Lives Of The Poets, Vol. 1 (fiscle part-III), Samuel Johnson [good summer reads .TXT] 📗
- Author: Samuel Johnson
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Stories, Is Now Generally Neglected. We Have Been Too Early Acquainted
With The Poetical Heroes, To Expect Any Pleasure From Their Revival; To
Show Them As They Have Already Been Shown, Is To Disgust By Repetition;
To Give Them New Qualities, Or New Adventures, Is To Offend By Violating
Received notions.
The Royal Convert, 1708, Seems To Have A Better Claim To Longevity. The
Fable Is Drawn From An Obscure And Barbarous Age, To Which Fictions Are
Most Easily And Properly Adapted; For When Objects Are Imperfectly
Seen, They Easily Take Forms From Imagination. The Scene Lies Among
Our Ancestors In our Own Country, And, Therefore, Very Easily Catches
Attention. Rodogune Is A Personage Truly Tragical, Of High Spirit, And
Violent Passions, Great With Tempestuous Dignity, And Wicked with A Soul
That Would Have Been Heroick If It Had Been Virtuous. The Motto Seems To
Tell That This Play Was Not Successful.
Rowe Does Not Always Remember What His Characters Require. In tamerlane
There Is Some Ridiculous Mention Of The God Of Love; And Rodogune, A
Savage Saxon, Talks Of Venus, And The Eagle That Bears The Thunder Of
Jupiter.
This Play Discovers Its Own Date, By A Prediction Of The Union, In
Imitation Of Cranmer'S Prophetick Promises To Henry The Eighth. The
Anticipated blessings Of Union Are Not Very Naturally Introduced, Nor
Very Happily Expressed.
He Once, 1706, Tried to Change His Hand. He Ventured on A Comedy, And
Produced the Biter; With Which, Though It Was Unfavourably Treated by The
Audience, He Was Himself Delighted; For He Is Said To Have Sat In the
House Laughing with Great Vehemence, Whenever He Had, In his Own Opinion,
Produced a Jest. But, Finding that He And The Publick Had No Sympathy Of
Mirth, He Tried at Lighter Scenes No More.
After The Royal Convert, 1714, Appeared jane Shore, Written, As Its
Author Professes, "In Imitation Of Shakespeare'S Style." In what He
Thought Himself An Imitator Of Shakespeare, It Is Not Easy To Conceive.
The Numbers, The Diction, The Sentiments, And The Conduct, Every Thing in
Which Imitation Can Consist, Are Remote, In the Utmost Degree, From The
Manner Of Shakespeare; Whose Dramas It Resembles Only As It Is An English
Story, And As Some Of The Persons Have Their Names In history. This Play,
Consisting chiefly Of Domestick Scenes And Private Distress, Lays Hold
Upon The Heart. The Wife Is Forgiven, Because She Repents, And The
Husband Is Honoured, Because He Forgives. This, Therefore, Is One Of
Those Pieces Which We Still Welcome On The Stage.
His Last Tragedy, 1715, Was Lady Jane Grey. This Subject Had Been Chosen
By Mr. Smith, Whose Papers Were Put Into Rowe'S Hands, Such As He
Describes Them In his Preface. This Play Has, Likewise, Sunk Into
Oblivion. From This Time He Gave Nothing more To The Stage.
Being, By A Competent Fortune, Exempted from Any Necessity Of Combating
His Inclination, He Never Wrote In distress, And, Therefore, Does Not
Appear To Have Ever Written In haste. His Works Were Finished to His Own
Approbation, And Bear Few Marks Of Negligence Or Hurry. It Is Remarkable,
That His Prologues And Epilogues Are All His Own, Though He Sometimes
Supplied others; He Afforded help, But Did Not Solicit It. As His Studies
Necessarily Made Him Acquainted with Shakespeare, And Acquaintance
Produced veneration, He Undertook, 1709, An Edition Of His Works, From
Which He Neither Received much Praise, Nor Seems To Have Expected it;
Yet, I Believe, Those Who Compare It With Former Copies Will Find, That
He Has Done More Than He Promised; And That, Without The Pomp Of Notes,
Or Boasts Of Criticism, Many Passages Are Happily Restored. He Prefixed
A Life Of The Author, Such As Tradition, Then Almost Expiring, Could
Supply, And A Preface[147], Which Cannot Be Said To Discover Much
Profundity Or Penetration. He, At Least, Contributed to The Popularity Of
His Author.
He Was Willing enough To Improve His Fortune By Other Arts Than Poetry.
He Was Under-Secretary, For Three Years, When The Duke Of Queensberry Was
Secretary Of State, And Afterwards Applied to The Earl Of Oxford For Some
Publick Employment[148]. Oxford Enjoined him To Study Spanish; And When,
Some Time Afterwards, He Came Again, And Said That He Had Mastered it,
Dismissed him, With This Congratulation: "Then, Sir, I Envy You The
Pleasure Of Reading don Quixote In the Original."
This Story Is Sufficiently Attested; But Why Oxford, Who Desired to
Be Thought A Favourer Of Literature, Should Thus Insult A Man Of
Acknowledged merit; Or How Rowe, Who Was So Keen A Whig[148], That He
Did Not Willingly Converse With Men Of The Opposite Party, Could Ask
Preferment From Oxford, It Is Not Now Possible To Discover. Pope, Who
Told The Story, Did Not Say On What Occasion The Advice Was Given; And,
Though He Owned rowe'S Disappointment, Doubted whether Any Injury Was
Intended him, But Thought It Rather Lord Oxford'S _Odd Way_.
It Is Likely That He Lived on Discontented through The Rest Of Queen
Anne'S Reign; But The Time Came, At Last, When He Found Kinder Friends.
At The Accession Of King george He Was Made Poet-Laureate; I Am Afraid,
By The Ejection Of Poor Nahum Tate, Who, 1716, Died in the Mint, Where
He Was Forced to Seek Shelter By Extreme Poverty[150]. He Was Made,
Likewise, One Of The Land-Surveyors Of The Customs Of The Port Of
London. The Prince Of Wales Chose Him Clerk Of His Council; And The Lord
Chancellor Parker, As Soon As He Received the Seals, Appointed him,
Unasked, Secretary Of The Presentations. Such An Accumulation Of
Employments Undoubtedly Produced a Very Considerable Revenue.
Having already Translated some Parts Of Lucan'S Pharsalia, Which Had Been
Published in the Miscellanies, And Doubtless Received many Praises, He
Undertook A Version Of The Whole Work, Which He Lived to Finish, But Not
To Publish. It Seems To Have Been Printed under The Care Of Dr. Welwood,
Who Prefixed the Author'S Life, In which Is Contained the Following
Character:
"As To His Person, It Was Graceful And Well Made; His Face Regular, And
Of A Manly Beauty. As His Soul Was Well Lodged, So Its Rational And
Animal Faculties Excelled in a High Degree. He Had A Quick And Fruitful
Invention, A Deep Penetration, And A Large Compass Of Thought, With
Singular Dexterity And Easiness In making his Thoughts To Be Understood.
He Was Master Of Most Parts Of Polite Learning, Especially The Classical
Authors, Both Greek And Latin; Understood The French, Italian, And
Spanish Languages; And Spoke The First Fluently, And The Other Two
Tolerably Well.
"He Had Likewise Read Most Of The Greek And Roman Histories In their
Original Languages, And Most That Are Wrote In english, French, Italian,
And Spanish. He Had A Good Taste In philosophy; And, Having a Firm
Impression Of Religion Upon His Mind, He Took Great Delight In divinity
And Ecclesiastical History, In both Which He Made Great Advances In the
Times He Retired into The Country, Which Were Frequent. He Expressed, On
All Occasions, His Full Persuasion Of The Truth Of Revealed religion; And
Being a Sincere Member Of The Established church Himself, He Pitied, But
Condemned not, Those That Dissented from It. He Abhorred the Principles
Of Persecuting men Upon The Account Of Their Opinions In religion; And,
Being strict In his Own, He Took It Not Upon Him To Censure Those Of
Another Persuasion. His Conversation Was Pleasant, Witty, And Learned,
Without The Least Tincture Of Affectation Or Pedantry; And His Inimitable
Manner Of Diverting and Enlivening the Company Made It Impossible For Any
One To Be Out Of Humour When He Was In it. Envy And Detraction Seemed to
Be Entirely Foreign To His Constitution; And Whatever Provocations He
Met With At Any Time, He Passed them Over Without The Least Thought Of
Resentment Or Revenge. As Homer Had A Zoilus, So Mr. Rowe Had Sometimes
His; For There Were Not Wanting malevolent People, And Pretenders To
Poetry Too, That Would Now And Then Bark At His Best Performances; But
He Was Conscious Of His Own Genius, And Had So Much Good-Nature As To
Forgive Them; Nor Could He Ever Be Tempted to Return Them An Answer.
"The Love Of Learning and Poetry Made Him Not The Less Fit For Business,
And Nobody Applied himself Closer To It, When It Required his Attendance.
The Late Duke Of Queensberry, When He Was Secretary Of State, Made Him
His Secretary For Publick Affairs; And When That Truly Great Man Came
To Know Him Well, He Was Never So Pleased as When Mr. Rowe Was In
His Company. After The Duke'S Death, All Avenues Were Stopped to His
Preferment; And, During the Rest Of That Reign, He Passed his Time With
The Muses And His Books, And Sometimes The Conversation Of His Friends.
"When He Had Just Got To Be Easy In his Fortune, And Was In a Fair Way To
Make It Better, Death Swept Him Away, And In him Deprived the World Of
One Of The Best Men, As Well As One Of The Best Geniuses Of The Age. He
Died like A Christian And A Philosopher, In charity With All Mankind,
And With An Absolute Resignation To The Will Of God. He Kept Up His
Good-Humour To The Last; And Took Leave Of His Wife And Friends
Immediately Before His Last Agony, With The Same Tranquillity Of Mind,
And The Same Indifference For Life, As Though He Had Been Upon Taking
But A Short Journey. He Was Twice Married; First To A Daughter Of Mr.
Parsons, One Of The Auditors Of The Revenue; And Afterwards To A Daughter
Of Mr. Devenish, Of A Good Family In dorsetshire[151]. By The First He
Had A Son; And By The Second A Daughter, Married afterwards To Mr. Fane.
He Died the Sixth Of December, 1718, In the Forty-Fifth Year Of His Age;
And Was Buried the Nineteenth Of The Same Month In westminster Abbey,
In The Aisle Where Many Of Our English Poets Are Interred, Over Against
Chaucer, His Body Being attended by A Select Number Of His Friends, And
The Dean And Choir Officiating at The Funeral."
To This Character, Which Is Apparently Given With The Fondness Of A
Friend, May Be Added the Testimony Of Pope, Who Says, In a Letter To
Blount: "Mr. Rowe Accompanied me, And Passed a Week In the Forest. I
Need not Tell You How Much A Man Of His Turn Entertained me; But I Must
Acquaint You, There Is A Vivacity And Gaiety Of Disposition, Almost
Peculiar To Him, Which Makes It Impossible To Part From Him Without That
Uneasiness Which Generally Succeeds All Our Pleasure."
Pope Has Left Behind Him Another Mention Of His Companion, Less
Advantageous, Which Is Thus Reported by Dr. Warburton.
"Rowe, In mr. Pope'S Opinion, Maintained a Decent Character, But Had No
Heart. Mr. Addison Was Justly Offended with Some Behaviour Which Arose
From That Want, And Estranged himself From Him; Which Rowe Felt
Very Severely. Mr. Pope, Their Common Friend, Knowing this, Took An
Opportunity, At Some Juncture Of Mr. Addison'S Advancement, To Tell Him
How Poor Rowe Was Grieved at His Displeasure, And What Satisfaction He
Expressed at Mr. Addison'S Good Fortune, Which He Expressed so Naturally,
That He (Mr. Pope) Could Not But Think Him Sincere. Mr. Addison Replied,
'I Do Not Suspect That He Feigned; But The Levity Of His Heart Is Such,
That He Is Struck With Any New Adventure; And It Would Affect Him Just In
The Same Manner, If He Heard I Was Going to Be Hanged.' Mr. Pope Said He
Could Not Deny But Mr. Addison Understood Rowe Well[152]."
This Censure Time Has Not Left Us The Power Of Confirming or Refuting;
But Observation Daily Shows, That Much Stress Is Not To Be Laid On
Hyperbolical Accusations, And Pointed sentences, Which Even He That
Utters Them Desires To Be Applauded rather Than Credited. Addison Can
Hardly Be Supposed to Have Meant All That He Said. Few Characters Can
Bear The Microscopick Scrutiny Of Wit Quickened by Anger; And, Perhaps,
The Best Advice To Authors Would Be, That They Should Keep Out Of The Way
Of One Another.
Rowe Is Chiefly To Be Considered as A Tragick Writer And A Translator. In
His Attempt At Comedy He Failed so Ignominiously, That His Biter Is Not
Inserted in his Works; And His Occasional Poems And Short Compositions
Are Rarely Worthy Of Either Praise Or Censure; For They Seem The Casual
Sports Of A Mind Seeking rather To Amuse Its Leisure Than To Exercise Its
Powers.
In The Construction Of His Dramas, There Is Not Much Art; He Is Not A
Nice Observer Of The Unities. He Extends Time And Varies Place As His
Convenience Requires. To Vary The Place Is Not, In my Opinion, Any
Violation Of Nature, If The Change Be Made Between The Acts; For It Is No
Less Easy For The Spectator To Suppose Himself At Athens In the Second
Act, Than
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