Lives Of The Poets, Vol. 1 (fiscle part-III), Samuel Johnson [good summer reads .TXT] 📗
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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
Frolick 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 Elegancies 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 Budgel, 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 Topicks Were Happily Varied with Elegant Fictions And Refined
Allegories, And Illuminated with Different Changes Of Style And
Felicities Of Invention.
It Is Recorded by Budgel, 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 Discriminated idea[173], 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 Solo Nacio Don Quixote, Y Yo Para El," Made Addison Declare, With An
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 Half-Penny A
Paper, Will Give Sixteen Hundred and Eighty[174] 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 Climacterick Of Addison'S Reputation. Upon The Death Of Cato, He
Had, As Is Said, Planned a Tragedy In the Time Of His Travels[175], And
Had, For Several Years, The First Four 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[176]. Hughes Supposed him Serious; And, Undertaking
The Supplement, Brought, In a Few Days, Some Scenes For His Examination;
But He Had, In the Mean Time, 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 Publick 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, "Britons, Arise, Be
Worth Like This Approved;" Meaning nothing more Than, Britons, Erect
And Exalt Yourselves To The Approbation Of Publick Virtue. Addison Was
Frighted lest He Should Be Thought A Promoter Of Insurrection, And The
Line Was Liquidated to "Britons, 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[177], Had Been Tried, For The First Time, In favour Of The Distrest
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[178].
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 Publick 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 Critick 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[179], 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
Extrinsick And Adventitious; For, If It Were Taken Away, What Would Be
Left? Or How Were The Four Acts Filled in the First Draught?
At The Publication The Wits Seemed proud To Pay Their Attendance With
Encomiastick 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 Deschamps, A French Poet,
Which Was Translated with A Criticism On The English Play. But The
Translator And The Critick 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 Publick 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[180]. 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 Politicks On Fire, And Wit At Once Blazed
Into Faction. He Was Soon Too Hot For Neutral Topicks, And Quitted the
Guardian To Write The Englishman.
The Papers Of Addison Are Marked
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