumny. The + writer of The Daily Courant, a paper then published under the direction of + the Ministry, charged him with a crime, which, though very great in + itself, would have been remarkably invidious in him, and might very justly + have incensed the queen against him. He was accused by name of influencing + elections against the Court by appearing at the head of a Tory mob; nor + did the accuser fail to aggravate his crime by representing it as the + effect of the most atrocious ingratitude, and a kind of rebellion against + the queen, who had first preserved him from an infamous death, and + afterwards distinguished him by her favour, and supported him by her + charity. The charge, as it was open and confident, was likewise by good + fortune very particular. The place of the transaction was mentioned, and + the whole series of the rioter's conduct related. This exactness made Mr. + Savage's vindication easy; for he never had in his life seen the place + which was declared to be the scene of his wickedness, nor ever had been + present in any town when its representatives were chosen. This answer he + therefore made haste to publish, with all the circumstances necessary to + make it credible; and very reasonably demanded that the accusation should + be retracted in the same paper, that he might no longer suffer the + imputation of sedition and ingratitude. This demand was likewise pressed + by him in a private letter to the author of the paper, who, either + trusting to the protection of those whose defence he had undertaken, or + having entertained some personal malice against Mr. Savage, or fearing + lest, by retracting so confident an assertion, he should impair the credit + of his paper, refused to give him that satisfaction. Mr. Savage therefore + thought it necessary, to his own vindication, to prosecute him in the + King's Bench; but as he did not find any ill effects from the accusation, + having sufficiently cleared his innocence, he thought any further + procedure would have the appearance of revenge; and therefore willingly + dropped it. He saw soon afterwards a process commenced in the same court + against himself, on an information in which he was accused of writing and + publishing an obscene pamphlet. + </p> + <p> + It was always Mr Savage's desire to be distinguished; and, when any + controversy became popular, he never wanted some reason for engaging in it + with great ardour, and appearing at the head of the party which he had + chosen. As he was never celebrated for his prudence, he had no sooner + taken his side, and informed himself of the chief topics of the dispute, + than he took all opportunities of asserting and propagating his + principles, without much regard to his own interest, or any other visible + design than that of drawing upon himself the attention of mankind. + </p> + <p> + The dispute between the Bishop of London and the chancellor is well known + to have been for some time the chief topic of political conversation; and + therefore Mr. Savage, in pursuance of his character, endeavoured to become + conspicuous among the controvertists with which every coffee-house was + filled on that occasion. He was an indefatigable opposer of all the claims + of ecclesiastical power, though he did not know on what they were founded; + and was therefore no friend to the Bishop of London. But he had another + reason for appearing as a warm advocate for Dr. Rundle; for he was the + friend of Mr. Foster and Mr. Thomson, who were the friends of Mr. Savage. + </p> + <p> + Thus remote was his interest in the question, which, however, as he + imagined, concerned him so nearly, that it was not sufficient to harangue + and dispute, but necessary likewise to write upon it. He therefore engaged + with great ardour in a new poem, called by him, "The Progress of a + Divine;" in which he conducts a profligate priest, by all the gradations + of wickedness, from a poor curacy in the country to the highest + preferments of the Church; and describes, with that humour which was + natural to him, and that knowledge which was extended to all the + diversities of human life, his behaviour in every station; and insinuates + that this priest, thus accomplished, found at last a patron in the Bishop + of London. When he was asked, by one of his friends, on what pretence he + could charge the bishop with such an action, he had no more to say than + that he had only inverted the accusation; and that he thought it + reasonable to believe that he who obstructed the rise of a good man + without reason would for bad reasons promote the exaltation of a villain. + The clergy were universally provoked by this satire; and Savage, who, as + was his constant practice, had set his name to his performance, was + censured in The Weekly Miscellany with severity, which he did not seem + inclined to forget. + </p> + <p> + But return of invective was not thought a sufficient punishment. The Court + of King's Bench was therefore moved against him; and he was obliged to + return an answer to a charge of obscenity. It was urged, in his defence, + that obscenity was criminal when it was intended to promote the practice + of vice; but that Mr. Savage had only introduced obscene ideas with the + view of exposing them to detestation, and of amending the age by showing + the deformity of wickedness. This plea was admitted; and Sir Philip Yorke, + who then presided in that court, dismissed the information, with encomiums + upon the purity and excellence of Mr. Savage's writings. The prosecution, + however, answered in some measure the purpose of those by whom it was set + on foot; for Mr. Savage was so far intimidated by it that, when the + edition of his poem was sold, he did not venture to reprint it; so that it + was in a short time forgotten, or forgotten by all but those whom it + offended. It is said that some endeavours were used to incense the queen + against him: but he found advocates to obviate at least part of their + effect; for though he was never advanced, he still continued to receive + his pension. + </p> + <p> + This poem drew more infamy upon him than any incident of his life; and, as + his conduct cannot be vindicated, it is proper to secure his memory from + reproach by informing those whom he made his enemies that he never + intended to repeat the provocation; and that, though whenever he thought + he had any reason to complain of the clergy, he used to threaten them with + a new edition of "The Progress of a Divine," it was his calm and settled + resolution to suppress it for ever. + </p> + <p> + He once intended to have made a better reparation for the folly or + injustice with which he might be charged, by writing another poem, called + "The Progress of a Free-thinker," whom he intended to lead through all the + stages of vice and folly, to convert him from virtue to wickedness, and + from religion to infidelity, by all the modish sophistry used for that + purpose; and at last to dismiss him by his own hand into the other world. + That he did not execute this design is a real loss to mankind; for he was + too well acquainted with all the scenes of debauchery to have failed in + his representations of them, and too zealous for virtue not to have + represented them in such a manner as should expose them either to ridicule + or detestation. But this plan was, like others, formed and laid aside, + till the vigour of his imagination was spent, and the effervescence of + invention had subsided; but soon gave way to some other design, which + pleased by its novelty for awhile, and then was neglected like the former. + </p> + <p> + He was still in his usual exigencies, having no certain support but the + pension allowed him by the queen, which, though it might have kept an + exact economist from want, was very far from being sufficient for Mr. + Savage, who had never been accustomed to dismiss any of his appetites + without the gratification which they solicited, and whom nothing but want + of money withheld from partaking of every pleasure that fell within his + view. His conduct with regard to his pension was very particular. No + sooner had he changed the bill than he vanished from the sight of all his + acquaintance, and lay for some time out of the reach of all the inquiries + that friendship or curiosity could make after him. At length he appeared + again, penniless as before, but never informed even those whom he seemed + to regard most where he had been; nor was his retreat ever discovered. + This was his constant practice during the whole time that he received the + pension from the queen: he regularly disappeared and returned. He, indeed, + affirmed that he retired to study, and that the money supported him in + solitude for many months; but his friends declared that the short time in + which it was spent sufficiently confuted his own account of his conduct. + </p> + <p> + His politeness and his wit still raised him friends who were desirous of + setting him at length free from that indigence by which he had been + hitherto oppressed; and therefore solicited Sir Robert Walpole in his + favour with so much earnestness that they obtained a promise of the next + place that should become vacant, not exceeding two hundred pounds a year. + This promise was made with an uncommon declaration, "that it was not the + promise of a minister to a petitioner, but of a friend to his friend." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage now concluded himself set at ease for ever, and, as he observes + in a poem written on that incident of his life, trusted, and was trusted; + but soon found that his confidence was ill-grounded, and this friendly + promise was not inviolable. He spent a long time in solicitations, and at + last despaired and desisted. He did not indeed deny that he had given the + minister some reason to believe that he should not strengthen his own + interest by advancing him, for he had taken care to distinguish himself in + coffee-houses, as an advocate for the ministry of the last years of Queen + Anne, and was always ready to justify the conduct, and exalt the + character, of Lord Bolingbroke, whom he mentions with great regard in an + Epistle upon Authors, which he wrote about that time, but was too wise to + publish, and of which only some fragments have appeared, inserted by him + in the Magazine after his retirement. + </p> + <p> + To despair was not, however, the character of Savage; when one patronage + failed, he had recourse to another. The Prince was now extremely popular, + and had very liberally rewarded the merit of some writers whom Mr. Savage + did not think superior to himself, and therefore he resolved to address a + poem to him. For this purpose he made choice of a subject which could + regard only persons of the highest rank and greatest affluence, and which + was therefore proper for a poem intended to procure the patronage of a + prince; and having retired for some time to Richmond, that he might + prosecute his design in full tranquillity, without the temptations of + pleasure, or the solicitations of creditors, by which his meditations were + in equal danger of being disconcerted, he produced a poem "On Public + Spirit, with regard to Public Works." + </p> + <p> + The plan of this poem is very extensive, and comprises a multitude of + topics, each of which might furnish matter sufficient for a long + performance, and of which some have already employed more eminent writers; + but as he was perhaps not fully acquainted with the whole extent of his + own design, and was writing to obtain a supply of wants too pressing to + admit of long or accurate inquiries, he passes negligently over many + public works which, even in his own opinion, deserved to be more + elaborately treated. + </p> + <p> + But though he may sometimes disappoint his reader by transient touches + upon these subjects, which have often been considered, and therefore + naturally raise expectations, he must be allowed amply to compensate his + omissions by expatiating, in the conclusion of his work, upon a kind of + beneficence not yet celebrated by any eminent poet, though it now appears + more susceptible of embellishments, more adapted to exalt the ideas and + affect the passions, than many of those which have hitherto been thought + most worthy of the ornament of verse. The settlement of colonies in + uninhabited countries, the establishment of those in security whose + misfortunes have made their own country no longer pleasing or safe, the + acquisition of property without injury to any, the appropriation of the + waste and luxuriant bounties of nature, and the enjoyment of those gifts + which Heaven has scattered upon regions uncultivated and unoccupied, + cannot be considered without giving rise to a great number of pleasing + ideas, and bewildering the imagination in delightful prospects; and + therefore, whatever speculations they may produce in those who have + confined themselves to political studies, naturally fixed the attention, + and excited the applause, of a poet. The politician, when he considers men + driven into other countries for shelter, and obliged to retire to forests + and deserts, and pass their lives and fix their posterity in the remotest + corners of the world to avoid those hardships which they suffer or fear in + their native place, may very properly inquire why the legislature does not + provide a remedy for these miseries rather than encourage an escape from + them. He may conclude that the flight of every honest man is a loss to the + community; that those who are unhappy without guilt ought to be relieved; + and the life which is overburthened by accidental calamities set at ease + by the care of the public; and that those who have by misconduct forfeited + their claim to favour ought rather to be made useful to the society which + they have injured than be driven from it. But the poet is employed in a + more pleasing undertaking than that of proposing laws which, however just + or expedient, will never be made; or endeavouring to reduce to rational + schemes of government societies which were formed by chance, and are + conducted by the private passions of those who preside in them. He guides + the unhappy fugitive, from want and persecution, to plenty, quiet, and + security, and seats him in scenes of peaceful solitude and undisturbed + repose. + </p> + <p> + Savage has not forgotten, amidst the pleasing sentiments which this + prospect of retirement suggested to him, to censure those crimes which + have been generally committed by the discoverers of new regions, and to + expose the enormous wickedness of making war upon barbarous nations + because they cannot resist, and of invading countries because they are + fruitful; of extending navigation only to propagate vice; and of visiting + distant lands only to lay them waste. He has asserted the natural equality + of mankind, and endeavoured to suppress that pride which inclines men to + imagine that right is the consequence of power. His description of the + various miseries which force men to seek for refuge in distant countries + affords another instance of his proficiency in the important and extensive + study of human life; and the tenderness with which he recounts them, + another proof of his humanity and benevolence. + </p> + <p> + It is observable that the close of this poem discovers a change which + experience had made in Mr. Savage's opinions. In a poem written by him in + his youth, and published in his Miscellanies, he declares his contempt of + the contracted views and narrow prospects of the middle state of life, and + declares his resolution either to tower like the cedar, or be trampled + like the shrub; but in this poem, though addressed to a prince, he + mentions this state of life as comprising those who ought most to attract + reward, those who merit most the confidence of power and the familiarity + of greatness; and, accidentally mentioning this passage to one of his + friends, declared that in his opinion all the virtue of mankind was + comprehended in that state. + </p> + <p> + In describing villas and gardens he did not omit to condemn that absurd + custom which prevails among the English of permitting servants to receive + money from strangers for the entertainment that they receive, and + therefore inserted in his poem these lines: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "But what the flowering pride of gardens rare, + However royal, or however fair, + If gates which to excess should still give way, + Ope but, like Peter's paradise, for pay; + If perquisited varlets frequent stand, + And each new walk must a new tax demand; + What foreign eye but with contempt surveys? + What Muse shall from oblivion snatch their praise?" +</pre> + <p> + But before the publication of his performance he recollected that the + queen allowed her garden and cave at Richmond to be shown for money; and + that she so openly countenanced the practice that she had bestowed the + privilege of showing them as a place of profit on a man whose merit she + valued herself upon rewarding, though she gave him only the liberty of + disgracing his country. He therefore thought, with more prudence than was + often exerted by him, that the publication of these lines might be + officiously represented as an insult upon the queen, to whom he owed his + life and his subsistence; and that the propriety of his observation would + be no security against the censures which the unseasonableness of it might + draw upon him; he therefore suppressed the passage in the first edition, + but after the queen's death thought the same caution no longer necessary, + and restored it to the proper place. The poem was, therefore, published + without any political faults, and inscribed to the prince; but Mr. Savage, + having no friend upon whom he could prevail to present it to him, had no + other method of attracting his observation than the publication of + frequent advertisements, and therefore received no reward from his patron, + however generous on other occasions. This disappointment he never + mentioned without indignation, being by some means or other confident that + the prince was not ignorant of his address to him; and insinuated that if + any advances in popularity could have been made by distinguishing him, he + had not written without notice or without reward. He was once inclined to + have presented his poem in person and sent to the printer for a copy with + that design; but either his opinion changed or his resolution deserted + him, and he continued to resent neglect without attempting to force + himself into regard. Nor was the public much more favourable than his + patron; for only seventy-two were sold, though the performance was much + commended by some whose judgment in that kind of writing is generally + allowed. But Savage easily reconciled himself to mankind without imputing + any defect to his work, by observing that his poem was unluckily published + two days after the prorogation of the parliament, and by consequence at a + time when all those who could be expected to regard it were in the hurry + of preparing for their departure, or engaged in taking leave of others + upon their dismission from public affairs. It must be however allowed, in + justification of the public, that this performance is not the most + excellent of Mr. Savage's works; and that, though it cannot be denied to + contain many striking sentiments, majestic lines, and just observations, + it is in general not sufficiently polished in the language, or enlivened + in the imagery, or digested in the plan. Thus his poem contributed nothing + to the alleviation of his poverty, which was such as very few could have + supported with equal patience; but to which it must likewise be confessed + that few would have been exposed who received punctually fifty pounds a + year; a salary which, though by no means equal to the demands of vanity + and luxury, is yet found sufficient to support families above want, and + was undoubtedly more than the necessities of life require. + </p> + <p> + But no sooner had he received his pension than he withdrew to his darling + privacy, from which he returned in a short time to his former distress, + and for some part of the year generally lived by chance, eating only when + he was invited to the tables of his acquaintances, from which the meanness + of his dress often excluded him, when the politeness and variety of his + conversation would have been thought a sufficient recompense for his + entertainment. He lodged as much by accident as he dined, and passed the + night sometimes in mean houses which are set open at night to any casual + wanderers; sometimes in cellars, among the riot and filth of the meanest + and most profligate of the rabble; and sometimes, when he had not money to + support even the expenses of these receptacles, walked about the streets + till he was weary, and lay down in the summer upon the bulk, or in the + winter, with his associate, in poverty, among the ashes of a glass-house. + </p> + <p> + In this manner were passed those days and those nights which nature had + enabled him to have employed in elevated speculations, useful studies, or + pleasing conversation. On a bulk, in a cellar, or in a glass-house, among + thieves and beggars, was to be found the author of "The Wanderer," the man + of exalted sentiments, extensive views, and curious observations; the man + whose remarks on life might have assisted the statesman, whose ideas of + virtue might have enlightened the moralist, whose eloquence might have + influenced senates, and whose delicacy might have polished courts. It + cannot but be imagined that such necessities might sometimes force him + upon disreputable practices; and it is probable that these lines in "The + Wanderer" were occasioned by his reflections on his own conduct: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Though misery leads to happiness and truth, + Unequal to the load this languid youth, + (Oh, let none censure, if, untried by grief, + If, amidst woe, untempted by relief), + He stooped reluctant to low arts of shame, + Which then, e'en then, he scorned, and blushed to name." +</pre> + <p> + Whoever was acquainted with him was certain to be solicited for small + sums, which the frequency of the request made in time considerable; and he + was therefore quickly shunned by those who were become familiar enough to + be trusted with his necessities; but his rambling manner of life, and + constant appearance at houses of public resort, always procured him a new + succession of friends whose kindness had not been exhausted by repeated + requests; so that he was seldom absolutely without resources, but had in + his utmost exigencies this comfort, that he always imagined himself sure + of speedy relief. It was observed that he always asked favours of this + kind without the least submission or apparent consciousness of dependence, + and that he did not seem to look upon a compliance with his request as an + obligation that deserved any extraordinary acknowledgments; but a refusal + was resented by him as an affront, or complained of as an injury; nor did + he readily reconcile himself to those who either denied to lend, or gave + him afterwards any intimation that they expected to be repaid. He was + sometimes so far compassionated by those who knew both his merit and + distresses that they received him into their families, but they soon + discovered him to be a very incommodious inmate; for, being always + accustomed to an irregular manner of life, he could not confine himself to + any stated hours, or pay any regard to the rules of a family, but would + prolong his conversation till midnight, without considering that business + might require his friend's application in the morning; and, when he had + persuaded himself to retire to bed, was not, without equal difficulty, + called up to dinner: it was therefore impossible to pay him any + distinction without the entire subversion of all economy, a kind of + establishment which, wherever he went, he always appeared ambitious to + overthrow. It must therefore be acknowledged, in justification of mankind, + that it was not always by the negligence or coldness of his friends that + Savage was distressed, but because it was in reality very difficult to + preserve him long in a state of ease. To supply him with money was a + hopeless attempt; for no sooner did he see himself master of a sum + sufficient to set him free from care for a day than he became profuse and + luxurious. When once he had entered a tavern, or engaged in a scheme of + pleasure, he never retired till want of money obliged him to some new + expedient. If he was entertained in a family, nothing was any longer to be + regarded there but amusement and jollity; wherever Savage entered, he + immediately expected that order and business should fly before him, that + all should thenceforward be left to hazard, and that no dull principle of + domestic management should be opposed to his inclination or intrude upon + his gaiety. His distresses, however afflictive, never dejected him; in his + lowest state he wanted not spirit to assert the natural dignity of wit, + and was always ready to repress that insolence which the superiority of + fortune incited, and to trample on that reputation which rose upon any + other basis than that of merit: he never admitted any gross familiarities, + or submitted to be treated otherwise than as an equal. Once when he was + without lodging, meat, or clothes, one of his friends, a man indeed not + remarkable for moderation in his prosperity, left a message that he + desired to see him about nine in the morning. Savage knew that his + intention was to assist him, but was very much disgusted that he should + presume to prescribe the hour of his attendance, and, I believe, refused + to visit him, and rejected his kindness. + </p> + <p> + The same invincible temper, whether firmness or obstinacy, appeared in his + conduct to the Lord Tyrconnel, from whom he very frequently demanded that + the allowance which was once paid him should be restored; but with whom he + never appeared to entertain for a moment the thought of soliciting a + reconciliation, and whom he treated at once with all the haughtiness of + superiority and all the bitterness of resentment. He wrote to him, not in + a style of supplication or respect, but of reproach, menace, and contempt; + and appeared determined, if he ever regained his allowance, to hold it + only by the right of conquest. + </p> + <p> + As many more can discover that a man is richer than that he is wiser than + themselves, superiority of understanding is not so readily acknowledged as + that of fortune; nor is that haughtiness which the consciousness of great + abilities incites, borne with the same submission as the tyranny of + affluence; and therefore Savage, by asserting his claim to deference and + regard, and by treating those with contempt whom better fortune animated + to rebel against him, did not fail to raise a great number of enemies in + the different classes of mankind. Those who thought themselves raised + above him by the advantages of riches hated him because they found no + protection from the petulance of his wit. Those who were esteemed for + their writings feared him as a critic, and maligned him as a rival; and + almost all the smaller wits were his professed enemies. + </p> + <p> + Among these Mr. Miller so far indulged his resentment as to introduce him + in a farce, and direct him to be personated on the stage in a dress like + that which he then wore; a mean insult, which only insinuated that Savage + had but one coat, and which was therefore despised by him rather than + resented; for, though he wrote a lampoon against Miller, he never printed + it: and as no other person ought to prosecute that revenge from which the + person who was injured desisted, I shall not preserve what Mr. Savage + suppressed; of which the publication would indeed have been a punishment + too severe for so impotent an assault. + </p> + <p> + The great hardships of poverty were to Savage not the want of lodging or + food, but the neglect and contempt which it drew upon him. He complained + that, as his affairs grew desperate, he found his reputation for capacity + visibly decline; that his opinion in questions of criticism was no longer + regarded when his coat was out of fashion; and that those who, in the + interval of his prosperity, were always encouraging him to great + undertakings by encomiums on his genius and assurances of success, now + received any mention of his designs with coldness, thought that the + subjects on which he proposed to write were very difficult, and were ready + to inform him that the event of a poem was uncertain, that an author ought + to employ much time in the consideration of his plan, and not presume to + sit down to write in consequence of a few cursory ideas and a superficial + knowledge; difficulties were started on all sides, and he was no longer + qualified for any performance but "The Volunteer Laureate." + </p> + <p> + Yet even this kind of contempt never depressed him: for he always + preserved a steady confidence in his own capacity, and believed nothing + above his reach which he should at any time earnestly endeavour to attain. + He formed schemes of the same kind with regard to knowledge and to + fortune, and flattered himself with advances to be made in science, as + with riches, to be enjoyed in some distant period of his life. For the + acquisition of knowledge he was indeed much better qualified than for that + of riches; for he was naturally inquisitive, and desirous of the + conversation of those from whom any information was to be obtained, but by + no means solicitous to improve those opportunities that were sometimes + offered of raising his fortune; and he was remarkably retentive of his + ideas, which, when once he was in possession of them, rarely forsook him; + a quality which could never be communicated to his money. + </p> + <p> + While he was thus wearing out his life in expectation that the queen would + some time recollect her promise, he had recourse to the usual practice of + writers, and published proposals for printing his works by subscription, + to which he was encouraged by the success of many who had not a better + right to the favour of the public; but, whatever was the reason, he did + not find the world equally inclined to favour him; and he observed with + some discontent, that though he offered his works at half a guinea, he was + able to procure but a small number in comparison with those who subscribed + twice as much to Duck. Nor was it without indignation that he saw his + proposals neglected by the queen, who patronised Mr. Duck's with uncommon + ardour, and incited a competition among those who attended the court who + should most promote his interest, and who should first offer a + subscription. This was a distinction to which Mr. Savage made no scruple + of asserting that his birth, his misfortunes, and his genius, gave a + fairer title than could be pleaded by him on whom it was conferred. + </p> + <p> + Savage's applications were, however, not universally unsuccessful; for + some of the nobility countenanced his design, encouraged his proposals, + and subscribed with great liberality. He related of the Duke of Chandos + particularly, that upon receiving his proposals he sent him ten guineas. + But the money which his subscriptions afforded him was not less volatile + than that which he received from his other schemes; whenever a + subscription was paid him, he went to a tavern; and as money so collected + is necessarily received in small sums, he never was able to send his poems + to the press, but for many years continued his solicitation, and + squandered whatever he obtained. + </p> + <p> + The project of printing his works was frequently revived; and as his + proposals grew obsolete, new ones were printed with fresher dates. To form + schemes for the publication was one of his favourite amusements; nor was + he ever more at ease than when, with any friend who readily fell in with + his schemes, he was adjusting the print, forming the advertisements, and + regulating the dispersion of his new edition, which he really intended + some time to publish, and which, as long as experience had shown him the + impossibility of printing the volume together, he at last determined to + divide into weekly or monthly numbers, that the profits of the first might + supply the expenses of the next. + </p> + <p> + Thus he spent his time in mean expedients and tormenting suspense, living + for the greatest part in fear of prosecutions from his creditors, and + consequently skulking in obscure parts of the town, of which he was no + stranger to the remotest corners. But wherever he came, his address + secured him friends, whom his necessities soon alienated; so that he had + perhaps a more numerous acquaintance than any man ever before attained, + there being scarcely any person eminent on any account to whom he was not + known, or whose character he was not in some degree able to delineate. To + the acquisition of this extensive acquaintance every circumstance of his + life contributed. He excelled in the arts of conversation, and therefore + willingly practised them. He had seldom any home, or even a lodging, in + which he could be private, and therefore was driven into public-houses for + the common conveniences of life and supports of nature. He was always + ready to comply with every invitation, having no employment to withhold + him, and often no money to provide for himself; and by dining with one + company he never failed of obtaining an introduction into another. + </p> + <p> + Thus dissipated was his life, and thus casual his subsistence; yet did not + the distraction of his views hinder him from reflection, nor the + uncertainty of his condition depress his gaiety. When he had wandered + about without any fortunate adventure by which he was led into a tavern, + he sometimes retired into the fields, and was able to employ his mind in + study, to amuse it with pleasing imaginations; and seldom appeared to be + melancholy but when some sudden misfortune had just fallen upon him; and + even then in a few moments he would disentangle himself from his + perplexity, adopt the subject of conversation, and apply his mind wholly + to the objects that others presented to it. This life, unhappy as it may + be already imagined, was yet embittered in 1738 with new calamities. The + death of the queen deprived him of all the prospects of preferment with + which he so long entertained his imagination; and as Sir Robert Walpole + had before given him reason to believe that he never intended the + performance of his promise, he was now abandoned again to fortune. He was, + however, at that time supported by a friend; and as it was not his custom + to look out for distant calamities, or to feel any other pain than that + which forced itself upon his senses, he was not much afflicted at his + loss, and perhaps comforted himself that his pension would be now + continued without the annual tribute of a panegyric. Another expectation + contributed likewise to support him; he had taken a resolution to write a + second tragedy upon the story of Sir Thomas Overbury, in which he + preserved a few lines of his former play, but made a total alteration of + the plan, added new incidents, and introduced new characters; so that it + was a new tragedy, not a revival of the former. + </p> + <p> + Many of his friends blamed him for not making choice of another subject; + but in vindication of himself he asserted that it was not easy to find a + better; and that he thought it his interest to extinguish the memory of + the first tragedy, which he could only do by writing one less defective + upon the same story; by which he should entirely defeat the artifice of + the booksellers, who, after the death of any author of reputation, are + always industrious to swell his works by uniting his worst productions + with his best. In the execution of this scheme, however, he proceeded but + slowly, and probably only employed himself upon it when he could find no + other amusement; but he pleased himself with counting the profits, and + perhaps imagined that the theatrical reputation which he was about to + acquire would be equivalent to all that he had lost by the death of his + patroness. He did not, in confidence of his approaching riches, neglect + the measures proper to secure the continuance of his pension, though some + of his favourers thought him culpable for omitting to write on her death; + but on her birthday next year he gave a proof of the solidity of his + judgment and the power of his genius. He knew that the track of elegy had + been so long beaten that it was impossible to travel in it without + treading in the footsteps of those who had gone before him; and that + therefore it was necessary, that he might distinguish himself from the + herd of encomiasts, to find out some new walk of funeral panegyric. This + difficult task he performed in such a manner that his poem may be justly + ranked among the best pieces that the death of princes has produced. By + transferring the mention of her death to her birthday, he has formed a + happy combination of topics which any other man would have thought it very + difficult to connect in one view, but which he has united in such a manner + that the relation between them appears natural; and it may be justly said + that what no other man would have thought on, it now appears scarcely + possible for any man to miss. + </p> + <p> + The beauty of this peculiar combination of images is so masterly that it + is sufficient to set this poem above censure; and therefore it is not + necessary to mention many other delicate touches which may be found in it, + and which would deservedly be admired in any other performance. To these + proofs of his genius may be added, from the same poem, an instance of his + prudence, an excellence for which he was not so often distinguished; he + does not forget to remind the king, in the most delicate and artful + manner, of continuing his pension. + </p> + <p> + With regard to the success of his address he was for some time in + suspense, but was in no great degree solicitous about it; and continued + his labour upon his new tragedy with great tranquillity, till the friend + who had for a considerable time supported him, removing his family to + another place, took occasion to dismiss him. It then became necessary to + inquire more diligently what was determined in his affair, having reason + to suspect that no great favour was intended him, because he had not + received his pension at the usual time. + </p> + <p> + It is said that he did not take those methods of retrieving his interest + which were most likely to succeed; and some of those who were employed in + the Exchequer cautioned him against too much violence in his proceedings; + but Mr. Savage, who seldom regulated his conduct by the advice of others, + gave way to his passion, and demanded of Sir Robert Walpole, at his levee, + the reason of the distinction that was made between him and the other + pensioners of the queen, with a degree of roughness which perhaps + determined him to withdraw what had been only delayed. + </p> + <p> + Whatever was the crime of which he was accused or suspected, and whatever + influence was employed against him, he received soon after an account that + took from him all hopes of regaining his pension; and he had now no + prospect of subsistence but from his play, and he knew no way of living + for the time required to finish it. + </p> + <p> + So peculiar were the misfortunes of this man, deprived of an estate and + title by a particular law, exposed and abandoned by a mother, defrauded by + a mother of a fortune which his father had allotted him, he entered the + world without a friend; and though his abilities forced themselves into + esteem and reputation, he was never able to obtain any real advantage; and + whatever prospects arose, were always intercepted as he began to approach + them. The king's intentions in his favour were frustrated; his dedication + to the prince, whose generosity on every other occasion was eminent, + procured him no reward; Sir Robert Walpole, who valued himself upon + keeping his promise to others, broke it to him without regret; and the + bounty of the queen was, after her death, withdrawn from him, and from him + only. + </p> + <p> + Such were his misfortunes, which yet he bore, not only with decency, but + with cheerfulness; nor was his gaiety clouded even by his last + disappointments, though he was in a short time reduced to the lowest + degree of distress, and often wanted both lodging and food. At this time + he gave another instance of the insurmountable obstinacy of his spirit: + his clothes were worn out, and he received notice that at a coffee-house + some clothes and linen were left for him: the person who sent them did + not, I believe, inform him to whom he was to be obliged, that he might + spare the perplexity of acknowledging the benefit; but though the offer + was so far generous, it was made with some neglect of ceremonies, which + Mr. Savage so much resented that he refused the present, and declined to + enter the house till the clothes that had been designed for him were taken + away. + </p> + <p> + His distress was now publicly known, and his friends therefore thought it + proper to concert some measures for his relief; and one of them [Pope] + wrote a letter to him, in which he expressed his concern "for the + miserable withdrawing of this pension;" and gave him hopes that in a short + time he should find himself supplied with a competence, "without any + dependence on those little creatures which we are pleased to call the + Great." The scheme proposed for this happy and independent subsistence + was, that he should retire into Wales, and receive an allowance of fifty + pounds a year, to be raised by a subscription, on which he was to live + privately in a cheap place, without aspiring any more to affluence, or + having any further care of reputation. This offer Mr. Savage gladly + accepted, though with intentions very different from those of his friends; + for they proposed that he should continue an exile from London for ever, + and spend all the remaining part of his life at Swansea; but he designed + only to take the opportunity which their scheme offered him of retreating + for a short time, that he might prepare his play for the stage, and his + other works for the press, and then to return to London to exhibit his + tragedy, and live upon the profits of his own labour. With regard to his + works he proposed very great improvements, which would have required much + time or great application; and, when he had finished them, he designed to + do justice to his subscribers by publishing them according to his + proposals. As he was ready to entertain himself with future pleasures, he + had planned out a scheme of life for the country, of which he had no + knowledge but from pastorals and songs. He imagined that he should be + transported to scenes of flowery felicity, like those which one poet has + reflected to another; and had projected a perpetual round of innocent + pleasures, of which he suspected no interruption from pride, or ignorance, + or brutality. With these expectations he was so enchanted that when he was + once gently reproached by a friend for submitting to live upon a + subscription, and advised rather by a resolute exertion of his abilities + to support himself, he could not bear to debar himself from the happiness + which was to be found in the calm of a cottage, or lose the opportunity of + listening, without intermission, to the melody of the nightingale, which + he believed was to be heard from every bramble, and which he did not fail + to mention as a very important part of the happiness of a country life. + </p> + <p> + While this scheme was ripening, his friends directed him to take a lodging + in the liberties of the Fleet, that he might be secure from his creditors, + and sent him every Monday a guinea, which he commonly spent before the + next morning, and trusted, after his usual manner, the remaining part of + the week to the bounty of fortune. + </p> + <p> + He now began very sensibly to feel the miseries of dependence. Those by + whom he was to be supported began to prescribe to him with an air of + authority, which he knew not how decently to resent, nor patiently to + bear; and he soon discovered from the conduct of most of his subscribers, + that he was yet in the hands of "little creatures." Of the insolence that + he was obliged to suffer he gave many instances, of which none appeared to + raise his indignation to a greater height than the method which was taken + of furnishing him with clothes. Instead of consulting him, and allowing + him to send a tailor his orders for what they thought proper to allow him, + they proposed to send for a tailor to take his measure, and then to + consult how they should equip him. This treatment was not very delicate, + nor was it such as Savage's humanity would have suggested to him on a like + occasion; but it had scarcely deserved mention, had it not, by affecting + him in an uncommon degree, shown the peculiarity of his character. Upon + hearing the design that was formed, he came to the lodging of a friend + with the most violent agonies of rage; and, being asked what it could be + that gave him such disturbance, he replied with the utmost vehemence of + indignation, "That they had sent for a tailor to measure him." + </p> + <p> + How the affair ended was never inquired, for fear of renewing his + uneasiness. It is probable that, upon recollection, he submitted with a + good grace to what he could not avoid, and that he discovered no + resentment where he had no power. He was, however, not humbled to implicit + and universal compliance; for when the gentleman who had first informed + him of the design to support him by a subscription attempted to procure a + reconciliation with the Lord Tyrconnel, he could by no means be prevailed + upon to comply with the measures that were proposed. + </p> + <p> + A letter was written for him to Sir William Lemon, to prevail upon him to + interpose his good offices with Lord Tyrconnel, in which he solicited Sir + William's assistance "for a man who really needed it as much as any man + could well do;" and informed him that he was retiring "for ever to a place + where he should no more trouble his relations, friends, or enemies;" he + confessed that his passion had betrayed him to some conduct, with regard + to Lord Tyrconnel, for which he could not but heartily ask his pardon; and + as he imagined Lord Tyrconnel's passion might be yet so high, that he + would not "receive a letter from him," begged that Sir William would + endeavour to soften him; and expressed his hopes that he would comply with + this request, and that "so small a relation would not harden his heart + against him." + </p> + <p> + That any man should presume to dictate a letter to him was not very + agreeable to Mr. Savage; and therefore he was, before he had opened it, + not much inclined to approve it. But when he read it he found it contained + sentiments entirely opposite to his own, and, as he asserted, to the + truth; and therefore, instead of copying it, wrote his friend a letter + full of masculine resentment and warm expostulations. He very justly + observed, that the style was too supplicatory, and the representation too + abject, and that he ought at least to have made him complain with "the + dignity of a gentleman in distress." He declared that he would not write + the paragraph in which he was to ask Lord Tyrconnel's pardon; for, "he + despised his pardon, and therefore could not heartily, and would not + hypocritically, ask it." He remarked that his friend made a very + unreasonable distinction between himself and him; for, says he, "when you + mention men of high rank in your own character," they are "those little + creatures whom we are pleased to call the Great;" but when you address + them "in mine," no servility is sufficiently humble. He then with + propriety explained the ill consequences which might be expected from such + a letter, which his relations would print in their own defence, and which + would for ever be produced as a full answer to all that he should allege + against them; for he always intended to publish a minute account of the + treatment which he had received. It is to be remembered, to the honour of + the gentleman by whom this letter was drawn up, that he yielded to Mr. + Savage's reasons, and agreed that it ought to be suppressed. + </p> + <p> + After many alterations and delays, a subscription was at length raised, + which did not amount to fifty pounds a year, though twenty were paid by + one gentleman; such was the generosity of mankind, that what had been done + by a player without solicitation, could not now be effected by application + and interest; and Savage had a great number to court and to obey for a + pension less than that which Mrs. Oldfield paid him without exacting any + servilities. Mr. Savage, however, was satisfied, and willing to retire, + and was convinced that the allowance, though scanty, would be more than + sufficient for him, being now determined to commence a rigid economist, + and to live according to the exact rules of frugality; for nothing was in + his opinion more contemptible than a man who, when he knew his income, + exceeded it; and yet he confessed that instances of such folly were too + common, and lamented that some men were not trusted with their own money. + </p> + <p> + Full of these salutary resolutions, he left London in July, 1739, having + taken leave with great tenderness of his friends, and parted from the + author of this narrative with tears in his eyes. He was furnished with + fifteen guineas, and informed that they would be sufficient, not only for + the expense of his journey, but for his support in Wales for some time; + and that there remained but little more of the first collection. He + promised a strict adherence to his maxims of parsimony, and went away in + the stage-coach; nor did his friends expect to hear from him till he + informed them of his arrival at Swansea. But when they least expected, + arrived a letter dated the fourteenth day after his departure, in which he + sent them word that he was yet upon the road, and without money; and that + he therefore could not proceed without a remittance. They then sent him + the money that was in their hands, with which he was enabled to reach + Bristol, from whence he was to go to Swansea by water. + </p> + <p> + At Bristol he found an embargo laid upon the shipping, so that he could + not immediately obtain a passage; and being therefore obliged to stay + there some time, he with his usual felicity ingratiated himself with many + of the principal inhabitants, was invited to their houses, distinguished + at their public feasts, and treated with a regard that gratified his + vanity, and therefore easily engaged his affection. + </p> + <p> + He began very early after his retirement to complain of the conduct of his + friends in London, and irritated many of them so much by his letters, that + they withdrew, however honourably, their contributions; and it is believed + that little more was paid him than the twenty pounds a year, which were + allowed him by the gentleman who proposed the subscription. + </p> + <p> + After some stay at Bristol he retired to Swansea, the place originally + proposed for his residence, where he lived about a year, very much + dissatisfied with the diminution of his salary; but contracted, as in + other places, acquaintance with those who were most distinguished in that + country, among whom he has celebrated Mr. Powel and Mrs. Jones, by some + verses which he inserted in The Gentleman's Magazine. Here he completed + his tragedy, of which two acts were wanting when he left London; and was + desirous of coming to town, to bring it upon the stage. This design was + very warmly opposed; and he was advised, by his chief benefactor, to put + it into the hands of Mr. Thomson and Mr. Mallet, that it might be fitted + for the stage, and to allow his friends to receive the profits, out of + which an annual pension should be paid him. + </p> + <p> + This proposal he rejected with the utmost contempt. He was by no means + convinced that the judgment of those to whom he was required to submit was + superior to his own. He was now determined, as he expressed it, to be "no + longer kept in leading-strings," and had no elevated idea of "his bounty, + who proposed to pension him out of the profits of his own labours." + </p> + <p> + He attempted in Wales to promote a subscription for his works, and had + once hopes of success; but in a short time afterwards formed a resolution + of leaving that part of the country, to which he thought it not reasonable + to be confined for the gratification of those who, having promised him a + liberal income, had no sooner banished him to a remote corner than they + reduced his allowance to a salary scarcely equal to the necessities of + life. His resentment of this treatment, which, in his own opinion at + least, he had not deserved, was such, that he broke off all correspondence + with most of his contributors, and appeared to consider them as + persecutors and oppressors; and in the latter part of his life declared + that their conduct towards him since his departure from London "had been + perfidiousness improving on perfidiousness, and inhumanity on inhumanity." + </p> + <p> + It is not to be supposed that the necessities of Mr. Savage did not + sometimes incite him to satirical exaggerations of the behaviour of those + by whom he thought himself reduced to them. But it must be granted that + the diminution of his allowance was a great hardship, and that those who + withdrew their subscription from a man who, upon the faith of their + promise, had gone into a kind of banishment, and abandoned all those by + whom he had been before relieved in his distresses, will find it no easy + task to vindicate their conduct. It may be alleged, and perhaps justly, + that he was petulant and contemptuous; that he more frequently reproached + his subscribers for not giving him more, than thanked them for what he + received; but it is to be remembered that his conduct, and this is the + worst charge that can be drawn up against him, did them no real injury, + and that it therefore ought rather to have been pitied than resented; at + least the resentment it might provoke ought to have been generous and + manly; epithets which his conduct will hardly deserve that starves the man + whom he has persuaded to put himself into his power. + </p> + <p> + It might have been reasonably demanded by Savage, that they should, before + they had taken away what they promised, have replaced him in his former + state, that they should have taken no advantages from the situation to + which the appearance of their kindness had reduced him, and that he should + have been recalled to London before he was abandoned. He might justly + represent, that he ought to have been considered as a lion in the toils, + and demand to be released before the dogs should be loosed upon him. He + endeavoured, indeed, to release himself, and, with an intent to return to + London, went to Bristol, where a repetition of the kindness which he had + formerly found, invited him to stay. He was not only caressed and treated, + but had a collection made for him of about thirty pounds, with which it + had been happy if he had immediately departed for London; but his + negligence did not suffer him to consider that such proofs of kindness + were not often to be expected, and that this ardour of benevolence was in + a great degree the effect of novelty, and might, probably, be every day + less; and therefore he took no care to improve the happy time, but was + encouraged by one favour to hope for another, till at length generosity + was exhausted, and officiousness wearied. + </p> + <p> + Another part of his misconduct was the practice of prolonging his visits + to unseasonable hours, and disconcerting all the families into which he + was admitted. This was an error in a place of commerce which all the + charms of his conversation could not compensate; for what trader would + purchase such airy satisfaction by the loss of solid gain, which must be + the consequence of midnight merriment, as those hours which were gained at + night were generally lost in the morning? Thus Mr. Savage, after the + curiosity of the inhabitants was gratified, found the number of his + friends daily decreasing, perhaps without suspecting for what reason their + conduct was altered; for he still continued to harass, with his nocturnal + intrusions, those that yet countenanced him, and admitted him to their + houses. + </p> + <p> + But he did not spend all the time of his residence at Bristol in visits or + at taverns, for he sometimes returned to his studies, and began several + considerable designs. When he felt an inclination to write, he always + retired from the knowledge of his friends, and lay hid in an obscure part + of the suburbs, till he found himself again desirous of company, to which + it is likely that intervals of absence made him more welcome. He was + always full of his design of returning to London, to bring his tragedy + upon the stage; but, having neglected to depart with the money that was + raised for him, he could not afterwards procure a sum sufficient to defray + the expenses of his journey; nor perhaps would a fresh supply have had any + other effect than, by putting immediate pleasures into his power, to have + driven the thoughts of his journey out of his mind. While he was thus + spending the day in contriving a scheme for the morrow, distress stole + upon him by imperceptible degrees. His conduct had already wearied some of + those who were at first enamoured of his conversation; but he might, + perhaps, still have devolved to others, whom he might have entertained + with equal success, had not the decay of his clothes made it no longer + consistent with their vanity to admit him to their tables, or to associate + with him in public places. He now began to find every man from home at + whose house he called; and was therefore no longer able to procure the + necessaries of life, but wandered about the town, slighted and neglected, + in quest of a dinner, which he did not always obtain. + </p> + <p> + To complete his misery, he was pursued by the officers for small debts + which he had contracted; and was therefore obliged to withdraw from the + small number of friends from whom he had still reason to hope for favours. + His custom was to lie in bed the greatest part of the day, and to get out + in the dark with the utmost privacy, and, after having paid his visit, + return again before morning to his lodging, which was in the garret of an + obscure inn. Being thus excluded on one hand, and confined on the other, + he suffered the utmost extremities of poverty, and often fasted so long + that he was seized with faintness, and had lost his appetite, not being + able to bear the smell of meat till the action of his stomach was restored + by a cordial. In this distress, he received a remittance of five pounds + from London, with which he provided himself a decent coat, and determined + to go to London, but unhappily spent his money at a favourite tavern. Thus + was he again confined to Bristol, where he was every day hunted by + bailiffs. In this exigence he once more found a friend, who sheltered him + in his house, though at the usual inconveniences with which his company + was attended; for he could neither be persuaded to go to bed in the night + nor to rise in the day. + </p> + <p> + It is observable, that in these various scenes of misery he was always + disengaged and cheerful: he at some times pursued his studies, and at + others continued or enlarged his epistolary correspondence; nor was he + ever so far dejected as to endeavour to procure an increase of his + allowance by any other methods than accusations and reproaches. + </p> + <p> + He had now no longer any hopes of assistance from his friends at Bristol, + who as merchants, and by consequence sufficiently studious of profit, + cannot be supposed to have looked with much compassion upon negligence and + extravagance, or to think any excellence equivalent to a fault of such + consequence as neglect of economy. It is natural to imagine, that many of + those who would have relieved his real wants, were discouraged from the + exertion of their benevolence by observation of the use which was made of + their favours, and conviction that relief would be only momentary, and + that the same necessity would quickly return. + </p> + <p> + At last he quitted the house of his friend, and returned to his lodgings + at the inn, still intending to set out in a few days for London, but on + the 10th of January, 1742-3, having been at supper with two of his + friends, he was at his return to his lodgings arrested for a debt of about + eight pounds, which he owed at a coffee-house, and conducted to the house + of a sheriff's officer. The account which he gives of this misfortune, in + a letter to one of the gentlemen with whom he had supped, is too + remarkable to be omitted. + </p> + <p> + "It was not a little unfortunate for me, that I spent yesterday's evening + with you; because the hour hindered me from entering on my new lodging; + however, I have now got one, but such an one as I believe nobody would + choose. + </p> + <p> + "I was arrested at the suit of Mrs. Read, just as I was going upstairs to + bed, at Mr. Bowyer's; but taken in so private a manner, that I believe + nobody at the White Lion is apprised of it; though I let the officers know + the strength, or rather weakness, of my pocket, yet they treated me with + the utmost civility; and even when they conducted me to confinement, it + was in such a manner, that I verily believe I could have escaped, which I + would rather be ruined than have done, notwithstanding the whole amount of + my finances was but threepence halfpenny. + </p> + <p> + "In the first place, I must insist that you will industriously conceal + this from Mrs. S—-s, because I would not have her good nature suffer + that pain which I know she would be apt to feel on this occasion. + </p> + <p> + "Next, I conjure you, dear sir, by all the ties of friendship, by no means + to have one uneasy thought on my account; but to have the same pleasantry + of countenance, and unruffled serenity of mind, which (God be praised!) I + have in this, and have had in a much severer calamity. Furthermore, I + charge you, if you value my friendship as truly as I do yours, not to + utter, or even harbour, the least resentment against Mrs. Read. I believe + she has ruined me, but I freely forgive her; and (though I will never more + have any intimacy with her) I would, at a due distance, rather do her an + act of good than ill-will. Lastly (pardon the expression), I absolutely + command you not to offer me any pecuniary assistance nor to attempt + getting me any from any one of your friends. At another time, or on any + other occasion, you may, dear friend, be well assured I would rather write + to you in the submissive style of a request than that of a peremptory + command. + </p> + <p> + "However, that my truly valuable friend may not think I am too proud to + ask a favour, let me entreat you to let me have your boy to attend me for + this day, not only for the sake of saving me the expense of porters, but + for the delivery of some letters to people whose names I would not have + known to strangers. + </p> + <p> + "The civil treatment I have thus far met from those whose prisoner I am, + makes me thankful to the Almighty, that though He has thought fit to visit + me (on my birth-night) with affliction, yet (such is His great goodness!) + my affliction is not without alleviating circumstances. I murmur not; but + am all resignation to the divine will. As to the world, I hope that I + shall be endued by Heaven with that presence of mind, that serene dignity + in misfortune, that constitutes the character of a true nobleman; a + dignity far beyond that of coronets; a nobility arising from the just + principles of philosophy, refined and exalted by those of Christianity." + </p> + <p> + He continued five days at the officer's, in hopes that he should be able + to procure bail, and avoid the necessity of going to prison. The state in + which he passed his time, and the treatment which he received, are very + justly expressed by him in a letter which he wrote to a friend: "The whole + day," says he, "has been employed in various people's filling my head with + their foolish chimerical systems, which has obliged me coolly (as far as + nature will admit) to digest, and accommodate myself to every different + person's way of thinking; hurried from one wild system to another, till it + has quite made a chaos of my imagination, and nothing done—promised—disappointed—ordered + to send, every hour, from one part of the town to the other." + </p> + <p> + When his friends, who had hitherto caressed and applauded, found that to + give bail and pay the debt was the same, they all refused to preserve him + from a prison at the expense of eight pounds: and therefore, after having + been for some time at the officer's house "at an immense expense," as he + observes in his letter, he was at length removed to Newgate. This expense + he was enabled to support by the generosity of Mr. Nash at Bath, who, upon + receiving from him an account of his condition, immediately sent him five + guineas, and promised to promote his subscription at Bath with all his + interest. + </p> + <p> + By his removal to Newgate he obtained at least a freedom from suspense, + and rest from the disturbing vicissitudes of hope and disappointment: he + now found that his friends were only companions who were willing to share + his gaiety, but not to partake of his misfortunes; and therefore he no + longer expected any assistance from them. It must, however, be observed of + one gentleman, that he offered to release him by paying the debt, but that + Mr. Savage would not consent, I suppose because he thought he had before + been too burthensome to him. He was offered by some of his friends that a + collection should be made for his enlargement; but he "treated the + proposal," and declared "he should again treat it, with disdain. As to + writing any mendicant letters, he had too high a spirit, and determined + only to write to some ministers of state, to try to regain his pension." + </p> + <p> + He continued to complain of those that had sent him into the country, and + objected to them, that he had "lost the profits of his play, which had + been finished three years;" and in another letter declares his resolution + to publish a pamphlet, that the world might know how "he had been used." + </p> + <p> + This pamphlet was never written; for he in a very short time recovered his + usual tranquillity, and cheerfully applied himself to more inoffensive + studies. He, indeed, steadily declared that he was promised a yearly + allowance of fifty pounds, and never received half the sum; but he seemed + to resign himself to that as well as to other misfortunes, and lose the + remembrance of it in his amusements and employments. The cheerfulness with + which he bore his confinement appears from the following letter, which he + wrote January the 30th, to one of his friends in London: + </p> + <p> + "I now write to you from my confinement in Newgate, where I have been ever + since Monday last was se'nnight, and where I enjoy myself with much more + tranquillity than I have known for upwards of a twelvemonth past; having a + room entirely to myself, and pursuing the amusement of my poetical + studies, uninterrupted, and agreeable to my mind. I thank the Almighty, I + am now all collected in myself; and, though my person is in confinement, + my mind can expatiate on ample and useful subjects with all the freedom + imaginable. I am now more conversant with the Nine than ever, and if, + instead of a Newgate bird, I may be allowed to be a bird of the Muses, I + assure you, sir, I sing very freely in my cage; sometimes, indeed, in the + plaintive notes of the nightingale; but at others, in the cheerful strains + of the lark." + </p> + <p> + In another letter he observes, that he ranges from one subject to another, + without confining himself to any particular task; and that he was employed + one week upon one attempt, and the next upon another. + </p> + <p> + Surely the fortitude of this man deserves, at least, to be mentioned with + applause; and, whatever faults may be imputed to him, the virtue of + suffering well cannot be denied him. The two powers which, in the opinion + of Epictetus, constituted a wise man, are those of bearing and forbearing, + which it cannot indeed be affirmed to have been equally possessed by + Savage; and indeed the want of one obliged him very frequently to practise + the other. He was treated by Mr. Dagge, the keeper of the prison, with + great humanity; was supported by him at his own table, without any + certainty of a recompense; had a room to himself, to which he could at any + time retire from all disturbance; was allowed to stand at the door of the + prison, and sometimes taken out into the fields; so that he suffered fewer + hardships in prison than he had been accustomed to undergo in the greatest + part of his life. + </p> + <p> + The keeper did not confine his benevolence to a gentle execution of his + office, but made some overtures to the creditor for his release, though + without effect; and continued, during the whole time of his imprisonment, + to treat him with the utmost tenderness and civility. + </p> + <p> + Virtue is undoubtedly most laudable in that state which makes it most + difficult; and therefore the humanity of a gaoler certainly deserves this + public attestation; and the man whose heart has not been hardened by such + an employment may be justly proposed as a pattern of benevolence. If an + inscription was once engraved "to the honest toll-gatherer," less honours + ought not to be paid "to the tender gaoler." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Savage very frequently received visits, and sometimes presents, from + his acquaintances: but they did not amount to a subsistence, for the + greater part of which he was indebted to the generosity of this keeper; + but these favours, however they might endear to him the particular persons + from whom he received them, were very far from impressing upon his mind + any advantageous ideas of the people of Bristol, and therefore he thought + he could not more properly employ himself in prison than in writing a poem + called "London and Bristol Delineated." + </p> + <p> + When he had brought this poem to its present state, which, without + considering the chasm, is not perfect, he wrote to London an account of + his design, and informed his friend that he was determined to print it + with his name; but enjoined him not to communicate his intention to his + Bristol acquaintance. The gentleman, surprised at his resolution, + endeavoured to persuade him from publishing it, at least from prefixing + his name; and declared that he could not reconcile the injunction of + secrecy with his resolution to own it at its first appearance. To this Mr. + Savage returned an answer agreeable to his character, in the following + terms:— + </p> + <p> + "I received yours this morning; and not without a little surprise at the + contents. To answer a question with a question, you ask me concerning + London and Bristol, why will I add DELINEATED? Why did Mr. Woolaston add + the same word to his Religion of Nature? I suppose that it was his will + and pleasure to add it in his case: and it is mine to do so in my own. You + are pleased to tell me that you understand not why secrecy is enjoined, + and yet I intend to set my name to it. My answer is,—I have my + private reasons, which I am not obliged to explain to any one. You doubt + my friend Mr. S——would not approve of it. And what is it to me + whether he does or not? Do you imagine that Mr. S—— is to + dictate to me? If any man who calls himself my friend should assume such + an air, I would spurn at his friendship with contempt. You say, I seem to + think so by not letting him know it. And suppose I do, what then? Perhaps + I can give reasons for that disapprobation, very foreign from what you + would imagine. You go on in saying, Suppose I should not put my name to + it. My answer is, that I will not suppose any such thing, being determined + to the contrary: neither, sir, would I have you suppose that I applied to + you for want of another press: nor would I have you imagine that I owe Mr. + S—— obligations which I do not." + </p> + <p> + Such was his imprudence, and such his obstinate adherence to his own + resolutions, however absurd! A prisoner! supported by charity! and, + whatever insults he might have received during the latter part of his stay + at Bristol, once caressed, esteemed, and presented with a liberal + collection, he could forget on a sudden his danger and his obligations, to + gratify the petulance of his wit or the eagerness of his resentment, and + publish a satire by which he might reasonably expect that he should + alienate those who then supported him, and provoke those whom he could + neither resist nor escape. + </p> + <p> + This resolution, from the execution of which it is probable that only his + death could have hindered him, is sufficient to show how much he + disregarded all considerations that opposed his present passions, and how + readily he hazarded all future advantages for any immediate + gratifications. Whatever was his predominant inclination, neither hope nor + fear hindered him from complying with it; nor had opposition any other + effect than to heighten his ardour and irritate his vehemence. + </p> + <p> + This performance was, however, laid aside while he was employed in + soliciting assistance from several great persons; and one interruption + succeeding another, hindered him from supplying the chasm, and perhaps + from retouching the other parts, which he can hardly be imagined to have + finished in his own opinion; for it is very unequal, and some of the lines + are rather inserted to rhyme to others, than to support or improve the + sense; but the first and last parts are worked up with great spirit and + elegance. + </p> + <p> + His time was spent in the prison for the most part in study, or in + receiving visits; but sometimes he descended to lower amusements, and + diverted himself in the kitchen with the conversation of the criminals; + for it was not pleasing to him to be much without company; and though he + was very capable of a judicious choice, he was often contented with the + first that offered. For this he was sometimes reproved by his friends, who + found him surrounded with felons; but the reproof was on that, as on other + occasions, thrown away; he continued to gratify himself, and to set very + little value on the opinion of others. But here, as in every other scene + of his life, he made use of such opportunities as occurred of benefiting + those who were more miserable than himself, and was always ready to + perform any office of humanity to his fellow-prisoners. + </p> + <p> + He had now ceased from corresponding with any of his subscribers except + one, who yet continued to remit him the twenty pounds a year which he had + promised him, and by whom it was expected that he would have been in a + very short time enlarged, because he had directed the keeper to inquire + after the state of his debts. However, he took care to enter his name + according to the forms of the court, that the creditor might be obliged to + make him some allowance, if he was continued a prisoner, and when on that + occasion he appeared in the hall, was treated with very unusual respect. + But the resentment of the city was afterwards raised by some accounts that + had been spread of the satire; and he was informed that some of the + merchants intended to pay the allowance which the law required, and to + detain him a prisoner at their own expense. This he treated as an empty + menace; and perhaps might have hastened the publication, only to show how + much he was superior to their insults, had not all his schemes been + suddenly destroyed. + </p> + <p> + When he had been six months in prison, he received from one of his + friends, in whose kindness he had the greatest confidence, and on whose + assistance he chiefly depended, a letter that contained a charge of very + atrocious ingratitude, drawn up in such terms as sudden resentment + dictated. Henley, in one of his advertisements, had mentioned "Pope's + treatment of Savage." This was supposed by Pope to be the consequence of a + complaint made by Savage to Henley, and was therefore mentioned by him + with much resentment. Mr. Savage returned a very solemn protestation of + his innocence, but, however, appeared much disturbed at the accusation. + Some days afterwards he was seized with a pain in his back and side, + which, as it was not violent, was not suspected to be dangerous; but + growing daily more languid and dejected, on the 25th of July he confined + himself to his room, and a fever seized his spirits. The symptoms grew + every day more formidable, but his condition did not enable him to procure + any assistance. The last time that the keeper saw him was on July the + 31st, 1743; when Savage, seeing him at his bedside, said, with an uncommon + earnestness, "I have something to say to you, sir;" but, after a pause, + moved his hand in a melancholy manner; and, finding himself unable to + recollect what he was going to communicate, said, "'Tis gone!" The keeper + soon after left him; and the next morning he died. He was buried in the + churchyard of St. Peter, at the expense of the keeper. + </p> + <p> + Such were the life and death of Richard Savage, a man equally + distinguished by his virtues and vices; and at once remarkable for his + weaknesses and abilities. He was of a middle stature, of a thin habit of + body, a long visage, coarse features, and melancholy aspect; of a grave + and manly deportment, a solemn dignity of mien, but which, upon a nearer + acquaintance, softened into an engaging easiness of manners. His walk was + slow, and his voice tremulous and mournful. He was easily excited to + smiles, but very seldom provoked to laughter. His mind was in an uncommon + degree vigorous and active. His judgment was accurate, his apprehension + quick, and his memory so tenacious, that he was frequently observed to + know what he had learned from others, in a short time, better that those + by whom he was informed; and could frequently recollect incidents with all + their combination of circumstances, which few would have regarded at the + present time, but which the quickness of his apprehension impressed upon + him. He had the art of escaping from his own reflections, and + accommodating himself to every new scene. + </p> + <p> + To this quality is to be imputed the extent of his knowledge, compared + with the small time which he spent in visible endeavours to acquire it. He + mingled in cursory conversation with the same steadiness of attention as + others apply to a lecture; and amidst the appearance of thoughtless gaiety + lost no new idea that was started, nor any hint that could be improved. He + had therefore made in coffee-houses the same proficiency as others in + their closets; and it is remarkable that the writings of a man of little + education and little reading have an air of learning scarcely to be found + in any other performances, but which perhaps as often obscures as + embellishes them. + </p> + <p> + His judgment was eminently exact both with regard to writings and to men. + The knowledge of life was indeed his chief attainment; and it is not + without some satisfaction that I can produce the suffrage of Savage in + favour of human nature, of which he never appeared to entertain such + odious ideas as some who perhaps had neither his judgment nor experience, + have published, either in ostentation of their sagacity, vindication of + their crimes, or gratification of their malice. + </p> + <p> + His method of life particularly qualified him for conversation, of which + he knew how to practise all the graces. He was never vehement or loud, but + at once modest and easy, open and respectful; his language was vivacious + or elegant, and equally happy upon grave and humorous subjects. He was + generally censured for not knowing when to retire; but that was not the + defect of his judgment, but of his fortune: when he left his company he + used frequently to spend the remaining part of the night in the street, or + at least was abandoned to gloomy reflections, which it is not strange that + he delayed as long as he could; and sometimes forgot that he gave others + pain to avoid it himself. + </p> + <p> + It cannot be said that he made use of his abilities for the direction of + his own conduct; an irregular and dissipated manner of life had made him + the slave of every passion that happened to be excited by the presence of + its object, and that slavery to his passions reciprocally produced a life + irregular and dissipated. He was not master of his own motions, nor could + promise anything for the next day. + </p> + <p> + With regard to his economy, nothing can be added to the relation of his + life. He appeared to think himself born to be supported by others, and + dispensed from all necessity of providing for himself; he therefore never + prosecuted any scheme of advantage, nor endeavoured even to secure the + profits which his writings might have afforded him. His temper was, in + consequence of the dominion of his passions, uncertain and capricious; he + was easily engaged, and easily disgusted; but he is accused of retaining + his hatred more tenaciously than his benevolence. He was compassionate + both by nature and principle, and always ready to perform offices of + humanity; but when he was provoked (and very small offences were + sufficient to provoke him), he would prosecute his revenge with the utmost + acrimony till his passion had subsided. + </p> + <p> + His friendship was therefore of little value; for though he was zealous in + the support or vindication of those whom he loved, yet it was always + dangerous to trust him, because he considered himself as discharged by the + first quarrel from all ties of honour and gratitude; and would betray + those secrets which in the warmth of confidence had been imparted to him. + This practice drew upon him an universal accusation of ingratitude; nor + can it be denied that he was very ready to set himself free from the load + of an obligation; for he could not bear to conceive himself in a state of + dependence, his pride being equally powerful with his other passions, and + appearing in the form of insolence at one time, and of vanity at another. + Vanity, the most innocent species of pride, was most frequently + predominant: he could not easily leave off, when he had once begun to + mention himself or his works; nor ever read his verses without stealing + his eyes from the page, to discover in the faces of his audience how they + were affected with any favourite passage. + </p> + <p> + A kinder name than that of vanity ought to be given to the delicacy with + which he was always careful to separate his own merit from every other + man's, and to reject that praise to which he had no claim. He did not + forget, in mentioning his performances, to mark every line that had been + suggested or amended; and was so accurate as to relate that he owed three + words in "The Wanderer" to the advice of his friends. His veracity was + questioned, but with little reason; his accounts, though not indeed always + the same, were generally consistent. When he loved any man, he suppressed + all his faults; and when he had been offended by him, concealed all his + virtues; but his characters were generally true, so far as he proceeded; + though it cannot be denied that his partiality might have sometimes the + effect of falsehood. + </p> + <p> + In cases indifferent he was zealous for virtue, truth, and justice: he + knew very well the necessity of goodness to the present and future + happiness of mankind; nor is there perhaps any writer who has less + endeavoured to please by flattering the appetites, or perverting the + judgment. + </p> + <p> + As an author, therefore, and he now ceases to influence mankind in any + other character, if one piece which he had resolved to suppress be + excepted, he has very little to fear from the strictest moral or religious + censure. And though he may not be altogether secure against the objections + of the critic, it must however be acknowledged that his works are the + productions of a genius truly poetical; and, what many writers who have + been more lavishly applauded cannot boast, that they have an original air, + which has no resemblance of any foregoing writer, that the versification + and sentiments have a cast peculiar to themselves, which no man can + imitate with success, because what was nature in Savage would in another + be affectation. It must be confessed that his descriptions are striking, + his images animated, his fictions justly imagined, and his allegories + artfully pursued; that his diction is elevated, though sometimes forced, + and his numbers sonorous and majestic, though frequently sluggish and + encumbered. Of his style the general fault is harshness, and its general + excellence is dignity; of his sentiments, the prevailing beauty is + simplicity, and uniformity the prevailing defect. + </p> + <p> + For his life, or for his writings, none who candidly consider his fortune + will think an apology either necessary or difficult. If he was not always + sufficiently instructed in his subject, his knowledge was at least greater + than could have been attained by others in the same state. If his works + were sometimes unfinished, accuracy cannot reasonably be expected from a + man oppressed with want, which he has no hope of relieving but by a speedy + publication. The insolence and resentment of which he is accused were not + easily to be avoided by a great mind irritated by perpetual hardships and + constrained hourly to return the spurns of contempt, and repress the + insolence of prosperity; and vanity surely may be readily pardoned in him, + to whom life afforded no other comforts than barren praises, and the + consciousness of deserving them. + </p> + <p> + Those are no proper judges of his conduct who have slumbered away their + time on the down of plenty; nor will any wise man easily presume to say, + "Had I been in Savage's condition, I should have lived or written better + than Savage." + </p> + <p> + This relation will not be wholly without its use, if those who languish + under any part of his sufferings shall be enabled to fortify their + patience by reflecting that they feel only these afflictions from which + the abilities of Savage did not exempt him; or those who, in confidence of + superior capacities or attainments, disregard the common maxims of life, + shall be reminded that nothing will supply the want of prudence; and that + negligence and irregularity, long continued, will make knowledge useless, + wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SWIFT. + </h2> + <p> + An account of Dr. Swift has been already collected, with great diligence + and acuteness, by Dr. Hawkesworth, according to a scheme which I laid + before him in the intimacy of our friendship. I cannot therefore be + expected to say much of a life, concerning which I had long since + communicated my thoughts to a man capable of dignifying his narrations + with so much elegance of language and force of sentiment. + </p> + <p> + Jonathan Swift was, according to an account said to be written by himself, + the son of Jonathan Swift, an attorney, and was born at Dublin on St. + Andrew's day, 1667: according to his own report, as delivered by Pope to + Spence, he was born at Leicester, the son of a clergyman who was minister + of a parish in Herefordshire. During his life the place of his birth was + undetermined. He was contented to be called an Irishman by the Irish; but + would occasionally call himself an Englishman. The question may, without + much regret, be left in the obscurity in which he delighted to involve it. + </p> + <p> + Whatever was his birth, his education was Irish. He was sent at the age of + six to the school at Kilkenny, and in his fifteenth year (1682) was + admitted into the University of Dublin. In his academical studies he was + either not diligent or not happy. It must disappoint every reader's + expectation, that, when at the usual time he claimed the Bachelorship of + Arts, he was found by the examiners too conspicuously deficient for + regular admission, and obtained his degree at last by SPECIAL FAVOUR; a + term used in that university to denote want of merit. + </p> + <p> + Of this disgrace it may be easily supposed that he was much ashamed, and + shame had its proper effect in producing reformation. He resolved from + that time to study eight hours a day, and continued his industry for seven + years, with what improvement is sufficiently known. This part of his story + well deserves to be remembered; it may afford useful admonition and + powerful encouragement to men whose abilities have been made for a time + useless by their passions or pleasures, and who having lost one part of + life in idleness, are tempted to throw away the remainder in despair. In + this course of daily application he continued three years longer at + Dublin; and in this time, if the observation and memory of an old + companion may be trusted, he drew the first sketch of his "Tale of a Tub." + </p> + <p> + When he was about one-and-twenty (1688), being by the death of Godwin + Swift, his uncle, who had supported him, left without subsistence, he went + to consult his mother, who then lived at Leicester, about the future + course of his life; and by her direction solicited the advice and + patronage of Sir William Temple, who had married one of Mrs. Swift's + relations, and whose father Sir John Temple, Master of the Rolls in + Ireland, had lived in great familiarity of friendship with Godwin Swift, + by whom Jonathan had been to that time maintained. + </p> + <p> + Temple received with sufficient kindness the nephew of his father's + friend, with whom he was, when they conversed together, so much pleased, + that he detained him two years in his house. Here he became known to King + William, who sometimes visited Temple, when he was disabled by the gout, + and, being attended by Swift in the garden, showed him how to cut + asparagus in the Dutch way. King William's notions were all military; and + he expressed his kindness to Swift by offering to make him a captain of + horse. + </p> + <p> + When Temple removed to Moor Park, he took Swift with him; and when he was + consulted by the Earl of Portland about the expedience of complying with a + bill then depending for making parliaments triennial, against which King + William was strongly prejudiced, after having in vain tried to show the + earl that the proposal involved nothing dangerous to royal power, he sent + Swift for the same purpose to the king. Swift, who probably was proud of + his employment, and went with all the confidence of a young man, found his + arguments, and his art of displaying them, made totally ineffectual by the + predetermination of the king; and used to mention this disappointment as + his first antidote against vanity. Before he left Ireland he contracted a + disorder, as he thought, by eating too much fruit. The original of + diseases is commonly obscure. Almost everybody eats as much fruit as he + can get, without any great inconvenience. The disease of Swift was + giddiness with deafness, which attacked him from time to time, began very + early, pursued him through life, and at last sent him to the grave, + deprived of reason. Being much oppressed at Moor Park by this grievous + malady, he was advised to try his native air, and went to Ireland; but + finding no benefit, returned to Sir William, at whose house he continued + his studies, and is known to have read, among other books, Cyprian and + Irenaeus. He thought exercise of great necessity, and used to run half a + mile up and down a hill every two hours. + </p> + <p> + It is easy to imagine that the mode in which his first degree was + conferred left him no great fondness for the University of Dublin, and + therefore he resolved to become a Master of Arts at Oxford. In the + testimonial which he produced the words of disgrace were omitted; and he + took his Master's degree (July 5, 1692) with such reception and regard as + fully contented him. + </p> + <p> + While he lived with Temple, he used to pay his mother at Leicester a + yearly visit. He travelled on foot, unless some violence of weather drove + him into a waggon; and at night he would go to a penny lodging, where he + purchased clean sheets for sixpence. This practice Lord Orrery imputes to + his innate love of grossness and vulgarity: some may ascribe it to his + desire of surveying human life through all its varieties: and others, + perhaps with equal probability, to a passion which seems to have been + deeply fixed in his heart, the love of a shilling. In time he began to + think that his attendance at Moor Park deserved some other recompense than + the pleasure, however mingled with improvement, of Temple's conversation; + and grew so impatient, that (1694) he went away in discontent. Temple, + conscious of having given reason for complaint, is said to have made him + deputy Master of the Rolls in Ireland; which, according to his kinsman's + account, was an office which he knew him not able to discharge. Swift + therefore resolved to enter into the Church, in which he had at first no + higher hopes than of the chaplainship to the Factory at Lisbon; but being + recommended to Lord Capel, he obtained the prebend of Kilroot in Connor, + of about a hundred pounds a year. But the infirmities of Temple made a + companion like Swift so necessary, that he invited him back, with a + promise to procure him English preferment in exchange for the prebend, + which he desired him to resign. With this request Swift complied, having + perhaps equally repented their separation, and they lived on together with + mutual satisfaction; and, in the four years that passed between his return + and Temple's death, it is probable that he wrote the "Tale of a Tub," and + the "Battle of the Books." + </p> + <p> + Swift began early to think, or to hope, that he was a poet, and wrote + Pindaric Odes to Temple, to the king, and to the Athenian Society, a knot + of obscure men, who published a periodical pamphlet of answers to + questions, sent, or supposed to be sent, by letters. I have been told that + Dryden, having perused these verses, said, "Cousin Swift, you will never + be a poet;" and that this denunciation was the motive of Swift's perpetual + malevolence to Dryden. In 1699 Temple died, and left a legacy with his + manuscripts to Swift, for whom he had obtained, from King William, a + promise of the first prebend that should be vacant at Westminster or + Canterbury. That this promise might not be forgotten, Swift dedicated to + the king the posthumous works with which he was intrusted; but neither the + dedication, nor tenderness for the man whom he once had treated with + confidence and fondness, revived in King William the remembrance of his + promise. Swift awhile attended the Court; but soon found his solicitations + hopeless. He was then invited by the Earl of Berkeley to accompany him + into Ireland, as his private secretary; but, after having done the + business till their arrival at Dublin, he then found that one Bush had + persuaded the earl that a clergyman was not a proper secretary, and had + obtained the office for himself. In a man like Swift, such circumvention + and inconstancy must have excited violent indignation. But he had yet more + to suffer. Lord Berkeley had the disposal of the deanery of Derry, and + Swift expected to obtain it; but by the secretary's influence, supposed to + have been secured by a bribe, it was bestowed on somebody else; and Swift + was dismissed with the livings of Laracor and Rathbeggin in the diocese of + Meath, which together did not equal half the value of the deanery. At + Laracor he increased the parochial duty by reading prayers on Wednesdays + and Fridays, and performed all the offices of his profession with great + decency and exactness. + </p> + <p> + Soon after his settlement at Laracor, he invited to Ireland the + unfortunate Stella, a young woman whose name was Johnson, the daughter of + the steward of Sir William Temple, who, in consideration of her father's + virtues, left her a thousand pounds. With her came Mrs. Dingley, whose + whole fortune was twenty-seven pounds a year for her life. With these + ladies he passed his hours of relaxation, and to them he opened his bosom; + but they never resided in the same house, nor did he see either without a + witness. They lived at the Parsonage when Swift was away, and, when he + returned, removed to a lodging, or to the house of a neighbouring + clergyman. + </p> + <p> + Swift was not one of those minds which amaze the world with early + pregnancy: his first work, except his few poetical Essays, was the + "Dissensions in Athens and Rome," published (1701) in his thirty-fourth + year. After its appearance, paying a visit to some bishop, he heard + mention made of the new pamphlet that Burnet had written, replete with + political knowledge. When he seemed to doubt Burnet's right to the work, + he was told by the bishop that he was "a young man," and still persisting + to doubt, that he was "a very positive young man." + </p> + <p> + Three years afterwards (1704) was published "The Tale of a Tub;" of this + book charity may be persuaded to think that it might be written by a man + of a peculiar character without ill intention; but it is certainly of + dangerous example. That Swift was its author, though it be universally + believed, was never owned by himself, nor very well proved by any + evidence; but no other claimant can be produced, and he did not deny it + when Archbishop Sharp and the Duchess of Somerset, by showing it to the + queen, debarred him from a bishopric. When this wild work first raised the + attention of the public, Sacheverell, meeting Smalridge, tried to flatter + him by seeming to think him the author, but Smalridge answered with + indignation, "Not all that you and I have in the world, nor all that ever + we shall have, should hire me to write the 'Tale of a Tub.'" + </p> + <p> + The digression relating to Wotton and Bentley must be confessed to + discover want of knowledge or want of integrity; he did not understand the + two controversies, or he willingly misrepresented them. But Wit can stand + its ground against Truth only a little while. The honours due to Learning + have been justly distributed by the decision of posterity. + </p> + <p> + "The Battle of the Books" is so like the "Combat des Livres," which the + same question concerning the Ancients and Moderns had produced in France, + that the improbability of such a coincidence of thoughts without + communication, is not, in my opinion, balanced by the anonymous + protestation prefixed, in which all knowledge of the French book is + peremptorily disowned. + </p> + <p> + For some time after, Swift was probably employed in solitary study, + gaining the qualifications requisite for future eminence. How often he + visited England, and with what diligence he attended his parishes, I know + not. It was not till about four years afterwards that he became a + professed author; and then one year (1708) produced "The Sentiments of a + Church of England Man;" the ridicule of Astrology under the name of + "Bickerstaff;" the "Argument against abolishing Christianity;" and the + defence of the "Sacramental Test." + </p> + <p> + "The Sentiments of a Church of England Man" is written with great + coolness, moderation, ease, and perspicuity. The "Argument against + abolishing Christianity" is a very happy and judicious irony. One passage + in it deserves to be selected:— + </p> + <p> + "If Christianity were once abolished, how could the free-thinkers, the + strong reasoners, and the men of profound learning, be able to find + another subject so calculated, in all points, whereon to display their + abilities? What wonderful productions of wit should we be deprived of from + those whose genius, by continual practice, hath been wholly turned upon + raillery and invectives against religion, and would therefore never be + able to shine or distinguish themselves upon any other subject! We are + daily complaining of the great decline of wit among us, and would take + away the greatest, perhaps the only topic we have left. Who would ever + have suspected Asgill for a wit, or Toland for a philosopher, if the + inexhaustible stock of Christianity had not been at hand to provide them + with materials? What other subject, through all art or nature, could have + produced Tindal for a profound author, or furnished him with readers? It + is the wise choice of the subject that alone adorns and distinguishes the + writer. For had a hundred such pens as these been employed on the side of + religion, they would have immediately sunk into silence and oblivion." + </p> + <p> + The reasonableness of a "Test" is not hard to be proved; but perhaps it + must be allowed that the proper test has not been chosen. The attention + paid to the papers published under the name of "Bickerstaff," induced + Steele, when he projected the Tatler, to assume an appellation which had + already gained possession of the reader's notice. + </p> + <p> + In the year following he wrote a "Project for the Advancement of + Religion," addressed to Lady Berkeley, by whose kindness it is not + unlikely that he was advanced to his benefices. To this project, which is + formed with great purity of intention, and displayed with sprightliness + and elegance, it can only be objected, that, like many projects, it is, if + not generally impracticable, yet evidently hopeless, as it supposes more + zeal, concord, and perseverance than a view of mankind gives reason for + expecting. He wrote likewise this year a "Vindication of Bickerstaff," and + an explanation of an "Ancient Prophecy," part written after the facts, and + the rest never completed, but well planned to excite amazement. + </p> + <p> + Soon after began the busy and important part of Swift's life. He was + employed (1710) by the Primate of Ireland to solicit the queen for a + remission of the First Fruits and Twentieth Parts to the Irish Clergy. + With this purpose he had recourse to Mr. Harley, to whom he was mentioned + as a man neglected and oppressed by the last Ministry, because he had + refused to co-operate with some of their schemes. What he had refused has + never been told; what he had suffered was, I suppose, the exclusion from a + bishopric by the remonstrances of Sharp, whom he describes as "the + harmless tool of others' hate," and whom he represents as afterwards + "suing for pardon." + </p> + <p> + Harley's designs and situation were such as made him glad of an auxiliary + so well qualified for his service: he therefore soon admitted him to + familiarity, whether ever to confidence some have made a doubt; but it + would have been difficult to excite his zeal without persuading him that + he was trusted, and not very easy to delude him by false persuasions. He + was certainly admitted to those meetings in which the first hints and + original plan of action are supposed to have been formed; and was one of + the sixteen ministers, or agents of the Ministry, who met weekly at each + other's houses, and were united by the name of "Brother." Being not + immediately considered as an obdurate Tory, he conversed indiscriminately + with all the wits, and was yet the friend of Steele; who, in the Tatler, + which began in April, 1709, confesses the advantage of his conversation, + and mentions something contributed by him to his paper. But he was now + emerging into political controversy; for the year 1710 produced the + Examiner, of which Swift wrote thirty-three papers. In argument he may be + allowed to have the advantage: for where a wide system of conduct, and the + whole of a public character, is laid open to inquiry, the accuser, having + the choice of facts, must be very unskilful if he does not prevail: but + with regard to wit, I am afraid none of Swift's papers will be found equal + to those by which Addison opposed him. + </p> + <p> + He wrote in the year 1711 a "Letter to the October Club," a number of Tory + gentlemen sent from the country to Parliament, who formed themselves into + a club, to the number of about a hundred, and met to animate the zeal and + raise the expectations of each other. They thought, with great reason, + that the Ministers were losing opportunities; that sufficient use was not + made of the ardour of the nation; they called loudly for more changes, and + stronger efforts; and demanded the punishment of part and the dismission + of the rest, of those whom they considered as public robbers. Their + eagerness was not gratified by the queen, or by Harley. The queen was + probably slow because she was afraid; and Harley was slow because he was + doubtful; he was a Tory only by necessity, or for convenience; and, when + he had power in his hands, had no settled purpose for which he should + employ it; forced to gratify to a certain degree the Tories who supported + him, but unwilling to make his reconcilement to the Whigs utterly + desperate, he corresponded at once with the two expectants of the Crown, + and kept, as has been observed, the succession undetermined. Not knowing + what to do, he did nothing; and, with the fate of a double dealer, at last + he lost his power, but kept his enemies. + </p> + <p> + Swift seems to have concurred in opinion with the "October Club;" but it + was not in his power to quicken the tardiness of Harley, whom he + stimulated as much as he could, but with little effect. He that knows not + whither to go, is in no haste to move. Harley, who was perhaps not quick + by nature, became yet more slow by irresolution; and was content to hear + that dilatoriness lamented as natural, which he applauded in himself as + politic. Without the Tories, however, nothing could be done; and, as they + were not to be gratified, they must be appeased; and the conduct of the + Minister, if it could not be vindicated, was to be plausibly excused. + </p> + <p> + Early in the next year he published a "Proposal for Correcting, Improving, + and Ascertaining the English Tongue," in a Letter to the Earl of Oxford; + written without much knowledge of the general nature of language, and + without any accurate inquiry into the history of other tongues. The + certainty and stability which, contrary to all experience, he thinks + attainable, he proposes to secure by instituting an academy; the decrees + of which every man would have been willing, and many would have been + proud, to disobey, and which, being renewed by successive elections, would + in a short time have differed from itself. + </p> + <p> + Swift now attained the zenith of his political importance: he published + (1712) the "Conduct of the Allies," ten days before the Parliament + assembled. The purpose was to persuade the nation to a peace; and never + had any writer more success. The people, who had been amused with bonfires + and triumphal processions, and looked with idolatry on the General and his + friends, who, as they thought, had made England the arbitress of nations, + were confounded between shame and rage, when they found that "mines had + been exhausted, and millions destroyed," to secure the Dutch or aggrandise + the Emperor, without any advantage to ourselves; that we had been bribing + our neighbours to fight their own quarrel; and that amongst our enemies we + might number our allies. That is now no longer doubted, of which the + nation was then first informed, that the war was unnecessarily protracted + to fill the pockets of Marlborough; and that it would have been continued + without end, if he could have continued his annual plunder. But Swift, I + suppose, did not yet know what he has since written, that a commission was + drawn which would have appointed him General for life, had it not become + ineffectual by the resolution of Lord Cowper, who refused the seal. + </p> + <p> + "Whatever is received," say the schools, "is received in proportion to the + recipient." The power of a political treatise depends much upon the + disposition of the people; the nation was then combustible, and a spark + set it on fire. It is boasted, that between November and January eleven + thousand were sold: a great number at that time, when we were not yet a + nation of readers. To its propagation certainly no agency of power or + influence was wanting. It furnished arguments for conversation, speeches + for debate, and materials for parliamentary resolutions. Yet, surely, + whoever surveys this wonder-working pamphlet with cool perusal, will + confess that its efficacy was supplied by the passions of its readers; + that it operates by the mere weight of facts, with very little assistance + from the hand that produced them. + </p> + <p> + This year (1712) he published his "Reflections on the Barrier Treaty," + which carries on the design of his "Conduct of the Allies," and shows how + little regard in that negotiation had been shown to the interest of + England, and how much of the conquered country had been demanded by the + Dutch. This was followed by "Remarks on the Bishop of Sarum's Introduction + to his third Volume of the History of the Reformation;" a pamphlet which + Burnet published as an alarm, to warn the nation of the approach of + Popery. Swift, who seems to have disliked the bishop with something more + than political aversion, treats him like one whom he is glad of an + opportunity to insult. + </p> + <p> + Swift, being now the declared favourite and supposed confidant of the Tory + Ministry, was treated by all that depended on the Court with the respect + which dependents know how to pay. He soon began to feel part of the misery + of greatness; he that could say that he knew him, considered himself as + having fortune in his power. Commissions, solicitations, remonstrances + crowded about him; he was expected to do every man's business; to procure + employment for one, and to retain it for another. In assisting those who + addressed him, he represents himself as sufficiently diligent; and desires + to have others believe what he probably believed himself, that by his + interposition many Whigs of merit, and among them Addison and Congreve, + were continued in their places. But every man of known influence has so + many petitions which he cannot grant, that he must necessarily offend more + than he gratifies, because the preference given to one affords all the + rest reason for complaint. "When I give away a place," said Lewis XIV., "I + make a hundred discontented, and one ungrateful." + </p> + <p> + Much has been said of the equality and independence which he preserved in + his conversation with the Ministers; of the frankness of his + remonstrances, and the familiarity of his friendship. In accounts of this + kind a few single incidents are set against the general tenour of + behaviour. No man, however, can pay a more servile tribute to the great, + than by suffering his liberty in their presence to aggrandise him in his + own esteem. Between different ranks of the community there is necessarily + some distance; he who is called by his superior to pass the interval, may + properly accept the invitation; but petulance and obtrusion are rarely + produced by magnanimity; nor have often any nobler cause than the pride of + importance, and the malice of inferiority. He who knows himself necessary + may set, while that necessity lasts, a high value upon himself; as, in a + lower condition, a servant eminently skilful may be saucy; but he is saucy + only because he is servile. Swift appears to have preserved the kindness + of the great when they wanted him no longer; and therefore it must be + allowed, that the childish freedom, to which he seems enough inclined, was + overpowered by his better qualities. His disinterestedness has likewise + been mentioned; a strain of heroism which would have been in his condition + romantic and superfluous. Ecclesiastical benefices, when they become + vacant, must be given away; and the friends of power may, if there be no + inherent disqualification, reasonably expect them. Swift accepted (1713) + the deanery of St. Patrick, the best preferment that his friends could + venture to give him. That Ministry was in a great degree supported by the + clergy, who were not yet reconciled to the author of the "Tale of a Tub," + and would not without much discontent and indignation have borne to see + him installed in an English cathedral. He refused, indeed, fifty pounds + from Lord Oxford; but he accepted afterwards a draught of a thousand upon + the Exchequer, which was intercepted by the queen's death, and which he + resigned, as he says himself, "multa gemens, with many a groan." In the + midst of his power and his politics, he kept a journal of his visits, his + walks, his interviews with Ministers, and quarrels with his servant, and + transmitted it to Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, to whom he knew that + whatever befell him was interesting, and no accounts could be too minute. + Whether these diurnal trifles were properly exposed to eyes which had + never received any pleasure from the presence of the Dean may be + reasonably doubted: they have, however, some odd attraction; the reader, + finding frequent mention of names which he has been used to consider as + important, goes on in hope of information; and as there is nothing to + fatigue attention, if he is disappointed he can hardly complain. It is + easy to perceive, from every page, that though ambition pressed Swift into + a life of bustle, the wish for a life of ease was always returning. He + went to take possession of his deanery as soon as he had obtained it; but + he was not suffered to stay in Ireland more than a fortnight before he was + recalled to England, that he might reconcile Lord Oxford and Lord + Bolingbroke, who began to look on one another with malevolence, which + every day increased, and which Bolingbroke appeared to retain in his last + years. + </p> + <p> + Swift contrived an interview, from which they both departed discontented; + he procured a second, which only convinced him that the feud was + irreconcilable; he told them his opinion, that all was lost. This + denunciation was contradicted by Oxford; but Bolingbroke whispered that he + was right. Before this violent dissension had shattered the Ministry, + Swift had published, in the beginning of the year (1714), "The Public + Spirit of the Whigs," in answer to "The Crisis," a pamphlet for which + Steele was expelled from the House of Commons. Swift was now so far + alienated from Steele, as to think him no longer entitled to decency, and + therefore treats him sometimes with contempt, and sometimes with + abhorrence. In this pamphlet the Scotch were mentioned in terms so + provoking to that irritable nation, that resolving "not to be offended + with impunity," the Scotch lords in a body demanded an audience of the + queen, and solicited reparation. A proclamation was issued, in which three + hundred pounds were offered for the discovery of the author. From this + storm he was, as he relates, "secured by a sleight;" of what kind, or by + whose prudence, is not known; and such was the increase of his reputation, + that the Scottish nation "applied again that he would be their friend." He + was become so formidable to the Whigs, that his familiarity with the + Ministers was clamoured at in Parliament, particularly by two men, + afterwards of great note, Aislabie and Walpole. But, by the disunion of + his great friends, his importance and designs were now at an end; and + seeing his services at last useless, he retired about June (1714) into + Berkshire, where, in the house of a friend, he wrote what was then + suppressed, but has since appeared under the title of "Free Thoughts on + the present State of Affairs." While he was waiting in this retirement for + events which time or chance might bring to pass, the death of the Queen + broke down at once the whole system of Tory politics; and nothing remained + but to withdraw from the implacability of triumphant Whiggism, and shelter + himself in unenvied obscurity. + </p> + <p> + The accounts of his reception in Ireland, given by Lord Orrery and Dr. + Delany, are so different, that the credit of the writers, both undoubtedly + veracious, cannot be saved, but by supposing, what I think is true, that + they speak of different times. When Delany says, that he was received with + respect, he means for the first fortnight, when he came to take legal + possession; and when Lord Orrery tells that he was pelted by the populace, + he is to be understood of the time when, after the Queen's death, he + became a settled resident. + </p> + <p> + The Archbishop of Dublin gave him at first some disturbance in the + exercise of his jurisdiction; but it was soon discovered, that between + prudence and integrity, he was seldom in the wrong; and that, when he was + right, his spirit did not easily yield to opposition. + </p> + <p> + Having so lately quitted the tumults of a party, and the intrigues of a + court, they still kept his thoughts in agitation, as the sea fluctuates a + while when the storm has ceased. He therefore filled his hours with some + historical attempts, relating to the "Change of the Ministers," and "The + Conduct of the Ministry." He likewise is said to have written a "History + of the Four last Years of Queen Anne," which he began in her lifetime, and + afterwards laboured with great attention, but never published. It was + after his death in the hands of Lord Orrery and Dr. King. A book under + that title was published with Swift's name by Dr. Lucas; of which I can + only say, that it seemed by no means to correspond with the notions that I + had formed of it, from a conversation which I once heard between the Earl + of Orrery and old Mr. Lewis. + </p> + <p> + Swift now, much against his will, commenced Irishman for life, and was to + contrive how he might be best accommodated in a country where he + considered himself as in a state of exile. It seems that his first + recourse was to piety. The thoughts of death rushed upon him at this time + with such incessant importunity, that they took possession of his mind, + when he first waked, for many years together. He opened his house by a + public table two days a week, and found his entertainments gradually + frequented by more and more visitants of learning among the men, and of + elegance among the women. Mrs. Johnson had left the country, and lived in + lodgings not far from the deanery. On his public days she regulated the + table, but appeared at it as a mere guest, like other ladies. On other + days he often dined, at a stated price, with Mr. Worral, a clergyman of + his cathedral, whose house was recommended by the peculiar neatness and + pleasantry of his wife. To this frugal mode of living, he was first + disposed by care to pay some debts which he had contracted, and he + continued it for the pleasure of accumulating money. His avarice, however, + was not suffered to obstruct the claims of his dignity; he was served in + plate, and used to say that he was the poorest gentleman in Ireland that + ate upon plate, and the richest that lived without a coach. How he spent + the rest of his time, and how he employed his hours of study, has been + inquired with hopeless curiosity. For who can give an account of another's + studies? Swift was not likely to admit any to his privacies, or to impart + a minute account of his business or his leisure. + </p> + <p> + Soon after (1716), in his forty-ninth year, he was privately married to + Mrs. Johnson, by Dr. Ashe, Bishop of Clogher, as Dr. Madden told me, in + the garden. The marriage made no change in their mode of life; they lived + in different houses, as before; nor did she ever lodge in the deanery but + when Swift was seized with a fit of giddiness. "It would be difficult," + says Lord Orrery, "to prove that they were ever afterwards together + without a third person." + </p> + <p> + The Dean of St. Patrick's lived in a private manner, known and regarded + only by his friends; till, about the year 1720, he, by a pamphlet, + recommended to the Irish the use, and consequently the improvement, of + their manufactures. For a man to use the productions of his own labour is + surely a natural right, and to like best what he makes himself is a + natural passion. But to excite this passion, and enforce this right, + appeared so criminal to those who had an interest in the English trade, + that the printer was imprisoned; and, as Hawkesworth justly observes, the + attention of the public being, by this outrageous resentment, turned upon + the proposal, the author was by consequence made popular. + </p> + <p> + In 1723 died Mrs. Van Homrigh, a woman made unhappy by her admiration of + wit, and ignominiously distinguished by the name of Vanessa, whose conduct + has been already sufficiently discussed, and whose history is too well + known to be minutely repeated. She was a young woman fond of literature, + whom Decanus, the dean, called Cadenus by transposition of the letters, + took pleasure in directing and instructing: till, from being proud of his + praise, she grew fond of his person. Swift was then about forty-seven, at + an age when vanity is strongly excited by the amorous attention of a young + woman. If it be said that Swift should have checked a passion which he + never meant to gratify, recourse must be had to that extenuation which he + so much despised, "men are but men;" perhaps, however, he did not at first + know his own mind, and, as he represents himself, was undetermined. For + his admission of her courtship, and his indulgence of her hopes after his + marriage to Stella, no other honest plea can be found than that he delayed + a disagreeable discovery from time to time, dreading the immediate bursts + of distress, and watching for a favourable moment. She thought herself + neglected, and died of disappointment, having ordered, by her will, the + poem to be published, in which Cadenus had proclaimed her excellence and + confessed his love. The effect of the publication upon the Dean and Stella + is thus related by Delany:— + </p> + <p> + "I have good reason to believe that they both were greatly shocked and + distressed (though it may be differently) upon this occasion. The Dean + made a tour to the south of Ireland for about two months at this time, to + dissipate his thoughts and give place to obloquy. And Stella retired (upon + the earnest invitation of the owner) to the house of a cheerful, generous, + good-natured friend of the Dean's, whom she always much loved and + honoured. There my informer often saw her, and, I have reason to believe, + used his utmost endeavours to relieve, support, and amuse her, in this sad + situation. One little incident he told me of on that occasion I think I + shall never forget. As his friend was an hospitable, open-hearted man, + well beloved and largely acquainted, it happened one day that some + gentlemen dropped in to dinner, who were strangers to Stella's situation; + and as the poem of 'Cadenus and Vanessa' was then the general topic of + conversation, one of them said, 'Surely that Vanessa must be an + extraordinary woman that could inspire the Dean to write so finely upon + her.' Mrs. Johnson smiled, and answered, 'that she thought that point not + quite so clear; for it was well known that the Dean could write finely + upon a broomstick.'" + </p> + <p> + The great acquisition of esteem and influence was made by the "Drapier's + Letters," in 1724. One Wood, of Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, a man + enterprising and rapacious, had, as is said, by a present to the Duchess + of Munster, obtained a patent, empowering him to coin one hundred and + eighty thousand pounds of halfpence and farthings for the kingdom of + Ireland, in which there was a very inconvenient and embarrassing scarcity + of copper coin, so that it was possible to run in debt upon the credit of + a piece of money; for the cook or keeper of an alehouse could not refuse + to supply a man that had silver in his hand, and the buyer would not leave + his money without change. The project was therefore plausible. The + scarcity, which was already great, Wood took care to make greater, by + agents who gathered up the old halfpence; and was about to turn his brass + into gold, by pouring the treasures of his new mint upon Ireland, when + Swift, finding that the metal was debased to an enormous degree, wrote + letters, under the name of M. B. Drapier, to show the folly of receiving, + and the mischief that must ensue by giving gold and silver for coin worth + perhaps not a third part of its nominal value. The nation was alarmed; the + new coin was universally refused, but the governors of Ireland considered + resistance to the king's patent as highly criminal; and one Whitshed, then + Chief Justice, who had tried the printer of the former pamphlet, and sent + out the jury nine times, till by clamour and menaces they were frightened + into a special verdict, now presented the Drapier, but could not prevail + on the grand jury to find the bill. + </p> + <p> + Lord Carteret and the Privy Council published a proclamation, offering + three hundred pounds for discovering the author of the Fourth Letter. + Swift had concealed himself from his printers and trusted only his butler, + who transcribed the paper. The man, immediately after the appearance of + the proclamation, strolled from the house, and stayed out all night, and + part of the next day. There was reason enough to fear that he had betrayed + his master for the reward; but he came home, and the Dean ordered him to + put off his livery, and leave the house; "for," says he, "I know that my + life is in your power, and I will not bear, out of fear, either your + insolence or negligence." The man excused his fault with great submission, + and begged that he might be confined in the house while it was in his + power to endanger the master; but the Dean resolutely turned him out, + without taking further notice of him, till the term of the information had + expired, and then received him again. Soon afterwards he ordered him and + the rest of his servants into his presence, without telling his + intentions, and bade them take notice that their fellow-servant was no + longer Robert the butler, but that his integrity had made him Mr. + Blakeney, verger of St. Patrick's, an officer whose income was between + thirty and forty pounds a year; yet he still continued for some years to + serve his old master as his butler. + </p> + <p> + Swift was known from this time by the appellation of The Dean. He was + honoured by the populace as the champion, patron, and instructor of + Ireland; and gained such power as, considered both in its extent and + duration, scarcely any man has ever enjoyed without greater wealth or + higher station. He was from this important year the oracle of the traders, + and the idol of the rabble, and by consequence was feared and courted by + all to whom the kindness of the traders or the populace was necessary. The + Drapier was a sign; the Drapier was a health; and which way soever the eye + or the ear was turned, some tokens were found of the nation's gratitude to + the Drapier. + </p> + <p> + The benefit was indeed great; he had rescued Ireland from a very + oppressive and predatory invasion, and the popularity which he had gained + he was diligent to keep, by appearing forward and zealous on every + occasion where the public interest was supposed to be involved. Nor did he + much scruple to boast his influence; for when, upon some attempts to + regulate the coin, Archbishop Boulter, then one of the justices, accused + him of exasperating the people, he exculpated himself by saying, "If I had + lifted up my finger, they would have torn you to pieces." But the pleasure + of popularity was soon interrupted by domestic misery. Mrs. Johnson, whose + conversation was to him the great softener of the ills of life, began in + the year of the Drapier's triumph to decline, and two years afterwards was + so wasted with sickness that her recovery was considered as hopeless. + Swift was then in England, and had been invited by Lord Bolingbroke to + pass the winter with him in France; but this call of calamity hastened him + to Ireland, where perhaps his presence contributed to restore her to + imperfect and tottering health. He was now so much at ease, that (1727) he + returned to England, where he collected three volumes of Miscellanies in + conjunction with Pope, who prefixed a querulous and apologetical Preface. + </p> + <p> + This important year sent likewise into the world "Gulliver's Travels," a + production so new and strange, that it filled the reader with a mingled + emotion of merriment and amazement. It was received with such avidity, + that the price of the first edition was raised before the second could be + made; it was read by the high and the low, the learned and illiterate. + Criticism was for a while lost in wonder; no rules of judgment were + applied to a book written in open defiance of truth and regularity. But + when distinctions came to be made, the part which gave the least pleasure + was that which describes the Flying Island, and that which gave most + disgust must be the history of Houyhnhnms. + </p> + <p> + While Swift was enjoying the reputation of his new work, the news of the + king's death arrived, and he kissed the hands of the new king and queen + three days after their accession. By the queen, when she was princess, he + had been treated with some distinction, and was well received by her in + her exaltation; but whether she gave hopes which she never took care to + satisfy, or he formed expectations which she never meant to raise, the + event was that he always afterwards thought on her with malevolence, and + particularly charged her with breaking her promise of some medals which + she engaged to send him. I know not whether she had not, in her turn, some + reason for complaint. A letter was sent her, not so much entreating, as + requiring her patronage of Mrs. Barber, an ingenious Irishwoman, who was + then begging subscriptions for her Poems. To this letter was subscribed + the name of Swift, and it has all the appearance of his diction and + sentiments; but it was not written in his hand, and had some little + improprieties. When he was charged with this letter, he laid hold of the + inaccuracies, and urged the improbability of the accusation, but never + denied it: he shuffles between cowardice and veracity, and talks big when + he says nothing. He seems desirous enough of recommencing courtier, and + endeavoured to gain the kindness of Mrs. Howard, remembering what Mrs. + Masham had performed in former times; but his flatteries were, like those + of other wits, unsuccessful; the lady either wanted power, or had no + ambition of poetical immortality. He was seized not long afterwards by a + fit of giddiness, and again heard of the sickness and danger of Mrs. + Johnson. He then left the house of Pope, as it seems, with very little + ceremony, finding "that two sick friends cannot live together;" and did + not write to him till he found himself at Chester. He turned to a home of + sorrow: poor Stella was sinking into the grave, and, after a languishing + decay of about two months, died in her forty-fourth year, on January 28, + 1728. How much he wished her life his papers show; nor can it be doubted + that he dreaded the death of her whom he loved most, aggravated by the + consciousness that himself had hastened it. + </p> + <p> + Beauty and the power of pleasing, the greatest external advantages that + woman can desire or possess, were fatal to the unfortunate Stella. The man + whom she had the misfortune to love was, as Delany observes, fond of + singularity, and desirous to make a mode of happiness for himself, + different from the general course of things and order of Providence. From + the time of her arrival in Ireland he seems resolved to keep her in his + power, and therefore hindered a match sufficiently advantageous by + accumulating unreasonable demands, and prescribing conditions that could + not be performed. While she was at her own disposal he did not consider + his possession as secure; resentment, ambition, or caprice might separate + them: he was therefore resolved to make "assurance doubly sure," and to + appropriate her by a private marriage, to which he had annexed the + expectation of all the pleasures of perfect friendship, without the + uneasiness of conjugal restraint. But with this state poor Stella was not + satisfied; she never was treated as a wife, and to the world she had the + appearance of a mistress. She lived sullenly on, in hope that in time he + would own and receive her; but the time did not come till the change of + his manners and depravation of his mind made her tell him, when he offered + to acknowledge her, that "it was too late." She then gave up herself to + sorrowful resentment, and died under the tyranny of him by whom she was in + the highest degree loved and honoured. What were her claims to this + eccentric tenderness, by which the laws of nature were violated to + restrain her, curiosity will inquire; but how shall it be gratified? Swift + was a lover; his testimony may be suspected. Delany and the Irish saw with + Swift's eyes, and therefore add little confirmation. That she was + virtuous, beautiful, and elegant, in a very high degree, such admiration + from such a lover makes it very probable: but she had not much literature, + for she could not spell her own language; and of her wit, so loudly + vaunted, the smart sayings which Swift himself has collected afford no + splendid specimen. + </p> + <p> + The reader of Swift's "Letter to a Lady on her Marriage," may be allowed + to doubt whether his opinion of female excellence ought implicitly to be + admitted; for, if his general thoughts on women were such as he exhibits, + a very little sense in a lady would enrapture, and a very little virtue + would astonish him. Stella's supremacy, therefore, was perhaps only local; + she was great because her associates were little. + </p> + <p> + In some Remarks lately published on the Life of Swift, his marriage is + mentioned as fabulous, or doubtful; but, alas! poor Stella, as Dr. Madden + told me, related her melancholy story to Dr. Sheridan, when he attended + her as a clergyman to prepare her for death; and Delany mentions it not + with doubt, but only with regret. Swift never mentioned her without a + sigh. The rest of his life was spent in Ireland, in a country to which not + even power almost despotic, nor flattery almost idolatrous, could + reconcile him. He sometimes wished to visit England, but always found some + reason of delay. He tells Pope, in the decline of life, that he hopes once + more to see him; "but if not," says he, "we must part as all human beings + have parted." + </p> + <p> + After the death of Stella, his benevolence was contracted, and his + severity exasperated; he drove his acquaintance from his table, and + wondered why he was deserted. But he continued his attention to the + public, and wrote from time to time such directions, admonitions, or + censures, as the exigence of affairs, in his opinion, made proper; and + nothing fell from his pen in vain. In a short poem on the Presbyterians, + whom he always regarded with detestation, he bestowed one stricture upon + Bettesworth, a lawyer eminent for his insolence to the clergy, which, from + very considerable reputation, brought him into immediate and universal + contempt. Bettesworth, enraged at his disgrace and loss, went to Swift, + and demanded whether he was the author of that poem? "Mr. Bettesworth," + answered he, "I was in my youth acquainted with great lawyers, who, + knowing my disposition to satire, advised me, that if any scoundrel or + blockhead whom I had lampooned should ask, 'Are you the author of this + paper?' I should tell him that I was not the author; and therefore, I tell + you, Mr. Bettesworth, that I am not the author of these lines." + </p> + <p> + Bettesworth was so little satisfied with this account, that he publicly + professed his resolution of a violent and corporal revenge; but the + inhabitants of St. Patrick's district embodied themselves in the Dean's + defence. Bettesworth declared in Parliament that Swift had deprived him of + twelve hundred pounds a year. + </p> + <p> + Swift was popular awhile by another mode of beneficence. He set aside some + hundreds to be lent in small sums to the poor, from five shillings, I + think, to five pounds. He took no interest, and only required that, at + repayment, a small fee should be given to the accountant, but he required + that the day of promised payment should be exactly kept. A severe and + punctilious temper is ill qualified for transactions with the poor: the + day was often broken, and the loan was not repaid. This might have been + easily foreseen; but for this Swift had made no provision of patience or + pity. He ordered his debtors to be sued. A severe creditor has no popular + character; what then was likely to be said of him who employs the + catchpoll under the appearance of charity? The clamour against him was + loud, and the resentment of the populace outrageous; he was therefore + forced to drop his scheme, and own the folly of expecting punctuality from + the poor. + </p> + <p> + His asperity continually increasing, condemned him to solitude; and his + resentment of solitude sharpened his asperity. He was not, however, + totally deserted; some men of learning, and some women of elegance, often + visited him; and he wrote from time to time either verse or prose: of his + verses he willingly gave copies, and is supposed to have felt no + discontent when he saw them printed. His favourite maxim was "Vive la + bagatelle:" he thought trifles a necessary part of life, and perhaps found + them necessary to himself. It seems impossible to him to be idle, and his + disorders made it difficult or dangerous to be long seriously studious, or + laboriously diligent. The love of ease is always gaining upon age, and he + had one temptation to petty amusements peculiar to himself; whatever he + did, he was sure to hear applauded; and such was his predominance over all + that approached, that all their applauses were probably sincere. He that + is much flattered soon learns to flatter himself; we are commonly taught + our duty by fear or shame, and how can they act upon the man who hears + nothing but his own praises? As his years increased, his fits of giddiness + and deafness grew more frequent, and his deafness made conversation + difficult; they grew likewise more severe, till in 1736, as he was writing + a poem called "The Legion Club," he was seized with a fit so painful and + so long continued, that he never after thought it proper to attempt any + work of thought or labour. He was always careful of his money, and was + therefore no liberal entertainer, but was less frugal of his wine than of + his meat. When his friends of either sex came to him in expectation of a + dinner, his custom was to give every one a shilling, that they might + please themselves with their provision. At last his avarice grew too + powerful for his kindness; he would refuse a bottle of wine, and in + Ireland no man visits where he cannot drink. Having thus excluded + conversation, and desisted from study, he had neither business nor + amusement; for, having by some ridiculous resolution, or mad vow, + determined never to wear spectacles, he could make like little use of + books in his latter years; his ideas, therefore, being neither renovated + by discourse, nor increased by reading, wore gradually away, and left his + mind vacant to the vexations of the hour, till at last his anger was + heightened into madness. He, however, permitted one book to be published, + which had been the production of former years—"Polite Conversation," + which appeared in 1738. The "Directions for Servants," was printed soon + after his death. These two performances show a mind incessantly attentive, + and, when it was not employed upon great things, busy with minute + occurrences. It is apparent that he must have had the habit of noting + whatever he observed; for such a number of particulars could never have + been assembled by the power of recollection. He grew more violent, and his + mental powers declined, till (1741) it was found necessary that legal + guardians should be appointed of his person and fortune. He now lost + distinction. His madness was compounded of rage and fatuity. The last face + that he knew was that of Mrs. Whiteway; and her he ceased to know in a + little time. His meat was brought him cut into mouthfuls: but he would + never touch it while the servant stayed, and at last, after it had stood + perhaps an hour, would eat it walking; for he continued his old habit, and + was on his feet ten hours a day. Next year (1742) he had an inflammation + in his left eye, which swelled it to the size of an egg, with boils in + other parts; he was kept long waking with the pain, and was not easily + restrained by five attendants from tearing out his eye. + </p> + <p> + The tumour at last subsided; and a short interval of reason ensuing; in + which he knew his physician and his family, gave hopes of his recovery; + but in a few days he sank into a lethargic stupidity, motionless, + heedless, and speechless. But it is said that after a year of total + silence, when his housekeeper, on the 30th of November, told him that the + usual bonfires and illuminations were preparing to celebrate his birthday, + he answered, "It is all folly; they had better let it alone." + </p> + <p> + It is remembered that he afterwards spoke now and then, or gave some + intimation of a meaning; but at last sank into a perfect silence, which + continued till about the end of October, 1744, when, in his seventy-eighth + year, he expired without a struggle. + </p> + <p> + When Swift is considered as an author, it is just to estimate his powers + by their effects. In the reign of Queen Anne he turned the stream of + popularity against the Whigs, and must be confessed to have dictated for a + time the political opinions of the English nation. In the succeeding reign + he delivered Ireland from plunder and oppression: and showed that wit, + confederated with truth, had such force as authority was unable to resist. + He said truly of himself, that Ireland "was his debtor." It was from the + time when he first began to patronise the Irish, that they may date their + riches and prosperity. He taught them first to know their own interest, + their weight, and their strength, and gave them spirit to assert that + equality with their fellow-subjects to which they have ever since been + making vigorous advances, and to claim those rights which they have at + last established. Nor can they be charged with ingratitude to their + benefactor; for they reverenced him as a guardian, and obeyed him as a + dictator. + </p> + <p> + In his works he has given very different specimens both of sentiments and + expression. His "Tale of a Tub" has little resemblance to his other + pieces. It exhibits a vehemence and rapidity of mind, a copiousness of + images, and vivacity of diction, such as he afterwards never possessed, or + never exerted. It is of a mode so distinct and peculiar, that it must be + considered by itself; what is true of that, is not true of anything else + which he has written. In his other works is found an equable tenour of + easy language, which rather trickles than flows. His delight was in + simplicity. That he has in his works no metaphor, as has been said, is not + true; but his few metaphors seem to be received rather by necessity than + choice. He studied purity; and though perhaps all his strictures are not + exact, yet it is not often that solecisms can be found; and whoever + depends on his authority may generally conclude himself safe. His + sentences are never too much dilated or contracted; and it will not be + easy to find any embarrassment in the complication of his clauses, any + inconsequence in his connections, or abruptness in his transitions. His + style was well suited to his thoughts, which are never subtilised by nice + disquisitions, decorated by sparkling conceits, elevated by ambitious + sentences, or variegated by far-sought learning. He pays no court to the + passions; he excites neither surprise nor admiration: he always + understands himself, and his readers always understand him: the peruser of + Swift wants little previous knowledge; it will be sufficient that he is + acquainted with common words and common things; he is neither required to + mount elevations, nor to explore profundities; his passage is always on a + level, along solid ground, without asperities, without obstruction. This + easy and safe conveyance of meaning it was Swift's desire to attain, and + for having attained he deserves praise. For purposes merely didactic, when + something is to be told that was not known before, it is the best mode; + but against that inattention by which known truths are suffered to lie + neglected, it makes no provision; it instructs, but does not persuade. + </p> + <p> + By his political education he was associated with the Whigs; but he + deserted them when they deserted their principles, yet without running + into the contrary extreme; he continued throughout his life to retain the + disposition which he assigns to the "Church-of-England Man," of thinking + commonly with the Whigs of the State, and with the Tories of the Church. + He was a Churchman, rationally zealous; he desired the prosperity, and + maintained the honour of the clergy; of the Dissenters he did not wish to + infringe the Toleration, but he opposed their encroachments. To his duty + as Dean he was very attentive. He managed the revenues of his church with + exact economy; and it is said by Delany, that more money was, under his + direction, laid out in repairs, than had ever been in the same time since + its first erection. Of his choir he was eminently careful; and though he + neither loved nor understood music, took care that all the singers were + well qualified, admitting none without the testimony of skilful judges. + </p> + <p> + In his church he restored the practice of weekly communion, and + distributed the sacramental elements in the most solemn and devout manner + with his own hand. He came to church every morning, preached commonly in + his turn, and attended the evening anthem, that it might not be + negligently performed. He read the service, "rather with a strong, nervous + voice, than in a graceful manner; his voice was sharp and high-toned, + rather than harmonious." He entered upon the clerical state with hope to + excel in preaching; but complained that, from the time of his political + controversies, "he could only preach pamphlets." This censure of himself, + if judgment be made from those sermons which have been printed, was + unreasonably severe. + </p> + <p> + The suspicions of his irreligion proceeded in a great measure from his + dread of hypocrisy; instead of wishing to seem better, he delighted in + seeming worse than he was. He went in London to early prayers, lest he + should be seen at church; he read prayers to his servants every morning + with such dexterous secrecy, that Dr. Delany was six months in his house + before he knew it. He was not only careful to hide the good which he did, + but willingly incurred the suspicion of evil which he did not. He forgot + what himself had formerly asserted, that hypocrisy is less mischievous + than open impiety. Dr. Delany, with all his zeal for his honour, has + justly condemned this part of his character. + </p> + <p> + The person of Swift had not many recommendations. He had a kind of muddy + complexion, which, though he washed himself with Oriental scrupulosity, + did not look clear. He had a countenance sour and severe, which he seldom + softened by any appearance of gaiety. He stubbornly resisted any tendency + to laughter. To his domestics he was naturally rough: and a man of a + rigorous temper, with that vigilance of minute attention which his works + discover, must have been a master that few could bear. That he was + disposed to do his servants good, on important occasions, is no great + mitigation; benefaction can be but rare, and tyrannic peevishness is + perpetual. He did not spare the servants of others. Once, when he dined + alone with the Earl of Orrery, he said of one that waited in the room, + "That man has, since we sat to the table, committed fifteen faults." What + the faults were, Lord Orrery, from whom I heard the story, had not been + attentive enough to discover. My number may perhaps not be exact. + </p> + <p> + In his economy he practised a peculiar and offensive parsimony, without + disguise or apology. The practice of saving being once necessary, became + habitual, and grew first ridiculous, and at last detestable. But his + avarice, though it might exclude pleasure, was never suffered to encroach + upon his virtue. He was frugal by inclination, but liberal by principle: + and if the purpose to which he destined his little accumulations be + remembered, with his distribution of occasional charity, it will perhaps + appear that he only liked one mode of expense better than another, and + saved merely that he might have something to give. He did not grow rich by + injuring his successors, but left both Laracor and the Deanery more + valuable than he found them. With all this talk of his covetousness and + generosity, it should be remembered that he was never rich. The revenue of + his Deanery was not much more than seven hundred a year. His beneficence + was not graced with tenderness or civility; he relieved without pity, and + assisted without kindness; so that those who were fed by him could hardly + love him. He made a rule to himself to give but one piece at a time, and + therefore always stored his pocket with coins of different value. Whatever + he did he seemed willing to do in a manner peculiar to himself, without + sufficiently considering that singularity, as it implies a contempt of the + general practice, is a kind of defiance which justly provokes the + hostility of ridicule; he, therefore, who indulges peculiar habits, is + worse than others, if he be not better. + </p> + <p> + Of his humour, a story told by Pope may afford a specimen. + </p> + <p> + "Dr. Swift has an odd, blunt way, that is mistaken by strangers for ill + nature.—'Tis so odd, that there's no describing it but by facts. + I'll tell you one that first comes into my head. One evening Gay and I + went to see him: you know how intimately we were all acquainted. On our + coming in, 'Heyday, gentlemen' (says the doctor), 'what's the meaning of + this visit? How came you to leave the great Lords that you are so fond of, + to come hither to see a poor Dean?'—'Because we would rather see you + than any of them.'—'Ay, anyone that did not know so well as I do + might believe you. But since you are come, I must get some supper for you, + I suppose.'—'No, Doctor, we have supped already.'—'Supped + already? that's impossible! why, 'tis not eight o'clock yet: that's very + strange; but if you had not supped, I must have got something for you. Let + me see, what should I have had? A couple of lobsters; ay, that would have + done very well; two shillings—tarts, a shilling; but you will drink + a glass of wine with me, though you supped so much before your usual time + only to spare my pocket?'—'No, we had rather talk with you than + drink with you.'—'But if you had supped with me, as in all reason + you ought to have done, you must then have drunk with me. A bottle of + wine, two shillings—two and two is four, and one is five; just + two-and-sixpence a-piece. There, Pope, there's half a crown for you, and + there's another for you, sir; for I won't save anything by you. I am + determined.'—This was all said and done with his usual seriousness + on such occasions; and, in spite of everything we could say to the + contrary, he actually obliged us to take the money." + </p> + <p> + In the intercourse of familiar life, he indulged his disposition to + petulance and sarcasm, and thought himself injured if the licentiousness + of his raillery, the freedom of his censures, or the petulance of his + frolics was resented or repressed. He predominated over his companions + with very high ascendancy, and probably would bear none over whom he could + not predominate. To give him advice was, in the style of his friend + Delany, "to venture to speak to him." This customary superiority soon grew + too delicate for truth; and Swift, with all his penetration, allowed + himself to be delighted with low flattery. On all common occasions, he + habitually affects a style of arrogance, and dictates rather than + persuades. This authoritative and magisterial language he expected to be + received as his peculiar mode of jocularity: but he apparently flattered + his own arrogance by an assumed imperiousness, in which he was ironical + only to the resentful, and to the submissive sufficiently serious. He told + stories with great felicity, and delighted in doing what he knew himself + to do well; he was therefore captivated by the respectful silence of a + steady listener, and told the same tales too often. He did not, however, + claim the right of talking alone; for it was his rule, when he had spoken + a minute, to give room by a pause for any other speaker. Of time, on all + occasions, he was an exact computer, and knew the minutes required to + every common operation. + </p> + <p> + It may be justly supposed that there was in his conversation, what appears + so frequently in his Letters, an affectation of familiarity with the + great, an ambition of momentary equality sought and enjoyed by the neglect + of those ceremonies which custom has established as the barriers between + one order of society and another. This transgression of regularity was by + himself and his admirers termed greatness of soul. But a great mind + disdains to hold anything by courtesy, and therefore never usurps what a + lawful claimant may take away. He that encroaches on another's dignity + puts himself in his power; he is either repelled with helpless indignity, + or endured by clemency and condescension. + </p> + <p> + Of Swift's general habits of thinking, if his Letters can be supposed to + afford any evidence, he was not a man to be either loved or envied. He + seems to have wasted life in discontent, by the rage of neglected pride, + and the languishment of unsatisfied desire. He is querulous and + fastidious, arrogant and malignant; he scarcely speaks of himself but with + indignant lamentations, or of others but with insolent superiority when he + is gay, and with angry contempt when he is gloomy. From the letters that + passed between him and Pope it might be inferred that they, with Arbuthnot + and Gay, had engrossed all the understanding and virtue of mankind; that + their merits filled the world; or that there was no hope of more. They + show the age involved in darkness, and shade the picture with sullen + emulation. + </p> + <p> + When the Queen's death drove him into Ireland, he might be allowed to + regret for a time the interception of his views, the extinction of his + hopes, and his ejection from gay scenes, important employment, and + splendid friendships; but when time had enabled reason to prevail over + vexation, the complaints, which at first were natural, became ridiculous + because they were useless. But querulousness was now grown habitual, and + he cried out when he probably had ceased to feel. His reiterated wailings + persuaded Bolingbroke that he was really willing to quit his deanery for + an English parish; and Bolingbroke procured an exchange, which was + rejected; and Swift still retained the pleasure of complaining. + </p> + <p> + The greatest difficulty that occurs, in analysing his character, is to + discover by what depravity of intellect he took delight in revolving + ideas, from which almost every other mind shrinks with disgust. The ideas + of pleasure, even when criminal, may solicit the imagination; but what has + disease, deformity, and filth, upon which the thoughts can be allured to + dwell? Delany is willing to think that Swift's mind was not much tainted + with this gross corruption before his long visit to Pope. He does not + consider how he degrades his hero, by making him at fifty-nine the pupil + of turpitude, and liable to the malignant influence of an ascendant mind. + But the truth is, that Gulliver had described his Yahoos before the visit; + and he that had formed those images had nothing filthy to learn. + </p> + <p> + I have here given the character of Swift as he exhibits himself to my + perception; but now let another be heard who knew him better. Dr. Delany, + after long acquaintance, describes him to Lord Orrery in these terms:— + </p> + <p> + "My Lord, when you consider Swift's singular, peculiar, and most + variegated vein of wit, always rightly intended, although not always so + rightly directed; delightful in many instances, and salutary even where it + is most offensive; when you consider his strict truth, his fortitude in + resisting oppression and arbitrary power; his fidelity in friendship; his + sincere love and zeal for religion; his uprightness in making right + resolutions, and his steadiness in adhering to them; his care of his + church, its choir, its economy, and its income; his attention to all those + who preached in his cathedral, in order to their amendment in + pronunciation and style; as also his remarkable attention to the interest + of his successors preferably to his own present emoluments; his invincible + patriotism, even to a country which he did not love; his very various, + well-devised, well-judged, and extensive charities, throughout his life; + and his whole fortune (to say nothing of his wife's) conveyed to the same + Christian purposes at his death; charities, from which he could enjoy no + honour, advantage, or satisfaction of any kind in this world: when you + consider his ironical and humorous, as well as his serious schemes, for + the promotion of true religion and virtue; his success in soliciting for + the First Fruits and Twentieths, to the unspeakable benefit of the + Established Church of Ireland; and his felicity (to rate it no higher) in + giving occasion to the building of fifty new churches in London: + </p> + <p> + "All this considered, the character of his life will appear like that of + his writings; they will both bear to be reconsidered, and re-examined with + the utmost attention, and always discover new beauties and excellences + upon every examination. + </p> + <p> + "They will bear to be considered as the sun, in which the brightness will + hide the blemishes; and whenever petulant ignorance, pride, malignity, or + envy interposes to cloud or sully his fame, I take upon me to pronounce, + that the eclipse will not last long. + </p> + <p> + "To conclude—No man ever deserved better of his country, than Swift + did of his; a steady, persevering, inflexible friend; a wise, a watchful, + and a faithful counsellor, under many severe trials and bitter + persecutions, to the manifest hazard both of his liberty and fortune. + </p> + <p> + "He lived a blessing, he died a benefactor, and his name will ever live an + honour to Ireland." + </p> + <p> + In the poetical works of Dr. Swift there is not much upon which the critic + can exercise his powers. They are often humorous, almost always light, and + have the qualities which recommend such compositions, easiness and gaiety. + They are, for the most part, what their author intended. The diction is + correct, the numbers are smooth, and the rhymes exact. There seldom occurs + a hard-laboured expression, or a redundant epithet; all his verses + exemplify his own definition of a good style; they consist of "proper + words in proper places." + </p> + <p> + To divide this collection into classes, and show how some pieces are + gross, and some are trifling, would be to tell the reader what he knows + already, and to find faults of which the author could not be ignorant, who + certainly wrote not often to his judgment, but his humour. + </p> + <p> + It was said, in a Preface to one of the Irish editions, that Swift had + never been known to take a single thought from any writer, ancient or + modern. This is not literally true; but perhaps no writer can easily be + found that has borrowed so little, or that, in all his excellences and all + his defects, has so well maintained his claim to be considered as + original. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the Poets: Addison, Savage, +and Swift, by Samuel Johnson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE POETS *** + +***** This file should be named 4679-h.htm or 4679-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/6/7/4679/ + +Produced by Les Bowler, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lives of the Poets: Addison, Savage, and Swift + +Author: Samuel Johnson + +Commentator: Henry Morley + +Release Date: November, 2003 [EBook #4679] +Posting Date: January 8, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE POETS *** + + + + +Produced by Les Bowler + + + + + +LIVES OF THE POETS: ADDISON, SAVAGE, and SWIFT + + +By Samuel Johnson + + + +Contents. + + Introduction by Henry Morley. + Joseph Addison. + Richard Savage. + Jonathan Swift. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +Johnson's "Lives of the Poets" were written to serve as Introductions to +a trade edition of the works of poets whom the booksellers selected for +republication. Sometimes, therefore, they dealt briefly with men in whom +the public at large has long ceased to be interested. Richard Savage +would be of this number if Johnson's account of his life had not secured +for him lasting remembrance. Johnson's Life of Savage in this volume has +not less interest than the Lives of Addison and Swift, between which it +is set, although Savage himself has no right at all to be remembered in +such company. Johnson published this piece of biography when his age was +thirty-five; his other lives of poets appeared when that age was about +doubled. He was very poor when the Life of Savage was written for Cave. +Soon after its publication, we are told, Mr. Harte dined with Cave, and +incidentally praised it. Meeting him again soon afterwards Cave said to +Mr. Harte, "You made a man very happy t'other day." "How could that +be?" asked Harte. "Nobody was there but ourselves." Cave answered by +reminding him that a plate of victuals was sent behind a screen, which +was to Johnson, dressed so shabbily that he did not choose to appear. + +Johnson, struggling, found Savage struggling, and was drawn to him by +faith in the tale he told. We have seen in our own time how even an +Arthur Orton could find sensible and good people to believe the tale +with which he sought to enforce claim upon the Tichborne baronetcy. +Savage had literary skill, and he could personate the manners of a +gentleman in days when there were still gentlemen of fashion who drank, +lied, and swaggered into midnight brawls. I have no doubt whatever that +he was the son of the nurse with whom the Countess of Macclesfield had +placed a child that died, and that after his mother's death he found the +papers upon which he built his plot to personate the child, extort money +from the Countess and her family, and bring himself into a profitable +notoriety. + +Johnson's simple truthfulness and ready sympathy made it hard for him to +doubt the story told as Savage told it to him. But when he told it again +himself, though he denounced one whom he believed to be an unnatural +mother, and dealt gently with his friend, he did not translate evil into +good. Through all the generous and kindly narrative we may see clearly +that Savage was an impostor. There is the heart of Johnson in the noble +appeal against judgment of the self-righteous who have never known the +harder trials of the world, when he says of Savage, "Those are no proper +judges of his conduct, who have slumbered away their time on the down +of plenty; nor will any wise man easily presume to say, 'Had I been in +Savage's condition, I should have lived or written better than Savage.'" +But Johnson, who made large allowance for temptations pressing on the +poor, himself suffered and overcame the hardest trials, firm always to +his duty, true servant of God and friend of man. + +Richard Savage's whole public life was built upon a lie. His base nature +foiled any attempt made to befriend him; and the friends he lost, he +slandered; Richard Steele among them. Samuel Johnson was a friend easy +to make, and difficult to lose. There was no money to be got from him, +for he was altogether poor in everything but the large spirit of human +kindness. Savage drew largely on him for sympathy, and had it; although +Johnson was too clear-sighted to be much deceived except in judgment +upon the fraudulent claims which then gave rise to division of opinion. +The Life of Savage is a noble piece of truth, although it rests on faith +put in a fraud. + +H. M. + + + + +ADDISON. + + +Joseph Addison was born on the 1st of May, 1672, at Milston, of which +his father, Lancelot Addison, was then rector, near Ambrosebury, in +Wiltshire, and, appearing weak and unlikely to live, he was christened +the same day. After the usual domestic education, which from the +character of his father may be reasonably supposed to have given him +strong impressions of piety, he was committed to the care of Mr. Naish +at Ambrosebury, and afterwards of Mr. Taylor at Salisbury. + +Not to name the school or the masters of men illustrious for literature, +is a kind of historical fraud, by which honest fame is injuriously +diminished: I would therefore trace him through the whole process of his +education. In 1683, in the beginning of his twelfth year, his father, +being made Dean of Lichfield, naturally carried his family to his new +residence, and, I believe, placed him for some time, probably not long, +under Mr. Shaw, then master of the school at Lichfield, father of the +late Dr. Peter Shaw. Of this interval his biographers have given no +account, and I know it only from a story of a BARRING-OUT, told me, when +I was a boy, by Andrew Corbet, of Shropshire, who had heard it from Mr. +Pigot, his uncle. + +The practice of BARRING-OUT was a savage licence, practised in many +schools to the end of the last century, by which the boys, when the +periodical vacation drew near, growing petulant at the approach of +liberty, some days before the time of regular recess, took possession +of the school, of which they barred the doors, and bade their master +defiance from the windows. It is not easy to suppose that on such +occasions the master would do more than laugh; yet, if tradition may be +credited, he often struggled hard to force or surprise the garrison. The +master, when Pigot was a schoolboy, was BARRED OUT at Lichfield; and the +whole operation, as he said, was planned and conducted by Addison. + +To judge better of the probability of this story, I have inquired +when he was sent to the Chartreux; but, as he was not one of those who +enjoyed the founder's benefaction, there is no account preserved of +his admission. At the school of the Chartreux, to which he was removed +either from that of Salisbury or Lichfield, he pursued his juvenile +studies under the care of Dr. Ellis, and contracted that intimacy +with Sir Richard Steele which their joint labours have so effectually +recorded. + +Of this memorable friendship the greater praise must be given to Steele. +It is not hard to love those from whom nothing can be feared; and +Addison never considered Steele as a rival; but Steele lived, as he +confesses, under an habitual subjection to the predominating genius +of Addison, whom he always mentioned with reverence, and treated with +obsequiousness. + +Addison, who knew his own dignity, could not always forbear to show it, +by playing a little upon his admirer; but he was in no danger of retort; +his jests were endured without resistance or resentment. But the sneer +of jocularity was not the worst. Steele, whose imprudence of generosity, +or vanity of profusion, kept him always incurably necessitous, upon some +pressing exigence, in an evil hour, borrowed a hundred pounds of his +friend probably without much purpose of repayment; but Addison, who +seems to have had other notions of a hundred pounds, grew impatient of +delay, and reclaimed his loan by an execution. Steele felt with great +sensibility the obduracy of his creditor, but with emotions of sorrow +rather than of anger. + +In 1687 he was entered into Queen's College in Oxford, where, in 1689, +the accidental perusal of some Latin verses gained him the patronage +of Dr. Lancaster, afterwards Provost of Queen's College; by whose +recommendation he was elected into Magdalen College as a demy, a term by +which that society denominates those who are elsewhere called scholars: +young men who partake of the founder's benefaction, and succeed in their +order to vacant fellowships. Here he continued to cultivate poetry and +criticism, and grew first eminent by his Latin compositions, which are +indeed entitled to particular praise. He has not confined himself to +the imitation of any ancient author, but has formed his style from +the general language, such as a diligent perusal of the productions of +different ages happened to supply. His Latin compositions seem to have +had much of his fondness, for he collected a second volume of the "Musae +Anglicanae" perhaps for a convenient receptacle, in which all his Latin +pieces are inserted, and where his poem on the Peace has the first +place. He afterwards presented the collection to Boileau, who from that +time "conceived," says Tickell, "an opinion of the English genius +for poetry." Nothing is better known of Boileau than that he had an +injudicious and peevish contempt of modern Latin, and therefore his +profession of regard was probably the effect of his civility rather than +approbation. + +Three of his Latin poems are upon subjects on which perhaps he would not +have ventured to have written in his own language: "The Battle of the +Pigmies and Cranes," "The Barometer," and "A Bowling-green." When the +matter is low or scanty, a dead language, in which nothing is mean +because nothing is familiar, affords great conveniences; and by the +sonorous magnificence of Roman syllables, the writer conceals penury +of thought, and want of novelty, often from the reader and often from +himself. + +In his twenty-second year he first showed his power of English poetry by +some verses addressed to Dryden; and soon after published a translation +of the greater part of the Fourth Georgic upon Bees; after which, says +Dryden, "my latter swarm is scarcely worth the hiving." About the same +time he composed the arguments prefixed to the several books of Dryden's +Virgil; and produced an Essay on the Georgics, juvenile, superficial, +and uninstructive, without much either of the scholar's learning or the +critic's penetration. His next paper of verses contained a character +of the principal English poets, inscribed to Henry Sacheverell, who was +then, if not a poet, a writer of verses; as is shown by his version of +a small part of Virgil's Georgics, published in the Miscellanies; and +a Latin encomium on Queen Mary, in the "Musae Anglicanae." These verses +exhibit all the fondness of friendship; but, on one side or the other, +friendship was afterwards too weak for the malignity of faction. In this +poem is a very confident and discriminate character of Spenser, whose +work he had then never read; so little sometimes is criticism the effect +of judgment. It is necessary to inform the reader that about this +time he was introduced by Congreve to Montague, then Chancellor of +the Exchequer: Addison was then learning the trade of a courtier, and +subjoined Montague as a poetical name to those of Cowley and of Dryden. +By the influence of Mr. Montague, concurring, according to Tickell, +with his natural modesty, he was diverted from his original design of +entering into holy orders. Montague alleged the corruption of men who +engaged in civil employments without liberal education; and declared +that, though he was represented as an enemy to the Church, he would +never do it any injury but by withholding Addison from it. + +Soon after (in 1695) he wrote a poem to King William, with a rhyming +introduction addressed to Lord Somers. King William had no regard to +elegance or literature; his study was only war; yet by a choice of +Ministers, whose disposition was very different from his own, he +procured, without intention, a very liberal patronage to poetry. Addison +was caressed both by Somers and Montague. + +In 1697 appeared his Latin verses on the Peace of Ryswick, which he +dedicated to Montague, and which was afterwards called, by Smith, "the +best Latin poem since the 'AEneid.'" Praise must not be too rigorously +examined; but the performance cannot be denied to be vigorous and +elegant. Having yet no public employment, he obtained (in 1699) a +pension of three hundred pounds a year, that he might be enabled to +travel. He stayed a year at Blois, probably to learn the French language +and then proceeded in his journey to Italy, which he surveyed with the +eyes of a poet. While he was travelling at leisure, he was far from +being idle: for he not only collected his observations on the country, +but found time to write his "Dialogues on Medals," and four acts of +Cato. Such, at least, is the relation of Tickell. Perhaps he only +collected his materials and formed his plan. Whatever were his other +employments in Italy, he there wrote the letter to Lord Halifax which is +justly considered as the most elegant, if not the most sublime, of his +poetical productions. But in about two years he found it necessary to +hasten home; being, as Swift informs us, distressed by indigence, +and compelled to become the tutor of a travelling squire, because his +pension was not remitted. + +At his return he published his Travels, with a dedication to Lord +Somers. As his stay in foreign countries was short, his observations +are such as might be supplied by a hasty view, and consist chiefly in +comparisons of the present face of the country with the descriptions +left us by the Roman poets, from whom he made preparatory collections, +though he might have spared the trouble had he known that such +collections had been made twice before by Italian authors. + +The most amusing passage of his book is his account of the minute +republic of San Marino; of many parts it is not a very severe censure to +say that they might have been written at home. His elegance of language, +and variegation of prose and verse, however, gain upon the reader; and +the book, though awhile neglected, became in time so much the favourite +of the public that before it was reprinted it rose to five times its +price. + +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; and a mind so cultivated +gives reason to believe that little time was lost. But he remained not +long neglected or useless. The victory at Blenheim (1704) spread triumph +and confidence over the nation; and Lord Godolphin, lamenting to +Lord Halifax that it had not been celebrated in a manner equal to the +subject, desired him to propose it to some better poet. Halifax told +him that there was no encouragement for genius; that worthless men were +unprofitably enriched with public money, without any care to find or +employ those whose appearance might do honour to their country. To this +Godolphin replied that such abuses should in time be rectified; and +that, if a man could be found capable of the task then proposed, he +should not want an ample recompense. Halifax then named Addison, but +required that the Treasurer should apply to him in his own person. +Godolphin sent the message by Mr. Boyle, afterwards Lord Carlton; and +Addison, having undertaken the work, communicated it to the Treasury +while it was yet advanced no further than the simile of the angel, +and was immediately rewarded by succeeding Mr. Locke in the place of +Commissioner of Appeals. + +In the following year he was at Hanover with Lord Halifax: and the year +after he was made Under Secretary of State, first to Sir Charles Hedges, +and in a few months more to the Earl of Sunderland. About this time the +prevalent taste for Italian operas inclined him to try what would be the +effect of a musical drama in our own language. He therefore wrote the +opera of Rosamond, which, when exhibited on the stage, was either hissed +or neglected; but, trusting that the readers would do him more justice, +he published it with an inscription to the Duchess of Marlborough--a +woman without skill, or pretensions to skill, in poetry or literature. +His dedication was therefore an instance of servile absurdity, to be +exceeded only by Joshua Barnes's dedication of a Greek Anacreon to the +Duke. His reputation had been somewhat advanced by The Tender Husband, a +comedy which Steele dedicated to him, with a confession that he owed to +him several of the most successful scenes. To this play Addison supplied +a prologue. + +When the Marquis of Wharton was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, +Addison attended him as his secretary; and was made Keeper of the +Records, in Birmingham's Tower, with a salary of three hundred pounds +a year. The office was little more than nominal, and the salary was +augmented for his accommodation. Interest and faction allow little to +the operation of particular dispositions or private opinions. Two men +of personal characters more opposite than those of Wharton and Addison +could not easily be brought together. Wharton was impious, profligate, +and shameless; without regard, or appearance of regard, to right and +wrong. Whatever is contrary to this may be said of Addison; but as +agents of a party they were connected, and how they adjusted their other +sentiments we cannot know. + +Addison must, however, not be too hastily condemned. It is not necessary +to refuse benefits from a bad man when the acceptance implies no +approbation of his crimes; nor has the subordinate officer any +obligation to examine the opinions or conduct of those under whom he +acts, except that he may not be made the instrument of wickedness. It is +reasonable to suppose that Addison counteracted, as far as he was able, +the malignant and blasting influence of the Lieutenant; and that +at least by his intervention some good was done, and some mischief +prevented. When he was in office he made a law to himself, as Swift has +recorded, never to remit his regular fees in civility to his friends: +"for," said he, "I may have a hundred friends; and if my fee be two +guineas, I shall, by relinquishing my right, lose two hundred guineas, +and no friend gain more than two; there is therefore no proportion +between the good imparted and the evil suffered." He was in Ireland when +Steele, without any communication of his design, began the publication +of the Tatler; but he was not long concealed; by inserting a remark on +Virgil which Addison had given him he discovered himself. It is, indeed, +not easy for any man to write upon literature or common life so as not +to make himself known to those with whom he familiarly converses, and +who are acquainted with his track of study, his favourite topic, his +peculiar notions, and his habitual phrases. + +If Steele desired to write in secret, he was not lucky; a single month +detected him. His first Tatler was published April 22 (1709); and +Addison's contribution appeared May 26. Tickell observes that the Tatler +began and was concluded without his concurrence. This is doubtless +literally true; but the work did not suffer much by his unconsciousness +of its commencement, or his absence at its cessation; for he continued +his assistance to December 23, and the paper stopped on January 2. He +did not distinguish his pieces by any signature; and I know not whether +his name was not kept secret till the papers were collected into +volumes. + +To the Tatler, in about two months, succeeded the Spectator: a series +of essays of the same kind, but written with less levity, upon a more +regular plan, and published daily. Such an undertaking showed the +writers not to distrust their own copiousness of materials or facility +of composition, and their performance justified their confidence. They +found, however, in their progress many auxiliaries. To attempt a single +paper was no terrifying labour; many pieces were offered, and many were +received. + +Addison had enough of the zeal of party; but Steele had at that time +almost nothing else. The Spectator, in one of the first papers, showed +the political tenets of its authors; but a resolution was soon taken of +courting general approbation by general topics, and subjects on which +faction had produced no diversity of sentiments--such as literature, +morality, and familiar life. To this practice they adhered with +few deviations. The ardour of Steele once broke out in praise of +Marlborough; and when Dr. Fleetwood prefixed to some sermons a preface +overflowing with Whiggish opinions, that it might be read by the Queen, +it was reprinted in the Spectator. + +To teach the minuter decencies and inferior duties, to regulate the +practice of daily conversation, to correct those depravities which are +rather ridiculous than criminal, and remove those grievances which, if +they produce no lasting calamities, impress hourly vexation, was first +attempted by Casa in his book of "Manners," and Castiglione in his +"Courtier:" two books yet celebrated in Italy for purity and elegance, +and which, if they are now less read, are neglected only because they +have effected that reformation which their authors intended, and their +precepts now are no longer wanted. Their usefulness to the age in which +they were written is sufficiently attested by the translations which +almost all the nations of Europe were in haste to obtain. + +This species of instruction was continued, and perhaps advanced, by the +French; among whom La Bruyere's "Manners of the Age" (though, as Boileau +remarked, it is written without connection) certainly deserves praise +for liveliness of description and justness of observation. Before the +Tatler and Spectator, if the writers for the theatre are excepted, +England had no masters of common life. No writers had yet undertaken +to reform either the savageness of neglect, or the impertinence of +civility; to show when to speak, or to be silent; how to refuse, or how +to comply. We had many books to teach us our more important duties, +and to settle opinions in philosophy or politics; but an arbiter +elegantiarum, (a judge of propriety) was yet wanting who should survey +the track of daily conversation, and free it from thorns and prickles, +which tease the passer, though they do not wound him. For this purpose +nothing is so proper as the frequent publication of short papers, which +we read, not as study, but amusement. If the subject be slight, the +treatise is short. The busy may find time, and the idle may find +patience. This mode of conveying cheap and easy knowledge began among us +in the civil war, when it was much the interest of either party to raise +and fix the prejudices of the people. At that time appeared Mercurius +Aulicus, Mercurius Rusticus, and Mercurius Civicus. It is said that when +any title grew popular, it was stolen by the antagonist, who by this +stratagem conveyed his notions to those who would not have received him +had he not worn the appearance of a friend. The tumult of those +unhappy days left scarcely any man leisure to treasure up occasional +compositions; and so much were they neglected that a complete collection +is nowhere to be found. + +These Mercuries were succeeded by L'Estrange's Observator; and that by +Lesley's Rehearsal, and perhaps by others; but hitherto nothing had +been conveyed to the people, in this commodious manner, but controversy +relating to the Church or State; of which they taught many to talk, whom +they could not teach to judge. + +It has been suggested that the Royal Society was instituted soon after +the Restoration to divert the attention of the people from public +discontent. The Tatler and Spectator had the same tendency; they were +published at a time when two parties--loud, restless, and violent, +each with plausible declarations, and each perhaps without any distinct +termination of its views--were agitating the nation; to minds heated +with political contest they supplied cooler and more inoffensive +reflections; and it is said by Addison, in a subsequent work, that they +had a perceptible influence upon the conversation of that time, and +taught the frolic and the gay to unite merriment with decency--an effect +which they can never wholly lose while they continue to be among the +first books by which both sexes are initiated in the elegances of +knowledge. + +The Tatler and Spectator adjusted, like Casa, the unsettled practice +of daily intercourse by propriety and politeness; and, like La Bruyere, +exhibited the "Characters and Manners of the Age." The personages +introduced in these papers were not merely ideal; they were then known, +and conspicuous in various stations. Of the Tatler this is told by +Steele in his last paper; and of the Spectator by Budgell in the preface +to "Theophrastus," a book which Addison has recommended, and which +he was suspected to have revised, if he did not write it. Of those +portraits which may be supposed to be sometimes embellished, and +sometimes aggravated, the originals are now partly known, and partly +forgotten. But to say that they united the plans of two or three eminent +writers, is to give them but a small part of their due praise; they +superadded literature and criticism, and sometimes towered far above +their predecessors; and taught, with great justness of argument and +dignity of language, the most important duties and sublime truths. +All these topics were happily varied with elegant fictions and refined +allegories, and illuminated with different changes of style and +felicities of invention. + +It is recorded by Budgell, that of the characters feigned or exhibited +in the Spectator, the favourite of Addison was Sir Roger de Coverley, of +whom he had formed a very delicate and discriminate idea, which he +would not suffer to be violated; and therefore when Steele had shown him +innocently picking up a girl in the Temple, and taking her to a tavern, +he drew upon himself so much of his friend's indignation that he was +forced to appease him by a promise of forbearing Sir Roger for the time +to come. + +The reason which induced Cervantes to bring his hero to the grave, para +mi sola nacio Don Quixote, y yo para el, made Addison declare, with +undue vehemence of expression, that he would kill Sir Roger; being of +opinion that they were born for one another, and that any other hand +would do him wrong. + +It may be doubted whether Addison ever filled up his original +delineation. He describes his knight as having his imagination somewhat +warped; but of this perversion he has made very little use. The +irregularities in Sir Roger's conduct seem not so much the effects of a +mind deviating from the beaten track of life, by the perpetual pressure +of some overwhelming idea, as of habitual rusticity, and that negligence +which solitary grandeur naturally generates. The variable weather of the +mind, the flying vapours of incipient madness, which from time to time +cloud reason without eclipsing it, it requires so much nicety to exhibit +that Addison seems to have been deterred from prosecuting his own +design. + +To Sir Roger (who, as a country gentleman, appears to be a Tory, or, as +it is gently expressed, an adherent to the landed interest) is opposed +Sir Andrew Freeport, a new man, a wealthy merchant, zealous for the +moneyed interest, and a Whig. Of this contrariety of opinions, it is +probable more consequences were at first intended than could be produced +when the resolution was taken to exclude party from the paper. Sir +Andrew does but little, and that little seems not to have pleased +Addison, who, when he dismissed him from the club, changed his opinions. +Steele had made him, in the true spirit of unfeeling commerce, declare +that he "would not build an hospital for idle people;" but at last he +buys land, settles in the country, and builds, not a manufactory, but +an hospital for twelve old husbandmen--for men with whom a merchant +has little acquaintance, and whom he commonly considers with little +kindness. + +Of essays thus elegant, thus instructive, and thus commodiously +distributed, it is natural to suppose the approbation general, and the +sale numerous. I once heard it observed that the sale may be calculated +by the product of the tax, related in the last number to produce more +than twenty pounds a week, and therefore stated at one-and-twenty +pounds, or three pounds ten shillings a day: this, at a halfpenny a +paper, will give sixteen hundred and eighty for the daily number. This +sale is not great; yet this, if Swift be credited, was likely to grow +less; for he declares that the Spectator, whom he ridicules for his +endless mention of the FAIR sex, had before his recess wearied his +readers. + +The next year (1713), in which Cato came upon the stage, was the grand +climacteric of Addison's reputation. Upon the death of Cato he had, +as is said, planned a tragedy in the time of his travels, and had for +several years the four first acts finished, which were shown to such as +were likely to spread their admiration. They were seen by Pope and by +Cibber, who relates that Steele, when he took back the copy, told him, +in the despicable cant of literary modesty, that, whatever spirit his +friend had shown in the composition, he doubted whether he would have +courage sufficient to expose it to the censure of a British audience. +The time, however, was now come when those who affected to think liberty +in danger affected likewise to think that a stage-play might preserve +it; and Addison was importuned, in the name of the tutelary deities of +Britain, to show his courage and his zeal by finishing his design. + +To resume his work he seemed perversely and unaccountably unwilling; and +by a request, which perhaps he wished to be denied, desired Mr. Hughes +to add a fifth act. Hughes supposed him serious; and, undertaking the +supplement, brought in a few days some scenes for his examination; but +he had in the meantime gone to work himself, and produced half an +act, which he afterwards completed, but with brevity irregularly +disproportionate to the foregoing parts, like a task performed with +reluctance and hurried to its conclusion. + +It may yet be doubted whether Cato was made public by any change of the +author's purpose; for Dennis charged him with raising prejudices in +his own favour by false positions of preparatory criticism, and with +POISONING THE TOWN by contradicting in the Spectator the established +rule of poetical justice, because his own hero, with all his virtues, +was to fall before a tyrant. The fact is certain; the motives we must +guess. + +Addison was, I believe, sufficiently disposed to bar all avenues against +all danger. When Pope brought him the prologue, which is properly +accommodated to the play, there were these words, "Britains, arise! be +worth like this approved;" meaning nothing more than--Britons, erect +and exalt yourselves to the approbation of public virtue. Addison was +frighted, lest he should be thought a promoter of insurrection, and the +line was liquidated to "Britains, attend." + +Now "heavily in clouds came on the day, the great, the important day," +when Addison was to stand the hazard of the theatre. That there might, +however, be left as little hazard as was possible, on the first night +Steele, as himself relates, undertook to pack an audience. "This," says +Pope, "had been tried for the first time in favour of the Distressed +Mother; and was now, with more efficacy, practised for Cato." The danger +was soon over. The whole nation was at that time on fire with faction. +The Whigs applauded every line in which liberty was mentioned, as a +satire on the Tories; and the Tories echoed every clap, to show that +the satire was unfelt. The story of Bolingbroke is well known; he called +Booth to his box, and gave him fifty guineas for defending the cause of +liberty so well against a perpetual dictator. "The Whigs," says Pope, +"design a second present, when they can accompany it with as good a +sentence." + +The play, supported thus by the emulation of factious praise, was acted +night after night for a longer time than, I believe, the public had +allowed to any drama before; and the author, as Mrs. Porter long +afterwards related, wandered through the whole exhibition behind the +scenes with restless and unappeasable solicitude. When it was printed, +notice was given that the Queen would be pleased if it was dedicated +to her; "but, as he had designed that compliment elsewhere, he found +himself obliged," says Tickell, "by his duty on the one hand, and his +honour on the other, to send it into the world without any dedication." + +Human happiness has always its abatements; the brightest sunshine of +success is not without a cloud. No sooner was Cato offered to the reader +than it was attacked by the acute malignity of Dennis with all the +violence of angry criticism. Dennis, though equally zealous, and +probably by his temper more furious than Addison, for what they called +liberty, and though a flatterer of the Whig Ministry, could not sit +quiet at a successful play; but was eager to tell friends and enemies +that they had misplaced their admirations. The world was too stubborn +for instruction; with the fate of the censurer of Corneille's Cid, his +animadversions showed his anger without effect, and Cato continued to be +praised. + +Pope had now an opportunity of courting the friendship of Addison by +vilifying his old enemy, and could give resentment its full play without +appearing to revenge himself. He therefore published "A Narrative of the +Madness of John Dennis:" a performance which left the objections to the +play in their full force, and therefore discovered more desire of vexing +the critic than of defending the poet. + +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; and that, whenever he should think fit +to answer his remarks, he would do it in a manner to which nothing could +be objected. + +The greatest weakness of the play is in the scenes of love, which are +said by Pope to have been added to the original plan upon a subsequent +review, in compliance with the popular practice of the stage. Such an +authority it is hard to reject; yet the love is so intimately mingled +with the whole action that it cannot easily be thought extrinsic and +adventitious; for if it were taken away, what would be left? or how were +the four acts filled in the first draft? At the publication the wits +seemed proud to pay their attendance with encomiastic verses. The best +are from an unknown hand, which will perhaps lose somewhat of their +praise when the author is known to be Jeffreys. + +Cato had yet other honours. It was censured as a party-play by a scholar +of Oxford; and defended in a favourable examination by Dr. Sewel. It was +translated by Salvini into Italian, and acted at Florence; and by the +Jesuits of St. Omer's into Latin, and played by their pupils. Of this +version a copy was sent to Mr. Addison: it is to be wished that it could +be found, for the sake of comparing their version of the soliloquy with +that of Bland. + +A tragedy was written on the same subject by Des Champs, a French poet, +which was translated with a criticism on the English play. But the +translator and the critic are now forgotten. + +Dennis lived on unanswered, and therefore little read. Addison knew the +policy of literature too well to make his enemy important by drawing +the attention of the public upon a criticism which, though sometimes +intemperate, was often irrefragable. + +While Cato was upon the stage, another daily paper, called the Guardian, +was published by Steele. To this Addison gave great assistance, whether +occasionally or by previous engagement is not known. The character of +Guardian was too narrow and too serious: it might properly enough admit +both the duties and the decencies of life, but seemed not to include +literary speculations, and was in some degree violated by merriment and +burlesque. What had the Guardian of the Lizards to do with clubs of tall +or of little men, with nests of ants, or with Strada's prolusions? +Of this paper nothing is necessary to be said but that it found many +contributors, and that it was a continuation of the Spectator, with the +same elegance and the same variety, till some unlucky sparkle from a +Tory paper set Steele's politics on fire, and wit at once blazed +into faction. He was soon too hot for neutral topics, and quitted the +Guardian to write the Englishman. + +The papers of Addison are marked in the Spectator by one of the letters +in the name of Clio, and in the Guardian by a hand; whether it was, as +Tickell pretends to think, that he was unwilling to usurp the praise of +others, or as Steele, with far greater likelihood, insinuates, that he +could not without discontent impart to others any of his own. I have +heard that his avidity did not satisfy itself with the air of renown, +but that with great eagerness he laid hold on his proportion of the +profits. + +Many of these papers were written with powers truly comic, with nice +discrimination of characters, and accurate observation of natural or +accidental deviations from propriety; but it was not supposed that he +had tried a comedy on the stage, till Steele after his death declared +him the author of The Drummer. This, however, Steele did not know to +be true by any direct testimony, for when Addison put the play into his +hands, he only told him it was the work of a "gentleman in the company;" +and when it was received, as is confessed, with cold disapprobation, +he was probably less willing to claim it. Tickell omitted it in his +collection; but the testimony of Steele, and the total silence of any +other claimant, has determined the public to assign it to Addison, and +it is now printed with other poetry. Steele carried The Drummer to the +play-house, and afterwards to the press, and sold the copy for fifty +guineas. + +To the opinion of Steele may be added the proof supplied by the +play itself, of which the characters are such as Addison would have +delineated, and the tendency such as Addison would have promoted. That +it should have been ill received would raise wonder, did we not daily +see the capricious distribution of theatrical praise. + +He was not all this time an indifferent spectator of public affairs. He +wrote, as different exigences required (in 1707), "The Present State +of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation;" which, however +judicious, being written on temporary topics, and exhibiting no peculiar +powers, laid hold on no attention, and has naturally sunk by its own +weight into neglect. This cannot be said of the few papers entitled the +Whig Examiner, in which is employed all the force of gay malevolence and +humorous satire. Of this paper, which just appeared and expired, Swift +remarks, with exultation, that "it is now down among the dead men." He +might well rejoice at the death of that which he could not have killed. +Every reader of every party, since personal malice is past, and the +papers which once inflamed the nation are read only as effusions of wit, +must wish for more of the Whig Examiners; for on no occasion was +the genius of Addison more vigorously exerted, and on none did the +superiority of his powers more evidently appear. His "Trial of Count +Tariff," written to expose the treaty of commerce with France, lived no +longer than the question that produced it. + +Not long afterwards an attempt was made to revive the Spectator, at a +time indeed by no means favourable to literature, when the succession of +a new family to the throne filled the nation with anxiety, discord, and +confusion; and either the turbulence of the times, or the satiety of +the readers, put a stop to the publication after an experiment of eighty +numbers, which were actually collected into an eighth volume, perhaps +more valuable than any of those that went before it. Addison produced +more than a fourth part; and the other contributors are by no means +unworthy of appearing as his associates. The time that had passed during +the suspension of the Spectator, though it had not lessened his power +of humour, seems to have increased his disposition to seriousness: the +proportion of his religious to his comic papers is greater than in the +former series. + +The Spectator, from its re-commencement, was published only three +times a week; and no discriminative marks were added to the papers. +To Addison, Tickell has ascribed twenty-three. The Spectator had many +contributors; and Steele, whose negligence kept him always in a hurry, +when it was his turn to furnish a paper, called loudly for the letters, +of which Addison, whose materials were more, made little use--having +recourse to sketches and hints, the product of his former studies, which +he now reviewed and completed: among these are named by Tickell the +Essays on Wit, those on the Pleasures of the Imagination, and the +Criticism on Milton. + +When the House of Hanover took possession of the throne, it was +reasonable to expect that the zeal of Addison would be suitably +rewarded. Before the arrival of King George, he was made Secretary to +the Regency, and was required by his office to send notice to Hanover +that the Queen was dead, and that the throne was vacant. To do this +would not have been difficult to any man but Addison, who was so +overwhelmed with the greatness of the event, and so distracted by choice +of expression, that the lords, who could not wait for the niceties of +criticism, called Mr. Southwell, a clerk in the House, and ordered him +to despatch the message. Southwell readily told what was necessary in +the common style of business, and valued himself upon having done what +was too hard for Addison. He was better qualified for the Freeholder, +a paper which he published twice a week, from December 23, 1715, to +the middle of the next year. This was undertaken in defence of the +established Government, sometimes with argument, and sometimes with +mirth. In argument he had many equals; but his humour was singular and +matchless. Bigotry itself must be delighted with the "Tory Fox-hunter." +There are, however, some strokes less elegant and less decent; such +as the "Pretender's Journal," in which one topic of ridicule is his +poverty. This mode of abuse had been employed by Milton against King +Charles II. + + "Jacoboei. + Centum exulantis viscera Marsupii regis." + +And Oldmixon delights to tell of some alderman of London that he had +more money than the exiled princes; but that which might be expected +from Milton's savageness, or Oldmixon's meanness, was not suitable to +the delicacy of Addison. + +Steele thought the humour of the Freeholder too nice and gentle for such +noisy times, and is reported to have said that the Ministry made use of +a lute, when they should have called for a trumpet. + +This year (1716) he married the Countess Dowager of Warwick, whom he had +solicited by a very long and anxious courtship, perhaps with behaviour +not very unlike that of Sir Roger to his disdainful widow; and who, I am +afraid, diverted herself often by playing with his passion. He is said +to have first known her by becoming tutor to her son. "He formed," said +Tonson, "the design of getting that lady from the time when he was +first taken into the family." In what part of his life he obtained the +recommendation, or how long, and in what manner he lived in the family, +I know not. His advances at first were certainly timorous, but grew +bolder as his reputation and influence increased; till at last 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. She always +remembered her own rank, and thought herself entitled to treat with very +little ceremony the tutor of her son. Rowe's ballad of the "Despairing +Shepherd" is said to have been written, either before or after marriage, +upon this memorable pair; and it is certain that Addison has left behind +him no encouragement for ambitious love. + +The year after (1717) he rose to his highest elevation, being made +Secretary of State. For this employment he might be justly supposed +qualified by long practice of business, and by his regular ascent +through other offices; but expectation is often disappointed; it is +universally confessed that he was unequal to the duties of his place. +In the House of Commons he could not speak, and therefore was useless to +the defence of the Government. "In the office," says Pope, "he could not +issue an order without losing his time in quest of fine expressions." +What he gained in rank he lost in credit; and finding by experience his +own inability, was forced to solicit his dismission, with a pension +of fifteen hundred pounds a year. His friends palliated this +relinquishment, of which both friends and enemies knew the true reason, +with an account of declining health, and the necessity of recess and +quiet. He now returned to his vocation, and began to plan literary +occupations for his future life. He purposed a tragedy on the death of +Socrates: a story of which, as Tickell remarks, the basis is narrow, +and to which I know not how love could have been appended. There would, +however, have been no want either of virtue in the sentiments, or +elegance in the language. He engaged in a nobler work, a "Defence of the +Christian Religion," of which part was published after his death; and he +designed to have made a new poetical version of the Psalms. + +These pious compositions Pope imputed to a selfish motive, upon the +credit, as he owns, of Tonson; who, having quarrelled with Addison, and +not loving him, said that when he laid down the Secretary's office +he intended to take orders and obtain a bishopric; "for," said he, "I +always thought him a priest in his heart." + +That Pope should have thought this conjecture of Tonson worth +remembrance, is a proof--but indeed, so far as I have found, the only +proof--that he retained some malignity from their ancient rivalry. +Tonson pretended to guess it; no other mortal ever suspected it; and +Pope might have reflected that a man who had been Secretary of State +in the Ministry of Sunderland knew a nearer way to a bishopric than by +defending religion or translating the Psalms. + +It is related that he had once a design to make an English dictionary, +and that he considered Dr. Tillotson as the writer of highest authority. +There was formerly sent to me by Mr. Locker, clerk of the Leathersellers +Company, who was eminent for curiosity and literature, a collection of +examples selected from Tillotson's works, as Locker said, by Addison. It +came too late to be of use, so I inspected it but slightly, and remember +it indistinctly. I thought the passages too short. Addison, however, +did not conclude his life in peaceful studies, but relapsed, when he was +near his end, to a political dispute. + +It so happened that (1718-19) a controversy was agitated with great +vehemence between those friends of long continuance, Addison and Steele. +It may be asked, in the language of Homer, what power or what cause +should set them at variance. The subject of their dispute was of great +importance. The Earl of Sunderland proposed an Act, called the "Peerage +Bill;" by which the number of Peers should be fixed, and the King +restrained from any new creation of nobility, unless when an old family +should be extinct. To this the Lords would naturally agree; and the +King, who was yet little acquainted with his own prerogative, and, as is +now well known, almost indifferent to the possessions of the Crown, +had been persuaded to consent. The only difficulty was found among +the Commons, who were not likely to approve the perpetual exclusion +of themselves and their posterity. The Bill, therefore, was eagerly +opposed, and, among others, by Sir Robert Walpole, whose speech was +published. + +The Lords might think their dignity diminished by improper advancements, +and particularly by the introduction of twelve new Peers at once, to +produce a majority of Tories in the last reign: an act of authority +violent enough, yet certainly legal, and by no means to be compared with +that contempt of national right with which some time afterwards, by the +instigation of Whiggism, the Commons, chosen by the people for +three years, chose themselves for seven. But, whatever might be the +disposition of the Lords, the people had no wish to increase their +power. The tendency of the Bill, as Steele observed in a letter to the +Earl of Oxford, was to introduce an aristocracy: for a majority in the +House of Lords, so limited, would have been despotic and irresistible. + +To prevent this subversion of the ancient establishment, Steele, whose +pen readily seconded his political passions, endeavoured to alarm +the nation by a pamphlet called "The Plebeian." To this an answer was +published by Addison, under the title of "The Old Whig," in which it +is not discovered that Steele was then known to be the advocate for +the Commons. Steele replied by a second "Plebeian;" and, whether by +ignorance or by courtesy, confined himself to his question, without any +personal notice of his opponent. Nothing hitherto was committed against +the laws of friendship or proprieties of decency; but controvertists +cannot long retain their kindness for each other. The "Old Whig" +answered "The Plebeian," and could not forbear some contempt of "little +DICKY, whose trade it was to write pamphlets." Dicky, however, did not +lose his settled veneration for his friend, but contented himself with +quoting some lines of Cato, which were at once detection and reproof. +The Bill was laid aside during that session, and Addison died before the +next, in which its commitment was rejected by two hundred and sixty-five +to one hundred and seventy-seven. + +Every reader surely must regret that these two illustrious friends, +after so many years passed in confidence and endearment, in unity of +interest, conformity of opinion, and fellowship of study, should finally +part in acrimonious opposition. Such a controversy was "bellum plusquam +CIVILE," as Lucan expresses it. Why could not faction find other +advocates? But among the uncertainties of the human state, we are doomed +to number the instability of friendship. Of this dispute I have little +knowledge but from the "Biographia Britannica." "The Old Whig" is not +inserted in Addison's works: nor is it mentioned by Tickell in his Life; +why it was omitted, the biographers doubtless give the true reason--the +fact was too recent, and those who had been heated in the contention +were not yet cool. + +The necessity of complying with times, and of sparing persons, is the +great impediment of biography. History may be formed from permanent +monuments and records: but lives can only be written from personal +knowledge, which is growing every day less, and in a short time is lost +for ever. What is known can seldom be immediately told; and when it +might be told, it is no longer known. The delicate features of the mind, +the nice discriminations of character, and the minute peculiarities of +conduct, are soon obliterated; and it is surely better that caprice, +obstinacy, frolic, and folly, however they might delight in the +description, should be silently forgotten, than that, by wanton +merriment and unseasonable detection, a pang should be given to a widow, +a daughter, a brother, or a friend. As the process of these narratives +is now bringing me among my contemporaries, I begin to feel myself +"walking upon ashes under which the fire is not extinguished," and +coming to the time of which it will be proper rather to say "nothing +that is false, than all that is true." + +The end of this useful life was now approaching. Addison had for some +time been oppressed by shortness of breath, which was now aggravated +by a dropsy; and, finding his danger pressing, he prepared to die +conformably to his own precepts and professions. During this lingering +decay, he sent, as Pope relates, a message by the Earl of Warwick to +Mr. Gay, desiring to see him. Gay, who had not visited him for some +time before, obeyed the summons, and found himself received with great +kindness. The purpose for which the interview had been solicited was +then discovered. Addison told him that he had injured him; but that, if +he recovered, he would recompense him. What the injury was he did +not explain, nor did Gay ever know; but supposed that some preferment +designed for him had, by Addison's intervention, been withheld. + +Lord Warwick was a young man, of very irregular life, and perhaps of +loose opinions. Addison, for whom he did not want respect, had +very diligently endeavoured to reclaim him, but his arguments and +expostulations had no effect. One experiment, however, remained to be +tried; when he found his life near its end, he directed the young lord +to be called, and when he desired with great tenderness to hear his +last injunctions, told him, "I have sent for you that you may see how a +Christian can die." What effect this awful scene had on the earl, I know +not; he likewise died himself in a short time. + +In Tickell's excellent Elegy on his friend are these lines:-- + + "He taught us how to live; and, oh! too high + The price of knowledge, taught us how to die"-- + +in which he alludes, as he told Dr. Young, to this moving interview. + +Having given directions to Mr. Tickell for the publication of his works, +and dedicated them on his death-bed to his friend Mr. Craggs, he died +June 17, 1719, at Holland House, leaving no child but a daughter. + +Of his virtue it is a sufficient testimony that the resentment of party +has transmitted no charge of any crime. He was not one of those who are +praised only after death; for his merit was so generally acknowledged +that Swift, having observed that his election passed without a contest, +adds that if he proposed himself for King he would hardly have been +refused. His zeal for his party did not extinguish his kindness for the +merit of his opponents; when he was Secretary in Ireland, he refused to +intermit his acquaintance with Swift. Of his habits or external manners, +nothing is so often mentioned as that timorous or sullen taciturnity, +which his friends called modesty by too mild a name. Steele mentions +with great tenderness "that remarkable bashfulness which is a cloak that +hides and muffles merit;" and tells us "that his abilities were covered +only by modesty, which doubles the beauties which are seen, and gives +credit and esteem to all that are concealed." Chesterfield affirms that +"Addison was the most timorous and awkward man that he ever saw." And +Addison, speaking of his own deficiency in conversation, used to say of +himself that, with respect to intellectual wealth, "he could draw bills +for a thousand pounds, though he had not a guinea in his pocket." That +he wanted current coin for ready payment, and by that want was often +obstructed and distressed; and that he was often oppressed by an +improper and ungraceful timidity, every testimony concurs to prove; but +Chesterfield's representation is doubtless hyperbolical. That man cannot +be supposed very unexpert in the arts of conversation and practice of +life who, without fortune or alliance, by his usefulness and dexterity +became Secretary of State, and who died at forty-seven, after having not +only stood long in the highest rank of wit and literature, but filled +one of the most important offices of State. + +The time in which he lived had reason to lament his obstinacy of +silence; "for he was," says Steele, "above all men in that talent called +humour, and enjoyed it in such perfection that I have often reflected, +after a night spent with him apart from all the world, that I had had +the pleasure of conversing with an intimate acquaintance of Terence and +Catullus, who had all their wit and nature, heightened with humour more +exquisite and delightful than any other man ever possessed." This is the +fondness of a friend; let us hear what is told us by a rival. "Addison's +conversation," says Pope, "had something in it more charming than I +have found in any other man. But this was only when familiar: before +strangers, or perhaps a single stranger, he preserved his dignity by a +stiff silence." This modesty was by no means inconsistent with a very +high opinion of his own merit. He demanded to be the first name in +modern wit; and, with Steele to echo him, used to depreciate Dryden, +whom Pope and Congreve defended against them. There is no reason to +doubt that he suffered too much pain from the prevalence of Pope's +poetical reputation; nor is it without strong reason suspected that by +some disingenuous acts he endeavoured to obstruct it; Pope was not the +only man whom he insidiously injured, though the only man of whom he +could be afraid. His own powers were such as might have satisfied him +with conscious excellence. Of very extensive learning he has indeed +given no proofs. He seems to have had small acquaintance with the +sciences, and to have read little except Latin and French; but of the +Latin poets his "Dialogues on Medals" show that he had perused the works +with great diligence and skill. The abundance of his own mind left him +little indeed of adventitious sentiments; his wit always could suggest +what the occasion demanded. He had read with critical eyes the important +volume of human life, and knew the heart of man, from the depths of +stratagem to the surface of affectation. What he knew he could easily +communicate. "This," says Steele, "was particular in this writer--that +when he had taken his resolution, or made his plan for what he designed +to write, he would walk about a room and dictate it into language with +as much freedom and ease as any one could write it down, and attend to +the coherence and grammar of what he dictated." + +Pope, who can be less suspected of favouring his memory, declares that +he wrote very fluently, but was slow and scrupulous in correcting; that +many of his Spectators were written very fast, and sent immediately to +the press; and that it seemed to be for his advantage not to have time +for much revisal. "He would alter," says Pope, "anything to please +his friends before publication, but would not re-touch his pieces +afterwards; and I believe not one word of Cato to which I made an +objection was suffered to stand." + +The last line of Cato is Pope's, having been originally written-- + + "And oh! 'twas this that ended Cato's life." + +Pope might have made more objections to the six concluding lines. In the +first couplet the words "from hence" are improper; and the second line +is taken from Dryden's Virgil. Of the next couplet, the first verse, +being included in the second, is therefore useless; and in the third +Discord is made to produce Strife. + +Of the course of Addison's familiar day, before his marriage, Pope +has given a detail. He had in the house with him Budgell, and perhaps +Philips. His chief companions were Steele, Budgell, Philips [Ambrose], +Carey, Davenant, and Colonel Brett. With one or other of these he always +breakfasted. He studied all morning; then dined at a tavern; and went +afterwards to Button's. 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 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. +In the bottle discontent seeks for comfort, cowardice for courage, and +bashfulness for confidence. It is not unlikely that Addison was first +seduced to excess by the manumission which he obtained from the servile +timidity of his sober hours. He that feels oppression from the presence +of those to whom he knows himself superior will desire to set loose his +powers of conversation; and who that ever asked succours from Bacchus +was able to preserve himself from being enslaved by his auxiliary? + +Among those friends it was that Addison displayed the elegance of his +colloquial accomplishments, which may easily be supposed such as Pope +represents them. The remark of Mandeville, who, when he had passed an +evening in his company, declared that he was a parson in a tie-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. + +From any minute knowledge of his familiar manners the intervention of +sixty years has now debarred us. Steele once promised Congreve and the +public a complete description of his character; but the promises of +authors are like the vows of lovers. Steele thought no more on his +design, or thought on it with anxiety that at last disgusted him, and +left his friend in the hands of Tickell. + +One slight lineament of his character Swift has preserved. It was +his practice, when he found any man invincibly wrong, to flatter his +opinions by acquiescence, and sink him yet deeper in absurdity. This +artifice of mischief was admired by Stella; and Swift seems to approve +her admiration. His works will supply some information. It appears, from +the various pictures of the world, that, with all his bashfulness, he +had conversed with many distinct classes of men, had surveyed their +ways with very diligent observation, and marked with great acuteness +the effects of different modes of life. He was a man in whose presence +nothing reprehensible was out of danger; quick in discerning whatever +was wrong or ridiculous, and not unwilling to expose it. "There are," +says Steele, "in his writings many oblique strokes upon some of the +wittiest men of the age." His delight was more to excite merriment than +detestation; and he detects follies rather than crimes. If any judgment +be made from his books of his moral character, nothing will be found but +purity and excellence. Knowledge of mankind, indeed, less extensive +than that of Addison, will show that to write, and to live, are very +different. Many who praise virtue, do no more than praise it. Yet it is +reasonable to believe that Addison's professions 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. + +It is justly observed by Tickell that he employed wit on the side of +virtue and religion. He not only made the proper use of wit himself, but +taught it to others; and from his time it has been generally subservient +to the cause of reason and of truth. He has dissipated the prejudice +that had long connected gaiety with vice, and easiness of manners with +laxity of principles. He has restored virtue to its dignity, and taught +innocence not to be ashamed. This is an elevation of literary character +"above all Greek, above all Roman fame." No greater felicity can genius +attain than that of having purified intellectual pleasure, separated +mirth from indecency, and wit from licentiousness; of having taught +a succession of writers to bring elegance and gaiety to the aid of +goodness; and, if I may use expressions yet more awful, of having +"turned many to righteousness." + +Addison, in his life and for some time afterwards, was considered by +a greater part of readers as supremely excelling both in poetry and +criticism. Part of his reputation may be probably ascribed to the +advancement of his fortune; when, as Swift observes, he became a +statesman, and saw poets waiting at his levee, it was no wonder that +praise was accumulated upon him. Much likewise may be more honourably +ascribed to his personal character: he who, if he had claimed it, might +have obtained the diadem, was not likely to be denied the laurel. But +time quickly puts an end to artificial and accidental fame; and Addison +is to pass through futurity protected only by his genius. Every name +which kindness or interest once raised too high is in danger, lest the +next age should, by the vengeance of criticism, sink it in the same +proportion. A great writer has lately styled him "an indifferent poet, +and a worse critic." His poetry is first to be considered; of which +it must be confessed that it has not often those felicities of diction +which give lustre to sentiments, or that vigour of sentiment that +animates diction: there is little of ardour, vehemence, or transport; +there is very rarely the awfulness of grandeur, and not very often the +splendour of elegance. He thinks justly, but he thinks faintly. This is +his general character; to which, doubtless, many single passages will +furnish exception. Yet, if he seldom reaches supreme excellence, +he rarely sinks into dulness, and is still more rarely entangled in +absurdity. He did not trust his powers enough to be negligent. There is +in most of his compositions a calmness and equability, deliberate and +cautious, sometimes with little that delights, but seldom with anything +that offends. Of this kind seem to be his poems to Dryden, to Somers, +and to the King. His ode on St. Cecilia has been imitated by Pope, and +has something in it of Dryden's vigour. Of his Account of the English +Poets he used to speak as a "poor thing;" but it is not worse than his +usual strain. He has said, not very judiciously, in his character of +Waller-- + + "Thy verse could show even Cromwell's innocence, + And compliment the storms that bore him hence. + Oh! had thy Muse not come an age too soon, + But seen great Nassau on the British throne, + How had his triumph glittered in thy page!" + +What is this but to say that he who could compliment Cromwell had been +the proper poet for King William? Addison, however, printed the piece. + +The Letter from Italy has been always praised, but has never been +praised beyond its merit. It is more correct, with less appearance of +labour, and more elegant, with less ambition of ornament, than any other +of his poems. There is, however, one broken metaphor, of which notice +may properly be taken:-- + + "Fired with that name-- + I bridle in my struggling Muse with pain, + That longs to launch into a nobler strain." + +To BRIDLE A GODDESS is no very delicate idea; but why must she be +BRIDLED? because she LONGS TO LAUNCH; an act which was never hindered by +a BRIDLE: and whither will she LAUNCH? into a NOBLER STRAIN. She is in +the first line a HORSE, in the second a BOAT; and the care of the poet +is to keep his HORSE or his BOAT from SINGING. + +The next composition is the far-famed "Campaign," which Dr. Warton +has termed a "Gazette in Rhyme," with harshness not often used by the +good-nature of his criticism. Before a censure so severe is admitted, +let us consider that war is a frequent subject of poetry, and then +inquire who has described it with more justice and force. Many of our +own writers tried their powers upon this year of victory: yet Addison's +is confessedly the best performance; his poem is the work of a man not +blinded by the dust of learning; his images are not borrowed merely from +books. The superiority which he confers upon his hero is not personal +prowess and "mighty bone," but deliberate intrepidity, a calm command of +his passions, and the power of consulting his own mind in the midst of +danger. The rejection and contempt of fiction is rational and manly. It +may be observed that the last line is imitated by Pope:-- + + "Marlb'rough's exploits appear divinely bright-- + Raised of themselves their genuine charms they boast, + And those that paint them truest, praise them most." + +This Pope had in his thoughts, but, not knowing how to use what was not +his own, he spoiled the thought when he had borrowed it:-- + + "The well-sung woes shall soothe my pensive ghost; + He best can paint them who shall feel them most." + +Martial exploits may be PAINTED; perhaps WOES may be PAINTED; but they +are surely not PAINTED by being WELL SUNG: it is not easy to paint in +song, or to sing in colours. + +No passage in the "Campaign" has been more often mentioned than the +simile of the angel, which is said in the Tatler to be "one of the +noblest thoughts that ever entered into the heart of man," and is +therefore worthy of attentive consideration. Let it be first inquired +whether it be a simile. A poetical simile is the discovery of likeness +between two actions in their general nature dissimilar, or of causes +terminating by different operations in some resemblance of effect. But +the mention of another like consequence from a like cause, or of a like +performance by a like agency, is not a simile, but an exemplification. +It is not a simile to say that the Thames waters fields, as the Po +waters fields; or that as Hecla vomits flames in Iceland, so AEtna +vomits flames in Sicily. When Horace says of Pindar that he pours his +violence and rapidity of verse, as a river swollen with rain rushes +from the mountain; or of himself, that his genius wanders in quest of +poetical decorations, as the bee wanders to collect honey; he, in either +case, produces a simile: the mind is impressed with the resemblance of +things generally unlike, as unlike as intellect and body. But if Pindar +had been described as writing with the copiousness and grandeur of +Homer, or Horace had told that he reviewed and finished his own poetry +with the same care as Isocrates polished his orations, instead of +similitude, he would have exhibited almost identity; he would have given +the same portraits with different names. In the poem now examined, when +the English are represented as gaining a fortified pass by repetition +of attack and perseverance of resolution, their obstinacy of courage +and vigour of onset are well illustrated by the sea that breaks, with +incessant battery, the dykes of Holland. This is a simile. But when +Addison, having celebrated the beauty of Marlborough's person, tells us +that "Achilles thus was formed of every grace," here is no simile, but a +mere exemplification. A simile may be compared to lines converging at +a point, and is more excellent as the lines approach from greater +distance: an exemplification may be considered as two parallel lines, +which run on together without approximation, never far separated, and +never joined. + +Marlborough is so like the angel in the poem that the action of both is +almost the same, and performed by both in the same manner. Marlborough +"teaches the battle to rage;" the angel "directs the storm:" Marlborough +is "unmoved in peaceful thought;" the angel is "calm and serene:" +Marlborough stands "unmoved amidst the shock of hosts;" the angel rides +"calm in the whirlwind." The lines on Marlborough are just and noble, +but the simile gives almost the same images a second time. But +perhaps this thought, though hardly a simile, was remote from vulgar +conceptions, and required great labour and research, or dexterity of +application. Of this Dr. Madden, a name which Ireland ought to honour, +once gave me his opinion. "If I had set," said he, "ten schoolboys to +write on the battle of Blenheim, and eight had brought me the angel, I +should not have been surprised." + +The opera of Rosamond, though it is seldom mentioned, is one of the +first of Addison's compositions. The subject is well chosen, the fiction +is pleasing, and the praise of Marlborough, for which the scene gives +an opportunity, is, what perhaps every human excellence must be, the +product of good luck improved by genius. The thoughts are sometimes +great, and sometimes tender; the versification is easy and gay. There is +doubtless some advantage in the shortness of the lines, which there is +little temptation to load with expletive epithets. The dialogue seems +commonly better than the songs. The two comic characters of Sir Trusty +and Grideline, though of no great value, are yet such as the poet +intended. Sir Trusty's account of the death of Rosamond is, I think, +too grossly absurd. The whole drama is airy and elegant; engaging in its +process, and pleasing in its conclusion. If Addison had cultivated the +lighter parts of poetry, he would probably have excelled. + +The tragedy of Cato, which, contrary to the rule observed in selecting +the works of other poets, has by the weight of its character forced its +way into the late collection, is unquestionably the noblest production +of Addison's genius. Of a work so much read, it is difficult to say +anything new. About things on which the public thinks long, it commonly +attains to think right; and of Cato it has been not unjustly determined +that it is rather a poem in dialogue than a drama, rather a succession +of just sentiments in elegant language than a representation of natural +affections, or of any state probable or possible in human life. Nothing +here "excites or assuages emotion:" here is "no magical power of raising +phantastic terror or wild anxiety." The events are expected without +solicitude, and are remembered without joy or sorrow. Of the agents +we have no care; we consider not what they are doing, or what they are +suffering; we wish only to know what they have to say. Cato is a being +above our solicitude; a man of whom the gods take care, and whom we +leave to their care with heedless confidence. To the rest neither gods +nor men can have much attention; for there is not one amongst them that +strongly attracts either affection or esteem. But they are made the +vehicles of such sentiments and such expression that there is scarcely +a scene in the play which the reader does not wish to impress upon his +memory. + +When Cato was shown to Pope, he advised the author to print it, +without any theatrical exhibition, supposing that it would be read more +favourably than heard. Addison declared himself of the same opinion, but +urged the importunity of his friends for its appearance on the stage. +The emulation of parties made it successful beyond expectation; and its +success has introduced or confirmed among us the use of dialogue +too declamatory, of unaffecting elegance, and chill philosophy. The +universality of applause, however it might quell the censure of common +mortals, had no other effect than to harden Dennis in fixed dislike; but +his dislike was not merely capricious. He found and showed many +faults; he showed them indeed with anger, but he found them indeed with +acuteness, such as ought to rescue his criticism from oblivion; though, +at last, it will have no other life than it derives from the work which +it endeavours to oppress. Why he pays no regard to the opinion of the +audience, he gives his reason by remarking that-- + +"A deference is to be paid to a general applause when it appears that +the applause is natural and spontaneous; but that little regard is to be +had to it when it is affected or artificial. Of all the tragedies +which in his memory have had vast and violent runs, not one has been +excellent, few have been tolerable, most have been scandalous. When a +poet writes a tragedy who knows he has judgment, and who feels he has +genius, that poet presumes upon his own merit, and scorns to make a +cabal. That people come coolly to the representation of such a tragedy, +without any violent expectation, or delusive imagination, or invincible +prepossession; that such an audience is liable to receive the +impressions which the poem shall naturally make on them, and to judge by +their own reason, and their own judgments; and that reason and judgment +are calm and serene, not formed by nature to make proselytes, and to +control and lord it over the imagination of others. But that when an +author writes a tragedy who knows he has neither genius nor judgment, +he has recourse to the making a party, and he endeavours to make up in +industry what is wanting in talent, and to supply by poetical craft +the absence of poetical art: that such an author is humbly contented to +raise men's passions by a plot without doors, since he despairs of doing +it by that which he brings upon the stage. That party and passion, and +prepossession, are clamorous and tumultuous things, and so much the +more clamorous and tumultuous by how much the more erroneous: that +they domineer and tyrannise over the imaginations of persons who want +judgment, and sometimes too of those who have it, and, like a fierce and +outrageous torrent, bear down all opposition before them." + +He then condemns the neglect of poetical justice, which is one of his +favourite principles:-- + +"'Tis certainly the duty of every tragic poet, by the exact distribution +of poetical justice, to imitate the Divine Dispensation, and to +inculcate a particular Providence. 'Tis true, indeed, upon the stage of +the world, the wicked sometimes prosper and the guiltless suffer; +but that is permitted by the Governor of the World, to show, from the +attribute of His infinite justice, that there is a compensation in +futurity, to prove the immortality of the human soul, and the certainty +of future rewards and punishments. But the poetical persons in tragedy +exist no longer than the reading or the representation; the whole extent +of their enmity is circumscribed by those; and therefore, during that +reading or representation, according to their merits or demerits, they +must be punished or rewarded. If this is not done, there is no impartial +distribution of poetical justice, no instructive lecture of a particular +Providence, and no imitation of the Divine Dispensation. And yet the +author of this tragedy does not only run counter to this, in the fate +of his principal character; but everywhere, throughout it, makes virtue +suffer, and vice triumph: for not only Cato is vanquished by Caesar, +but the treachery and perfidiousness of Syphax prevail over the +honest simplicity and the credulity of Juba; and the sly subtlety +and dissimulation of Portius over the generous frankness and +open-heartedness of Marcus." + +Whatever pleasure there may be in seeing crimes punished and virtue +rewarded, yet, since wickedness often prospers in real life, the poet is +certainly at liberty to give it prosperity on the stage. For if poetry +has an imitation of reality, how are its laws broken by exhibiting the +world in its true form? The stage may sometimes gratify our wishes; but +if it be truly the "MIRROR OF LIFE," it ought to show us sometimes what +we are to expect. + +Dennis objects to the characters that they are not natural or +reasonable; but as heroes and heroines are not beings that are seen +every day, it is hard to find upon what principles their conduct shall +be tried. It is, however, not useless to consider what he says of the +manner in which Cato receives the account of his son's death:-- + +"Nor is the grief of Cato, in the fourth act, one jot more in nature +than that of his son and Lucia in the third. Cato receives the news +of his son's death, not only with dry eyes, but with a sort of +satisfaction; and in the same page sheds tears for the calamity of +his country, and does the same thing in the next page upon the bare +apprehension of the danger of his friends. Now, since the love of one's +country is the love of one's countrymen, as I have shown upon another +occasion, I desire to ask these questions:--Of all our countrymen, which +do we love most, those whom we know, or those whom we know not? And +of those whom we know, which do we cherish most, our friends or our +enemies? And of our friends, which are the dearest to us, those who are +related to us, or those who are not? And of all our relations, for which +have we most tenderness, for those who are near to us, or for those +who are remote? And of our near relations, which are the nearest, and +consequently the dearest to us, our offspring, or others? Our offspring, +most certainly; as Nature, or in other words Providence, has wisely +contrived for the preservation of mankind. Now, does it not follow, +from what has been said, that for a man to receive the news of his son's +death with dry eyes, and to weep at the same time for the calamities of +his country, is a wretched affectation and a miserable inconsistency? +Is not that, in plain English, to receive with dry eyes the news of the +deaths of those for whose sake our country is a name so dear to us, and +at the same time to shed tears for those for whose sakes our country is +not a name so dear to us?" + +But this formidable assailant is less resistible when he attacks the +probability of the action and the reasonableness of the plan. Every +critical reader must remark that Addison has, with a scrupulosity almost +unexampled on the English stage, confined himself in time to a single +day, and in place to rigorous unity. The scene never changes, and the +whole action of the play passes in the great hall of Cato's house at +Utica. Much, therefore, is done in the hall for which any other place +had been more fit; and this impropriety affords Dennis many hints of +merriment and opportunities of triumph. The passage is long; but as such +disquisitions are not common, and the objections are skilfully formed +and vigorously urged, those who delight in critical controversy will not +think it tedious:-- + +"Upon the departure of Portius, Sempronius makes but one soliloquy, +and immediately in comes Syphax, and then the two politicians are at it +immediately. They lay their heads together, with their snuff-boxes in +their hands, as Mr. Bayes has it, and feague it away. But, in the +midst of that wise scene, Syphax seems to give a seasonable caution to +Sempronius:-- + + "'SYPH. But is it true, Sempronius, that your senate + Is called together? Gods! thou must be cautious; + Cato has piercing eyes.' + +"There is a great deal of caution shown, indeed, in meeting in a +governor's own hall to carry on their plot against him. Whatever opinion +they have of his eyes, I suppose they have none of his ears, or they +would never have talked at this foolish rate so near:-- + + "'Gods! thou must be cautious.' + +Oh! yes, very cautious: for if Cato should overhear you, and turn you +off for politicians, Caesar would never take you. + +"When Cato, Act II., turns the senators out of the hall upon pretence of +acquainting Juba with the result of their debates, he appears to me to +do a thing which is neither reasonable nor civil. Juba might certainly +have better been made acquainted with the result of that debate in +some private apartment of the palace. But the poet was driven upon +this absurdity to make way for another, and that is to give Juba an +opportunity to demand Marcia of her father. But the quarrel and rage of +Juba and Syphax, in the same act; the invectives of Syphax against the +Romans and Cato; the advice that he gives Juba in her father's hall to +bear away Marcia by force; and his brutal and clamorous rage upon his +refusal, and at a time when Cato was scarcely out of sight, and perhaps +not out of hearing, at least some of his guards or domestics must +necessarily be supposed to be within hearing; is a thing that is so far +from being probable, that it is hardly possible. + +"Sempronius, in the second act, comes back once more in the same morning +to the governor's hall to carry on the conspiracy with Syphax against +the governor, his country, and his family: which is so stupid that it is +below the wisdom of the O---s, the Macs, and the Teagues; even Eustace +Commins himself would never have gone to Justice-hall to have conspired +against the Government. If officers at Portsmouth should lay their heads +together in order to the carrying off J--- G---'s niece or daughter, +would they meet in J---G---'s hall to carry on that conspiracy? There +would be no necessity for their meeting there--at least, till they came +to the execution of their plot--because there would be other places +to meet in. There would be no probability that they should meet there, +because there would be places more private and more commodious. Now +there ought to be nothing in a tragical action but what is necessary or +probable. + +"But treason is not the only thing that is carried on in this hall; +that, and love and philosophy take their turns in it, without any manner +of necessity or probability occasioned by the action, as duly and as +regularly, without interrupting one another, as if there were a triple +league between them, and a mutual agreement that each should give place +to and make way for the other in a due and orderly succession. + +"We now come to the third act. Sempronius, in this act, comes into the +governor's hall with the leaders of the mutiny; but as soon as Cato is +gone, Sempronius, who but just before had acted like an unparalleled +knave, discovers himself, like an egregious fool, to be an accomplice in +the conspiracy. + + "'SEMP. Know, villains, when such paltry slaves presume + To mix in treason, if the plot succeeds, + They're thrown neglected by; but, if it fails, + They're sure to die like dogs, as you shall do. + Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth + To sudden death.' + +"'Tis true, indeed, the second leader says there are none there but +friends; but is that possible at such a juncture? Can a parcel of rogues +attempt to assassinate the governor of a town of war, in his own house, +in midday, and, after they are discovered and defeated, can there +be none near them but friends? Is it not plain, from these words of +Sempronius-- + + "'Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth + To sudden death--' + +and from the entrance of the guards upon the word of command, that +those guards were within ear-shot? Behold Sempronius, then, palpably +discovered. How comes it to pass, then, that instead of being hanged +up with the rest, he remains secure in the governor's hall, and there +carries on his conspiracy against the Government, the third time in the +same day, with his old comrade Syphax, who enters at the same time +that the guards are carrying away the leaders, big with the news of the +defeat of Sempronius?--though where he had his intelligence so soon is +difficult to imagine. And now the reader may expect a very extraordinary +scene. There is not abundance of spirit, indeed, nor a great deal of +passion, but there is wisdom more than enough to supply all defects. + + "'SYPH. Our first design, my friend, has proved abortive; + Still there remains an after-game to play: + My troops are mounted; their Numidian steeds + Snuff up the winds, and long to scour the desert. + Let but Sempronius lead us in our flight, + We'll force the gate where Marcus keeps his guard, + And hew down all that would oppose our passage; + A day will bring us into Caesar's camp. + SEMP. Confusion! I have failed of half my purpose; + Marcia, the charming Marcia's left behind.' + +Well, but though he tells us the half-purpose he has failed of, he does +not tell us the half that he has carried. But what does he mean by + + "'Marcia, the charming Marcia's left behind'? + +He is now in her own house! and we have neither seen her nor heard of +her anywhere else since the play began. But now let us hear Syphax:-- + + "'What hinders, then, but that you find her out, + And hurry her away by manly force?' + +But what does old Syphax mean by finding her out? They talk as if she +were as hard to be found as a hare in a frosty morning. + + "'SEMP. But how to gain admission?' + +Oh! she is found out then, it seems. + + "'But how to gain admission? for access + Is giv'n to none but Juba and her brothers.' + +But, raillery apart, why access to Juba? For he was owned and received +as a lover neither by the father nor by the daughter. Well, but let +that pass. Syphax puts Sempronius out of pain immediately; and, being +a Numidian, abounding in wiles, supplies him with a stratagem for +admission that, I believe, is a nonpareil. + + "'SYPH. Thou shalt have Juba's dress, and Juba's guards; + The doors will open when Numidia's prince + Seems to appear before them.' + +"Sempronius is, it seems, to pass for Juba in full day at Cato's house, +where they were both so very well known, by having Juba's dress and his +guards; as if one of the Marshals of France could pass for the Duke of +Bavaria at noonday, at Versailles, by having his dress and liveries. But +how does Syphax pretend to help Sempronius to young Juba's dress? +Does he serve him in a double capacity, as general and master of his +wardrobe? But why Juba's guards? For the devil of any guards has Juba +appeared with yet. Well, though this is a mighty politic invention, yet, +methinks, they might have done without it: for, since the advice that +Syphax gave to Sempronius was + + "'To hurry her away by manly force,' + +in my opinion the shortest and likeliest way of coming at the lady +was by demolishing, instead of putting on an impertinent disguise to +circumvent two or three slaves. But Sempronius, it seems, is of another +opinion. He extols to the skies the invention of old Syphax:-- + + "'SEMP. Heavens! what a thought was there!' + +"Now, I appeal to the reader if I have not been as good as my word. Did +I not tell him that I would lay before him a very wise scene? + +"But now let us lay before the reader that part of the scenery of the +fourth act which may show the absurdities which the author has run +into, through the indiscreet observance of the unity of place. I do not +remember that Aristotle has said anything expressly concerning the unity +of place. 'Tis true, implicitly he has said enough in the rules which he +has laid down for the chorus. For by making the chorus an essential +part of tragedy, and by bringing it on the stage immediately after the +opening of the scene, and retaining it there till the very catastrophe, +he has so determined and fixed the place of action that it was +impossible for an author on the Grecian stage to break through that +unity. I am of opinion that if a modern tragic poet can preserve the +amity of place, without destroying the probability of the incidents, +'tis always best for him to do it; because by the preservation of that +unity, as we have taken notice above, he adds grace and clearness and +comeliness to the representation. But since there are no express rules +about it, and we are under no compulsion to keep it, since we have +no chorus as the Grecian poet had; if it cannot be preserved without +rendering the greater part of the incidents unreasonable and absurd, and +perhaps sometimes monstrous, 'tis certainly better to break it. + +"Now comes bully Sempronius, comically accoutred and equipped with his +Numidian dress and his Numidian guards. Let the reader attend to him +with all his ears, for the words of the wise are precious:-- + + "'SEMP. The deer is lodged; I've tracked her to her covert.' + +"Now I would fain know why this deer is said to be lodged, since we +have not heard one word since the play began of her being at all out of +harbour: and if we consider the discourse with which she and Lucia begin +the act, we have reason to believe that they had hardly been talking +of such matters in the street. However, to pleasure Sempronius, let us +suppose, for once, that the deer is lodged:-- + + "'The deer is lodged; I've tracked her to her covert.' + +"If he had seen her in the open field, what occasion had he to track her +when he had so many Numidian dogs at his heels, which, with one halloo, +he might have set upon her haunches? If he did not see her in the +open field, how could he possibly track her? If he had seen her in the +street, why did he not set upon her in the street, since through the +street she must be carried at last? Now here, instead of having his +thoughts upon his business, and upon the present danger; instead of +meditating and contriving how he shall pass with his mistress through +the southern gate, where her brother Marcus is upon the guard, and where +he would certainly prove an impediment to him (which is the Roman word +for the BAGGAGE); instead of doing this, Sempronius is entertaining +himself with whimsies:-- + + "'Semp. How will the young Numidian rave to see + His mistress lost! If aught could glad my soul + Beyond th' enjoyment of so bright a prize, + 'Twould be to torture that young, gay barbarian. + But hark! what noise? Death to my hopes! 'tis he, + 'Tis Juba's self! There is but one way left! + He must be murdered, and a passage cut + Through those his guards.' + +"Pray, what are 'those guards'? I thought at present that Juba's guards +had been Sempronius's tools, and had been dangling after his heels. + +"But now let us sum up all these absurdities together. Sempronius goes +at noon-day, in Juba's clothes and with Juba's guards, to Cato's palace, +in order to pass for Juba, in a place where they were both so very well +known: he meets Juba there, and resolves to murder him with his own +guards. Upon the guards appearing a little bashful, he threatens them:-- + + "'Hah! dastards, do you tremble? + Or act like men; or, by yon azure heav'n!'-- + +"But the guards still remaining restive, Sempronius himself attacks +Juba, while each of the guards is representing Mr. Spectator's sign of +the Gaper, awed, it seems, and terrified by Sempronius's threats. Juba +kills Sempronius, and takes his own army prisoners, and carries them in +triumph away to Cato. Now I would fain know if any part of Mr. Bayes's +tragedy is so full of absurdity as this? + +"Upon hearing the clash of swords, Lucia and Marcia come in. The +question is, why no men come in upon hearing the noise of swords in the +governor's hall? Where was the governor himself? Where were his guards? +Where were his servants? Such an attempt as this, so near the governor +of a place of war, was enough to alarm the whole garrison: and yet, for +almost half an hour after Sempronius was killed, we find none of those +appear who were the likeliest in the world to be alarmed; and the noise +of swords is made to draw only two poor women thither, who were most +certain to run away from it. Upon Lucia and Marcia's coming in, Lucia +appears in all the symptoms of an hysterical gentlewoman:-- + + "'Luc. Sure 'twas the clash of swords! my troubled heart + Is so cast down, and sunk amidst its sorrows, + It throbs with fear, and aches at every sound!' + +And immediately her old whimsy returns upon her:-- + + "O Marcia, should thy brothers, for my sake-- + I die away with horror at the thought.' + +"She fancies that there can be no cutting of throats but it must be for +her. If this is tragical, I would fain know what is comical. Well, upon +this they spy the body of Sempronius; and Marcia, deluded by the habit, +it seems, takes him for Juba; for, says she, + + "'The face is muffled up within the garment.' + +"Now, how a man could fight, and fall, with his face muffled up in his +garment, is, I think, a little hard to conceive! Besides, Juba, before +he killed him, knew him to be Sempronius. It was not by his garment +that he knew this; it was by his face, then: his face therefore was +not muffled. Upon seeing this man with his muffled face, Marcia falls +a-raving; and, owning her passion for the supposed defunct, begins to +make his funeral oration. Upon which Juba enters listening, I suppose +on tip-toe; for I cannot imagine how any one can enter listening in any +other posture. I would fain know how it came to pass that, during all +this time, he had sent nobody--no, not so much as a candle-snuffer--to +take away the dead body of Sempronius. Well, but let us regard him +listening. Having left his apprehension behind him, he, at first, +applies what Marcia says to Sempronius; but finding at last, with much +ado, that he himself is the happy man, he quits his eaves-dropping, and +discovers himself just time enough to prevent his being cuckolded by +a dead man, of whom the moment before he had appeared so jealous, and +greedily intercepts the bliss which was fondly designed for one who +could not be the better for it. But here I must ask a question: how +comes Juba to listen here, who had not listened before throughout the +play? Or how comes he to be the only person of this tragedy who listens, +when love and treason were so often talked in so public a place as a +hall? I am afraid the author was driven upon all these absurdities only +to introduce this miserable mistake of Marcia, which, after all, is +much below the dignity of tragedy; as anything is which is the effect or +result of trick. + +"But let us come to the scenery of the fifth act. Cato appears first +upon the scene, sitting in a thoughtful posture; in his hand Plato's +Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul; a drawn sword on the table by +him. Now let us consider the place in which this sight is presented to +us. The place, forsooth, is a long hall. Let us suppose that any one +should place himself in this posture, in the midst of one of our halls +in London; that he should appear solus, in a sullen posture, a +drawn sword on the table by him; in his hand Plato's Treatise on the +Immortality of the Soul, translated lately by Bernard Lintot: I desire +the reader to consider whether such a person as this would pass with +them who beheld him for a great patriot, a great philosopher, or a +general, or some whimsical person who fancied himself all these? and +whether the people who belonged to the family would think that such a +person had a design upon their midriffs or his own? + +"In short, that Cato should sit long enough in the aforesaid posture, +in the midst of this large hall, to read over Plato's Treatise on the +Immortality of the Soul, which is a lecture of two long hours; that he +should propose to himself to be private there upon that occasion; that +he should be angry with his son for intruding there; then that he should +leave this hall upon the pretence of sleep, give himself the mortal +wound in his bedchamber, and then be brought back into that hall to +expire, purely to show his good breeding, and save his friends the +trouble of coming up to his bedchamber; all this appears to me to be +improbable, incredible, impossible." + +Such is the censure of Dennis. There is, as Dryden expresses it, perhaps +"too much horse-play in his railleries;" but if his jests are coarse, +his arguments are strong. Yet, as we love better to be pleased than +to be taught, Cato is read, and the critic is neglected. Flushed with +consciousness of these detections of absurdity in the conduct, he +afterwards attacked the sentiments of Cato; but he then amused himself +with petty cavils and minute objections. + +Of Addison's smaller poems no particular mention is necessary; they have +little that can employ or require a critic. The parallel of the princes +and gods in his verses to Kneller is often happy, but is too well known +to be quoted. His translations, so far as I compared them, want the +exactness of a scholar. That he understood his authors, cannot be +doubted; but his versions will not teach others to understand them, +being too licentiously paraphrastical. They are, however, for the +most part, smooth and easy; and, what is the first excellence of a +translator, such as may be read with pleasure by those who do not know +the originals. His poetry is polished and pure; the product of a mind +too judicious to commit faults, but not sufficiently vigorous to attain +excellence. He has sometimes a striking line, or a shining paragraph; +but in the whole he is warm rather than fervid, and shows more dexterity +than strength. He was, however, one of our earliest examples of +correctness. The versification which he had learned from Dryden he +debased rather than refined. His rhymes are often dissonant; in his +Georgic he admits broken lines. He uses both triplets and Alexandrines, +but triplets more frequently in his translation than his other works. +The mere structure of verses seems never to have engaged much of his +care. But his lines are very smooth in Rosamond, and too smooth in Cato. + +Addison is now to be considered as a critic: a name which the present +generation is scarcely willing to allow him. His criticism is condemned +as tentative or experimental rather than scientific; and he is +considered as deciding by taste rather than by principles. + +It is not uncommon for those who have grown wise by the labour of others +to add a little of their own, and overlook their masters. Addison is now +despised by some who perhaps would never have seen his defects but by +the lights which he afforded them. That he always wrote as he would +think it necessary to write now, cannot be affirmed; his instructions +were such as the characters of his readers made proper. That general +knowledge which now circulates in common talk was in his time rarely +to be found. Men not professing learning were not ashamed of ignorance; +and, in the female world, any acquaintance with books was distinguished +only to be censured. His purpose was to infuse literary curiosity, +by gentle and unsuspected conveyance, into the gay, the idle, and the +wealthy; he therefore presented knowledge in the most alluring form, +not lofty and austere, but accessible and familiar. When he showed +them their defects, he showed them likewise that they might be easily +supplied. His attempt succeeded; inquiry was awakened, and comprehension +expanded. An emulation of intellectual elegance was excited, and from +this time to our own life has been gradually exalted, and conversation +purified and enlarged. + +Dryden had, not many years before, scattered criticism over his prefaces +with very little parsimony; but though he sometimes condescended to be +somewhat familiar, his manner was in general too scholastic for +those who had yet their rudiments to learn, and found it not easy to +understand their master. His observations were framed rather for those +that were learning to write than for those that read only to talk. + +An instructor like Addison was now wanting, whose remarks, being +superficial, might be easily understood, and being just, might prepare +the mind for more attainments. Had he presented "Paradise Lost" to +the public with all the pomp of system and severity of science, the +criticism would perhaps have been admired, and the poem still have been +neglected; but by the blandishments of gentleness and facility he has +made Milton an universal favourite, with whom readers of every class +think it necessary to be pleased. He descended now and then to lower +disquisitions: and by a serious display of the beauties of "Chevy Chase" +exposed himself to the ridicule of Wagstaff, who bestowed a like pompous +character on Tom Thumb; and to the contempt of Dennis, who, considering +the fundamental position of his criticism, that "Chevy Chase" pleases, +and ought to please, because it is natural, observes; "that there is a +way of deviating from nature, by bombast or tumour, which soars above +nature, and enlarges images beyond their real bulk; by affectation, +which forsakes nature in quest of something unsuitable; and by +imbecility, which degrades nature by faintness and diminution, by +obscuring its appearances, and weakening its effects." In "Chevy Chase" +there is not much of either bombast or affectation; but there is chill +and lifeless imbecility. The story cannot possibly be told in a manner +that shall make less impression on the mind. + +Before the profound observers of the present race repose too securely on +the consciousness of their superiority to Addison, let them consider +his Remarks on Ovid, in which may be found specimens of criticism +sufficiently subtle and refined: let them peruse likewise his Essays on +Wit, and on the Pleasures of Imagination, in which he founds art on the +base of nature, and draws the principles of invention from dispositions +inherent in the mind of man with skill and elegance, such as his +contemners will not easily attain. + +As a describer of life and manners, he must be allowed to stand perhaps +the first of the first rank. His humour, which, as Steele observes, +is peculiar to himself, is so happily diffused as to give the grace of +novelty to domestic scenes and daily occurrences. He never "o'ersteps +the modesty of nature," nor raises merriment or wonder by the violation +of truth. His figures neither divert by distortion nor amaze by +aggravation. He copies life with so much fidelity that he can be hardly +said to invent; yet his exhibitions have an air so much original, that +it is difficult to suppose them not merely the product of imagination. + +As a teacher of wisdom, he may be confidently followed. His religion has +nothing in it enthusiastic or superstitious: he appears neither weakly +credulous nor wantonly sceptical; his morality is neither dangerously +lax nor impracticably rigid. All the enchantment of fancy, and all the +cogency of argument, are employed to recommend to the reader his real +interest, the care of pleasing the Author of his being. Truth is shown +sometimes as the phantom of a vision; sometimes appears half-veiled +in an allegory; sometimes attracts regard in the robes of fancy; and +sometimes steps forth in the confidence of reason. She wears a thousand +dresses, and in all is pleasing. + + "Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet." + +His prose is the model of the middle style; on grave subjects not +formal, on light occasions not grovelling; pure without scrupulosity, +and exact without apparent elaboration; always equable, and always easy, +without glowing words or pointed sentences. Addison never deviates from +his track to snatch a grace; he seeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries +no hazardous innovations. His page is always luminous, but never blazes +in unexpected splendour. + +It was apparently his principal endeavour to avoid all harshness +and severity of diction; he is therefore sometimes verbose in his +transitions and connections, and sometimes descends too much to the +language of conversation; yet if his language had been less idiomatical +it might have lost somewhat of its genuine Anglicism. What he attempted, +he performed; he is never feeble and he did not wish to be energetic; +he is never rapid and he never stagnates. His sentences have neither +studied amplitude nor affected brevity; his periods, though not +diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. Whoever wishes to attain +an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not +ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison. + + + + +SAVAGE. + + +It has been observed in all ages that the advantages of nature or of +fortune have contributed very little to the promotion of happiness: +and that those whom the splendour of their rank, or the extent of their +capacity, has placed upon the summit of human life, have not often given +any just occasion to envy in those who look up to them from a lower +station; whether it be that apparent superiority incites great designs, +and great designs are naturally liable to fatal miscarriages; or that +the general lot of mankind is misery, and the misfortunes of those whose +eminence drew upon them universal attention have been more carefully +recorded, because they were more generally observed, and have in reality +been only more conspicuous than those of others, not more frequent, or +more severe. + +That affluence and power, advantages extrinsic and adventitious, and +therefore easily separable from those by whom they are possessed, should +very often flatter the mind with expectations of felicity which they +cannot give, raises no astonishment: but it seems rational to hope +that intellectual greatness should produce better effects; that minds +qualified for great attainments should first endeavour their own +benefit, and that they who are most able to teach others the way to +happiness, should with most certainty follow it themselves. But this +expectation, however plausible, has been very frequently disappointed. +The heroes of literary as well as civil history have been very often +no less remarkable for what they have suffered than for what they have +achieved; and volumes have been written only to enumerate the miseries +of the learned, and relate their unhappy lives and untimely deaths. + +To these mournful narratives I am about to add the Life of RICHARD +SAVAGE, a man whose writings entitle him to an eminent rank in the +classes of learning, and whose misfortunes claim a degree of compassion +not always due to the unhappy, as they were often the consequences of +the crimes of others rather than his own. + +In the year 1697, Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, having lived some time +upon very uneasy terms with her husband, thought a public confession +of adultery the most obvious and expeditious method of obtaining her +liberty; and therefore declared that the child with which she was then +great, was begotten by the Earl Rivers. This, as may be imagined, +made her husband no less desirous of a separation than herself, and he +prosecuted his design in the most effectual manner: for he applied, not +to the ecclesiastical courts for a divorce, but to the Parliament for +an Act by which his marriage might be dissolved, the nuptial contract +annulled, and the children of his wife illegitimated. This Act, after +the usual deliberation, he obtained, though without the approbation +of some, who considered marriage as an affair only cognisable by +ecclesiastical judges; and on March 3rd was separated from his wife, +whose fortune, which was very great, was repaid her, and who having, +as well as her husband, the liberty of making another choice, she in a +short time married Colonel Brett. + +While the Earl of Macclesfield was prosecuting this affair, his wife +was, on the 10th of January, 1607-8,[sic] delivered of a son: and the +Earl Rivers, by appearing to consider him as his own, left none any +reason to doubt of the sincerity of her declaration; for he was his +godfather and gave him his own name, which was by his direction inserted +in the register of St. Andrew's parish in Holborn, but unfortunately +left him to the care of his mother, whom, as she was now set free from +her husband, he probably imagined likely to treat with great tenderness +the child that had contributed to so pleasing an event. It is not indeed +easy to discover what motives could be found to overbalance that natural +affection of a parent, or what interest could be promoted by neglect or +cruelty. The dread of shame or of poverty, by which some wretches have +been incited to abandon or murder their children, cannot be supposed +to have affected a woman who had proclaimed her crimes and solicited +reproach, and on whom the clemency of the Legislature had undeservedly +bestowed a fortune, which would have been very little diminished by the +expenses which the care of her child could have brought upon her. It was +therefore not likely that she would be wicked without temptation; that +she would look upon her son from his birth with a kind of resentment and +abhorrence; and, instead of supporting, assisting, and defending him, +delight to see him struggling with misery, or that she would take +every opportunity of aggravating his misfortunes, and obstructing his +resources, and with an implacable and restless cruelty continue her +persecution from the first hour of his life to the last. But whatever +were her motives, no sooner was her son born than she discovered a +resolution of disowning him; and in a very short time removed him from +her sight, by committing him to the care of a poor woman, whom she +directed to educate him as her own, and enjoined never to inform him of +his true parents. + +Such was the beginning of the life of Richard Savage. Born with a legal +claim to honour and to affluence, he was in two months illegitimated +by the Parliament, and disowned by his mother, doomed to poverty and +obscurity, and launched upon the ocean of life only that he might be +swallowed by its quicksands, or dashed upon its rocks. His mother could +not indeed infect others with the same cruelty. As it was impossible to +avoid the inquiries which the curiosity or tenderness of her relations +made after her child, she was obliged to give some account of the +measures she had taken; and her mother, the Lady Mason, whether in +approbation of her design, or to prevent more criminal contrivances, +engaged to transact with the nurse, to pay her for her care, and to +superintend the education of the child. + +In this charitable office she was assisted by his godmother, Mrs. Lloyd, +who, while she lived, always looked upon him with that tenderness which +the barbarity of his mother made peculiarly necessary; but her death, +which happened in his tenth year, was another of the misfortunes of his +childhood, for though she kindly endeavoured to alleviate his loss by +a legacy of three hundred pounds, yet as he had none to prosecute his +claim, to shelter him from oppression, or call in law to the assistance +of justice, her will was eluded by the executors, and no part of the +money was ever paid. He was, however, not yet wholly abandoned. The Lady +Mason still continued her care, and directed him to be placed at a small +grammar school near St. Albans, where he was called by the name of his +nurse, without the least intimation that he had a claim to any other. +Here he was initiated in literature, and passed through several of the +classes, with what rapidity or with what applause cannot now be known. +As he always spoke with respect of his master, it is probable that the +mean rank in which he then appeared did not hinder his genius from being +distinguished, or his industry from being rewarded; and if in so low a +state he obtained distinctions and rewards, it is not likely that they +were gained but by genius and industry. + +It is very reasonable to conjecture that his application was equal to +his abilities, because his improvement was more than proportioned to +the opportunities which he enjoyed; nor can it be doubted that if his +earliest productions had been preserved, like those of happier students, +we might in some have found vigorous sallies of that sprightly humour +which distinguishes "The Author to be Let," and in others strong touches +of that imagination which painted the solemn scenes of "The Wanderer." + +While he was thus cultivating his genius, his father, the Earl Rivers, +was seized with a distemper, which in a short time put an end to his +life. He had frequently inquired after his son, and had always been +amused with fallacious and evasive answers; but being now in his own +opinion on his death-bed, he thought it his duty to provide for him +among his other natural children, and therefore demanded a positive +account of him, with an importunity not to be diverted or denied. His +mother, who could no longer refuse an answer, determined at least to +give such as should cut him off for ever from that happiness which +competence affords, and therefore declared that he was dead; which is +perhaps the first instance of a lie invented by a mother to deprive +her son of a provision which was designed him by another, and which she +could not expect herself, though he should lose it. This was therefore +an act of wickedness which could not be defeated, because it could not +be suspected; the earl did not imagine that there could exist in a human +form a mother that would ruin her son without enriching herself, and +therefore bestowed upon some other person six thousand pounds which he +had in his will bequeathed to Savage. + +The same cruelty which incited his mother to intercept this provision +which had been intended him, prompted her in a short time to another +project, a project worthy of such a disposition. She endeavoured to +rid herself from the danger of being at any time made known to him, by +sending him secretly to the American Plantations. By whose kindness this +scheme was counteracted, or by whose interposition she was induced to +lay aside her design, I know not; it is not improbable that the Lady +Mason might persuade or compel her to desist, or perhaps she could not +easily find accomplices wicked enough to concur in so cruel an action; +for it may be conceived that those who had by a long gradation of guilt +hardened their hearts against the sense of common wickedness, would yet +be shocked at the design of a mother to expose her son to slavery and +want, to expose him without interest, and without provocation; and +Savage might on this occasion find protectors and advocates among those +who had long traded in crimes, and whom compassion had never touched +before. + +Being hindered, by whatever means, from banishing him into another +country, she formed soon after a scheme for burying him in poverty and +obscurity in his own; and that his station of life, if not the place +of his residence, might keep him for ever at a distance from her, she +ordered him to be placed with a shoemaker in Holborn, that, after the +usual time of trial, he might become his apprentice. + +It is generally reported that this project was for some time successful, +and that Savage was employed at the awl longer than he was willing +to confess: nor was it perhaps any great advantage to him, that an +unexpected discovery determined him to quit his occupation. + +About this time his nurse, who had always treated him as her own son, +died; and it was natural for him to take care of those effects which by +her death were, as he imagined, become his own: he therefore went to her +house, opened her boxes, and examined her papers, among which he found +some letters written to her by the Lady Mason, which informed him of +his birth, and the reasons for which it was concealed. He was no longer +satisfied with the employment which had been allotted him, but thought +he had a right to share the affluence of his mother; and therefore +without scruple applied to her as her son, and made use of every art to +awaken her tenderness and attract her regard. But neither his letters, +nor the interposition of those friends which his merit or his distress +procured him, made any impression on her mind. She still resolved to +neglect, though she could no longer disown him. It was to no purpose +that he frequently solicited her to admit him to see her; she avoided +him with the most vigilant precaution, and ordered him to be excluded +from her house, by whomsoever he might be introduced, and what reason +soever he might give for entering it. + +Savage was at the same time so touched with the discovery of his real +mother, that it was his frequent practice to walk in the dark evenings +for several hours before her door, in hopes of seeing her as she might +come by accident to the window, or cross her apartment with a candle in +her hand. But all his assiduity and tenderness were without effect, for +he could neither soften her heart nor open her hand, and was reduced +to the utmost miseries of want, while he was endeavouring to awaken the +affection of a mother. He was therefore obliged to seek some other means +of support; and, having no profession, became by necessity an author. + +At this time the attention of the literary world was engrossed by the +Bangorian controversy, which filled the press with pamphlets, and the +coffee-houses with disputants. Of this subject, as most popular, he made +choice for his first attempt, and, without any other knowledge of the +question than he had casually collected from conversation, published +a poem against the bishop. What was the success or merit of this +performance I know not; it was probably lost among the innumerable +pamphlets to which that dispute gave occasion. Mr. Savage was himself +in a little time ashamed of it, and endeavoured to suppress it, by +destroying all the copies that he could collect. He then attempted a +more gainful kind of writing, and in his eighteenth year offered to the +stage a comedy borrowed from a Spanish plot, which was refused by the +players, and was therefore given by him to Mr. Bullock, who, having more +interest, made some slight alterations, and brought it upon the stage, +under the title of Woman's a Riddle, but allowed the unhappy author no +part of the profit. + +Not discouraged, however, at his repulse, he wrote two years afterwards +Love in a Veil, another comedy, borrowed likewise from the Spanish, but +with little better success than before; for though it was received and +acted, yet it appeared so late in the year, that the author obtained no +other advantage from it than the acquaintance of Sir Richard Steele and +Mr. Wilks, by whom he was pitied, caressed, and relieved. + +Sir Richard Steele, having declared in his favour with all the ardour of +benevolence which constituted his character, promoted his interest with +the utmost zeal, related his misfortunes, applauded his merit, took all +the opportunities of recommending him, and asserted that "the inhumanity +of his mother had given him a right to find every good man his father." +Nor was Mr. Savage admitted to his acquaintance only, but to his +confidence, of which he sometimes related an instance too extraordinary +to be omitted, as it affords a very just idea of his patron's +character. He was once desired by Sir Richard, with an air of the utmost +importance, to come very early to his house the next morning. Mr. Savage +came as he had promised, found the chariot at the door, and Sir Richard +waiting for him, and ready to go out. What was intended, and whither +they were to go, Savage could not conjecture, and was not willing to +inquire; but immediately seated himself with Sir Richard. The coachman +was ordered to drive, and they hurried with the utmost expedition to +Hyde Park Corner, where they stopped at a petty tavern, and retired to a +private room. Sir Richard then informed him that he intended to publish +a pamphlet, and that he had desired him to come thither that he might +write for him. He soon sat down to the work. Sir Richard dictated, and +Savage wrote, till the dinner that had been ordered was put upon the +table. Savage was surprised at the meanness of the entertainment, and +after some hesitation ventured to ask for wine, which Sir Richard, not +without reluctance, ordered to be brought. They then finished their +dinner, and proceeded in their pamphlet, which they concluded in the +afternoon. + +Mr. Savage then imagined his task over, and expected that Sir Richard +would call for the reckoning, and return home; but his expectations +deceived him, for Sir Richard told him that he was without money, and +that the pamphlet must be sold before the dinner could be paid for; and +Savage was therefore obliged to go and offer their new production +to sale for two guineas, which with some difficulty he obtained. Sir +Richard then returned home, having retired that day only to avoid his +creditors, and composed the pamphlet only to discharge his reckoning. + +Mr. Savage related another fact equally uncommon, which, though it +has no relation to his life, ought to be preserved. Sir Richard Steele +having one day invited to his house a great number of persons of the +first quality, they were surprised at the number of liveries which +surrounded the table; and after dinner, when wine and mirth had set them +free from the observation of a rigid ceremony, one of them inquired of +Sir Richard how such an expensive train of domestics could be consistent +with his fortune. Sir Richard very frankly confessed that they were +fellows of whom he would very willingly be rid. And being then asked +why he did not discharge them, declared that they were bailiffs, who had +introduced themselves with an execution, and whom, since he could not +send them away, he had thought it convenient to embellish with liveries, +that they might do him credit while they stayed. His friends were +diverted with the expedient, and by paying the debt, discharged their +attendance, having obliged Sir Richard to promise that they should never +again find him graced with a retinue of the same kind. + +Under such a tutor, Mr. Savage was not likely to learn prudence or +frugality; and perhaps many of the misfortunes which the want of those +virtues brought upon him in the following parts of his life, might be +justly imputed to so unimproving an example. Nor did the kindness of Sir +Richard end in common favours. He proposed to have established him in +some settled scheme of life, and to have contracted a kind of alliance +with him, by marrying him to a natural daughter, on whom he intended +to bestow a thousand pounds. But though he was always lavish of future +bounties, he conducted his affairs in such a manner that he was very +seldom able to keep his promises, or execute his own intentions; and, +as he was never able to raise the sum which he had offered, the marriage +was delayed. In the meantime he was officiously informed that Mr. Savage +had ridiculed him; by which he was so much exasperated that he withdrew +the allowance which he had paid him, and never afterwards admitted him +to his house. + +It is not, indeed, unlikely that Savage might by his imprudence expose +himself to the malice of a talebearer; for his patron had many follies, +which, as his discernment easily discovered, his imagination might +sometimes incite him to mention too ludicrously. A little knowledge of +the world is sufficient to discover that such weakness is very common, +and that there are few who do not sometimes, in the wantonness of +thoughtless mirth, or the heat of transient resentment, speak of their +friends and benefactors with levity and contempt, though in their cooler +moments they want neither sense of their kindness nor reverence for +their virtue; the fault, therefore, of Mr. Savage was rather negligence +than ingratitude. But Sir Richard must likewise be acquitted of +severity, for who is there that can patiently bear contempt from one +whom he has relieved and supported, whose establishment he has laboured, +and whose interest he has promoted? + +He was now again abandoned to fortune without any other friend than +Mr. Wilks; a man who, whatever were his abilities or skill as an actor, +deserves at least to be remembered for his virtues, which are not often +to be found in the world, and perhaps less often in his profession than +in others. To be humane, generous, and candid is a very high degree of +merit in any case; but those qualifications deserve still greater praise +when they are found in that condition which makes almost every other +man, for whatever reason, contemptuous, insolent, petulant, selfish, and +brutal. + +As Mr. Wilks was one of those to whom calamity seldom complained without +relief, he naturally took an unfortunate wit into his protection, and +not only assisted him in any casual distresses, but continued an equal +and steady kindness to the time of his death. By this interposition Mr. +Savage once obtained from his mother fifty pounds, and a promise of one +hundred and fifty more; but it was the fate of this unhappy man that +few promises of any advantage to him were performed. His mother was +infected, among others, with the general madness of the South Sea +traffic; and having been disappointed in her expectations, refused to +pay what perhaps nothing but the prospect of sudden affluence prompted +her to promise. + +Being thus obliged to depend upon the friendship of Mr. Wilks, he was +consequently an assiduous frequenter of the theatres: and in a short +time the amusements of the stage took such possession of his mind +that he never was absent from a play in several years. This constant +attendance naturally procured him the acquaintance of the players, +and, among others, of Mrs. Oldfield, who was so much pleased with his +conversation, and touched with his misfortunes, that she allowed him +a settled pension of fifty pounds a year, which was during her life +regularly paid. That this act of generosity may receive its due praise, +and that the good actions of Mrs. Oldfield may not be sullied by +her general character, it is proper to mention that Mr. Savage often +declared, in the strongest terms, that he never saw her alone, or in any +other place than behind the scenes. + +At her death he endeavoured to show his gratitude in the most decent +manner, by wearing mourning as for a mother; but did not celebrate her +in elegies, because he knew that too great a profusion of praise would +only have revived those faults which his natural equity did not allow +him to think less because they were committed by one who favoured him; +but of which, though his virtue would not endeavour to palliate them, +his gratitude would not suffer him to prolong the memory or diffuse the +censure. + +In his "Wanderer" he has indeed taken an opportunity of mentioning her; +but celebrates her not for her virtue, but her beauty, an excellence +which none ever denied her: this is the only encomium with which he has +rewarded her liberality, and perhaps he has even in this been too +lavish of his praise. He seems to have thought that never to mention +his benefactress would have an appearance of ingratitude, though to +have dedicated any particular performance to her memory would have +only betrayed an officious partiality, and that without exalting +her character would have depressed his own. He had sometimes, by the +kindness of Mr. Wilks, the advantage of a benefit, on which occasions +he often received uncommon marks of regard and compassion; and was +once told by the Duke of Dorset that it was just to consider him as an +injured nobleman, and that in his opinion the nobility ought to think +themselves obliged, without solicitation, to take every opportunity of +supporting him by their countenance and patronage. But he had generally +the mortification to hear that the whole interest of his mother was +employed to frustrate his applications, and that she never left any +expedient untried by which he might be cut off from the possibility of +supporting life. The same disposition she endeavoured to diffuse among +all those over whom nature or fortune gave her any influence, and indeed +succeeded too well in her design; but could not always propagate her +effrontery with her cruelty; for some of those whom she incited against +him were ashamed of their own conduct, and boasted of that relief which +they never gave him. In this censure I do not indiscriminately involve +all his relations; for he has mentioned with gratitude the humanity +of one lady, whose name I am now unable to recollect, and to whom, +therefore, I cannot pay the praises which she deserves for having acted +well in opposition to influence, precept, and example. + +The punishment which our laws inflict upon those parents who murder +their infants is well known, nor has its justice ever been contested; +but, if they deserve death who destroy a child in its birth, what pain +can be severe enough for her who forbears to destroy him only to inflict +sharper miseries upon him; who prolongs his life only to make him +miserable; and who exposes him, without care and without pity, to the +malice of oppression, the caprices of chance, and the temptations of +poverty; who rejoices to see him overwhelmed with calamities; and, when +his own industry, or the charity of others, has enabled him to rise +for a short time above his miseries, plunges him again into his former +distress? + +The kindness of his friends not affording him any constant supply, and +the prospect of improving his fortune by enlarging his acquaintance +necessarily leading him to places of expense, he found it necessary +to endeavour once more at dramatic poetry; for which he was now better +qualified by a more extensive knowledge and longer observation. +But having been unsuccessful in comedy, though rather for want of +opportunities than genius, he resolved to try whether he should not be +more fortunate in exhibiting a tragedy. The story which he chose for +the subject was that of Sir Thomas Overbury, a story well adapted to +the stage, though perhaps not far enough removed from the present age +to admit properly the fictions necessary to complete the plan; for the +mind, which naturally loves truth, is always most offended with the +violation of those truths of which we are most certain; and we of course +conceive those facts most certain which approach nearer to our own time. +Out of this story he formed a tragedy, which, if the circumstances in +which he wrote it be considered, will afford at once an uncommon proof +of strength of genius and evenness of mind, of a serenity not to be +ruffled and an imagination not to be suppressed. + +During a considerable part of the time in which he was employed upon +this performance, he was without lodging, and often without meat; nor +had he any other conveniences for study than the fields or the streets +allowed him; there he used to walk and form his speeches, and afterwards +step into a shop, beg for a few moments the use of the pen and ink, and +write down what he had composed upon paper which he had picked up by +accident. + +If the performance of a writer thus distressed is not perfect, its +faults ought surely to be imputed to a cause very different from want +of genius, and must rather excite pity than provoke censure. But +when, under these discouragements, the tragedy was finished, there +yet remained the labour of introducing it on the stage, an undertaking +which, to an ingenuous mind, was in a very high degree vexatious and +disgusting; for, having little interest or reputation, he was obliged +to submit himself wholly to the players, and admit, with whatever +reluctance, the emendations of Mr. Cibber, which he always considered +as the disgrace of his performance. He had, indeed, in Mr. Hill another +critic of a very different class, from whose friendship he received +great assistance on many occasions, and whom he never mentioned but +with the utmost tenderness and regard. He had been for some time +distinguished by him with very particular kindness, and on this occasion +it was natural to apply to him as an author of an established character. +He therefore sent this tragedy to him, with a short copy of verses, in +which he desired his correction. Mr. Hill, whose humanity and politeness +are generally known, readily complied with his request; but as he +is remarkable for singularity of sentiment, and bold experiments in +language, Mr. Savage did not think this play much improved by his +innovation, and had even at that time the courage to reject several +passages which he could not approve; and, what is still more +laudable, Mr. Hill had the generosity not to resent the neglect of his +alterations, but wrote the prologue and epilogue, in which he touches on +the circumstances of the author with great tenderness. + +After all these obstructions and compliances, he was only able to +bring his play upon the stage in the summer, when the chief actors had +retired, and the rest were in possession of the house for their own +advantage. Among these, Mr. Savage was admitted to play the part of Sir +Thomas Overbury, by which he gained no great reputation, the theatre +being a province for which nature seems not to have designed him; for +neither his voice, look, nor gesture were such as were expected on the +stage, and he was so much ashamed of having been reduced to appear as a +player, that he always blotted out his name from the list when a copy of +his tragedy was to be shown to his friends. + +In the publication of his performance he was more successful, for the +rays of genius that glimmered in it, that glimmered through all the +mists which poverty and Cibber had been able to spread over it, procured +him the notice and esteem of many persons eminent for their rank, their +virtue, and their wit. Of this play, acted, printed, and dedicated, the +accumulated profits arose to a hundred pounds, which he thought at that +time a very large sum, having been never master of so much before. + +In the dedication, for which he received ten guineas, there is nothing +remarkable. The preface contains a very liberal encomium on the blooming +excellence of Mr. Theophilus Cibber, which Mr. Savage could not in the +latter part of his life see his friends about to read without snatching +the play out of their hands. The generosity of Mr. Hill did not end on +this occasion; for afterwards, when Mr. Savage's necessities returned, +he encouraged a subscription to a Miscellany of Poems in a very +extraordinary manner, by publishing his story in the Plain Dealer, +with some affecting lines, which he asserts to have been written by Mr. +Savage upon the treatment received by him from his mother, but of which +he was himself the author, as Mr. Savage afterwards declared. These +lines, and the paper in which they were inserted, had a very powerful +effect upon all but his mother, whom, by making her cruelty more public, +they only hardened in her aversion. + +Mr. Hill not only promoted the subscription to the Miscellany, but +furnished likewise the greatest part of the poems of which it is +composed, and particularly "The Happy Man," which he published as a +specimen. + +The subscriptions of those whom these papers should influence to +patronise merit in distress, without any other solicitation, were +directed to be left at Button's Coffee-house; and Mr. Savage going +thither a few days afterwards, without expectation of any effect from +his proposal, found, to his surprise, seventy guineas, which had been +sent him in consequence of the compassion excited by Mr. Hill's pathetic +representation. + +To this Miscellany he wrote a preface, in which he gives an account of +his mother's cruelty in a very uncommon strain of humour, and with a +gaiety of imagination which the success of his subscription probably +produced. The dedication is addressed to the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, +whom he flatters without reserve, and, to confess the truth, with very +little art. The same observation may be extended to all his dedications: +his compliments are constrained and violent, heaped together without the +grace of order, or the decency of introduction. He seems to have written +his panegyrics for the perusal only of his patrons, and to imagine that +he had no other task than to pamper them with praises, however +gross, and that flattery would make its way to the heart, without the +assistance of elegance or invention. + +Soon afterwards the death of the king furnished a general subject for +a poetical contest, in which Mr. Savage engaged, and is allowed to have +carried the prize of honour from his competitors: but I know not whether +he gained by his performance any other advantage than the increase of +his reputation, though it must certainly have been with farther views +that he prevailed upon himself to attempt a species of writing, of which +all the topics had been long before exhausted, and which was made at +once difficult by the multitudes that had failed in it, and those that +had succeeded. + +He was now advancing in reputation, and though frequently involved in +very distressful perplexities, appeared, however, to be gaining upon +mankind, when both his fame and his life were endangered by an event, +of which it is not yet determined whether it ought to be mentioned as a +crime or a calamity. + +On the 20th of November, 1727, Mr. Savage came from Richmond, where he +then lodged that he might pursue his studies with less interruption, +with an intent to discharge another lodging which he had in Westminster; +and accidentally meeting two gentlemen, his acquaintances, whose names +were Merchant and Gregory, he went in with them to a neighbouring +coffee-house, and sat drinking till it was late, it being in no time +of Mr. Savage's life any part of his character to be the first of the +company that desired to separate. He would willingly have gone to bed +in the same house, but there was not room for the whole company, and +therefore they agreed to ramble about the streets, and divert themselves +with such amusements as should offer themselves till morning. In +this walk they happened unluckily to discover a light in Robinson's +Coffee-house, near Charing Cross, and therefore went in. Merchant with +some rudeness demanded a room, and was told that there was a good fire +in the next parlour, which the company were about to leave, being then +paying their reckoning. Merchant, not satisfied with this answer, rushed +into the room, and was followed by his companions. He then petulantly +placed himself between the company and the fire, and soon after kicked +down the table. This produced a quarrel, swords were drawn on both +sides, and one Mr. James Sinclair was killed. Savage, having likewise +wounded a maid that held him, forced his way, with Merchant, out of the +house; but being intimidated and confused, without resolution either to +fly or stay, they were taken in a back court by one of the company, and +some soldiers, whom he had called to his assistance. Being secured +and guarded that night, they were in the morning carried before three +justices, who committed them to the Gatehouse, from whence, upon the +death of Mr. Sinclair, which happened the same day, they were removed +in the night to Newgate, where they were, however, treated with some +distinction, exempted from the ignominy of chains, and confined, not +among the common criminals, but in the Press yard. + +When the day of trial came, the court was crowded in a very unusual +manner, and the public appeared to interest itself as in a cause of +general concern. The witnesses against Mr. Savage and his friends were, +the woman who kept the house, which was a house of ill-fame, and her +maid, the men who were in the room with Mr. Sinclair, and a woman of +the town, who had been drinking with them, and with whom one of them had +been seen. They swore in general, that Merchant gave the provocation, +which Savage and Gregory drew their swords to justify; that Savage drew +first, and that he stabbed Sinclair when he was not in a posture of +defence, or while Gregory commanded his sword; that after he had given +the thrust he turned pale, and would have retired, but the maid clung +round him, and one of the company endeavoured to detain him, from whom +he broke by cutting the maid on the head, but was afterwards taken in a +court. There was some difference in their depositions; one did not see +Savage give the wound, another saw it given when Sinclair held his point +towards the ground; and the woman of the town asserted that she did not +see Sinclair's sword at all. This difference, however, was very far +from amounting to inconsistency; but it was sufficient to show, that the +hurry of the dispute was such that it was not easy to discover the +truth with relation to particular circumstances, and that therefore some +deductions were to be made from the credibility of the testimonies. + +Sinclair had declared several times before his death that he received +his wound from Savage: nor did Savage at his trial deny the fact, but +endeavoured partly to extenuate it, by urging the suddenness of the +whole action, and the impossibility of any ill design or premeditated +malice; and partly to justify it by the necessity of self-defence, and +the hazard of his own life, if he had lost that opportunity of giving +the thrust: he observed, that neither reason nor law obliged a man to +wait for the blow which was threatened, and which, if he should suffer +it, he might never be able to return; that it was allowable to prevent +an assault, and to preserve life by taking away that of the adversary +by whom it was endangered. With regard to the violence with which he +endeavoured to escape, he declared that it was not his design to +fly from justice, or decline a trial, but to avoid the expenses and +severities of a prison; and that he intended to appear at the bar +without compulsion. + +This defence, which took up more than an hour, was heard by the +multitude that thronged the court with the most attentive and respectful +silence. Those who thought he ought not to be acquitted owned that +applause could not be refused him; and those who before pitied his +misfortunes now reverenced his abilities. The witnesses which appeared +against him were proved to be persons of characters which did not +entitle them to much credit; a common strumpet, a woman by whom +strumpets were entertained, a man by whom they were supported: and the +character of Savage was by several persons of distinction asserted to +be that of a modest, inoffensive man, not inclined to broils or +to insolence, and who had, to that time, been only known for his +misfortunes and his wit. Had his audience been his judges, he had +undoubtedly been acquitted, but Mr. Page, who was then upon the bench, +treated him with his usual insolence and severity, and when he had +summed up the evidence, endeavoured to exasperate the jury, as Mr. +Savage used to relate it, with this eloquent harangue:-- + +"Gentlemen of the jury, you are to consider that Mr. Savage is a very +great man, a much greater man than you or I, gentlemen of the jury; that +he wears very fine clothes, much finer clothes than you or I, gentlemen +of the jury; that he has abundance of money in his pockets, much more +money than you or I, gentlemen of the jury; but, gentlemen of the jury, +is it not a very hard case, gentlemen of the jury, that Mr. Savage +should therefore kill you or me, gentlemen of the jury?" + +Mr. Savage, hearing his defence thus misrepresented, and the men who +were to decide his fate incited against him by invidious comparisons, +resolutely asserted that his cause was not candidly explained, and began +to recapitulate what he had before said with regard to his condition, +and the necessity of endeavouring to escape the expenses of +imprisonment; but the judge having ordered him to be silent, and +repeated his orders without effect, commanded that he should be taken +from the bar by force. + +The jury then heard the opinion of the judge, that good characters were +of no weight against positive evidence, though they might turn the scale +where it was doubtful; and that though, when two men attack each +other, the death of either is only manslaughter; but where one is the +aggressor, as in the case before them, and, in pursuance of his first +attack, kills the other, the law supposes the action, however sudden, to +be malicious. They then deliberated upon their verdict, and determined +that Mr. Savage and Mr. Gregory were guilty of murder, and Mr. Merchant, +who had no sword, only of manslaughter. + +Thus ended this memorable trial, which lasted eight hours. Mr. Savage +and Mr. Gregory were conducted back to prison, where they were more +closely confined, and loaded with irons of fifty pounds' weight. Four +days afterwards they were sent back to the court to receive sentence, +on which occasion Mr. Savage made, as far as it could be retained in +memory, the following speech:-- + +"It is now, my lord, too late to offer anything by way of defence or +vindication; nor can we expect from your lordships, in this court, but +the sentence which the law requires you, as judges, to pronounce against +men of our calamitous condition. But we are also persuaded that as mere +men, and out of this seat of rigorous justice, you are susceptive of the +tender passions, and too humane not to commiserate the unhappy situation +of those whom the law sometimes perhaps exacts from you to pronounce +upon. No doubt you distinguish between offences which arise out of +premeditation, and a disposition habituated to vice or immorality, and +transgressions which are the unhappy and unforeseen effects of casual +absence of reason, and sudden impulse of passion. We therefore hope +you will contribute all you can to an extension of that mercy which the +gentlemen of the jury have been pleased to show to Mr. Merchant, who +(allowing facts as sworn against us by the evidence) has led us into +this our calamity. I hope this will not be construed as if we meant to +reflect upon that gentleman, or remove anything from us upon him, or +that we repine the more at our fate because he has no participation of +it. No, my Lord! For my part, I declare nothing could more soften my +grief than to be without any companion in so great a misfortune." + +Mr. Savage had now no hopes of life but from the mercy of the Crown, +which was very earnestly solicited by his friends, and which, with +whatever difficulty the story may obtain belief, was obstructed only by +his mother. + +To prejudice the queen against him, she made use of an incident which +was omitted in the order of time, that it might be mentioned together +with the purpose which it was made to serve. Mr. Savage, when he had +discovered his birth, had an incessant desire to speak to his mother, +who always avoided him in public, and refused him admission into her +house. One evening, walking, as was his custom, in the street that she +inhabited, he saw the door of her house by accident open; he entered it, +and finding no person in the passage to hinder him, went up-stairs to +salute her. She discovered him before he entered the chamber, alarmed +the family with the most distressful outcries, and when she had by her +screams gathered them about her, ordered them to drive out of the house +that villain, who had forced himself in upon her and endeavoured +to murder her. Savage, who had attempted with the most submissive +tenderness to soften her rage, hearing her utter so detestable an +accusation, thought it prudent to retire, and, I believe, never +attempted afterwards to speak to her. + +But shocked as he was with her falsehood and her cruelty, he imagined +that she intended no other use of her lie than to set herself free from +his embraces and solicitations, and was very far from suspecting +that she would treasure it in her memory as an instrument of future +wickedness, or that she would endeavour for this fictitious assault +to deprive him of his life. But when the queen was solicited for his +pardon, and informed of the severe treatment which he had suffered from +his judge, she answered that, however unjustifiable might be the manner +of his trial, or whatever extenuation the action for which he was +condemned might admit, she could not think that man a proper object of +the king's mercy who had been capable of entering his mother's house in +the night with an intent to murder her. + +By whom this atrocious calumny had been transmitted to the queen, +whether she that invented had the front to relate it, whether she found +any one weak enough to credit it, or corrupt enough to concur with +her in her hateful design, I know not, but methods had been taken to +persuade the queen so strongly of the truth of it, that she for a long +time refused to hear any one of those who petitioned for his life. + +Thus had Savage perished by the evidence of a bawd, a strumpet, and his +mother, had not justice and compassion procured him an advocate of rank +too great to be rejected unheard, and of virtue too eminent to be heard +without being believed. His merit and his calamities happened to reach +the ear of the Countess of Hertford, who engaged in his support with +all the tenderness that is excited by pity, and all the zeal which is +kindled by generosity, and, demanding an audience of the queen, laid +before her the whole series of his mother's cruelty, exposed the +improbability of an accusation by which he was charged with an intent to +commit a murder that could produce no advantage, and soon convinced her +how little his former conduct could deserve to be mentioned as a reason +for extraordinary severity. + +The interposition of this lady was so successful, that he was soon after +admitted to bail, and, on the 9th of March, 1728, pleaded the king's +pardon. + +It is natural to inquire upon what motives his mother could persecute +him in a manner so outrageous and implacable; for what reason she could +employ all the arts of malice, and all the snares of calumny, to take +away the life of her own son, of a son who never injured her, who was +never supported by her expense, nor obstructed any prospect of pleasure +or advantage. Why she would endeavour to destroy him by a lie--a lie +which could not gain credit, but must vanish of itself at the first +moment of examination, and of which only this can be said to make +it probable, that it may be observed from her conduct that the most +execrable crimes are sometimes committed without apparent temptation. + +This mother is still (1744) alive, and may perhaps even yet, though her +malice was so often defeated, enjoy the pleasure of reflecting that the +life which she often endeavoured to destroy was at last shortened by +her maternal offices; that though she could not transport her son to the +plantations, bury him in the shop of a mechanic, or hasten the hand of +the public executioner, she has yet had the satisfaction of embittering +all his hours, and forcing him into exigencies that hurried on his +death. It is by no means necessary to aggravate the enormity of this +woman's conduct by placing it in opposition to that of the Countess +of Hertford. No one can fail to observe how much more amiable it is to +relieve than to oppress, and to rescue innocence from destruction than +to destroy without an injury. + +Mr. Savage, during his imprisonment, his trial, and the time in which he +lay under sentence of death, behaved with great firmness and equality +of mind, and confirmed by his fortitude the esteem of those who before +admired him for his abilities. The peculiar circumstances of his +life were made more generally known by a short account which was then +published, and of which several thousands were in a few weeks dispersed +over the nation; and the compassion of mankind operated so powerfully +in his favour, that he was enabled, by frequent presents, not only to +support himself, but to assist Mr. Gregory in prison; and when he was +pardoned and released, he found the number of his friends not lessened. + +The nature of the act for which he had been tried was in itself +doubtful; of the evidences which appeared against him, the character of +the man was not unexceptionable, that of the woman notoriously +infamous; she whose testimony chiefly influenced the jury to condemn him +afterwards retracted her assertions. He always himself denied that +he was drunk, as had been generally reported. Mr. Gregory, who is now +(1744) collector of Antigua, is said to declare him far less criminal +than he was imagined, even by some who favoured him; and Page himself +afterwards confessed that he had treated him with uncommon rigour. When +all these particulars are rated together, perhaps the memory of Savage +may not be much sullied by his trial. Some time after he obtained his +liberty, he met in the street the woman who had sworn with so much +malignity against him. She informed him that she was in distress, +and, with a degree of confidence not easily attainable, desired him to +relieve her. He, instead of insulting her misery, and taking pleasure in +the calamities of one who had brought his life into danger, reproved +her gently for her perjury, and, changing the only guinea that he had, +divided it equally between her and himself. This is an action which in +some ages would have made a saint, and perhaps in others a hero, and +which, without any hyperbolical encomiums, must be allowed to be an +instance of uncommon generosity, an act of complicated virtue, by which +he at once relieved the poor, corrected the vicious, and forgave an +enemy; by which he at once remitted the strongest provocations, +and exercised the most ardent charity. Compassion was indeed the +distinguishing quality of Savage: he never appeared inclined to take +advantage of weakness, to attack the defenceless, or to press upon the +falling. Whoever was distressed was certain at least of his good wishes; +and when he could give no assistance to extricate them from misfortunes, +he endeavoured to soothe them by sympathy and tenderness. But when +his heart was not softened by the sight of misery, he was sometimes +obstinate in his resentment, and did not quickly lose the remembrance of +an injury. He always continued to speak with anger of the insolence and +partiality of Page, and a short time before his death revenged it by a +satire. + +It is natural to inquire in what terms Mr. Savage spoke of this fatal +action when the danger was over, and he was under no necessity of using +any art to set his conduct in the fairest light. He was not willing to +dwell upon it; and, if he transiently mentioned it, appeared neither to +consider himself as a murderer, nor as a man wholly free from the guilt +of blood. How much and how long he regretted it appeared in a poem which +he published many years afterwards. On occasion of a copy of verses, in +which the failings of good men are recounted, and in which the author +had endeavoured to illustrate his position, that "the best may sometimes +deviate from virtue," by an instance of murder committed by Savage +in the heat of wine, Savage remarked that it was no very just +representation of a good man, to suppose him liable to drunkenness, and +disposed in his riots to cut throats. + +He was now indeed at liberty, but was, as before, without any other +support than accidental favours and uncertain patronage afforded him; +sources by which he was sometimes very liberally supplied, and which +at other times were suddenly stopped; so that he spent his life +between want and plenty, or, what was yet worse, between beggary and +extravagance, for, as whatever he received was the gift of chance, +which might as well favour him at one time as another, he was tempted to +squander what he had because he always hoped to be immediately supplied. +Another cause of his profusion was the absurd kindness of his friends, +who at once rewarded and enjoyed his abilities by treating him at +taverns, and habituating him to pleasures which he could not afford to +enjoy, and which he was not able to deny himself, though he purchased +the luxury of a single night by the anguish of cold and hunger for a +week. + +The experience of these inconveniences determined him to endeavour after +some settled income, which, having long found submission and entreaties +fruitless, he attempted to extort from his mother by rougher methods. +He had now, as he acknowledged, lost that tenderness for her which the +whole series of her cruelty had not been able wholly to repress, till he +found, by the efforts which she made for his destruction, that she +was not content with refusing to assist him, and being neutral in his +struggles with poverty, but was ready to snatch every opportunity of +adding to his misfortunes; and that she was now to be considered as an +enemy implacably malicious, whom nothing but his blood could satisfy. +He therefore threatened to harass her with lampoons, and to publish a +copious narrative of her conduct, unless she consented to purchase an +exemption from infamy by allowing him a pension. + +This expedient proved successful. Whether shame still survived, though +virtue was extinct, or whether her relations had more delicacy than +herself, and imagined that some of the darts which satire might point at +her would glance upon them, Lord Tyrconnel, whatever were his motives, +upon his promise to lay aside his design of exposing the cruelty of +his mother, received him into his family, treated him as his equal, and +engaged to allow him a pension of two hundred pounds a year. This was +the golden part of Mr. Savage's life; and for some time he had no reason +to complain of fortune. His appearance was splendid, his expenses large, +and his acquaintance extensive. He was courted by all who endeavoured to +be thought men of genius, and caressed by all who valued themselves upon +a refined taste. To admire Mr. Savage was a proof of discernment; and to +be acquainted with him was a title to poetical reputation. His presence +was sufficient to make any place of public entertainment popular, and +his approbation and example constituted the fashion. So powerful is +genius, when it is invested with the glitter of affluence! Men willingly +pay to fortune that regard which they owe to merit, and are pleased +when they have an opportunity at once of gratifying their vanity and +practising their duty. + +This interval of prosperity furnished him with opportunities of +enlarging his knowledge of human nature, by contemplating life from +its highest gradations to its lowest; and, had he afterwards applied to +dramatic poetry, he would perhaps not have had many superiors, for, as +he never suffered any scene to pass before his eyes without notice, he +had treasured in his mind all the different combinations of passions, +and the innumerable mixtures of vice and virtue, which distinguished +one character from another; and, as his conception was strong, his +expressions were clear, he easily received impressions from objects, and +very forcibly transmitted them to others. Of his exact observations on +human life he has left a proof, which would do honour to the greatest +names, in a small pamphlet, called "The Author to be Let," where he +introduces Iscariot Hackney, a prostitute scribbler, giving an account +of his birth, his education, his disposition and morals, habits of +life, and maxims of conduct. In the introduction are related many secret +histories of the petty writers of that time, but sometimes mixed with +ungenerous reflections on their birth, their circumstances, or those +of their relations; nor can it be denied that some passages are such as +Iscariot Hackney might himself have produced. He was accused likewise of +living in an appearance of friendship with some whom he satirised, and +of making use of the confidence which he gained by a seeming kindness, +to discover failings and expose them. It must be confessed that Mr. +Savage's esteem was no very certain possession, and that he would +lampoon at one time those whom he had praised at another. + +It may be alleged that the same man may change his principles, and that +he who was once deservedly commended may be afterwards satirised with +equal justice, or that the poet was dazzled with the appearance of +virtue, and found the man whom he had celebrated, when he had an +opportunity of examining him more narrowly, unworthy of the panegyric +which he had too hastily bestowed; and that, as a false satire ought to +be recanted, for the sake of him whose reputation may be injured, false +praise ought likewise to be obviated, lest the distinction between vice +and virtue should be lost, lest a bad man should be trusted upon the +credit of his encomiast, or lest others should endeavour to obtain +like praises by the same means. But though these excuses may be often +plausible, and sometimes just, they are very seldom satisfactory to +mankind; and the writer who is not constant to his subject, quickly +sinks into contempt, his satire loses its force, and his panegyric +its value; and he is only considered at one time as a flatterer, and a +calumniator at another. To avoid these imputations, it is only necessary +to follow the rules of virtue, and to preserve an unvaried regard +to truth. For though it is undoubtedly possible that a man, however +cautious, may be sometimes deceived by an artful appearance of virtue, +or by false evidences of guilt, such errors will not be frequent; and +it will be allowed that the name of an author would never have been +made contemptible had no man ever said what he did not think, or misled +others but when he was himself deceived. + +"The Author to be Let" was first published in a single pamphlet, and +afterwards inserted in a collection of pieces relating to the "Dunciad," +which were addressed by Mr. Savage to the Earl of Middlesex, in a +dedication which he was prevailed upon to sign, though he did not write +it, and in which there are some positions that the true author would +perhaps not have published under his own name, and on which Mr. Savage +afterwards reflected with no great satisfaction. The enumeration of the +bad effects of the uncontrolled freedom of the press, and the assertion +that the "liberties taken by the writers of journals with their +superiors were exorbitant and unjustifiable," very ill became men who +have themselves not always shown the exactest regard to the laws of +subordination in their writings, and who have often satirised those that +at least thought themselves their superiors, as they were eminent +for their hereditary rank, and employed in the highest offices of the +kingdom. But this is only an instance of that partiality which almost +every man indulges with regard to himself: the liberty of the press is +a blessing when we are inclined to write against others, and a calamity +when we find ourselves overborne by the multitude of our assailants; as +the power of the Crown is always thought too great by those who suffer +by its influence, and too little by those in whose favour it is exerted; +and a standing army is generally accounted necessary by those who +command, and dangerous and oppressive by those who support it. + +Mr. Savage was likewise very far from believing that the letters annexed +to each species of bad poets in the Bathos were, as he was directed +to assert, "set down at random;" for when he was charged by one of his +friends with putting his name to such an improbability, he had no other +answer to make than that "he did not think of it;" and his friend had +too much tenderness to reply, that next to the crime of writing contrary +to what he thought was that of writing without thinking. + +After having remarked what is false in this dedication, it is proper +that I observe the impartiality which I recommend, by declaring what +Savage asserted--that the account of the circumstances which attended +the publication of the "Dunciad," however strange and improbable, was +exactly true. + +The publication of this piece at this time raised Mr. Savage a great +number of enemies among those that were attacked by Mr. Pope, with whom +he was considered as a kind of confederate, and whom he was suspected +of supplying with private intelligence and secret incidents; so that the +ignominy of an informer was added to the terror of a satirist. That he +was not altogether free from literary hypocrisy, and that he sometimes +spoke one thing and wrote another, cannot be denied, because he himself +confessed that, when he lived with great familiarity with Dennis, he +wrote an epigram against him. + +Mr. Savage, however, set all the malice of all the pigmy writers at +defiance, and thought the friendship of Mr. Pope cheaply purchased by +being exposed to their censure and their hatred; nor had he any +reason to repent of the preference, for he found Mr. Pope a steady and +unalienable friend almost to the end of his life. + +About this time, notwithstanding his avowed neutrality with regard to +party, he published a panegyric on Sir Robert Walpole, for which he was +rewarded by him with twenty guineas, a sum not very large, if either +the excellence of the performance or the affluence of the patron be +considered; but greater than he afterwards obtained from a person of yet +higher rank, and more desirous in appearance of being distinguished as a +patron of literature. + +As he was very far from approving the conduct of Sir Robert Walpole, +and in conversation mentioned him sometimes with acrimony, and generally +with contempt, as he was one of those who were always zealous in their +assertions of the justice of the late opposition, jealous of the rights +of the people, and alarmed by the long-continued triumph of the Court, +it was natural to ask him what could induce him to employ his poetry in +praise of that man who was, in his opinion, an enemy to liberty, and an +oppressor of his country? He alleged that he was then dependent upon the +Lord Tyrconnel, who was an implicit follower of the ministry: and that, +being enjoined by him, not without menaces, to write in praise of the +leader, he had not resolution sufficient to sacrifice the pleasure of +affluence to that of integrity. + +On this, and on many other occasions, he was ready to lament the misery +of living at the tables of other men, which was his fate from the +beginning to the end of his life; for I know not whether he ever had, +for three months together, a settled habitation, in which he could claim +a right of residence. + +To this unhappy state it is just to impute much of the inconsistency of +his conduct, for though a readiness to comply with the inclinations +of others was no part of his natural character, yet he was sometimes +obliged to relax his obstinacy, and submit his own judgment, and even +his virtue, to the government of those by whom he was supported. So that +if his miseries were sometimes the consequences of his faults, he ought +not yet to be wholly excluded from compassion, because his faults were +very often the effects of his misfortunes. + +In this gay period of his life, while he was surrounded by affluence and +pleasure, he published "The Wanderer," a moral poem, of which the design +is comprised in these lines:-- + + "I fly all public care, all venal strife, + To try the still, compared with active, life; + To prove, by these, the sons of men may owe + The fruits of bliss to bursting clouds of woe; + That ev'n calamity, by thought refined, + Inspirits and adorns the thinking mind." + +And more distinctly in the following passage:-- + + "By woe, the soul to daring action swells; + By woe, in plaintless patience it excels: + From patience prudent, clear experience springs, + And traces knowledge through the course of things. + Thence hope is formed, thence fortitude, success, + Renown--whate'er men covet and caress." + +This performance was always considered by himself as his masterpiece; +and Mr. Pope, when he asked his opinion of it, told him that he read +it once over, and was not displeased with it; that it gave him more +pleasure at the second perusal, and delighted him still more at the +third. + +It has been generally objected to "The Wanderer," that the disposition +of the parts is irregular; that the design is obscure, and the plan +perplexed; that the images, however beautiful, succeed each other +without order; and that the whole performance is not so much a regular +fabric, as a heap of shining materials thrown together by accident, +which strikes rather with the solemn magnificence of a stupendous +ruin than the elegant grandeur of a finished pile. This criticism is +universal, and therefore it is reasonable to believe it at least in +a degree just; but Mr. Savage was always of a contrary opinion, and +thought his drift could only be missed by negligence or stupidity, and +that the whole plan was regular, and the parts distinct. It was never +denied to abound with strong representations of nature, and just +observations upon life; and it may easily be observed that most of +his pictures have an evident tendency to illustrate his first great +position, "that good is the consequence of evil." The sun that burns +up the mountains fructifies the vales; the deluge that rushes down the +broken rocks with dreadful impetuosity is separated into purling brooks; +and the rage of the hurricane purifies the air. + +Even in this poem he has not been able to forbear one touch upon the +cruelty of his mother, which, though remarkably delicate and tender, +is a proof how deep an impression it had upon his mind. This must be at +least acknowledged, which ought to be thought equivalent to many other +excellences, that this poem can promote no other purposes than those of +virtue, and that it is written with a very strong sense of the efficacy +of religion. But my province is rather to give the history of Mr. +Savage's performances than to display their beauties, or to obviate the +criticisms which they have occasioned, and therefore I shall not dwell +upon the particular passages which deserve applause. I shall neither +show the excellence of his descriptions, nor expatiate on the terrific +portrait of suicide, nor point out the artful touches by which he has +distinguished the intellectual features of the rebels, who suffer death +in his last canto. It is, however, proper to observe, that Mr. Savage +always declared the characters wholly fictitious, and without the least +allusion to any real persons or actions. + +From a poem so diligently laboured, and so successfully finished, it +might be reasonably expected that he should have gained considerable +advantage; nor can it, without some degree of indignation and concern, +be told, that he sold the copy for ten guineas, of which he afterwards +returned two, that the two last sheets of the work might be reprinted, +of which he had in his absence entrusted the correction to a friend, who +was too indolent to perform it with accuracy. + +A superstitious regard to the correction of his sheets was one of Mr. +Savage's peculiarities: he often altered, revised, recurred to his first +reading or punctuation, and again adopted the alteration; he was dubious +and irresolute without end, as on a question of the last importance, and +at last was seldom satisfied. The intrusion or omission of a comma was +sufficient to discompose him, and he would lament an error of a single +letter as a heavy calamity. In one of his letters relating to an +impression of some verses he remarks that he had, with regard to the +correction of the proof, "a spell upon him;" and indeed the anxiety with +which he dwelt upon the minutest and most trifling niceties, deserved +no other name than that of fascination. That he sold so valuable +a performance for so small a price was not to be imputed either to +necessity, by which the learned and ingenious are often obliged to +submit to very hard conditions, or to avarice, by which the booksellers +are frequently incited to oppress that genius by which they are +supported, but to that intemperate desire of pleasure, and habitual +slavery to his passions, which involved him in many perplexities. He +happened at that time to be engaged in the pursuit of some trifling +gratification, and, being without money for the present occasion, sold +his poem to the first bidder, and perhaps for the first price that was +proposed, and would probably have been content with less if less had +been offered him. + +This poem was addressed to the Lord Tyrconnel, not only in the first +lines, but in a formal dedication filled with the highest strains of +panegyric, and the warmest professions of gratitude, but by no means +remarkable for delicacy of connection or elegance of style. These +praises in a short time he found himself inclined to retract, being +discarded by the man on whom he had bestowed them, and whom he then +immediately discovered not to have deserved them. Of this quarrel, which +every day made more bitter, Lord Tyrconnel and Mr. Savage assigned very +different reasons, which might perhaps all in reality concur, though +they were not all convenient to be alleged by either party. Lord +Tyrconnel affirmed that it was the constant practice of Mr. Savage +to enter a tavern with any company that proposed it, drink the most +expensive wines with great profusion, and when the reckoning was +demanded to be without money. If, as it often happened, his company +were willing to defray his part, the affair ended without any ill +consequences; but if they were refractory, and expected that the wine +should be paid for by him that drank it, his method of composition was, +to take them with him to his own apartment, assume the government of the +house, and order the butler in an imperious manner to set the best wine +in the cellar before his company, who often drank till they forgot +the respect due to the house in which they were entertained, indulged +themselves in the utmost extravagance of merriment, practised the most +licentious frolics, and committed all the outrages of drunkenness. +Nor was this the only charge which Lord Tyrconnel brought against him. +Having given him a collection of valuable books, stamped with his own +arms, he had the mortification to see them in a short time exposed to +sale upon the stalls, it being usual with Mr. Savage, when he wanted a +small sum, to take his books to the pawnbroker. + +Whoever was acquainted with Mr. Savage easily credited both these +accusations; for having been obliged, from his first entrance into the +world, to subsist upon expedients, affluence was not able to exalt him +above them; and so much was he delighted with wine and conversation, and +so long had he been accustomed to live by chance, that he would at any +time go to the tavern without scruple, and trust for the reckoning to +the liberality of his company, and frequently of company to whom he was +very little known. This conduct, indeed, very seldom drew upon him +those inconveniences that might be feared by any other person, for his +conversation was so entertaining, and his address so pleasing, that few +thought the pleasure which they received from him dearly purchased by +paying for his wine. It was his peculiar happiness that he scarcely ever +found a stranger whom he did not leave a friend; but it must likewise +be added, that he had not often a friend long without obliging him to +become a stranger. + +Mr. Savage, on the other hand, declared that Lord Tyrconnel quarrelled +with him because he would not subtract from his own luxury and +extravagance what he had promised to allow him, and that his resentment +was only a plea for the violation of his promise. He asserted that he +had done nothing that ought to exclude him from that subsistence which +he thought not so much a favour as a debt, since it was offered him upon +conditions which he had never broken: and that his only fault was, +that he could not be supported with nothing. He acknowledged that Lord +Tyrconnel often exhorted him to regulate his method of life, and not to +spend all his nights in taverns, and that he appeared desirous that he +would pass those hours with him which he so freely bestowed upon others. +This demand Mr. Savage considered as a censure of his conduct which he +could never patiently bear, and which, in the latter and cooler parts of +his life, was so offensive to him, that he declared it as his resolution +"to spurn that friend who should pretend to dictate to him;" and it is +not likely that in his earlier years he received admonitions with more +calmness. He was likewise inclined to resent such expectations, as +tending to infringe his liberty, of which he was very jealous, when it +was necessary to the gratification of his passions; and declared that +the request was still more unreasonable as the company to which he was +to have been confined was insupportably disagreeable. This assertion +affords another instance of that inconsistency of his writings with his +conversation which was so often to be observed. He forgot how lavishly +he had, in his dedication to "The Wanderer," extolled the delicacy and +penetration, the humanity and generosity, the candour and politeness of +the man whom, when he no longer loved him, he declared to be a wretch +without understanding, without good nature, and without justice; of +whose name he thought himself obliged to leave no trace in any future +edition of his writings, and accordingly blotted it out of that copy of +"The Wanderer" which was in his hands. + +During his continuance with the Lord Tyrconnel, he wrote "The Triumph of +Health and Mirth," on the recovery of Lady Tyrconnel from a languishing +illness. This performance is remarkable, not only for the gaiety of the +ideas and the melody of the numbers, but for the agreeable fiction upon +which it is formed. Mirth, overwhelmed with sorrow for the sickness of +her favourite, takes a flight in quest of her sister Health, whom she +finds reclined upon the brow of a lofty mountain, amidst the fragrance +of perpetual spring, with the breezes of the morning sporting about +her. Being solicited by her sister Mirth, she readily promises her +assistance, flies away in a cloud, and impregnates the waters of Bath +with new virtues, by which the sickness of Belinda is relieved. As the +reputation of his abilities, the particular circumstances of his birth +and life, the splendour of his appearance, and the distinction which was +for some time paid him by Lord Tyrconnel, entitled him to familiarity +with persons of higher rank than those to whose conversation he had been +before admitted, he did not fail to gratify that curiosity which induced +him to take a nearer view of those whom their birth, their employments, +or their fortunes necessarily placed at a distance from the greatest +part of mankind, and to examine whether their merit was magnified or +diminished by the medium through which it was contemplated; whether +the splendour with which they dazzled their admirers was inherent in +themselves, or only reflected on them by the objects that surrounded +them; and whether great men were selected for high stations, or high +stations made great men. + +For this purpose he took all opportunities of conversing familiarly with +those who were most conspicuous at that time for their power or their +influence; he watched their looser moments, and examined their domestic +behaviour, with that acuteness which nature had given him, and which +the uncommon variety of his life had contributed to increase, and that +inquisitiveness which must always be produced in a vigorous mind by +an absolute freedom from all pressing or domestic engagements. His +discernment was quick, and therefore he soon found in every person, and +in every affair, something that deserved attention; he was supported by +others, without any care for himself, and was therefore at leisure to +pursue his observations. More circumstances to constitute a critic on +human life could not easily concur; nor, indeed, could any man, who +assumed from accidental advantages more praise than he could justly +claim from his real merit, admit any acquaintance more dangerous than +that of Savage; of whom likewise it must be confessed, that abilities +really exalted above the common level, or virtue refined from passion, +or proof against corruption, could not easily find an abler judge or a +warmer advocate. + +What was the result of Mr. Savage's inquiry, though he was not much +accustomed to conceal his discoveries, it may not be entirely safe to +relate, because the persons whose characters he criticised are powerful, +and power and resentment are seldom strangers; nor would it perhaps be +wholly just, because what he asserted in conversation might, though true +in general, be heightened by some momentary ardour of imagination, and +as it can be delivered only from memory, may be imperfectly represented, +so that the picture, at first aggravated, and then unskilfully copied, +may be justly suspected to retain no great resemblance of the original. + +It may, however, be observed, that he did not appear to have formed very +elevated ideas of those to whom the administration of affairs, or the +conduct of parties, has been intrusted; who have been considered as the +advocates of the Crown, or the guardians of the people; and who have +obtained the most implicit confidence, and the loudest applauses. Of +one particular person, who has been at one time so popular as to be +generally esteemed, and at another so formidable as to be universally +detested, he observed that his acquisitions had been small, or that +his capacity was narrow, and that the whole range of his mind was from +obscenity to politics, and from politics to obscenity. + +But the opportunity of indulging his speculations on great characters +was now at an end. He was banished from the table of Lord Tyrconnel, and +turned again adrift upon the world, without prospect of finding quickly +any other harbour. As prudence was not one of the virtues by which he +was distinguished, he made no provision against a misfortune like this. +And though it is not to be imagined but that the separation must for +some time have been preceded by coldness, peevishness, or neglect, +though it was undoubtedly the consequence of accumulated provocations on +both sides, yet every one that knew Savage will readily believe that +to him it was sudden as a stroke of thunder; that, though he might +have transiently suspected it, he had never suffered any thought so +unpleasing to sink into his mind, but that he had driven it away by +amusements or dreams of future felicity and affluence, and had never +taken any measures by which he might prevent a precipitation from plenty +to indigence. This quarrel and separation, and the difficulties to which +Mr. Savage was exposed by them, were soon known both to his friends +and enemies; nor was it long before he perceived, from the behaviour +of both, how much is added to the lustre of genius by the ornaments of +wealth. His condition did not appear to excite much compassion, for he +had not been always careful to use the advantages he enjoyed with +that moderation which ought to have been with more than usual caution +preserved by him, who knew, if he had reflected, that he was only a +dependent on the bounty of another, whom he could expect to support him +no longer than he endeavoured to preserve his favour by complying with +his inclinations, and whom he nevertheless set at defiance, and was +continually irritating by negligence or encroachments. + +Examples need not be sought at any great distance to prove that +superiority of fortune has a natural tendency to kindle pride, and that +pride seldom fails to exert itself in contempt and insult; and if this +is often the effect of hereditary wealth, and of honours enjoyed only by +the merits of others, it is some extenuation of any indecent triumphs to +which this unhappy man may have been betrayed, that his prosperity was +heightened by the force of novelty, and made more intoxicating by a +sense of the misery in which he had so long languished, and perhaps of +the insults which he had formerly borne, and which he might now think +himself entitled to revenge. It is too common for those who have +unjustly suffered pain to inflict it likewise in their turn with the +same injustice, and to imagine that they have a right to treat others as +they have themselves been treated. + +That Mr. Savage was too much elevated by any good fortune is generally +known; and some passages of his Introduction to "The Author to be Let" +sufficiently show that he did not wholly refrain from such satire, as he +afterwards thought very unjust when he was exposed to it himself; for, +when he was afterwards ridiculed in the character of a distressed poet, +he very easily discovered that distress was not a proper subject for +merriment or topic of invective. He was then able to discern, that if +misery be the effect of virtue, it ought to be reverenced; if of ill +fortune, to be pitied; and if of vice, not to be insulted, because it +is perhaps itself a punishment adequate to the crime by which it was +produced. And the humanity of that man can deserve no panegyric who is +capable of reproaching a criminal in the hands of the executioner. But +these reflections, though they readily occurred to him in the first and +last parts of his life, were, I am afraid, for a long time forgotten; at +least they were, like many other maxims, treasured up in his mind rather +for show than use, and operated very little upon his conduct, however +elegantly he might sometimes explain, or however forcibly he might +inculcate them. His degradation, therefore, from the condition which he +had enjoyed with such wanton thoughtlessness, was considered by many +as an occasion of triumph. Those who had before paid their court to him +without success soon returned the contempt which they had suffered; and +they who had received favours from him, for of such favours as he could +bestow he was very liberal, did not always remember them. So much more +certain are the effects of resentment than of gratitude. It is not only +to many more pleasing to recollect those faults which place others below +them, than those virtues by which they are themselves comparatively +depressed: but it is likewise more easy to neglect than to recompense. +And though there are few who will practise a laborious virtue, there +will never be wanting multitudes that will indulge in easy vice. + +Savage, however, was very little disturbed at the marks of contempt +which his ill fortune brought upon him from those whom he never +esteemed, and with whom he never considered himself as levelled by any +calamities: and though it was not without some uneasiness that he saw +some whose friendship he valued change their behaviour, he yet observed +their coldness without much emotion, considered them as the slaves of +fortune, and the worshippers of prosperity, and was more inclined to +despise them than to lament himself. + +It does not appear that after this return of his wants he found mankind +equally favourable to him, as at his first appearance in the world. +His story, though in reality not less melancholy, was less affecting, +because it was no longer new. It therefore procured him no new friends, +and those that had formerly relieved him thought they might now consign +him to others. He was now likewise considered by many rather as criminal +than as unhappy, for the friends of Lord Tyrconnel, and of his mother, +were sufficiently industrious to publish his weaknesses, which were +indeed very numerous, and nothing was forgotten that might make him +either hateful or ridiculous. It cannot but be imagined that such +representations of his faults must make great numbers less sensible of +his distress; many who had only an opportunity to hear one part made +no scruple to propagate the account which they received; many assisted +their circulation from malice or revenge; and perhaps many pretended to +credit them, that they might with a better grace withdraw their regard, +or withhold their assistance. + +Savage, however, was not one of those who suffered himself to be injured +without resistance, nor was he less diligent in exposing the faults of +Lord Tyrconnel, over whom he obtained at least this advantage, that he +drove him first to the practice of outrage and violence; for he was so +much provoked by the wit and virulence of Savage, that he came with a +number of attendants, that did no honour to his courage, to beat him +at a coffee-house. But it happened that he had left the place a few +minutes, and his lordship had, without danger, the pleasure of boasting +how he would have treated him. Mr. Savage went next day to repay his +visit at his own house, but was prevailed on by his domestics to retire +without insisting on seeing him. + +Lord Tyrconnel was accused by Mr. Savage of some actions which scarcely +any provocation will be thought sufficient to justify, such as seizing +what he had in his lodgings, and other instances of wanton cruelty, +by which he increased the distress of Savage without any advantage to +himself. + +These mutual accusations were retorted on both sides, for many years, +with the utmost degree of virulence and rage; and time seemed rather +to augment than diminish their resentment. That the anger of Mr. Savage +should be kept alive is not strange, because he felt every day the +consequences of the quarrel; but it might reasonably have been hoped +that Lord Tyrconnel might have relented, and at length have forgot those +provocations, which, however they might have once inflamed him, had +not in reality much hurt him. The spirit of Mr. Savage, indeed, never +suffered him to solicit a reconciliation; he returned reproach for +reproach, and insult for insult; his superiority of wit supplied the +disadvantages of his fortune, and enabled him to form a party, and +prejudice great numbers in his favour. But though this might be some +gratification of his vanity, it afforded very little relief to his +necessities, and he was frequently reduced to uncommon hardships, of +which, however, he never made any mean or importunate complaints, being +formed rather to bear misery with fortitude than enjoy prosperity with +moderation. + +He now thought himself again at liberty to expose the cruelty of his +mother; and therefore, I believe, about this time, published "The +Bastard," a poem remarkable for the vivacious sallies of thought in +the beginning, where he makes a pompous enumeration of the imaginary +advantages of base birth, and the pathetic sentiments at the end, where +he recounts the real calamities which he suffered by the crime of his +parents. The vigour and spirit of the verses, the peculiar circumstances +of the author, the novelty of the subject, and the notoriety of the +story to which the allusions are made, procured this performance a very +favourable reception; great numbers were immediately dispersed, and +editions were multiplied with unusual rapidity. + +One circumstance attended the publication which Savage used to relate +with great satisfaction. His mother, to whom the poem was with "due +reverence" inscribed, happened then to be at Bath, where she could not +conveniently retire from censure, or conceal herself from observation; +and no sooner did the reputation of the poem begin to spread, than she +heard it repeated in all places of concourse; nor could she enter the +assembly-rooms or cross the walks without being saluted with some lines +from "The Bastard." + +This was perhaps the first time that she ever discovered a sense of +shame, and on this occasion the power of wit was very conspicuous; the +wretch who had, without scruple, proclaimed herself an adulteress, and +who had first endeavoured to starve her son, then to transport him, and +afterwards to hang him, was not able to bear the representation of her +own conduct, but fled from reproach, though she felt no pain from guilt, +and left Bath in the utmost haste to shelter herself among the crowds +of London. Thus Savage had the satisfaction of finding that, though he +could not reform his mother, he could punish her, and that he did not +always suffer alone. + +The pleasure which he received from this increase of his poetical +reputation was sufficient for some time to overbalance the miseries of +want, which this performance did not much alleviate; for it was sold +for a very trivial sum to a bookseller, who, though the success was so +uncommon that five impressions were sold, of which many were undoubtedly +very numerous, had not generosity sufficient to admit the unhappy writer +to any part of the profit. The sale of this poem was always mentioned by +Mr. Savage with the utmost elevation of heart, and referred to by him as +an incontestable proof of a general acknowledgment of his abilities. +It was, indeed, the only production of which he could justly boast a +general reception. But, though he did not lose the opportunity which +success gave him of setting a high rate on his abilities, but paid +due deference to the suffrages of mankind when they were given in his +favour, he did not suffer his esteem of himself to depend upon others, +nor found anything sacred in the voice of the people when they were +inclined to censure him; he then readily showed the folly of expecting +that the public should judge right, observed how slowly poetical merit +had often forced its way into the world; he contented himself with the +applause of men of judgment, and was somewhat disposed to exclude all +those from the character of men of judgment who did not applaud him. +But he was at other times more favourable to mankind than to think them +blind to the beauties of his works, and imputed the slowness of their +sale to other causes; either they were published at a time when the town +was empty, or when the attention of the public was engrossed by some +struggle in the Parliament or some other object of general concern; or +they were, by the neglect of the publisher, not diligently dispersed, +or, by his avarice, not advertised with sufficient frequency. Address, +or industry, or liberality was always wanting, and the blame was laid +rather on any person than the author. + +By arts like these, arts which every man practises in some degree, and +to which too much of the little tranquillity of life is to be ascribed, +Savage was always able to live at peace with himself. Had he, indeed, +only made use of these expedients to alleviate the loss or want of +fortune or reputation, or any other advantages which it is not in +a man's power to bestow upon himself, they might have been justly +mentioned as instances of a philosophical mind, and very properly +proposed to the imitation of multitudes who, for want of diverting their +imaginations with the same dexterity, languish under afflictions which +might be easily removed. + +It were doubtless to be wished that truth and reason were universally +prevalent; that everything were esteemed according to its real value; +and that men would secure themselves from being disappointed, in their +endeavours after happiness, by placing it only in virtue, which is +always to be obtained; but, if adventitious and foreign pleasures must +be pursued, it would be perhaps of some benefit, since that pursuit must +frequently be fruitless, if the practice of Savage could be taught, +that folly might be an antidote to folly, and one fallacy be obviated +by another. But the danger of this pleasing intoxication must not be +concealed; nor, indeed, can any one, after having observed the life +of Savage, need to be cautioned against it. By imputing none of his +miseries to himself, he continued to act upon the same principles, and +to follow the same path; was never made wiser by his sufferings, nor +preserved by one misfortune from falling into another. He proceeded +throughout his life to tread the same steps on the same circle; always +applauding his past conduct, or at least forgetting it, to amuse himself +with phantoms of happiness, which were dancing before him; and willingly +turned his eyes from the light of reason, when it would have discovered +the illusion, and shown him, what he never wished to see, his real +state. He is even accused, after having lulled his imagination with +those ideal opiates, of having tried the same experiment upon his +conscience; and, having accustomed himself to impute all deviations +from the right to foreign causes, it is certain that he was upon every +occasion too easily reconciled to himself, and that he appeared very +little to regret those practices which had impaired his reputation. The +reigning error of his life was that he mistook the love for the practice +of virtue, and was indeed not so much a good man as the friend of +goodness. + +This, at least, must be allowed him, that he always preserved a strong +sense of the dignity, the beauty, and the necessity of virtue; and that +he never contributed deliberately to spread corruption amongst mankind. +His actions, which were generally precipitate, were often blameable; +but his writings, being the production of study, uniformly tended to the +exaltation of the mind and the propagation of morality and piety. These +writings may improve mankind when his failings shall be forgotten; and +therefore he must be considered, upon the whole, as a benefactor to the +world. Nor can his personal example do any hurt, since whoever hears of +his faults will hear of the miseries which they brought upon him, and +which would deserve less pity had not his condition been such as made +his faults pardonable. He may be considered as a child exposed to all +the temptations of indigence, at an age when resolution was not +yet strengthened by conviction, nor virtue confirmed by habit; a +circumstance which, in his "Bastard," he laments in a very affecting +manner:-- + + "No mother's care + Shielded my infant innocence with prayer; + No father's guardian hand my youth maintained, + Called forth my virtues, or from vice restrained." + +"The Bastard," however it might provoke or mortify his mother, could not +be expected to melt her to compassion, so that he was still under the +same want of the necessaries of life; and he therefore exerted all the +interest which his wit, or his birth, or his misfortunes could procure +to obtain, upon the death of Eusden, the place of Poet Laureate, and +prosecuted his application with so much diligence that the king publicly +declared it his intention to bestow it upon him; but such was the +fate of Savage that even the king, when he intended his advantage, +was disappointed in his schemes; for the Lord Chamberlain, who has the +disposal of the laurel as one of the appendages of his office, either +did not know the king's design, or did not approve it, or thought +the nomination of the Laureate an encroachment upon his rights, and +therefore bestowed the laurel upon Colley Cibber. + +Mr. Savage, thus disappointed, took a resolution of applying to the +queen, that, having once given him life, she would enable him to support +it, and therefore published a short poem on her birthday, to which he +gave the odd title of "Volunteer Laureate." The event of this essay he +has himself related in the following letter, which he prefixed to the +poem when he afterwards reprinted it in The Gentleman's Magazine, whence +I have copied it entire, as this was one of the few attempts in which +Mr. Savage succeeded. + +"MR. URBAN,--In your Magazine for February you published the last +'Volunteer Laureate,' written on a very melancholy occasion, the death +of the royal patroness of arts and literature in general, and of the +author of that poem in particular; I now send you the first that Mr. +Savage wrote under that title. This gentleman, notwithstanding a very +considerable interest, being, on the death of Mr. Eusden, disappointed +of the Laureate's place, wrote the following verses; which were no +sooner published, but the late queen sent to a bookseller for them. The +author had not at that time a friend either to get him introduced, or +his poem presented at Court; yet, such was the unspeakable goodness of +that princess, that, notwithstanding this act of ceremony was wanting, +in a few days after publication Mr. Savage received a bank-bill of fifty +pounds, and a gracious message from her Majesty, by the Lord North and +Guilford, to this effect: 'That her Majesty was highly pleased with the +verses; that she took particularly kind his lines there relating to the +king; that he had permission to write annually on the same subject; and +that he should yearly receive the like present, till something better +(which was her Majesty's intention) could be done for him.' After this +he was permitted to present one of his annual poems to her Majesty, +had the honour of kissing her hand, and met with the most gracious +reception. + +"Yours, etc." + + +Such was the performance, and such its reception; a reception which, +though by no means unkind, was yet not in the highest degree generous. +To chain down the genius of a writer to an annual panegyric showed in +the queen too much desire of hearing her own praises, and a greater +regard to herself than to him on whom her bounty was conferred. It was +a kind of avaricious generosity, by which flattery was rather purchased +than genius rewarded. + +Mrs. Oldfield had formerly given him the same allowance with much more +heroic intention: she had no other view than to enable him to prosecute +his studies, and to set himself above the want of assistance, and was +contented with doing good without stipulating for encomiums. + +Mr. Savage, however, was not at liberty to make exceptions, but was +ravished with the favours which he had received, and probably yet +more with those which he was promised: he considered himself now as a +favourite of the queen, and did not doubt but a few annual poems would +establish him in some profitable employment. He therefore assumed the +title of "Volunteer Laureate," not without some reprehensions from +Cibber, who informed him that the title of "Laureate" was a mark of +honour conferred by the king, from whom all honour is derived, and +which, therefore, no man has a right to bestow upon himself; and added +that he might with equal propriety style himself a Volunteer Lord or +Volunteer Baronet. It cannot be denied that the remark was just; but +Savage did not think any title which was conferred upon Mr. Cibber so +honourable as that the usurpation of it could be imputed to him as an +instance of very exorbitant vanity, and therefore continued to write +under the same title, and received every year the same reward. He did +not appear to consider these encomiums as tests of his abilities, or as +anything more than annual hints to the queen of her promise, or acts of +ceremony, by the performance of which he was entitled to his pension, +and therefore did not labour them with great diligence, or print +more than fifty each year, except that for some of the last years he +regularly inserted them in The Gentleman's Magazine, by which they were +dispersed over the kingdom. + +Of some of them he had himself so low an opinion that he intended to +omit them in the collection of poems for which he printed proposals, and +solicited subscriptions; nor can it seem strange that, being confined +to the same subject, he should be at some times indolent and at others +unsuccessful; that he should sometimes delay a disagreeable task till it +was too late to perform it well; or that he should sometimes repeat +the same sentiment on the same occasion, or at others be misled by an +attempt after novelty to forced conceptions and far-fetched images. +He wrote indeed with a double intention, which supplied him with some +variety; for his business was to praise the queen for the favours which +he had received, and to complain to her of the delay of those which +she had promised: in some of his pieces, therefore, gratitude is +predominant, and in some discontent; in some, he represents himself as +happy in her patronage; and, in others, as disconsolate to find himself +neglected. Her promise, like other promises made to this unfortunate +man, was never performed, though he took sufficient care that it should +not be forgotten. The publication of his "Volunteer Laureate" procured +him no other reward than a regular remittance of fifty pounds. He was +not so depressed by his disappointments as to neglect any opportunity +that was offered of advancing his interest. When the Princess Anne +was married, he wrote a poem upon her departure, only, as he declared, +"because it was expected from him," and he was not willing to bar his +own prospects by any appearance of neglect. He never mentioned any +advantage gained by this poem, or any regard that was paid to it; and +therefore it is likely that it was considered at Court as an act of +duty, to which he was obliged by his dependence, and which it was +therefore not necessary to reward by any new favour: or perhaps +the queen really intended his advancement, and therefore thought it +superfluous to lavish presents upon a man whom she intended to establish +for life. + +About this time not only his hopes were in danger of being frustrated, +but his pension likewise of being obstructed, by an accidental calumny. +The writer of The Daily Courant, a paper then published under the +direction of the Ministry, charged him with a crime, which, though very +great in itself, would have been remarkably invidious in him, and might +very justly have incensed the queen against him. He was accused by name +of influencing elections against the Court by appearing at the head of +a Tory mob; nor did the accuser fail to aggravate his crime by +representing it as the effect of the most atrocious ingratitude, and a +kind of rebellion against the queen, who had first preserved him from +an infamous death, and afterwards distinguished him by her favour, and +supported him by her charity. The charge, as it was open and confident, +was likewise by good fortune very particular. The place of the +transaction was mentioned, and the whole series of the rioter's conduct +related. This exactness made Mr. Savage's vindication easy; for he never +had in his life seen the place which was declared to be the scene of +his wickedness, nor ever had been present in any town when its +representatives were chosen. This answer he therefore made haste to +publish, with all the circumstances necessary to make it credible; and +very reasonably demanded that the accusation should be retracted in the +same paper, that he might no longer suffer the imputation of sedition +and ingratitude. This demand was likewise pressed by him in a private +letter to the author of the paper, who, either trusting to the +protection of those whose defence he had undertaken, or having +entertained some personal malice against Mr. Savage, or fearing lest, by +retracting so confident an assertion, he should impair the credit of +his paper, refused to give him that satisfaction. Mr. Savage therefore +thought it necessary, to his own vindication, to prosecute him in +the King's Bench; but as he did not find any ill effects from the +accusation, having sufficiently cleared his innocence, he thought any +further procedure would have the appearance of revenge; and therefore +willingly dropped it. He saw soon afterwards a process commenced in the +same court against himself, on an information in which he was accused of +writing and publishing an obscene pamphlet. + +It was always Mr Savage's desire to be distinguished; and, when any +controversy became popular, he never wanted some reason for engaging in +it with great ardour, and appearing at the head of the party which +he had chosen. As he was never celebrated for his prudence, he had no +sooner taken his side, and informed himself of the chief topics of the +dispute, than he took all opportunities of asserting and propagating +his principles, without much regard to his own interest, or any other +visible design than that of drawing upon himself the attention of +mankind. + +The dispute between the Bishop of London and the chancellor is +well known to have been for some time the chief topic of political +conversation; and therefore Mr. Savage, in pursuance of his character, +endeavoured to become conspicuous among the controvertists with which +every coffee-house was filled on that occasion. He was an indefatigable +opposer of all the claims of ecclesiastical power, though he did not +know on what they were founded; and was therefore no friend to the +Bishop of London. But he had another reason for appearing as a warm +advocate for Dr. Rundle; for he was the friend of Mr. Foster and Mr. +Thomson, who were the friends of Mr. Savage. + +Thus remote was his interest in the question, which, however, as +he imagined, concerned him so nearly, that it was not sufficient to +harangue and dispute, but necessary likewise to write upon it. He +therefore engaged with great ardour in a new poem, called by him, "The +Progress of a Divine;" in which he conducts a profligate priest, by all +the gradations of wickedness, from a poor curacy in the country to the +highest preferments of the Church; and describes, with that humour which +was natural to him, and that knowledge which was extended to all +the diversities of human life, his behaviour in every station; and +insinuates that this priest, thus accomplished, found at last a patron +in the Bishop of London. When he was asked, by one of his friends, on +what pretence he could charge the bishop with such an action, he had no +more to say than that he had only inverted the accusation; and that he +thought it reasonable to believe that he who obstructed the rise of a +good man without reason would for bad reasons promote the exaltation +of a villain. The clergy were universally provoked by this satire; +and Savage, who, as was his constant practice, had set his name to his +performance, was censured in The Weekly Miscellany with severity, which +he did not seem inclined to forget. + +But return of invective was not thought a sufficient punishment. The +Court of King's Bench was therefore moved against him; and he was +obliged to return an answer to a charge of obscenity. It was urged, in +his defence, that obscenity was criminal when it was intended to promote +the practice of vice; but that Mr. Savage had only introduced obscene +ideas with the view of exposing them to detestation, and of amending the +age by showing the deformity of wickedness. This plea was admitted; +and Sir Philip Yorke, who then presided in that court, dismissed the +information, with encomiums upon the purity and excellence of Mr. +Savage's writings. The prosecution, however, answered in some measure +the purpose of those by whom it was set on foot; for Mr. Savage was so +far intimidated by it that, when the edition of his poem was sold, he +did not venture to reprint it; so that it was in a short time forgotten, +or forgotten by all but those whom it offended. It is said that some +endeavours were used to incense the queen against him: but he found +advocates to obviate at least part of their effect; for though he was +never advanced, he still continued to receive his pension. + +This poem drew more infamy upon him than any incident of his life; and, +as his conduct cannot be vindicated, it is proper to secure his memory +from reproach by informing those whom he made his enemies that he never +intended to repeat the provocation; and that, though whenever he thought +he had any reason to complain of the clergy, he used to threaten them +with a new edition of "The Progress of a Divine," it was his calm and +settled resolution to suppress it for ever. + +He once intended to have made a better reparation for the folly or +injustice with which he might be charged, by writing another poem, +called "The Progress of a Free-thinker," whom he intended to lead +through all the stages of vice and folly, to convert him from virtue to +wickedness, and from religion to infidelity, by all the modish sophistry +used for that purpose; and at last to dismiss him by his own hand into +the other world. That he did not execute this design is a real loss +to mankind; for he was too well acquainted with all the scenes of +debauchery to have failed in his representations of them, and too +zealous for virtue not to have represented them in such a manner as +should expose them either to ridicule or detestation. But this plan was, +like others, formed and laid aside, till the vigour of his imagination +was spent, and the effervescence of invention had subsided; but soon +gave way to some other design, which pleased by its novelty for awhile, +and then was neglected like the former. + +He was still in his usual exigencies, having no certain support but the +pension allowed him by the queen, which, though it might have kept an +exact economist from want, was very far from being sufficient for Mr. +Savage, who had never been accustomed to dismiss any of his appetites +without the gratification which they solicited, and whom nothing but +want of money withheld from partaking of every pleasure that fell within +his view. His conduct with regard to his pension was very particular. +No sooner had he changed the bill than he vanished from the sight of +all his acquaintance, and lay for some time out of the reach of all the +inquiries that friendship or curiosity could make after him. At length +he appeared again, penniless as before, but never informed even those +whom he seemed to regard most where he had been; nor was his retreat +ever discovered. This was his constant practice during the whole time +that he received the pension from the queen: he regularly disappeared +and returned. He, indeed, affirmed that he retired to study, and that +the money supported him in solitude for many months; but his friends +declared that the short time in which it was spent sufficiently confuted +his own account of his conduct. + +His politeness and his wit still raised him friends who were desirous +of setting him at length free from that indigence by which he had been +hitherto oppressed; and therefore solicited Sir Robert Walpole in his +favour with so much earnestness that they obtained a promise of the +next place that should become vacant, not exceeding two hundred pounds +a year. This promise was made with an uncommon declaration, "that it was +not the promise of a minister to a petitioner, but of a friend to his +friend." + +Mr. Savage now concluded himself set at ease for ever, and, as he +observes in a poem written on that incident of his life, trusted, and +was trusted; but soon found that his confidence was ill-grounded, +and this friendly promise was not inviolable. He spent a long time in +solicitations, and at last despaired and desisted. He did not indeed +deny that he had given the minister some reason to believe that he +should not strengthen his own interest by advancing him, for he had +taken care to distinguish himself in coffee-houses, as an advocate for +the ministry of the last years of Queen Anne, and was always ready to +justify the conduct, and exalt the character, of Lord Bolingbroke, whom +he mentions with great regard in an Epistle upon Authors, which he wrote +about that time, but was too wise to publish, and of which only some +fragments have appeared, inserted by him in the Magazine after his +retirement. + +To despair was not, however, the character of Savage; when one patronage +failed, he had recourse to another. The Prince was now extremely +popular, and had very liberally rewarded the merit of some writers whom +Mr. Savage did not think superior to himself, and therefore he resolved +to address a poem to him. For this purpose he made choice of a subject +which could regard only persons of the highest rank and greatest +affluence, and which was therefore proper for a poem intended to procure +the patronage of a prince; and having retired for some time to Richmond, +that he might prosecute his design in full tranquillity, without the +temptations of pleasure, or the solicitations of creditors, by which his +meditations were in equal danger of being disconcerted, he produced a +poem "On Public Spirit, with regard to Public Works." + +The plan of this poem is very extensive, and comprises a multitude +of topics, each of which might furnish matter sufficient for a long +performance, and of which some have already employed more eminent +writers; but as he was perhaps not fully acquainted with the whole +extent of his own design, and was writing to obtain a supply of +wants too pressing to admit of long or accurate inquiries, he passes +negligently over many public works which, even in his own opinion, +deserved to be more elaborately treated. + +But though he may sometimes disappoint his reader by transient touches +upon these subjects, which have often been considered, and therefore +naturally raise expectations, he must be allowed amply to compensate his +omissions by expatiating, in the conclusion of his work, upon a kind +of beneficence not yet celebrated by any eminent poet, though it now +appears more susceptible of embellishments, more adapted to exalt the +ideas and affect the passions, than many of those which have hitherto +been thought most worthy of the ornament of verse. The settlement +of colonies in uninhabited countries, the establishment of those +in security whose misfortunes have made their own country no longer +pleasing or safe, the acquisition of property without injury to any, +the appropriation of the waste and luxuriant bounties of nature, and +the enjoyment of those gifts which Heaven has scattered upon regions +uncultivated and unoccupied, cannot be considered without giving rise +to a great number of pleasing ideas, and bewildering the imagination +in delightful prospects; and therefore, whatever speculations they may +produce in those who have confined themselves to political studies, +naturally fixed the attention, and excited the applause, of a poet. +The politician, when he considers men driven into other countries for +shelter, and obliged to retire to forests and deserts, and pass their +lives and fix their posterity in the remotest corners of the world to +avoid those hardships which they suffer or fear in their native place, +may very properly inquire why the legislature does not provide a remedy +for these miseries rather than encourage an escape from them. He may +conclude that the flight of every honest man is a loss to the community; +that those who are unhappy without guilt ought to be relieved; and the +life which is overburthened by accidental calamities set at ease by +the care of the public; and that those who have by misconduct forfeited +their claim to favour ought rather to be made useful to the society +which they have injured than be driven from it. But the poet is employed +in a more pleasing undertaking than that of proposing laws which, +however just or expedient, will never be made; or endeavouring to reduce +to rational schemes of government societies which were formed by chance, +and are conducted by the private passions of those who preside in them. +He guides the unhappy fugitive, from want and persecution, to plenty, +quiet, and security, and seats him in scenes of peaceful solitude and +undisturbed repose. + +Savage has not forgotten, amidst the pleasing sentiments which this +prospect of retirement suggested to him, to censure those crimes which +have been generally committed by the discoverers of new regions, and +to expose the enormous wickedness of making war upon barbarous nations +because they cannot resist, and of invading countries because they +are fruitful; of extending navigation only to propagate vice; and of +visiting distant lands only to lay them waste. He has asserted the +natural equality of mankind, and endeavoured to suppress that pride +which inclines men to imagine that right is the consequence of power. +His description of the various miseries which force men to seek for +refuge in distant countries affords another instance of his proficiency +in the important and extensive study of human life; and the tenderness +with which he recounts them, another proof of his humanity and +benevolence. + +It is observable that the close of this poem discovers a change which +experience had made in Mr. Savage's opinions. In a poem written by +him in his youth, and published in his Miscellanies, he declares his +contempt of the contracted views and narrow prospects of the middle +state of life, and declares his resolution either to tower like the +cedar, or be trampled like the shrub; but in this poem, though addressed +to a prince, he mentions this state of life as comprising those who +ought most to attract reward, those who merit most the confidence of +power and the familiarity of greatness; and, accidentally mentioning +this passage to one of his friends, declared that in his opinion all the +virtue of mankind was comprehended in that state. + +In describing villas and gardens he did not omit to condemn that absurd +custom which prevails among the English of permitting servants to +receive money from strangers for the entertainment that they receive, +and therefore inserted in his poem these lines: + + "But what the flowering pride of gardens rare, + However royal, or however fair, + If gates which to excess should still give way, + Ope but, like Peter's paradise, for pay; + If perquisited varlets frequent stand, + And each new walk must a new tax demand; + What foreign eye but with contempt surveys? + What Muse shall from oblivion snatch their praise?" + +But before the publication of his performance he recollected that the +queen allowed her garden and cave at Richmond to be shown for money; and +that she so openly countenanced the practice that she had bestowed the +privilege of showing them as a place of profit on a man whose merit she +valued herself upon rewarding, though she gave him only the liberty of +disgracing his country. He therefore thought, with more prudence than +was often exerted by him, that the publication of these lines might be +officiously represented as an insult upon the queen, to whom he owed +his life and his subsistence; and that the propriety of his observation +would be no security against the censures which the unseasonableness of +it might draw upon him; he therefore suppressed the passage in the first +edition, but after the queen's death thought the same caution no longer +necessary, and restored it to the proper place. The poem was, therefore, +published without any political faults, and inscribed to the prince; but +Mr. Savage, having no friend upon whom he could prevail to present it +to him, had no other method of attracting his observation than the +publication of frequent advertisements, and therefore received no +reward from his patron, however generous on other occasions. This +disappointment he never mentioned without indignation, being by some +means or other confident that the prince was not ignorant of his address +to him; and insinuated that if any advances in popularity could have +been made by distinguishing him, he had not written without notice +or without reward. He was once inclined to have presented his poem in +person and sent to the printer for a copy with that design; but either +his opinion changed or his resolution deserted him, and he continued to +resent neglect without attempting to force himself into regard. Nor was +the public much more favourable than his patron; for only seventy-two +were sold, though the performance was much commended by some whose +judgment in that kind of writing is generally allowed. But Savage easily +reconciled himself to mankind without imputing any defect to his work, +by observing that his poem was unluckily published two days after the +prorogation of the parliament, and by consequence at a time when all +those who could be expected to regard it were in the hurry of preparing +for their departure, or engaged in taking leave of others upon +their dismission from public affairs. It must be however allowed, in +justification of the public, that this performance is not the most +excellent of Mr. Savage's works; and that, though it cannot be denied to +contain many striking sentiments, majestic lines, and just observations, +it is in general not sufficiently polished in the language, or enlivened +in the imagery, or digested in the plan. Thus his poem contributed +nothing to the alleviation of his poverty, which was such as very few +could have supported with equal patience; but to which it must likewise +be confessed that few would have been exposed who received punctually +fifty pounds a year; a salary which, though by no means equal to +the demands of vanity and luxury, is yet found sufficient to support +families above want, and was undoubtedly more than the necessities of +life require. + +But no sooner had he received his pension than he withdrew to his +darling privacy, from which he returned in a short time to his former +distress, and for some part of the year generally lived by chance, +eating only when he was invited to the tables of his acquaintances, from +which the meanness of his dress often excluded him, when the politeness +and variety of his conversation would have been thought a sufficient +recompense for his entertainment. He lodged as much by accident as he +dined, and passed the night sometimes in mean houses which are set open +at night to any casual wanderers; sometimes in cellars, among the +riot and filth of the meanest and most profligate of the rabble; and +sometimes, when he had not money to support even the expenses of these +receptacles, walked about the streets till he was weary, and lay down +in the summer upon the bulk, or in the winter, with his associate, in +poverty, among the ashes of a glass-house. + +In this manner were passed those days and those nights which nature had +enabled him to have employed in elevated speculations, useful studies, +or pleasing conversation. On a bulk, in a cellar, or in a glass-house, +among thieves and beggars, was to be found the author of "The +Wanderer," the man of exalted sentiments, extensive views, and curious +observations; the man whose remarks on life might have assisted the +statesman, whose ideas of virtue might have enlightened the moralist, +whose eloquence might have influenced senates, and whose delicacy might +have polished courts. It cannot but be imagined that such necessities +might sometimes force him upon disreputable practices; and it is +probable that these lines in "The Wanderer" were occasioned by his +reflections on his own conduct: + + "Though misery leads to happiness and truth, + Unequal to the load this languid youth, + (Oh, let none censure, if, untried by grief, + If, amidst woe, untempted by relief), + He stooped reluctant to low arts of shame, + Which then, e'en then, he scorned, and blushed to name." + +Whoever was acquainted with him was certain to be solicited for small +sums, which the frequency of the request made in time considerable; +and he was therefore quickly shunned by those who were become familiar +enough to be trusted with his necessities; but his rambling manner +of life, and constant appearance at houses of public resort, always +procured him a new succession of friends whose kindness had not been +exhausted by repeated requests; so that he was seldom absolutely without +resources, but had in his utmost exigencies this comfort, that he always +imagined himself sure of speedy relief. It was observed that he always +asked favours of this kind without the least submission or apparent +consciousness of dependence, and that he did not seem to look upon +a compliance with his request as an obligation that deserved any +extraordinary acknowledgments; but a refusal was resented by him as an +affront, or complained of as an injury; nor did he readily reconcile +himself to those who either denied to lend, or gave him afterwards any +intimation that they expected to be repaid. He was sometimes so far +compassionated by those who knew both his merit and distresses that they +received him into their families, but they soon discovered him to be a +very incommodious inmate; for, being always accustomed to an irregular +manner of life, he could not confine himself to any stated hours, or pay +any regard to the rules of a family, but would prolong his conversation +till midnight, without considering that business might require his +friend's application in the morning; and, when he had persuaded himself +to retire to bed, was not, without equal difficulty, called up to +dinner: it was therefore impossible to pay him any distinction without +the entire subversion of all economy, a kind of establishment which, +wherever he went, he always appeared ambitious to overthrow. It must +therefore be acknowledged, in justification of mankind, that it was +not always by the negligence or coldness of his friends that Savage was +distressed, but because it was in reality very difficult to preserve +him long in a state of ease. To supply him with money was a hopeless +attempt; for no sooner did he see himself master of a sum sufficient to +set him free from care for a day than he became profuse and luxurious. +When once he had entered a tavern, or engaged in a scheme of pleasure, +he never retired till want of money obliged him to some new expedient. +If he was entertained in a family, nothing was any longer to be regarded +there but amusement and jollity; wherever Savage entered, he immediately +expected that order and business should fly before him, that all should +thenceforward be left to hazard, and that no dull principle of domestic +management should be opposed to his inclination or intrude upon his +gaiety. His distresses, however afflictive, never dejected him; in his +lowest state he wanted not spirit to assert the natural dignity of wit, +and was always ready to repress that insolence which the superiority of +fortune incited, and to trample on that reputation which rose upon +any other basis than that of merit: he never admitted any gross +familiarities, or submitted to be treated otherwise than as an equal. +Once when he was without lodging, meat, or clothes, one of his friends, +a man indeed not remarkable for moderation in his prosperity, left a +message that he desired to see him about nine in the morning. Savage +knew that his intention was to assist him, but was very much disgusted +that he should presume to prescribe the hour of his attendance, and, I +believe, refused to visit him, and rejected his kindness. + +The same invincible temper, whether firmness or obstinacy, appeared in +his conduct to the Lord Tyrconnel, from whom he very frequently demanded +that the allowance which was once paid him should be restored; but +with whom he never appeared to entertain for a moment the thought of +soliciting a reconciliation, and whom he treated at once with all the +haughtiness of superiority and all the bitterness of resentment. +He wrote to him, not in a style of supplication or respect, but of +reproach, menace, and contempt; and appeared determined, if he ever +regained his allowance, to hold it only by the right of conquest. + +As many more can discover that a man is richer than that he is wiser +than themselves, superiority of understanding is not so readily +acknowledged as that of fortune; nor is that haughtiness which the +consciousness of great abilities incites, borne with the same submission +as the tyranny of affluence; and therefore Savage, by asserting his +claim to deference and regard, and by treating those with contempt whom +better fortune animated to rebel against him, did not fail to raise a +great number of enemies in the different classes of mankind. Those who +thought themselves raised above him by the advantages of riches hated +him because they found no protection from the petulance of his wit. +Those who were esteemed for their writings feared him as a critic, +and maligned him as a rival; and almost all the smaller wits were his +professed enemies. + +Among these Mr. Miller so far indulged his resentment as to introduce +him in a farce, and direct him to be personated on the stage in a dress +like that which he then wore; a mean insult, which only insinuated that +Savage had but one coat, and which was therefore despised by him rather +than resented; for, though he wrote a lampoon against Miller, he never +printed it: and as no other person ought to prosecute that revenge from +which the person who was injured desisted, I shall not preserve what +Mr. Savage suppressed; of which the publication would indeed have been a +punishment too severe for so impotent an assault. + +The great hardships of poverty were to Savage not the want of lodging or +food, but the neglect and contempt which it drew upon him. He complained +that, as his affairs grew desperate, he found his reputation for +capacity visibly decline; that his opinion in questions of criticism was +no longer regarded when his coat was out of fashion; and that those who, +in the interval of his prosperity, were always encouraging him to great +undertakings by encomiums on his genius and assurances of success, now +received any mention of his designs with coldness, thought that the +subjects on which he proposed to write were very difficult, and were +ready to inform him that the event of a poem was uncertain, that an +author ought to employ much time in the consideration of his plan, and +not presume to sit down to write in consequence of a few cursory ideas +and a superficial knowledge; difficulties were started on all sides, +and he was no longer qualified for any performance but "The Volunteer +Laureate." + +Yet even this kind of contempt never depressed him: for he always +preserved a steady confidence in his own capacity, and believed nothing +above his reach which he should at any time earnestly endeavour to +attain. He formed schemes of the same kind with regard to knowledge and +to fortune, and flattered himself with advances to be made in science, +as with riches, to be enjoyed in some distant period of his life. For +the acquisition of knowledge he was indeed much better qualified than +for that of riches; for he was naturally inquisitive, and desirous of +the conversation of those from whom any information was to be obtained, +but by no means solicitous to improve those opportunities that were +sometimes offered of raising his fortune; and he was remarkably +retentive of his ideas, which, when once he was in possession of them, +rarely forsook him; a quality which could never be communicated to his +money. + +While he was thus wearing out his life in expectation that the queen +would some time recollect her promise, he had recourse to the usual +practice of writers, and published proposals for printing his works by +subscription, to which he was encouraged by the success of many who had +not a better right to the favour of the public; but, whatever was the +reason, he did not find the world equally inclined to favour him; and he +observed with some discontent, that though he offered his works at half +a guinea, he was able to procure but a small number in comparison +with those who subscribed twice as much to Duck. Nor was it without +indignation that he saw his proposals neglected by the queen, who +patronised Mr. Duck's with uncommon ardour, and incited a competition +among those who attended the court who should most promote his interest, +and who should first offer a subscription. This was a distinction +to which Mr. Savage made no scruple of asserting that his birth, his +misfortunes, and his genius, gave a fairer title than could be pleaded +by him on whom it was conferred. + +Savage's applications were, however, not universally unsuccessful; for +some of the nobility countenanced his design, encouraged his proposals, +and subscribed with great liberality. He related of the Duke of Chandos +particularly, that upon receiving his proposals he sent him ten guineas. +But the money which his subscriptions afforded him was not less +volatile than that which he received from his other schemes; whenever +a subscription was paid him, he went to a tavern; and as money so +collected is necessarily received in small sums, he never was able +to send his poems to the press, but for many years continued his +solicitation, and squandered whatever he obtained. + +The project of printing his works was frequently revived; and as his +proposals grew obsolete, new ones were printed with fresher dates. To +form schemes for the publication was one of his favourite amusements; +nor was he ever more at ease than when, with any friend who readily +fell in with his schemes, he was adjusting the print, forming the +advertisements, and regulating the dispersion of his new edition, +which he really intended some time to publish, and which, as long +as experience had shown him the impossibility of printing the volume +together, he at last determined to divide into weekly or monthly +numbers, that the profits of the first might supply the expenses of the +next. + +Thus he spent his time in mean expedients and tormenting suspense, +living for the greatest part in fear of prosecutions from his creditors, +and consequently skulking in obscure parts of the town, of which he was +no stranger to the remotest corners. But wherever he came, his address +secured him friends, whom his necessities soon alienated; so that he had +perhaps a more numerous acquaintance than any man ever before attained, +there being scarcely any person eminent on any account to whom he +was not known, or whose character he was not in some degree able to +delineate. To the acquisition of this extensive acquaintance every +circumstance of his life contributed. He excelled in the arts of +conversation, and therefore willingly practised them. He had seldom any +home, or even a lodging, in which he could be private, and therefore +was driven into public-houses for the common conveniences of life and +supports of nature. He was always ready to comply with every invitation, +having no employment to withhold him, and often no money to provide for +himself; and by dining with one company he never failed of obtaining an +introduction into another. + +Thus dissipated was his life, and thus casual his subsistence; yet did +not the distraction of his views hinder him from reflection, nor the +uncertainty of his condition depress his gaiety. When he had wandered +about without any fortunate adventure by which he was led into a tavern, +he sometimes retired into the fields, and was able to employ his mind in +study, to amuse it with pleasing imaginations; and seldom appeared to be +melancholy but when some sudden misfortune had just fallen upon him; +and even then in a few moments he would disentangle himself from his +perplexity, adopt the subject of conversation, and apply his mind wholly +to the objects that others presented to it. This life, unhappy as it may +be already imagined, was yet embittered in 1738 with new calamities. The +death of the queen deprived him of all the prospects of preferment with +which he so long entertained his imagination; and as Sir Robert Walpole +had before given him reason to believe that he never intended the +performance of his promise, he was now abandoned again to fortune. He +was, however, at that time supported by a friend; and as it was not his +custom to look out for distant calamities, or to feel any other pain +than that which forced itself upon his senses, he was not much afflicted +at his loss, and perhaps comforted himself that his pension would be now +continued without the annual tribute of a panegyric. Another expectation +contributed likewise to support him; he had taken a resolution to write +a second tragedy upon the story of Sir Thomas Overbury, in which he +preserved a few lines of his former play, but made a total alteration of +the plan, added new incidents, and introduced new characters; so that it +was a new tragedy, not a revival of the former. + +Many of his friends blamed him for not making choice of another subject; +but in vindication of himself he asserted that it was not easy to find a +better; and that he thought it his interest to extinguish the memory of +the first tragedy, which he could only do by writing one less defective +upon the same story; by which he should entirely defeat the artifice of +the booksellers, who, after the death of any author of reputation, are +always industrious to swell his works by uniting his worst productions +with his best. In the execution of this scheme, however, he proceeded +but slowly, and probably only employed himself upon it when he could +find no other amusement; but he pleased himself with counting the +profits, and perhaps imagined that the theatrical reputation which he +was about to acquire would be equivalent to all that he had lost by the +death of his patroness. He did not, in confidence of his approaching +riches, neglect the measures proper to secure the continuance of his +pension, though some of his favourers thought him culpable for omitting +to write on her death; but on her birthday next year he gave a proof of +the solidity of his judgment and the power of his genius. He knew that +the track of elegy had been so long beaten that it was impossible to +travel in it without treading in the footsteps of those who had +gone before him; and that therefore it was necessary, that he might +distinguish himself from the herd of encomiasts, to find out some new +walk of funeral panegyric. This difficult task he performed in such a +manner that his poem may be justly ranked among the best pieces that the +death of princes has produced. By transferring the mention of her death +to her birthday, he has formed a happy combination of topics which any +other man would have thought it very difficult to connect in one view, +but which he has united in such a manner that the relation between them +appears natural; and it may be justly said that what no other man would +have thought on, it now appears scarcely possible for any man to miss. + +The beauty of this peculiar combination of images is so masterly that +it is sufficient to set this poem above censure; and therefore it is not +necessary to mention many other delicate touches which may be found in +it, and which would deservedly be admired in any other performance. To +these proofs of his genius may be added, from the same poem, an +instance of his prudence, an excellence for which he was not so often +distinguished; he does not forget to remind the king, in the most +delicate and artful manner, of continuing his pension. + +With regard to the success of his address he was for some time in +suspense, but was in no great degree solicitous about it; and continued +his labour upon his new tragedy with great tranquillity, till the friend +who had for a considerable time supported him, removing his family to +another place, took occasion to dismiss him. It then became necessary to +inquire more diligently what was determined in his affair, having reason +to suspect that no great favour was intended him, because he had not +received his pension at the usual time. + +It is said that he did not take those methods of retrieving his interest +which were most likely to succeed; and some of those who were employed +in the Exchequer cautioned him against too much violence in his +proceedings; but Mr. Savage, who seldom regulated his conduct by the +advice of others, gave way to his passion, and demanded of Sir Robert +Walpole, at his levee, the reason of the distinction that was made +between him and the other pensioners of the queen, with a degree of +roughness which perhaps determined him to withdraw what had been only +delayed. + +Whatever was the crime of which he was accused or suspected, and +whatever influence was employed against him, he received soon after an +account that took from him all hopes of regaining his pension; and he +had now no prospect of subsistence but from his play, and he knew no way +of living for the time required to finish it. + +So peculiar were the misfortunes of this man, deprived of an estate and +title by a particular law, exposed and abandoned by a mother, defrauded +by a mother of a fortune which his father had allotted him, he entered +the world without a friend; and though his abilities forced themselves +into esteem and reputation, he was never able to obtain any real +advantage; and whatever prospects arose, were always intercepted as +he began to approach them. The king's intentions in his favour were +frustrated; his dedication to the prince, whose generosity on every +other occasion was eminent, procured him no reward; Sir Robert Walpole, +who valued himself upon keeping his promise to others, broke it to +him without regret; and the bounty of the queen was, after her death, +withdrawn from him, and from him only. + +Such were his misfortunes, which yet he bore, not only with decency, +but with cheerfulness; nor was his gaiety clouded even by his last +disappointments, though he was in a short time reduced to the lowest +degree of distress, and often wanted both lodging and food. At this time +he gave another instance of the insurmountable obstinacy of his spirit: +his clothes were worn out, and he received notice that at a coffee-house +some clothes and linen were left for him: the person who sent them did +not, I believe, inform him to whom he was to be obliged, that he might +spare the perplexity of acknowledging the benefit; but though the offer +was so far generous, it was made with some neglect of ceremonies, which +Mr. Savage so much resented that he refused the present, and declined +to enter the house till the clothes that had been designed for him were +taken away. + +His distress was now publicly known, and his friends therefore thought +it proper to concert some measures for his relief; and one of them +[Pope] wrote a letter to him, in which he expressed his concern "for +the miserable withdrawing of this pension;" and gave him hopes that in +a short time he should find himself supplied with a competence, "without +any dependence on those little creatures which we are pleased to +call the Great." The scheme proposed for this happy and independent +subsistence was, that he should retire into Wales, and receive an +allowance of fifty pounds a year, to be raised by a subscription, on +which he was to live privately in a cheap place, without aspiring any +more to affluence, or having any further care of reputation. This offer +Mr. Savage gladly accepted, though with intentions very different from +those of his friends; for they proposed that he should continue an exile +from London for ever, and spend all the remaining part of his life at +Swansea; but he designed only to take the opportunity which their scheme +offered him of retreating for a short time, that he might prepare his +play for the stage, and his other works for the press, and then to +return to London to exhibit his tragedy, and live upon the profits +of his own labour. With regard to his works he proposed very great +improvements, which would have required much time or great application; +and, when he had finished them, he designed to do justice to his +subscribers by publishing them according to his proposals. As he was +ready to entertain himself with future pleasures, he had planned out a +scheme of life for the country, of which he had no knowledge but from +pastorals and songs. He imagined that he should be transported to scenes +of flowery felicity, like those which one poet has reflected to another; +and had projected a perpetual round of innocent pleasures, of which he +suspected no interruption from pride, or ignorance, or brutality. With +these expectations he was so enchanted that when he was once gently +reproached by a friend for submitting to live upon a subscription, +and advised rather by a resolute exertion of his abilities to support +himself, he could not bear to debar himself from the happiness which +was to be found in the calm of a cottage, or lose the opportunity of +listening, without intermission, to the melody of the nightingale, which +he believed was to be heard from every bramble, and which he did not +fail to mention as a very important part of the happiness of a country +life. + +While this scheme was ripening, his friends directed him to take a +lodging in the liberties of the Fleet, that he might be secure from his +creditors, and sent him every Monday a guinea, which he commonly spent +before the next morning, and trusted, after his usual manner, the +remaining part of the week to the bounty of fortune. + +He now began very sensibly to feel the miseries of dependence. Those +by whom he was to be supported began to prescribe to him with an air of +authority, which he knew not how decently to resent, nor patiently +to bear; and he soon discovered from the conduct of most of his +subscribers, that he was yet in the hands of "little creatures." Of the +insolence that he was obliged to suffer he gave many instances, of which +none appeared to raise his indignation to a greater height than the +method which was taken of furnishing him with clothes. Instead of +consulting him, and allowing him to send a tailor his orders for what +they thought proper to allow him, they proposed to send for a tailor to +take his measure, and then to consult how they should equip him. This +treatment was not very delicate, nor was it such as Savage's humanity +would have suggested to him on a like occasion; but it had scarcely +deserved mention, had it not, by affecting him in an uncommon degree, +shown the peculiarity of his character. Upon hearing the design that was +formed, he came to the lodging of a friend with the most violent +agonies of rage; and, being asked what it could be that gave him such +disturbance, he replied with the utmost vehemence of indignation, "That +they had sent for a tailor to measure him." + +How the affair ended was never inquired, for fear of renewing his +uneasiness. It is probable that, upon recollection, he submitted with +a good grace to what he could not avoid, and that he discovered no +resentment where he had no power. He was, however, not humbled to +implicit and universal compliance; for when the gentleman who had first +informed him of the design to support him by a subscription attempted to +procure a reconciliation with the Lord Tyrconnel, he could by no means +be prevailed upon to comply with the measures that were proposed. + +A letter was written for him to Sir William Lemon, to prevail upon him +to interpose his good offices with Lord Tyrconnel, in which he solicited +Sir William's assistance "for a man who really needed it as much as any +man could well do;" and informed him that he was retiring "for ever to +a place where he should no more trouble his relations, friends, or +enemies;" he confessed that his passion had betrayed him to some +conduct, with regard to Lord Tyrconnel, for which he could not but +heartily ask his pardon; and as he imagined Lord Tyrconnel's passion +might be yet so high, that he would not "receive a letter from him," +begged that Sir William would endeavour to soften him; and expressed +his hopes that he would comply with this request, and that "so small a +relation would not harden his heart against him." + +That any man should presume to dictate a letter to him was not very +agreeable to Mr. Savage; and therefore he was, before he had opened +it, not much inclined to approve it. But when he read it he found it +contained sentiments entirely opposite to his own, and, as he asserted, +to the truth; and therefore, instead of copying it, wrote his friend +a letter full of masculine resentment and warm expostulations. He +very justly observed, that the style was too supplicatory, and the +representation too abject, and that he ought at least to have made him +complain with "the dignity of a gentleman in distress." He declared that +he would not write the paragraph in which he was to ask Lord Tyrconnel's +pardon; for, "he despised his pardon, and therefore could not heartily, +and would not hypocritically, ask it." He remarked that his friend made +a very unreasonable distinction between himself and him; for, says he, +"when you mention men of high rank in your own character," they are +"those little creatures whom we are pleased to call the Great;" but when +you address them "in mine," no servility is sufficiently humble. He then +with propriety explained the ill consequences which might be expected +from such a letter, which his relations would print in their own +defence, and which would for ever be produced as a full answer to all +that he should allege against them; for he always intended to publish +a minute account of the treatment which he had received. It is to be +remembered, to the honour of the gentleman by whom this letter was drawn +up, that he yielded to Mr. Savage's reasons, and agreed that it ought to +be suppressed. + +After many alterations and delays, a subscription was at length raised, +which did not amount to fifty pounds a year, though twenty were paid by +one gentleman; such was the generosity of mankind, that what had been +done by a player without solicitation, could not now be effected by +application and interest; and Savage had a great number to court and to +obey for a pension less than that which Mrs. Oldfield paid him without +exacting any servilities. Mr. Savage, however, was satisfied, and +willing to retire, and was convinced that the allowance, though scanty, +would be more than sufficient for him, being now determined to +commence a rigid economist, and to live according to the exact rules of +frugality; for nothing was in his opinion more contemptible than a man +who, when he knew his income, exceeded it; and yet he confessed that +instances of such folly were too common, and lamented that some men were +not trusted with their own money. + +Full of these salutary resolutions, he left London in July, 1739, having +taken leave with great tenderness of his friends, and parted from the +author of this narrative with tears in his eyes. He was furnished with +fifteen guineas, and informed that they would be sufficient, not only +for the expense of his journey, but for his support in Wales for some +time; and that there remained but little more of the first collection. +He promised a strict adherence to his maxims of parsimony, and went away +in the stage-coach; nor did his friends expect to hear from him till he +informed them of his arrival at Swansea. But when they least expected, +arrived a letter dated the fourteenth day after his departure, in which +he sent them word that he was yet upon the road, and without money; and +that he therefore could not proceed without a remittance. They then +sent him the money that was in their hands, with which he was enabled to +reach Bristol, from whence he was to go to Swansea by water. + +At Bristol he found an embargo laid upon the shipping, so that he could +not immediately obtain a passage; and being therefore obliged to stay +there some time, he with his usual felicity ingratiated himself +with many of the principal inhabitants, was invited to their houses, +distinguished at their public feasts, and treated with a regard that +gratified his vanity, and therefore easily engaged his affection. + +He began very early after his retirement to complain of the conduct +of his friends in London, and irritated many of them so much by his +letters, that they withdrew, however honourably, their contributions; +and it is believed that little more was paid him than the twenty +pounds a year, which were allowed him by the gentleman who proposed the +subscription. + +After some stay at Bristol he retired to Swansea, the place originally +proposed for his residence, where he lived about a year, very much +dissatisfied with the diminution of his salary; but contracted, as in +other places, acquaintance with those who were most distinguished in +that country, among whom he has celebrated Mr. Powel and Mrs. Jones, +by some verses which he inserted in The Gentleman's Magazine. Here +he completed his tragedy, of which two acts were wanting when he left +London; and was desirous of coming to town, to bring it upon the stage. +This design was very warmly opposed; and he was advised, by his chief +benefactor, to put it into the hands of Mr. Thomson and Mr. Mallet, that +it might be fitted for the stage, and to allow his friends to receive +the profits, out of which an annual pension should be paid him. + +This proposal he rejected with the utmost contempt. He was by no means +convinced that the judgment of those to whom he was required to submit +was superior to his own. He was now determined, as he expressed it, to +be "no longer kept in leading-strings," and had no elevated idea of +"his bounty, who proposed to pension him out of the profits of his own +labours." + +He attempted in Wales to promote a subscription for his works, and +had once hopes of success; but in a short time afterwards formed a +resolution of leaving that part of the country, to which he thought it +not reasonable to be confined for the gratification of those who, having +promised him a liberal income, had no sooner banished him to a remote +corner than they reduced his allowance to a salary scarcely equal to the +necessities of life. His resentment of this treatment, which, in his own +opinion at least, he had not deserved, was such, that he broke off all +correspondence with most of his contributors, and appeared to consider +them as persecutors and oppressors; and in the latter part of his life +declared that their conduct towards him since his departure from London +"had been perfidiousness improving on perfidiousness, and inhumanity on +inhumanity." + +It is not to be supposed that the necessities of Mr. Savage did not +sometimes incite him to satirical exaggerations of the behaviour of +those by whom he thought himself reduced to them. But it must be granted +that the diminution of his allowance was a great hardship, and that +those who withdrew their subscription from a man who, upon the faith +of their promise, had gone into a kind of banishment, and abandoned all +those by whom he had been before relieved in his distresses, will find +it no easy task to vindicate their conduct. It may be alleged, and +perhaps justly, that he was petulant and contemptuous; that he more +frequently reproached his subscribers for not giving him more, than +thanked them for what he received; but it is to be remembered that his +conduct, and this is the worst charge that can be drawn up against him, +did them no real injury, and that it therefore ought rather to have been +pitied than resented; at least the resentment it might provoke ought +to have been generous and manly; epithets which his conduct will hardly +deserve that starves the man whom he has persuaded to put himself into +his power. + +It might have been reasonably demanded by Savage, that they should, +before they had taken away what they promised, have replaced him in +his former state, that they should have taken no advantages from the +situation to which the appearance of their kindness had reduced him, and +that he should have been recalled to London before he was abandoned. He +might justly represent, that he ought to have been considered as a lion +in the toils, and demand to be released before the dogs should be loosed +upon him. He endeavoured, indeed, to release himself, and, with an +intent to return to London, went to Bristol, where a repetition of the +kindness which he had formerly found, invited him to stay. He was not +only caressed and treated, but had a collection made for him of about +thirty pounds, with which it had been happy if he had immediately +departed for London; but his negligence did not suffer him to consider +that such proofs of kindness were not often to be expected, and that +this ardour of benevolence was in a great degree the effect of novelty, +and might, probably, be every day less; and therefore he took no care +to improve the happy time, but was encouraged by one favour to hope +for another, till at length generosity was exhausted, and officiousness +wearied. + +Another part of his misconduct was the practice of prolonging his visits +to unseasonable hours, and disconcerting all the families into which +he was admitted. This was an error in a place of commerce which all the +charms of his conversation could not compensate; for what trader would +purchase such airy satisfaction by the loss of solid gain, which must be +the consequence of midnight merriment, as those hours which were gained +at night were generally lost in the morning? Thus Mr. Savage, after +the curiosity of the inhabitants was gratified, found the number of his +friends daily decreasing, perhaps without suspecting for what reason +their conduct was altered; for he still continued to harass, with his +nocturnal intrusions, those that yet countenanced him, and admitted him +to their houses. + +But he did not spend all the time of his residence at Bristol in visits +or at taverns, for he sometimes returned to his studies, and began +several considerable designs. When he felt an inclination to write, +he always retired from the knowledge of his friends, and lay hid in an +obscure part of the suburbs, till he found himself again desirous of +company, to which it is likely that intervals of absence made him more +welcome. He was always full of his design of returning to London, to +bring his tragedy upon the stage; but, having neglected to depart with +the money that was raised for him, he could not afterwards procure a sum +sufficient to defray the expenses of his journey; nor perhaps would +a fresh supply have had any other effect than, by putting immediate +pleasures into his power, to have driven the thoughts of his journey out +of his mind. While he was thus spending the day in contriving a scheme +for the morrow, distress stole upon him by imperceptible degrees. His +conduct had already wearied some of those who were at first enamoured of +his conversation; but he might, perhaps, still have devolved to others, +whom he might have entertained with equal success, had not the decay of +his clothes made it no longer consistent with their vanity to admit him +to their tables, or to associate with him in public places. He now began +to find every man from home at whose house he called; and was therefore +no longer able to procure the necessaries of life, but wandered about +the town, slighted and neglected, in quest of a dinner, which he did not +always obtain. + +To complete his misery, he was pursued by the officers for small debts +which he had contracted; and was therefore obliged to withdraw from +the small number of friends from whom he had still reason to hope for +favours. His custom was to lie in bed the greatest part of the day, and +to get out in the dark with the utmost privacy, and, after having paid +his visit, return again before morning to his lodging, which was in the +garret of an obscure inn. Being thus excluded on one hand, and confined +on the other, he suffered the utmost extremities of poverty, and often +fasted so long that he was seized with faintness, and had lost his +appetite, not being able to bear the smell of meat till the action of +his stomach was restored by a cordial. In this distress, he received a +remittance of five pounds from London, with which he provided himself +a decent coat, and determined to go to London, but unhappily spent his +money at a favourite tavern. Thus was he again confined to Bristol, +where he was every day hunted by bailiffs. In this exigence he once +more found a friend, who sheltered him in his house, though at the usual +inconveniences with which his company was attended; for he could neither +be persuaded to go to bed in the night nor to rise in the day. + +It is observable, that in these various scenes of misery he was always +disengaged and cheerful: he at some times pursued his studies, and at +others continued or enlarged his epistolary correspondence; nor was +he ever so far dejected as to endeavour to procure an increase of his +allowance by any other methods than accusations and reproaches. + +He had now no longer any hopes of assistance from his friends at +Bristol, who as merchants, and by consequence sufficiently studious +of profit, cannot be supposed to have looked with much compassion upon +negligence and extravagance, or to think any excellence equivalent to +a fault of such consequence as neglect of economy. It is natural to +imagine, that many of those who would have relieved his real wants, were +discouraged from the exertion of their benevolence by observation of the +use which was made of their favours, and conviction that relief would be +only momentary, and that the same necessity would quickly return. + +At last he quitted the house of his friend, and returned to his lodgings +at the inn, still intending to set out in a few days for London, but +on the 10th of January, 1742-3, having been at supper with two of his +friends, he was at his return to his lodgings arrested for a debt of +about eight pounds, which he owed at a coffee-house, and conducted to +the house of a sheriff's officer. The account which he gives of this +misfortune, in a letter to one of the gentlemen with whom he had supped, +is too remarkable to be omitted. + +"It was not a little unfortunate for me, that I spent yesterday's +evening with you; because the hour hindered me from entering on my +new lodging; however, I have now got one, but such an one as I believe +nobody would choose. + +"I was arrested at the suit of Mrs. Read, just as I was going upstairs +to bed, at Mr. Bowyer's; but taken in so private a manner, that I +believe nobody at the White Lion is apprised of it; though I let the +officers know the strength, or rather weakness, of my pocket, yet they +treated me with the utmost civility; and even when they conducted me to +confinement, it was in such a manner, that I verily believe I could have +escaped, which I would rather be ruined than have done, notwithstanding +the whole amount of my finances was but threepence halfpenny. + +"In the first place, I must insist that you will industriously conceal +this from Mrs. S---s, because I would not have her good nature suffer +that pain which I know she would be apt to feel on this occasion. + +"Next, I conjure you, dear sir, by all the ties of friendship, by no +means to have one uneasy thought on my account; but to have the same +pleasantry of countenance, and unruffled serenity of mind, which (God +be praised!) I have in this, and have had in a much severer calamity. +Furthermore, I charge you, if you value my friendship as truly as I do +yours, not to utter, or even harbour, the least resentment against Mrs. +Read. I believe she has ruined me, but I freely forgive her; and +(though I will never more have any intimacy with her) I would, at a due +distance, rather do her an act of good than ill-will. Lastly (pardon +the expression), I absolutely command you not to offer me any pecuniary +assistance nor to attempt getting me any from any one of your friends. +At another time, or on any other occasion, you may, dear friend, be well +assured I would rather write to you in the submissive style of a request +than that of a peremptory command. + +"However, that my truly valuable friend may not think I am too proud to +ask a favour, let me entreat you to let me have your boy to attend me +for this day, not only for the sake of saving me the expense of porters, +but for the delivery of some letters to people whose names I would not +have known to strangers. + +"The civil treatment I have thus far met from those whose prisoner I +am, makes me thankful to the Almighty, that though He has thought fit +to visit me (on my birth-night) with affliction, yet (such is His great +goodness!) my affliction is not without alleviating circumstances. I +murmur not; but am all resignation to the divine will. As to the world, +I hope that I shall be endued by Heaven with that presence of mind, that +serene dignity in misfortune, that constitutes the character of a true +nobleman; a dignity far beyond that of coronets; a nobility arising +from the just principles of philosophy, refined and exalted by those of +Christianity." + +He continued five days at the officer's, in hopes that he should be able +to procure bail, and avoid the necessity of going to prison. The state +in which he passed his time, and the treatment which he received, are +very justly expressed by him in a letter which he wrote to a friend: +"The whole day," says he, "has been employed in various people's filling +my head with their foolish chimerical systems, which has obliged me +coolly (as far as nature will admit) to digest, and accommodate myself +to every different person's way of thinking; hurried from one wild +system to another, till it has quite made a chaos of my imagination, and +nothing done--promised--disappointed--ordered to send, every hour, from +one part of the town to the other." + +When his friends, who had hitherto caressed and applauded, found that +to give bail and pay the debt was the same, they all refused to preserve +him from a prison at the expense of eight pounds: and therefore, +after having been for some time at the officer's house "at an immense +expense," as he observes in his letter, he was at length removed to +Newgate. This expense he was enabled to support by the generosity of Mr. +Nash at Bath, who, upon receiving from him an account of his condition, +immediately sent him five guineas, and promised to promote his +subscription at Bath with all his interest. + +By his removal to Newgate he obtained at least a freedom from suspense, +and rest from the disturbing vicissitudes of hope and disappointment: +he now found that his friends were only companions who were willing to +share his gaiety, but not to partake of his misfortunes; and therefore +he no longer expected any assistance from them. It must, however, be +observed of one gentleman, that he offered to release him by paying +the debt, but that Mr. Savage would not consent, I suppose because he +thought he had before been too burthensome to him. He was offered +by some of his friends that a collection should be made for his +enlargement; but he "treated the proposal," and declared "he should +again treat it, with disdain. As to writing any mendicant letters, he +had too high a spirit, and determined only to write to some ministers of +state, to try to regain his pension." + +He continued to complain of those that had sent him into the country, +and objected to them, that he had "lost the profits of his play, which +had been finished three years;" and in another letter declares his +resolution to publish a pamphlet, that the world might know how "he had +been used." + +This pamphlet was never written; for he in a very short time recovered +his usual tranquillity, and cheerfully applied himself to more +inoffensive studies. He, indeed, steadily declared that he was promised +a yearly allowance of fifty pounds, and never received half the sum; but +he seemed to resign himself to that as well as to other misfortunes, +and lose the remembrance of it in his amusements and employments. +The cheerfulness with which he bore his confinement appears from the +following letter, which he wrote January the 30th, to one of his friends +in London: + +"I now write to you from my confinement in Newgate, where I have been +ever since Monday last was se'nnight, and where I enjoy myself with much +more tranquillity than I have known for upwards of a twelvemonth past; +having a room entirely to myself, and pursuing the amusement of my +poetical studies, uninterrupted, and agreeable to my mind. I thank the +Almighty, I am now all collected in myself; and, though my person is in +confinement, my mind can expatiate on ample and useful subjects with +all the freedom imaginable. I am now more conversant with the Nine than +ever, and if, instead of a Newgate bird, I may be allowed to be a +bird of the Muses, I assure you, sir, I sing very freely in my cage; +sometimes, indeed, in the plaintive notes of the nightingale; but at +others, in the cheerful strains of the lark." + +In another letter he observes, that he ranges from one subject to +another, without confining himself to any particular task; and that he +was employed one week upon one attempt, and the next upon another. + +Surely the fortitude of this man deserves, at least, to be mentioned +with applause; and, whatever faults may be imputed to him, the virtue +of suffering well cannot be denied him. The two powers which, in the +opinion of Epictetus, constituted a wise man, are those of bearing and +forbearing, which it cannot indeed be affirmed to have been equally +possessed by Savage; and indeed the want of one obliged him very +frequently to practise the other. He was treated by Mr. Dagge, the +keeper of the prison, with great humanity; was supported by him at his +own table, without any certainty of a recompense; had a room to himself, +to which he could at any time retire from all disturbance; was allowed +to stand at the door of the prison, and sometimes taken out into the +fields; so that he suffered fewer hardships in prison than he had been +accustomed to undergo in the greatest part of his life. + +The keeper did not confine his benevolence to a gentle execution of his +office, but made some overtures to the creditor for his release, +though without effect; and continued, during the whole time of his +imprisonment, to treat him with the utmost tenderness and civility. + +Virtue is undoubtedly most laudable in that state which makes it most +difficult; and therefore the humanity of a gaoler certainly deserves +this public attestation; and the man whose heart has not been +hardened by such an employment may be justly proposed as a pattern +of benevolence. If an inscription was once engraved "to the honest +toll-gatherer," less honours ought not to be paid "to the tender +gaoler." + +Mr. Savage very frequently received visits, and sometimes presents, from +his acquaintances: but they did not amount to a subsistence, for the +greater part of which he was indebted to the generosity of this keeper; +but these favours, however they might endear to him the particular +persons from whom he received them, were very far from impressing upon +his mind any advantageous ideas of the people of Bristol, and therefore +he thought he could not more properly employ himself in prison than in +writing a poem called "London and Bristol Delineated." + +When he had brought this poem to its present state, which, without +considering the chasm, is not perfect, he wrote to London an account of +his design, and informed his friend that he was determined to print it +with his name; but enjoined him not to communicate his intention to +his Bristol acquaintance. The gentleman, surprised at his resolution, +endeavoured to persuade him from publishing it, at least from prefixing +his name; and declared that he could not reconcile the injunction of +secrecy with his resolution to own it at its first appearance. To +this Mr. Savage returned an answer agreeable to his character, in the +following terms:-- + +"I received yours this morning; and not without a little surprise at the +contents. To answer a question with a question, you ask me concerning +London and Bristol, why will I add DELINEATED? Why did Mr. Woolaston add +the same word to his Religion of Nature? I suppose that it was his will +and pleasure to add it in his case: and it is mine to do so in my +own. You are pleased to tell me that you understand not why secrecy is +enjoined, and yet I intend to set my name to it. My answer is,--I have +my private reasons, which I am not obliged to explain to any one. You +doubt my friend Mr. S----would not approve of it. And what is it to me +whether he does or not? Do you imagine that Mr. S---- is to dictate to +me? If any man who calls himself my friend should assume such an air, I +would spurn at his friendship with contempt. You say, I seem to think so +by not letting him know it. And suppose I do, what then? Perhaps I can +give reasons for that disapprobation, very foreign from what you would +imagine. You go on in saying, Suppose I should not put my name to it. My +answer is, that I will not suppose any such thing, being determined to +the contrary: neither, sir, would I have you suppose that I applied to +you for want of another press: nor would I have you imagine that I owe +Mr. S---- obligations which I do not." + +Such was his imprudence, and such his obstinate adherence to his own +resolutions, however absurd! A prisoner! supported by charity! and, +whatever insults he might have received during the latter part of his +stay at Bristol, once caressed, esteemed, and presented with a liberal +collection, he could forget on a sudden his danger and his obligations, +to gratify the petulance of his wit or the eagerness of his resentment, +and publish a satire by which he might reasonably expect that he should +alienate those who then supported him, and provoke those whom he could +neither resist nor escape. + +This resolution, from the execution of which it is probable that only +his death could have hindered him, is sufficient to show how much he +disregarded all considerations that opposed his present passions, +and how readily he hazarded all future advantages for any immediate +gratifications. Whatever was his predominant inclination, neither hope +nor fear hindered him from complying with it; nor had opposition any +other effect than to heighten his ardour and irritate his vehemence. + +This performance was, however, laid aside while he was employed in +soliciting assistance from several great persons; and one interruption +succeeding another, hindered him from supplying the chasm, and perhaps +from retouching the other parts, which he can hardly be imagined to have +finished in his own opinion; for it is very unequal, and some of the +lines are rather inserted to rhyme to others, than to support or improve +the sense; but the first and last parts are worked up with great spirit +and elegance. + +His time was spent in the prison for the most part in study, or in +receiving visits; but sometimes he descended to lower amusements, and +diverted himself in the kitchen with the conversation of the criminals; +for it was not pleasing to him to be much without company; and though he +was very capable of a judicious choice, he was often contented with the +first that offered. For this he was sometimes reproved by his friends, +who found him surrounded with felons; but the reproof was on that, as +on other occasions, thrown away; he continued to gratify himself, and +to set very little value on the opinion of others. But here, as in every +other scene of his life, he made use of such opportunities as occurred +of benefiting those who were more miserable than himself, and was always +ready to perform any office of humanity to his fellow-prisoners. + +He had now ceased from corresponding with any of his subscribers except +one, who yet continued to remit him the twenty pounds a year which he +had promised him, and by whom it was expected that he would have been +in a very short time enlarged, because he had directed the keeper to +inquire after the state of his debts. However, he took care to enter +his name according to the forms of the court, that the creditor might be +obliged to make him some allowance, if he was continued a prisoner, and +when on that occasion he appeared in the hall, was treated with very +unusual respect. But the resentment of the city was afterwards raised +by some accounts that had been spread of the satire; and he was informed +that some of the merchants intended to pay the allowance which the law +required, and to detain him a prisoner at their own expense. This +he treated as an empty menace; and perhaps might have hastened the +publication, only to show how much he was superior to their insults, had +not all his schemes been suddenly destroyed. + +When he had been six months in prison, he received from one of his +friends, in whose kindness he had the greatest confidence, and on whose +assistance he chiefly depended, a letter that contained a charge of +very atrocious ingratitude, drawn up in such terms as sudden resentment +dictated. Henley, in one of his advertisements, had mentioned "Pope's +treatment of Savage." This was supposed by Pope to be the consequence of +a complaint made by Savage to Henley, and was therefore mentioned by him +with much resentment. Mr. Savage returned a very solemn protestation of +his innocence, but, however, appeared much disturbed at the accusation. +Some days afterwards he was seized with a pain in his back and side, +which, as it was not violent, was not suspected to be dangerous; but +growing daily more languid and dejected, on the 25th of July he confined +himself to his room, and a fever seized his spirits. The symptoms grew +every day more formidable, but his condition did not enable him to +procure any assistance. The last time that the keeper saw him was on +July the 31st, 1743; when Savage, seeing him at his bedside, said, with +an uncommon earnestness, "I have something to say to you, sir;" but, +after a pause, moved his hand in a melancholy manner; and, finding +himself unable to recollect what he was going to communicate, said, +"'Tis gone!" The keeper soon after left him; and the next morning he +died. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Peter, at the expense of +the keeper. + +Such were the life and death of Richard Savage, a man equally +distinguished by his virtues and vices; and at once remarkable for his +weaknesses and abilities. He was of a middle stature, of a thin habit of +body, a long visage, coarse features, and melancholy aspect; of a grave +and manly deportment, a solemn dignity of mien, but which, upon a nearer +acquaintance, softened into an engaging easiness of manners. His walk +was slow, and his voice tremulous and mournful. He was easily excited +to smiles, but very seldom provoked to laughter. His mind was in an +uncommon degree vigorous and active. His judgment was accurate, his +apprehension quick, and his memory so tenacious, that he was frequently +observed to know what he had learned from others, in a short time, +better that those by whom he was informed; and could frequently +recollect incidents with all their combination of circumstances, which +few would have regarded at the present time, but which the quickness of +his apprehension impressed upon him. He had the art of escaping from his +own reflections, and accommodating himself to every new scene. + +To this quality is to be imputed the extent of his knowledge, compared +with the small time which he spent in visible endeavours to acquire it. +He mingled in cursory conversation with the same steadiness of attention +as others apply to a lecture; and amidst the appearance of thoughtless +gaiety lost no new idea that was started, nor any hint that could be +improved. He had therefore made in coffee-houses the same proficiency as +others in their closets; and it is remarkable that the writings of a man +of little education and little reading have an air of learning scarcely +to be found in any other performances, but which perhaps as often +obscures as embellishes them. + +His judgment was eminently exact both with regard to writings and to +men. The knowledge of life was indeed his chief attainment; and it is +not without some satisfaction that I can produce the suffrage of Savage +in favour of human nature, of which he never appeared to entertain +such odious ideas as some who perhaps had neither his judgment nor +experience, have published, either in ostentation of their sagacity, +vindication of their crimes, or gratification of their malice. + +His method of life particularly qualified him for conversation, of which +he knew how to practise all the graces. He was never vehement or loud, +but at once modest and easy, open and respectful; his language was +vivacious or elegant, and equally happy upon grave and humorous +subjects. He was generally censured for not knowing when to retire; but +that was not the defect of his judgment, but of his fortune: when he +left his company he used frequently to spend the remaining part of the +night in the street, or at least was abandoned to gloomy reflections, +which it is not strange that he delayed as long as he could; and +sometimes forgot that he gave others pain to avoid it himself. + +It cannot be said that he made use of his abilities for the direction of +his own conduct; an irregular and dissipated manner of life had made him +the slave of every passion that happened to be excited by the presence +of its object, and that slavery to his passions reciprocally produced a +life irregular and dissipated. He was not master of his own motions, nor +could promise anything for the next day. + +With regard to his economy, nothing can be added to the relation of his +life. He appeared to think himself born to be supported by others, and +dispensed from all necessity of providing for himself; he therefore +never prosecuted any scheme of advantage, nor endeavoured even to secure +the profits which his writings might have afforded him. His temper +was, in consequence of the dominion of his passions, uncertain and +capricious; he was easily engaged, and easily disgusted; but he is +accused of retaining his hatred more tenaciously than his benevolence. +He was compassionate both by nature and principle, and always ready to +perform offices of humanity; but when he was provoked (and very small +offences were sufficient to provoke him), he would prosecute his revenge +with the utmost acrimony till his passion had subsided. + +His friendship was therefore of little value; for though he was zealous +in the support or vindication of those whom he loved, yet it was always +dangerous to trust him, because he considered himself as discharged +by the first quarrel from all ties of honour and gratitude; and would +betray those secrets which in the warmth of confidence had been +imparted to him. This practice drew upon him an universal accusation of +ingratitude; nor can it be denied that he was very ready to set himself +free from the load of an obligation; for he could not bear to conceive +himself in a state of dependence, his pride being equally powerful with +his other passions, and appearing in the form of insolence at one time, +and of vanity at another. Vanity, the most innocent species of pride, +was most frequently predominant: he could not easily leave off, when he +had once begun to mention himself or his works; nor ever read his verses +without stealing his eyes from the page, to discover in the faces of his +audience how they were affected with any favourite passage. + +A kinder name than that of vanity ought to be given to the delicacy with +which he was always careful to separate his own merit from every other +man's, and to reject that praise to which he had no claim. He did not +forget, in mentioning his performances, to mark every line that had +been suggested or amended; and was so accurate as to relate that he owed +three words in "The Wanderer" to the advice of his friends. His veracity +was questioned, but with little reason; his accounts, though not indeed +always the same, were generally consistent. When he loved any man, +he suppressed all his faults; and when he had been offended by him, +concealed all his virtues; but his characters were generally true, so +far as he proceeded; though it cannot be denied that his partiality +might have sometimes the effect of falsehood. + +In cases indifferent he was zealous for virtue, truth, and justice: +he knew very well the necessity of goodness to the present and future +happiness of mankind; nor is there perhaps any writer who has less +endeavoured to please by flattering the appetites, or perverting the +judgment. + +As an author, therefore, and he now ceases to influence mankind in +any other character, if one piece which he had resolved to suppress +be excepted, he has very little to fear from the strictest moral or +religious censure. And though he may not be altogether secure against +the objections of the critic, it must however be acknowledged that his +works are the productions of a genius truly poetical; and, what many +writers who have been more lavishly applauded cannot boast, that they +have an original air, which has no resemblance of any foregoing +writer, that the versification and sentiments have a cast peculiar to +themselves, which no man can imitate with success, because what was +nature in Savage would in another be affectation. It must be confessed +that his descriptions are striking, his images animated, his fictions +justly imagined, and his allegories artfully pursued; that his diction +is elevated, though sometimes forced, and his numbers sonorous and +majestic, though frequently sluggish and encumbered. Of his style the +general fault is harshness, and its general excellence is dignity; of +his sentiments, the prevailing beauty is simplicity, and uniformity the +prevailing defect. + +For his life, or for his writings, none who candidly consider his +fortune will think an apology either necessary or difficult. If he was +not always sufficiently instructed in his subject, his knowledge was at +least greater than could have been attained by others in the same state. +If his works were sometimes unfinished, accuracy cannot reasonably +be expected from a man oppressed with want, which he has no hope of +relieving but by a speedy publication. The insolence and resentment +of which he is accused were not easily to be avoided by a great mind +irritated by perpetual hardships and constrained hourly to return the +spurns of contempt, and repress the insolence of prosperity; and vanity +surely may be readily pardoned in him, to whom life afforded no other +comforts than barren praises, and the consciousness of deserving them. + +Those are no proper judges of his conduct who have slumbered away their +time on the down of plenty; nor will any wise man easily presume to say, +"Had I been in Savage's condition, I should have lived or written better +than Savage." + +This relation will not be wholly without its use, if those who languish +under any part of his sufferings shall be enabled to fortify their +patience by reflecting that they feel only these afflictions from which +the abilities of Savage did not exempt him; or those who, in confidence +of superior capacities or attainments, disregard the common maxims of +life, shall be reminded that nothing will supply the want of prudence; +and that negligence and irregularity, long continued, will make +knowledge useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible. + + + + +SWIFT. + + +An account of Dr. Swift has been already collected, with great diligence +and acuteness, by Dr. Hawkesworth, according to a scheme which I laid +before him in the intimacy of our friendship. I cannot therefore be +expected to say much of a life, concerning which I had long since +communicated my thoughts to a man capable of dignifying his narrations +with so much elegance of language and force of sentiment. + +Jonathan Swift was, according to an account said to be written by +himself, the son of Jonathan Swift, an attorney, and was born at Dublin +on St. Andrew's day, 1667: according to his own report, as delivered by +Pope to Spence, he was born at Leicester, the son of a clergyman who was +minister of a parish in Herefordshire. During his life the place of his +birth was undetermined. He was contented to be called an Irishman by the +Irish; but would occasionally call himself an Englishman. The question +may, without much regret, be left in the obscurity in which he delighted +to involve it. + +Whatever was his birth, his education was Irish. He was sent at the age +of six to the school at Kilkenny, and in his fifteenth year (1682) was +admitted into the University of Dublin. In his academical studies he +was either not diligent or not happy. It must disappoint every reader's +expectation, that, when at the usual time he claimed the Bachelorship +of Arts, he was found by the examiners too conspicuously deficient for +regular admission, and obtained his degree at last by SPECIAL FAVOUR; a +term used in that university to denote want of merit. + +Of this disgrace it may be easily supposed that he was much ashamed, and +shame had its proper effect in producing reformation. He resolved from +that time to study eight hours a day, and continued his industry for +seven years, with what improvement is sufficiently known. This part +of his story well deserves to be remembered; it may afford useful +admonition and powerful encouragement to men whose abilities have been +made for a time useless by their passions or pleasures, and who having +lost one part of life in idleness, are tempted to throw away the +remainder in despair. In this course of daily application he continued +three years longer at Dublin; and in this time, if the observation and +memory of an old companion may be trusted, he drew the first sketch of +his "Tale of a Tub." + +When he was about one-and-twenty (1688), being by the death of Godwin +Swift, his uncle, who had supported him, left without subsistence, +he went to consult his mother, who then lived at Leicester, about the +future course of his life; and by her direction solicited the advice +and patronage of Sir William Temple, who had married one of Mrs. Swift's +relations, and whose father Sir John Temple, Master of the Rolls in +Ireland, had lived in great familiarity of friendship with Godwin Swift, +by whom Jonathan had been to that time maintained. + +Temple received with sufficient kindness the nephew of his father's +friend, with whom he was, when they conversed together, so much pleased, +that he detained him two years in his house. Here he became known to +King William, who sometimes visited Temple, when he was disabled by the +gout, and, being attended by Swift in the garden, showed him how to cut +asparagus in the Dutch way. King William's notions were all military; +and he expressed his kindness to Swift by offering to make him a captain +of horse. + +When Temple removed to Moor Park, he took Swift with him; and when he +was consulted by the Earl of Portland about the expedience of complying +with a bill then depending for making parliaments triennial, against +which King William was strongly prejudiced, after having in vain tried +to show the earl that the proposal involved nothing dangerous to royal +power, he sent Swift for the same purpose to the king. Swift, who +probably was proud of his employment, and went with all the confidence +of a young man, found his arguments, and his art of displaying them, +made totally ineffectual by the predetermination of the king; and used +to mention this disappointment as his first antidote against vanity. +Before he left Ireland he contracted a disorder, as he thought, by +eating too much fruit. The original of diseases is commonly obscure. +Almost everybody eats as much fruit as he can get, without any great +inconvenience. The disease of Swift was giddiness with deafness, which +attacked him from time to time, began very early, pursued him through +life, and at last sent him to the grave, deprived of reason. Being much +oppressed at Moor Park by this grievous malady, he was advised to try +his native air, and went to Ireland; but finding no benefit, returned +to Sir William, at whose house he continued his studies, and is known to +have read, among other books, Cyprian and Irenaeus. He thought exercise +of great necessity, and used to run half a mile up and down a hill every +two hours. + +It is easy to imagine that the mode in which his first degree was +conferred left him no great fondness for the University of Dublin, +and therefore he resolved to become a Master of Arts at Oxford. In the +testimonial which he produced the words of disgrace were omitted; and he +took his Master's degree (July 5, 1692) with such reception and regard +as fully contented him. + +While he lived with Temple, he used to pay his mother at Leicester a +yearly visit. He travelled on foot, unless some violence of weather +drove him into a waggon; and at night he would go to a penny lodging, +where he purchased clean sheets for sixpence. This practice Lord Orrery +imputes to his innate love of grossness and vulgarity: some may ascribe +it to his desire of surveying human life through all its varieties: and +others, perhaps with equal probability, to a passion which seems to have +been deeply fixed in his heart, the love of a shilling. In time he began +to think that his attendance at Moor Park deserved some other recompense +than the pleasure, however mingled with improvement, of Temple's +conversation; and grew so impatient, that (1694) he went away in +discontent. Temple, conscious of having given reason for complaint, +is said to have made him deputy Master of the Rolls in Ireland; which, +according to his kinsman's account, was an office which he knew him not +able to discharge. Swift therefore resolved to enter into the Church, +in which he had at first no higher hopes than of the chaplainship to the +Factory at Lisbon; but being recommended to Lord Capel, he obtained the +prebend of Kilroot in Connor, of about a hundred pounds a year. But the +infirmities of Temple made a companion like Swift so necessary, that he +invited him back, with a promise to procure him English preferment in +exchange for the prebend, which he desired him to resign. With +this request Swift complied, having perhaps equally repented their +separation, and they lived on together with mutual satisfaction; and, in +the four years that passed between his return and Temple's death, it +is probable that he wrote the "Tale of a Tub," and the "Battle of the +Books." + +Swift began early to think, or to hope, that he was a poet, and wrote +Pindaric Odes to Temple, to the king, and to the Athenian Society, a +knot of obscure men, who published a periodical pamphlet of answers to +questions, sent, or supposed to be sent, by letters. I have been told +that Dryden, having perused these verses, said, "Cousin Swift, you will +never be a poet;" and that this denunciation was the motive of Swift's +perpetual malevolence to Dryden. In 1699 Temple died, and left a legacy +with his manuscripts to Swift, for whom he had obtained, from King +William, a promise of the first prebend that should be vacant at +Westminster or Canterbury. That this promise might not be forgotten, +Swift dedicated to the king the posthumous works with which he was +intrusted; but neither the dedication, nor tenderness for the man +whom he once had treated with confidence and fondness, revived in King +William the remembrance of his promise. Swift awhile attended the Court; +but soon found his solicitations hopeless. He was then invited by +the Earl of Berkeley to accompany him into Ireland, as his private +secretary; but, after having done the business till their arrival +at Dublin, he then found that one Bush had persuaded the earl that a +clergyman was not a proper secretary, and had obtained the office for +himself. In a man like Swift, such circumvention and inconstancy must +have excited violent indignation. But he had yet more to suffer. Lord +Berkeley had the disposal of the deanery of Derry, and Swift expected +to obtain it; but by the secretary's influence, supposed to have been +secured by a bribe, it was bestowed on somebody else; and Swift was +dismissed with the livings of Laracor and Rathbeggin in the diocese of +Meath, which together did not equal half the value of the deanery. At +Laracor he increased the parochial duty by reading prayers on Wednesdays +and Fridays, and performed all the offices of his profession with great +decency and exactness. + +Soon after his settlement at Laracor, he invited to Ireland the +unfortunate Stella, a young woman whose name was Johnson, the daughter +of the steward of Sir William Temple, who, in consideration of her +father's virtues, left her a thousand pounds. With her came Mrs. +Dingley, whose whole fortune was twenty-seven pounds a year for her +life. With these ladies he passed his hours of relaxation, and to them +he opened his bosom; but they never resided in the same house, nor did +he see either without a witness. They lived at the Parsonage when Swift +was away, and, when he returned, removed to a lodging, or to the house +of a neighbouring clergyman. + +Swift was not one of those minds which amaze the world with early +pregnancy: his first work, except his few poetical Essays, was the +"Dissensions in Athens and Rome," published (1701) in his thirty-fourth +year. After its appearance, paying a visit to some bishop, he heard +mention made of the new pamphlet that Burnet had written, replete with +political knowledge. When he seemed to doubt Burnet's right to the +work, he was told by the bishop that he was "a young man," and still +persisting to doubt, that he was "a very positive young man." + +Three years afterwards (1704) was published "The Tale of a Tub;" of this +book charity may be persuaded to think that it might be written by a man +of a peculiar character without ill intention; but it is certainly of +dangerous example. That Swift was its author, though it be universally +believed, was never owned by himself, nor very well proved by any +evidence; but no other claimant can be produced, and he did not deny it +when Archbishop Sharp and the Duchess of Somerset, by showing it to the +queen, debarred him from a bishopric. When this wild work first raised +the attention of the public, Sacheverell, meeting Smalridge, tried to +flatter him by seeming to think him the author, but Smalridge answered +with indignation, "Not all that you and I have in the world, nor all +that ever we shall have, should hire me to write the 'Tale of a Tub.'" + +The digression relating to Wotton and Bentley must be confessed to +discover want of knowledge or want of integrity; he did not understand +the two controversies, or he willingly misrepresented them. But Wit can +stand its ground against Truth only a little while. The honours due to +Learning have been justly distributed by the decision of posterity. + +"The Battle of the Books" is so like the "Combat des Livres," which +the same question concerning the Ancients and Moderns had produced in +France, that the improbability of such a coincidence of thoughts +without communication, is not, in my opinion, balanced by the anonymous +protestation prefixed, in which all knowledge of the French book is +peremptorily disowned. + +For some time after, Swift was probably employed in solitary study, +gaining the qualifications requisite for future eminence. How often he +visited England, and with what diligence he attended his parishes, I +know not. It was not till about four years afterwards that he became a +professed author; and then one year (1708) produced "The Sentiments of +a Church of England Man;" the ridicule of Astrology under the name of +"Bickerstaff;" the "Argument against abolishing Christianity;" and the +defence of the "Sacramental Test." + +"The Sentiments of a Church of England Man" is written with great +coolness, moderation, ease, and perspicuity. The "Argument against +abolishing Christianity" is a very happy and judicious irony. One +passage in it deserves to be selected:-- + +"If Christianity were once abolished, how could the free-thinkers, the +strong reasoners, and the men of profound learning, be able to find +another subject so calculated, in all points, whereon to display their +abilities? What wonderful productions of wit should we be deprived of +from those whose genius, by continual practice, hath been wholly turned +upon raillery and invectives against religion, and would therefore never +be able to shine or distinguish themselves upon any other subject! We +are daily complaining of the great decline of wit among us, and would +take away the greatest, perhaps the only topic we have left. Who would +ever have suspected Asgill for a wit, or Toland for a philosopher, if +the inexhaustible stock of Christianity had not been at hand to provide +them with materials? What other subject, through all art or nature, +could have produced Tindal for a profound author, or furnished him with +readers? It is the wise choice of the subject that alone adorns and +distinguishes the writer. For had a hundred such pens as these been +employed on the side of religion, they would have immediately sunk into +silence and oblivion." + +The reasonableness of a "Test" is not hard to be proved; but perhaps it +must be allowed that the proper test has not been chosen. The attention +paid to the papers published under the name of "Bickerstaff," induced +Steele, when he projected the Tatler, to assume an appellation which had +already gained possession of the reader's notice. + +In the year following he wrote a "Project for the Advancement of +Religion," addressed to Lady Berkeley, by whose kindness it is not +unlikely that he was advanced to his benefices. To this project, +which is formed with great purity of intention, and displayed with +sprightliness and elegance, it can only be objected, that, like many +projects, it is, if not generally impracticable, yet evidently hopeless, +as it supposes more zeal, concord, and perseverance than a view of +mankind gives reason for expecting. He wrote likewise this year +a "Vindication of Bickerstaff," and an explanation of an "Ancient +Prophecy," part written after the facts, and the rest never completed, +but well planned to excite amazement. + +Soon after began the busy and important part of Swift's life. He was +employed (1710) by the Primate of Ireland to solicit the queen for a +remission of the First Fruits and Twentieth Parts to the Irish Clergy. +With this purpose he had recourse to Mr. Harley, to whom he was +mentioned as a man neglected and oppressed by the last Ministry, because +he had refused to co-operate with some of their schemes. What he had +refused has never been told; what he had suffered was, I suppose, +the exclusion from a bishopric by the remonstrances of Sharp, whom he +describes as "the harmless tool of others' hate," and whom he represents +as afterwards "suing for pardon." + +Harley's designs and situation were such as made him glad of an +auxiliary so well qualified for his service: he therefore soon admitted +him to familiarity, whether ever to confidence some have made a doubt; +but it would have been difficult to excite his zeal without persuading +him that he was trusted, and not very easy to delude him by false +persuasions. He was certainly admitted to those meetings in which +the first hints and original plan of action are supposed to have been +formed; and was one of the sixteen ministers, or agents of the Ministry, +who met weekly at each other's houses, and were united by the name of +"Brother." Being not immediately considered as an obdurate Tory, he +conversed indiscriminately with all the wits, and was yet the friend of +Steele; who, in the Tatler, which began in April, 1709, confesses the +advantage of his conversation, and mentions something contributed by him +to his paper. But he was now emerging into political controversy; for +the year 1710 produced the Examiner, of which Swift wrote thirty-three +papers. In argument he may be allowed to have the advantage: for where +a wide system of conduct, and the whole of a public character, is laid +open to inquiry, the accuser, having the choice of facts, must be very +unskilful if he does not prevail: but with regard to wit, I am afraid +none of Swift's papers will be found equal to those by which Addison +opposed him. + +He wrote in the year 1711 a "Letter to the October Club," a number +of Tory gentlemen sent from the country to Parliament, who formed +themselves into a club, to the number of about a hundred, and met to +animate the zeal and raise the expectations of each other. They thought, +with great reason, that the Ministers were losing opportunities; that +sufficient use was not made of the ardour of the nation; they called +loudly for more changes, and stronger efforts; and demanded the +punishment of part and the dismission of the rest, of those whom they +considered as public robbers. Their eagerness was not gratified by the +queen, or by Harley. The queen was probably slow because she was afraid; +and Harley was slow because he was doubtful; he was a Tory only by +necessity, or for convenience; and, when he had power in his hands, had +no settled purpose for which he should employ it; forced to gratify to +a certain degree the Tories who supported him, but unwilling to make his +reconcilement to the Whigs utterly desperate, he corresponded at once +with the two expectants of the Crown, and kept, as has been observed, +the succession undetermined. Not knowing what to do, he did nothing; +and, with the fate of a double dealer, at last he lost his power, but +kept his enemies. + +Swift seems to have concurred in opinion with the "October Club;" but +it was not in his power to quicken the tardiness of Harley, whom he +stimulated as much as he could, but with little effect. He that knows +not whither to go, is in no haste to move. Harley, who was perhaps not +quick by nature, became yet more slow by irresolution; and was content +to hear that dilatoriness lamented as natural, which he applauded in +himself as politic. Without the Tories, however, nothing could be done; +and, as they were not to be gratified, they must be appeased; and +the conduct of the Minister, if it could not be vindicated, was to be +plausibly excused. + +Early in the next year he published a "Proposal for Correcting, +Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue," in a Letter to the +Earl of Oxford; written without much knowledge of the general nature +of language, and without any accurate inquiry into the history of other +tongues. The certainty and stability which, contrary to all experience, +he thinks attainable, he proposes to secure by instituting an academy; +the decrees of which every man would have been willing, and many would +have been proud, to disobey, and which, being renewed by successive +elections, would in a short time have differed from itself. + +Swift now attained the zenith of his political importance: he published +(1712) the "Conduct of the Allies," ten days before the Parliament +assembled. The purpose was to persuade the nation to a peace; and +never had any writer more success. The people, who had been amused with +bonfires and triumphal processions, and looked with idolatry on the +General and his friends, who, as they thought, had made England the +arbitress of nations, were confounded between shame and rage, when they +found that "mines had been exhausted, and millions destroyed," to secure +the Dutch or aggrandise the Emperor, without any advantage to ourselves; +that we had been bribing our neighbours to fight their own quarrel; +and that amongst our enemies we might number our allies. That is now no +longer doubted, of which the nation was then first informed, that the +war was unnecessarily protracted to fill the pockets of Marlborough; +and that it would have been continued without end, if he could have +continued his annual plunder. But Swift, I suppose, did not yet know +what he has since written, that a commission was drawn which would have +appointed him General for life, had it not become ineffectual by the +resolution of Lord Cowper, who refused the seal. + +"Whatever is received," say the schools, "is received in proportion to +the recipient." The power of a political treatise depends much upon the +disposition of the people; the nation was then combustible, and a spark +set it on fire. It is boasted, that between November and January eleven +thousand were sold: a great number at that time, when we were not yet +a nation of readers. To its propagation certainly no agency of power or +influence was wanting. It furnished arguments for conversation, speeches +for debate, and materials for parliamentary resolutions. Yet, surely, +whoever surveys this wonder-working pamphlet with cool perusal, will +confess that its efficacy was supplied by the passions of its readers; +that it operates by the mere weight of facts, with very little +assistance from the hand that produced them. + +This year (1712) he published his "Reflections on the Barrier Treaty," +which carries on the design of his "Conduct of the Allies," and shows +how little regard in that negotiation had been shown to the interest of +England, and how much of the conquered country had been demanded by +the Dutch. This was followed by "Remarks on the Bishop of Sarum's +Introduction to his third Volume of the History of the Reformation;" a +pamphlet which Burnet published as an alarm, to warn the nation of the +approach of Popery. Swift, who seems to have disliked the bishop with +something more than political aversion, treats him like one whom he is +glad of an opportunity to insult. + +Swift, being now the declared favourite and supposed confidant of the +Tory Ministry, was treated by all that depended on the Court with the +respect which dependents know how to pay. He soon began to feel part of +the misery of greatness; he that could say that he knew him, considered +himself as having fortune in his power. Commissions, solicitations, +remonstrances crowded about him; he was expected to do every man's +business; to procure employment for one, and to retain it for another. +In assisting those who addressed him, he represents himself as +sufficiently diligent; and desires to have others believe what he +probably believed himself, that by his interposition many Whigs of +merit, and among them Addison and Congreve, were continued in their +places. But every man of known influence has so many petitions which he +cannot grant, that he must necessarily offend more than he gratifies, +because the preference given to one affords all the rest reason for +complaint. "When I give away a place," said Lewis XIV., "I make a +hundred discontented, and one ungrateful." + +Much has been said of the equality and independence which he preserved +in his conversation with the Ministers; of the frankness of his +remonstrances, and the familiarity of his friendship. In accounts of +this kind a few single incidents are set against the general tenour of +behaviour. No man, however, can pay a more servile tribute to the great, +than by suffering his liberty in their presence to aggrandise him in +his own esteem. Between different ranks of the community there is +necessarily some distance; he who is called by his superior to pass +the interval, may properly accept the invitation; but petulance and +obtrusion are rarely produced by magnanimity; nor have often any nobler +cause than the pride of importance, and the malice of inferiority. He +who knows himself necessary may set, while that necessity lasts, a +high value upon himself; as, in a lower condition, a servant eminently +skilful may be saucy; but he is saucy only because he is servile. Swift +appears to have preserved the kindness of the great when they wanted him +no longer; and therefore it must be allowed, that the childish freedom, +to which he seems enough inclined, was overpowered by his better +qualities. His disinterestedness has likewise been mentioned; a +strain of heroism which would have been in his condition romantic and +superfluous. Ecclesiastical benefices, when they become vacant, must +be given away; and the friends of power may, if there be no inherent +disqualification, reasonably expect them. Swift accepted (1713) the +deanery of St. Patrick, the best preferment that his friends could +venture to give him. That Ministry was in a great degree supported by +the clergy, who were not yet reconciled to the author of the "Tale of a +Tub," and would not without much discontent and indignation have borne +to see him installed in an English cathedral. He refused, indeed, fifty +pounds from Lord Oxford; but he accepted afterwards a draught of a +thousand upon the Exchequer, which was intercepted by the queen's death, +and which he resigned, as he says himself, "multa gemens, with many a +groan." In the midst of his power and his politics, he kept a journal of +his visits, his walks, his interviews with Ministers, and quarrels with +his servant, and transmitted it to Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, to +whom he knew that whatever befell him was interesting, and no accounts +could be too minute. Whether these diurnal trifles were properly exposed +to eyes which had never received any pleasure from the presence of the +Dean may be reasonably doubted: they have, however, some odd attraction; +the reader, finding frequent mention of names which he has been used to +consider as important, goes on in hope of information; and as there +is nothing to fatigue attention, if he is disappointed he can hardly +complain. It is easy to perceive, from every page, that though ambition +pressed Swift into a life of bustle, the wish for a life of ease was +always returning. He went to take possession of his deanery as soon as +he had obtained it; but he was not suffered to stay in Ireland more than +a fortnight before he was recalled to England, that he might reconcile +Lord Oxford and Lord Bolingbroke, who began to look on one another with +malevolence, which every day increased, and which Bolingbroke appeared +to retain in his last years. + +Swift contrived an interview, from which they both departed +discontented; he procured a second, which only convinced him that the +feud was irreconcilable; he told them his opinion, that all was lost. +This denunciation was contradicted by Oxford; but Bolingbroke whispered +that he was right. Before this violent dissension had shattered the +Ministry, Swift had published, in the beginning of the year (1714), "The +Public Spirit of the Whigs," in answer to "The Crisis," a pamphlet for +which Steele was expelled from the House of Commons. Swift was now +so far alienated from Steele, as to think him no longer entitled to +decency, and therefore treats him sometimes with contempt, and sometimes +with abhorrence. In this pamphlet the Scotch were mentioned in terms so +provoking to that irritable nation, that resolving "not to be offended +with impunity," the Scotch lords in a body demanded an audience of the +queen, and solicited reparation. A proclamation was issued, in which +three hundred pounds were offered for the discovery of the author. From +this storm he was, as he relates, "secured by a sleight;" of what kind, +or by whose prudence, is not known; and such was the increase of his +reputation, that the Scottish nation "applied again that he would +be their friend." He was become so formidable to the Whigs, that +his familiarity with the Ministers was clamoured at in Parliament, +particularly by two men, afterwards of great note, Aislabie and Walpole. +But, by the disunion of his great friends, his importance and designs +were now at an end; and seeing his services at last useless, he retired +about June (1714) into Berkshire, where, in the house of a friend, he +wrote what was then suppressed, but has since appeared under the title +of "Free Thoughts on the present State of Affairs." While he was waiting +in this retirement for events which time or chance might bring to pass, +the death of the Queen broke down at once the whole system of Tory +politics; and nothing remained but to withdraw from the implacability of +triumphant Whiggism, and shelter himself in unenvied obscurity. + +The accounts of his reception in Ireland, given by Lord Orrery and +Dr. Delany, are so different, that the credit of the writers, both +undoubtedly veracious, cannot be saved, but by supposing, what I think +is true, that they speak of different times. When Delany says, that he +was received with respect, he means for the first fortnight, when he +came to take legal possession; and when Lord Orrery tells that he was +pelted by the populace, he is to be understood of the time when, after +the Queen's death, he became a settled resident. + +The Archbishop of Dublin gave him at first some disturbance in the +exercise of his jurisdiction; but it was soon discovered, that between +prudence and integrity, he was seldom in the wrong; and that, when he +was right, his spirit did not easily yield to opposition. + +Having so lately quitted the tumults of a party, and the intrigues of a +court, they still kept his thoughts in agitation, as the sea fluctuates +a while when the storm has ceased. He therefore filled his hours with +some historical attempts, relating to the "Change of the Ministers," +and "The Conduct of the Ministry." He likewise is said to have written +a "History of the Four last Years of Queen Anne," which he began in +her lifetime, and afterwards laboured with great attention, but never +published. It was after his death in the hands of Lord Orrery and Dr. +King. A book under that title was published with Swift's name by Dr. +Lucas; of which I can only say, that it seemed by no means to correspond +with the notions that I had formed of it, from a conversation which I +once heard between the Earl of Orrery and old Mr. Lewis. + +Swift now, much against his will, commenced Irishman for life, and was +to contrive how he might be best accommodated in a country where he +considered himself as in a state of exile. It seems that his first +recourse was to piety. The thoughts of death rushed upon him at this +time with such incessant importunity, that they took possession of his +mind, when he first waked, for many years together. He opened his +house by a public table two days a week, and found his entertainments +gradually frequented by more and more visitants of learning among the +men, and of elegance among the women. Mrs. Johnson had left the country, +and lived in lodgings not far from the deanery. On his public days she +regulated the table, but appeared at it as a mere guest, like other +ladies. On other days he often dined, at a stated price, with Mr. +Worral, a clergyman of his cathedral, whose house was recommended by +the peculiar neatness and pleasantry of his wife. To this frugal mode +of living, he was first disposed by care to pay some debts which he had +contracted, and he continued it for the pleasure of accumulating money. +His avarice, however, was not suffered to obstruct the claims of his +dignity; he was served in plate, and used to say that he was the poorest +gentleman in Ireland that ate upon plate, and the richest that lived +without a coach. How he spent the rest of his time, and how he employed +his hours of study, has been inquired with hopeless curiosity. For who +can give an account of another's studies? Swift was not likely to admit +any to his privacies, or to impart a minute account of his business or +his leisure. + +Soon after (1716), in his forty-ninth year, he was privately married to +Mrs. Johnson, by Dr. Ashe, Bishop of Clogher, as Dr. Madden told me, +in the garden. The marriage made no change in their mode of life; they +lived in different houses, as before; nor did she ever lodge in the +deanery but when Swift was seized with a fit of giddiness. "It would be +difficult," says Lord Orrery, "to prove that they were ever afterwards +together without a third person." + +The Dean of St. Patrick's lived in a private manner, known and regarded +only by his friends; till, about the year 1720, he, by a pamphlet, +recommended to the Irish the use, and consequently the improvement, of +their manufactures. For a man to use the productions of his own labour +is surely a natural right, and to like best what he makes himself is +a natural passion. But to excite this passion, and enforce this right, +appeared so criminal to those who had an interest in the English trade, +that the printer was imprisoned; and, as Hawkesworth justly observes, +the attention of the public being, by this outrageous resentment, turned +upon the proposal, the author was by consequence made popular. + +In 1723 died Mrs. Van Homrigh, a woman made unhappy by her admiration +of wit, and ignominiously distinguished by the name of Vanessa, whose +conduct has been already sufficiently discussed, and whose history is +too well known to be minutely repeated. She was a young woman fond of +literature, whom Decanus, the dean, called Cadenus by transposition +of the letters, took pleasure in directing and instructing: till, from +being proud of his praise, she grew fond of his person. Swift was then +about forty-seven, at an age when vanity is strongly excited by the +amorous attention of a young woman. If it be said that Swift should have +checked a passion which he never meant to gratify, recourse must be +had to that extenuation which he so much despised, "men are but men;" +perhaps, however, he did not at first know his own mind, and, as +he represents himself, was undetermined. For his admission of her +courtship, and his indulgence of her hopes after his marriage to Stella, +no other honest plea can be found than that he delayed a disagreeable +discovery from time to time, dreading the immediate bursts of distress, +and watching for a favourable moment. She thought herself neglected, +and died of disappointment, having ordered, by her will, the poem to be +published, in which Cadenus had proclaimed her excellence and confessed +his love. The effect of the publication upon the Dean and Stella is thus +related by Delany:-- + +"I have good reason to believe that they both were greatly shocked and +distressed (though it may be differently) upon this occasion. The Dean +made a tour to the south of Ireland for about two months at this time, +to dissipate his thoughts and give place to obloquy. And Stella retired +(upon the earnest invitation of the owner) to the house of a cheerful, +generous, good-natured friend of the Dean's, whom she always much loved +and honoured. There my informer often saw her, and, I have reason to +believe, used his utmost endeavours to relieve, support, and amuse +her, in this sad situation. One little incident he told me of on that +occasion I think I shall never forget. As his friend was an hospitable, +open-hearted man, well beloved and largely acquainted, it happened one +day that some gentlemen dropped in to dinner, who were strangers to +Stella's situation; and as the poem of 'Cadenus and Vanessa' was then +the general topic of conversation, one of them said, 'Surely that +Vanessa must be an extraordinary woman that could inspire the Dean to +write so finely upon her.' Mrs. Johnson smiled, and answered, 'that she +thought that point not quite so clear; for it was well known that the +Dean could write finely upon a broomstick.'" + +The great acquisition of esteem and influence was made by the "Drapier's +Letters," in 1724. One Wood, of Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, a man +enterprising and rapacious, had, as is said, by a present to the Duchess +of Munster, obtained a patent, empowering him to coin one hundred and +eighty thousand pounds of halfpence and farthings for the kingdom +of Ireland, in which there was a very inconvenient and embarrassing +scarcity of copper coin, so that it was possible to run in debt upon the +credit of a piece of money; for the cook or keeper of an alehouse could +not refuse to supply a man that had silver in his hand, and the buyer +would not leave his money without change. The project was therefore +plausible. The scarcity, which was already great, Wood took care to make +greater, by agents who gathered up the old halfpence; and was about to +turn his brass into gold, by pouring the treasures of his new mint upon +Ireland, when Swift, finding that the metal was debased to an enormous +degree, wrote letters, under the name of M. B. Drapier, to show the +folly of receiving, and the mischief that must ensue by giving gold and +silver for coin worth perhaps not a third part of its nominal value. +The nation was alarmed; the new coin was universally refused, but the +governors of Ireland considered resistance to the king's patent as +highly criminal; and one Whitshed, then Chief Justice, who had tried the +printer of the former pamphlet, and sent out the jury nine times, till +by clamour and menaces they were frightened into a special verdict, now +presented the Drapier, but could not prevail on the grand jury to find +the bill. + +Lord Carteret and the Privy Council published a proclamation, offering +three hundred pounds for discovering the author of the Fourth Letter. +Swift had concealed himself from his printers and trusted only his +butler, who transcribed the paper. The man, immediately after the +appearance of the proclamation, strolled from the house, and stayed out +all night, and part of the next day. There was reason enough to fear +that he had betrayed his master for the reward; but he came home, and +the Dean ordered him to put off his livery, and leave the house; "for," +says he, "I know that my life is in your power, and I will not bear, out +of fear, either your insolence or negligence." The man excused his fault +with great submission, and begged that he might be confined in the +house while it was in his power to endanger the master; but the Dean +resolutely turned him out, without taking further notice of him, till +the term of the information had expired, and then received him again. +Soon afterwards he ordered him and the rest of his servants into his +presence, without telling his intentions, and bade them take notice +that their fellow-servant was no longer Robert the butler, but that his +integrity had made him Mr. Blakeney, verger of St. Patrick's, an officer +whose income was between thirty and forty pounds a year; yet he still +continued for some years to serve his old master as his butler. + +Swift was known from this time by the appellation of The Dean. He was +honoured by the populace as the champion, patron, and instructor of +Ireland; and gained such power as, considered both in its extent and +duration, scarcely any man has ever enjoyed without greater wealth +or higher station. He was from this important year the oracle of the +traders, and the idol of the rabble, and by consequence was feared and +courted by all to whom the kindness of the traders or the populace was +necessary. The Drapier was a sign; the Drapier was a health; and which +way soever the eye or the ear was turned, some tokens were found of the +nation's gratitude to the Drapier. + +The benefit was indeed great; he had rescued Ireland from a very +oppressive and predatory invasion, and the popularity which he had +gained he was diligent to keep, by appearing forward and zealous on +every occasion where the public interest was supposed to be involved. +Nor did he much scruple to boast his influence; for when, upon some +attempts to regulate the coin, Archbishop Boulter, then one of the +justices, accused him of exasperating the people, he exculpated himself +by saying, "If I had lifted up my finger, they would have torn you to +pieces." But the pleasure of popularity was soon interrupted by domestic +misery. Mrs. Johnson, whose conversation was to him the great softener +of the ills of life, began in the year of the Drapier's triumph to +decline, and two years afterwards was so wasted with sickness that her +recovery was considered as hopeless. Swift was then in England, and had +been invited by Lord Bolingbroke to pass the winter with him in France; +but this call of calamity hastened him to Ireland, where perhaps his +presence contributed to restore her to imperfect and tottering health. +He was now so much at ease, that (1727) he returned to England, where +he collected three volumes of Miscellanies in conjunction with Pope, who +prefixed a querulous and apologetical Preface. + +This important year sent likewise into the world "Gulliver's Travels," a +production so new and strange, that it filled the reader with a mingled +emotion of merriment and amazement. It was received with such avidity, +that the price of the first edition was raised before the second +could be made; it was read by the high and the low, the learned and +illiterate. Criticism was for a while lost in wonder; no rules of +judgment were applied to a book written in open defiance of truth and +regularity. But when distinctions came to be made, the part which gave +the least pleasure was that which describes the Flying Island, and that +which gave most disgust must be the history of Houyhnhnms. + +While Swift was enjoying the reputation of his new work, the news of the +king's death arrived, and he kissed the hands of the new king and queen +three days after their accession. By the queen, when she was princess, +he had been treated with some distinction, and was well received by her +in her exaltation; but whether she gave hopes which she never took care +to satisfy, or he formed expectations which she never meant to raise, +the event was that he always afterwards thought on her with malevolence, +and particularly charged her with breaking her promise of some medals +which she engaged to send him. I know not whether she had not, in her +turn, some reason for complaint. A letter was sent her, not so much +entreating, as requiring her patronage of Mrs. Barber, an ingenious +Irishwoman, who was then begging subscriptions for her Poems. To this +letter was subscribed the name of Swift, and it has all the appearance +of his diction and sentiments; but it was not written in his hand, and +had some little improprieties. When he was charged with this letter, +he laid hold of the inaccuracies, and urged the improbability of the +accusation, but never denied it: he shuffles between cowardice and +veracity, and talks big when he says nothing. He seems desirous enough +of recommencing courtier, and endeavoured to gain the kindness of Mrs. +Howard, remembering what Mrs. Masham had performed in former times; but +his flatteries were, like those of other wits, unsuccessful; the lady +either wanted power, or had no ambition of poetical immortality. He was +seized not long afterwards by a fit of giddiness, and again heard of the +sickness and danger of Mrs. Johnson. He then left the house of Pope, +as it seems, with very little ceremony, finding "that two sick friends +cannot live together;" and did not write to him till he found himself at +Chester. He turned to a home of sorrow: poor Stella was sinking into the +grave, and, after a languishing decay of about two months, died in her +forty-fourth year, on January 28, 1728. How much he wished her life his +papers show; nor can it be doubted that he dreaded the death of her whom +he loved most, aggravated by the consciousness that himself had hastened +it. + +Beauty and the power of pleasing, the greatest external advantages that +woman can desire or possess, were fatal to the unfortunate Stella. The +man whom she had the misfortune to love was, as Delany observes, fond +of singularity, and desirous to make a mode of happiness for himself, +different from the general course of things and order of Providence. +From the time of her arrival in Ireland he seems resolved to keep her in +his power, and therefore hindered a match sufficiently advantageous by +accumulating unreasonable demands, and prescribing conditions that could +not be performed. While she was at her own disposal he did not consider +his possession as secure; resentment, ambition, or caprice might +separate them: he was therefore resolved to make "assurance doubly +sure," and to appropriate her by a private marriage, to which he had +annexed the expectation of all the pleasures of perfect friendship, +without the uneasiness of conjugal restraint. But with this state poor +Stella was not satisfied; she never was treated as a wife, and to the +world she had the appearance of a mistress. She lived sullenly on, in +hope that in time he would own and receive her; but the time did not +come till the change of his manners and depravation of his mind made her +tell him, when he offered to acknowledge her, that "it was too late." +She then gave up herself to sorrowful resentment, and died under the +tyranny of him by whom she was in the highest degree loved and honoured. +What were her claims to this eccentric tenderness, by which the laws of +nature were violated to restrain her, curiosity will inquire; but +how shall it be gratified? Swift was a lover; his testimony may be +suspected. Delany and the Irish saw with Swift's eyes, and therefore add +little confirmation. That she was virtuous, beautiful, and elegant, in +a very high degree, such admiration from such a lover makes it very +probable: but she had not much literature, for she could not spell her +own language; and of her wit, so loudly vaunted, the smart sayings which +Swift himself has collected afford no splendid specimen. + +The reader of Swift's "Letter to a Lady on her Marriage," may be allowed +to doubt whether his opinion of female excellence ought implicitly to +be admitted; for, if his general thoughts on women were such as he +exhibits, a very little sense in a lady would enrapture, and a very +little virtue would astonish him. Stella's supremacy, therefore, was +perhaps only local; she was great because her associates were little. + +In some Remarks lately published on the Life of Swift, his marriage +is mentioned as fabulous, or doubtful; but, alas! poor Stella, as Dr. +Madden told me, related her melancholy story to Dr. Sheridan, when +he attended her as a clergyman to prepare her for death; and Delany +mentions it not with doubt, but only with regret. Swift never mentioned +her without a sigh. The rest of his life was spent in Ireland, in a +country to which not even power almost despotic, nor flattery almost +idolatrous, could reconcile him. He sometimes wished to visit England, +but always found some reason of delay. He tells Pope, in the decline +of life, that he hopes once more to see him; "but if not," says he, "we +must part as all human beings have parted." + +After the death of Stella, his benevolence was contracted, and his +severity exasperated; he drove his acquaintance from his table, and +wondered why he was deserted. But he continued his attention to the +public, and wrote from time to time such directions, admonitions, or +censures, as the exigence of affairs, in his opinion, made proper; and +nothing fell from his pen in vain. In a short poem on the Presbyterians, +whom he always regarded with detestation, he bestowed one stricture upon +Bettesworth, a lawyer eminent for his insolence to the clergy, which, +from very considerable reputation, brought him into immediate and +universal contempt. Bettesworth, enraged at his disgrace and loss, went +to Swift, and demanded whether he was the author of that poem? "Mr. +Bettesworth," answered he, "I was in my youth acquainted with great +lawyers, who, knowing my disposition to satire, advised me, that if any +scoundrel or blockhead whom I had lampooned should ask, 'Are you the +author of this paper?' I should tell him that I was not the author; +and therefore, I tell you, Mr. Bettesworth, that I am not the author of +these lines." + +Bettesworth was so little satisfied with this account, that he publicly +professed his resolution of a violent and corporal revenge; but the +inhabitants of St. Patrick's district embodied themselves in the Dean's +defence. Bettesworth declared in Parliament that Swift had deprived him +of twelve hundred pounds a year. + +Swift was popular awhile by another mode of beneficence. He set aside +some hundreds to be lent in small sums to the poor, from five shillings, +I think, to five pounds. He took no interest, and only required that, +at repayment, a small fee should be given to the accountant, but he +required that the day of promised payment should be exactly kept. A +severe and punctilious temper is ill qualified for transactions with the +poor: the day was often broken, and the loan was not repaid. This might +have been easily foreseen; but for this Swift had made no provision of +patience or pity. He ordered his debtors to be sued. A severe creditor +has no popular character; what then was likely to be said of him who +employs the catchpoll under the appearance of charity? The clamour +against him was loud, and the resentment of the populace outrageous; he +was therefore forced to drop his scheme, and own the folly of expecting +punctuality from the poor. + +His asperity continually increasing, condemned him to solitude; and +his resentment of solitude sharpened his asperity. He was not, however, +totally deserted; some men of learning, and some women of elegance, +often visited him; and he wrote from time to time either verse or prose: +of his verses he willingly gave copies, and is supposed to have felt no +discontent when he saw them printed. His favourite maxim was "Vive la +bagatelle:" he thought trifles a necessary part of life, and perhaps +found them necessary to himself. It seems impossible to him to be idle, +and his disorders made it difficult or dangerous to be long seriously +studious, or laboriously diligent. The love of ease is always gaining +upon age, and he had one temptation to petty amusements peculiar to +himself; whatever he did, he was sure to hear applauded; and such was +his predominance over all that approached, that all their applauses +were probably sincere. He that is much flattered soon learns to flatter +himself; we are commonly taught our duty by fear or shame, and how can +they act upon the man who hears nothing but his own praises? As his +years increased, his fits of giddiness and deafness grew more frequent, +and his deafness made conversation difficult; they grew likewise more +severe, till in 1736, as he was writing a poem called "The Legion Club," +he was seized with a fit so painful and so long continued, that he never +after thought it proper to attempt any work of thought or labour. He was +always careful of his money, and was therefore no liberal entertainer, +but was less frugal of his wine than of his meat. When his friends of +either sex came to him in expectation of a dinner, his custom was to +give every one a shilling, that they might please themselves with their +provision. At last his avarice grew too powerful for his kindness; he +would refuse a bottle of wine, and in Ireland no man visits where he +cannot drink. Having thus excluded conversation, and desisted from +study, he had neither business nor amusement; for, having by some +ridiculous resolution, or mad vow, determined never to wear spectacles, +he could make like little use of books in his latter years; his ideas, +therefore, being neither renovated by discourse, nor increased by +reading, wore gradually away, and left his mind vacant to the vexations +of the hour, till at last his anger was heightened into madness. +He, however, permitted one book to be published, which had been the +production of former years--"Polite Conversation," which appeared in +1738. The "Directions for Servants," was printed soon after his death. +These two performances show a mind incessantly attentive, and, when it +was not employed upon great things, busy with minute occurrences. It is +apparent that he must have had the habit of noting whatever he observed; +for such a number of particulars could never have been assembled by +the power of recollection. He grew more violent, and his mental powers +declined, till (1741) it was found necessary that legal guardians should +be appointed of his person and fortune. He now lost distinction. His +madness was compounded of rage and fatuity. The last face that he knew +was that of Mrs. Whiteway; and her he ceased to know in a little time. +His meat was brought him cut into mouthfuls: but he would never touch +it while the servant stayed, and at last, after it had stood perhaps an +hour, would eat it walking; for he continued his old habit, and was on +his feet ten hours a day. Next year (1742) he had an inflammation in his +left eye, which swelled it to the size of an egg, with boils in other +parts; he was kept long waking with the pain, and was not easily +restrained by five attendants from tearing out his eye. + +The tumour at last subsided; and a short interval of reason ensuing; in +which he knew his physician and his family, gave hopes of his recovery; +but in a few days he sank into a lethargic stupidity, motionless, +heedless, and speechless. But it is said that after a year of total +silence, when his housekeeper, on the 30th of November, told him that +the usual bonfires and illuminations were preparing to celebrate his +birthday, he answered, "It is all folly; they had better let it alone." + +It is remembered that he afterwards spoke now and then, or gave some +intimation of a meaning; but at last sank into a perfect silence, +which continued till about the end of October, 1744, when, in his +seventy-eighth year, he expired without a struggle. + +When Swift is considered as an author, it is just to estimate his powers +by their effects. In the reign of Queen Anne he turned the stream of +popularity against the Whigs, and must be confessed to have dictated for +a time the political opinions of the English nation. In the succeeding +reign he delivered Ireland from plunder and oppression: and showed that +wit, confederated with truth, had such force as authority was unable to +resist. He said truly of himself, that Ireland "was his debtor." It was +from the time when he first began to patronise the Irish, that they may +date their riches and prosperity. He taught them first to know their +own interest, their weight, and their strength, and gave them spirit to +assert that equality with their fellow-subjects to which they have ever +since been making vigorous advances, and to claim those rights which +they have at last established. Nor can they be charged with ingratitude +to their benefactor; for they reverenced him as a guardian, and obeyed +him as a dictator. + +In his works he has given very different specimens both of sentiments +and expression. His "Tale of a Tub" has little resemblance to his other +pieces. It exhibits a vehemence and rapidity of mind, a copiousness of +images, and vivacity of diction, such as he afterwards never possessed, +or never exerted. It is of a mode so distinct and peculiar, that it must +be considered by itself; what is true of that, is not true of anything +else which he has written. In his other works is found an equable tenour +of easy language, which rather trickles than flows. His delight was in +simplicity. That he has in his works no metaphor, as has been said, is +not true; but his few metaphors seem to be received rather by necessity +than choice. He studied purity; and though perhaps all his strictures +are not exact, yet it is not often that solecisms can be found; and +whoever depends on his authority may generally conclude himself safe. +His sentences are never too much dilated or contracted; and it will not +be easy to find any embarrassment in the complication of his clauses, +any inconsequence in his connections, or abruptness in his transitions. +His style was well suited to his thoughts, which are never subtilised +by nice disquisitions, decorated by sparkling conceits, elevated by +ambitious sentences, or variegated by far-sought learning. He pays no +court to the passions; he excites neither surprise nor admiration: he +always understands himself, and his readers always understand him: the +peruser of Swift wants little previous knowledge; it will be sufficient +that he is acquainted with common words and common things; he is neither +required to mount elevations, nor to explore profundities; his passage +is always on a level, along solid ground, without asperities, without +obstruction. This easy and safe conveyance of meaning it was Swift's +desire to attain, and for having attained he deserves praise. For +purposes merely didactic, when something is to be told that was not +known before, it is the best mode; but against that inattention by which +known truths are suffered to lie neglected, it makes no provision; it +instructs, but does not persuade. + +By his political education he was associated with the Whigs; but he +deserted them when they deserted their principles, yet without running +into the contrary extreme; he continued throughout his life to retain +the disposition which he assigns to the "Church-of-England Man," of +thinking commonly with the Whigs of the State, and with the Tories +of the Church. He was a Churchman, rationally zealous; he desired the +prosperity, and maintained the honour of the clergy; of the Dissenters +he did not wish to infringe the Toleration, but he opposed their +encroachments. To his duty as Dean he was very attentive. He managed +the revenues of his church with exact economy; and it is said by Delany, +that more money was, under his direction, laid out in repairs, than had +ever been in the same time since its first erection. Of his choir he +was eminently careful; and though he neither loved nor understood music, +took care that all the singers were well qualified, admitting none +without the testimony of skilful judges. + +In his church he restored the practice of weekly communion, and +distributed the sacramental elements in the most solemn and devout +manner with his own hand. He came to church every morning, preached +commonly in his turn, and attended the evening anthem, that it might not +be negligently performed. He read the service, "rather with a strong, +nervous voice, than in a graceful manner; his voice was sharp and +high-toned, rather than harmonious." He entered upon the clerical state +with hope to excel in preaching; but complained that, from the time +of his political controversies, "he could only preach pamphlets." This +censure of himself, if judgment be made from those sermons which have +been printed, was unreasonably severe. + +The suspicions of his irreligion proceeded in a great measure from his +dread of hypocrisy; instead of wishing to seem better, he delighted in +seeming worse than he was. He went in London to early prayers, lest he +should be seen at church; he read prayers to his servants every morning +with such dexterous secrecy, that Dr. Delany was six months in his house +before he knew it. He was not only careful to hide the good which he +did, but willingly incurred the suspicion of evil which he did not. +He forgot what himself had formerly asserted, that hypocrisy is less +mischievous than open impiety. Dr. Delany, with all his zeal for his +honour, has justly condemned this part of his character. + +The person of Swift had not many recommendations. He had a kind of muddy +complexion, which, though he washed himself with Oriental scrupulosity, +did not look clear. He had a countenance sour and severe, which he +seldom softened by any appearance of gaiety. He stubbornly resisted any +tendency to laughter. To his domestics he was naturally rough: and a man +of a rigorous temper, with that vigilance of minute attention which his +works discover, must have been a master that few could bear. That he was +disposed to do his servants good, on important occasions, is no great +mitigation; benefaction can be but rare, and tyrannic peevishness is +perpetual. He did not spare the servants of others. Once, when he dined +alone with the Earl of Orrery, he said of one that waited in the room, +"That man has, since we sat to the table, committed fifteen faults." +What the faults were, Lord Orrery, from whom I heard the story, had not +been attentive enough to discover. My number may perhaps not be exact. + +In his economy he practised a peculiar and offensive parsimony, without +disguise or apology. The practice of saving being once necessary, became +habitual, and grew first ridiculous, and at last detestable. But +his avarice, though it might exclude pleasure, was never suffered to +encroach upon his virtue. He was frugal by inclination, but liberal +by principle: and if the purpose to which he destined his little +accumulations be remembered, with his distribution of occasional +charity, it will perhaps appear that he only liked one mode of expense +better than another, and saved merely that he might have something to +give. He did not grow rich by injuring his successors, but left both +Laracor and the Deanery more valuable than he found them. With all this +talk of his covetousness and generosity, it should be remembered that he +was never rich. The revenue of his Deanery was not much more than +seven hundred a year. His beneficence was not graced with tenderness or +civility; he relieved without pity, and assisted without kindness; so +that those who were fed by him could hardly love him. He made a rule to +himself to give but one piece at a time, and therefore always stored his +pocket with coins of different value. Whatever he did he seemed willing +to do in a manner peculiar to himself, without sufficiently considering +that singularity, as it implies a contempt of the general practice, is +a kind of defiance which justly provokes the hostility of ridicule; he, +therefore, who indulges peculiar habits, is worse than others, if he be +not better. + +Of his humour, a story told by Pope may afford a specimen. + +"Dr. Swift has an odd, blunt way, that is mistaken by strangers for ill +nature.--'Tis so odd, that there's no describing it but by facts. I'll +tell you one that first comes into my head. One evening Gay and I went +to see him: you know how intimately we were all acquainted. On our +coming in, 'Heyday, gentlemen' (says the doctor), 'what's the meaning of +this visit? How came you to leave the great Lords that you are so fond +of, to come hither to see a poor Dean?'--'Because we would rather see +you than any of them.'--'Ay, anyone that did not know so well as I do +might believe you. But since you are come, I must get some supper +for you, I suppose.'--'No, Doctor, we have supped already.'--'Supped +already? that's impossible! why, 'tis not eight o'clock yet: that's very +strange; but if you had not supped, I must have got something for you. +Let me see, what should I have had? A couple of lobsters; ay, that would +have done very well; two shillings--tarts, a shilling; but you will +drink a glass of wine with me, though you supped so much before your +usual time only to spare my pocket?'--'No, we had rather talk with you +than drink with you.'--'But if you had supped with me, as in all reason +you ought to have done, you must then have drunk with me. A bottle +of wine, two shillings--two and two is four, and one is five; just +two-and-sixpence a-piece. There, Pope, there's half a crown for you, +and there's another for you, sir; for I won't save anything by you. I am +determined.'--This was all said and done with his usual seriousness +on such occasions; and, in spite of everything we could say to the +contrary, he actually obliged us to take the money." + +In the intercourse of familiar life, he indulged his disposition to +petulance and sarcasm, and thought himself injured if the licentiousness +of his raillery, the freedom of his censures, or the petulance of his +frolics was resented or repressed. He predominated over his companions +with very high ascendancy, and probably would bear none over whom he +could not predominate. To give him advice was, in the style of his +friend Delany, "to venture to speak to him." This customary superiority +soon grew too delicate for truth; and Swift, with all his penetration, +allowed himself to be delighted with low flattery. On all common +occasions, he habitually affects a style of arrogance, and dictates +rather than persuades. This authoritative and magisterial language +he expected to be received as his peculiar mode of jocularity: but he +apparently flattered his own arrogance by an assumed imperiousness, +in which he was ironical only to the resentful, and to the submissive +sufficiently serious. He told stories with great felicity, and delighted +in doing what he knew himself to do well; he was therefore captivated by +the respectful silence of a steady listener, and told the same tales too +often. He did not, however, claim the right of talking alone; for it was +his rule, when he had spoken a minute, to give room by a pause for any +other speaker. Of time, on all occasions, he was an exact computer, and +knew the minutes required to every common operation. + +It may be justly supposed that there was in his conversation, what +appears so frequently in his Letters, an affectation of familiarity with +the great, an ambition of momentary equality sought and enjoyed by the +neglect of those ceremonies which custom has established as the +barriers between one order of society and another. This transgression of +regularity was by himself and his admirers termed greatness of soul. But +a great mind disdains to hold anything by courtesy, and therefore never +usurps what a lawful claimant may take away. He that encroaches on +another's dignity puts himself in his power; he is either repelled with +helpless indignity, or endured by clemency and condescension. + +Of Swift's general habits of thinking, if his Letters can be supposed to +afford any evidence, he was not a man to be either loved or envied. He +seems to have wasted life in discontent, by the rage of neglected +pride, and the languishment of unsatisfied desire. He is querulous and +fastidious, arrogant and malignant; he scarcely speaks of himself but +with indignant lamentations, or of others but with insolent superiority +when he is gay, and with angry contempt when he is gloomy. From the +letters that passed between him and Pope it might be inferred that they, +with Arbuthnot and Gay, had engrossed all the understanding and virtue +of mankind; that their merits filled the world; or that there was no +hope of more. They show the age involved in darkness, and shade the +picture with sullen emulation. + +When the Queen's death drove him into Ireland, he might be allowed to +regret for a time the interception of his views, the extinction of +his hopes, and his ejection from gay scenes, important employment, and +splendid friendships; but when time had enabled reason to prevail over +vexation, the complaints, which at first were natural, became ridiculous +because they were useless. But querulousness was now grown habitual, +and he cried out when he probably had ceased to feel. His reiterated +wailings persuaded Bolingbroke that he was really willing to quit his +deanery for an English parish; and Bolingbroke procured an exchange, +which was rejected; and Swift still retained the pleasure of +complaining. + +The greatest difficulty that occurs, in analysing his character, is to +discover by what depravity of intellect he took delight in revolving +ideas, from which almost every other mind shrinks with disgust. The +ideas of pleasure, even when criminal, may solicit the imagination; but +what has disease, deformity, and filth, upon which the thoughts can be +allured to dwell? Delany is willing to think that Swift's mind was not +much tainted with this gross corruption before his long visit to +Pope. He does not consider how he degrades his hero, by making him at +fifty-nine the pupil of turpitude, and liable to the malignant influence +of an ascendant mind. But the truth is, that Gulliver had described his +Yahoos before the visit; and he that had formed those images had nothing +filthy to learn. + +I have here given the character of Swift as he exhibits himself to +my perception; but now let another be heard who knew him better. Dr. +Delany, after long acquaintance, describes him to Lord Orrery in these +terms:-- + +"My Lord, when you consider Swift's singular, peculiar, and most +variegated vein of wit, always rightly intended, although not always so +rightly directed; delightful in many instances, and salutary even where +it is most offensive; when you consider his strict truth, his fortitude +in resisting oppression and arbitrary power; his fidelity in friendship; +his sincere love and zeal for religion; his uprightness in making right +resolutions, and his steadiness in adhering to them; his care of his +church, its choir, its economy, and its income; his attention to all +those who preached in his cathedral, in order to their amendment +in pronunciation and style; as also his remarkable attention to the +interest of his successors preferably to his own present emoluments; his +invincible patriotism, even to a country which he did not love; his very +various, well-devised, well-judged, and extensive charities, throughout +his life; and his whole fortune (to say nothing of his wife's) conveyed +to the same Christian purposes at his death; charities, from which he +could enjoy no honour, advantage, or satisfaction of any kind in this +world: when you consider his ironical and humorous, as well as his +serious schemes, for the promotion of true religion and virtue; his +success in soliciting for the First Fruits and Twentieths, to the +unspeakable benefit of the Established Church of Ireland; and his +felicity (to rate it no higher) in giving occasion to the building of +fifty new churches in London: + +"All this considered, the character of his life will appear like that +of his writings; they will both bear to be reconsidered, and re-examined +with the utmost attention, and always discover new beauties and +excellences upon every examination. + +"They will bear to be considered as the sun, in which the brightness +will hide the blemishes; and whenever petulant ignorance, pride, +malignity, or envy interposes to cloud or sully his fame, I take upon me +to pronounce, that the eclipse will not last long. + +"To conclude--No man ever deserved better of his country, than Swift did +of his; a steady, persevering, inflexible friend; a wise, a watchful, +and a faithful counsellor, under many severe trials and bitter +persecutions, to the manifest hazard both of his liberty and fortune. + +"He lived a blessing, he died a benefactor, and his name will ever live +an honour to Ireland." + +In the poetical works of Dr. Swift there is not much upon which the +critic can exercise his powers. They are often humorous, almost always +light, and have the qualities which recommend such compositions, +easiness and gaiety. They are, for the most part, what their author +intended. The diction is correct, the numbers are smooth, and the rhymes +exact. There seldom occurs a hard-laboured expression, or a redundant +epithet; all his verses exemplify his own definition of a good style; +they consist of "proper words in proper places." + +To divide this collection into classes, and show how some pieces are +gross, and some are trifling, would be to tell the reader what he knows +already, and to find faults of which the author could not be ignorant, +who certainly wrote not often to his judgment, but his humour. + +It was said, in a Preface to one of the Irish editions, that Swift had +never been known to take a single thought from any writer, ancient or +modern. This is not literally true; but perhaps no writer can easily be +found that has borrowed so little, or that, in all his excellences and +all his defects, has so well maintained his claim to be considered as +original. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the Poets: Addison, Savage, +and Swift, by Samuel Johnson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE POETS *** + +***** This file should be named 4679.txt or 4679.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/6/7/4679/ + +Produced by Les Bowler + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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We need your donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 +Find out about how to make a donation at the bottom of this file. + + +Title: Lives of the Poets: Addison, Savage, etc. + +Author: Samuel Johnson + +Release Date: November, 2003 [EBook #4679] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 26, 2002] +[Most recently updated: February 26, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the Poets: Addison, Savage, etc. +by Samuel Johnson +******This file should be named lvadd10.txt or lvadd10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, lvadd11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, lvadd10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +The "legal small print" and other information about this book +may now be found at the end of this file. Please read this +important information, as it gives you specific rights and +tells you about restrictions in how the file may be used. + +*** +This etext was produced by Les Bowler, St. Ives, Dorset. + +LIVES OF THE POETS (ADDISON, SAVAGE, SWIFT) + + + + +Contents. + +Introduction by Henry Morley. +Joseph Addison. +Richard Savage. +Jonathan Swift. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +Johnson's "Lives of the Poets" were written to serve as +Introductions to a trade edition of the works of poets whom the +booksellers selected for republication. Sometimes, therefore, they +dealt briefly with men in whom the public at large has long ceased +to be interested. Richard Savage would be of this number if +Johnson's account of his life had not secured for him lasting +remembrance. Johnson's Life of Savage in this volume has not less +interest than the Lives of Addison and Swift, between which it is +set, although Savage himself has no right at all to be remembered in +such company. Johnson published this piece of biography when his +age was thirty-five; his other lives of poets appeared when that age +was about doubled. He was very poor when the Life of Savage was +written for Cave. Soon after its publication, we are told, Mr. +Harte dined with Cave, and incidentally praised it. Meeting him +again soon afterwards Cave said to Mr. Harte, "You made a man very +happy t'other day." "How could that be?" asked Harte. "Nobody was +there but ourselves." Cave answered by reminding him that a plate +of victuals was sent behind a screen, which was to Johnson, dressed +so shabbily that he did not choose to appear. + +Johnson, struggling, found Savage struggling, and was drawn to him +by faith in the tale he told. We have seen in our own time how even +an Arthur Orton could find sensible and good people to believe the +tale with which he sought to enforce claim upon the Tichborne +baronetcy. Savage had literary skill, and he could personate the +manners of a gentleman in days when there were still gentlemen of +fashion who drank, lied, and swaggered into midnight brawls. I have +no doubt whatever that he was the son of the nurse with whom the +Countess of Macclesfield had placed a child that died, and that +after his mother's death he found the papers upon which he built his +plot to personate the child, extort money from the Countess and her +family, and bring himself into a profitable notoriety. + +Johnson's simple truthfulness and ready sympathy made it hard for +him to doubt the story told as Savage told it to him. But when he +told it again himself, though he denounced one whom he believed to +be an unnatural mother, and dealt gently with his friend, he did not +translate evil into good. Through all the generous and kindly +narrative we may see clearly that Savage was an impostor. There is +the heart of Johnson in the noble appeal against judgment of the +self-righteous who have never known the harder trials of the world, +when he says of Savage, "Those are no proper judges of his conduct, +who have slumbered away their time on the down of plenty; nor will +any wise man easily presume to say, 'Had I been in Savage's +condition, I should have lived or written better than Savage.'" But +Johnson, who made large allowance for temptations pressing on the +poor, himself suffered and overcame the hardest trials, firm always +to his duty, true servant of God and friend of man. + +Richard Savage's whole public life was built upon a lie. His base +nature foiled any attempt made to befriend him; and the friends he +lost, he slandered; Richard Steele among them. Samuel Johnson was a +friend easy to make, and difficult to lose. There was no money to +be got from him, for he was altogether poor in everything but the +large spirit of human kindness. Savage drew largely on him for +sympathy, and had it; although Johnson was too clear-sighted to be +much deceived except in judgment upon the fraudulent claims which +then gave rise to division of opinion. The Life of Savage is a +noble piece of truth, although it rests on faith put in a fraud. + +H. M. + + + +ADDISON. + + + +Joseph Addison was born on the 1st of May, 1672, at Milston, of +which his father, Lancelot Addison, was then rector, near +Ambrosebury, in Wiltshire, and, appearing weak and unlikely to live, +he was christened the same day. After the usual domestic education, +which from the character of his father may be reasonably supposed to +have given him strong impressions of piety, he was committed to the +care of Mr. Naish at Ambrosebury, and afterwards of Mr. Taylor at +Salisbury. + +Not to name the school or the masters of men illustrious for +literature, is a kind of historical fraud, by which honest fame is +injuriously diminished: I would therefore trace him through the +whole process of his education. In 1683, in the beginning of his +twelfth year, his father, being made Dean of Lichfield, naturally +carried his family to his new residence, and, I believe, placed him +for some time, probably not long, under Mr. Shaw, then master of the +school at Lichfield, father of the late Dr. Peter Shaw. Of this +interval his biographers have given no account, and I know it only +from a story of a BARRING-OUT, told me, when I was a boy, by Andrew +Corbet, of Shropshire, who had heard it from Mr. Pigot, his uncle. + +The practice of BARRING-OUT was a savage licence, practised in many +schools to the end of the last century, by which the boys, when the +periodical vacation drew near, growing petulant at the approach of +liberty, some days before the time of regular recess, took +possession of the school, of which they barred the doors, and bade +their master defiance from the windows. It is not easy to suppose +that on such occasions the master would do more than laugh; yet, if +tradition may be credited, he often struggled hard to force or +surprise the garrison. The master, when Pigot was a schoolboy, was +BARRED OUT at Lichfield; and the whole operation, as he said, was +planned and conducted by Addison. + +To judge better of the probability of this story, I have inquired +when he was sent to the Chartreux; but, as he was not one of those +who enjoyed the founder's benefaction, there is no account preserved +of his admission. At the school of the Chartreux, to which he was +removed either from that of Salisbury or Lichfield, he pursued his +juvenile studies under the care of Dr. Ellis, and contracted that +intimacy with Sir Richard Steele which their joint labours have so +effectually recorded. + +Of this memorable friendship the greater praise must be given to +Steele. It is not hard to love those from whom nothing can be +feared; and Addison never considered Steele as a rival; but Steele +lived, as he confesses, under an habitual subjection to the +predominating genius of Addison, whom he always mentioned with +reverence, and treated with obsequiousness. + +Addison, who knew his own dignity, could not always forbear to show +it, by playing a little upon his admirer; but he was in no danger of +retort; his jests were endured without resistance or resentment. +But the sneer of jocularity was not the worst. Steele, whose +imprudence of generosity, or vanity of profusion, kept him always +incurably necessitous, upon some pressing exigence, in an evil hour, +borrowed a hundred pounds of his friend probably without much +purpose of repayment; but Addison, who seems to have had other +notions of a hundred pounds, grew impatient of delay, and reclaimed +his loan by an execution. Steele felt with great sensibility the +obduracy of his creditor, but with emotions of sorrow rather than of +anger. + +In 1687 he was entered into Queen's College in Oxford, where, in +1689, the accidental perusal of some Latin verses gained him the +patronage of Dr. Lancaster, afterwards Provost of Queen's College; +by whose recommendation he was elected into Magdalen College as a +demy, a term by which that society denominates those who are +elsewhere called scholars: young men who partake of the founder's +benefaction, and succeed in their order to vacant fellowships. Here +he continued to cultivate poetry and criticism, and grew first +eminent by his Latin compositions, which are indeed entitled to +particular praise. He has not confined himself to the imitation of +any ancient author, but has formed his style from the general +language, such as a diligent perusal of the productions of different +ages happened to supply. His Latin compositions seem to have had +much of his fondness, for he collected a second volume of the "Musae +Anglicanae" perhaps for a convenient receptacle, in which all his +Latin pieces are inserted, and where his poem on the Peace has the +first place. He afterwards presented the collection to Boileau, who +from that time "conceived," says Tickell, "an opinion of the English +genius for poetry." Nothing is better known of Boileau than that he +had an injudicious and peevish contempt of modern Latin, and +therefore his profession of regard was probably the effect of his +civility rather than approbation. + +Three of his Latin poems are upon subjects on which perhaps he would +not have ventured to have written in his own language: "The Battle +of the Pigmies and Cranes," "The Barometer," and "A Bowling-green." +When the matter is low or scanty, a dead language, in which nothing +is mean because nothing is familiar, affords great conveniences; and +by the sonorous magnificence of Roman syllables, the writer conceals +penury of thought, and want of novelty, often from the reader and +often from himself. + +In his twenty-second year he first showed his power of English +poetry by some verses addressed to Dryden; and soon after published +a translation of the greater part of the Fourth Georgic upon Bees; +after which, says Dryden, "my latter swarm is scarcely worth the +hiving." About the same time he composed the arguments prefixed to +the several books of Dryden's Virgil; and produced an Essay on the +Georgics, juvenile, superficial, and uninstructive, without much +either of the scholar's learning or the critic's penetration. His +next paper of verses contained a character of the principal English +poets, inscribed to Henry Sacheverell, who was then, if not a poet, +a writer of verses; as is shown by his version of a small part of +Virgil's Georgics, published in the Miscellanies; and a Latin +encomium on Queen Mary, in the "Musae Anglicanae." These verses +exhibit all the fondness of friendship; but, on one side or the +other, friendship was afterwards too weak for the malignity of +faction. In this poem is a very confident and discriminate +character of Spenser, whose work he had then never read; so little +sometimes is criticism the effect of judgment. It is necessary to +inform the reader that about this time he was introduced by Congreve +to Montague, then Chancellor of the Exchequer: Addison was then +learning the trade of a courtier, and subjoined Montague as a +poetical name to those of Cowley and of Dryden. By the influence of +Mr. Montague, concurring, according to Tickell, with his natural +modesty, he was diverted from his original design of entering into +holy orders. Montague alleged the corruption of men who engaged in +civil employments without liberal education; and declared that, +though he was represented as an enemy to the Church, he would never +do it any injury but by withholding Addison from it. + +Soon after (in 1695) he wrote a poem to King William, with a rhyming +introduction addressed to Lord Somers. King William had no regard +to elegance or literature; his study was only war; yet by a choice +of Ministers, whose disposition was very different from his own, he +procured, without intention, a very liberal patronage to poetry. +Addison was caressed both by Somers and Montague. + +In 1697 appeared his Latin verses on the Peace of Ryswick, which he +dedicated to Montague, and which was afterwards called, by Smith, +"the best Latin poem since the 'AEneid.'" Praise must not be too +rigorously examined; but the performance cannot be denied to be +vigorous and elegant. Having yet no public employment, he obtained +(in 1699) a pension of three hundred pounds a year, that he might be +enabled to travel. He stayed a year at Blois, probably to learn the +French language and then proceeded in his journey to Italy, which he +surveyed with the eyes of a poet. While he was travelling at +leisure, he was far from being idle: for he not only collected his +observations on the country, but found time to write his "Dialogues +on Medals," and four acts of Cato. Such, at least, is the relation +of Tickell. Perhaps he only collected his materials and formed his +plan. Whatever were his other employments in Italy, he there wrote +the letter to Lord Halifax which is justly considered as the most +elegant, if not the most sublime, of his poetical productions. But +in about two years he found it necessary to hasten home; being, as +Swift informs us, distressed by indigence, and compelled to become +the tutor of a travelling squire, because his pension was not +remitted. + +At his return he published his Travels, with a dedication to Lord +Somers. As his stay in foreign countries was short, his +observations are such as might be supplied by a hasty view, and +consist chiefly in comparisons of the present face of the country +with the descriptions left us by the Roman poets, from whom he made +preparatory collections, though he might have spared the trouble had +he known that such collections had been made twice before by Italian +authors. + +The most amusing passage of his book is his account of the minute +republic of San Marino; of many parts it is not a very severe +censure to say that they might have been written at home. His +elegance of language, and variegation of prose and verse, however, +gain upon the reader; and the book, though awhile neglected, became +in time so much the favourite of the public that before it was +reprinted it rose to five times its price. + +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; and a +mind so cultivated gives reason to believe that little time was +lost. But he remained not long neglected or useless. The victory +at Blenheim (1704) spread triumph and confidence over the nation; +and Lord Godolphin, lamenting to Lord Halifax that it had not been +celebrated in a manner equal to the subject, desired him to propose +it to some better poet. Halifax told him that there was no +encouragement for genius; that worthless men were unprofitably +enriched with public money, without any care to find or employ those +whose appearance might do honour to their country. To this +Godolphin replied that such abuses should in time be rectified; and +that, if a man could be found capable of the task then proposed, he +should not want an ample recompense. Halifax then named Addison, +but required that the Treasurer should apply to him in his own +person. Godolphin sent the message by Mr. Boyle, afterwards Lord +Carlton; and Addison, having undertaken the work, communicated it to +the Treasury while it was yet advanced no further than the simile of +the angel, and was immediately rewarded by succeeding Mr. Locke in +the place of Commissioner of Appeals. + +In the following year he was at Hanover with Lord Halifax: and the +year after he was made Under Secretary of State, first to Sir +Charles Hedges, and in a few months more to the Earl of Sunderland. +About this time the prevalent taste for Italian operas inclined him +to try what would be the effect of a musical drama in our own +language. He therefore wrote the opera of Rosamond, which, when +exhibited on the stage, was either hissed or neglected; but, +trusting that the readers would do him more justice, he published it +with an inscription to the Duchess of Marlborough--a woman without +skill, or pretensions to skill, in poetry or literature. His +dedication was therefore an instance of servile absurdity, to be +exceeded only by Joshua Barnes's dedication of a Greek Anacreon to +the Duke. His reputation had been somewhat advanced by The Tender +Husband, a comedy which Steele dedicated to him, with a confession +that he owed to him several of the most successful scenes. To this +play Addison supplied a prologue. + +When the Marquis of Wharton was appointed Lord Lieutenant of +Ireland, Addison attended him as his secretary; and was made Keeper +of the Records, in Birmingham's Tower, with a salary of three +hundred pounds a year. The office was little more than nominal, and +the salary was augmented for his accommodation. Interest and +faction allow little to the operation of particular dispositions or +private opinions. Two men of personal characters more opposite than +those of Wharton and Addison could not easily be brought together. +Wharton was impious, profligate, and shameless; without regard, or +appearance of regard, to right and wrong. Whatever is contrary to +this may be said of Addison; but as agents of a party they were +connected, and how they adjusted their other sentiments we cannot +know. + +Addison must, however, not be too hastily condemned. It is not +necessary to refuse benefits from a bad man when the acceptance +implies no approbation of his crimes; nor has the subordinate +officer any obligation to examine the opinions or conduct of those +under whom he acts, except that he may not be made the instrument of +wickedness. It is reasonable to suppose that Addison counteracted, +as far as he was able, the malignant and blasting influence of the +Lieutenant; and that at least by his intervention some good was +done, and some mischief prevented. When he was in office he made a +law to himself, as Swift has recorded, never to remit his regular +fees in civility to his friends: "for," said he, "I may have a +hundred friends; and if my fee be two guineas, I shall, by +relinquishing my right, lose two hundred guineas, and no friend gain +more than two; there is therefore no proportion between the good +imparted and the evil suffered." He was in Ireland when Steele, +without any communication of his design, began the publication of +the Tatler; but he was not long concealed; by inserting a remark on +Virgil which Addison had given him he discovered himself. It is, +indeed, not easy for any man to write upon literature or common life +so as not to make himself known to those with whom he familiarly +converses, and who are acquainted with his track of study, his +favourite topic, his peculiar notions, and his habitual phrases. + +If Steele desired to write in secret, he was not lucky; a single +month detected him. His first Tatler was published April 22 (1709); +and Addison's contribution appeared May 26. Tickell observes that +the Tatler began and was concluded without his concurrence. This is +doubtless literally true; but the work did not suffer much by his +unconsciousness of its commencement, or his absence at its +cessation; for he continued his assistance to December 23, and the +paper stopped on January 2. He did not distinguish his pieces by +any signature; and I know not whether his name was not kept secret +till the papers were collected into volumes. + +To the Tatler, in about two months, succeeded the Spectator: a +series of essays of the same kind, but written with less levity, +upon a more regular plan, and published daily. Such an undertaking +showed the writers not to distrust their own copiousness of +materials or facility of composition, and their performance +justified their confidence. They found, however, in their progress +many auxiliaries. To attempt a single paper was no terrifying +labour; many pieces were offered, and many were received. + +Addison had enough of the zeal of party; but Steele had at that time +almost nothing else. The Spectator, in one of the first papers, +showed the political tenets of its authors; but a resolution was +soon taken of courting general approbation by general topics, and +subjects on which faction had produced no diversity of sentiments-- +such as literature, morality, and familiar life. To this practice +they adhered with few deviations. The ardour of Steele once broke +out in praise of Marlborough; and when Dr. Fleetwood prefixed to +some sermons a preface overflowing with Whiggish opinions, that it +might be read by the Queen, it was reprinted in the Spectator. + +To teach the minuter decencies and inferior duties, to regulate the +practice of daily conversation, to correct those depravities which +are rather ridiculous than criminal, and remove those grievances +which, if they produce no lasting calamities, impress hourly +vexation, was first attempted by Casa in his book of "Manners," and +Castiglione in his "Courtier:" two books yet celebrated in Italy +for purity and elegance, and which, if they are now less read, are +neglected only because they have effected that reformation which +their authors intended, and their precepts now are no longer wanted. +Their usefulness to the age in which they were written is +sufficiently attested by the translations which almost all the +nations of Europe were in haste to obtain. + +This species of instruction was continued, and perhaps advanced, by +the French; among whom La Bruyere's "Manners of the Age" (though, as +Boileau remarked, it is written without connection) certainly +deserves praise for liveliness of description and justness of +observation. Before the Tatler and Spectator, if the writers for +the theatre are excepted, England had no masters of common life. No +writers had yet undertaken to reform either the savageness of +neglect, or the impertinence of civility; to show when to speak, or +to be silent; how to refuse, or how to comply. We had many books to +teach us our more important duties, and to settle opinions in +philosophy or politics; but an arbiter elegantiarum, (a judge of +propriety) was yet wanting who should survey the track of daily +conversation, and free it from thorns and prickles, which tease the +passer, though they do not wound him. For this purpose nothing is +so proper as the frequent publication of short papers, which we +read, not as study, but amusement. If the subject be slight, the +treatise is short. The busy may find time, and the idle may find +patience. This mode of conveying cheap and easy knowledge began +among us in the civil war, when it was much the interest of either +party to raise and fix the prejudices of the people. At that time +appeared Mercurius Aulicus, Mercurius Rusticus, and Mercurius +Civicus. It is said that when any title grew popular, it was stolen +by the antagonist, who by this stratagem conveyed his notions to +those who would not have received him had he not worn the appearance +of a friend. The tumult of those unhappy days left scarcely any man +leisure to treasure up occasional compositions; and so much were +they neglected that a complete collection is nowhere to be found. + +These Mercuries were succeeded by L'Estrange's Observator; and that +by Lesley's Rehearsal, and perhaps by others; but hitherto nothing +had been conveyed to the people, in this commodious manner, but +controversy relating to the Church or State; of which they taught +many to talk, whom they could not teach to judge. + +It has been suggested that the Royal Society was instituted soon +after the Restoration to divert the attention of the people from +public discontent. The Tatler and Spectator had the same tendency; +they were published at a time when two parties--loud, restless, and +violent, each with plausible declarations, and each perhaps without +any distinct termination of its views--were agitating the nation; to +minds heated with political contest they supplied cooler and more +inoffensive reflections; and it is said by Addison, in a subsequent +work, that they had a perceptible influence upon the conversation of +that time, and taught the frolic and the gay to unite merriment with +decency--an effect which they can never wholly lose while they +continue to be among the first books by which both sexes are +initiated in the elegances of knowledge. + +The Tatler and Spectator adjusted, like Casa, the unsettled practice +of daily intercourse by propriety and politeness; and, like La +Bruyere, exhibited the "Characters and Manners of the Age." The +personages introduced in these papers were not merely ideal; they +were then known, and conspicuous in various stations. Of the Tatler +this is told by Steele in his last paper; and of the Spectator by +Budgell in the preface to "Theophrastus," a book which Addison has +recommended, and which he was suspected to have revised, if he did +not write it. Of those portraits which may be supposed to be +sometimes embellished, and sometimes aggravated, the originals are +now partly known, and partly forgotten. But to say that they united +the plans of two or three eminent writers, is to give them but a +small part of their due praise; they superadded literature and +criticism, and sometimes towered far above their predecessors; and +taught, with great justness of argument and dignity of language, the +most important duties and sublime truths. All these topics were +happily varied with elegant fictions and refined allegories, and +illuminated with different changes of style and felicities of +invention. + +It is recorded by Budgell, that of the characters feigned or +exhibited in the Spectator, the favourite of Addison was Sir Roger +de Coverley, of whom he had formed a very delicate and discriminate +idea, which he would not suffer to be violated; and therefore when +Steele had shown him innocently picking up a girl in the Temple, and +taking her to a tavern, he drew upon himself so much of his friend's +indignation that he was forced to appease him by a promise of +forbearing Sir Roger for the time to come. + +The reason which induced Cervantes to bring his hero to the grave, +para mi sola nacio Don Quixote, y yo para el, made Addison declare, +with undue vehemence of expression, that he would kill Sir Roger; +being of opinion that they were born for one another, and that any +other hand would do him wrong. + +It may be doubted whether Addison ever filled up his original +delineation. He describes his knight as having his imagination +somewhat warped; but of this perversion he has made very little use. +The irregularities in Sir Roger's conduct seem not so much the +effects of a mind deviating from the beaten track of life, by the +perpetual pressure of some overwhelming idea, as of habitual +rusticity, and that negligence which solitary grandeur naturally +generates. The variable weather of the mind, the flying vapours of +incipient madness, which from time to time cloud reason without +eclipsing it, it requires so much nicety to exhibit that Addison +seems to have been deterred from prosecuting his own design. + +To Sir Roger (who, as a country gentleman, appears to be a Tory, or, +as it is gently expressed, an adherent to the landed interest) is +opposed Sir Andrew Freeport, a new man, a wealthy merchant, zealous +for the moneyed interest, and a Whig. Of this contrariety of +opinions, it is probable more consequences were at first intended +than could be produced when the resolution was taken to exclude +party from the paper. Sir Andrew does but little, and that little +seems not to have pleased Addison, who, when he dismissed him from +the club, changed his opinions. Steele had made him, in the true +spirit of unfeeling commerce, declare that he "would not build an +hospital for idle people;" but at last he buys land, settles in the +country, and builds, not a manufactory, but an hospital for twelve +old husbandmen--for men with whom a merchant has little +acquaintance, and whom he commonly considers with little kindness. + +Of essays thus elegant, thus instructive, and thus commodiously +distributed, it is natural to suppose the approbation general, and +the sale numerous. I once heard it observed that the sale may be +calculated by the product of the tax, related in the last number to +produce more than twenty pounds a week, and therefore stated at one- +and-twenty pounds, or three pounds ten shillings a day: this, at a +halfpenny a paper, will give sixteen hundred and eighty for the +daily number. This sale is not great; yet this, if Swift be +credited, was likely to grow less; for he declares that the +Spectator, whom he ridicules for his endless mention of the FAIR +sex, had before his recess wearied his readers. + +The next year (1713), in which Cato came upon the stage, was the +grand climacteric of Addison's reputation. Upon the death of Cato +he had, as is said, planned a tragedy in the time of his travels, +and had for several years the four first acts finished, which were +shown to such as were likely to spread their admiration. They were +seen by Pope and by Cibber, who relates that Steele, when he took +back the copy, told him, in the despicable cant of literary modesty, +that, whatever spirit his friend had shown in the composition, he +doubted whether he would have courage sufficient to expose it to the +censure of a British audience. The time, however, was now come when +those who affected to think liberty in danger affected likewise to +think that a stage-play might preserve it; and Addison was +importuned, in the name of the tutelary deities of Britain, to show +his courage and his zeal by finishing his design. + +To resume his work he seemed perversely and unaccountably unwilling; +and by a request, which perhaps he wished to be denied, desired Mr. +Hughes to add a fifth act. Hughes supposed him serious; and, +undertaking the supplement, brought in a few days some scenes for +his examination; but he had in the meantime gone to work himself, +and produced half an act, which he afterwards completed, but with +brevity irregularly disproportionate to the foregoing parts, like a +task performed with reluctance and hurried to its conclusion. + +It may yet be doubted whether Cato was made public by any change of +the author's purpose; for Dennis charged him with raising prejudices +in his own favour by false positions of preparatory criticism, and +with POISONING THE TOWN by contradicting in the Spectator the +established rule of poetical justice, because his own hero, with all +his virtues, was to fall before a tyrant. The fact is certain; the +motives we must guess. + +Addison was, I believe, sufficiently disposed to bar all avenues +against all danger. When Pope brought him the prologue, which is +properly accommodated to the play, there were these words, +"Britains, arise! be worth like this approved;" meaning nothing more +than--Britons, erect and exalt yourselves to the approbation of +public virtue. Addison was frighted, lest he should be thought a +promoter of insurrection, and the line was liquidated to "Britains, +attend." + +Now "heavily in clouds came on the day, the great, the important +day," when Addison was to stand the hazard of the theatre. That +there might, however, be left as little hazard as was possible, on +the first night Steele, as himself relates, undertook to pack an +audience. "This," says Pope, "had been tried for the first time in +favour of the Distressed Mother; and was now, with more efficacy, +practised for Cato." The danger was soon over. The whole nation +was at that time on fire with faction. The Whigs applauded every +line in which liberty was mentioned, as a satire on the Tories; and +the Tories echoed every clap, to show that the satire was unfelt. +The story of Bolingbroke is well known; he called Booth to his box, +and gave him fifty guineas for defending the cause of liberty so +well against a perpetual dictator. "The Whigs," says Pope, "design +a second present, when they can accompany it with as good a +sentence." + +The play, supported thus by the emulation of factious praise, was +acted night after night for a longer time than, I believe, the +public had allowed to any drama before; and the author, as Mrs. +Porter long afterwards related, wandered through the whole +exhibition behind the scenes with restless and unappeasable +solicitude. When it was printed, notice was given that the Queen +would be pleased if it was dedicated to her; "but, as he had +designed that compliment elsewhere, he found himself obliged," says +Tickell, "by his duty on the one hand, and his honour on the other, +to send it into the world without any dedication." + +Human happiness has always its abatements; the brightest sunshine of +success is not without a cloud. No sooner was Cato offered to the +reader than it was attacked by the acute malignity of Dennis with +all the violence of angry criticism. Dennis, though equally +zealous, and probably by his temper more furious than Addison, for +what they called liberty, and though a flatterer of the Whig +Ministry, could not sit quiet at a successful play; but was eager to +tell friends and enemies that they had misplaced their admirations. +The world was too stubborn for instruction; with the fate of the +censurer of Corneille's Cid, his animadversions showed his anger +without effect, and Cato continued to be praised. + +Pope had now an opportunity of courting the friendship of Addison by +vilifying his old enemy, and could give resentment its full play +without appearing to revenge himself. He therefore published "A +Narrative of the Madness of John Dennis:" a performance which left +the objections to the play in their full force, and therefore +discovered more desire of vexing the critic than of defending the +poet. + +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; and that, whenever he +should think fit to answer his remarks, he would do it in a manner +to which nothing could be objected. + +The greatest weakness of the play is in the scenes of love, which +are said by Pope to have been added to the original plan upon a +subsequent review, in compliance with the popular practice of the +stage. Such an authority it is hard to reject; yet the love is so +intimately mingled with the whole action that it cannot easily be +thought extrinsic and adventitious; for if it were taken away, what +would be left? or how were the four acts filled in the first draft? +At the publication the wits seemed proud to pay their attendance +with encomiastic verses. The best are from an unknown hand, which +will perhaps lose somewhat of their praise when the author is known +to be Jeffreys. + +Cato had yet other honours. It was censured as a party-play by a +scholar of Oxford; and defended in a favourable examination by Dr. +Sewel. It was translated by Salvini into Italian, and acted at +Florence; and by the Jesuits of St. Omer's into Latin, and played by +their pupils. Of this version a copy was sent to Mr. Addison: it +is to be wished that it could be found, for the sake of comparing +their version of the soliloquy with that of Bland. + +A tragedy was written on the same subject by Des Champs, a French +poet, which was translated with a criticism on the English play. +But the translator and the critic are now forgotten. + +Dennis lived on unanswered, and therefore little read. Addison knew +the policy of literature too well to make his enemy important by +drawing the attention of the public upon a criticism which, though +sometimes intemperate, was often irrefragable. + +While Cato was upon the stage, another daily paper, called the +Guardian, was published by Steele. To this Addison gave great +assistance, whether occasionally or by previous engagement is not +known. The character of Guardian was too narrow and too serious: +it might properly enough admit both the duties and the decencies of +life, but seemed not to include literary speculations, and was in +some degree violated by merriment and burlesque. What had the +Guardian of the Lizards to do with clubs of tall or of little men, +with nests of ants, or with Strada's prolusions? Of this paper +nothing is necessary to be said but that it found many contributors, +and that it was a continuation of the Spectator, with the same +elegance and the same variety, till some unlucky sparkle from a Tory +paper set Steele's politics on fire, and wit at once blazed into +faction. He was soon too hot for neutral topics, and quitted the +Guardian to write the Englishman. + +The papers of Addison are marked in the Spectator by one of the +letters in the name of Clio, and in the Guardian by a hand; whether +it was, as Tickell pretends to think, that he was unwilling to usurp +the praise of others, or as Steele, with far greater likelihood, +insinuates, that he could not without discontent impart to others +any of his own. I have heard that his avidity did not satisfy +itself with the air of renown, but that with great eagerness he laid +hold on his proportion of the profits. + +Many of these papers were written with powers truly comic, with nice +discrimination of characters, and accurate observation of natural or +accidental deviations from propriety; but it was not supposed that +he had tried a comedy on the stage, till Steele after his death +declared him the author of The Drummer. This, however, Steele did +not know to be true by any direct testimony, for when Addison put +the play into his hands, he only told him it was the work of a +"gentleman in the company;" and when it was received, as is +confessed, with cold disapprobation, he was probably less willing to +claim it. Tickell omitted it in his collection; but the testimony +of Steele, and the total silence of any other claimant, has +determined the public to assign it to Addison, and it is now printed +with other poetry. Steele carried The Drummer to the play-house, +and afterwards to the press, and sold the copy for fifty guineas. + +To the opinion of Steele may be added the proof supplied by the play +itself, of which the characters are such as Addison would have +delineated, and the tendency such as Addison would have promoted. +That it should have been ill received would raise wonder, did we not +daily see the capricious distribution of theatrical praise. + +He was not all this time an indifferent spectator of public affairs. +He wrote, as different exigences required (in 1707), "The Present +State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation;" which, +however judicious, being written on temporary topics, and exhibiting +no peculiar powers, laid hold on no attention, and has naturally +sunk by its own weight into neglect. This cannot be said of the few +papers entitled the Whig Examiner, in which is employed all the +force of gay malevolence and humorous satire. Of this paper, which +just appeared and expired, Swift remarks, with exultation, that "it +is now down among the dead men." He might well rejoice at the death +of that which he could not have killed. Every reader of every +party, since personal malice is past, and the papers which once +inflamed the nation are read only as effusions of wit, must wish for +more of the Whig Examiners; for on no occasion was the genius of +Addison more vigorously exerted, and on none did the superiority of +his powers more evidently appear. His "Trial of Count Tariff," +written to expose the treaty of commerce with France, lived no +longer than the question that produced it. + +Not long afterwards an attempt was made to revive the Spectator, at +a time indeed by no means favourable to literature, when the +succession of a new family to the throne filled the nation with +anxiety, discord, and confusion; and either the turbulence of the +times, or the satiety of the readers, put a stop to the publication +after an experiment of eighty numbers, which were actually collected +into an eighth volume, perhaps more valuable than any of those that +went before it. Addison produced more than a fourth part; and the +other contributors are by no means unworthy of appearing as his +associates. The time that had passed during the suspension of the +Spectator, though it had not lessened his power of humour, seems to +have increased his disposition to seriousness: the proportion of +his religious to his comic papers is greater than in the former +series. + +The Spectator, from its re-commencement, was published only three +times a week; and no discriminative marks were added to the papers. +To Addison, Tickell has ascribed twenty-three. The Spectator had +many contributors; and Steele, whose negligence kept him always in a +hurry, when it was his turn to furnish a paper, called loudly for +the letters, of which Addison, whose materials were more, made +little use--having recourse to sketches and hints, the product of +his former studies, which he now reviewed and completed: among +these are named by Tickell the Essays on Wit, those on the Pleasures +of the Imagination, and the Criticism on Milton. + +When the House of Hanover took possession of the throne, it was +reasonable to expect that the zeal of Addison would be suitably +rewarded. Before the arrival of King George, he was made Secretary +to the Regency, and was required by his office to send notice to +Hanover that the Queen was dead, and that the throne was vacant. To +do this would not have been difficult to any man but Addison, who +was so overwhelmed with the greatness of the event, and so +distracted by choice of expression, that the lords, who could not +wait for the niceties of criticism, called Mr. Southwell, a clerk in +the House, and ordered him to despatch the message. Southwell +readily told what was necessary in the common style of business, and +valued himself upon having done what was too hard for Addison. He +was better qualified for the Freeholder, a paper which he published +twice a week, from December 23, 1715, to the middle of the next +year. This was undertaken in defence of the established Government, +sometimes with argument, and sometimes with mirth. In argument he +had many equals; but his humour was singular and matchless. Bigotry +itself must be delighted with the "Tory Fox-hunter." There are, +however, some strokes less elegant and less decent; such as the +"Pretender's Journal," in which one topic of ridicule is his +poverty. This mode of abuse had been employed by Milton against +King Charles II. + + "Jacoboei. + Centum exulantis viscera Marsupii regis." + +And Oldmixon delights to tell of some alderman of London that he had +more money than the exiled princes; but that which might be expected +from Milton's savageness, or Oldmixon's meanness, was not suitable +to the delicacy of Addison. + +Steele thought the humour of the Freeholder too nice and gentle for +such noisy times, and is reported to have said that the Ministry +made use of a lute, when they should have called for a trumpet. + +This year (1716) he married the Countess Dowager of Warwick, whom he +had solicited by a very long and anxious courtship, perhaps with +behaviour not very unlike that of Sir Roger to his disdainful widow; +and who, I am afraid, diverted herself often by playing with his +passion. He is said to have first known her by becoming tutor to +her son. "He formed," said Tonson, "the design of getting that lady +from the time when he was first taken into the family." In what +part of his life he obtained the recommendation, or how long, and in +what manner he lived in the family, I know not. His advances at +first were certainly timorous, but grew bolder as his reputation and +influence increased; till at last 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. She always remembered her +own rank, and thought herself entitled to treat with very little +ceremony the tutor of her son. Rowe's ballad of the "Despairing +Shepherd" is said to have been written, either before or after +marriage, upon this memorable pair; and it is certain that Addison +has left behind him no encouragement for ambitious love. + +The year after (1717) he rose to his highest elevation, being made +Secretary of State. For this employment he might be justly supposed +qualified by long practice of business, and by his regular ascent +through other offices; but expectation is often disappointed; it is +universally confessed that he was unequal to the duties of his +place. In the House of Commons he could not speak, and therefore +was useless to the defence of the Government. "In the office," says +Pope, "he could not issue an order without losing his time in quest +of fine expressions." What he gained in rank he lost in credit; and +finding by experience his own inability, was forced to solicit his +dismission, with a pension of fifteen hundred pounds a year. His +friends palliated this relinquishment, of which both friends and +enemies knew the true reason, with an account of declining health, +and the necessity of recess and quiet. He now returned to his +vocation, and began to plan literary occupations for his future +life. He purposed a tragedy on the death of Socrates: a story of +which, as Tickell remarks, the basis is narrow, and to which I know +not how love could have been appended. There would, however, have +been no want either of virtue in the sentiments, or elegance in the +language. He engaged in a nobler work, a "Defence of the Christian +Religion," of which part was published after his death; and he +designed to have made a new poetical version of the Psalms. + +These pious compositions Pope imputed to a selfish motive, upon the +credit, as he owns, of Tonson; who, having quarrelled with Addison, +and not loving him, said that when he laid down the Secretary's +office he intended to take orders and obtain a bishopric; "for," +said he, "I always thought him a priest in his heart." + +That Pope should have thought this conjecture of Tonson worth +remembrance, is a proof--but indeed, so far as I have found, the +only proof--that he retained some malignity from their ancient +rivalry. Tonson pretended to guess it; no other mortal ever +suspected it; and Pope might have reflected that a man who had been +Secretary of State in the Ministry of Sunderland knew a nearer way +to a bishopric than by defending religion or translating the Psalms. + +It is related that he had once a design to make an English +dictionary, and that he considered Dr. Tillotson as the writer of +highest authority. There was formerly sent to me by Mr. Locker, +clerk of the Leathersellers Company, who was eminent for curiosity +and literature, a collection of examples selected from Tillotson's +works, as Locker said, by Addison. It came too late to be of use, +so I inspected it but slightly, and remember it indistinctly. I +thought the passages too short. Addison, however, did not conclude +his life in peaceful studies, but relapsed, when he was near his +end, to a political dispute. + +It so happened that (1718-19) a controversy was agitated with great +vehemence between those friends of long continuance, Addison and +Steele. It may be asked, in the language of Homer, what power or +what cause should set them at variance. The subject of their +dispute was of great importance. The Earl of Sunderland proposed an +Act, called the "Peerage Bill;" by which the number of Peers should +be fixed, and the King restrained from any new creation of nobility, +unless when an old family should be extinct. To this the Lords +would naturally agree; and the King, who was yet little acquainted +with his own prerogative, and, as is now well known, almost +indifferent to the possessions of the Crown, had been persuaded to +consent. The only difficulty was found among the Commons, who were +not likely to approve the perpetual exclusion of themselves and +their posterity. The Bill, therefore, was eagerly opposed, and, +among others, by Sir Robert Walpole, whose speech was published. + +The Lords might think their dignity diminished by improper +advancements, and particularly by the introduction of twelve new +Peers at once, to produce a majority of Tories in the last reign: +an act of authority violent enough, yet certainly legal, and by no +means to be compared with that contempt of national right with which +some time afterwards, by the instigation of Whiggism, the Commons, +chosen by the people for three years, chose themselves for seven. +But, whatever might be the disposition of the Lords, the people had +no wish to increase their power. The tendency of the Bill, as +Steele observed in a letter to the Earl of Oxford, was to introduce +an aristocracy: for a majority in the House of Lords, so limited, +would have been despotic and irresistible. + +To prevent this subversion of the ancient establishment, Steele, +whose pen readily seconded his political passions, endeavoured to +alarm the nation by a pamphlet called "The Plebeian." To this an +answer was published by Addison, under the title of "The Old Whig," +in which it is not discovered that Steele was then known to be the +advocate for the Commons. Steele replied by a second "Plebeian;" +and, whether by ignorance or by courtesy, confined himself to his +question, without any personal notice of his opponent. Nothing +hitherto was committed against the laws of friendship or proprieties +of decency; but controvertists cannot long retain their kindness for +each other. The "Old Whig" answered "The Plebeian," and could not +forbear some contempt of "little DICKY, whose trade it was to write +pamphlets." Dicky, however, did not lose his settled veneration for +his friend, but contented himself with quoting some lines of Cato, +which were at once detection and reproof. The Bill was laid aside +during that session, and Addison died before the next, in which its +commitment was rejected by two hundred and sixty-five to one hundred +and seventy-seven. + +Every reader surely must regret that these two illustrious friends, +after so many years passed in confidence and endearment, in unity of +interest, conformity of opinion, and fellowship of study, should +finally part in acrimonious opposition. Such a controversy was +"bellum plusquam CIVILE," as Lucan expresses it. Why could not +faction find other advocates? But among the uncertainties of the +human state, we are doomed to number the instability of friendship. +Of this dispute I have little knowledge but from the "Biographia +Britannica." "The Old Whig" is not inserted in Addison's works: +nor is it mentioned by Tickell in his Life; why it was omitted, the +biographers doubtless give the true reason--the fact was too recent, +and those who had been heated in the contention were not yet cool. + +The necessity of complying with times, and of sparing persons, is +the great impediment of biography. History may be formed from +permanent monuments and records: but lives can only be written from +personal knowledge, which is growing every day less, and in a short +time is lost for ever. What is known can seldom be immediately +told; and when it might be told, it is no longer known. The +delicate features of the mind, the nice discriminations of +character, and the minute peculiarities of conduct, are soon +obliterated; and it is surely better that caprice, obstinacy, +frolic, and folly, however they might delight in the description, +should be silently forgotten, than that, by wanton merriment and +unseasonable detection, a pang should be given to a widow, a +daughter, a brother, or a friend. As the process of these +narratives is now bringing me among my contemporaries, I begin to +feel myself "walking upon ashes under which the fire is not +extinguished," and coming to the time of which it will be proper +rather to say "nothing that is false, than all that is true." + +The end of this useful life was now approaching. Addison had for +some time been oppressed by shortness of breath, which was now +aggravated by a dropsy; and, finding his danger pressing, he +prepared to die conformably to his own precepts and professions. +During this lingering decay, he sent, as Pope relates, a message by +the Earl of Warwick to Mr. Gay, desiring to see him. Gay, who had +not visited him for some time before, obeyed the summons, and found +himself received with great kindness. The purpose for which the +interview had been solicited was then discovered. Addison told him +that he had injured him; but that, if he recovered, he would +recompense him. What the injury was he did not explain, nor did Gay +ever know; but supposed that some preferment designed for him had, +by Addison's intervention, been withheld. + +Lord Warwick was a young man, of very irregular life, and perhaps of +loose opinions. Addison, for whom he did not want respect, had very +diligently endeavoured to reclaim him, but his arguments and +expostulations had no effect. One experiment, however, remained to +be tried; when he found his life near its end, he directed the young +lord to be called, and when he desired with great tenderness to hear +his last injunctions, told him, "I have sent for you that you may +see how a Christian can die." What effect this awful scene had on +the earl, I know not; he likewise died himself in a short time. + +In Tickell's excellent Elegy on his friend are these lines:-- + + "He taught us how to live; and, oh! too high + The price of knowledge, taught us how to die"-- + +in which he alludes, as he told Dr. Young, to this moving interview. + +Having given directions to Mr. Tickell for the publication of his +works, and dedicated them on his death-bed to his friend Mr. Craggs, +he died June 17, 1719, at Holland House, leaving no child but a +daughter. + +Of his virtue it is a sufficient testimony that the resentment of +party has transmitted no charge of any crime. He was not one of +those who are praised only after death; for his merit was so +generally acknowledged that Swift, having observed that his election +passed without a contest, adds that if he proposed himself for King +he would hardly have been refused. His zeal for his party did not +extinguish his kindness for the merit of his opponents; when he was +Secretary in Ireland, he refused to intermit his acquaintance with +Swift. Of his habits or external manners, nothing is so often +mentioned as that timorous or sullen taciturnity, which his friends +called modesty by too mild a name. Steele mentions with great +tenderness "that remarkable bashfulness which is a cloak that hides +and muffles merit;" and tells us "that his abilities were covered +only by modesty, which doubles the beauties which are seen, and +gives credit and esteem to all that are concealed." Chesterfield +affirms that "Addison was the most timorous and awkward man that he +ever saw." And Addison, speaking of his own deficiency in +conversation, used to say of himself that, with respect to +intellectual wealth, "he could draw bills for a thousand pounds, +though he had not a guinea in his pocket." That he wanted current +coin for ready payment, and by that want was often obstructed and +distressed; and that he was often oppressed by an improper and +ungraceful timidity, every testimony concurs to prove; but +Chesterfield's representation is doubtless hyperbolical. That man +cannot be supposed very unexpert in the arts of conversation and +practice of life who, without fortune or alliance, by his usefulness +and dexterity became Secretary of State, and who died at forty- +seven, after having not only stood long in the highest rank of wit +and literature, but filled one of the most important offices of +State. + +The time in which he lived had reason to lament his obstinacy of +silence; "for he was," says Steele, "above all men in that talent +called humour, and enjoyed it in such perfection that I have often +reflected, after a night spent with him apart from all the world, +that I had had the pleasure of conversing with an intimate +acquaintance of Terence and Catullus, who had all their wit and +nature, heightened with humour more exquisite and delightful than +any other man ever possessed." This is the fondness of a friend; +let us hear what is told us by a rival. "Addison's conversation," +says Pope, "had something in it more charming than I have found in +any other man. But this was only when familiar: before strangers, +or perhaps a single stranger, he preserved his dignity by a stiff +silence." This modesty was by no means inconsistent with a very +high opinion of his own merit. He demanded to be the first name in +modern wit; and, with Steele to echo him, used to depreciate Dryden, +whom Pope and Congreve defended against them. There is no reason to +doubt that he suffered too much pain from the prevalence of Pope's +poetical reputation; nor is it without strong reason suspected that +by some disingenuous acts he endeavoured to obstruct it; Pope was +not the only man whom he insidiously injured, though the only man of +whom he could be afraid. His own powers were such as might have +satisfied him with conscious excellence. Of very extensive learning +he has indeed given no proofs. He seems to have had small +acquaintance with the sciences, and to have read little except Latin +and French; but of the Latin poets his "Dialogues on Medals" show +that he had perused the works with great diligence and skill. The +abundance of his own mind left him little indeed of adventitious +sentiments; his wit always could suggest what the occasion demanded. +He had read with critical eyes the important volume of human life, +and knew the heart of man, from the depths of stratagem to the +surface of affectation. What he knew he could easily communicate. +"This," says Steele, "was particular in this writer--that when he +had taken his resolution, or made his plan for what he designed to +write, he would walk about a room and dictate it into language with +as much freedom and ease as any one could write it down, and attend +to the coherence and grammar of what he dictated." + +Pope, who can be less suspected of favouring his memory, declares +that he wrote very fluently, but was slow and scrupulous in +correcting; that many of his Spectators were written very fast, and +sent immediately to the press; and that it seemed to be for his +advantage not to have time for much revisal. "He would alter," says +Pope, "anything to please his friends before publication, but would +not re-touch his pieces afterwards; and I believe not one word of +Cato to which I made an objection was suffered to stand." + +The last line of Cato is Pope's, having been originally written-- + + "And oh! 'twas this that ended Cato's life." + +Pope might have made more objections to the six concluding lines. +In the first couplet the words "from hence" are improper; and the +second line is taken from Dryden's Virgil. Of the next couplet, the +first verse, being included in the second, is therefore useless; and +in the third Discord is made to produce Strife. + +Of the course of Addison's familiar day, before his marriage, Pope +has given a detail. He had in the house with him Budgell, and +perhaps Philips. His chief companions were Steele, Budgell, Philips +[Ambrose], Carey, Davenant, and Colonel Brett. With one or other of +these he always breakfasted. He studied all morning; then dined at +a tavern; and went afterwards to Button's. 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 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. In the +bottle discontent seeks for comfort, cowardice for courage, and +bashfulness for confidence. It is not unlikely that Addison was +first seduced to excess by the manumission which he obtained from +the servile timidity of his sober hours. He that feels oppression +from the presence of those to whom he knows himself superior will +desire to set loose his powers of conversation; and who that ever +asked succours from Bacchus was able to preserve himself from being +enslaved by his auxiliary? + +Among those friends it was that Addison displayed the elegance of +his colloquial accomplishments, which may easily be supposed such as +Pope represents them. The remark of Mandeville, who, when he had +passed an evening in his company, declared that he was a parson in a +tie-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. + +From any minute knowledge of his familiar manners the intervention +of sixty years has now debarred us. Steele once promised Congreve +and the public a complete description of his character; but the +promises of authors are like the vows of lovers. Steele thought no +more on his design, or thought on it with anxiety that at last +disgusted him, and left his friend in the hands of Tickell. + +One slight lineament of his character Swift has preserved. It was +his practice, when he found any man invincibly wrong, to flatter his +opinions by acquiescence, and sink him yet deeper in absurdity. +This artifice of mischief was admired by Stella; and Swift seems to +approve her admiration. His works will supply some information. It +appears, from the various pictures of the world, that, with all his +bashfulness, he had conversed with many distinct classes of men, had +surveyed their ways with very diligent observation, and marked with +great acuteness the effects of different modes of life. He was a +man in whose presence nothing reprehensible was out of danger; quick +in discerning whatever was wrong or ridiculous, and not unwilling to +expose it. "There are," says Steele, "in his writings many oblique +strokes upon some of the wittiest men of the age." His delight was +more to excite merriment than detestation; and he detects follies +rather than crimes. If any judgment be made from his books of his +moral character, nothing will be found but purity and excellence. +Knowledge of mankind, indeed, less extensive than that of Addison, +will show that to write, and to live, are very different. Many who +praise virtue, do no more than praise it. Yet it is reasonable to +believe that Addison's professions 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. + +It is justly observed by Tickell that he employed wit on the side of +virtue and religion. He not only made the proper use of wit +himself, but taught it to others; and from his time it has been +generally subservient to the cause of reason and of truth. He has +dissipated the prejudice that had long connected gaiety with vice, +and easiness of manners with laxity of principles. He has restored +virtue to its dignity, and taught innocence not to be ashamed. This +is an elevation of literary character "above all Greek, above all +Roman fame." No greater felicity can genius attain than that of +having purified intellectual pleasure, separated mirth from +indecency, and wit from licentiousness; of having taught a +succession of writers to bring elegance and gaiety to the aid of +goodness; and, if I may use expressions yet more awful, of having +"turned many to righteousness." + +Addison, in his life and for some time afterwards, was considered by +a greater part of readers as supremely excelling both in poetry and +criticism. Part of his reputation may be probably ascribed to the +advancement of his fortune; when, as Swift observes, he became a +statesman, and saw poets waiting at his levee, it was no wonder that +praise was accumulated upon him. Much likewise may be more +honourably ascribed to his personal character: he who, if he had +claimed it, might have obtained the diadem, was not likely to be +denied the laurel. But time quickly puts an end to artificial and +accidental fame; and Addison is to pass through futurity protected +only by his genius. Every name which kindness or interest once +raised too high is in danger, lest the next age should, by the +vengeance of criticism, sink it in the same proportion. A great +writer has lately styled him "an indifferent poet, and a worse +critic." His poetry is first to be considered; of which it must be +confessed that it has not often those felicities of diction which +give lustre to sentiments, or that vigour of sentiment that animates +diction: there is little of ardour, vehemence, or transport; there +is very rarely the awfulness of grandeur, and not very often the +splendour of elegance. He thinks justly, but he thinks faintly. +This is his general character; to which, doubtless, many single +passages will furnish exception. Yet, if he seldom reaches supreme +excellence, he rarely sinks into dulness, and is still more rarely +entangled in absurdity. He did not trust his powers enough to be +negligent. There is in most of his compositions a calmness and +equability, deliberate and cautious, sometimes with little that +delights, but seldom with anything that offends. Of this kind seem +to be his poems to Dryden, to Somers, and to the King. His ode on +St. Cecilia has been imitated by Pope, and has something in it of +Dryden's vigour. Of his Account of the English Poets he used to +speak as a "poor thing;" but it is not worse than his usual strain. +He has said, not very judiciously, in his character of Waller-- + + "Thy verse could show even Cromwell's innocence, + And compliment the storms that bore him hence. + Oh! had thy Muse not come an age too soon, + But seen great Nassau on the British throne, + How had his triumph glittered in thy page!" + +What is this but to say that he who could compliment Cromwell had +been the proper poet for King William? Addison, however, printed +the piece. + +The Letter from Italy has been always praised, but has never been +praised beyond its merit. It is more correct, with less appearance +of labour, and more elegant, with less ambition of ornament, than +any other of his poems. There is, however, one broken metaphor, of +which notice may properly be taken:-- + + "Fired with that name-- + I bridle in my struggling Muse with pain, + That longs to launch into a nobler strain." + +To BRIDLE A GODDESS is no very delicate idea; but why must she be +BRIDLED? because she LONGS TO LAUNCH; an act which was never +hindered by a BRIDLE: and whither will she LAUNCH? into a NOBLER +STRAIN. She is in the first line a HORSE, in the second a BOAT; and +the care of the poet is to keep his HORSE or his BOAT from SINGING. + +The next composition is the far-famed "Campaign," which Dr. Warton +has termed a "Gazette in Rhyme," with harshness not often used by +the good-nature of his criticism. Before a censure so severe is +admitted, let us consider that war is a frequent subject of poetry, +and then inquire who has described it with more justice and force. +Many of our own writers tried their powers upon this year of +victory: yet Addison's is confessedly the best performance; his +poem is the work of a man not blinded by the dust of learning; his +images are not borrowed merely from books. The superiority which he +confers upon his hero is not personal prowess and "mighty bone," but +deliberate intrepidity, a calm command of his passions, and the +power of consulting his own mind in the midst of danger. The +rejection and contempt of fiction is rational and manly. It may be +observed that the last line is imitated by Pope:-- + + "Marlb'rough's exploits appear divinely bright-- + Raised of themselves their genuine charms they boast, + And those that paint them truest, praise them most." + +This Pope had in his thoughts, but, not knowing how to use what was +not his own, he spoiled the thought when he had borrowed it:-- + + "The well-sung woes shall soothe my pensive ghost; + He best can paint them who shall feel them most." + +Martial exploits may be PAINTED; perhaps WOES may be PAINTED; but +they are surely not PAINTED by being WELL SUNG: it is not easy to +paint in song, or to sing in colours. + +No passage in the "Campaign" has been more often mentioned than the +simile of the angel, which is said in the Tatler to be "one of the +noblest thoughts that ever entered into the heart of man," and is +therefore worthy of attentive consideration. Let it be first +inquired whether it be a simile. A poetical simile is the discovery +of likeness between two actions in their general nature dissimilar, +or of causes terminating by different operations in some resemblance +of effect. But the mention of another like consequence from a like +cause, or of a like performance by a like agency, is not a simile, +but an exemplification. It is not a simile to say that the Thames +waters fields, as the Po waters fields; or that as Hecla vomits +flames in Iceland, so AEtna vomits flames in Sicily. When Horace +says of Pindar that he pours his violence and rapidity of verse, as +a river swollen with rain rushes from the mountain; or of himself, +that his genius wanders in quest of poetical decorations, as the bee +wanders to collect honey; he, in either case, produces a simile: +the mind is impressed with the resemblance of things generally +unlike, as unlike as intellect and body. But if Pindar had been +described as writing with the copiousness and grandeur of Homer, or +Horace had told that he reviewed and finished his own poetry with +the same care as Isocrates polished his orations, instead of +similitude, he would have exhibited almost identity; he would have +given the same portraits with different names. In the poem now +examined, when the English are represented as gaining a fortified +pass by repetition of attack and perseverance of resolution, their +obstinacy of courage and vigour of onset are well illustrated by the +sea that breaks, with incessant battery, the dykes of Holland. This +is a simile. But when Addison, having celebrated the beauty of +Marlborough's person, tells us that "Achilles thus was formed of +every grace," here is no simile, but a mere exemplification. A +simile may be compared to lines converging at a point, and is more +excellent as the lines approach from greater distance: an +exemplification may be considered as two parallel lines, which run +on together without approximation, never far separated, and never +joined. + +Marlborough is so like the angel in the poem that the action of both +is almost the same, and performed by both in the same manner. +Marlborough "teaches the battle to rage;" the angel "directs the +storm:" Marlborough is "unmoved in peaceful thought;" the angel is +"calm and serene:" Marlborough stands "unmoved amidst the shock of +hosts;" the angel rides "calm in the whirlwind." The lines on +Marlborough are just and noble, but the simile gives almost the same +images a second time. But perhaps this thought, though hardly a +simile, was remote from vulgar conceptions, and required great +labour and research, or dexterity of application. Of this Dr. +Madden, a name which Ireland ought to honour, once gave me his +opinion. "If I had set," said he, "ten schoolboys to write on the +battle of Blenheim, and eight had brought me the angel, I should not +have been surprised." + +The opera of Rosamond, though it is seldom mentioned, is one of the +first of Addison's compositions. The subject is well chosen, the +fiction is pleasing, and the praise of Marlborough, for which the +scene gives an opportunity, is, what perhaps every human excellence +must be, the product of good luck improved by genius. The thoughts +are sometimes great, and sometimes tender; the versification is easy +and gay. There is doubtless some advantage in the shortness of the +lines, which there is little temptation to load with expletive +epithets. The dialogue seems commonly better than the songs. The +two comic characters of Sir Trusty and Grideline, though of no great +value, are yet such as the poet intended. Sir Trusty's account of +the death of Rosamond is, I think, too grossly absurd. The whole +drama is airy and elegant; engaging in its process, and pleasing in +its conclusion. If Addison had cultivated the lighter parts of +poetry, he would probably have excelled. + +The tragedy of Cato, which, contrary to the rule observed in +selecting the works of other poets, has by the weight of its +character forced its way into the late collection, is unquestionably +the noblest production of Addison's genius. Of a work so much read, +it is difficult to say anything new. About things on which the +public thinks long, it commonly attains to think right; and of Cato +it has been not unjustly determined that it is rather a poem in +dialogue than a drama, rather a succession of just sentiments in +elegant language than a representation of natural affections, or of +any state probable or possible in human life. Nothing here "excites +or assuages emotion:" here is "no magical power of raising +phantastic terror or wild anxiety." The events are expected without +solicitude, and are remembered without joy or sorrow. Of the agents +we have no care; we consider not what they are doing, or what they +are suffering; we wish only to know what they have to say. Cato is +a being above our solicitude; a man of whom the gods take care, and +whom we leave to their care with heedless confidence. To the rest +neither gods nor men can have much attention; for there is not one +amongst them that strongly attracts either affection or esteem. But +they are made the vehicles of such sentiments and such expression +that there is scarcely a scene in the play which the reader does not +wish to impress upon his memory. + +When Cato was shown to Pope, he advised the author to print it, +without any theatrical exhibition, supposing that it would be read +more favourably than heard. Addison declared himself of the same +opinion, but urged the importunity of his friends for its appearance +on the stage. The emulation of parties made it successful beyond +expectation; and its success has introduced or confirmed among us +the use of dialogue too declamatory, of unaffecting elegance, and +chill philosophy. The universality of applause, however it might +quell the censure of common mortals, had no other effect than to +harden Dennis in fixed dislike; but his dislike was not merely +capricious. He found and showed many faults; he showed them indeed +with anger, but he found them indeed with acuteness, such as ought +to rescue his criticism from oblivion; though, at last, it will have +no other life than it derives from the work which it endeavours to +oppress. Why he pays no regard to the opinion of the audience, he +gives his reason by remarking that-- + +"A deference is to be paid to a general applause when it appears +that the applause is natural and spontaneous; but that little regard +is to be had to it when it is affected or artificial. Of all the +tragedies which in his memory have had vast and violent runs, not +one has been excellent, few have been tolerable, most have been +scandalous. When a poet writes a tragedy who knows he has judgment, +and who feels he has genius, that poet presumes upon his own merit, +and scorns to make a cabal. That people come coolly to the +representation of such a tragedy, without any violent expectation, +or delusive imagination, or invincible prepossession; that such an +audience is liable to receive the impressions which the poem shall +naturally make on them, and to judge by their own reason, and their +own judgments; and that reason and judgment are calm and serene, not +formed by nature to make proselytes, and to control and lord it over +the imagination of others. But that when an author writes a tragedy +who knows he has neither genius nor judgment, he has recourse to the +making a party, and he endeavours to make up in industry what is +wanting in talent, and to supply by poetical craft the absence of +poetical art: that such an author is humbly contented to raise +men's passions by a plot without doors, since he despairs of doing +it by that which he brings upon the stage. That party and passion, +and prepossession, are clamorous and tumultuous things, and so much +the more clamorous and tumultuous by how much the more erroneous: +that they domineer and tyrannise over the imaginations of persons +who want judgment, and sometimes too of those who have it, and, like +a fierce and outrageous torrent, bear down all opposition before +them." + +He then condemns the neglect of poetical justice, which is one of +his favourite principles:-- + +"'Tis certainly the duty of every tragic poet, by the exact +distribution of poetical justice, to imitate the Divine +Dispensation, and to inculcate a particular Providence. 'Tis true, +indeed, upon the stage of the world, the wicked sometimes prosper +and the guiltless suffer; but that is permitted by the Governor of +the World, to show, from the attribute of His infinite justice, that +there is a compensation in futurity, to prove the immortality of the +human soul, and the certainty of future rewards and punishments. +But the poetical persons in tragedy exist no longer than the reading +or the representation; the whole extent of their enmity is +circumscribed by those; and therefore, during that reading or +representation, according to their merits or demerits, they must be +punished or rewarded. If this is not done, there is no impartial +distribution of poetical justice, no instructive lecture of a +particular Providence, and no imitation of the Divine Dispensation. +And yet the author of this tragedy does not only run counter to +this, in the fate of his principal character; but everywhere, +throughout it, makes virtue suffer, and vice triumph: for not only +Cato is vanquished by Caesar, but the treachery and perfidiousness +of Syphax prevail over the honest simplicity and the credulity of +Juba; and the sly subtlety and dissimulation of Portius over the +generous frankness and open-heartedness of Marcus." + +Whatever pleasure there may be in seeing crimes punished and virtue +rewarded, yet, since wickedness often prospers in real life, the +poet is certainly at liberty to give it prosperity on the stage. +For if poetry has an imitation of reality, how are its laws broken +by exhibiting the world in its true form? The stage may sometimes +gratify our wishes; but if it be truly the "MIRROR OF LIFE," it +ought to show us sometimes what we are to expect. + +Dennis objects to the characters that they are not natural or +reasonable; but as heroes and heroines are not beings that are seen +every day, it is hard to find upon what principles their conduct +shall be tried. It is, however, not useless to consider what he +says of the manner in which Cato receives the account of his son's +death:-- + +"Nor is the grief of Cato, in the fourth act, one jot more in nature +than that of his son and Lucia in the third. Cato receives the news +of his son's death, not only with dry eyes, but with a sort of +satisfaction; and in the same page sheds tears for the calamity of +his country, and does the same thing in the next page upon the bare +apprehension of the danger of his friends. Now, since the love of +one's country is the love of one's countrymen, as I have shown upon +another occasion, I desire to ask these questions:--Of all our +countrymen, which do we love most, those whom we know, or those whom +we know not? And of those whom we know, which do we cherish most, +our friends or our enemies? And of our friends, which are the +dearest to us, those who are related to us, or those who are not? +And of all our relations, for which have we most tenderness, for +those who are near to us, or for those who are remote? And of our +near relations, which are the nearest, and consequently the dearest +to us, our offspring, or others? Our offspring, most certainly; as +Nature, or in other words Providence, has wisely contrived for the +preservation of mankind. Now, does it not follow, from what has +been said, that for a man to receive the news of his son's death +with dry eyes, and to weep at the same time for the calamities of +his country, is a wretched affectation and a miserable +inconsistency? Is not that, in plain English, to receive with dry +eyes the news of the deaths of those for whose sake our country is a +name so dear to us, and at the same time to shed tears for those for +whose sakes our country is not a name so dear to us?" + +But this formidable assailant is less resistible when he attacks the +probability of the action and the reasonableness of the plan. Every +critical reader must remark that Addison has, with a scrupulosity +almost unexampled on the English stage, confined himself in time to +a single day, and in place to rigorous unity. The scene never +changes, and the whole action of the play passes in the great hall +of Cato's house at Utica. Much, therefore, is done in the hall for +which any other place had been more fit; and this impropriety +affords Dennis many hints of merriment and opportunities of triumph. +The passage is long; but as such disquisitions are not common, and +the objections are skilfully formed and vigorously urged, those who +delight in critical controversy will not think it tedious:-- + +"Upon the departure of Portius, Sempronius makes but one soliloquy, +and immediately in comes Syphax, and then the two politicians are at +it immediately. They lay their heads together, with their snuff- +boxes in their hands, as Mr. Bayes has it, and feague it away. But, +in the midst of that wise scene, Syphax seems to give a seasonable +caution to Sempronius:-- + + "'SYPH. But is it true, Sempronius, that your senate + Is called together? Gods! thou must be cautious; + Cato has piercing eyes.' + +"There is a great deal of caution shown, indeed, in meeting in a +governor's own hall to carry on their plot against him. Whatever +opinion they have of his eyes, I suppose they have none of his ears, +or they would never have talked at this foolish rate so near:-- + + "'Gods! thou must be cautious.' + +Oh! yes, very cautious: for if Cato should overhear you, and turn +you off for politicians, Caesar would never take you. + +"When Cato, Act II., turns the senators out of the hall upon +pretence of acquainting Juba with the result of their debates, he +appears to me to do a thing which is neither reasonable nor civil. +Juba might certainly have better been made acquainted with the +result of that debate in some private apartment of the palace. But +the poet was driven upon this absurdity to make way for another, and +that is to give Juba an opportunity to demand Marcia of her father. +But the quarrel and rage of Juba and Syphax, in the same act; the +invectives of Syphax against the Romans and Cato; the advice that he +gives Juba in her father's hall to bear away Marcia by force; and +his brutal and clamorous rage upon his refusal, and at a time when +Cato was scarcely out of sight, and perhaps not out of hearing, at +least some of his guards or domestics must necessarily be supposed +to be within hearing; is a thing that is so far from being probable, +that it is hardly possible. + +"Sempronius, in the second act, comes back once more in the same +morning to the governor's hall to carry on the conspiracy with +Syphax against the governor, his country, and his family: which is +so stupid that it is below the wisdom of the O---s, the Macs, and +the Teagues; even Eustace Commins himself would never have gone to +Justice-hall to have conspired against the Government. If officers +at Portsmouth should lay their heads together in order to the +carrying off J--- G---'s niece or daughter, would they meet in J--- +G---'s hall to carry on that conspiracy? There would be no +necessity for their meeting there--at least, till they came to the +execution of their plot--because there would be other places to meet +in. There would be no probability that they should meet there, +because there would be places more private and more commodious. Now +there ought to be nothing in a tragical action but what is necessary +or probable. + +"But treason is not the only thing that is carried on in this hall; +that, and love and philosophy take their turns in it, without any +manner of necessity or probability occasioned by the action, as duly +and as regularly, without interrupting one another, as if there were +a triple league between them, and a mutual agreement that each +should give place to and make way for the other in a due and orderly +succession. + +"We now come to the third act. Sempronius, in this act, comes into +the governor's hall with the leaders of the mutiny; but as soon as +Cato is gone, Sempronius, who but just before had acted like an +unparalleled knave, discovers himself, like an egregious fool, to be +an accomplice in the conspiracy. + + "'SEMP. Know, villains, when such paltry slaves presume + To mix in treason, if the plot succeeds, + They're thrown neglected by; but, if it fails, + They're sure to die like dogs, as you shall do. + Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth + To sudden death.' + +"'Tis true, indeed, the second leader says there are none there but +friends; but is that possible at such a juncture? Can a parcel of +rogues attempt to assassinate the governor of a town of war, in his +own house, in midday, and, after they are discovered and defeated, +can there be none near them but friends? Is it not plain, from +these words of Sempronius-- + + "'Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth + To sudden death--' + +and from the entrance of the guards upon the word of command, that +those guards were within ear-shot? Behold Sempronius, then, +palpably discovered. How comes it to pass, then, that instead of +being hanged up with the rest, he remains secure in the governor's +hall, and there carries on his conspiracy against the Government, +the third time in the same day, with his old comrade Syphax, who +enters at the same time that the guards are carrying away the +leaders, big with the news of the defeat of Sempronius?--though +where he had his intelligence so soon is difficult to imagine. And +now the reader may expect a very extraordinary scene. There is not +abundance of spirit, indeed, nor a great deal of passion, but there +is wisdom more than enough to supply all defects. + + "'SYPH. Our first design, my friend, has proved abortive; + Still there remains an after-game to play: + My troops are mounted; their Numidian steeds + Snuff up the winds, and long to scour the desert. + Let but Sempronius lead us in our flight, + We'll force the gate where Marcus keeps his guard, + And hew down all that would oppose our passage; + A day will bring us into Caesar's camp. + SEMP. Confusion! I have failed of half my purpose; + Marcia, the charming Marcia's left behind.' + +Well, but though he tells us the half-purpose he has failed of, he +does not tell us the half that he has carried. But what does he +mean by + + "'Marcia, the charming Marcia's left behind'? + +He is now in her own house! and we have neither seen her nor heard +of her anywhere else since the play began. But now let us hear +Syphax:-- + + "'What hinders, then, but that you find her out, + And hurry her away by manly force?' + +But what does old Syphax mean by finding her out? They talk as if +she were as hard to be found as a hare in a frosty morning. + + "'SEMP. But how to gain admission?' + +Oh! she is found out then, it seems. + + "'But how to gain admission? for access + Is giv'n to none but Juba and her brothers.' + +But, raillery apart, why access to Juba? For he was owned and +received as a lover neither by the father nor by the daughter. +Well, but let that pass. Syphax puts Sempronius out of pain +immediately; and, being a Numidian, abounding in wiles, supplies him +with a stratagem for admission that, I believe, is a nonpareil. + + "'SYPH. Thou shalt have Juba's dress, and Juba's guards; + The doors will open when Numidia's prince + Seems to appear before them.' + +"Sempronius is, it seems, to pass for Juba in full day at Cato's +house, where they were both so very well known, by having Juba's +dress and his guards; as if one of the Marshals of France could pass +for the Duke of Bavaria at noonday, at Versailles, by having his +dress and liveries. But how does Syphax pretend to help Sempronius +to young Juba's dress? Does he serve him in a double capacity, as +general and master of his wardrobe? But why Juba's guards? For the +devil of any guards has Juba appeared with yet. Well, though this +is a mighty politic invention, yet, methinks, they might have done +without it: for, since the advice that Syphax gave to Sempronius +was + + "'To hurry her away by manly force,' + +in my opinion the shortest and likeliest way of coming at the lady +was by demolishing, instead of putting on an impertinent disguise to +circumvent two or three slaves. But Sempronius, it seems, is of +another opinion. He extols to the skies the invention of old +Syphax:-- + + "'SEMP. Heavens! what a thought was there!' + +"Now, I appeal to the reader if I have not been as good as my word. +Did I not tell him that I would lay before him a very wise scene? + +"But now let us lay before the reader that part of the scenery of +the fourth act which may show the absurdities which the author has +run into, through the indiscreet observance of the unity of place. +I do not remember that Aristotle has said anything expressly +concerning the unity of place. 'Tis true, implicitly he has said +enough in the rules which he has laid down for the chorus. For by +making the chorus an essential part of tragedy, and by bringing it +on the stage immediately after the opening of the scene, and +retaining it there till the very catastrophe, he has so determined +and fixed the place of action that it was impossible for an author +on the Grecian stage to break through that unity. I am of opinion +that if a modern tragic poet can preserve the amity of place, +without destroying the probability of the incidents, 'tis always +best for him to do it; because by the preservation of that unity, as +we have taken notice above, he adds grace and clearness and +comeliness to the representation. But since there are no express +rules about it, and we are under no compulsion to keep it, since we +have no chorus as the Grecian poet had; if it cannot be preserved +without rendering the greater part of the incidents unreasonable and +absurd, and perhaps sometimes monstrous, 'tis certainly better to +break it. + +"Now comes bully Sempronius, comically accoutred and equipped with +his Numidian dress and his Numidian guards. Let the reader attend +to him with all his ears, for the words of the wise are precious:-- + + "'SEMP. The deer is lodged; I've tracked her to her covert.' + +"Now I would fain know why this deer is said to be lodged, since we +have not heard one word since the play began of her being at all out +of harbour: and if we consider the discourse with which she and +Lucia begin the act, we have reason to believe that they had hardly +been talking of such matters in the street. However, to pleasure +Sempronius, let us suppose, for once, that the deer is lodged:-- + + "'The deer is lodged; I've tracked her to her covert.' + +"If he had seen her in the open field, what occasion had he to track +her when he had so many Numidian dogs at his heels, which, with one +halloo, he might have set upon her haunches? If he did not see her +in the open field, how could he possibly track her? If he had seen +her in the street, why did he not set upon her in the street, since +through the street she must be carried at last? Now here, instead +of having his thoughts upon his business, and upon the present +danger; instead of meditating and contriving how he shall pass with +his mistress through the southern gate, where her brother Marcus is +upon the guard, and where he would certainly prove an impediment to +him (which is the Roman word for the BAGGAGE); instead of doing +this, Sempronius is entertaining himself with whimsies:-- + + "'Semp. How will the young Numidian rave to see + His mistress lost! If aught could glad my soul + Beyond th' enjoyment of so bright a prize, + 'Twould be to torture that young, gay barbarian. + But hark! what noise? Death to my hopes! 'tis he, + 'Tis Juba's self! There is but one way left! + He must be murdered, and a passage cut + Through those his guards.' + +"Pray, what are 'those guards'? I thought at present that Juba's +guards had been Sempronius's tools, and had been dangling after his +heels. + +"But now let us sum up all these absurdities together. Sempronius +goes at noon-day, in Juba's clothes and with Juba's guards, to +Cato's palace, in order to pass for Juba, in a place where they were +both so very well known: he meets Juba there, and resolves to +murder him with his own guards. Upon the guards appearing a little +bashful, he threatens them:-- + + "'Hah! dastards, do you tremble? + Or act like men; or, by yon azure heav'n!'-- + +"But the guards still remaining restive, Sempronius himself attacks +Juba, while each of the guards is representing Mr. Spectator's sign +of the Gaper, awed, it seems, and terrified by Sempronius's threats. +Juba kills Sempronius, and takes his own army prisoners, and carries +them in triumph away to Cato. Now I would fain know if any part of +Mr. Bayes's tragedy is so full of absurdity as this? + +"Upon hearing the clash of swords, Lucia and Marcia come in. The +question is, why no men come in upon hearing the noise of swords in +the governor's hall? Where was the governor himself? Where were +his guards? Where were his servants? Such an attempt as this, so +near the governor of a place of war, was enough to alarm the whole +garrison: and yet, for almost half an hour after Sempronius was +killed, we find none of those appear who were the likeliest in the +world to be alarmed; and the noise of swords is made to draw only +two poor women thither, who were most certain to run away from it. +Upon Lucia and Marcia's coming in, Lucia appears in all the symptoms +of an hysterical gentlewoman:-- + + "'Luc. Sure 'twas the clash of swords! my troubled heart + Is so cast down, and sunk amidst its sorrows, + It throbs with fear, and aches at every sound!' + +And immediately her old whimsy returns upon her:-- + + "O Marcia, should thy brothers, for my sake-- + I die away with horror at the thought.' + +"She fancies that there can be no cutting of throats but it must be +for her. If this is tragical, I would fain know what is comical. +Well, upon this they spy the body of Sempronius; and Marcia, deluded +by the habit, it seems, takes him for Juba; for, says she, + + "'The face is muffled up within the garment.' + +"Now, how a man could fight, and fall, with his face muffled up in +his garment, is, I think, a little hard to conceive! Besides, Juba, +before he killed him, knew him to be Sempronius. It was not by his +garment that he knew this; it was by his face, then: his face +therefore was not muffled. Upon seeing this man with his muffled +face, Marcia falls a-raving; and, owning her passion for the +supposed defunct, begins to make his funeral oration. Upon which +Juba enters listening, I suppose on tip-toe; for I cannot imagine +how any one can enter listening in any other posture. I would fain +know how it came to pass that, during all this time, he had sent +nobody--no, not so much as a candle-snuffer--to take away the dead +body of Sempronius. Well, but let us regard him listening. Having +left his apprehension behind him, he, at first, applies what Marcia +says to Sempronius; but finding at last, with much ado, that he +himself is the happy man, he quits his eaves-dropping, and discovers +himself just time enough to prevent his being cuckolded by a dead +man, of whom the moment before he had appeared so jealous, and +greedily intercepts the bliss which was fondly designed for one who +could not be the better for it. But here I must ask a question: +how comes Juba to listen here, who had not listened before +throughout the play? Or how comes he to be the only person of this +tragedy who listens, when love and treason were so often talked in +so public a place as a hall? I am afraid the author was driven upon +all these absurdities only to introduce this miserable mistake of +Marcia, which, after all, is much below the dignity of tragedy; as +anything is which is the effect or result of trick. + +"But let us come to the scenery of the fifth act. Cato appears +first upon the scene, sitting in a thoughtful posture; in his hand +Plato's Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul; a drawn sword on +the table by him. Now let us consider the place in which this sight +is presented to us. The place, forsooth, is a long hall. Let us +suppose that any one should place himself in this posture, in the +midst of one of our halls in London; that he should appear solus, in +a sullen posture, a drawn sword on the table by him; in his hand +Plato's Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul, translated lately +by Bernard Lintot: I desire the reader to consider whether such a +person as this would pass with them who beheld him for a great +patriot, a great philosopher, or a general, or some whimsical person +who fancied himself all these? and whether the people who belonged +to the family would think that such a person had a design upon their +midriffs or his own? + +"In short, that Cato should sit long enough in the aforesaid +posture, in the midst of this large hall, to read over Plato's +Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul, which is a lecture of two +long hours; that he should propose to himself to be private there +upon that occasion; that he should be angry with his son for +intruding there; then that he should leave this hall upon the +pretence of sleep, give himself the mortal wound in his bedchamber, +and then be brought back into that hall to expire, purely to show +his good breeding, and save his friends the trouble of coming up to +his bedchamber; all this appears to me to be improbable, incredible, +impossible." + +Such is the censure of Dennis. There is, as Dryden expresses it, +perhaps "too much horse-play in his railleries;" but if his jests +are coarse, his arguments are strong. Yet, as we love better to be +pleased than to be taught, Cato is read, and the critic is +neglected. Flushed with consciousness of these detections of +absurdity in the conduct, he afterwards attacked the sentiments of +Cato; but he then amused himself with petty cavils and minute +objections. + +Of Addison's smaller poems no particular mention is necessary; they +have little that can employ or require a critic. The parallel of +the princes and gods in his verses to Kneller is often happy, but is +too well known to be quoted. His translations, so far as I compared +them, want the exactness of a scholar. That he understood his +authors, cannot be doubted; but his versions will not teach others +to understand them, being too licentiously paraphrastical. They +are, however, for the most part, smooth and easy; and, what is the +first excellence of a translator, such as may be read with pleasure +by those who do not know the originals. His poetry is polished and +pure; the product of a mind too judicious to commit faults, but not +sufficiently vigorous to attain excellence. He has sometimes a +striking line, or a shining paragraph; but in the whole he is warm +rather than fervid, and shows more dexterity than strength. He was, +however, one of our earliest examples of correctness. The +versification which he had learned from Dryden he debased rather +than refined. His rhymes are often dissonant; in his Georgic he +admits broken lines. He uses both triplets and Alexandrines, but +triplets more frequently in his translation than his other works. +The mere structure of verses seems never to have engaged much of his +care. But his lines are very smooth in Rosamond, and too smooth in +Cato. + +Addison is now to be considered as a critic: a name which the +present generation is scarcely willing to allow him. His criticism +is condemned as tentative or experimental rather than scientific; +and he is considered as deciding by taste rather than by principles. + +It is not uncommon for those who have grown wise by the labour of +others to add a little of their own, and overlook their masters. +Addison is now despised by some who perhaps would never have seen +his defects but by the lights which he afforded them. That he +always wrote as he would think it necessary to write now, cannot be +affirmed; his instructions were such as the characters of his +readers made proper. That general knowledge which now circulates in +common talk was in his time rarely to be found. Men not professing +learning were not ashamed of ignorance; and, in the female world, +any acquaintance with books was distinguished only to be censured. +His purpose was to infuse literary curiosity, by gentle and +unsuspected conveyance, into the gay, the idle, and the wealthy; he +therefore presented knowledge in the most alluring form, not lofty +and austere, but accessible and familiar. When he showed them their +defects, he showed them likewise that they might be easily supplied. +His attempt succeeded; inquiry was awakened, and comprehension +expanded. An emulation of intellectual elegance was excited, and +from this time to our own life has been gradually exalted, and +conversation purified and enlarged. + +Dryden had, not many years before, scattered criticism over his +prefaces with very little parsimony; but though he sometimes +condescended to be somewhat familiar, his manner was in general too +scholastic for those who had yet their rudiments to learn, and found +it not easy to understand their master. His observations were +framed rather for those that were learning to write than for those +that read only to talk. + +An instructor like Addison was now wanting, whose remarks, being +superficial, might be easily understood, and being just, might +prepare the mind for more attainments. Had he presented "Paradise +Lost" to the public with all the pomp of system and severity of +science, the criticism would perhaps have been admired, and the poem +still have been neglected; but by the blandishments of gentleness +and facility he has made Milton an universal favourite, with whom +readers of every class think it necessary to be pleased. He +descended now and then to lower disquisitions: and by a serious +display of the beauties of "Chevy Chase" exposed himself to the +ridicule of Wagstaff, who bestowed a like pompous character on Tom +Thumb; and to the contempt of Dennis, who, considering the +fundamental position of his criticism, that "Chevy Chase" pleases, +and ought to please, because it is natural, observes; "that there is +a way of deviating from nature, by bombast or tumour, which soars +above nature, and enlarges images beyond their real bulk; by +affectation, which forsakes nature in quest of something unsuitable; +and by imbecility, which degrades nature by faintness and +diminution, by obscuring its appearances, and weakening its +effects." In "Chevy Chase" there is not much of either bombast or +affectation; but there is chill and lifeless imbecility. The story +cannot possibly be told in a manner that shall make less impression +on the mind. + +Before the profound observers of the present race repose too +securely on the consciousness of their superiority to Addison, let +them consider his Remarks on Ovid, in which may be found specimens +of criticism sufficiently subtle and refined: let them peruse +likewise his Essays on Wit, and on the Pleasures of Imagination, in +which he founds art on the base of nature, and draws the principles +of invention from dispositions inherent in the mind of man with +skill and elegance, such as his contemners will not easily attain. + +As a describer of life and manners, he must be allowed to stand +perhaps the first of the first rank. His humour, which, as Steele +observes, is peculiar to himself, is so happily diffused as to give +the grace of novelty to domestic scenes and daily occurrences. He +never "o'ersteps the modesty of nature," nor raises merriment or +wonder by the violation of truth. His figures neither divert by +distortion nor amaze by aggravation. He copies life with so much +fidelity that he can be hardly said to invent; yet his exhibitions +have an air so much original, that it is difficult to suppose them +not merely the product of imagination. + +As a teacher of wisdom, he may be confidently followed. His +religion has nothing in it enthusiastic or superstitious: he +appears neither weakly credulous nor wantonly sceptical; his +morality is neither dangerously lax nor impracticably rigid. All +the enchantment of fancy, and all the cogency of argument, are +employed to recommend to the reader his real interest, the care of +pleasing the Author of his being. Truth is shown sometimes as the +phantom of a vision; sometimes appears half-veiled in an allegory; +sometimes attracts regard in the robes of fancy; and sometimes steps +forth in the confidence of reason. She wears a thousand dresses, +and in all is pleasing. + + "Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet." + +His prose is the model of the middle style; on grave subjects not +formal, on light occasions not grovelling; pure without +scrupulosity, and exact without apparent elaboration; always +equable, and always easy, without glowing words or pointed +sentences. Addison never deviates from his track to snatch a grace; +he seeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries no hazardous innovations. +His page is always luminous, but never blazes in unexpected +splendour. + +It was apparently his principal endeavour to avoid all harshness and +severity of diction; he is therefore sometimes verbose in his +transitions and connections, and sometimes descends too much to the +language of conversation; yet if his language had been less +idiomatical it might have lost somewhat of its genuine Anglicism. +What he attempted, he performed; he is never feeble and he did not +wish to be energetic; he is never rapid and he never stagnates. His +sentences have neither studied amplitude nor affected brevity; his +periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. +Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, +and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to +the volumes of Addison. + + + +SAVAGE. + + + +It has been observed in all ages that the advantages of nature or of +fortune have contributed very little to the promotion of happiness: +and that those whom the splendour of their rank, or the extent of +their capacity, has placed upon the summit of human life, have not +often given any just occasion to envy in those who look up to them +from a lower station; whether it be that apparent superiority +incites great designs, and great designs are naturally liable to +fatal miscarriages; or that the general lot of mankind is misery, +and the misfortunes of those whose eminence drew upon them universal +attention have been more carefully recorded, because they were more +generally observed, and have in reality been only more conspicuous +than those of others, not more frequent, or more severe. + +That affluence and power, advantages extrinsic and adventitious, and +therefore easily separable from those by whom they are possessed, +should very often flatter the mind with expectations of felicity +which they cannot give, raises no astonishment: but it seems +rational to hope that intellectual greatness should produce better +effects; that minds qualified for great attainments should first +endeavour their own benefit, and that they who are most able to +teach others the way to happiness, should with most certainty follow +it themselves. But this expectation, however plausible, has been +very frequently disappointed. The heroes of literary as well as +civil history have been very often no less remarkable for what they +have suffered than for what they have achieved; and volumes have +been written only to enumerate the miseries of the learned, and +relate their unhappy lives and untimely deaths. + +To these mournful narratives I am about to add the Life of RICHARD +SAVAGE, a man whose writings entitle him to an eminent rank in the +classes of learning, and whose misfortunes claim a degree of +compassion not always due to the unhappy, as they were often the +consequences of the crimes of others rather than his own. + +In the year 1697, Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, having lived some +time upon very uneasy terms with her husband, thought a public +confession of adultery the most obvious and expeditious method of +obtaining her liberty; and therefore declared that the child with +which she was then great, was begotten by the Earl Rivers. This, as +may be imagined, made her husband no less desirous of a separation +than herself, and he prosecuted his design in the most effectual +manner: for he applied, not to the ecclesiastical courts for a +divorce, but to the Parliament for an Act by which his marriage +might be dissolved, the nuptial contract annulled, and the children +of his wife illegitimated. This Act, after the usual deliberation, +he obtained, though without the approbation of some, who considered +marriage as an affair only cognisable by ecclesiastical judges; and +on March 3rd was separated from his wife, whose fortune, which was +very great, was repaid her, and who having, as well as her husband, +the liberty of making another choice, she in a short time married +Colonel Brett. + +While the Earl of Macclesfield was prosecuting this affair, his wife +was, on the 10th of January, 1607-8,[sic] delivered of a son: and +the Earl Rivers, by appearing to consider him as his own, left none +any reason to doubt of the sincerity of her declaration; for he was +his godfather and gave him his own name, which was by his direction +inserted in the register of St. Andrew's parish in Holborn, but +unfortunately left him to the care of his mother, whom, as she was +now set free from her husband, he probably imagined likely to treat +with great tenderness the child that had contributed to so pleasing +an event. It is not indeed easy to discover what motives could be +found to overbalance that natural affection of a parent, or what +interest could be promoted by neglect or cruelty. The dread of +shame or of poverty, by which some wretches have been incited to +abandon or murder their children, cannot be supposed to have +affected a woman who had proclaimed her crimes and solicited +reproach, and on whom the clemency of the Legislature had +undeservedly bestowed a fortune, which would have been very little +diminished by the expenses which the care of her child could have +brought upon her. It was therefore not likely that she would be +wicked without temptation; that she would look upon her son from his +birth with a kind of resentment and abhorrence; and, instead of +supporting, assisting, and defending him, delight to see him +struggling with misery, or that she would take every opportunity of +aggravating his misfortunes, and obstructing his resources, and with +an implacable and restless cruelty continue her persecution from the +first hour of his life to the last. But whatever were her motives, +no sooner was her son born than she discovered a resolution of +disowning him; and in a very short time removed him from her sight, +by committing him to the care of a poor woman, whom she directed to +educate him as her own, and enjoined never to inform him of his true +parents. + +Such was the beginning of the life of Richard Savage. Born with a +legal claim to honour and to affluence, he was in two months +illegitimated by the Parliament, and disowned by his mother, doomed +to poverty and obscurity, and launched upon the ocean of life only +that he might be swallowed by its quicksands, or dashed upon its +rocks. His mother could not indeed infect others with the same +cruelty. As it was impossible to avoid the inquiries which the +curiosity or tenderness of her relations made after her child, she +was obliged to give some account of the measures she had taken; and +her mother, the Lady Mason, whether in approbation of her design, or +to prevent more criminal contrivances, engaged to transact with the +nurse, to pay her for her care, and to superintend the education of +the child. + +In this charitable office she was assisted by his godmother, Mrs. +Lloyd, who, while she lived, always looked upon him with that +tenderness which the barbarity of his mother made peculiarly +necessary; but her death, which happened in his tenth year, was +another of the misfortunes of his childhood, for though she kindly +endeavoured to alleviate his loss by a legacy of three hundred +pounds, yet as he had none to prosecute his claim, to shelter him +from oppression, or call in law to the assistance of justice, her +will was eluded by the executors, and no part of the money was ever +paid. He was, however, not yet wholly abandoned. The Lady Mason +still continued her care, and directed him to be placed at a small +grammar school near St. Albans, where he was called by the name of +his nurse, without the least intimation that he had a claim to any +other. Here he was initiated in literature, and passed through +several of the classes, with what rapidity or with what applause +cannot now be known. As he always spoke with respect of his master, +it is probable that the mean rank in which he then appeared did not +hinder his genius from being distinguished, or his industry from +being rewarded; and if in so low a state he obtained distinctions +and rewards, it is not likely that they were gained but by genius +and industry. + +It is very reasonable to conjecture that his application was equal +to his abilities, because his improvement was more than proportioned +to the opportunities which he enjoyed; nor can it be doubted that if +his earliest productions had been preserved, like those of happier +students, we might in some have found vigorous sallies of that +sprightly humour which distinguishes "The Author to be Let," and in +others strong touches of that imagination which painted the solemn +scenes of "The Wanderer." + +While he was thus cultivating his genius, his father, the Earl +Rivers, was seized with a distemper, which in a short time put an +end to his life. He had frequently inquired after his son, and had +always been amused with fallacious and evasive answers; but being +now in his own opinion on his death-bed, he thought it his duty to +provide for him among his other natural children, and therefore +demanded a positive account of him, with an importunity not to be +diverted or denied. His mother, who could no longer refuse an +answer, determined at least to give such as should cut him off for +ever from that happiness which competence affords, and therefore +declared that he was dead; which is perhaps the first instance of a +lie invented by a mother to deprive her son of a provision which was +designed him by another, and which she could not expect herself, +though he should lose it. This was therefore an act of wickedness +which could not be defeated, because it could not be suspected; the +earl did not imagine that there could exist in a human form a mother +that would ruin her son without enriching herself, and therefore +bestowed upon some other person six thousand pounds which he had in +his will bequeathed to Savage. + +The same cruelty which incited his mother to intercept this +provision which had been intended him, prompted her in a short time +to another project, a project worthy of such a disposition. She +endeavoured to rid herself from the danger of being at any time made +known to him, by sending him secretly to the American Plantations. +By whose kindness this scheme was counteracted, or by whose +interposition she was induced to lay aside her design, I know not; +it is not improbable that the Lady Mason might persuade or compel +her to desist, or perhaps she could not easily find accomplices +wicked enough to concur in so cruel an action; for it may be +conceived that those who had by a long gradation of guilt hardened +their hearts against the sense of common wickedness, would yet be +shocked at the design of a mother to expose her son to slavery and +want, to expose him without interest, and without provocation; and +Savage might on this occasion find protectors and advocates among +those who had long traded in crimes, and whom compassion had never +touched before. + +Being hindered, by whatever means, from banishing him into another +country, she formed soon after a scheme for burying him in poverty +and obscurity in his own; and that his station of life, if not the +place of his residence, might keep him for ever at a distance from +her, she ordered him to be placed with a shoemaker in Holborn, that, +after the usual time of trial, he might become his apprentice. + +It is generally reported that this project was for some time +successful, and that Savage was employed at the awl longer than he +was willing to confess: nor was it perhaps any great advantage to +him, that an unexpected discovery determined him to quit his +occupation. + +About this time his nurse, who had always treated him as her own +son, died; and it was natural for him to take care of those effects +which by her death were, as he imagined, become his own: he +therefore went to her house, opened her boxes, and examined her +papers, among which he found some letters written to her by the Lady +Mason, which informed him of his birth, and the reasons for which it +was concealed. He was no longer satisfied with the employment which +had been allotted him, but thought he had a right to share the +affluence of his mother; and therefore without scruple applied to +her as her son, and made use of every art to awaken her tenderness +and attract her regard. But neither his letters, nor the +interposition of those friends which his merit or his distress +procured him, made any impression on her mind. She still resolved +to neglect, though she could no longer disown him. It was to no +purpose that he frequently solicited her to admit him to see her; +she avoided him with the most vigilant precaution, and ordered him +to be excluded from her house, by whomsoever he might be introduced, +and what reason soever he might give for entering it. + +Savage was at the same time so touched with the discovery of his +real mother, that it was his frequent practice to walk in the dark +evenings for several hours before her door, in hopes of seeing her +as she might come by accident to the window, or cross her apartment +with a candle in her hand. But all his assiduity and tenderness +were without effect, for he could neither soften her heart nor open +her hand, and was reduced to the utmost miseries of want, while he +was endeavouring to awaken the affection of a mother. He was +therefore obliged to seek some other means of support; and, having +no profession, became by necessity an author. + +At this time the attention of the literary world was engrossed by +the Bangorian controversy, which filled the press with pamphlets, +and the coffee-houses with disputants. Of this subject, as most +popular, he made choice for his first attempt, and, without any +other knowledge of the question than he had casually collected from +conversation, published a poem against the bishop. What was the +success or merit of this performance I know not; it was probably +lost among the innumerable pamphlets to which that dispute gave +occasion. Mr. Savage was himself in a little time ashamed of it, +and endeavoured to suppress it, by destroying all the copies that he +could collect. He then attempted a more gainful kind of writing, +and in his eighteenth year offered to the stage a comedy borrowed +from a Spanish plot, which was refused by the players, and was +therefore given by him to Mr. Bullock, who, having more interest, +made some slight alterations, and brought it upon the stage, under +the title of Woman's a Riddle, but allowed the unhappy author no +part of the profit. + +Not discouraged, however, at his repulse, he wrote two years +afterwards Love in a Veil, another comedy, borrowed likewise from +the Spanish, but with little better success than before; for though +it was received and acted, yet it appeared so late in the year, that +the author obtained no other advantage from it than the acquaintance +of Sir Richard Steele and Mr. Wilks, by whom he was pitied, +caressed, and relieved. + +Sir Richard Steele, having declared in his favour with all the +ardour of benevolence which constituted his character, promoted his +interest with the utmost zeal, related his misfortunes, applauded +his merit, took all the opportunities of recommending him, and +asserted that "the inhumanity of his mother had given him a right to +find every good man his father." Nor was Mr. Savage admitted to his +acquaintance only, but to his confidence, of which he sometimes +related an instance too extraordinary to be omitted, as it affords a +very just idea of his patron's character. He was once desired by +Sir Richard, with an air of the utmost importance, to come very +early to his house the next morning. Mr. Savage came as he had +promised, found the chariot at the door, and Sir Richard waiting for +him, and ready to go out. What was intended, and whither they were +to go, Savage could not conjecture, and was not willing to inquire; +but immediately seated himself with Sir Richard. The coachman was +ordered to drive, and they hurried with the utmost expedition to +Hyde Park Corner, where they stopped at a petty tavern, and retired +to a private room. Sir Richard then informed him that he intended +to publish a pamphlet, and that he had desired him to come thither +that he might write for him. He soon sat down to the work. Sir +Richard dictated, and Savage wrote, till the dinner that had been +ordered was put upon the table. Savage was surprised at the +meanness of the entertainment, and after some hesitation ventured to +ask for wine, which Sir Richard, not without reluctance, ordered to +be brought. They then finished their dinner, and proceeded in their +pamphlet, which they concluded in the afternoon. + +Mr. Savage then imagined his task over, and expected that Sir +Richard would call for the reckoning, and return home; but his +expectations deceived him, for Sir Richard told him that he was +without money, and that the pamphlet must be sold before the dinner +could be paid for; and Savage was therefore obliged to go and offer +their new production to sale for two guineas, which with some +difficulty he obtained. Sir Richard then returned home, having +retired that day only to avoid his creditors, and composed the +pamphlet only to discharge his reckoning. + +Mr. Savage related another fact equally uncommon, which, though it +has no relation to his life, ought to be preserved. Sir Richard +Steele having one day invited to his house a great number of persons +of the first quality, they were surprised at the number of liveries +which surrounded the table; and after dinner, when wine and mirth +had set them free from the observation of a rigid ceremony, one of +them inquired of Sir Richard how such an expensive train of +domestics could be consistent with his fortune. Sir Richard very +frankly confessed that they were fellows of whom he would very +willingly be rid. And being then asked why he did not discharge +them, declared that they were bailiffs, who had introduced +themselves with an execution, and whom, since he could not send them +away, he had thought it convenient to embellish with liveries, that +they might do him credit while they stayed. His friends were +diverted with the expedient, and by paying the debt, discharged +their attendance, having obliged Sir Richard to promise that they +should never again find him graced with a retinue of the same kind. + +Under such a tutor, Mr. Savage was not likely to learn prudence or +frugality; and perhaps many of the misfortunes which the want of +those virtues brought upon him in the following parts of his life, +might be justly imputed to so unimproving an example. Nor did the +kindness of Sir Richard end in common favours. He proposed to have +established him in some settled scheme of life, and to have +contracted a kind of alliance with him, by marrying him to a natural +daughter, on whom he intended to bestow a thousand pounds. But +though he was always lavish of future bounties, he conducted his +affairs in such a manner that he was very seldom able to keep his +promises, or execute his own intentions; and, as he was never able +to raise the sum which he had offered, the marriage was delayed. In +the meantime he was officiously informed that Mr. Savage had +ridiculed him; by which he was so much exasperated that he withdrew +the allowance which he had paid him, and never afterwards admitted +him to his house. + +It is not, indeed, unlikely that Savage might by his imprudence +expose himself to the malice of a talebearer; for his patron had +many follies, which, as his discernment easily discovered, his +imagination might sometimes incite him to mention too ludicrously. +A little knowledge of the world is sufficient to discover that such +weakness is very common, and that there are few who do not +sometimes, in the wantonness of thoughtless mirth, or the heat of +transient resentment, speak of their friends and benefactors with +levity and contempt, though in their cooler moments they want +neither sense of their kindness nor reverence for their virtue; the +fault, therefore, of Mr. Savage was rather negligence than +ingratitude. But Sir Richard must likewise be acquitted of +severity, for who is there that can patiently bear contempt from one +whom he has relieved and supported, whose establishment he has +laboured, and whose interest he has promoted? + +He was now again abandoned to fortune without any other friend than +Mr. Wilks; a man who, whatever were his abilities or skill as an +actor, deserves at least to be remembered for his virtues, which are +not often to be found in the world, and perhaps less often in his +profession than in others. To be humane, generous, and candid is a +very high degree of merit in any case; but those qualifications +deserve still greater praise when they are found in that condition +which makes almost every other man, for whatever reason, +contemptuous, insolent, petulant, selfish, and brutal. + +As Mr. Wilks was one of those to whom calamity seldom complained +without relief, he naturally took an unfortunate wit into his +protection, and not only assisted him in any casual distresses, but +continued an equal and steady kindness to the time of his death. By +this interposition Mr. Savage once obtained from his mother fifty +pounds, and a promise of one hundred and fifty more; but it was the +fate of this unhappy man that few promises of any advantage to him +were performed. His mother was infected, among others, with the +general madness of the South Sea traffic; and having been +disappointed in her expectations, refused to pay what perhaps +nothing but the prospect of sudden affluence prompted her to +promise. + +Being thus obliged to depend upon the friendship of Mr. Wilks, he +was consequently an assiduous frequenter of the theatres: and in a +short time the amusements of the stage took such possession of his +mind that he never was absent from a play in several years. This +constant attendance naturally procured him the acquaintance of the +players, and, among others, of Mrs. Oldfield, who was so much +pleased with his conversation, and touched with his misfortunes, +that she allowed him a settled pension of fifty pounds a year, which +was during her life regularly paid. That this act of generosity may +receive its due praise, and that the good actions of Mrs. Oldfield +may not be sullied by her general character, it is proper to mention +that Mr. Savage often declared, in the strongest terms, that he +never saw her alone, or in any other place than behind the scenes. + +At her death he endeavoured to show his gratitude in the most decent +manner, by wearing mourning as for a mother; but did not celebrate +her in elegies, because he knew that too great a profusion of praise +would only have revived those faults which his natural equity did +not allow him to think less because they were committed by one who +favoured him; but of which, though his virtue would not endeavour to +palliate them, his gratitude would not suffer him to prolong the +memory or diffuse the censure. + +In his "Wanderer" he has indeed taken an opportunity of mentioning +her; but celebrates her not for her virtue, but her beauty, an +excellence which none ever denied her: this is the only encomium +with which he has rewarded her liberality, and perhaps he has even +in this been too lavish of his praise. He seems to have thought +that never to mention his benefactress would have an appearance of +ingratitude, though to have dedicated any particular performance to +her memory would have only betrayed an officious partiality, and +that without exalting her character would have depressed his own. +He had sometimes, by the kindness of Mr. Wilks, the advantage of a +benefit, on which occasions he often received uncommon marks of +regard and compassion; and was once told by the Duke of Dorset that +it was just to consider him as an injured nobleman, and that in his +opinion the nobility ought to think themselves obliged, without +solicitation, to take every opportunity of supporting him by their +countenance and patronage. But he had generally the mortification +to hear that the whole interest of his mother was employed to +frustrate his applications, and that she never left any expedient +untried by which he might be cut off from the possibility of +supporting life. The same disposition she endeavoured to diffuse +among all those over whom nature or fortune gave her any influence, +and indeed succeeded too well in her design; but could not always +propagate her effrontery with her cruelty; for some of those whom +she incited against him were ashamed of their own conduct, and +boasted of that relief which they never gave him. In this censure I +do not indiscriminately involve all his relations; for he has +mentioned with gratitude the humanity of one lady, whose name I am +now unable to recollect, and to whom, therefore, I cannot pay the +praises which she deserves for having acted well in opposition to +influence, precept, and example. + +The punishment which our laws inflict upon those parents who murder +their infants is well known, nor has its justice ever been +contested; but, if they deserve death who destroy a child in its +birth, what pain can be severe enough for her who forbears to +destroy him only to inflict sharper miseries upon him; who prolongs +his life only to make him miserable; and who exposes him, without +care and without pity, to the malice of oppression, the caprices of +chance, and the temptations of poverty; who rejoices to see him +overwhelmed with calamities; and, when his own industry, or the +charity of others, has enabled him to rise for a short time above +his miseries, plunges him again into his former distress? + +The kindness of his friends not affording him any constant supply, +and the prospect of improving his fortune by enlarging his +acquaintance necessarily leading him to places of expense, he found +it necessary to endeavour once more at dramatic poetry; for which he +was now better qualified by a more extensive knowledge and longer +observation. But having been unsuccessful in comedy, though rather +for want of opportunities than genius, he resolved to try whether he +should not be more fortunate in exhibiting a tragedy. The story +which he chose for the subject was that of Sir Thomas Overbury, a +story well adapted to the stage, though perhaps not far enough +removed from the present age to admit properly the fictions +necessary to complete the plan; for the mind, which naturally loves +truth, is always most offended with the violation of those truths of +which we are most certain; and we of course conceive those facts +most certain which approach nearer to our own time. Out of this +story he formed a tragedy, which, if the circumstances in which he +wrote it be considered, will afford at once an uncommon proof of +strength of genius and evenness of mind, of a serenity not to be +ruffled and an imagination not to be suppressed. + +During a considerable part of the time in which he was employed upon +this performance, he was without lodging, and often without meat; +nor had he any other conveniences for study than the fields or the +streets allowed him; there he used to walk and form his speeches, +and afterwards step into a shop, beg for a few moments the use of +the pen and ink, and write down what he had composed upon paper +which he had picked up by accident. + +If the performance of a writer thus distressed is not perfect, its +faults ought surely to be imputed to a cause very different from +want of genius, and must rather excite pity than provoke censure. +But when, under these discouragements, the tragedy was finished, +there yet remained the labour of introducing it on the stage, an +undertaking which, to an ingenuous mind, was in a very high degree +vexatious and disgusting; for, having little interest or reputation, +he was obliged to submit himself wholly to the players, and admit, +with whatever reluctance, the emendations of Mr. Cibber, which he +always considered as the disgrace of his performance. He had, +indeed, in Mr. Hill another critic of a very different class, from +whose friendship he received great assistance on many occasions, and +whom he never mentioned but with the utmost tenderness and regard. +He had been for some time distinguished by him with very particular +kindness, and on this occasion it was natural to apply to him as an +author of an established character. He therefore sent this tragedy +to him, with a short copy of verses, in which he desired his +correction. Mr. Hill, whose humanity and politeness are generally +known, readily complied with his request; but as he is remarkable +for singularity of sentiment, and bold experiments in language, Mr. +Savage did not think this play much improved by his innovation, and +had even at that time the courage to reject several passages which +he could not approve; and, what is still more laudable, Mr. Hill had +the generosity not to resent the neglect of his alterations, but +wrote the prologue and epilogue, in which he touches on the +circumstances of the author with great tenderness. + +After all these obstructions and compliances, he was only able to +bring his play upon the stage in the summer, when the chief actors +had retired, and the rest were in possession of the house for their +own advantage. Among these, Mr. Savage was admitted to play the +part of Sir Thomas Overbury, by which he gained no great reputation, +the theatre being a province for which nature seems not to have +designed him; for neither his voice, look, nor gesture were such as +were expected on the stage, and he was so much ashamed of having +been reduced to appear as a player, that he always blotted out his +name from the list when a copy of his tragedy was to be shown to his +friends. + +In the publication of his performance he was more successful, for +the rays of genius that glimmered in it, that glimmered through all +the mists which poverty and Cibber had been able to spread over it, +procured him the notice and esteem of many persons eminent for their +rank, their virtue, and their wit. Of this play, acted, printed, +and dedicated, the accumulated profits arose to a hundred pounds, +which he thought at that time a very large sum, having been never +master of so much before. + +In the dedication, for which he received ten guineas, there is +nothing remarkable. The preface contains a very liberal encomium on +the blooming excellence of Mr. Theophilus Cibber, which Mr. Savage +could not in the latter part of his life see his friends about to +read without snatching the play out of their hands. The generosity +of Mr. Hill did not end on this occasion; for afterwards, when Mr. +Savage's necessities returned, he encouraged a subscription to a +Miscellany of Poems in a very extraordinary manner, by publishing +his story in the Plain Dealer, with some affecting lines, which he +asserts to have been written by Mr. Savage upon the treatment +received by him from his mother, but of which he was himself the +author, as Mr. Savage afterwards declared. These lines, and the +paper in which they were inserted, had a very powerful effect upon +all but his mother, whom, by making her cruelty more public, they +only hardened in her aversion. + +Mr. Hill not only promoted the subscription to the Miscellany, but +furnished likewise the greatest part of the poems of which it is +composed, and particularly "The Happy Man," which he published as a +specimen. + +The subscriptions of those whom these papers should influence to +patronise merit in distress, without any other solicitation, were +directed to be left at Button's Coffee-house; and Mr. Savage going +thither a few days afterwards, without expectation of any effect +from his proposal, found, to his surprise, seventy guineas, which +had been sent him in consequence of the compassion excited by Mr. +Hill's pathetic representation. + +To this Miscellany he wrote a preface, in which he gives an account +of his mother's cruelty in a very uncommon strain of humour, and +with a gaiety of imagination which the success of his subscription +probably produced. The dedication is addressed to the Lady Mary +Wortley Montagu, whom he flatters without reserve, and, to confess +the truth, with very little art. The same observation may be +extended to all his dedications: his compliments are constrained +and violent, heaped together without the grace of order, or the +decency of introduction. He seems to have written his panegyrics +for the perusal only of his patrons, and to imagine that he had no +other task than to pamper them with praises, however gross, and that +flattery would make its way to the heart, without the assistance of +elegance or invention. + +Soon afterwards the death of the king furnished a general subject +for a poetical contest, in which Mr. Savage engaged, and is allowed +to have carried the prize of honour from his competitors: but I +know not whether he gained by his performance any other advantage +than the increase of his reputation, though it must certainly have +been with farther views that he prevailed upon himself to attempt a +species of writing, of which all the topics had been long before +exhausted, and which was made at once difficult by the multitudes +that had failed in it, and those that had succeeded. + +He was now advancing in reputation, and though frequently involved +in very distressful perplexities, appeared, however, to be gaining +upon mankind, when both his fame and his life were endangered by an +event, of which it is not yet determined whether it ought to be +mentioned as a crime or a calamity. + +On the 20th of November, 1727, Mr. Savage came from Richmond, where +he then lodged that he might pursue his studies with less +interruption, with an intent to discharge another lodging which he +had in Westminster; and accidentally meeting two gentlemen, his +acquaintances, whose names were Merchant and Gregory, he went in +with them to a neighbouring coffee-house, and sat drinking till it +was late, it being in no time of Mr. Savage's life any part of his +character to be the first of the company that desired to separate. +He would willingly have gone to bed in the same house, but there was +not room for the whole company, and therefore they agreed to ramble +about the streets, and divert themselves with such amusements as +should offer themselves till morning. In this walk they happened +unluckily to discover a light in Robinson's Coffee-house, near +Charing Cross, and therefore went in. Merchant with some rudeness +demanded a room, and was told that there was a good fire in the next +parlour, which the company were about to leave, being then paying +their reckoning. Merchant, not satisfied with this answer, rushed +into the room, and was followed by his companions. He then +petulantly placed himself between the company and the fire, and soon +after kicked down the table. This produced a quarrel, swords were +drawn on both sides, and one Mr. James Sinclair was killed. Savage, +having likewise wounded a maid that held him, forced his way, with +Merchant, out of the house; but being intimidated and confused, +without resolution either to fly or stay, they were taken in a back +court by one of the company, and some soldiers, whom he had called +to his assistance. Being secured and guarded that night, they were +in the morning carried before three justices, who committed them to +the Gatehouse, from whence, upon the death of Mr. Sinclair, which +happened the same day, they were removed in the night to Newgate, +where they were, however, treated with some distinction, exempted +from the ignominy of chains, and confined, not among the common +criminals, but in the Press yard. + +When the day of trial came, the court was crowded in a very unusual +manner, and the public appeared to interest itself as in a cause of +general concern. The witnesses against Mr. Savage and his friends +were, the woman who kept the house, which was a house of ill-fame, +and her maid, the men who were in the room with Mr. Sinclair, and a +woman of the town, who had been drinking with them, and with whom +one of them had been seen. They swore in general, that Merchant +gave the provocation, which Savage and Gregory drew their swords to +justify; that Savage drew first, and that he stabbed Sinclair when +he was not in a posture of defence, or while Gregory commanded his +sword; that after he had given the thrust he turned pale, and would +have retired, but the maid clung round him, and one of the company +endeavoured to detain him, from whom he broke by cutting the maid on +the head, but was afterwards taken in a court. There was some +difference in their depositions; one did not see Savage give the +wound, another saw it given when Sinclair held his point towards the +ground; and the woman of the town asserted that she did not see +Sinclair's sword at all. This difference, however, was very far +from amounting to inconsistency; but it was sufficient to show, that +the hurry of the dispute was such that it was not easy to discover +the truth with relation to particular circumstances, and that +therefore some deductions were to be made from the credibility of +the testimonies. + +Sinclair had declared several times before his death that he +received his wound from Savage: nor did Savage at his trial deny +the fact, but endeavoured partly to extenuate it, by urging the +suddenness of the whole action, and the impossibility of any ill +design or premeditated malice; and partly to justify it by the +necessity of self-defence, and the hazard of his own life, if he had +lost that opportunity of giving the thrust: he observed, that +neither reason nor law obliged a man to wait for the blow which was +threatened, and which, if he should suffer it, he might never be +able to return; that it was allowable to prevent an assault, and to +preserve life by taking away that of the adversary by whom it was +endangered. With regard to the violence with which he endeavoured +to escape, he declared that it was not his design to fly from +justice, or decline a trial, but to avoid the expenses and +severities of a prison; and that he intended to appear at the bar +without compulsion. + +This defence, which took up more than an hour, was heard by the +multitude that thronged the court with the most attentive and +respectful silence. Those who thought he ought not to be acquitted +owned that applause could not be refused him; and those who before +pitied his misfortunes now reverenced his abilities. The witnesses +which appeared against him were proved to be persons of characters +which did not entitle them to much credit; a common strumpet, a +woman by whom strumpets were entertained, a man by whom they were +supported: and the character of Savage was by several persons of +distinction asserted to be that of a modest, inoffensive man, not +inclined to broils or to insolence, and who had, to that time, been +only known for his misfortunes and his wit. Had his audience been +his judges, he had undoubtedly been acquitted, but Mr. Page, who was +then upon the bench, treated him with his usual insolence and +severity, and when he had summed up the evidence, endeavoured to +exasperate the jury, as Mr. Savage used to relate it, with this +eloquent harangue:-- + +"Gentlemen of the jury, you are to consider that Mr. Savage is a +very great man, a much greater man than you or I, gentlemen of the +jury; that he wears very fine clothes, much finer clothes than you +or I, gentlemen of the jury; that he has abundance of money in his +pockets, much more money than you or I, gentlemen of the jury; but, +gentlemen of the jury, is it not a very hard case, gentlemen of the +jury, that Mr. Savage should therefore kill you or me, gentlemen of +the jury?" + +Mr. Savage, hearing his defence thus misrepresented, and the men who +were to decide his fate incited against him by invidious +comparisons, resolutely asserted that his cause was not candidly +explained, and began to recapitulate what he had before said with +regard to his condition, and the necessity of endeavouring to escape +the expenses of imprisonment; but the judge having ordered him to be +silent, and repeated his orders without effect, commanded that he +should be taken from the bar by force. + +The jury then heard the opinion of the judge, that good characters +were of no weight against positive evidence, though they might turn +the scale where it was doubtful; and that though, when two men +attack each other, the death of either is only manslaughter; but +where one is the aggressor, as in the case before them, and, in +pursuance of his first attack, kills the other, the law supposes the +action, however sudden, to be malicious. They then deliberated upon +their verdict, and determined that Mr. Savage and Mr. Gregory were +guilty of murder, and Mr. Merchant, who had no sword, only of +manslaughter. + +Thus ended this memorable trial, which lasted eight hours. Mr. +Savage and Mr. Gregory were conducted back to prison, where they +were more closely confined, and loaded with irons of fifty pounds' +weight. Four days afterwards they were sent back to the court to +receive sentence, on which occasion Mr. Savage made, as far as it +could be retained in memory, the following speech:-- + +"It is now, my lord, too late to offer anything by way of defence or +vindication; nor can we expect from your lordships, in this court, +but the sentence which the law requires you, as judges, to pronounce +against men of our calamitous condition. But we are also persuaded +that as mere men, and out of this seat of rigorous justice, you are +susceptive of the tender passions, and too humane not to commiserate +the unhappy situation of those whom the law sometimes perhaps exacts +from you to pronounce upon. No doubt you distinguish between +offences which arise out of premeditation, and a disposition +habituated to vice or immorality, and transgressions which are the +unhappy and unforeseen effects of casual absence of reason, and +sudden impulse of passion. We therefore hope you will contribute +all you can to an extension of that mercy which the gentlemen of the +jury have been pleased to show to Mr. Merchant, who (allowing facts +as sworn against us by the evidence) has led us into this our +calamity. I hope this will not be construed as if we meant to +reflect upon that gentleman, or remove anything from us upon him, or +that we repine the more at our fate because he has no participation +of it. No, my Lord! For my part, I declare nothing could more +soften my grief than to be without any companion in so great a +misfortune." + +Mr. Savage had now no hopes of life but from the mercy of the Crown, +which was very earnestly solicited by his friends, and which, with +whatever difficulty the story may obtain belief, was obstructed only +by his mother. + +To prejudice the queen against him, she made use of an incident +which was omitted in the order of time, that it might be mentioned +together with the purpose which it was made to serve. Mr. Savage, +when he had discovered his birth, had an incessant desire to speak +to his mother, who always avoided him in public, and refused him +admission into her house. One evening, walking, as was his custom, +in the street that she inhabited, he saw the door of her house by +accident open; he entered it, and finding no person in the passage +to hinder him, went up-stairs to salute her. She discovered him +before he entered the chamber, alarmed the family with the most +distressful outcries, and when she had by her screams gathered them +about her, ordered them to drive out of the house that villain, who +had forced himself in upon her and endeavoured to murder her. +Savage, who had attempted with the most submissive tenderness to +soften her rage, hearing her utter so detestable an accusation, +thought it prudent to retire, and, I believe, never attempted +afterwards to speak to her. + +But shocked as he was with her falsehood and her cruelty, he +imagined that she intended no other use of her lie than to set +herself free from his embraces and solicitations, and was very far +from suspecting that she would treasure it in her memory as an +instrument of future wickedness, or that she would endeavour for +this fictitious assault to deprive him of his life. But when the +queen was solicited for his pardon, and informed of the severe +treatment which he had suffered from his judge, she answered that, +however unjustifiable might be the manner of his trial, or whatever +extenuation the action for which he was condemned might admit, she +could not think that man a proper object of the king's mercy who had +been capable of entering his mother's house in the night with an +intent to murder her. + +By whom this atrocious calumny had been transmitted to the queen, +whether she that invented had the front to relate it, whether she +found any one weak enough to credit it, or corrupt enough to concur +with her in her hateful design, I know not, but methods had been +taken to persuade the queen so strongly of the truth of it, that she +for a long time refused to hear any one of those who petitioned for +his life. + +Thus had Savage perished by the evidence of a bawd, a strumpet, and +his mother, had not justice and compassion procured him an advocate +of rank too great to be rejected unheard, and of virtue too eminent +to be heard without being believed. His merit and his calamities +happened to reach the ear of the Countess of Hertford, who engaged +in his support with all the tenderness that is excited by pity, and +all the zeal which is kindled by generosity, and, demanding an +audience of the queen, laid before her the whole series of his +mother's cruelty, exposed the improbability of an accusation by +which he was charged with an intent to commit a murder that could +produce no advantage, and soon convinced her how little his former +conduct could deserve to be mentioned as a reason for extraordinary +severity. + +The interposition of this lady was so successful, that he was soon +after admitted to bail, and, on the 9th of March, 1728, pleaded the +king's pardon. + +It is natural to inquire upon what motives his mother could +persecute him in a manner so outrageous and implacable; for what +reason she could employ all the arts of malice, and all the snares +of calumny, to take away the life of her own son, of a son who never +injured her, who was never supported by her expense, nor obstructed +any prospect of pleasure or advantage. Why she would endeavour to +destroy him by a lie--a lie which could not gain credit, but must +vanish of itself at the first moment of examination, and of which +only this can be said to make it probable, that it may be observed +from her conduct that the most execrable crimes are sometimes +committed without apparent temptation. + +This mother is still (1744) alive, and may perhaps even yet, though +her malice was so often defeated, enjoy the pleasure of reflecting +that the life which she often endeavoured to destroy was at last +shortened by her maternal offices; that though she could not +transport her son to the plantations, bury him in the shop of a +mechanic, or hasten the hand of the public executioner, she has yet +had the satisfaction of embittering all his hours, and forcing him +into exigencies that hurried on his death. It is by no means +necessary to aggravate the enormity of this woman's conduct by +placing it in opposition to that of the Countess of Hertford. No +one can fail to observe how much more amiable it is to relieve than +to oppress, and to rescue innocence from destruction than to destroy +without an injury. + +Mr. Savage, during his imprisonment, his trial, and the time in +which he lay under sentence of death, behaved with great firmness +and equality of mind, and confirmed by his fortitude the esteem of +those who before admired him for his abilities. The peculiar +circumstances of his life were made more generally known by a short +account which was then published, and of which several thousands +were in a few weeks dispersed over the nation; and the compassion of +mankind operated so powerfully in his favour, that he was enabled, +by frequent presents, not only to support himself, but to assist Mr. +Gregory in prison; and when he was pardoned and released, he found +the number of his friends not lessened. + +The nature of the act for which he had been tried was in itself +doubtful; of the evidences which appeared against him, the character +of the man was not unexceptionable, that of the woman notoriously +infamous; she whose testimony chiefly influenced the jury to condemn +him afterwards retracted her assertions. He always himself denied +that he was drunk, as had been generally reported. Mr. Gregory, who +is now (1744) collector of Antigua, is said to declare him far less +criminal than he was imagined, even by some who favoured him; and +Page himself afterwards confessed that he had treated him with +uncommon rigour. When all these particulars are rated together, +perhaps the memory of Savage may not be much sullied by his trial. +Some time after he obtained his liberty, he met in the street the +woman who had sworn with so much malignity against him. She +informed him that she was in distress, and, with a degree of +confidence not easily attainable, desired him to relieve her. He, +instead of insulting her misery, and taking pleasure in the +calamities of one who had brought his life into danger, reproved her +gently for her perjury, and, changing the only guinea that he had, +divided it equally between her and himself. This is an action which +in some ages would have made a saint, and perhaps in others a hero, +and which, without any hyperbolical encomiums, must be allowed to be +an instance of uncommon generosity, an act of complicated virtue, by +which he at once relieved the poor, corrected the vicious, and +forgave an enemy; by which he at once remitted the strongest +provocations, and exercised the most ardent charity. Compassion was +indeed the distinguishing quality of Savage: he never appeared +inclined to take advantage of weakness, to attack the defenceless, +or to press upon the falling. Whoever was distressed was certain at +least of his good wishes; and when he could give no assistance to +extricate them from misfortunes, he endeavoured to soothe them by +sympathy and tenderness. But when his heart was not softened by the +sight of misery, he was sometimes obstinate in his resentment, and +did not quickly lose the remembrance of an injury. He always +continued to speak with anger of the insolence and partiality of +Page, and a short time before his death revenged it by a satire. + +It is natural to inquire in what terms Mr. Savage spoke of this +fatal action when the danger was over, and he was under no necessity +of using any art to set his conduct in the fairest light. He was +not willing to dwell upon it; and, if he transiently mentioned it, +appeared neither to consider himself as a murderer, nor as a man +wholly free from the guilt of blood. How much and how long he +regretted it appeared in a poem which he published many years +afterwards. On occasion of a copy of verses, in which the failings +of good men are recounted, and in which the author had endeavoured +to illustrate his position, that "the best may sometimes deviate +from virtue," by an instance of murder committed by Savage in the +heat of wine, Savage remarked that it was no very just +representation of a good man, to suppose him liable to drunkenness, +and disposed in his riots to cut throats. + +He was now indeed at liberty, but was, as before, without any other +support than accidental favours and uncertain patronage afforded +him; sources by which he was sometimes very liberally supplied, and +which at other times were suddenly stopped; so that he spent his +life between want and plenty, or, what was yet worse, between +beggary and extravagance, for, as whatever he received was the gift +of chance, which might as well favour him at one time as another, he +was tempted to squander what he had because he always hoped to be +immediately supplied. Another cause of his profusion was the absurd +kindness of his friends, who at once rewarded and enjoyed his +abilities by treating him at taverns, and habituating him to +pleasures which he could not afford to enjoy, and which he was not +able to deny himself, though he purchased the luxury of a single +night by the anguish of cold and hunger for a week. + +The experience of these inconveniences determined him to endeavour +after some settled income, which, having long found submission and +entreaties fruitless, he attempted to extort from his mother by +rougher methods. He had now, as he acknowledged, lost that +tenderness for her which the whole series of her cruelty had not +been able wholly to repress, till he found, by the efforts which she +made for his destruction, that she was not content with refusing to +assist him, and being neutral in his struggles with poverty, but was +ready to snatch every opportunity of adding to his misfortunes; and +that she was now to be considered as an enemy implacably malicious, +whom nothing but his blood could satisfy. He therefore threatened +to harass her with lampoons, and to publish a copious narrative of +her conduct, unless she consented to purchase an exemption from +infamy by allowing him a pension. + +This expedient proved successful. Whether shame still survived, +though virtue was extinct, or whether her relations had more +delicacy than herself, and imagined that some of the darts which +satire might point at her would glance upon them, Lord Tyrconnel, +whatever were his motives, upon his promise to lay aside his design +of exposing the cruelty of his mother, received him into his family, +treated him as his equal, and engaged to allow him a pension of two +hundred pounds a year. This was the golden part of Mr. Savage's +life; and for some time he had no reason to complain of fortune. +His appearance was splendid, his expenses large, and his +acquaintance extensive. He was courted by all who endeavoured to be +thought men of genius, and caressed by all who valued themselves +upon a refined taste. To admire Mr. Savage was a proof of +discernment; and to be acquainted with him was a title to poetical +reputation. His presence was sufficient to make any place of public +entertainment popular, and his approbation and example constituted +the fashion. So powerful is genius, when it is invested with the +glitter of affluence! Men willingly pay to fortune that regard +which they owe to merit, and are pleased when they have an +opportunity at once of gratifying their vanity and practising their +duty. + +This interval of prosperity furnished him with opportunities of +enlarging his knowledge of human nature, by contemplating life from +its highest gradations to its lowest; and, had he afterwards applied +to dramatic poetry, he would perhaps not have had many superiors, +for, as he never suffered any scene to pass before his eyes without +notice, he had treasured in his mind all the different combinations +of passions, and the innumerable mixtures of vice and virtue, which +distinguished one character from another; and, as his conception was +strong, his expressions were clear, he easily received impressions +from objects, and very forcibly transmitted them to others. Of his +exact observations on human life he has left a proof, which would do +honour to the greatest names, in a small pamphlet, called "The +Author to be Let," where he introduces Iscariot Hackney, a +prostitute scribbler, giving an account of his birth, his education, +his disposition and morals, habits of life, and maxims of conduct. +In the introduction are related many secret histories of the petty +writers of that time, but sometimes mixed with ungenerous +reflections on their birth, their circumstances, or those of their +relations; nor can it be denied that some passages are such as +Iscariot Hackney might himself have produced. He was accused +likewise of living in an appearance of friendship with some whom he +satirised, and of making use of the confidence which he gained by a +seeming kindness, to discover failings and expose them. It must be +confessed that Mr. Savage's esteem was no very certain possession, +and that he would lampoon at one time those whom he had praised at +another. + +It may be alleged that the same man may change his principles, and +that he who was once deservedly commended may be afterwards +satirised with equal justice, or that the poet was dazzled with the +appearance of virtue, and found the man whom he had celebrated, when +he had an opportunity of examining him more narrowly, unworthy of +the panegyric which he had too hastily bestowed; and that, as a +false satire ought to be recanted, for the sake of him whose +reputation may be injured, false praise ought likewise to be +obviated, lest the distinction between vice and virtue should be +lost, lest a bad man should be trusted upon the credit of his +encomiast, or lest others should endeavour to obtain like praises by +the same means. But though these excuses may be often plausible, +and sometimes just, they are very seldom satisfactory to mankind; +and the writer who is not constant to his subject, quickly sinks +into contempt, his satire loses its force, and his panegyric its +value; and he is only considered at one time as a flatterer, and a +calumniator at another. To avoid these imputations, it is only +necessary to follow the rules of virtue, and to preserve an unvaried +regard to truth. For though it is undoubtedly possible that a man, +however cautious, may be sometimes deceived by an artful appearance +of virtue, or by false evidences of guilt, such errors will not be +frequent; and it will be allowed that the name of an author would +never have been made contemptible had no man ever said what he did +not think, or misled others but when he was himself deceived. + +"The Author to be Let" was first published in a single pamphlet, and +afterwards inserted in a collection of pieces relating to the +"Dunciad," which were addressed by Mr. Savage to the Earl of +Middlesex, in a dedication which he was prevailed upon to sign, +though he did not write it, and in which there are some positions +that the true author would perhaps not have published under his own +name, and on which Mr. Savage afterwards reflected with no great +satisfaction. The enumeration of the bad effects of the +uncontrolled freedom of the press, and the assertion that the +"liberties taken by the writers of journals with their superiors +were exorbitant and unjustifiable," very ill became men who have +themselves not always shown the exactest regard to the laws of +subordination in their writings, and who have often satirised those +that at least thought themselves their superiors, as they were +eminent for their hereditary rank, and employed in the highest +offices of the kingdom. But this is only an instance of that +partiality which almost every man indulges with regard to himself: +the liberty of the press is a blessing when we are inclined to write +against others, and a calamity when we find ourselves overborne by +the multitude of our assailants; as the power of the Crown is always +thought too great by those who suffer by its influence, and too +little by those in whose favour it is exerted; and a standing army +is generally accounted necessary by those who command, and dangerous +and oppressive by those who support it. + +Mr. Savage was likewise very far from believing that the letters +annexed to each species of bad poets in the Bathos were, as he was +directed to assert, "set down at random;" for when he was charged by +one of his friends with putting his name to such an improbability, +he had no other answer to make than that "he did not think of it;" +and his friend had too much tenderness to reply, that next to the +crime of writing contrary to what he thought was that of writing +without thinking. + +After having remarked what is false in this dedication, it is proper +that I observe the impartiality which I recommend, by declaring what +Savage asserted--that the account of the circumstances which +attended the publication of the "Dunciad," however strange and +improbable, was exactly true. + +The publication of this piece at this time raised Mr. Savage a great +number of enemies among those that were attacked by Mr. Pope, with +whom he was considered as a kind of confederate, and whom he was +suspected of supplying with private intelligence and secret +incidents; so that the ignominy of an informer was added to the +terror of a satirist. That he was not altogether free from literary +hypocrisy, and that he sometimes spoke one thing and wrote another, +cannot be denied, because he himself confessed that, when he lived +with great familiarity with Dennis, he wrote an epigram against him. + +Mr. Savage, however, set all the malice of all the pigmy writers at +defiance, and thought the friendship of Mr. Pope cheaply purchased +by being exposed to their censure and their hatred; nor had he any +reason to repent of the preference, for he found Mr. Pope a steady +and unalienable friend almost to the end of his life. + +About this time, notwithstanding his avowed neutrality with regard +to party, he published a panegyric on Sir Robert Walpole, for which +he was rewarded by him with twenty guineas, a sum not very large, if +either the excellence of the performance or the affluence of the +patron be considered; but greater than he afterwards obtained from a +person of yet higher rank, and more desirous in appearance of being +distinguished as a patron of literature. + +As he was very far from approving the conduct of Sir Robert Walpole, +and in conversation mentioned him sometimes with acrimony, and +generally with contempt, as he was one of those who were always +zealous in their assertions of the justice of the late opposition, +jealous of the rights of the people, and alarmed by the long- +continued triumph of the Court, it was natural to ask him what could +induce him to employ his poetry in praise of that man who was, in +his opinion, an enemy to liberty, and an oppressor of his country? +He alleged that he was then dependent upon the Lord Tyrconnel, who +was an implicit follower of the ministry: and that, being enjoined +by him, not without menaces, to write in praise of the leader, he +had not resolution sufficient to sacrifice the pleasure of affluence +to that of integrity. + +On this, and on many other occasions, he was ready to lament the +misery of living at the tables of other men, which was his fate from +the beginning to the end of his life; for I know not whether he ever +had, for three months together, a settled habitation, in which he +could claim a right of residence. + +To this unhappy state it is just to impute much of the inconsistency +of his conduct, for though a readiness to comply with the +inclinations of others was no part of his natural character, yet he +was sometimes obliged to relax his obstinacy, and submit his own +judgment, and even his virtue, to the government of those by whom he +was supported. So that if his miseries were sometimes the +consequences of his faults, he ought not yet to be wholly excluded +from compassion, because his faults were very often the effects of +his misfortunes. + +In this gay period of his life, while he was surrounded by affluence +and pleasure, he published "The Wanderer," a moral poem, of which +the design is comprised in these lines:-- + + "I fly all public care, all venal strife, + To try the still, compared with active, life; + To prove, by these, the sons of men may owe + The fruits of bliss to bursting clouds of woe; + That ev'n calamity, by thought refined, + Inspirits and adorns the thinking mind." + +And more distinctly in the following passage:-- + + "By woe, the soul to daring action swells; + By woe, in plaintless patience it excels: + From patience prudent, clear experience springs, + And traces knowledge through the course of things. + Thence hope is formed, thence fortitude, success, + Renown--whate'er men covet and caress." + +This performance was always considered by himself as his +masterpiece; and Mr. Pope, when he asked his opinion of it, told him +that he read it once over, and was not displeased with it; that it +gave him more pleasure at the second perusal, and delighted him +still more at the third. + +It has been generally objected to "The Wanderer," that the +disposition of the parts is irregular; that the design is obscure, +and the plan perplexed; that the images, however beautiful, succeed +each other without order; and that the whole performance is not so +much a regular fabric, as a heap of shining materials thrown +together by accident, which strikes rather with the solemn +magnificence of a stupendous ruin than the elegant grandeur of a +finished pile. This criticism is universal, and therefore it is +reasonable to believe it at least in a degree just; but Mr. Savage +was always of a contrary opinion, and thought his drift could only +be missed by negligence or stupidity, and that the whole plan was +regular, and the parts distinct. It was never denied to abound with +strong representations of nature, and just observations upon life; +and it may easily be observed that most of his pictures have an +evident tendency to illustrate his first great position, "that good +is the consequence of evil." The sun that burns up the mountains +fructifies the vales; the deluge that rushes down the broken rocks +with dreadful impetuosity is separated into purling brooks; and the +rage of the hurricane purifies the air. + +Even in this poem he has not been able to forbear one touch upon the +cruelty of his mother, which, though remarkably delicate and tender, +is a proof how deep an impression it had upon his mind. This must +be at least acknowledged, which ought to be thought equivalent to +many other excellences, that this poem can promote no other purposes +than those of virtue, and that it is written with a very strong +sense of the efficacy of religion. But my province is rather to +give the history of Mr. Savage's performances than to display their +beauties, or to obviate the criticisms which they have occasioned, +and therefore I shall not dwell upon the particular passages which +deserve applause. I shall neither show the excellence of his +descriptions, nor expatiate on the terrific portrait of suicide, nor +point out the artful touches by which he has distinguished the +intellectual features of the rebels, who suffer death in his last +canto. It is, however, proper to observe, that Mr. Savage always +declared the characters wholly fictitious, and without the least +allusion to any real persons or actions. + +From a poem so diligently laboured, and so successfully finished, it +might be reasonably expected that he should have gained considerable +advantage; nor can it, without some degree of indignation and +concern, be told, that he sold the copy for ten guineas, of which he +afterwards returned two, that the two last sheets of the work might +be reprinted, of which he had in his absence entrusted the +correction to a friend, who was too indolent to perform it with +accuracy. + +A superstitious regard to the correction of his sheets was one of +Mr. Savage's peculiarities: he often altered, revised, recurred to +his first reading or punctuation, and again adopted the alteration; +he was dubious and irresolute without end, as on a question of the +last importance, and at last was seldom satisfied. The intrusion or +omission of a comma was sufficient to discompose him, and he would +lament an error of a single letter as a heavy calamity. In one of +his letters relating to an impression of some verses he remarks that +he had, with regard to the correction of the proof, "a spell upon +him;" and indeed the anxiety with which he dwelt upon the minutest +and most trifling niceties, deserved no other name than that of +fascination. That he sold so valuable a performance for so small a +price was not to be imputed either to necessity, by which the +learned and ingenious are often obliged to submit to very hard +conditions, or to avarice, by which the booksellers are frequently +incited to oppress that genius by which they are supported, but to +that intemperate desire of pleasure, and habitual slavery to his +passions, which involved him in many perplexities. He happened at +that time to be engaged in the pursuit of some trifling +gratification, and, being without money for the present occasion, +sold his poem to the first bidder, and perhaps for the first price +that was proposed, and would probably have been content with less if +less had been offered him. + +This poem was addressed to the Lord Tyrconnel, not only in the first +lines, but in a formal dedication filled with the highest strains of +panegyric, and the warmest professions of gratitude, but by no means +remarkable for delicacy of connection or elegance of style. These +praises in a short time he found himself inclined to retract, being +discarded by the man on whom he had bestowed them, and whom he then +immediately discovered not to have deserved them. Of this quarrel, +which every day made more bitter, Lord Tyrconnel and Mr. Savage +assigned very different reasons, which might perhaps all in reality +concur, though they were not all convenient to be alleged by either +party. Lord Tyrconnel affirmed that it was the constant practice of +Mr. Savage to enter a tavern with any company that proposed it, +drink the most expensive wines with great profusion, and when the +reckoning was demanded to be without money. If, as it often +happened, his company were willing to defray his part, the affair +ended without any ill consequences; but if they were refractory, and +expected that the wine should be paid for by him that drank it, his +method of composition was, to take them with him to his own +apartment, assume the government of the house, and order the butler +in an imperious manner to set the best wine in the cellar before his +company, who often drank till they forgot the respect due to the +house in which they were entertained, indulged themselves in the +utmost extravagance of merriment, practised the most licentious +frolics, and committed all the outrages of drunkenness. Nor was +this the only charge which Lord Tyrconnel brought against him. +Having given him a collection of valuable books, stamped with his +own arms, he had the mortification to see them in a short time +exposed to sale upon the stalls, it being usual with Mr. Savage, +when he wanted a small sum, to take his books to the pawnbroker. + +Whoever was acquainted with Mr. Savage easily credited both these +accusations; for having been obliged, from his first entrance into +the world, to subsist upon expedients, affluence was not able to +exalt him above them; and so much was he delighted with wine and +conversation, and so long had he been accustomed to live by chance, +that he would at any time go to the tavern without scruple, and +trust for the reckoning to the liberality of his company, and +frequently of company to whom he was very little known. This +conduct, indeed, very seldom drew upon him those inconveniences that +might be feared by any other person, for his conversation was so +entertaining, and his address so pleasing, that few thought the +pleasure which they received from him dearly purchased by paying for +his wine. It was his peculiar happiness that he scarcely ever found +a stranger whom he did not leave a friend; but it must likewise be +added, that he had not often a friend long without obliging him to +become a stranger. + +Mr. Savage, on the other hand, declared that Lord Tyrconnel +quarrelled with him because he would not subtract from his own +luxury and extravagance what he had promised to allow him, and that +his resentment was only a plea for the violation of his promise. He +asserted that he had done nothing that ought to exclude him from +that subsistence which he thought not so much a favour as a debt, +since it was offered him upon conditions which he had never broken: +and that his only fault was, that he could not be supported with +nothing. He acknowledged that Lord Tyrconnel often exhorted him to +regulate his method of life, and not to spend all his nights in +taverns, and that he appeared desirous that he would pass those +hours with him which he so freely bestowed upon others. This demand +Mr. Savage considered as a censure of his conduct which he could +never patiently bear, and which, in the latter and cooler parts of +his life, was so offensive to him, that he declared it as his +resolution "to spurn that friend who should pretend to dictate to +him;" and it is not likely that in his earlier years he received +admonitions with more calmness. He was likewise inclined to resent +such expectations, as tending to infringe his liberty, of which he +was very jealous, when it was necessary to the gratification of his +passions; and declared that the request was still more unreasonable +as the company to which he was to have been confined was +insupportably disagreeable. This assertion affords another instance +of that inconsistency of his writings with his conversation which +was so often to be observed. He forgot how lavishly he had, in his +dedication to "The Wanderer," extolled the delicacy and penetration, +the humanity and generosity, the candour and politeness of the man +whom, when he no longer loved him, he declared to be a wretch +without understanding, without good nature, and without justice; of +whose name he thought himself obliged to leave no trace in any +future edition of his writings, and accordingly blotted it out of +that copy of "The Wanderer" which was in his hands. + +During his continuance with the Lord Tyrconnel, he wrote "The +Triumph of Health and Mirth," on the recovery of Lady Tyrconnel from +a languishing illness. This performance is remarkable, not only for +the gaiety of the ideas and the melody of the numbers, but for the +agreeable fiction upon which it is formed. Mirth, overwhelmed with +sorrow for the sickness of her favourite, takes a flight in quest of +her sister Health, whom she finds reclined upon the brow of a lofty +mountain, amidst the fragrance of perpetual spring, with the breezes +of the morning sporting about her. Being solicited by her sister +Mirth, she readily promises her assistance, flies away in a cloud, +and impregnates the waters of Bath with new virtues, by which the +sickness of Belinda is relieved. As the reputation of his +abilities, the particular circumstances of his birth and life, the +splendour of his appearance, and the distinction which was for some +time paid him by Lord Tyrconnel, entitled him to familiarity with +persons of higher rank than those to whose conversation he had been +before admitted, he did not fail to gratify that curiosity which +induced him to take a nearer view of those whom their birth, their +employments, or their fortunes necessarily placed at a distance from +the greatest part of mankind, and to examine whether their merit was +magnified or diminished by the medium through which it was +contemplated; whether the splendour with which they dazzled their +admirers was inherent in themselves, or only reflected on them by +the objects that surrounded them; and whether great men were +selected for high stations, or high stations made great men. + +For this purpose he took all opportunities of conversing familiarly +with those who were most conspicuous at that time for their power or +their influence; he watched their looser moments, and examined their +domestic behaviour, with that acuteness which nature had given him, +and which the uncommon variety of his life had contributed to +increase, and that inquisitiveness which must always be produced in +a vigorous mind by an absolute freedom from all pressing or domestic +engagements. His discernment was quick, and therefore he soon found +in every person, and in every affair, something that deserved +attention; he was supported by others, without any care for himself, +and was therefore at leisure to pursue his observations. More +circumstances to constitute a critic on human life could not easily +concur; nor, indeed, could any man, who assumed from accidental +advantages more praise than he could justly claim from his real +merit, admit any acquaintance more dangerous than that of Savage; of +whom likewise it must be confessed, that abilities really exalted +above the common level, or virtue refined from passion, or proof +against corruption, could not easily find an abler judge or a warmer +advocate. + +What was the result of Mr. Savage's inquiry, though he was not much +accustomed to conceal his discoveries, it may not be entirely safe +to relate, because the persons whose characters he criticised are +powerful, and power and resentment are seldom strangers; nor would +it perhaps be wholly just, because what he asserted in conversation +might, though true in general, be heightened by some momentary +ardour of imagination, and as it can be delivered only from memory, +may be imperfectly represented, so that the picture, at first +aggravated, and then unskilfully copied, may be justly suspected to +retain no great resemblance of the original. + +It may, however, be observed, that he did not appear to have formed +very elevated ideas of those to whom the administration of affairs, +or the conduct of parties, has been intrusted; who have been +considered as the advocates of the Crown, or the guardians of the +people; and who have obtained the most implicit confidence, and the +loudest applauses. Of one particular person, who has been at one +time so popular as to be generally esteemed, and at another so +formidable as to be universally detested, he observed that his +acquisitions had been small, or that his capacity was narrow, and +that the whole range of his mind was from obscenity to politics, and +from politics to obscenity. + +But the opportunity of indulging his speculations on great +characters was now at an end. He was banished from the table of +Lord Tyrconnel, and turned again adrift upon the world, without +prospect of finding quickly any other harbour. As prudence was not +one of the virtues by which he was distinguished, he made no +provision against a misfortune like this. And though it is not to +be imagined but that the separation must for some time have been +preceded by coldness, peevishness, or neglect, though it was +undoubtedly the consequence of accumulated provocations on both +sides, yet every one that knew Savage will readily believe that to +him it was sudden as a stroke of thunder; that, though he might have +transiently suspected it, he had never suffered any thought so +unpleasing to sink into his mind, but that he had driven it away by +amusements or dreams of future felicity and affluence, and had never +taken any measures by which he might prevent a precipitation from +plenty to indigence. This quarrel and separation, and the +difficulties to which Mr. Savage was exposed by them, were soon +known both to his friends and enemies; nor was it long before he +perceived, from the behaviour of both, how much is added to the +lustre of genius by the ornaments of wealth. His condition did not +appear to excite much compassion, for he had not been always careful +to use the advantages he enjoyed with that moderation which ought to +have been with more than usual caution preserved by him, who knew, +if he had reflected, that he was only a dependent on the bounty of +another, whom he could expect to support him no longer than he +endeavoured to preserve his favour by complying with his +inclinations, and whom he nevertheless set at defiance, and was +continually irritating by negligence or encroachments. + +Examples need not be sought at any great distance to prove that +superiority of fortune has a natural tendency to kindle pride, and +that pride seldom fails to exert itself in contempt and insult; and +if this is often the effect of hereditary wealth, and of honours +enjoyed only by the merits of others, it is some extenuation of any +indecent triumphs to which this unhappy man may have been betrayed, +that his prosperity was heightened by the force of novelty, and made +more intoxicating by a sense of the misery in which he had so long +languished, and perhaps of the insults which he had formerly borne, +and which he might now think himself entitled to revenge. It is too +common for those who have unjustly suffered pain to inflict it +likewise in their turn with the same injustice, and to imagine that +they have a right to treat others as they have themselves been +treated. + +That Mr. Savage was too much elevated by any good fortune is +generally known; and some passages of his Introduction to "The +Author to be Let" sufficiently show that he did not wholly refrain +from such satire, as he afterwards thought very unjust when he was +exposed to it himself; for, when he was afterwards ridiculed in the +character of a distressed poet, he very easily discovered that +distress was not a proper subject for merriment or topic of +invective. He was then able to discern, that if misery be the +effect of virtue, it ought to be reverenced; if of ill fortune, to +be pitied; and if of vice, not to be insulted, because it is perhaps +itself a punishment adequate to the crime by which it was produced. +And the humanity of that man can deserve no panegyric who is capable +of reproaching a criminal in the hands of the executioner. But +these reflections, though they readily occurred to him in the first +and last parts of his life, were, I am afraid, for a long time +forgotten; at least they were, like many other maxims, treasured up +in his mind rather for show than use, and operated very little upon +his conduct, however elegantly he might sometimes explain, or +however forcibly he might inculcate them. His degradation, +therefore, from the condition which he had enjoyed with such wanton +thoughtlessness, was considered by many as an occasion of triumph. +Those who had before paid their court to him without success soon +returned the contempt which they had suffered; and they who had +received favours from him, for of such favours as he could bestow he +was very liberal, did not always remember them. So much more +certain are the effects of resentment than of gratitude. It is not +only to many more pleasing to recollect those faults which place +others below them, than those virtues by which they are themselves +comparatively depressed: but it is likewise more easy to neglect +than to recompense. And though there are few who will practise a +laborious virtue, there will never be wanting multitudes that will +indulge in easy vice. + +Savage, however, was very little disturbed at the marks of contempt +which his ill fortune brought upon him from those whom he never +esteemed, and with whom he never considered himself as levelled by +any calamities: and though it was not without some uneasiness that +he saw some whose friendship he valued change their behaviour, he +yet observed their coldness without much emotion, considered them as +the slaves of fortune, and the worshippers of prosperity, and was +more inclined to despise them than to lament himself. + +It does not appear that after this return of his wants he found +mankind equally favourable to him, as at his first appearance in the +world. His story, though in reality not less melancholy, was less +affecting, because it was no longer new. It therefore procured him +no new friends, and those that had formerly relieved him thought +they might now consign him to others. He was now likewise +considered by many rather as criminal than as unhappy, for the +friends of Lord Tyrconnel, and of his mother, were sufficiently +industrious to publish his weaknesses, which were indeed very +numerous, and nothing was forgotten that might make him either +hateful or ridiculous. It cannot but be imagined that such +representations of his faults must make great numbers less sensible +of his distress; many who had only an opportunity to hear one part +made no scruple to propagate the account which they received; many +assisted their circulation from malice or revenge; and perhaps many +pretended to credit them, that they might with a better grace +withdraw their regard, or withhold their assistance. + +Savage, however, was not one of those who suffered himself to be +injured without resistance, nor was he less diligent in exposing the +faults of Lord Tyrconnel, over whom he obtained at least this +advantage, that he drove him first to the practice of outrage and +violence; for he was so much provoked by the wit and virulence of +Savage, that he came with a number of attendants, that did no honour +to his courage, to beat him at a coffee-house. But it happened that +he had left the place a few minutes, and his lordship had, without +danger, the pleasure of boasting how he would have treated him. Mr. +Savage went next day to repay his visit at his own house, but was +prevailed on by his domestics to retire without insisting on seeing +him. + +Lord Tyrconnel was accused by Mr. Savage of some actions which +scarcely any provocation will be thought sufficient to justify, such +as seizing what he had in his lodgings, and other instances of +wanton cruelty, by which he increased the distress of Savage without +any advantage to himself. + +These mutual accusations were retorted on both sides, for many +years, with the utmost degree of virulence and rage; and time seemed +rather to augment than diminish their resentment. That the anger of +Mr. Savage should be kept alive is not strange, because he felt +every day the consequences of the quarrel; but it might reasonably +have been hoped that Lord Tyrconnel might have relented, and at +length have forgot those provocations, which, however they might +have once inflamed him, had not in reality much hurt him. The +spirit of Mr. Savage, indeed, never suffered him to solicit a +reconciliation; he returned reproach for reproach, and insult for +insult; his superiority of wit supplied the disadvantages of his +fortune, and enabled him to form a party, and prejudice great +numbers in his favour. But though this might be some gratification +of his vanity, it afforded very little relief to his necessities, +and he was frequently reduced to uncommon hardships, of which, +however, he never made any mean or importunate complaints, being +formed rather to bear misery with fortitude than enjoy prosperity +with moderation. + +He now thought himself again at liberty to expose the cruelty of his +mother; and therefore, I believe, about this time, published "The +Bastard," a poem remarkable for the vivacious sallies of thought in +the beginning, where he makes a pompous enumeration of the imaginary +advantages of base birth, and the pathetic sentiments at the end, +where he recounts the real calamities which he suffered by the crime +of his parents. The vigour and spirit of the verses, the peculiar +circumstances of the author, the novelty of the subject, and the +notoriety of the story to which the allusions are made, procured +this performance a very favourable reception; great numbers were +immediately dispersed, and editions were multiplied with unusual +rapidity. + +One circumstance attended the publication which Savage used to +relate with great satisfaction. His mother, to whom the poem was +with "due reverence" inscribed, happened then to be at Bath, where +she could not conveniently retire from censure, or conceal herself +from observation; and no sooner did the reputation of the poem begin +to spread, than she heard it repeated in all places of concourse; +nor could she enter the assembly-rooms or cross the walks without +being saluted with some lines from "The Bastard." + +This was perhaps the first time that she ever discovered a sense of +shame, and on this occasion the power of wit was very conspicuous; +the wretch who had, without scruple, proclaimed herself an +adulteress, and who had first endeavoured to starve her son, then to +transport him, and afterwards to hang him, was not able to bear the +representation of her own conduct, but fled from reproach, though +she felt no pain from guilt, and left Bath in the utmost haste to +shelter herself among the crowds of London. Thus Savage had the +satisfaction of finding that, though he could not reform his mother, +he could punish her, and that he did not always suffer alone. + +The pleasure which he received from this increase of his poetical +reputation was sufficient for some time to overbalance the miseries +of want, which this performance did not much alleviate; for it was +sold for a very trivial sum to a bookseller, who, though the success +was so uncommon that five impressions were sold, of which many were +undoubtedly very numerous, had not generosity sufficient to admit +the unhappy writer to any part of the profit. The sale of this poem +was always mentioned by Mr. Savage with the utmost elevation of +heart, and referred to by him as an incontestable proof of a general +acknowledgment of his abilities. It was, indeed, the only +production of which he could justly boast a general reception. But, +though he did not lose the opportunity which success gave him of +setting a high rate on his abilities, but paid due deference to the +suffrages of mankind when they were given in his favour, he did not +suffer his esteem of himself to depend upon others, nor found +anything sacred in the voice of the people when they were inclined +to censure him; he then readily showed the folly of expecting that +the public should judge right, observed how slowly poetical merit +had often forced its way into the world; he contented himself with +the applause of men of judgment, and was somewhat disposed to +exclude all those from the character of men of judgment who did not +applaud him. But he was at other times more favourable to mankind +than to think them blind to the beauties of his works, and imputed +the slowness of their sale to other causes; either they were +published at a time when the town was empty, or when the attention +of the public was engrossed by some struggle in the Parliament or +some other object of general concern; or they were, by the neglect +of the publisher, not diligently dispersed, or, by his avarice, not +advertised with sufficient frequency. Address, or industry, or +liberality was always wanting, and the blame was laid rather on any +person than the author. + +By arts like these, arts which every man practises in some degree, +and to which too much of the little tranquillity of life is to be +ascribed, Savage was always able to live at peace with himself. Had +he, indeed, only made use of these expedients to alleviate the loss +or want of fortune or reputation, or any other advantages which it +is not in a man's power to bestow upon himself, they might have been +justly mentioned as instances of a philosophical mind, and very +properly proposed to the imitation of multitudes who, for want of +diverting their imaginations with the same dexterity, languish under +afflictions which might be easily removed. + +It were doubtless to be wished that truth and reason were +universally prevalent; that everything were esteemed according to +its real value; and that men would secure themselves from being +disappointed, in their endeavours after happiness, by placing it +only in virtue, which is always to be obtained; but, if adventitious +and foreign pleasures must be pursued, it would be perhaps of some +benefit, since that pursuit must frequently be fruitless, if the +practice of Savage could be taught, that folly might be an antidote +to folly, and one fallacy be obviated by another. But the danger of +this pleasing intoxication must not be concealed; nor, indeed, can +any one, after having observed the life of Savage, need to be +cautioned against it. By imputing none of his miseries to himself, +he continued to act upon the same principles, and to follow the same +path; was never made wiser by his sufferings, nor preserved by one +misfortune from falling into another. He proceeded throughout his +life to tread the same steps on the same circle; always applauding +his past conduct, or at least forgetting it, to amuse himself with +phantoms of happiness, which were dancing before him; and willingly +turned his eyes from the light of reason, when it would have +discovered the illusion, and shown him, what he never wished to see, +his real state. He is even accused, after having lulled his +imagination with those ideal opiates, of having tried the same +experiment upon his conscience; and, having accustomed himself to +impute all deviations from the right to foreign causes, it is +certain that he was upon every occasion too easily reconciled to +himself, and that he appeared very little to regret those practices +which had impaired his reputation. The reigning error of his life +was that he mistook the love for the practice of virtue, and was +indeed not so much a good man as the friend of goodness. + +This, at least, must be allowed him, that he always preserved a +strong sense of the dignity, the beauty, and the necessity of +virtue; and that he never contributed deliberately to spread +corruption amongst mankind. His actions, which were generally +precipitate, were often blameable; but his writings, being the +production of study, uniformly tended to the exaltation of the mind +and the propagation of morality and piety. These writings may +improve mankind when his failings shall be forgotten; and therefore +he must be considered, upon the whole, as a benefactor to the world. +Nor can his personal example do any hurt, since whoever hears of his +faults will hear of the miseries which they brought upon him, and +which would deserve less pity had not his condition been such as +made his faults pardonable. He may be considered as a child exposed +to all the temptations of indigence, at an age when resolution was +not yet strengthened by conviction, nor virtue confirmed by habit; a +circumstance which, in his "Bastard," he laments in a very affecting +manner:-- + + "No mother's care + Shielded my infant innocence with prayer; + No father's guardian hand my youth maintained, + Called forth my virtues, or from vice restrained." + +"The Bastard," however it might provoke or mortify his mother, could +not be expected to melt her to compassion, so that he was still +under the same want of the necessaries of life; and he therefore +exerted all the interest which his wit, or his birth, or his +misfortunes could procure to obtain, upon the death of Eusden, the +place of Poet Laureate, and prosecuted his application with so much +diligence that the king publicly declared it his intention to bestow +it upon him; but such was the fate of Savage that even the king, +when he intended his advantage, was disappointed in his schemes; for +the Lord Chamberlain, who has the disposal of the laurel as one of +the appendages of his office, either did not know the king's design, +or did not approve it, or thought the nomination of the Laureate an +encroachment upon his rights, and therefore bestowed the laurel upon +Colley Cibber. + +Mr. Savage, thus disappointed, took a resolution of applying to the +queen, that, having once given him life, she would enable him to +support it, and therefore published a short poem on her birthday, to +which he gave the odd title of "Volunteer Laureate." The event of +this essay he has himself related in the following letter, which he +prefixed to the poem when he afterwards reprinted it in The +Gentleman's Magazine, whence I have copied it entire, as this was +one of the few attempts in which Mr. Savage succeeded. + +"MR. URBAN,--In your Magazine for February you published the last +'Volunteer Laureate,' written on a very melancholy occasion, the +death of the royal patroness of arts and literature in general, and +of the author of that poem in particular; I now send you the first +that Mr. Savage wrote under that title. This gentleman, +notwithstanding a very considerable interest, being, on the death of +Mr. Eusden, disappointed of the Laureate's place, wrote the +following verses; which were no sooner published, but the late queen +sent to a bookseller for them. The author had not at that time a +friend either to get him introduced, or his poem presented at Court; +yet, such was the unspeakable goodness of that princess, that, +notwithstanding this act of ceremony was wanting, in a few days +after publication Mr. Savage received a bank-bill of fifty pounds, +and a gracious message from her Majesty, by the Lord North and +Guilford, to this effect: 'That her Majesty was highly pleased with +the verses; that she took particularly kind his lines there relating +to the king; that he had permission to write annually on the same +subject; and that he should yearly receive the like present, till +something better (which was her Majesty's intention) could be done +for him.' After this he was permitted to present one of his annual +poems to her Majesty, had the honour of kissing her hand, and met +with the most gracious reception. + "Yours, etc." + +Such was the performance, and such its reception; a reception which, +though by no means unkind, was yet not in the highest degree +generous. To chain down the genius of a writer to an annual +panegyric showed in the queen too much desire of hearing her own +praises, and a greater regard to herself than to him on whom her +bounty was conferred. It was a kind of avaricious generosity, by +which flattery was rather purchased than genius rewarded. + +Mrs. Oldfield had formerly given him the same allowance with much +more heroic intention: she had no other view than to enable him to +prosecute his studies, and to set himself above the want of +assistance, and was contented with doing good without stipulating +for encomiums. + +Mr. Savage, however, was not at liberty to make exceptions, but was +ravished with the favours which he had received, and probably yet +more with those which he was promised: he considered himself now as +a favourite of the queen, and did not doubt but a few annual poems +would establish him in some profitable employment. He therefore +assumed the title of "Volunteer Laureate," not without some +reprehensions from Cibber, who informed him that the title of +"Laureate" was a mark of honour conferred by the king, from whom all +honour is derived, and which, therefore, no man has a right to +bestow upon himself; and added that he might with equal propriety +style himself a Volunteer Lord or Volunteer Baronet. It cannot be +denied that the remark was just; but Savage did not think any title +which was conferred upon Mr. Cibber so honourable as that the +usurpation of it could be imputed to him as an instance of very +exorbitant vanity, and therefore continued to write under the same +title, and received every year the same reward. He did not appear +to consider these encomiums as tests of his abilities, or as +anything more than annual hints to the queen of her promise, or acts +of ceremony, by the performance of which he was entitled to his +pension, and therefore did not labour them with great diligence, or +print more than fifty each year, except that for some of the last +years he regularly inserted them in The Gentleman's Magazine, by +which they were dispersed over the kingdom. + +Of some of them he had himself so low an opinion that he intended to +omit them in the collection of poems for which he printed proposals, +and solicited subscriptions; nor can it seem strange that, being +confined to the same subject, he should be at some times indolent +and at others unsuccessful; that he should sometimes delay a +disagreeable task till it was too late to perform it well; or that +he should sometimes repeat the same sentiment on the same occasion, +or at others be misled by an attempt after novelty to forced +conceptions and far-fetched images. He wrote indeed with a double +intention, which supplied him with some variety; for his business +was to praise the queen for the favours which he had received, and +to complain to her of the delay of those which she had promised: in +some of his pieces, therefore, gratitude is predominant, and in some +discontent; in some, he represents himself as happy in her +patronage; and, in others, as disconsolate to find himself +neglected. Her promise, like other promises made to this +unfortunate man, was never performed, though he took sufficient care +that it should not be forgotten. The publication of his "Volunteer +Laureate" procured him no other reward than a regular remittance of +fifty pounds. He was not so depressed by his disappointments as to +neglect any opportunity that was offered of advancing his interest. +When the Princess Anne was married, he wrote a poem upon her +departure, only, as he declared, "because it was expected from him," +and he was not willing to bar his own prospects by any appearance of +neglect. He never mentioned any advantage gained by this poem, or +any regard that was paid to it; and therefore it is likely that it +was considered at Court as an act of duty, to which he was obliged +by his dependence, and which it was therefore not necessary to +reward by any new favour: or perhaps the queen really intended his +advancement, and therefore thought it superfluous to lavish presents +upon a man whom she intended to establish for life. + +About this time not only his hopes were in danger of being +frustrated, but his pension likewise of being obstructed, by an +accidental calumny. The writer of The Daily Courant, a paper then +published under the direction of the Ministry, charged him with a +crime, which, though very great in itself, would have been +remarkably invidious in him, and might very justly have incensed the +queen against him. He was accused by name of influencing elections +against the Court by appearing at the head of a Tory mob; nor did +the accuser fail to aggravate his crime by representing it as the +effect of the most atrocious ingratitude, and a kind of rebellion +against the queen, who had first preserved him from an infamous +death, and afterwards distinguished him by her favour, and supported +him by her charity. The charge, as it was open and confident, was +likewise by good fortune very particular. The place of the +transaction was mentioned, and the whole series of the rioter's +conduct related. This exactness made Mr. Savage's vindication easy; +for he never had in his life seen the place which was declared to be +the scene of his wickedness, nor ever had been present in any town +when its representatives were chosen. This answer he therefore made +haste to publish, with all the circumstances necessary to make it +credible; and very reasonably demanded that the accusation should be +retracted in the same paper, that he might no longer suffer the +imputation of sedition and ingratitude. This demand was likewise +pressed by him in a private letter to the author of the paper, who, +either trusting to the protection of those whose defence he had +undertaken, or having entertained some personal malice against Mr. +Savage, or fearing lest, by retracting so confident an assertion, he +should impair the credit of his paper, refused to give him that +satisfaction. Mr. Savage therefore thought it necessary, to his own +vindication, to prosecute him in the King's Bench; but as he did not +find any ill effects from the accusation, having sufficiently +cleared his innocence, he thought any further procedure would have +the appearance of revenge; and therefore willingly dropped it. He +saw soon afterwards a process commenced in the same court against +himself, on an information in which he was accused of writing and +publishing an obscene pamphlet. + +It was always Mr Savage's desire to be distinguished; and, when any +controversy became popular, he never wanted some reason for engaging +in it with great ardour, and appearing at the head of the party +which he had chosen. As he was never celebrated for his prudence, +he had no sooner taken his side, and informed himself of the chief +topics of the dispute, than he took all opportunities of asserting +and propagating his principles, without much regard to his own +interest, or any other visible design than that of drawing upon +himself the attention of mankind. + +The dispute between the Bishop of London and the chancellor is well +known to have been for some time the chief topic of political +conversation; and therefore Mr. Savage, in pursuance of his +character, endeavoured to become conspicuous among the +controvertists with which every coffee-house was filled on that +occasion. He was an indefatigable opposer of all the claims of +ecclesiastical power, though he did not know on what they were +founded; and was therefore no friend to the Bishop of London. But +he had another reason for appearing as a warm advocate for Dr. +Rundle; for he was the friend of Mr. Foster and Mr. Thomson, who +were the friends of Mr. Savage. + +Thus remote was his interest in the question, which, however, as he +imagined, concerned him so nearly, that it was not sufficient to +harangue and dispute, but necessary likewise to write upon it. He +therefore engaged with great ardour in a new poem, called by him, +"The Progress of a Divine;" in which he conducts a profligate +priest, by all the gradations of wickedness, from a poor curacy in +the country to the highest preferments of the Church; and describes, +with that humour which was natural to him, and that knowledge which +was extended to all the diversities of human life, his behaviour in +every station; and insinuates that this priest, thus accomplished, +found at last a patron in the Bishop of London. When he was asked, +by one of his friends, on what pretence he could charge the bishop +with such an action, he had no more to say than that he had only +inverted the accusation; and that he thought it reasonable to +believe that he who obstructed the rise of a good man without reason +would for bad reasons promote the exaltation of a villain. The +clergy were universally provoked by this satire; and Savage, who, as +was his constant practice, had set his name to his performance, was +censured in The Weekly Miscellany with severity, which he did not +seem inclined to forget. + +But return of invective was not thought a sufficient punishment. +The Court of King's Bench was therefore moved against him; and he +was obliged to return an answer to a charge of obscenity. It was +urged, in his defence, that obscenity was criminal when it was +intended to promote the practice of vice; but that Mr. Savage had +only introduced obscene ideas with the view of exposing them to +detestation, and of amending the age by showing the deformity of +wickedness. This plea was admitted; and Sir Philip Yorke, who then +presided in that court, dismissed the information, with encomiums +upon the purity and excellence of Mr. Savage's writings. The +prosecution, however, answered in some measure the purpose of those +by whom it was set on foot; for Mr. Savage was so far intimidated by +it that, when the edition of his poem was sold, he did not venture +to reprint it; so that it was in a short time forgotten, or +forgotten by all but those whom it offended. It is said that some +endeavours were used to incense the queen against him: but he found +advocates to obviate at least part of their effect; for though he +was never advanced, he still continued to receive his pension. + +This poem drew more infamy upon him than any incident of his life; +and, as his conduct cannot be vindicated, it is proper to secure his +memory from reproach by informing those whom he made his enemies +that he never intended to repeat the provocation; and that, though +whenever he thought he had any reason to complain of the clergy, he +used to threaten them with a new edition of "The Progress of a +Divine," it was his calm and settled resolution to suppress it for +ever. + +He once intended to have made a better reparation for the folly or +injustice with which he might be charged, by writing another poem, +called "The Progress of a Free-thinker," whom he intended to lead +through all the stages of vice and folly, to convert him from virtue +to wickedness, and from religion to infidelity, by all the modish +sophistry used for that purpose; and at last to dismiss him by his +own hand into the other world. That he did not execute this design +is a real loss to mankind; for he was too well acquainted with all +the scenes of debauchery to have failed in his representations of +them, and too zealous for virtue not to have represented them in +such a manner as should expose them either to ridicule or +detestation. But this plan was, like others, formed and laid aside, +till the vigour of his imagination was spent, and the effervescence +of invention had subsided; but soon gave way to some other design, +which pleased by its novelty for awhile, and then was neglected like +the former. + +He was still in his usual exigencies, having no certain support but +the pension allowed him by the queen, which, though it might have +kept an exact economist from want, was very far from being +sufficient for Mr. Savage, who had never been accustomed to dismiss +any of his appetites without the gratification which they solicited, +and whom nothing but want of money withheld from partaking of every +pleasure that fell within his view. His conduct with regard to his +pension was very particular. No sooner had he changed the bill than +he vanished from the sight of all his acquaintance, and lay for some +time out of the reach of all the inquiries that friendship or +curiosity could make after him. At length he appeared again, +penniless as before, but never informed even those whom he seemed to +regard most where he had been; nor was his retreat ever discovered. +This was his constant practice during the whole time that he +received the pension from the queen: he regularly disappeared and +returned. He, indeed, affirmed that he retired to study, and that +the money supported him in solitude for many months; but his friends +declared that the short time in which it was spent sufficiently +confuted his own account of his conduct. + +His politeness and his wit still raised him friends who were +desirous of setting him at length free from that indigence by which +he had been hitherto oppressed; and therefore solicited Sir Robert +Walpole in his favour with so much earnestness that they obtained a +promise of the next place that should become vacant, not exceeding +two hundred pounds a year. This promise was made with an uncommon +declaration, "that it was not the promise of a minister to a +petitioner, but of a friend to his friend." + +Mr. Savage now concluded himself set at ease for ever, and, as he +observes in a poem written on that incident of his life, trusted, +and was trusted; but soon found that his confidence was ill- +grounded, and this friendly promise was not inviolable. He spent a +long time in solicitations, and at last despaired and desisted. He +did not indeed deny that he had given the minister some reason to +believe that he should not strengthen his own interest by advancing +him, for he had taken care to distinguish himself in coffee-houses, +as an advocate for the ministry of the last years of Queen Anne, and +was always ready to justify the conduct, and exalt the character, of +Lord Bolingbroke, whom he mentions with great regard in an Epistle +upon Authors, which he wrote about that time, but was too wise to +publish, and of which only some fragments have appeared, inserted by +him in the Magazine after his retirement. + +To despair was not, however, the character of Savage; when one +patronage failed, he had recourse to another. The Prince was now +extremely popular, and had very liberally rewarded the merit of some +writers whom Mr. Savage did not think superior to himself, and +therefore he resolved to address a poem to him. For this purpose he +made choice of a subject which could regard only persons of the +highest rank and greatest affluence, and which was therefore proper +for a poem intended to procure the patronage of a prince; and having +retired for some time to Richmond, that he might prosecute his +design in full tranquillity, without the temptations of pleasure, or +the solicitations of creditors, by which his meditations were in +equal danger of being disconcerted, he produced a poem "On Public +Spirit, with regard to Public Works." + +The plan of this poem is very extensive, and comprises a multitude +of topics, each of which might furnish matter sufficient for a long +performance, and of which some have already employed more eminent +writers; but as he was perhaps not fully acquainted with the whole +extent of his own design, and was writing to obtain a supply of +wants too pressing to admit of long or accurate inquiries, he passes +negligently over many public works which, even in his own opinion, +deserved to be more elaborately treated. + +But though he may sometimes disappoint his reader by transient +touches upon these subjects, which have often been considered, and +therefore naturally raise expectations, he must be allowed amply to +compensate his omissions by expatiating, in the conclusion of his +work, upon a kind of beneficence not yet celebrated by any eminent +poet, though it now appears more susceptible of embellishments, more +adapted to exalt the ideas and affect the passions, than many of +those which have hitherto been thought most worthy of the ornament +of verse. The settlement of colonies in uninhabited countries, the +establishment of those in security whose misfortunes have made their +own country no longer pleasing or safe, the acquisition of property +without injury to any, the appropriation of the waste and luxuriant +bounties of nature, and the enjoyment of those gifts which Heaven +has scattered upon regions uncultivated and unoccupied, cannot be +considered without giving rise to a great number of pleasing ideas, +and bewildering the imagination in delightful prospects; and +therefore, whatever speculations they may produce in those who have +confined themselves to political studies, naturally fixed the +attention, and excited the applause, of a poet. The politician, +when he considers men driven into other countries for shelter, and +obliged to retire to forests and deserts, and pass their lives and +fix their posterity in the remotest corners of the world to avoid +those hardships which they suffer or fear in their native place, may +very properly inquire why the legislature does not provide a remedy +for these miseries rather than encourage an escape from them. He +may conclude that the flight of every honest man is a loss to the +community; that those who are unhappy without guilt ought to be +relieved; and the life which is overburthened by accidental +calamities set at ease by the care of the public; and that those who +have by misconduct forfeited their claim to favour ought rather to +be made useful to the society which they have injured than be driven +from it. But the poet is employed in a more pleasing undertaking +than that of proposing laws which, however just or expedient, will +never be made; or endeavouring to reduce to rational schemes of +government societies which were formed by chance, and are conducted +by the private passions of those who preside in them. He guides the +unhappy fugitive, from want and persecution, to plenty, quiet, and +security, and seats him in scenes of peaceful solitude and +undisturbed repose. + +Savage has not forgotten, amidst the pleasing sentiments which this +prospect of retirement suggested to him, to censure those crimes +which have been generally committed by the discoverers of new +regions, and to expose the enormous wickedness of making war upon +barbarous nations because they cannot resist, and of invading +countries because they are fruitful; of extending navigation only to +propagate vice; and of visiting distant lands only to lay them +waste. He has asserted the natural equality of mankind, and +endeavoured to suppress that pride which inclines men to imagine +that right is the consequence of power. His description of the +various miseries which force men to seek for refuge in distant +countries affords another instance of his proficiency in the +important and extensive study of human life; and the tenderness with +which he recounts them, another proof of his humanity and +benevolence. + +It is observable that the close of this poem discovers a change +which experience had made in Mr. Savage's opinions. In a poem +written by him in his youth, and published in his Miscellanies, he +declares his contempt of the contracted views and narrow prospects +of the middle state of life, and declares his resolution either to +tower like the cedar, or be trampled like the shrub; but in this +poem, though addressed to a prince, he mentions this state of life +as comprising those who ought most to attract reward, those who +merit most the confidence of power and the familiarity of greatness; +and, accidentally mentioning this passage to one of his friends, +declared that in his opinion all the virtue of mankind was +comprehended in that state. + +In describing villas and gardens he did not omit to condemn that +absurd custom which prevails among the English of permitting +servants to receive money from strangers for the entertainment that +they receive, and therefore inserted in his poem these lines: + + "But what the flowering pride of gardens rare, + However royal, or however fair, + If gates which to excess should still give way, + Ope but, like Peter's paradise, for pay; + If perquisited varlets frequent stand, + And each new walk must a new tax demand; + What foreign eye but with contempt surveys? + What Muse shall from oblivion snatch their praise?" + +But before the publication of his performance he recollected that +the queen allowed her garden and cave at Richmond to be shown for +money; and that she so openly countenanced the practice that she had +bestowed the privilege of showing them as a place of profit on a man +whose merit she valued herself upon rewarding, though she gave him +only the liberty of disgracing his country. He therefore thought, +with more prudence than was often exerted by him, that the +publication of these lines might be officiously represented as an +insult upon the queen, to whom he owed his life and his subsistence; +and that the propriety of his observation would be no security +against the censures which the unseasonableness of it might draw +upon him; he therefore suppressed the passage in the first edition, +but after the queen's death thought the same caution no longer +necessary, and restored it to the proper place. The poem was, +therefore, published without any political faults, and inscribed to +the prince; but Mr. Savage, having no friend upon whom he could +prevail to present it to him, had no other method of attracting his +observation than the publication of frequent advertisements, and +therefore received no reward from his patron, however generous on +other occasions. This disappointment he never mentioned without +indignation, being by some means or other confident that the prince +was not ignorant of his address to him; and insinuated that if any +advances in popularity could have been made by distinguishing him, +he had not written without notice or without reward. He was once +inclined to have presented his poem in person and sent to the +printer for a copy with that design; but either his opinion changed +or his resolution deserted him, and he continued to resent neglect +without attempting to force himself into regard. Nor was the public +much more favourable than his patron; for only seventy-two were +sold, though the performance was much commended by some whose +judgment in that kind of writing is generally allowed. But Savage +easily reconciled himself to mankind without imputing any defect to +his work, by observing that his poem was unluckily published two +days after the prorogation of the parliament, and by consequence at +a time when all those who could be expected to regard it were in the +hurry of preparing for their departure, or engaged in taking leave +of others upon their dismission from public affairs. It must be +however allowed, in justification of the public, that this +performance is not the most excellent of Mr. Savage's works; and +that, though it cannot be denied to contain many striking +sentiments, majestic lines, and just observations, it is in general +not sufficiently polished in the language, or enlivened in the +imagery, or digested in the plan. Thus his poem contributed nothing +to the alleviation of his poverty, which was such as very few could +have supported with equal patience; but to which it must likewise be +confessed that few would have been exposed who received punctually +fifty pounds a year; a salary which, though by no means equal to the +demands of vanity and luxury, is yet found sufficient to support +families above want, and was undoubtedly more than the necessities +of life require. + +But no sooner had he received his pension than he withdrew to his +darling privacy, from which he returned in a short time to his +former distress, and for some part of the year generally lived by +chance, eating only when he was invited to the tables of his +acquaintances, from which the meanness of his dress often excluded +him, when the politeness and variety of his conversation would have +been thought a sufficient recompense for his entertainment. He +lodged as much by accident as he dined, and passed the night +sometimes in mean houses which are set open at night to any casual +wanderers; sometimes in cellars, among the riot and filth of the +meanest and most profligate of the rabble; and sometimes, when he +had not money to support even the expenses of these receptacles, +walked about the streets till he was weary, and lay down in the +summer upon the bulk, or in the winter, with his associate, in +poverty, among the ashes of a glass-house. + +In this manner were passed those days and those nights which nature +had enabled him to have employed in elevated speculations, useful +studies, or pleasing conversation. On a bulk, in a cellar, or in a +glass-house, among thieves and beggars, was to be found the author +of "The Wanderer," the man of exalted sentiments, extensive views, +and curious observations; the man whose remarks on life might have +assisted the statesman, whose ideas of virtue might have enlightened +the moralist, whose eloquence might have influenced senates, and +whose delicacy might have polished courts. It cannot but be +imagined that such necessities might sometimes force him upon +disreputable practices; and it is probable that these lines in "The +Wanderer" were occasioned by his reflections on his own conduct: + + "Though misery leads to happiness and truth, + Unequal to the load this languid youth, + (Oh, let none censure, if, untried by grief, + If, amidst woe, untempted by relief), + He stooped reluctant to low arts of shame, + Which then, e'en then, he scorned, and blushed to name." + +Whoever was acquainted with him was certain to be solicited for +small sums, which the frequency of the request made in time +considerable; and he was therefore quickly shunned by those who were +become familiar enough to be trusted with his necessities; but his +rambling manner of life, and constant appearance at houses of public +resort, always procured him a new succession of friends whose +kindness had not been exhausted by repeated requests; so that he was +seldom absolutely without resources, but had in his utmost +exigencies this comfort, that he always imagined himself sure of +speedy relief. It was observed that he always asked favours of this +kind without the least submission or apparent consciousness of +dependence, and that he did not seem to look upon a compliance with +his request as an obligation that deserved any extraordinary +acknowledgments; but a refusal was resented by him as an affront, or +complained of as an injury; nor did he readily reconcile himself to +those who either denied to lend, or gave him afterwards any +intimation that they expected to be repaid. He was sometimes so far +compassionated by those who knew both his merit and distresses that +they received him into their families, but they soon discovered him +to be a very incommodious inmate; for, being always accustomed to an +irregular manner of life, he could not confine himself to any stated +hours, or pay any regard to the rules of a family, but would prolong +his conversation till midnight, without considering that business +might require his friend's application in the morning; and, when he +had persuaded himself to retire to bed, was not, without equal +difficulty, called up to dinner: it was therefore impossible to pay +him any distinction without the entire subversion of all economy, a +kind of establishment which, wherever he went, he always appeared +ambitious to overthrow. It must therefore be acknowledged, in +justification of mankind, that it was not always by the negligence +or coldness of his friends that Savage was distressed, but because +it was in reality very difficult to preserve him long in a state of +ease. To supply him with money was a hopeless attempt; for no +sooner did he see himself master of a sum sufficient to set him free +from care for a day than he became profuse and luxurious. When once +he had entered a tavern, or engaged in a scheme of pleasure, he +never retired till want of money obliged him to some new expedient. +If he was entertained in a family, nothing was any longer to be +regarded there but amusement and jollity; wherever Savage entered, +he immediately expected that order and business should fly before +him, that all should thenceforward be left to hazard, and that no +dull principle of domestic management should be opposed to his +inclination or intrude upon his gaiety. His distresses, however +afflictive, never dejected him; in his lowest state he wanted not +spirit to assert the natural dignity of wit, and was always ready to +repress that insolence which the superiority of fortune incited, and +to trample on that reputation which rose upon any other basis than +that of merit: he never admitted any gross familiarities, or +submitted to be treated otherwise than as an equal. Once when he +was without lodging, meat, or clothes, one of his friends, a man +indeed not remarkable for moderation in his prosperity, left a +message that he desired to see him about nine in the morning. +Savage knew that his intention was to assist him, but was very much +disgusted that he should presume to prescribe the hour of his +attendance, and, I believe, refused to visit him, and rejected his +kindness. + +The same invincible temper, whether firmness or obstinacy, appeared +in his conduct to the Lord Tyrconnel, from whom he very frequently +demanded that the allowance which was once paid him should be +restored; but with whom he never appeared to entertain for a moment +the thought of soliciting a reconciliation, and whom he treated at +once with all the haughtiness of superiority and all the bitterness +of resentment. He wrote to him, not in a style of supplication or +respect, but of reproach, menace, and contempt; and appeared +determined, if he ever regained his allowance, to hold it only by +the right of conquest. + +As many more can discover that a man is richer than that he is wiser +than themselves, superiority of understanding is not so readily +acknowledged as that of fortune; nor is that haughtiness which the +consciousness of great abilities incites, borne with the same +submission as the tyranny of affluence; and therefore Savage, by +asserting his claim to deference and regard, and by treating those +with contempt whom better fortune animated to rebel against him, did +not fail to raise a great number of enemies in the different classes +of mankind. Those who thought themselves raised above him by the +advantages of riches hated him because they found no protection from +the petulance of his wit. Those who were esteemed for their +writings feared him as a critic, and maligned him as a rival; and +almost all the smaller wits were his professed enemies. + +Among these Mr. Miller so far indulged his resentment as to +introduce him in a farce, and direct him to be personated on the +stage in a dress like that which he then wore; a mean insult, which +only insinuated that Savage had but one coat, and which was +therefore despised by him rather than resented; for, though he wrote +a lampoon against Miller, he never printed it: and as no other +person ought to prosecute that revenge from which the person who was +injured desisted, I shall not preserve what Mr. Savage suppressed; +of which the publication would indeed have been a punishment too +severe for so impotent an assault. + +The great hardships of poverty were to Savage not the want of +lodging or food, but the neglect and contempt which it drew upon +him. He complained that, as his affairs grew desperate, he found +his reputation for capacity visibly decline; that his opinion in +questions of criticism was no longer regarded when his coat was out +of fashion; and that those who, in the interval of his prosperity, +were always encouraging him to great undertakings by encomiums on +his genius and assurances of success, now received any mention of +his designs with coldness, thought that the subjects on which he +proposed to write were very difficult, and were ready to inform him +that the event of a poem was uncertain, that an author ought to +employ much time in the consideration of his plan, and not presume +to sit down to write in consequence of a few cursory ideas and a +superficial knowledge; difficulties were started on all sides, and +he was no longer qualified for any performance but "The Volunteer +Laureate." + +Yet even this kind of contempt never depressed him: for he always +preserved a steady confidence in his own capacity, and believed +nothing above his reach which he should at any time earnestly +endeavour to attain. He formed schemes of the same kind with regard +to knowledge and to fortune, and flattered himself with advances to +be made in science, as with riches, to be enjoyed in some distant +period of his life. For the acquisition of knowledge he was indeed +much better qualified than for that of riches; for he was naturally +inquisitive, and desirous of the conversation of those from whom any +information was to be obtained, but by no means solicitous to +improve those opportunities that were sometimes offered of raising +his fortune; and he was remarkably retentive of his ideas, which, +when once he was in possession of them, rarely forsook him; a +quality which could never be communicated to his money. + +While he was thus wearing out his life in expectation that the queen +would some time recollect her promise, he had recourse to the usual +practice of writers, and published proposals for printing his works +by subscription, to which he was encouraged by the success of many +who had not a better right to the favour of the public; but, +whatever was the reason, he did not find the world equally inclined +to favour him; and he observed with some discontent, that though he +offered his works at half a guinea, he was able to procure but a +small number in comparison with those who subscribed twice as much +to Duck. Nor was it without indignation that he saw his proposals +neglected by the queen, who patronised Mr. Duck's with uncommon +ardour, and incited a competition among those who attended the court +who should most promote his interest, and who should first offer a +subscription. This was a distinction to which Mr. Savage made no +scruple of asserting that his birth, his misfortunes, and his +genius, gave a fairer title than could be pleaded by him on whom it +was conferred. + +Savage's applications were, however, not universally unsuccessful; +for some of the nobility countenanced his design, encouraged his +proposals, and subscribed with great liberality. He related of the +Duke of Chandos particularly, that upon receiving his proposals he +sent him ten guineas. But the money which his subscriptions +afforded him was not less volatile than that which he received from +his other schemes; whenever a subscription was paid him, he went to +a tavern; and as money so collected is necessarily received in small +sums, he never was able to send his poems to the press, but for many +years continued his solicitation, and squandered whatever he +obtained. + +The project of printing his works was frequently revived; and as his +proposals grew obsolete, new ones were printed with fresher dates. +To form schemes for the publication was one of his favourite +amusements; nor was he ever more at ease than when, with any friend +who readily fell in with his schemes, he was adjusting the print, +forming the advertisements, and regulating the dispersion of his new +edition, which he really intended some time to publish, and which, +as long as experience had shown him the impossibility of printing +the volume together, he at last determined to divide into weekly or +monthly numbers, that the profits of the first might supply the +expenses of the next. + +Thus he spent his time in mean expedients and tormenting suspense, +living for the greatest part in fear of prosecutions from his +creditors, and consequently skulking in obscure parts of the town, +of which he was no stranger to the remotest corners. But wherever +he came, his address secured him friends, whom his necessities soon +alienated; so that he had perhaps a more numerous acquaintance than +any man ever before attained, there being scarcely any person +eminent on any account to whom he was not known, or whose character +he was not in some degree able to delineate. To the acquisition of +this extensive acquaintance every circumstance of his life +contributed. He excelled in the arts of conversation, and therefore +willingly practised them. He had seldom any home, or even a +lodging, in which he could be private, and therefore was driven into +public-houses for the common conveniences of life and supports of +nature. He was always ready to comply with every invitation, having +no employment to withhold him, and often no money to provide for +himself; and by dining with one company he never failed of obtaining +an introduction into another. + +Thus dissipated was his life, and thus casual his subsistence; yet +did not the distraction of his views hinder him from reflection, nor +the uncertainty of his condition depress his gaiety. When he had +wandered about without any fortunate adventure by which he was led +into a tavern, he sometimes retired into the fields, and was able to +employ his mind in study, to amuse it with pleasing imaginations; +and seldom appeared to be melancholy but when some sudden misfortune +had just fallen upon him; and even then in a few moments he would +disentangle himself from his perplexity, adopt the subject of +conversation, and apply his mind wholly to the objects that others +presented to it. This life, unhappy as it may be already imagined, +was yet embittered in 1738 with new calamities. The death of the +queen deprived him of all the prospects of preferment with which he +so long entertained his imagination; and as Sir Robert Walpole had +before given him reason to believe that he never intended the +performance of his promise, he was now abandoned again to fortune. +He was, however, at that time supported by a friend; and as it was +not his custom to look out for distant calamities, or to feel any +other pain than that which forced itself upon his senses, he was not +much afflicted at his loss, and perhaps comforted himself that his +pension would be now continued without the annual tribute of a +panegyric. Another expectation contributed likewise to support him; +he had taken a resolution to write a second tragedy upon the story +of Sir Thomas Overbury, in which he preserved a few lines of his +former play, but made a total alteration of the plan, added new +incidents, and introduced new characters; so that it was a new +tragedy, not a revival of the former. + +Many of his friends blamed him for not making choice of another +subject; but in vindication of himself he asserted that it was not +easy to find a better; and that he thought it his interest to +extinguish the memory of the first tragedy, which he could only do +by writing one less defective upon the same story; by which he +should entirely defeat the artifice of the booksellers, who, after +the death of any author of reputation, are always industrious to +swell his works by uniting his worst productions with his best. In +the execution of this scheme, however, he proceeded but slowly, and +probably only employed himself upon it when he could find no other +amusement; but he pleased himself with counting the profits, and +perhaps imagined that the theatrical reputation which he was about +to acquire would be equivalent to all that he had lost by the death +of his patroness. He did not, in confidence of his approaching +riches, neglect the measures proper to secure the continuance of his +pension, though some of his favourers thought him culpable for +omitting to write on her death; but on her birthday next year he +gave a proof of the solidity of his judgment and the power of his +genius. He knew that the track of elegy had been so long beaten +that it was impossible to travel in it without treading in the +footsteps of those who had gone before him; and that therefore it +was necessary, that he might distinguish himself from the herd of +encomiasts, to find out some new walk of funeral panegyric. This +difficult task he performed in such a manner that his poem may be +justly ranked among the best pieces that the death of princes has +produced. By transferring the mention of her death to her birthday, +he has formed a happy combination of topics which any other man +would have thought it very difficult to connect in one view, but +which he has united in such a manner that the relation between them +appears natural; and it may be justly said that what no other man +would have thought on, it now appears scarcely possible for any man +to miss. + +The beauty of this peculiar combination of images is so masterly +that it is sufficient to set this poem above censure; and therefore +it is not necessary to mention many other delicate touches which may +be found in it, and which would deservedly be admired in any other +performance. To these proofs of his genius may be added, from the +same poem, an instance of his prudence, an excellence for which he +was not so often distinguished; he does not forget to remind the +king, in the most delicate and artful manner, of continuing his +pension. + +With regard to the success of his address he was for some time in +suspense, but was in no great degree solicitous about it; and +continued his labour upon his new tragedy with great tranquillity, +till the friend who had for a considerable time supported him, +removing his family to another place, took occasion to dismiss him. +It then became necessary to inquire more diligently what was +determined in his affair, having reason to suspect that no great +favour was intended him, because he had not received his pension at +the usual time. + +It is said that he did not take those methods of retrieving his +interest which were most likely to succeed; and some of those who +were employed in the Exchequer cautioned him against too much +violence in his proceedings; but Mr. Savage, who seldom regulated +his conduct by the advice of others, gave way to his passion, and +demanded of Sir Robert Walpole, at his levee, the reason of the +distinction that was made between him and the other pensioners of +the queen, with a degree of roughness which perhaps determined him +to withdraw what had been only delayed. + +Whatever was the crime of which he was accused or suspected, and +whatever influence was employed against him, he received soon after +an account that took from him all hopes of regaining his pension; +and he had now no prospect of subsistence but from his play, and he +knew no way of living for the time required to finish it. + +So peculiar were the misfortunes of this man, deprived of an estate +and title by a particular law, exposed and abandoned by a mother, +defrauded by a mother of a fortune which his father had allotted +him, he entered the world without a friend; and though his abilities +forced themselves into esteem and reputation, he was never able to +obtain any real advantage; and whatever prospects arose, were always +intercepted as he began to approach them. The king's intentions in +his favour were frustrated; his dedication to the prince, whose +generosity on every other occasion was eminent, procured him no +reward; Sir Robert Walpole, who valued himself upon keeping his +promise to others, broke it to him without regret; and the bounty of +the queen was, after her death, withdrawn from him, and from him +only. + +Such were his misfortunes, which yet he bore, not only with decency, +but with cheerfulness; nor was his gaiety clouded even by his last +disappointments, though he was in a short time reduced to the lowest +degree of distress, and often wanted both lodging and food. At this +time he gave another instance of the insurmountable obstinacy of his +spirit: his clothes were worn out, and he received notice that at a +coffee-house some clothes and linen were left for him: the person +who sent them did not, I believe, inform him to whom he was to be +obliged, that he might spare the perplexity of acknowledging the +benefit; but though the offer was so far generous, it was made with +some neglect of ceremonies, which Mr. Savage so much resented that +he refused the present, and declined to enter the house till the +clothes that had been designed for him were taken away. + +His distress was now publicly known, and his friends therefore +thought it proper to concert some measures for his relief; and one +of them [Pope] wrote a letter to him, in which he expressed his +concern "for the miserable withdrawing of this pension;" and gave +him hopes that in a short time he should find himself supplied with +a competence, "without any dependence on those little creatures +which we are pleased to call the Great." The scheme proposed for +this happy and independent subsistence was, that he should retire +into Wales, and receive an allowance of fifty pounds a year, to be +raised by a subscription, on which he was to live privately in a +cheap place, without aspiring any more to affluence, or having any +further care of reputation. This offer Mr. Savage gladly accepted, +though with intentions very different from those of his friends; for +they proposed that he should continue an exile from London for ever, +and spend all the remaining part of his life at Swansea; but he +designed only to take the opportunity which their scheme offered him +of retreating for a short time, that he might prepare his play for +the stage, and his other works for the press, and then to return to +London to exhibit his tragedy, and live upon the profits of his own +labour. With regard to his works he proposed very great +improvements, which would have required much time or great +application; and, when he had finished them, he designed to do +justice to his subscribers by publishing them according to his +proposals. As he was ready to entertain himself with future +pleasures, he had planned out a scheme of life for the country, of +which he had no knowledge but from pastorals and songs. He imagined +that he should be transported to scenes of flowery felicity, like +those which one poet has reflected to another; and had projected a +perpetual round of innocent pleasures, of which he suspected no +interruption from pride, or ignorance, or brutality. With these +expectations he was so enchanted that when he was once gently +reproached by a friend for submitting to live upon a subscription, +and advised rather by a resolute exertion of his abilities to +support himself, he could not bear to debar himself from the +happiness which was to be found in the calm of a cottage, or lose +the opportunity of listening, without intermission, to the melody of +the nightingale, which he believed was to be heard from every +bramble, and which he did not fail to mention as a very important +part of the happiness of a country life. + +While this scheme was ripening, his friends directed him to take a +lodging in the liberties of the Fleet, that he might be secure from +his creditors, and sent him every Monday a guinea, which he commonly +spent before the next morning, and trusted, after his usual manner, +the remaining part of the week to the bounty of fortune. + +He now began very sensibly to feel the miseries of dependence. +Those by whom he was to be supported began to prescribe to him with +an air of authority, which he knew not how decently to resent, nor +patiently to bear; and he soon discovered from the conduct of most +of his subscribers, that he was yet in the hands of "little +creatures." Of the insolence that he was obliged to suffer he gave +many instances, of which none appeared to raise his indignation to a +greater height than the method which was taken of furnishing him +with clothes. Instead of consulting him, and allowing him to send a +tailor his orders for what they thought proper to allow him, they +proposed to send for a tailor to take his measure, and then to +consult how they should equip him. This treatment was not very +delicate, nor was it such as Savage's humanity would have suggested +to him on a like occasion; but it had scarcely deserved mention, had +it not, by affecting him in an uncommon degree, shown the +peculiarity of his character. Upon hearing the design that was +formed, he came to the lodging of a friend with the most violent +agonies of rage; and, being asked what it could be that gave him +such disturbance, he replied with the utmost vehemence of +indignation, "That they had sent for a tailor to measure him." + +How the affair ended was never inquired, for fear of renewing his +uneasiness. It is probable that, upon recollection, he submitted +with a good grace to what he could not avoid, and that he discovered +no resentment where he had no power. He was, however, not humbled +to implicit and universal compliance; for when the gentleman who had +first informed him of the design to support him by a subscription +attempted to procure a reconciliation with the Lord Tyrconnel, he +could by no means be prevailed upon to comply with the measures that +were proposed. + +A letter was written for him to Sir William Lemon, to prevail upon +him to interpose his good offices with Lord Tyrconnel, in which he +solicited Sir William's assistance "for a man who really needed it +as much as any man could well do;" and informed him that he was +retiring "for ever to a place where he should no more trouble his +relations, friends, or enemies;" he confessed that his passion had +betrayed him to some conduct, with regard to Lord Tyrconnel, for +which he could not but heartily ask his pardon; and as he imagined +Lord Tyrconnel's passion might be yet so high, that he would not +"receive a letter from him," begged that Sir William would endeavour +to soften him; and expressed his hopes that he would comply with +this request, and that "so small a relation would not harden his +heart against him." + +That any man should presume to dictate a letter to him was not very +agreeable to Mr. Savage; and therefore he was, before he had opened +it, not much inclined to approve it. But when he read it he found +it contained sentiments entirely opposite to his own, and, as he +asserted, to the truth; and therefore, instead of copying it, wrote +his friend a letter full of masculine resentment and warm +expostulations. He very justly observed, that the style was too +supplicatory, and the representation too abject, and that he ought +at least to have made him complain with "the dignity of a gentleman +in distress." He declared that he would not write the paragraph in +which he was to ask Lord Tyrconnel's pardon; for, "he despised his +pardon, and therefore could not heartily, and would not +hypocritically, ask it." He remarked that his friend made a very +unreasonable distinction between himself and him; for, says he, +"when you mention men of high rank in your own character," they are +"those little creatures whom we are pleased to call the Great;" but +when you address them "in mine," no servility is sufficiently +humble. He then with propriety explained the ill consequences which +might be expected from such a letter, which his relations would +print in their own defence, and which would for ever be produced as +a full answer to all that he should allege against them; for he +always intended to publish a minute account of the treatment which +he had received. It is to be remembered, to the honour of the +gentleman by whom this letter was drawn up, that he yielded to Mr. +Savage's reasons, and agreed that it ought to be suppressed. + +After many alterations and delays, a subscription was at length +raised, which did not amount to fifty pounds a year, though twenty +were paid by one gentleman; such was the generosity of mankind, that +what had been done by a player without solicitation, could not now +be effected by application and interest; and Savage had a great +number to court and to obey for a pension less than that which Mrs. +Oldfield paid him without exacting any servilities. Mr. Savage, +however, was satisfied, and willing to retire, and was convinced +that the allowance, though scanty, would be more than sufficient for +him, being now determined to commence a rigid economist, and to live +according to the exact rules of frugality; for nothing was in his +opinion more contemptible than a man who, when he knew his income, +exceeded it; and yet he confessed that instances of such folly were +too common, and lamented that some men were not trusted with their +own money. + +Full of these salutary resolutions, he left London in July, 1739, +having taken leave with great tenderness of his friends, and parted +from the author of this narrative with tears in his eyes. He was +furnished with fifteen guineas, and informed that they would be +sufficient, not only for the expense of his journey, but for his +support in Wales for some time; and that there remained but little +more of the first collection. He promised a strict adherence to his +maxims of parsimony, and went away in the stage-coach; nor did his +friends expect to hear from him till he informed them of his arrival +at Swansea. But when they least expected, arrived a letter dated +the fourteenth day after his departure, in which he sent them word +that he was yet upon the road, and without money; and that he +therefore could not proceed without a remittance. They then sent +him the money that was in their hands, with which he was enabled to +reach Bristol, from whence he was to go to Swansea by water. + +At Bristol he found an embargo laid upon the shipping, so that he +could not immediately obtain a passage; and being therefore obliged +to stay there some time, he with his usual felicity ingratiated +himself with many of the principal inhabitants, was invited to their +houses, distinguished at their public feasts, and treated with a +regard that gratified his vanity, and therefore easily engaged his +affection. + +He began very early after his retirement to complain of the conduct +of his friends in London, and irritated many of them so much by his +letters, that they withdrew, however honourably, their +contributions; and it is believed that little more was paid him than +the twenty pounds a year, which were allowed him by the gentleman +who proposed the subscription. + +After some stay at Bristol he retired to Swansea, the place +originally proposed for his residence, where he lived about a year, +very much dissatisfied with the diminution of his salary; but +contracted, as in other places, acquaintance with those who were +most distinguished in that country, among whom he has celebrated Mr. +Powel and Mrs. Jones, by some verses which he inserted in The +Gentleman's Magazine. Here he completed his tragedy, of which two +acts were wanting when he left London; and was desirous of coming to +town, to bring it upon the stage. This design was very warmly +opposed; and he was advised, by his chief benefactor, to put it into +the hands of Mr. Thomson and Mr. Mallet, that it might be fitted for +the stage, and to allow his friends to receive the profits, out of +which an annual pension should be paid him. + +This proposal he rejected with the utmost contempt. He was by no +means convinced that the judgment of those to whom he was required +to submit was superior to his own. He was now determined, as he +expressed it, to be "no longer kept in leading-strings," and had no +elevated idea of "his bounty, who proposed to pension him out of the +profits of his own labours." + +He attempted in Wales to promote a subscription for his works, and +had once hopes of success; but in a short time afterwards formed a +resolution of leaving that part of the country, to which he thought +it not reasonable to be confined for the gratification of those who, +having promised him a liberal income, had no sooner banished him to +a remote corner than they reduced his allowance to a salary scarcely +equal to the necessities of life. His resentment of this treatment, +which, in his own opinion at least, he had not deserved, was such, +that he broke off all correspondence with most of his contributors, +and appeared to consider them as persecutors and oppressors; and in +the latter part of his life declared that their conduct towards him +since his departure from London "had been perfidiousness improving +on perfidiousness, and inhumanity on inhumanity." + +It is not to be supposed that the necessities of Mr. Savage did not +sometimes incite him to satirical exaggerations of the behaviour of +those by whom he thought himself reduced to them. But it must be +granted that the diminution of his allowance was a great hardship, +and that those who withdrew their subscription from a man who, upon +the faith of their promise, had gone into a kind of banishment, and +abandoned all those by whom he had been before relieved in his +distresses, will find it no easy task to vindicate their conduct. +It may be alleged, and perhaps justly, that he was petulant and +contemptuous; that he more frequently reproached his subscribers for +not giving him more, than thanked them for what he received; but it +is to be remembered that his conduct, and this is the worst charge +that can be drawn up against him, did them no real injury, and that +it therefore ought rather to have been pitied than resented; at +least the resentment it might provoke ought to have been generous +and manly; epithets which his conduct will hardly deserve that +starves the man whom he has persuaded to put himself into his power. + +It might have been reasonably demanded by Savage, that they should, +before they had taken away what they promised, have replaced him in +his former state, that they should have taken no advantages from the +situation to which the appearance of their kindness had reduced him, +and that he should have been recalled to London before he was +abandoned. He might justly represent, that he ought to have been +considered as a lion in the toils, and demand to be released before +the dogs should be loosed upon him. He endeavoured, indeed, to +release himself, and, with an intent to return to London, went to +Bristol, where a repetition of the kindness which he had formerly +found, invited him to stay. He was not only caressed and treated, +but had a collection made for him of about thirty pounds, with which +it had been happy if he had immediately departed for London; but his +negligence did not suffer him to consider that such proofs of +kindness were not often to be expected, and that this ardour of +benevolence was in a great degree the effect of novelty, and might, +probably, be every day less; and therefore he took no care to +improve the happy time, but was encouraged by one favour to hope for +another, till at length generosity was exhausted, and officiousness +wearied. + +Another part of his misconduct was the practice of prolonging his +visits to unseasonable hours, and disconcerting all the families +into which he was admitted. This was an error in a place of +commerce which all the charms of his conversation could not +compensate; for what trader would purchase such airy satisfaction by +the loss of solid gain, which must be the consequence of midnight +merriment, as those hours which were gained at night were generally +lost in the morning? Thus Mr. Savage, after the curiosity of the +inhabitants was gratified, found the number of his friends daily +decreasing, perhaps without suspecting for what reason their conduct +was altered; for he still continued to harass, with his nocturnal +intrusions, those that yet countenanced him, and admitted him to +their houses. + +But he did not spend all the time of his residence at Bristol in +visits or at taverns, for he sometimes returned to his studies, and +began several considerable designs. When he felt an inclination to +write, he always retired from the knowledge of his friends, and lay +hid in an obscure part of the suburbs, till he found himself again +desirous of company, to which it is likely that intervals of absence +made him more welcome. He was always full of his design of +returning to London, to bring his tragedy upon the stage; but, +having neglected to depart with the money that was raised for him, +he could not afterwards procure a sum sufficient to defray the +expenses of his journey; nor perhaps would a fresh supply have had +any other effect than, by putting immediate pleasures into his +power, to have driven the thoughts of his journey out of his mind. +While he was thus spending the day in contriving a scheme for the +morrow, distress stole upon him by imperceptible degrees. His +conduct had already wearied some of those who were at first +enamoured of his conversation; but he might, perhaps, still have +devolved to others, whom he might have entertained with equal +success, had not the decay of his clothes made it no longer +consistent with their vanity to admit him to their tables, or to +associate with him in public places. He now began to find every man +from home at whose house he called; and was therefore no longer able +to procure the necessaries of life, but wandered about the town, +slighted and neglected, in quest of a dinner, which he did not +always obtain. + +To complete his misery, he was pursued by the officers for small +debts which he had contracted; and was therefore obliged to withdraw +from the small number of friends from whom he had still reason to +hope for favours. His custom was to lie in bed the greatest part of +the day, and to get out in the dark with the utmost privacy, and, +after having paid his visit, return again before morning to his +lodging, which was in the garret of an obscure inn. Being thus +excluded on one hand, and confined on the other, he suffered the +utmost extremities of poverty, and often fasted so long that he was +seized with faintness, and had lost his appetite, not being able to +bear the smell of meat till the action of his stomach was restored +by a cordial. In this distress, he received a remittance of five +pounds from London, with which he provided himself a decent coat, +and determined to go to London, but unhappily spent his money at a +favourite tavern. Thus was he again confined to Bristol, where he +was every day hunted by bailiffs. In this exigence he once more +found a friend, who sheltered him in his house, though at the usual +inconveniences with which his company was attended; for he could +neither be persuaded to go to bed in the night nor to rise in the +day. + +It is observable, that in these various scenes of misery he was +always disengaged and cheerful: he at some times pursued his +studies, and at others continued or enlarged his epistolary +correspondence; nor was he ever so far dejected as to endeavour to +procure an increase of his allowance by any other methods than +accusations and reproaches. + +He had now no longer any hopes of assistance from his friends at +Bristol, who as merchants, and by consequence sufficiently studious +of profit, cannot be supposed to have looked with much compassion +upon negligence and extravagance, or to think any excellence +equivalent to a fault of such consequence as neglect of economy. It +is natural to imagine, that many of those who would have relieved +his real wants, were discouraged from the exertion of their +benevolence by observation of the use which was made of their +favours, and conviction that relief would be only momentary, and +that the same necessity would quickly return. + +At last he quitted the house of his friend, and returned to his +lodgings at the inn, still intending to set out in a few days for +London, but on the 10th of January, 1742-3, having been at supper +with two of his friends, he was at his return to his lodgings +arrested for a debt of about eight pounds, which he owed at a +coffee-house, and conducted to the house of a sheriff's officer. +The account which he gives of this misfortune, in a letter to one of +the gentlemen with whom he had supped, is too remarkable to be +omitted. + +"It was not a little unfortunate for me, that I spent yesterday's +evening with you; because the hour hindered me from entering on my +new lodging; however, I have now got one, but such an one as I +believe nobody would choose. + +"I was arrested at the suit of Mrs. Read, just as I was going +upstairs to bed, at Mr. Bowyer's; but taken in so private a manner, +that I believe nobody at the White Lion is apprised of it; though I +let the officers know the strength, or rather weakness, of my +pocket, yet they treated me with the utmost civility; and even when +they conducted me to confinement, it was in such a manner, that I +verily believe I could have escaped, which I would rather be ruined +than have done, notwithstanding the whole amount of my finances was +but threepence halfpenny. + +"In the first place, I must insist that you will industriously +conceal this from Mrs. S---s, because I would not have her good +nature suffer that pain which I know she would be apt to feel on +this occasion. + +"Next, I conjure you, dear sir, by all the ties of friendship, by no +means to have one uneasy thought on my account; but to have the same +pleasantry of countenance, and unruffled serenity of mind, which +(God be praised!) I have in this, and have had in a much severer +calamity. Furthermore, I charge you, if you value my friendship as +truly as I do yours, not to utter, or even harbour, the least +resentment against Mrs. Read. I believe she has ruined me, but I +freely forgive her; and (though I will never more have any intimacy +with her) I would, at a due distance, rather do her an act of good +than ill-will. Lastly (pardon the expression), I absolutely command +you not to offer me any pecuniary assistance nor to attempt getting +me any from any one of your friends. At another time, or on any +other occasion, you may, dear friend, be well assured I would rather +write to you in the submissive style of a request than that of a +peremptory command. + +"However, that my truly valuable friend may not think I am too proud +to ask a favour, let me entreat you to let me have your boy to +attend me for this day, not only for the sake of saving me the +expense of porters, but for the delivery of some letters to people +whose names I would not have known to strangers. + +"The civil treatment I have thus far met from those whose prisoner I +am, makes me thankful to the Almighty, that though He has thought +fit to visit me (on my birth-night) with affliction, yet (such is +His great goodness!) my affliction is not without alleviating +circumstances. I murmur not; but am all resignation to the divine +will. As to the world, I hope that I shall be endued by Heaven with +that presence of mind, that serene dignity in misfortune, that +constitutes the character of a true nobleman; a dignity far beyond +that of coronets; a nobility arising from the just principles of +philosophy, refined and exalted by those of Christianity." + +He continued five days at the officer's, in hopes that he should be +able to procure bail, and avoid the necessity of going to prison. +The state in which he passed his time, and the treatment which he +received, are very justly expressed by him in a letter which he +wrote to a friend: "The whole day," says he, "has been employed in +various people's filling my head with their foolish chimerical +systems, which has obliged me coolly (as far as nature will admit) +to digest, and accommodate myself to every different person's way of +thinking; hurried from one wild system to another, till it has quite +made a chaos of my imagination, and nothing done--promised-- +disappointed--ordered to send, every hour, from one part of the town +to the other." + +When his friends, who had hitherto caressed and applauded, found +that to give bail and pay the debt was the same, they all refused to +preserve him from a prison at the expense of eight pounds: and +therefore, after having been for some time at the officer's house +"at an immense expense," as he observes in his letter, he was at +length removed to Newgate. This expense he was enabled to support +by the generosity of Mr. Nash at Bath, who, upon receiving from him +an account of his condition, immediately sent him five guineas, and +promised to promote his subscription at Bath with all his interest. + +By his removal to Newgate he obtained at least a freedom from +suspense, and rest from the disturbing vicissitudes of hope and +disappointment: he now found that his friends were only companions +who were willing to share his gaiety, but not to partake of his +misfortunes; and therefore he no longer expected any assistance from +them. It must, however, be observed of one gentleman, that he +offered to release him by paying the debt, but that Mr. Savage would +not consent, I suppose because he thought he had before been too +burthensome to him. He was offered by some of his friends that a +collection should be made for his enlargement; but he "treated the +proposal," and declared "he should again treat it, with disdain. As +to writing any mendicant letters, he had too high a spirit, and +determined only to write to some ministers of state, to try to +regain his pension." + +He continued to complain of those that had sent him into the +country, and objected to them, that he had "lost the profits of his +play, which had been finished three years;" and in another letter +declares his resolution to publish a pamphlet, that the world might +know how "he had been used." + +This pamphlet was never written; for he in a very short time +recovered his usual tranquillity, and cheerfully applied himself to +more inoffensive studies. He, indeed, steadily declared that he was +promised a yearly allowance of fifty pounds, and never received half +the sum; but he seemed to resign himself to that as well as to other +misfortunes, and lose the remembrance of it in his amusements and +employments. The cheerfulness with which he bore his confinement +appears from the following letter, which he wrote January the 30th, +to one of his friends in London: + +"I now write to you from my confinement in Newgate, where I have +been ever since Monday last was se'nnight, and where I enjoy myself +with much more tranquillity than I have known for upwards of a +twelvemonth past; having a room entirely to myself, and pursuing the +amusement of my poetical studies, uninterrupted, and agreeable to my +mind. I thank the Almighty, I am now all collected in myself; and, +though my person is in confinement, my mind can expatiate on ample +and useful subjects with all the freedom imaginable. I am now more +conversant with the Nine than ever, and if, instead of a Newgate +bird, I may be allowed to be a bird of the Muses, I assure you, sir, +I sing very freely in my cage; sometimes, indeed, in the plaintive +notes of the nightingale; but at others, in the cheerful strains of +the lark." + +In another letter he observes, that he ranges from one subject to +another, without confining himself to any particular task; and that +he was employed one week upon one attempt, and the next upon +another. + +Surely the fortitude of this man deserves, at least, to be mentioned +with applause; and, whatever faults may be imputed to him, the +virtue of suffering well cannot be denied him. The two powers +which, in the opinion of Epictetus, constituted a wise man, are +those of bearing and forbearing, which it cannot indeed be affirmed +to have been equally possessed by Savage; and indeed the want of one +obliged him very frequently to practise the other. He was treated +by Mr. Dagge, the keeper of the prison, with great humanity; was +supported by him at his own table, without any certainty of a +recompense; had a room to himself, to which he could at any time +retire from all disturbance; was allowed to stand at the door of the +prison, and sometimes taken out into the fields; so that he suffered +fewer hardships in prison than he had been accustomed to undergo in +the greatest part of his life. + +The keeper did not confine his benevolence to a gentle execution of +his office, but made some overtures to the creditor for his release, +though without effect; and continued, during the whole time of his +imprisonment, to treat him with the utmost tenderness and civility. + +Virtue is undoubtedly most laudable in that state which makes it +most difficult; and therefore the humanity of a gaoler certainly +deserves this public attestation; and the man whose heart has not +been hardened by such an employment may be justly proposed as a +pattern of benevolence. If an inscription was once engraved "to the +honest toll-gatherer," less honours ought not to be paid "to the +tender gaoler." + +Mr. Savage very frequently received visits, and sometimes presents, +from his acquaintances: but they did not amount to a subsistence, +for the greater part of which he was indebted to the generosity of +this keeper; but these favours, however they might endear to him the +particular persons from whom he received them, were very far from +impressing upon his mind any advantageous ideas of the people of +Bristol, and therefore he thought he could not more properly employ +himself in prison than in writing a poem called "London and Bristol +Delineated." + +When he had brought this poem to its present state, which, without +considering the chasm, is not perfect, he wrote to London an account +of his design, and informed his friend that he was determined to +print it with his name; but enjoined him not to communicate his +intention to his Bristol acquaintance. The gentleman, surprised at +his resolution, endeavoured to persuade him from publishing it, at +least from prefixing his name; and declared that he could not +reconcile the injunction of secrecy with his resolution to own it at +its first appearance. To this Mr. Savage returned an answer +agreeable to his character, in the following terms:-- + +"I received yours this morning; and not without a little surprise at +the contents. To answer a question with a question, you ask me +concerning London and Bristol, why will I add DELINEATED? Why did +Mr. Woolaston add the same word to his Religion of Nature? I +suppose that it was his will and pleasure to add it in his case: +and it is mine to do so in my own. You are pleased to tell me that +you understand not why secrecy is enjoined, and yet I intend to set +my name to it. My answer is,--I have my private reasons, which I am +not obliged to explain to any one. You doubt my friend Mr. S---- +would not approve of it. And what is it to me whether he does or +not? Do you imagine that Mr. S---- is to dictate to me? If any man +who calls himself my friend should assume such an air, I would spurn +at his friendship with contempt. You say, I seem to think so by not +letting him know it. And suppose I do, what then? Perhaps I can +give reasons for that disapprobation, very foreign from what you +would imagine. You go on in saying, Suppose I should not put my +name to it. My answer is, that I will not suppose any such thing, +being determined to the contrary: neither, sir, would I have you +suppose that I applied to you for want of another press: nor would +I have you imagine that I owe Mr. S---- obligations which I do not." + +Such was his imprudence, and such his obstinate adherence to his own +resolutions, however absurd! A prisoner! supported by charity! and, +whatever insults he might have received during the latter part of +his stay at Bristol, once caressed, esteemed, and presented with a +liberal collection, he could forget on a sudden his danger and his +obligations, to gratify the petulance of his wit or the eagerness of +his resentment, and publish a satire by which he might reasonably +expect that he should alienate those who then supported him, and +provoke those whom he could neither resist nor escape. + +This resolution, from the execution of which it is probable that +only his death could have hindered him, is sufficient to show how +much he disregarded all considerations that opposed his present +passions, and how readily he hazarded all future advantages for any +immediate gratifications. Whatever was his predominant inclination, +neither hope nor fear hindered him from complying with it; nor had +opposition any other effect than to heighten his ardour and irritate +his vehemence. + +This performance was, however, laid aside while he was employed in +soliciting assistance from several great persons; and one +interruption succeeding another, hindered him from supplying the +chasm, and perhaps from retouching the other parts, which he can +hardly be imagined to have finished in his own opinion; for it is +very unequal, and some of the lines are rather inserted to rhyme to +others, than to support or improve the sense; but the first and last +parts are worked up with great spirit and elegance. + +His time was spent in the prison for the most part in study, or in +receiving visits; but sometimes he descended to lower amusements, +and diverted himself in the kitchen with the conversation of the +criminals; for it was not pleasing to him to be much without +company; and though he was very capable of a judicious choice, he +was often contented with the first that offered. For this he was +sometimes reproved by his friends, who found him surrounded with +felons; but the reproof was on that, as on other occasions, thrown +away; he continued to gratify himself, and to set very little value +on the opinion of others. But here, as in every other scene of his +life, he made use of such opportunities as occurred of benefiting +those who were more miserable than himself, and was always ready to +perform any office of humanity to his fellow-prisoners. + +He had now ceased from corresponding with any of his subscribers +except one, who yet continued to remit him the twenty pounds a year +which he had promised him, and by whom it was expected that he would +have been in a very short time enlarged, because he had directed the +keeper to inquire after the state of his debts. However, he took +care to enter his name according to the forms of the court, that the +creditor might be obliged to make him some allowance, if he was +continued a prisoner, and when on that occasion he appeared in the +hall, was treated with very unusual respect. But the resentment of +the city was afterwards raised by some accounts that had been spread +of the satire; and he was informed that some of the merchants +intended to pay the allowance which the law required, and to detain +him a prisoner at their own expense. This he treated as an empty +menace; and perhaps might have hastened the publication, only to +show how much he was superior to their insults, had not all his +schemes been suddenly destroyed. + +When he had been six months in prison, he received from one of his +friends, in whose kindness he had the greatest confidence, and on +whose assistance he chiefly depended, a letter that contained a +charge of very atrocious ingratitude, drawn up in such terms as +sudden resentment dictated. Henley, in one of his advertisements, +had mentioned "Pope's treatment of Savage." This was supposed by +Pope to be the consequence of a complaint made by Savage to Henley, +and was therefore mentioned by him with much resentment. Mr. Savage +returned a very solemn protestation of his innocence, but, however, +appeared much disturbed at the accusation. Some days afterwards he +was seized with a pain in his back and side, which, as it was not +violent, was not suspected to be dangerous; but growing daily more +languid and dejected, on the 25th of July he confined himself to his +room, and a fever seized his spirits. The symptoms grew every day +more formidable, but his condition did not enable him to procure any +assistance. The last time that the keeper saw him was on July the +31st, 1743; when Savage, seeing him at his bedside, said, with an +uncommon earnestness, "I have something to say to you, sir;" but, +after a pause, moved his hand in a melancholy manner; and, finding +himself unable to recollect what he was going to communicate, said, +"'Tis gone!" The keeper soon after left him; and the next morning +he died. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Peter, at the +expense of the keeper. + +Such were the life and death of Richard Savage, a man equally +distinguished by his virtues and vices; and at once remarkable for +his weaknesses and abilities. He was of a middle stature, of a thin +habit of body, a long visage, coarse features, and melancholy +aspect; of a grave and manly deportment, a solemn dignity of mien, +but which, upon a nearer acquaintance, softened into an engaging +easiness of manners. His walk was slow, and his voice tremulous and +mournful. He was easily excited to smiles, but very seldom provoked +to laughter. His mind was in an uncommon degree vigorous and +active. His judgment was accurate, his apprehension quick, and his +memory so tenacious, that he was frequently observed to know what he +had learned from others, in a short time, better that those by whom +he was informed; and could frequently recollect incidents with all +their combination of circumstances, which few would have regarded at +the present time, but which the quickness of his apprehension +impressed upon him. He had the art of escaping from his own +reflections, and accommodating himself to every new scene. + +To this quality is to be imputed the extent of his knowledge, +compared with the small time which he spent in visible endeavours to +acquire it. He mingled in cursory conversation with the same +steadiness of attention as others apply to a lecture; and amidst the +appearance of thoughtless gaiety lost no new idea that was started, +nor any hint that could be improved. He had therefore made in +coffee-houses the same proficiency as others in their closets; and +it is remarkable that the writings of a man of little education and +little reading have an air of learning scarcely to be found in any +other performances, but which perhaps as often obscures as +embellishes them. + +His judgment was eminently exact both with regard to writings and to +men. The knowledge of life was indeed his chief attainment; and it +is not without some satisfaction that I can produce the suffrage of +Savage in favour of human nature, of which he never appeared to +entertain such odious ideas as some who perhaps had neither his +judgment nor experience, have published, either in ostentation of +their sagacity, vindication of their crimes, or gratification of +their malice. + +His method of life particularly qualified him for conversation, of +which he knew how to practise all the graces. He was never vehement +or loud, but at once modest and easy, open and respectful; his +language was vivacious or elegant, and equally happy upon grave and +humorous subjects. He was generally censured for not knowing when +to retire; but that was not the defect of his judgment, but of his +fortune: when he left his company he used frequently to spend the +remaining part of the night in the street, or at least was abandoned +to gloomy reflections, which it is not strange that he delayed as +long as he could; and sometimes forgot that he gave others pain to +avoid it himself. + +It cannot be said that he made use of his abilities for the +direction of his own conduct; an irregular and dissipated manner of +life had made him the slave of every passion that happened to be +excited by the presence of its object, and that slavery to his +passions reciprocally produced a life irregular and dissipated. He +was not master of his own motions, nor could promise anything for +the next day. + +With regard to his economy, nothing can be added to the relation of +his life. He appeared to think himself born to be supported by +others, and dispensed from all necessity of providing for himself; +he therefore never prosecuted any scheme of advantage, nor +endeavoured even to secure the profits which his writings might have +afforded him. His temper was, in consequence of the dominion of his +passions, uncertain and capricious; he was easily engaged, and +easily disgusted; but he is accused of retaining his hatred more +tenaciously than his benevolence. He was compassionate both by +nature and principle, and always ready to perform offices of +humanity; but when he was provoked (and very small offences were +sufficient to provoke him), he would prosecute his revenge with the +utmost acrimony till his passion had subsided. + +His friendship was therefore of little value; for though he was +zealous in the support or vindication of those whom he loved, yet it +was always dangerous to trust him, because he considered himself as +discharged by the first quarrel from all ties of honour and +gratitude; and would betray those secrets which in the warmth of +confidence had been imparted to him. This practice drew upon him an +universal accusation of ingratitude; nor can it be denied that he +was very ready to set himself free from the load of an obligation; +for he could not bear to conceive himself in a state of dependence, +his pride being equally powerful with his other passions, and +appearing in the form of insolence at one time, and of vanity at +another. Vanity, the most innocent species of pride, was most +frequently predominant: he could not easily leave off, when he had +once begun to mention himself or his works; nor ever read his verses +without stealing his eyes from the page, to discover in the faces of +his audience how they were affected with any favourite passage. + +A kinder name than that of vanity ought to be given to the delicacy +with which he was always careful to separate his own merit from +every other man's, and to reject that praise to which he had no +claim. He did not forget, in mentioning his performances, to mark +every line that had been suggested or amended; and was so accurate +as to relate that he owed three words in "The Wanderer" to the +advice of his friends. His veracity was questioned, but with little +reason; his accounts, though not indeed always the same, were +generally consistent. When he loved any man, he suppressed all his +faults; and when he had been offended by him, concealed all his +virtues; but his characters were generally true, so far as he +proceeded; though it cannot be denied that his partiality might have +sometimes the effect of falsehood. + +In cases indifferent he was zealous for virtue, truth, and justice: +he knew very well the necessity of goodness to the present and +future happiness of mankind; nor is there perhaps any writer who has +less endeavoured to please by flattering the appetites, or +perverting the judgment. + +As an author, therefore, and he now ceases to influence mankind in +any other character, if one piece which he had resolved to suppress +be excepted, he has very little to fear from the strictest moral or +religious censure. And though he may not be altogether secure +against the objections of the critic, it must however be +acknowledged that his works are the productions of a genius truly +poetical; and, what many writers who have been more lavishly +applauded cannot boast, that they have an original air, which has no +resemblance of any foregoing writer, that the versification and +sentiments have a cast peculiar to themselves, which no man can +imitate with success, because what was nature in Savage would in +another be affectation. It must be confessed that his descriptions +are striking, his images animated, his fictions justly imagined, and +his allegories artfully pursued; that his diction is elevated, +though sometimes forced, and his numbers sonorous and majestic, +though frequently sluggish and encumbered. Of his style the general +fault is harshness, and its general excellence is dignity; of his +sentiments, the prevailing beauty is simplicity, and uniformity the +prevailing defect. + +For his life, or for his writings, none who candidly consider his +fortune will think an apology either necessary or difficult. If he +was not always sufficiently instructed in his subject, his knowledge +was at least greater than could have been attained by others in the +same state. If his works were sometimes unfinished, accuracy cannot +reasonably be expected from a man oppressed with want, which he has +no hope of relieving but by a speedy publication. The insolence and +resentment of which he is accused were not easily to be avoided by a +great mind irritated by perpetual hardships and constrained hourly +to return the spurns of contempt, and repress the insolence of +prosperity; and vanity surely may be readily pardoned in him, to +whom life afforded no other comforts than barren praises, and the +consciousness of deserving them. + +Those are no proper judges of his conduct who have slumbered away +their time on the down of plenty; nor will any wise man easily +presume to say, "Had I been in Savage's condition, I should have +lived or written better than Savage." + +This relation will not be wholly without its use, if those who +languish under any part of his sufferings shall be enabled to +fortify their patience by reflecting that they feel only these +afflictions from which the abilities of Savage did not exempt him; +or those who, in confidence of superior capacities or attainments, +disregard the common maxims of life, shall be reminded that nothing +will supply the want of prudence; and that negligence and +irregularity, long continued, will make knowledge useless, wit +ridiculous, and genius contemptible. + + + +SWIFT. + + + +An account of Dr. Swift has been already collected, with great +diligence and acuteness, by Dr. Hawkesworth, according to a scheme +which I laid before him in the intimacy of our friendship. I cannot +therefore be expected to say much of a life, concerning which I had +long since communicated my thoughts to a man capable of dignifying +his narrations with so much elegance of language and force of +sentiment. + +Jonathan Swift was, according to an account said to be written by +himself, the son of Jonathan Swift, an attorney, and was born at +Dublin on St. Andrew's day, 1667: according to his own report, as +delivered by Pope to Spence, he was born at Leicester, the son of a +clergyman who was minister of a parish in Herefordshire. During his +life the place of his birth was undetermined. He was contented to +be called an Irishman by the Irish; but would occasionally call +himself an Englishman. The question may, without much regret, be +left in the obscurity in which he delighted to involve it. + +Whatever was his birth, his education was Irish. He was sent at the +age of six to the school at Kilkenny, and in his fifteenth year +(1682) was admitted into the University of Dublin. In his +academical studies he was either not diligent or not happy. It must +disappoint every reader's expectation, that, when at the usual time +he claimed the Bachelorship of Arts, he was found by the examiners +too conspicuously deficient for regular admission, and obtained his +degree at last by SPECIAL FAVOUR; a term used in that university to +denote want of merit. + +Of this disgrace it may be easily supposed that he was much ashamed, +and shame had its proper effect in producing reformation. He +resolved from that time to study eight hours a day, and continued +his industry for seven years, with what improvement is sufficiently +known. This part of his story well deserves to be remembered; it +may afford useful admonition and powerful encouragement to men whose +abilities have been made for a time useless by their passions or +pleasures, and who having lost one part of life in idleness, are +tempted to throw away the remainder in despair. In this course of +daily application he continued three years longer at Dublin; and in +this time, if the observation and memory of an old companion may be +trusted, he drew the first sketch of his "Tale of a Tub." + +When he was about one-and-twenty (1688), being by the death of +Godwin Swift, his uncle, who had supported him, left without +subsistence, he went to consult his mother, who then lived at +Leicester, about the future course of his life; and by her direction +solicited the advice and patronage of Sir William Temple, who had +married one of Mrs. Swift's relations, and whose father Sir John +Temple, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, had lived in great +familiarity of friendship with Godwin Swift, by whom Jonathan had +been to that time maintained. + +Temple received with sufficient kindness the nephew of his father's +friend, with whom he was, when they conversed together, so much +pleased, that he detained him two years in his house. Here he +became known to King William, who sometimes visited Temple, when he +was disabled by the gout, and, being attended by Swift in the +garden, showed him how to cut asparagus in the Dutch way. King +William's notions were all military; and he expressed his kindness +to Swift by offering to make him a captain of horse. + +When Temple removed to Moor Park, he took Swift with him; and when +he was consulted by the Earl of Portland about the expedience of +complying with a bill then depending for making parliaments +triennial, against which King William was strongly prejudiced, after +having in vain tried to show the earl that the proposal involved +nothing dangerous to royal power, he sent Swift for the same purpose +to the king. Swift, who probably was proud of his employment, and +went with all the confidence of a young man, found his arguments, +and his art of displaying them, made totally ineffectual by the +predetermination of the king; and used to mention this +disappointment as his first antidote against vanity. Before he left +Ireland he contracted a disorder, as he thought, by eating too much +fruit. The original of diseases is commonly obscure. Almost +everybody eats as much fruit as he can get, without any great +inconvenience. The disease of Swift was giddiness with deafness, +which attacked him from time to time, began very early, pursued him +through life, and at last sent him to the grave, deprived of reason. +Being much oppressed at Moor Park by this grievous malady, he was +advised to try his native air, and went to Ireland; but finding no +benefit, returned to Sir William, at whose house he continued his +studies, and is known to have read, among other books, Cyprian and +Irenaeus. He thought exercise of great necessity, and used to run +half a mile up and down a hill every two hours. + +It is easy to imagine that the mode in which his first degree was +conferred left him no great fondness for the University of Dublin, +and therefore he resolved to become a Master of Arts at Oxford. In +the testimonial which he produced the words of disgrace were +omitted; and he took his Master's degree (July 5, 1692) with such +reception and regard as fully contented him. + +While he lived with Temple, he used to pay his mother at Leicester a +yearly visit. He travelled on foot, unless some violence of weather +drove him into a waggon; and at night he would go to a penny +lodging, where he purchased clean sheets for sixpence. This +practice Lord Orrery imputes to his innate love of grossness and +vulgarity: some may ascribe it to his desire of surveying human +life through all its varieties: and others, perhaps with equal +probability, to a passion which seems to have been deeply fixed in +his heart, the love of a shilling. In time he began to think that +his attendance at Moor Park deserved some other recompense than the +pleasure, however mingled with improvement, of Temple's +conversation; and grew so impatient, that (1694) he went away in +discontent. Temple, conscious of having given reason for complaint, +is said to have made him deputy Master of the Rolls in Ireland; +which, according to his kinsman's account, was an office which he +knew him not able to discharge. Swift therefore resolved to enter +into the Church, in which he had at first no higher hopes than of +the chaplainship to the Factory at Lisbon; but being recommended to +Lord Capel, he obtained the prebend of Kilroot in Connor, of about a +hundred pounds a year. But the infirmities of Temple made a +companion like Swift so necessary, that he invited him back, with a +promise to procure him English preferment in exchange for the +prebend, which he desired him to resign. With this request Swift +complied, having perhaps equally repented their separation, and they +lived on together with mutual satisfaction; and, in the four years +that passed between his return and Temple's death, it is probable +that he wrote the "Tale of a Tub," and the "Battle of the Books." + +Swift began early to think, or to hope, that he was a poet, and +wrote Pindaric Odes to Temple, to the king, and to the Athenian +Society, a knot of obscure men, who published a periodical pamphlet +of answers to questions, sent, or supposed to be sent, by letters. +I have been told that Dryden, having perused these verses, said, +"Cousin Swift, you will never be a poet;" and that this denunciation +was the motive of Swift's perpetual malevolence to Dryden. In 1699 +Temple died, and left a legacy with his manuscripts to Swift, for +whom he had obtained, from King William, a promise of the first +prebend that should be vacant at Westminster or Canterbury. That +this promise might not be forgotten, Swift dedicated to the king the +posthumous works with which he was intrusted; but neither the +dedication, nor tenderness for the man whom he once had treated with +confidence and fondness, revived in King William the remembrance of +his promise. Swift awhile attended the Court; but soon found his +solicitations hopeless. He was then invited by the Earl of Berkeley +to accompany him into Ireland, as his private secretary; but, after +having done the business till their arrival at Dublin, he then found +that one Bush had persuaded the earl that a clergyman was not a +proper secretary, and had obtained the office for himself. In a man +like Swift, such circumvention and inconstancy must have excited +violent indignation. But he had yet more to suffer. Lord Berkeley +had the disposal of the deanery of Derry, and Swift expected to +obtain it; but by the secretary's influence, supposed to have been +secured by a bribe, it was bestowed on somebody else; and Swift was +dismissed with the livings of Laracor and Rathbeggin in the diocese +of Meath, which together did not equal half the value of the +deanery. At Laracor he increased the parochial duty by reading +prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and performed all the offices of +his profession with great decency and exactness. + +Soon after his settlement at Laracor, he invited to Ireland the +unfortunate Stella, a young woman whose name was Johnson, the +daughter of the steward of Sir William Temple, who, in consideration +of her father's virtues, left her a thousand pounds. With her came +Mrs. Dingley, whose whole fortune was twenty-seven pounds a year for +her life. With these ladies he passed his hours of relaxation, and +to them he opened his bosom; but they never resided in the same +house, nor did he see either without a witness. They lived at the +Parsonage when Swift was away, and, when he returned, removed to a +lodging, or to the house of a neighbouring clergyman. + +Swift was not one of those minds which amaze the world with early +pregnancy: his first work, except his few poetical Essays, was the +"Dissensions in Athens and Rome," published (1701) in his thirty- +fourth year. After its appearance, paying a visit to some bishop, +he heard mention made of the new pamphlet that Burnet had written, +replete with political knowledge. When he seemed to doubt Burnet's +right to the work, he was told by the bishop that he was "a young +man," and still persisting to doubt, that he was "a very positive +young man." + +Three years afterwards (1704) was published "The Tale of a Tub;" of +this book charity may be persuaded to think that it might be written +by a man of a peculiar character without ill intention; but it is +certainly of dangerous example. That Swift was its author, though +it be universally believed, was never owned by himself, nor very +well proved by any evidence; but no other claimant can be produced, +and he did not deny it when Archbishop Sharp and the Duchess of +Somerset, by showing it to the queen, debarred him from a bishopric. +When this wild work first raised the attention of the public, +Sacheverell, meeting Smalridge, tried to flatter him by seeming to +think him the author, but Smalridge answered with indignation, "Not +all that you and I have in the world, nor all that ever we shall +have, should hire me to write the 'Tale of a Tub.'" + +The digression relating to Wotton and Bentley must be confessed to +discover want of knowledge or want of integrity; he did not +understand the two controversies, or he willingly misrepresented +them. But Wit can stand its ground against Truth only a little +while. The honours due to Learning have been justly distributed by +the decision of posterity. + +"The Battle of the Books" is so like the "Combat des Livres," which +the same question concerning the Ancients and Moderns had produced +in France, that the improbability of such a coincidence of thoughts +without communication, is not, in my opinion, balanced by the +anonymous protestation prefixed, in which all knowledge of the +French book is peremptorily disowned. + +For some time after, Swift was probably employed in solitary study, +gaining the qualifications requisite for future eminence. How often +he visited England, and with what diligence he attended his +parishes, I know not. It was not till about four years afterwards +that he became a professed author; and then one year (1708) produced +"The Sentiments of a Church of England Man;" the ridicule of +Astrology under the name of "Bickerstaff;" the "Argument against +abolishing Christianity;" and the defence of the "Sacramental Test." + +"The Sentiments of a Church of England Man" is written with great +coolness, moderation, ease, and perspicuity. The "Argument against +abolishing Christianity" is a very happy and judicious irony. One +passage in it deserves to be selected:-- + +"If Christianity were once abolished, how could the free-thinkers, +the strong reasoners, and the men of profound learning, be able to +find another subject so calculated, in all points, whereon to +display their abilities? What wonderful productions of wit should +we be deprived of from those whose genius, by continual practice, +hath been wholly turned upon raillery and invectives against +religion, and would therefore never be able to shine or distinguish +themselves upon any other subject! We are daily complaining of the +great decline of wit among us, and would take away the greatest, +perhaps the only topic we have left. Who would ever have suspected +Asgill for a wit, or Toland for a philosopher, if the inexhaustible +stock of Christianity had not been at hand to provide them with +materials? What other subject, through all art or nature, could +have produced Tindal for a profound author, or furnished him with +readers? It is the wise choice of the subject that alone adorns and +distinguishes the writer. For had a hundred such pens as these been +employed on the side of religion, they would have immediately sunk +into silence and oblivion." + +The reasonableness of a "Test" is not hard to be proved; but perhaps +it must be allowed that the proper test has not been chosen. The +attention paid to the papers published under the name of +"Bickerstaff," induced Steele, when he projected the Tatler, to +assume an appellation which had already gained possession of the +reader's notice. + +In the year following he wrote a "Project for the Advancement of +Religion," addressed to Lady Berkeley, by whose kindness it is not +unlikely that he was advanced to his benefices. To this project, +which is formed with great purity of intention, and displayed with +sprightliness and elegance, it can only be objected, that, like many +projects, it is, if not generally impracticable, yet evidently +hopeless, as it supposes more zeal, concord, and perseverance than a +view of mankind gives reason for expecting. He wrote likewise this +year a "Vindication of Bickerstaff," and an explanation of an +"Ancient Prophecy," part written after the facts, and the rest never +completed, but well planned to excite amazement. + +Soon after began the busy and important part of Swift's life. He +was employed (1710) by the Primate of Ireland to solicit the queen +for a remission of the First Fruits and Twentieth Parts to the Irish +Clergy. With this purpose he had recourse to Mr. Harley, to whom he +was mentioned as a man neglected and oppressed by the last Ministry, +because he had refused to co-operate with some of their schemes. +What he had refused has never been told; what he had suffered was, I +suppose, the exclusion from a bishopric by the remonstrances of +Sharp, whom he describes as "the harmless tool of others' hate," and +whom he represents as afterwards "suing for pardon." + +Harley's designs and situation were such as made him glad of an +auxiliary so well qualified for his service: he therefore soon +admitted him to familiarity, whether ever to confidence some have +made a doubt; but it would have been difficult to excite his zeal +without persuading him that he was trusted, and not very easy to +delude him by false persuasions. He was certainly admitted to those +meetings in which the first hints and original plan of action are +supposed to have been formed; and was one of the sixteen ministers, +or agents of the Ministry, who met weekly at each other's houses, +and were united by the name of "Brother." Being not immediately +considered as an obdurate Tory, he conversed indiscriminately with +all the wits, and was yet the friend of Steele; who, in the Tatler, +which began in April, 1709, confesses the advantage of his +conversation, and mentions something contributed by him to his +paper. But he was now emerging into political controversy; for the +year 1710 produced the Examiner, of which Swift wrote thirty-three +papers. In argument he may be allowed to have the advantage: for +where a wide system of conduct, and the whole of a public character, +is laid open to inquiry, the accuser, having the choice of facts, +must be very unskilful if he does not prevail: but with regard to +wit, I am afraid none of Swift's papers will be found equal to those +by which Addison opposed him. + +He wrote in the year 1711 a "Letter to the October Club," a number +of Tory gentlemen sent from the country to Parliament, who formed +themselves into a club, to the number of about a hundred, and met to +animate the zeal and raise the expectations of each other. They +thought, with great reason, that the Ministers were losing +opportunities; that sufficient use was not made of the ardour of the +nation; they called loudly for more changes, and stronger efforts; +and demanded the punishment of part and the dismission of the rest, +of those whom they considered as public robbers. Their eagerness +was not gratified by the queen, or by Harley. The queen was +probably slow because she was afraid; and Harley was slow because he +was doubtful; he was a Tory only by necessity, or for convenience; +and, when he had power in his hands, had no settled purpose for +which he should employ it; forced to gratify to a certain degree the +Tories who supported him, but unwilling to make his reconcilement to +the Whigs utterly desperate, he corresponded at once with the two +expectants of the Crown, and kept, as has been observed, the +succession undetermined. Not knowing what to do, he did nothing; +and, with the fate of a double dealer, at last he lost his power, +but kept his enemies. + +Swift seems to have concurred in opinion with the "October Club;" +but it was not in his power to quicken the tardiness of Harley, whom +he stimulated as much as he could, but with little effect. He that +knows not whither to go, is in no haste to move. Harley, who was +perhaps not quick by nature, became yet more slow by irresolution; +and was content to hear that dilatoriness lamented as natural, which +he applauded in himself as politic. Without the Tories, however, +nothing could be done; and, as they were not to be gratified, they +must be appeased; and the conduct of the Minister, if it could not +be vindicated, was to be plausibly excused. + +Early in the next year he published a "Proposal for Correcting, +Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue," in a Letter to the +Earl of Oxford; written without much knowledge of the general nature +of language, and without any accurate inquiry into the history of +other tongues. The certainty and stability which, contrary to all +experience, he thinks attainable, he proposes to secure by +instituting an academy; the decrees of which every man would have +been willing, and many would have been proud, to disobey, and which, +being renewed by successive elections, would in a short time have +differed from itself. + +Swift now attained the zenith of his political importance: he +published (1712) the "Conduct of the Allies," ten days before the +Parliament assembled. The purpose was to persuade the nation to a +peace; and never had any writer more success. The people, who had +been amused with bonfires and triumphal processions, and looked with +idolatry on the General and his friends, who, as they thought, had +made England the arbitress of nations, were confounded between shame +and rage, when they found that "mines had been exhausted, and +millions destroyed," to secure the Dutch or aggrandise the Emperor, +without any advantage to ourselves; that we had been bribing our +neighbours to fight their own quarrel; and that amongst our enemies +we might number our allies. That is now no longer doubted, of which +the nation was then first informed, that the war was unnecessarily +protracted to fill the pockets of Marlborough; and that it would +have been continued without end, if he could have continued his +annual plunder. But Swift, I suppose, did not yet know what he has +since written, that a commission was drawn which would have +appointed him General for life, had it not become ineffectual by the +resolution of Lord Cowper, who refused the seal. + +"Whatever is received," say the schools, "is received in proportion +to the recipient." The power of a political treatise depends much +upon the disposition of the people; the nation was then combustible, +and a spark set it on fire. It is boasted, that between November +and January eleven thousand were sold: a great number at that time, +when we were not yet a nation of readers. To its propagation +certainly no agency of power or influence was wanting. It furnished +arguments for conversation, speeches for debate, and materials for +parliamentary resolutions. Yet, surely, whoever surveys this +wonder-working pamphlet with cool perusal, will confess that its +efficacy was supplied by the passions of its readers; that it +operates by the mere weight of facts, with very little assistance +from the hand that produced them. + +This year (1712) he published his "Reflections on the Barrier +Treaty," which carries on the design of his "Conduct of the Allies," +and shows how little regard in that negotiation had been shown to +the interest of England, and how much of the conquered country had +been demanded by the Dutch. This was followed by "Remarks on the +Bishop of Sarum's Introduction to his third Volume of the History of +the Reformation;" a pamphlet which Burnet published as an alarm, to +warn the nation of the approach of Popery. Swift, who seems to have +disliked the bishop with something more than political aversion, +treats him like one whom he is glad of an opportunity to insult. + +Swift, being now the declared favourite and supposed confidant of +the Tory Ministry, was treated by all that depended on the Court +with the respect which dependents know how to pay. He soon began to +feel part of the misery of greatness; he that could say that he knew +him, considered himself as having fortune in his power. +Commissions, solicitations, remonstrances crowded about him; he was +expected to do every man's business; to procure employment for one, +and to retain it for another. In assisting those who addressed him, +he represents himself as sufficiently diligent; and desires to have +others believe what he probably believed himself, that by his +interposition many Whigs of merit, and among them Addison and +Congreve, were continued in their places. But every man of known +influence has so many petitions which he cannot grant, that he must +necessarily offend more than he gratifies, because the preference +given to one affords all the rest reason for complaint. "When I +give away a place," said Lewis XIV., "I make a hundred discontented, +and one ungrateful." + +Much has been said of the equality and independence which he +preserved in his conversation with the Ministers; of the frankness +of his remonstrances, and the familiarity of his friendship. In +accounts of this kind a few single incidents are set against the +general tenour of behaviour. No man, however, can pay a more +servile tribute to the great, than by suffering his liberty in their +presence to aggrandise him in his own esteem. Between different +ranks of the community there is necessarily some distance; he who is +called by his superior to pass the interval, may properly accept the +invitation; but petulance and obtrusion are rarely produced by +magnanimity; nor have often any nobler cause than the pride of +importance, and the malice of inferiority. He who knows himself +necessary may set, while that necessity lasts, a high value upon +himself; as, in a lower condition, a servant eminently skilful may +be saucy; but he is saucy only because he is servile. Swift appears +to have preserved the kindness of the great when they wanted him no +longer; and therefore it must be allowed, that the childish freedom, +to which he seems enough inclined, was overpowered by his better +qualities. His disinterestedness has likewise been mentioned; a +strain of heroism which would have been in his condition romantic +and superfluous. Ecclesiastical benefices, when they become vacant, +must be given away; and the friends of power may, if there be no +inherent disqualification, reasonably expect them. Swift accepted +(1713) the deanery of St. Patrick, the best preferment that his +friends could venture to give him. That Ministry was in a great +degree supported by the clergy, who were not yet reconciled to the +author of the "Tale of a Tub," and would not without much discontent +and indignation have borne to see him installed in an English +cathedral. He refused, indeed, fifty pounds from Lord Oxford; but +he accepted afterwards a draught of a thousand upon the Exchequer, +which was intercepted by the queen's death, and which he resigned, +as he says himself, "multa gemens, with many a groan." In the midst +of his power and his politics, he kept a journal of his visits, his +walks, his interviews with Ministers, and quarrels with his servant, +and transmitted it to Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, to whom he knew +that whatever befell him was interesting, and no accounts could be +too minute. Whether these diurnal trifles were properly exposed to +eyes which had never received any pleasure from the presence of the +Dean may be reasonably doubted: they have, however, some odd +attraction; the reader, finding frequent mention of names which he +has been used to consider as important, goes on in hope of +information; and as there is nothing to fatigue attention, if he is +disappointed he can hardly complain. It is easy to perceive, from +every page, that though ambition pressed Swift into a life of +bustle, the wish for a life of ease was always returning. He went +to take possession of his deanery as soon as he had obtained it; but +he was not suffered to stay in Ireland more than a fortnight before +he was recalled to England, that he might reconcile Lord Oxford and +Lord Bolingbroke, who began to look on one another with malevolence, +which every day increased, and which Bolingbroke appeared to retain +in his last years. + +Swift contrived an interview, from which they both departed +discontented; he procured a second, which only convinced him that +the feud was irreconcilable; he told them his opinion, that all was +lost. This denunciation was contradicted by Oxford; but Bolingbroke +whispered that he was right. Before this violent dissension had +shattered the Ministry, Swift had published, in the beginning of the +year (1714), "The Public Spirit of the Whigs," in answer to "The +Crisis," a pamphlet for which Steele was expelled from the House of +Commons. Swift was now so far alienated from Steele, as to think +him no longer entitled to decency, and therefore treats him +sometimes with contempt, and sometimes with abhorrence. In this +pamphlet the Scotch were mentioned in terms so provoking to that +irritable nation, that resolving "not to be offended with impunity," +the Scotch lords in a body demanded an audience of the queen, and +solicited reparation. A proclamation was issued, in which three +hundred pounds were offered for the discovery of the author. From +this storm he was, as he relates, "secured by a sleight;" of what +kind, or by whose prudence, is not known; and such was the increase +of his reputation, that the Scottish nation "applied again that he +would be their friend." He was become so formidable to the Whigs, +that his familiarity with the Ministers was clamoured at in +Parliament, particularly by two men, afterwards of great note, +Aislabie and Walpole. But, by the disunion of his great friends, +his importance and designs were now at an end; and seeing his +services at last useless, he retired about June (1714) into +Berkshire, where, in the house of a friend, he wrote what was then +suppressed, but has since appeared under the title of "Free Thoughts +on the present State of Affairs." While he was waiting in this +retirement for events which time or chance might bring to pass, the +death of the Queen broke down at once the whole system of Tory +politics; and nothing remained but to withdraw from the +implacability of triumphant Whiggism, and shelter himself in +unenvied obscurity. + +The accounts of his reception in Ireland, given by Lord Orrery and +Dr. Delany, are so different, that the credit of the writers, both +undoubtedly veracious, cannot be saved, but by supposing, what I +think is true, that they speak of different times. When Delany +says, that he was received with respect, he means for the first +fortnight, when he came to take legal possession; and when Lord +Orrery tells that he was pelted by the populace, he is to be +understood of the time when, after the Queen's death, he became a +settled resident. + +The Archbishop of Dublin gave him at first some disturbance in the +exercise of his jurisdiction; but it was soon discovered, that +between prudence and integrity, he was seldom in the wrong; and +that, when he was right, his spirit did not easily yield to +opposition. + +Having so lately quitted the tumults of a party, and the intrigues +of a court, they still kept his thoughts in agitation, as the sea +fluctuates a while when the storm has ceased. He therefore filled +his hours with some historical attempts, relating to the "Change of +the Ministers," and "The Conduct of the Ministry." He likewise is +said to have written a "History of the Four last Years of Queen +Anne," which he began in her lifetime, and afterwards laboured with +great attention, but never published. It was after his death in the +hands of Lord Orrery and Dr. King. A book under that title was +published with Swift's name by Dr. Lucas; of which I can only say, +that it seemed by no means to correspond with the notions that I had +formed of it, from a conversation which I once heard between the +Earl of Orrery and old Mr. Lewis. + +Swift now, much against his will, commenced Irishman for life, and +was to contrive how he might be best accommodated in a country where +he considered himself as in a state of exile. It seems that his +first recourse was to piety. The thoughts of death rushed upon him +at this time with such incessant importunity, that they took +possession of his mind, when he first waked, for many years +together. He opened his house by a public table two days a week, +and found his entertainments gradually frequented by more and more +visitants of learning among the men, and of elegance among the +women. Mrs. Johnson had left the country, and lived in lodgings not +far from the deanery. On his public days she regulated the table, +but appeared at it as a mere guest, like other ladies. On other +days he often dined, at a stated price, with Mr. Worral, a clergyman +of his cathedral, whose house was recommended by the peculiar +neatness and pleasantry of his wife. To this frugal mode of living, +he was first disposed by care to pay some debts which he had +contracted, and he continued it for the pleasure of accumulating +money. His avarice, however, was not suffered to obstruct the +claims of his dignity; he was served in plate, and used to say that +he was the poorest gentleman in Ireland that ate upon plate, and the +richest that lived without a coach. How he spent the rest of his +time, and how he employed his hours of study, has been inquired with +hopeless curiosity. For who can give an account of another's +studies? Swift was not likely to admit any to his privacies, or to +impart a minute account of his business or his leisure. + +Soon after (1716), in his forty-ninth year, he was privately married +to Mrs. Johnson, by Dr. Ashe, Bishop of Clogher, as Dr. Madden told +me, in the garden. The marriage made no change in their mode of +life; they lived in different houses, as before; nor did she ever +lodge in the deanery but when Swift was seized with a fit of +giddiness. "It would be difficult," says Lord Orrery, "to prove +that they were ever afterwards together without a third person." + +The Dean of St. Patrick's lived in a private manner, known and +regarded only by his friends; till, about the year 1720, he, by a +pamphlet, recommended to the Irish the use, and consequently the +improvement, of their manufactures. For a man to use the +productions of his own labour is surely a natural right, and to like +best what he makes himself is a natural passion. But to excite this +passion, and enforce this right, appeared so criminal to those who +had an interest in the English trade, that the printer was +imprisoned; and, as Hawkesworth justly observes, the attention of +the public being, by this outrageous resentment, turned upon the +proposal, the author was by consequence made popular. + +In 1723 died Mrs. Van Homrigh, a woman made unhappy by her +admiration of wit, and ignominiously distinguished by the name of +Vanessa, whose conduct has been already sufficiently discussed, and +whose history is too well known to be minutely repeated. She was a +young woman fond of literature, whom Decanus, the dean, called +Cadenus by transposition of the letters, took pleasure in directing +and instructing: till, from being proud of his praise, she grew +fond of his person. Swift was then about forty-seven, at an age +when vanity is strongly excited by the amorous attention of a young +woman. If it be said that Swift should have checked a passion which +he never meant to gratify, recourse must be had to that extenuation +which he so much despised, "men are but men;" perhaps, however, he +did not at first know his own mind, and, as he represents himself, +was undetermined. For his admission of her courtship, and his +indulgence of her hopes after his marriage to Stella, no other +honest plea can be found than that he delayed a disagreeable +discovery from time to time, dreading the immediate bursts of +distress, and watching for a favourable moment. She thought herself +neglected, and died of disappointment, having ordered, by her will, +the poem to be published, in which Cadenus had proclaimed her +excellence and confessed his love. The effect of the publication +upon the Dean and Stella is thus related by Delany:-- + +"I have good reason to believe that they both were greatly shocked +and distressed (though it may be differently) upon this occasion. +The Dean made a tour to the south of Ireland for about two months at +this time, to dissipate his thoughts and give place to obloquy. And +Stella retired (upon the earnest invitation of the owner) to the +house of a cheerful, generous, good-natured friend of the Dean's, +whom she always much loved and honoured. There my informer often +saw her, and, I have reason to believe, used his utmost endeavours +to relieve, support, and amuse her, in this sad situation. One +little incident he told me of on that occasion I think I shall never +forget. As his friend was an hospitable, open-hearted man, well +beloved and largely acquainted, it happened one day that some +gentlemen dropped in to dinner, who were strangers to Stella's +situation; and as the poem of 'Cadenus and Vanessa' was then the +general topic of conversation, one of them said, 'Surely that +Vanessa must be an extraordinary woman that could inspire the Dean +to write so finely upon her.' Mrs. Johnson smiled, and answered, +'that she thought that point not quite so clear; for it was well +known that the Dean could write finely upon a broomstick.'" + +The great acquisition of esteem and influence was made by the +"Drapier's Letters," in 1724. One Wood, of Wolverhampton, in +Staffordshire, a man enterprising and rapacious, had, as is said, by +a present to the Duchess of Munster, obtained a patent, empowering +him to coin one hundred and eighty thousand pounds of halfpence and +farthings for the kingdom of Ireland, in which there was a very +inconvenient and embarrassing scarcity of copper coin, so that it +was possible to run in debt upon the credit of a piece of money; for +the cook or keeper of an alehouse could not refuse to supply a man +that had silver in his hand, and the buyer would not leave his money +without change. The project was therefore plausible. The scarcity, +which was already great, Wood took care to make greater, by agents +who gathered up the old halfpence; and was about to turn his brass +into gold, by pouring the treasures of his new mint upon Ireland, +when Swift, finding that the metal was debased to an enormous +degree, wrote letters, under the name of M. B. Drapier, to show the +folly of receiving, and the mischief that must ensue by giving gold +and silver for coin worth perhaps not a third part of its nominal +value. The nation was alarmed; the new coin was universally +refused, but the governors of Ireland considered resistance to the +king's patent as highly criminal; and one Whitshed, then Chief +Justice, who had tried the printer of the former pamphlet, and sent +out the jury nine times, till by clamour and menaces they were +frightened into a special verdict, now presented the Drapier, but +could not prevail on the grand jury to find the bill. + +Lord Carteret and the Privy Council published a proclamation, +offering three hundred pounds for discovering the author of the +Fourth Letter. Swift had concealed himself from his printers and +trusted only his butler, who transcribed the paper. The man, +immediately after the appearance of the proclamation, strolled from +the house, and stayed out all night, and part of the next day. +There was reason enough to fear that he had betrayed his master for +the reward; but he came home, and the Dean ordered him to put off +his livery, and leave the house; "for," says he, "I know that my +life is in your power, and I will not bear, out of fear, either your +insolence or negligence." The man excused his fault with great +submission, and begged that he might be confined in the house while +it was in his power to endanger the master; but the Dean resolutely +turned him out, without taking further notice of him, till the term +of the information had expired, and then received him again. Soon +afterwards he ordered him and the rest of his servants into his +presence, without telling his intentions, and bade them take notice +that their fellow-servant was no longer Robert the butler, but that +his integrity had made him Mr. Blakeney, verger of St. Patrick's, an +officer whose income was between thirty and forty pounds a year; yet +he still continued for some years to serve his old master as his +butler. + +Swift was known from this time by the appellation of The Dean. He +was honoured by the populace as the champion, patron, and instructor +of Ireland; and gained such power as, considered both in its extent +and duration, scarcely any man has ever enjoyed without greater +wealth or higher station. He was from this important year the +oracle of the traders, and the idol of the rabble, and by +consequence was feared and courted by all to whom the kindness of +the traders or the populace was necessary. The Drapier was a sign; +the Drapier was a health; and which way soever the eye or the ear +was turned, some tokens were found of the nation's gratitude to the +Drapier. + +The benefit was indeed great; he had rescued Ireland from a very +oppressive and predatory invasion, and the popularity which he had +gained he was diligent to keep, by appearing forward and zealous on +every occasion where the public interest was supposed to be +involved. Nor did he much scruple to boast his influence; for when, +upon some attempts to regulate the coin, Archbishop Boulter, then +one of the justices, accused him of exasperating the people, he +exculpated himself by saying, "If I had lifted up my finger, they +would have torn you to pieces." But the pleasure of popularity was +soon interrupted by domestic misery. Mrs. Johnson, whose +conversation was to him the great softener of the ills of life, +began in the year of the Drapier's triumph to decline, and two years +afterwards was so wasted with sickness that her recovery was +considered as hopeless. Swift was then in England, and had been +invited by Lord Bolingbroke to pass the winter with him in France; +but this call of calamity hastened him to Ireland, where perhaps his +presence contributed to restore her to imperfect and tottering +health. He was now so much at ease, that (1727) he returned to +England, where he collected three volumes of Miscellanies in +conjunction with Pope, who prefixed a querulous and apologetical +Preface. + +This important year sent likewise into the world "Gulliver's +Travels," a production so new and strange, that it filled the reader +with a mingled emotion of merriment and amazement. It was received +with such avidity, that the price of the first edition was raised +before the second could be made; it was read by the high and the +low, the learned and illiterate. Criticism was for a while lost in +wonder; no rules of judgment were applied to a book written in open +defiance of truth and regularity. But when distinctions came to be +made, the part which gave the least pleasure was that which +describes the Flying Island, and that which gave most disgust must +be the history of Houyhnhnms. + +While Swift was enjoying the reputation of his new work, the news of +the king's death arrived, and he kissed the hands of the new king +and queen three days after their accession. By the queen, when she +was princess, he had been treated with some distinction, and was +well received by her in her exaltation; but whether she gave hopes +which she never took care to satisfy, or he formed expectations +which she never meant to raise, the event was that he always +afterwards thought on her with malevolence, and particularly charged +her with breaking her promise of some medals which she engaged to +send him. I know not whether she had not, in her turn, some reason +for complaint. A letter was sent her, not so much entreating, as +requiring her patronage of Mrs. Barber, an ingenious Irishwoman, who +was then begging subscriptions for her Poems. To this letter was +subscribed the name of Swift, and it has all the appearance of his +diction and sentiments; but it was not written in his hand, and had +some little improprieties. When he was charged with this letter, he +laid hold of the inaccuracies, and urged the improbability of the +accusation, but never denied it: he shuffles between cowardice and +veracity, and talks big when he says nothing. He seems desirous +enough of recommencing courtier, and endeavoured to gain the +kindness of Mrs. Howard, remembering what Mrs. Masham had performed +in former times; but his flatteries were, like those of other wits, +unsuccessful; the lady either wanted power, or had no ambition of +poetical immortality. He was seized not long afterwards by a fit of +giddiness, and again heard of the sickness and danger of Mrs. +Johnson. He then left the house of Pope, as it seems, with very +little ceremony, finding "that two sick friends cannot live +together;" and did not write to him till he found himself at +Chester. He turned to a home of sorrow: poor Stella was sinking +into the grave, and, after a languishing decay of about two months, +died in her forty-fourth year, on January 28, 1728. How much he +wished her life his papers show; nor can it be doubted that he +dreaded the death of her whom he loved most, aggravated by the +consciousness that himself had hastened it. + +Beauty and the power of pleasing, the greatest external advantages +that woman can desire or possess, were fatal to the unfortunate +Stella. The man whom she had the misfortune to love was, as Delany +observes, fond of singularity, and desirous to make a mode of +happiness for himself, different from the general course of things +and order of Providence. From the time of her arrival in Ireland he +seems resolved to keep her in his power, and therefore hindered a +match sufficiently advantageous by accumulating unreasonable +demands, and prescribing conditions that could not be performed. +While she was at her own disposal he did not consider his possession +as secure; resentment, ambition, or caprice might separate them: he +was therefore resolved to make "assurance doubly sure," and to +appropriate her by a private marriage, to which he had annexed the +expectation of all the pleasures of perfect friendship, without the +uneasiness of conjugal restraint. But with this state poor Stella +was not satisfied; she never was treated as a wife, and to the world +she had the appearance of a mistress. She lived sullenly on, in +hope that in time he would own and receive her; but the time did not +come till the change of his manners and depravation of his mind made +her tell him, when he offered to acknowledge her, that "it was too +late." She then gave up herself to sorrowful resentment, and died +under the tyranny of him by whom she was in the highest degree loved +and honoured. What were her claims to this eccentric tenderness, by +which the laws of nature were violated to restrain her, curiosity +will inquire; but how shall it be gratified? Swift was a lover; his +testimony may be suspected. Delany and the Irish saw with Swift's +eyes, and therefore add little confirmation. That she was virtuous, +beautiful, and elegant, in a very high degree, such admiration from +such a lover makes it very probable: but she had not much +literature, for she could not spell her own language; and of her +wit, so loudly vaunted, the smart sayings which Swift himself has +collected afford no splendid specimen. + +The reader of Swift's "Letter to a Lady on her Marriage," may be +allowed to doubt whether his opinion of female excellence ought +implicitly to be admitted; for, if his general thoughts on women +were such as he exhibits, a very little sense in a lady would +enrapture, and a very little virtue would astonish him. Stella's +supremacy, therefore, was perhaps only local; she was great because +her associates were little. + +In some Remarks lately published on the Life of Swift, his marriage +is mentioned as fabulous, or doubtful; but, alas! poor Stella, as +Dr. Madden told me, related her melancholy story to Dr. Sheridan, +when he attended her as a clergyman to prepare her for death; and +Delany mentions it not with doubt, but only with regret. Swift +never mentioned her without a sigh. The rest of his life was spent +in Ireland, in a country to which not even power almost despotic, +nor flattery almost idolatrous, could reconcile him. He sometimes +wished to visit England, but always found some reason of delay. He +tells Pope, in the decline of life, that he hopes once more to see +him; "but if not," says he, "we must part as all human beings have +parted." + +After the death of Stella, his benevolence was contracted, and his +severity exasperated; he drove his acquaintance from his table, and +wondered why he was deserted. But he continued his attention to the +public, and wrote from time to time such directions, admonitions, or +censures, as the exigence of affairs, in his opinion, made proper; +and nothing fell from his pen in vain. In a short poem on the +Presbyterians, whom he always regarded with detestation, he bestowed +one stricture upon Bettesworth, a lawyer eminent for his insolence +to the clergy, which, from very considerable reputation, brought him +into immediate and universal contempt. Bettesworth, enraged at his +disgrace and loss, went to Swift, and demanded whether he was the +author of that poem? "Mr. Bettesworth," answered he, "I was in my +youth acquainted with great lawyers, who, knowing my disposition to +satire, advised me, that if any scoundrel or blockhead whom I had +lampooned should ask, 'Are you the author of this paper?' I should +tell him that I was not the author; and therefore, I tell you, Mr. +Bettesworth, that I am not the author of these lines." + +Bettesworth was so little satisfied with this account, that he +publicly professed his resolution of a violent and corporal revenge; +but the inhabitants of St. Patrick's district embodied themselves in +the Dean's defence. Bettesworth declared in Parliament that Swift +had deprived him of twelve hundred pounds a year. + +Swift was popular awhile by another mode of beneficence. He set +aside some hundreds to be lent in small sums to the poor, from five +shillings, I think, to five pounds. He took no interest, and only +required that, at repayment, a small fee should be given to the +accountant, but he required that the day of promised payment should +be exactly kept. A severe and punctilious temper is ill qualified +for transactions with the poor: the day was often broken, and the +loan was not repaid. This might have been easily foreseen; but for +this Swift had made no provision of patience or pity. He ordered +his debtors to be sued. A severe creditor has no popular character; +what then was likely to be said of him who employs the catchpoll +under the appearance of charity? The clamour against him was loud, +and the resentment of the populace outrageous; he was therefore +forced to drop his scheme, and own the folly of expecting +punctuality from the poor. + +His asperity continually increasing, condemned him to solitude; and +his resentment of solitude sharpened his asperity. He was not, +however, totally deserted; some men of learning, and some women of +elegance, often visited him; and he wrote from time to time either +verse or prose: of his verses he willingly gave copies, and is +supposed to have felt no discontent when he saw them printed. His +favourite maxim was "Vive la bagatelle:" he thought trifles a +necessary part of life, and perhaps found them necessary to himself. +It seems impossible to him to be idle, and his disorders made it +difficult or dangerous to be long seriously studious, or laboriously +diligent. The love of ease is always gaining upon age, and he had +one temptation to petty amusements peculiar to himself; whatever he +did, he was sure to hear applauded; and such was his predominance +over all that approached, that all their applauses were probably +sincere. He that is much flattered soon learns to flatter himself; +we are commonly taught our duty by fear or shame, and how can they +act upon the man who hears nothing but his own praises? As his +years increased, his fits of giddiness and deafness grew more +frequent, and his deafness made conversation difficult; they grew +likewise more severe, till in 1736, as he was writing a poem called +"The Legion Club," he was seized with a fit so painful and so long +continued, that he never after thought it proper to attempt any work +of thought or labour. He was always careful of his money, and was +therefore no liberal entertainer, but was less frugal of his wine +than of his meat. When his friends of either sex came to him in +expectation of a dinner, his custom was to give every one a +shilling, that they might please themselves with their provision. +At last his avarice grew too powerful for his kindness; he would +refuse a bottle of wine, and in Ireland no man visits where he +cannot drink. Having thus excluded conversation, and desisted from +study, he had neither business nor amusement; for, having by some +ridiculous resolution, or mad vow, determined never to wear +spectacles, he could make like little use of books in his latter +years; his ideas, therefore, being neither renovated by discourse, +nor increased by reading, wore gradually away, and left his mind +vacant to the vexations of the hour, till at last his anger was +heightened into madness. He, however, permitted one book to be +published, which had been the production of former years--"Polite +Conversation," which appeared in 1738. The "Directions for +Servants," was printed soon after his death. These two performances +show a mind incessantly attentive, and, when it was not employed +upon great things, busy with minute occurrences. It is apparent +that he must have had the habit of noting whatever he observed; for +such a number of particulars could never have been assembled by the +power of recollection. He grew more violent, and his mental powers +declined, till (1741) it was found necessary that legal guardians +should be appointed of his person and fortune. He now lost +distinction. His madness was compounded of rage and fatuity. The +last face that he knew was that of Mrs. Whiteway; and her he ceased +to know in a little time. His meat was brought him cut into +mouthfuls: but he would never touch it while the servant stayed, +and at last, after it had stood perhaps an hour, would eat it +walking; for he continued his old habit, and was on his feet ten +hours a day. Next year (1742) he had an inflammation in his left +eye, which swelled it to the size of an egg, with boils in other +parts; he was kept long waking with the pain, and was not easily +restrained by five attendants from tearing out his eye. + +The tumour at last subsided; and a short interval of reason ensuing; +in which he knew his physician and his family, gave hopes of his +recovery; but in a few days he sank into a lethargic stupidity, +motionless, heedless, and speechless. But it is said that after a +year of total silence, when his housekeeper, on the 30th of +November, told him that the usual bonfires and illuminations were +preparing to celebrate his birthday, he answered, "It is all folly; +they had better let it alone." + +It is remembered that he afterwards spoke now and then, or gave some +intimation of a meaning; but at last sank into a perfect silence, +which continued till about the end of October, 1744, when, in his +seventy-eighth year, he expired without a struggle. + +When Swift is considered as an author, it is just to estimate his +powers by their effects. In the reign of Queen Anne he turned the +stream of popularity against the Whigs, and must be confessed to +have dictated for a time the political opinions of the English +nation. In the succeeding reign he delivered Ireland from plunder +and oppression: and showed that wit, confederated with truth, had +such force as authority was unable to resist. He said truly of +himself, that Ireland "was his debtor." It was from the time when +he first began to patronise the Irish, that they may date their +riches and prosperity. He taught them first to know their own +interest, their weight, and their strength, and gave them spirit to +assert that equality with their fellow-subjects to which they have +ever since been making vigorous advances, and to claim those rights +which they have at last established. Nor can they be charged with +ingratitude to their benefactor; for they reverenced him as a +guardian, and obeyed him as a dictator. + +In his works he has given very different specimens both of +sentiments and expression. His "Tale of a Tub" has little +resemblance to his other pieces. It exhibits a vehemence and +rapidity of mind, a copiousness of images, and vivacity of diction, +such as he afterwards never possessed, or never exerted. It is of a +mode so distinct and peculiar, that it must be considered by itself; +what is true of that, is not true of anything else which he has +written. In his other works is found an equable tenour of easy +language, which rather trickles than flows. His delight was in +simplicity. That he has in his works no metaphor, as has been said, +is not true; but his few metaphors seem to be received rather by +necessity than choice. He studied purity; and though perhaps all +his strictures are not exact, yet it is not often that solecisms can +be found; and whoever depends on his authority may generally +conclude himself safe. His sentences are never too much dilated or +contracted; and it will not be easy to find any embarrassment in the +complication of his clauses, any inconsequence in his connections, +or abruptness in his transitions. His style was well suited to his +thoughts, which are never subtilised by nice disquisitions, +decorated by sparkling conceits, elevated by ambitious sentences, or +variegated by far-sought learning. He pays no court to the +passions; he excites neither surprise nor admiration: he always +understands himself, and his readers always understand him: the +peruser of Swift wants little previous knowledge; it will be +sufficient that he is acquainted with common words and common +things; he is neither required to mount elevations, nor to explore +profundities; his passage is always on a level, along solid ground, +without asperities, without obstruction. This easy and safe +conveyance of meaning it was Swift's desire to attain, and for +having attained he deserves praise. For purposes merely didactic, +when something is to be told that was not known before, it is the +best mode; but against that inattention by which known truths are +suffered to lie neglected, it makes no provision; it instructs, but +does not persuade. + +By his political education he was associated with the Whigs; but he +deserted them when they deserted their principles, yet without +running into the contrary extreme; he continued throughout his life +to retain the disposition which he assigns to the "Church-of-England +Man," of thinking commonly with the Whigs of the State, and with the +Tories of the Church. He was a Churchman, rationally zealous; he +desired the prosperity, and maintained the honour of the clergy; of +the Dissenters he did not wish to infringe the Toleration, but he +opposed their encroachments. To his duty as Dean he was very +attentive. He managed the revenues of his church with exact +economy; and it is said by Delany, that more money was, under his +direction, laid out in repairs, than had ever been in the same time +since its first erection. Of his choir he was eminently careful; +and though he neither loved nor understood music, took care that all +the singers were well qualified, admitting none without the +testimony of skilful judges. + +In his church he restored the practice of weekly communion, and +distributed the sacramental elements in the most solemn and devout +manner with his own hand. He came to church every morning, preached +commonly in his turn, and attended the evening anthem, that it might +not be negligently performed. He read the service, "rather with a +strong, nervous voice, than in a graceful manner; his voice was +sharp and high-toned, rather than harmonious." He entered upon the +clerical state with hope to excel in preaching; but complained that, +from the time of his political controversies, "he could only preach +pamphlets." This censure of himself, if judgment be made from those +sermons which have been printed, was unreasonably severe. + +The suspicions of his irreligion proceeded in a great measure from +his dread of hypocrisy; instead of wishing to seem better, he +delighted in seeming worse than he was. He went in London to early +prayers, lest he should be seen at church; he read prayers to his +servants every morning with such dexterous secrecy, that Dr. Delany +was six months in his house before he knew it. He was not only +careful to hide the good which he did, but willingly incurred the +suspicion of evil which he did not. He forgot what himself had +formerly asserted, that hypocrisy is less mischievous than open +impiety. Dr. Delany, with all his zeal for his honour, has justly +condemned this part of his character. + +The person of Swift had not many recommendations. He had a kind of +muddy complexion, which, though he washed himself with Oriental +scrupulosity, did not look clear. He had a countenance sour and +severe, which he seldom softened by any appearance of gaiety. He +stubbornly resisted any tendency to laughter. To his domestics he +was naturally rough: and a man of a rigorous temper, with that +vigilance of minute attention which his works discover, must have +been a master that few could bear. That he was disposed to do his +servants good, on important occasions, is no great mitigation; +benefaction can be but rare, and tyrannic peevishness is perpetual. +He did not spare the servants of others. Once, when he dined alone +with the Earl of Orrery, he said of one that waited in the room, +"That man has, since we sat to the table, committed fifteen faults." +What the faults were, Lord Orrery, from whom I heard the story, had +not been attentive enough to discover. My number may perhaps not be +exact. + +In his economy he practised a peculiar and offensive parsimony, +without disguise or apology. The practice of saving being once +necessary, became habitual, and grew first ridiculous, and at last +detestable. But his avarice, though it might exclude pleasure, was +never suffered to encroach upon his virtue. He was frugal by +inclination, but liberal by principle: and if the purpose to which +he destined his little accumulations be remembered, with his +distribution of occasional charity, it will perhaps appear that he +only liked one mode of expense better than another, and saved merely +that he might have something to give. He did not grow rich by +injuring his successors, but left both Laracor and the Deanery more +valuable than he found them. With all this talk of his covetousness +and generosity, it should be remembered that he was never rich. The +revenue of his Deanery was not much more than seven hundred a year. +His beneficence was not graced with tenderness or civility; he +relieved without pity, and assisted without kindness; so that those +who were fed by him could hardly love him. He made a rule to +himself to give but one piece at a time, and therefore always stored +his pocket with coins of different value. Whatever he did he seemed +willing to do in a manner peculiar to himself, without sufficiently +considering that singularity, as it implies a contempt of the +general practice, is a kind of defiance which justly provokes the +hostility of ridicule; he, therefore, who indulges peculiar habits, +is worse than others, if he be not better. + +Of his humour, a story told by Pope may afford a specimen. + +"Dr. Swift has an odd, blunt way, that is mistaken by strangers for +ill nature.--'Tis so odd, that there's no describing it but by +facts. I'll tell you one that first comes into my head. One +evening Gay and I went to see him: you know how intimately we were +all acquainted. On our coming in, 'Heyday, gentlemen' (says the +doctor), 'what's the meaning of this visit? How came you to leave +the great Lords that you are so fond of, to come hither to see a +poor Dean?'--'Because we would rather see you than any of them.'-- +'Ay, anyone that did not know so well as I do might believe you. +But since you are come, I must get some supper for you, I suppose.'- +-'No, Doctor, we have supped already.'--'Supped already? that's +impossible! why, 'tis not eight o'clock yet: that's very strange; +but if you had not supped, I must have got something for you. Let +me see, what should I have had? A couple of lobsters; ay, that +would have done very well; two shillings--tarts, a shilling; but you +will drink a glass of wine with me, though you supped so much before +your usual time only to spare my pocket?'--'No, we had rather talk +with you than drink with you.'--'But if you had supped with me, as +in all reason you ought to have done, you must then have drunk with +me. A bottle of wine, two shillings--two and two is four, and one +is five; just two-and-sixpence a-piece. There, Pope, there's half a +crown for you, and there's another for you, sir; for I won't save +anything by you. I am determined.'--This was all said and done with +his usual seriousness on such occasions; and, in spite of everything +we could say to the contrary, he actually obliged us to take the +money." + +In the intercourse of familiar life, he indulged his disposition to +petulance and sarcasm, and thought himself injured if the +licentiousness of his raillery, the freedom of his censures, or the +petulance of his frolics was resented or repressed. He predominated +over his companions with very high ascendancy, and probably would +bear none over whom he could not predominate. To give him advice +was, in the style of his friend Delany, "to venture to speak to +him." This customary superiority soon grew too delicate for truth; +and Swift, with all his penetration, allowed himself to be delighted +with low flattery. On all common occasions, he habitually affects a +style of arrogance, and dictates rather than persuades. This +authoritative and magisterial language he expected to be received as +his peculiar mode of jocularity: but he apparently flattered his +own arrogance by an assumed imperiousness, in which he was ironical +only to the resentful, and to the submissive sufficiently serious. +He told stories with great felicity, and delighted in doing what he +knew himself to do well; he was therefore captivated by the +respectful silence of a steady listener, and told the same tales too +often. He did not, however, claim the right of talking alone; for +it was his rule, when he had spoken a minute, to give room by a +pause for any other speaker. Of time, on all occasions, he was an +exact computer, and knew the minutes required to every common +operation. + +It may be justly supposed that there was in his conversation, what +appears so frequently in his Letters, an affectation of familiarity +with the great, an ambition of momentary equality sought and enjoyed +by the neglect of those ceremonies which custom has established as +the barriers between one order of society and another. This +transgression of regularity was by himself and his admirers termed +greatness of soul. But a great mind disdains to hold anything by +courtesy, and therefore never usurps what a lawful claimant may take +away. He that encroaches on another's dignity puts himself in his +power; he is either repelled with helpless indignity, or endured by +clemency and condescension. + +Of Swift's general habits of thinking, if his Letters can be +supposed to afford any evidence, he was not a man to be either loved +or envied. He seems to have wasted life in discontent, by the rage +of neglected pride, and the languishment of unsatisfied desire. He +is querulous and fastidious, arrogant and malignant; he scarcely +speaks of himself but with indignant lamentations, or of others but +with insolent superiority when he is gay, and with angry contempt +when he is gloomy. From the letters that passed between him and +Pope it might be inferred that they, with Arbuthnot and Gay, had +engrossed all the understanding and virtue of mankind; that their +merits filled the world; or that there was no hope of more. They +show the age involved in darkness, and shade the picture with sullen +emulation. + +When the Queen's death drove him into Ireland, he might be allowed +to regret for a time the interception of his views, the extinction +of his hopes, and his ejection from gay scenes, important +employment, and splendid friendships; but when time had enabled +reason to prevail over vexation, the complaints, which at first were +natural, became ridiculous because they were useless. But +querulousness was now grown habitual, and he cried out when he +probably had ceased to feel. His reiterated wailings persuaded +Bolingbroke that he was really willing to quit his deanery for an +English parish; and Bolingbroke procured an exchange, which was +rejected; and Swift still retained the pleasure of complaining. + +The greatest difficulty that occurs, in analysing his character, is +to discover by what depravity of intellect he took delight in +revolving ideas, from which almost every other mind shrinks with +disgust. The ideas of pleasure, even when criminal, may solicit the +imagination; but what has disease, deformity, and filth, upon which +the thoughts can be allured to dwell? Delany is willing to think +that Swift's mind was not much tainted with this gross corruption +before his long visit to Pope. He does not consider how he degrades +his hero, by making him at fifty-nine the pupil of turpitude, and +liable to the malignant influence of an ascendant mind. But the +truth is, that Gulliver had described his Yahoos before the visit; +and he that had formed those images had nothing filthy to learn. + +I have here given the character of Swift as he exhibits himself to +my perception; but now let another be heard who knew him better. +Dr. Delany, after long acquaintance, describes him to Lord Orrery in +these terms:-- + +"My Lord, when you consider Swift's singular, peculiar, and most +variegated vein of wit, always rightly intended, although not always +so rightly directed; delightful in many instances, and salutary even +where it is most offensive; when you consider his strict truth, his +fortitude in resisting oppression and arbitrary power; his fidelity +in friendship; his sincere love and zeal for religion; his +uprightness in making right resolutions, and his steadiness in +adhering to them; his care of his church, its choir, its economy, +and its income; his attention to all those who preached in his +cathedral, in order to their amendment in pronunciation and style; +as also his remarkable attention to the interest of his successors +preferably to his own present emoluments; his invincible patriotism, +even to a country which he did not love; his very various, well- +devised, well-judged, and extensive charities, throughout his life; +and his whole fortune (to say nothing of his wife's) conveyed to the +same Christian purposes at his death; charities, from which he could +enjoy no honour, advantage, or satisfaction of any kind in this +world: when you consider his ironical and humorous, as well as his +serious schemes, for the promotion of true religion and virtue; his +success in soliciting for the First Fruits and Twentieths, to the +unspeakable benefit of the Established Church of Ireland; and his +felicity (to rate it no higher) in giving occasion to the building +of fifty new churches in London: + +"All this considered, the character of his life will appear like +that of his writings; they will both bear to be reconsidered, and +re-examined with the utmost attention, and always discover new +beauties and excellences upon every examination. + +"They will bear to be considered as the sun, in which the brightness +will hide the blemishes; and whenever petulant ignorance, pride, +malignity, or envy interposes to cloud or sully his fame, I take +upon me to pronounce, that the eclipse will not last long. + +"To conclude--No man ever deserved better of his country, than Swift +did of his; a steady, persevering, inflexible friend; a wise, a +watchful, and a faithful counsellor, under many severe trials and +bitter persecutions, to the manifest hazard both of his liberty and +fortune. + +"He lived a blessing, he died a benefactor, and his name will ever +live an honour to Ireland." + +In the poetical works of Dr. Swift there is not much upon which the +critic can exercise his powers. They are often humorous, almost +always light, and have the qualities which recommend such +compositions, easiness and gaiety. They are, for the most part, +what their author intended. The diction is correct, the numbers are +smooth, and the rhymes exact. There seldom occurs a hard-laboured +expression, or a redundant epithet; all his verses exemplify his own +definition of a good style; they consist of "proper words in proper +places." + +To divide this collection into classes, and show how some pieces are +gross, and some are trifling, would be to tell the reader what he +knows already, and to find faults of which the author could not be +ignorant, who certainly wrote not often to his judgment, but his +humour. + +It was said, in a Preface to one of the Irish editions, that Swift +had never been known to take a single thought from any writer, +ancient or modern. This is not literally true; but perhaps no +writer can easily be found that has borrowed so little, or that, in +all his excellences and all his defects, has so well maintained his +claim to be considered as original. + + + + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the Poets: Addison, Savage, etc. +by Samuel Johnson +******This file should be named lvadd10.txt or lvadd10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, lvadd11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, lvadd10a.txt + +This etext was produced by Les Bowler, St. Ives, Dorset. + +*** + +More information about this book is at the top of this file. + + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. 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