Lives Of The Poets, Vol. 1 (fiscle part-III) - Samuel Johnson (classic books to read txt) 📗

Courtiers

Not To Favour Them.

 

 

 

When The Parliament Was Called in 1640, It Appeared that Waller'S

Political Character Had Not Been Mistaken. The King'S Demand Of A Supply

Produced one Of Those Noisy Speeches Which Disaffection And Discontent

Regularly Dictate; A Speech Filled with Hyperbolical Complaints Of

Imaginary Grievances: "They," Says He, "Who Think Themselves Already

Undone, Can Never Apprehend Themselves In danger; And They Who Have

Nothing left Can Never Give Freely." Political Truth Is Equally In danger

From The Praises Of Courtiers, And The Exclamations Of Patriots.

 

 

 

He Then Proceeds To Rail At The Clergy, Being sure, At That Time, Of A

Favourable Audience. His Topick Is Such As Will Always Serve Its Purpose;

An Accusation Of Acting and Preaching only For Preferment; And He Exhorts

The Commons "Carefully To Provide _For Their_ Protection Against Pulpit

Law."

 

 

 

It Always Gratifies Curiosity To Trace A Sentiment. Waller Has, In this

Speech, Quoted hooker In one Passage; And In another Has Copied him,

Without Quoting. "Religion," Says Waller, "Ought To Be The First Thing in

Our Purpose And Desires; But That Which Is First In dignity Is Not Always

To Precede In order Of Time; For Well-Being supposes A Being; And The

First Impediment Which Men Naturally Endeavour To Remove, Is The Want Of

Those Things Without Which They Cannot Subsist. God First Assigned

Unto Adam Maintenance Of Life, And Gave Him A Title To The Rest Of The

Creatures, Before He Appointed a Law To Observe."

 

 

 

"God First Assigned adam," Says Hooker, "Maintenance Of Life, And Then

Appointed him A Law To Observe. True It Is, That The Kingdom Of God

Must Be The First Thing in our Purpose And Desires; But, Inasmuch As A

Righteous Life Presupposeth Life, Inasmuch As To Live Virtuously It

Is Impossible, Except We Live; Therefore The First Impediment Which

Naturally We Endeavour To Remove Is Penury, And Want Of Things Without

Which We Cannot Live." Book I. Sect. 9.

 

 

 

The Speech Is Vehement; But The Great Position, That Grievances Ought To

Be Redressed, Before Supplies Are Granted, Is Agreeable Enough To Law And

Reason: Nor Was Waller, If His Biographer May Be Credited, Such An Enemy

To The King, As Not To Wish His Distresses Lightened; For He Relates,

"That The King sent Particularly To Waller, To Second His Demand Of Some

Subsidies To Pay Off The Army; And Sir Henry Vane Objecting against First

Voting a Supply, Because The King would Not Accept, Unless It Came Up

To His Proportion, Mr. Waller Spoke Earnestly To Sir Thomas Jermyn,

Comptroller Of The Household, To Save His Master From The Effects Of So

Bold A Falsity; 'For' He Said, 'I Am But A Country Gentleman, And Cannot

Pretend To Know The King'S Mind:' But Sir Thomas Durst Not Contradict

The Secretary; And His Son, The Earl Of St. Alban'S, Afterwards Told Mr.

Waller, That His Father'S Cowardice Ruined the King."

 

 

 

In The Long Parliament, Which, Unhappily For The Nation, Met Nov. 3,

1640, Waller Represented agmondesham The Third Time; And Was Considered,

By The Discontented party, As A Man Sufficiently Trusty And Acrimonious

To Be Employed in managing the Prosecution Of Judge Crawley, For His

Opinion In favour Of Ship-Money; And His Speech Shows That He Did Not

Disappoint Their Expectations. He Was, Probably, The More Ardent, As His

Uncle Hampden Had Been Particularly Engaged in the Dispute, And, By

A Sentence, Which Seems Generally To Be Thought Unconstitutional,

Particularly Injured.

 

 

 

He Was Not, However, A Bigot To His Party, Nor Adopted all Their

Opinions. When The Great Question, Whether Episcopacy Ought To Be

Abolished, Was Debated, He Spoke Against The Innovation So Coolly, So

Reasonably, And So Firmly, That It Is Not Without Great Injury To His

Name That His Speech, Which Was As Follows, Has Been Hitherto Omitted in

His Works[83]:

 

 

 

"There Is No Doubt But The Sense Of What This Nation Hath Suffered from

The Present Bishops Hath Produced these Complaints; And The Apprehensions

Men Have Of Suffering the Like, In time To Come, Make So Many Desire The

Taking away Of Episcopacy: But I Conceive It Is Possible That We May Not,

Now, Take A Right Measure Of The Minds Of The People By Their Petitions;

For, When They Subscribed them, The Bishops Were Armed with A Dangerous

Commission Of Making new Canons, Imposing new Oaths, And The Like; But

Now We Have Disarmed them Of That Power. These Petitioners Lately Did

Look Upon Episcopacy, As A Beast Armed with Horns And Claws; But Now That

We Have Cut And Pared them (And May, If We See Cause, Yet Reduce It Into

Narrower Bounds,) It May, Perhaps, Be More Agreeable. Howsoever, If They

Be Still In passion, It Becomes Us Soberly To Consider The Right Use And

Antiquity Thereof; And Not To Comply Further With A General Desire, Than

May Stand With A General Good.

 

 

 

"We Have Already Showed, That Episcopacy, And The Evils Thereof, Are

Mingled like Water And Oil; We Have Also, In part, Severed them; But, I

Believe, You Will Find, That Our Laws And The Present Government Of

The Church Are Mingled like Wine And Water; So Inseparable, That The

Abrogation Of, At Least, A Hundred of Our Laws Is Desired in these

Petitions. I Have Often Heard A Noble Answer Of The Lords, Commended in

This House, To A Proposition Of Like Nature, But Of Less Consequence;

They Gave No Other Reason Of Their Refusal But This, 'Nolumus Mutare

Leges Angliae:' It Was The Bishops Who So Answered then; And It Would

Become The Dignity And Wisdom Of This House To Answer The People Now With

A 'Nolumus Mutare.'

 

 

 

"I See Some Are Moved with A Number Of Hands Against The Bishops;

Which, I Confess, Rather Inclines Me To Their Defence; For I Look Upon

Episcopacy As A Counterscarp, Or Outwork; Which, If It Be Taken By This

Assault Of The People, And, Withal, This Mystery Once Revealed, 'That We

Must Deny Them Nothing, When They Ask It Thus In troops,' We May, In the

Next Place, Have As Hard A Task To Defend Our Property, As We Have Lately

Had To Recover It From The Prerogative. If, By Multiplying hands And

Petitions, They Prevail For An Equality In things Ecclesiastical, The

Next Demand, Perhaps, May Be 'Lex Agraria,' The Like Equality In things

Temporal.

 

 

 

"The Roman Story Tells Us, That When The People Began To Flock About The

Senate, And Were More Curious To Direct And Know What Was Done, Than To

Obey, That Commonwealth Soon Came To Ruin; Their 'Legem Rogare' Grew

Quickly To Be A 'Legem Ferre;' And After, When Their Legions Had Found

That They Could Make A Dictator, They Never Suffered the Senate To Have A

Voice Any More In such Election.

 

 

 

"If These Great Innovations Proceed, I Shall Expect A Flat And Level In

Learning too, As Well As In church-Preferments: 'Honos Alit Artes.' And

Though It Be True, That Grave And Pious Men Do Study For Learning-Sake,

And Embrace Virtue For Itself; Yet It Is As True That Youth, Which Is The

Season When Learning is Gotten, Is Not Without Ambition, Nor Will

Ever Take Pains To Excel In any Thing, When There Is Not Some Hope Of

Excelling others In reward And Dignity.

 

 

 

"There Are Two Reasons Chiefly Alleged against Our Church-Government.

 

 

 

"First, Scripture, Which, As Some Men Think, Points Out Another Form.

 

 

 

"Second, The Abuses Of The Present Superiours.

 

 

 

"For Scripture, I Will Not Dispute It In this Place; But I Am Confident

That, Whenever An Equal Division Of Lands And Goods Shall Be Desired,

There Will Be As Many Places In scripture Found Out, Which Seem To Favour

That, As There Are Now Alleged against The Prelacy Or Preferment In the

Church. And, As For Abuses, Where You Are Now In the Remonstrance Told

What This And That Poor Man Hath Suffered by The Bishops, You May Be

Presented with A Thousand Instances Of Poor Men That Have Received hard

Measure From Their Landlords; And Of Worldly Goods Abused, To The Injury

Of Others, And Disadvantage Of The Owners.

 

 

 

"And, Therefore, Mr. Speaker, My Humble Motion Is, That We May Settle

Men'S Minds Herein; And, By A Question, Declare Our Resolution, 'To

Reform,' That Is, 'Not To Abolish, Episcopacy.'"

 

 

 

It Cannot But Be Wished that He, Who Could Speak In this Manner, Had Been

Able To Act With Spirit And Uniformity.

 

 

 

When The Commons Began To Set The Royal Authority At Open Defiance,

Waller Is Said To Have Withdrawn From The House, And To Have Returned

With The King'S Permission; And, When The King set Up His Standard, He

Sent Him A Thousand Broad-Pieces. He Continued, However, To Sit In

The Rebellious Conventicle; But "Spoke," Says Clarendon, "With Great

Sharpness And Freedom, Which, Now There Was No Danger Of Being outvoted,

Was Not Restrained; And, Therefore, Used as An Argument Against Those Who

Were Gone, Upon Pretence That They Were Not Suffered to Deliver Their

Opinion Freely In the House, Which Could Not Be Believed, When All Men

Knew What Liberty Mr. Waller Took, And Spoke Every Day With Impunity

Against The Sense And Proceedings Of The House."

 

 

 

Waller, As He Continued to Sit, Was One Of The Commissioners Nominated

By The Parliament To Treat With The King at Oxford; And, When They Were

Presented, The King said To Him, "Though You Are The Last, You Are Not

The Lowest, Nor The Least In my Favour." Whitlock, Who, Being another Of

The Commissioners, Was Witness Of This Kindness, Imputes It To The King'S

Knowledge Of The Plot, In which Waller Appeared afterwards To Have Been

Engaged against The Parliament. Fenton, With Equal Probability, Believes

That His Attempt To Promote The Royal Cause Arose From His Sensibility Of

The King'S Tenderness. Whitlock Says Nothing of His Behaviour At Oxford:

He Was Sent With Several Others To Add Pomp To The Commission, But Was

Not One Of Those To Whom The Trust Of Treating was Imparted.

 

 

 

The Engagement, Known By The Name Of Waller'S Plot, Was Soon Afterwards

Discovered. Waller Had A Brother-In-Law, Tomkyns, Who Was Clerk Of The

Queen'S Council, And, At The Same Time, Had A Very Numerous Acquaintance,

And Great Influence, In the City. Waller And He, Conversing with Great

Confidence, Told Both Their Own Secrets And Those Of Their Friends; And,

Surveying the Wide Extent Of Their Conversation, Imagined that They

Found, In the Majority Of All Ranks, Great Disapprobation Of The Violence

Of The Commons, And Unwillingness To Continue The War. They Knew That

Many Favoured the King, Whose Fear Concealed their Loyalty; And Many

Desired peace, Though They Durst Not Oppose The Clamour For War; And They

Imagined that, If Those Who Had These Good Intentions Could Be Informed

Of Their Own Strength, And Enabled by Intelligence To Act Together, They

Might Overpower The Fury Of Sedition, By Refusing to Comply With The

Ordinance For The Twentieth Part, And The Other Taxes Levied for The

Support Of The Rebel Army, And By Uniting great Numbers In a Petition For

Peace. They Proceeded with Great Caution. Three Only Met In one Place,

And No Man Was Allowed to Impart The Plot To More Than Two Others; So

That, If Any Should Be Suspected or Seized, More Than Three Could Not Be

Endangered.

 

 

 

Lord Conway Joined in the Design, And, Clarendon Imagines, Incidentally

Mingled, As He Was A Soldier, Some Martial Hopes Or Projects, Which,

However, Were Only Mentioned, The Main Design Being to Bring the Loyal

Inhabitants To The Knowledge Of Each Other; For Which Purpose There Was

To Be Appointed one In every District, To Distinguish The Friends Of The

King, The Adherents To The Parliament, And The Neutrals. How Far

They Proceeded does Not Appear; The Result Of Their Inquiry, As Pym

Declared[84], Was, That Within The Walls, For One That Was For The

Royalists, There Were Three Against Them; But That Without The Walls, For

One That Was Against Them, There Were Five For Them. Whether This Was

Said From Knowledge Or Guess, Was, Perhaps, Never Inquired.

 

 

 

It Is The Opinion Of Clarendon, That In waller'S Plan No Violence Or

Sanguinary Resistance Was Comprised; That He Intended only To Abate The

Confidence Of The Rebels By Publick Declarations, And To Weaken Their

Powers By An Opposition To New Supplies. This, In calmer Times, And

More Than This, Is Done Without Fear; But Such Was The Acrimony Of The

Commons, That No Method Of Obstructing them Was Safe.

 

 

 

About This Time, Another Design Was Formed by Sir Nicholas Crispe, A Man

Of Loyalty That Deserves Perpetual Remembrance: When He Was A Merchant

In The City, He Gave And Procured the King, In his Exigencies, A Hundred

Thousand Pounds; And, When He Was Driven From The Exchange, Raised a

Regiment, And Commanded it.

 

 

 

Sir Nicholas Flattered himself With An Opinion, That Some Provocation

Would So Much Exasperate, Or Some Opportunity So Much Encourage, The

King'S Friends In the City, That They Would Break Out In open Resistance,

And Then Would Want Only A Lawful Standard, And An Authorized commander;

And Extorted from