Lives Of The Poets, Vol. 1 (fiscle part-III), Samuel Johnson [good summer reads .TXT] 📗

That He Had It When His

Declining health Could Neither Allow Him Long Possession, Nor Quick

Enjoyment.

 

 

 

His Last Work Was His Tragedy, The Siege Of Damascus, After Which, A

Siege Became A Popular Title. This Play, Which Still Continues On The

Stage, And Of Which It Is Unnecessary To Add A Private Voice To Such

Continuance Of Approbation, Is Not Acted or Printed according to The

Author'S Original Draught, Or His Settled intention. He Had Made Phocyas

Apostatize From His Religion; After Which The Abhorrence Of Eudocia Would

Have Been Reasonable, His Misery Would Have Been Just, And The Horrours

Of His Repentance Exemplary. The Players, However, Required, That The

Guilt Of Phocyas Should Terminate In desertion To The Enemy; And Hughes,

Unwilling that His Relations Should Lose The Benefit Of His Work,

Complied with The Alteration.

 

 

 

He Was Now Weak With A Lingering consumption, And Not Able To Attend

The Rehearsal; Yet Was So Vigorous In his Faculties, That Only Ten Days

Before His Death He Wrote The Dedication To His Patron Lord Cowper. On

February 17, 1719-20, The Play Was Represented, And The Author Died.

He Lived to Hear That It Was Well Received; But Paid No Regard To

The Intelligence, Being then Wholly Employed in the Meditations Of A

Departing christian.

 

 

 

A Man Of His Character Was, Undoubtedly, Regretted; And Steele Devoted

An Essay, In the Paper Called the Theatre, To The Memory Of His Virtues.

His Life Is Written In the Biographia With Some Degree Of Favourable

Partiality; And An Account Of Him Is Prefixed to His Works By His

Relation, The Late Mr. Buncombe, A Man Whose Blameless Elegance Deserved

The Same Respect.

 

 

 

The Character Of His Genius I Shall Transcribe From The Correspondence Of

Swift And Pope.

 

 

 

"A Month Ago," Says Swift, "Were Sent Me Over, By A Friend Of Mine, The

Works Of John Hughes, Esquire. They Are In prose And Verse. I Never Heard

Of The Man In my Life, Yet I Find Your Name As A Subscriber. He Is Too

Grave A Poet For Me; And I Think Among The Mediocrists, In prose As Well

As Verse."

 

 

 

To This Pope Returns: "To Answer Your Question As To Mr. Hughes; What He

Wanted in genius, He Made Up As An Honest Man; But He Was Of The Class

You Think Him[206]."

 

 

 

In Spence'S Collections Pope Is Made To Speak Of Him With Still Less

Respect, As Having no Claim To Poetical Reputation But From His Tragedy.

 

 

 

[Footnote 205: He Was Educated in a Dissenting academy, Of Which The

Reverend Mr. Thomas Rowe Was Tutor; And Was A Fellow-Student There With

Dr. Isaac Watts, Mr. Samuel Say, And Other Persons Of Eminence. In the

Hora Lyricae Of Dr. Watts, Is A Poem To The Memory Of Mr. Rowe. H.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 206: This, Dr. Warton Asserts, Is Very Unjust Censure; And In a

Note In his Late Edition Of Pope'S Works, Asks If "The Author Of Such A

Tragedy As The Siege Of Damascus Was One Of The _Mediocribus_? Swift And

Pope Seem Not To Recollect The Value And Rank Of An Author Who Could

Write Such A Tragedy."]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheffield

Duke Of Buckinghamshire.

 

 

 

John Sheffield, Descended from A Long Series Of Illustrious Ancestors,

Was Born In 1649, The Son Of Edmund, Earl Of Mulgrave, Who Died in

1658[207]. The Young Lord Was Put Into The Hands Of A Tutor, With Whom He

Was So Little Satisfied, That He Got Rid Of Him In a Short Time, And, At

An Age Not Exceeding twelve Years, Resolved to Educate Himself. Such A

Purpose, Formed at Such An Age, And Successfully Prosecuted, Delights As

It Is Strange, And Instructs As It Is Real.

 

 

 

His Literary Acquisitions Are More Wonderful, As Those Years In which

They Are Commonly Made Were Spent By Him In the Tumult Of A Military

Life, Or The Gaiety Of A Court. When War Was Declared against The Dutch,

He Went, At Seventeen, On Board The Ship In which Prince Rupert And

The Duke Of Albemarle Sailed, With The Command Of The Fleet; But, By

Contrariety Of Winds, They Were Restrained from Action. His Zeal For The

King'S Service Was Recompensed by The Command Of One Of The Independent'

Troops Of Horse, Then Raised to Protect The Coast.

 

 

 

Next Year He Received a Summons To Parliament, Which, As He Was Then

But Eighteen Years Old, The Earl Of Northumberland Censured as At Least

Indecent, And His Objection Was Allowed. He Had A Quarrel With The Earl

Of Rochester, Which He Has, Perhaps, Too Ostentatiously Related, As

Rochester'S Surviving sister, The Lady Sandwich, Is Said To Have Told Him

With Very Sharp Reproaches.

 

 

 

When Another Dutch War, 1672, Broke Out, He Went Again A Volunteer In the

Ship Which The Celebrated lord Ossory Commanded; And There Made, As He

Relates, Two Curious Remarks.

 

 

 

 

"I Have Observed two Things, Which I Dare Affirm, Though Not Generally

Believed. One Was, That The Wind Of A Cannon Bullet, Though Flying never

So Near, Is Incapable Of Doing the Least Harm; And, Indeed, Were It

Otherwise, No Man Above Deck Would Escape. The Other Was, That A Great

Shot May Be Sometimes Avoided, Even As It Flies, By Changing one'S Ground

A Little; For, When The Wind Sometimes Blew Away The Smoke, It Was So

Clear A Sunshiny Day, That We Could Easily Perceive The Bullets, That

Were Half-Spent, Fall Into The Water, And From Thence Bound Up Again

Among Us, Which Gives Sufficient Time For Making a Step Or Two On Any

Side; Though, In so Swift A Motion, 'Tis Hard To Judge Well In what Line

The Bullet Comes, Which, If Mistaken, May, By Removing, Cost A Man His

Life, Instead Of Saving it."

 

 

 

His Behaviour Was So Favourably Represented by Lord Ossory, That He Was

Advanced to The Command Of The Catharine, The Best Second-Rate Ship In

The Navy.

 

 

 

He Afterwards Raised a Regiment Of Foot, And Commanded it As Colonel. The

Land-Forces Were Sent Ashore By Prince Rupert; And He Lived in the Camp

Very Familiarly With Schomberg. He Was Then Appointed colonel Of The Old

Holland Regiment, Together With His Own; And Had The Promise Of A Garter,

Which He Obtained in his Twenty-Fifth Year. He Was, Likewise, Made

Gentleman Of The Bedchamber. He Afterwards Went Into The French Service,

To Learn The Art Of War Under Turenne, But Staid Only A Short Time.

Being, By The Duke Of Monmouth, Opposed in his Pretensions To The First

Troop Of Horse-Guards, He, In return, Made Monmouth Suspected by The

Duke Of York. He Was Not Long After, When The Unlucky Monmouth Fell

Into Disgrace, Recompensed with The Lieutenancy Of Yorkshire And The

Government Of Hull.

 

 

 

Thus Rapidly Did He Make His Way Both To Military And Civil Honours And

Employments; Yet, Busy As He Was, He Did Not Neglect His Studies, But, At

Least, Cultivated poetry; In which He Must Have Been Early Considered as

Uncommonly Skilful, If It Be True Which Is Reported, That, When He Was

Yet Not Twenty Years Old, His Recommendation Advanced dryden To The

Laurel.

 

 

 

The Moors Having besieged tangier, He Was Sent, 1680, With Two Thousand

Men To Its Relief. A Strange Story Is Told Of Danger To Which He Was

Intentionally Exposed in a Leaky Ship, To Gratify Some Resentful Jealousy

Of The King, Whose Health He, Therefore, Would Never Permit At His

Table, Till He Saw Himself In a Safer Place. His Voyage Was Prosperously

Performed in three Weeks; And The Moors, Without A Contest, Retired

Before Him.

 

 

 

In This Voyage He Composed the Vision; A Licentious Poem, Such As Was

Fashionable In those Times, With Little Power Of Invention Or Propriety

Of Sentiment.

 

 

 

At His Return He Found The King kind, Who, Perhaps, Had Never Been Angry;

And He Continued a Wit And A Courtier, As Before.

 

 

 

At The Succession Of King james, To Whom He Was Intimately Known, And By

Whom He Thought Himself Beloved, He Naturally Expected still Brighter

Sunshine; But All Know How Soon That Reign Began To Gather Clouds. His

Expectations Were Not Disappointed; He Was Immediately Admitted into The

Privy Council, And Made Lord Chamberlain. He Accepted a Place In the High

Commission, Without Knowledge, As He Declared after The Revolution, Of

Its Illegality. Having few Religious Scruples, He Attended the King to

Mass, And Kneeled with The Rest, But Had No Disposition To Receive

The Romish Faith, Or To Force It Upon Others; For When The Priests,

Encouraged by His Appearances Of Compliance, Attempted to Convert Him,

He Told Them, As Burnet Has Recorded, That He Was Willing to Receive

Instruction, And That He Had Taken Much Pains To Believe In god, Who Made

The World And All Men In it; But That He Should Not Be Easily Persuaded

"That Man Was Quits, And Made God Again."

 

 

 

A Pointed sentence Is Bestowed by Successive Transmission On The Last

Whom It Will Fit: This Censure Of Transubstantiation, Whatever Be Its

Value, Was Uttered long Ago By Anne Askew, One Of The First Sufferers

For The Protestant Religion, Who, In the Time Of Henry The Eighth, Was

Tortured in the Tower; Concerning which There Is Reason To Wonder That It

Was Not Known To The Historian Of The Reformation.

 

 

 

In The Revolution He Acquiesced, Though He Did Not Promote It. There

Was Once A Design Of Associating him In the Invitation Of The Prince Of

Orange; But The Earl Of Shrewsbury Discouraged the Attempt, By Declaring

That Mulgrave Would Never Concur. This King william Afterwards Told Him;

And Asked what He Would Have Done If The Proposal Had Been Made? "Sir,"

Said He, "I Would Have Discovered it To The King whom I Then Served." To

Which King william Replied, "I Cannot Blame You."

 

 

 

Finding king james Irremediably Excluded, He Voted for The Conjunctive

Sovereignty, Upon This Principle, That He Thought The Titles Of The

Prince And His Consort Equal, And It Would Please The Prince, Their

Protector, To Have A Share In the Sovereignty. This Vote Gratified king

William; Yet, Either By The King'S Distrust Or His Own Discontent,

He Lived some Years Without Employment. He Looked on The King with

Malevolence, And, If His Verses Or His Prose May Be Credited, With

Contempt. He Was, Notwithstanding this Aversion Or Indifference, Made

Marquis Of Normanby, 1694; But Still Opposed the Court On Some Important

Questions; Yet, At Last, He Was Received into The Cabinet Council, With A

Pension Of Three Thousand Pounds.

 

 

 

At The Accession Of Queen Anne, Whom He Is Said To Have Courted when They

Were Both Young, He Was Highly Favoured. Before Her Coronation. 1702, She

Made Him Lord Privy Seal, And, Soon After, Lord Lieutenant Of The North

Riding of Yorkshire. He Was Then Named commissioner For Treating with The

Scots About The Union; And Was Made, Next Year, First, Duke Of Normanby,

And Then Of Buckinghamshire, There Being suspected to Be Somewhere A

Latent Claim To The Title Of Buckingham[208].

 

 

 

Soon After, Becoming jealous Of The Duke Of Marlborough, He Resigned the

Privy Seal, And Joined the Discontented tories In a Motion, Extremely

Offensive To The Queen, For Inviting the Princess Sophia To England.

The Queen Courted him Back With An Offer No Less Than That Of The

Chancellorship; Which He Refused. He Now Retired from Business, And Built

That House In the Park, Which Is Now The Queen'S, Upon Ground Granted by

The Crown.

 

 

 

When The Ministry Was Changed, 1710, He Was Made Lord Chamberlain Of The

Household, And Concurred in all Transactions Of That Time, Except That He

Endeavoured to Protect The Catalans. After The Queen'S Death, He Became

A Constant Opponent Of The Court; And, Having no Publick Business, Is

Supposed to Have Amused himself By Writing his Two Tragedies. He Died

February 24, 1720-21.

 

 

 

He Was Thrice Married; By His First Two Wives He Had No Children; By His

Third, Who Was The Daughter Of King james, By The Countess Of Dorchester,

And The Widow Of The Earl Of Anglesey, He Had, Besides Other Children

That Died early, A Son Born In 1716, Who Died in 1735, And Put An End To

The Line Of Sheffield. It Is Observable, That The Duke'S Three Wives Were

All Widows. The Dutchess Died in 1742.

 

 

 

His Character Is Not To Be Proposed as Worthy Of Imitation. His Religion

He May Be Supposed to Have Learned from Hobbes; And His Morality Was Such

As Naturally Proceeds From Loose Opinions. His Sentiments With Respect To

Women He Picked up In the Court Of Charles; And His Principles Concerning

Property Were Such As A Gaming-Table Supplies. He Was Censured as

Covetous, And Has Been Defended by An Instance Of Inattention To His

Affairs; As If A Man Might Not At Once Be Corrupted by Avarice And

Idleness. He Is Said, However, To Have Had Much Tenderness, And To Have

Been Very Ready To Apologize For His Violences Of Passion.

 

 

 

He Is Introduced into This Collection Only As A Poet; And, If We Credit

The Testimony Of His Contemporaries, He Was A Poet Of No Vulgar Rank. But

Favour And Flattery Are