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diff --git a/old/lvadd10.txt b/old/lvadd10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fdb0e10 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lvadd10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6611 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the Poets: Addison, Savage, etc. +by Samuel Johnson +(#5 in our series by Samuel Johnson) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg file. + +Please do not remove this header information. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the eBook. 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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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