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

By Afra Behn, In an Address To Eleanor Gwyn. When Once He Has

Undertaken The Task Of Praise, He No Longer Retains Shame In himself, Nor

Supposes It In his Patron. As Many Odoriferous Bodies Are Observed to

Diffuse Perfumes, From Year To Year, Without Sensible Diminution Of Bulk

Or Weight, He Appears Never To Have Impoverished his Mint Of Flattery

By His Expenses, However Lavish. He Had All The Forms Of Excellence,

Intellectual And Moral, Combined in his Mind, With Endless Variation;

And, When He Had Scattered on The Hero Of The Day The Golden Shower Of

Wit And Virtue, He Had Ready For Him Whom He Wished to Court On The

Morrow, New Wit And Virtue With Another Stamp. Of This Kind Of Meanness

He Never Seems To Decline The Practice, Or Lament The Necessity: He

Considers The Great As Entitled to Encomiastick Homage, And Brings Praise

Rather As A Tribute Than A Gift, More Delighted with The Fertility Of His

Invention, Than Mortified by The Prostitution Of His Judgment. It Is,

Indeed, Not Certain, That On These Occasions His Judgment Much Rebelled

Against His Interest. There Are Minds Which Easily Sink Into Submission,

That Look On Grandeur With Undistinguishing reverence, And Discover No

Defect Where There Is Elevation Of Rank And Affluence Of Riches.

 

 

 

With His Praises Of Others, And Of Himself, Is Always Intermingled a

Strain Of Discontent And Lamentation, A Sullen Growl Of Resentment, Or

A Querulous Murmur Of Distress. His Works Are Undervalued, His Merit Is

Unrewarded, And "He Has Few Thanks To Pay His Stars That He Was Born

Among Englishmen." To His Criticks He Is Sometimes Contemptuous,

Sometimes Resentful, And Sometimes Submissive. The Writer Who Thinks His

Works Formed for Duration, Mistakes His Interest When He Mentions His

Enemies. He Degrades His Own Dignity By Showing that He Was Affected by

Their Censures, And Gives Lasting importance To Names, Which, Left To

Themselves, Would Vanish From Remembrance. From This Principle Dryden Did

Not Often Depart; His Complaints Are, For The Greater Part, General; He

Seldom Pollutes His Page With An Adverse Name. He Condescended, Indeed,

To A Controversy With Settle, In which He, Perhaps, May Be Considered

Rather As Assaulting than Repelling; And Since Settle Is Sunk Into

Oblivion, His Libel Remains Injurious Only To Himself.

 

 

 

Among Answers To Criticks, No Poetical Attacks, Or Altercations, Are To

Be Included; They Are, Like Other Poems, Effusions Of Genius, Produced as

Much To Obtain Praise As To Obviate Censure. These Dryden Practised, And

In These He Excelled.

 

 

 

Of Collier, Blackmore, And Milbourne, He Has Made Mention In the Preface

To His Fables. To The Censure Of Collier, Whose Remarks May Be Rather

Termed admonitions Than Criticisms, He Makes Little Reply; Being, At

The Age Of Sixty-Eight, Attentive To Better Things Than The Claps Of A

Playhouse. He Complains Of Collier'S Rudeness, And The "Horseplay Of His

Raillery;" And Asserts, That "In Many Places He Has Perverted by His

Glosses The Meaning" Of What He Censures; But In other Things He

Confesses That He Is Justly Taxed; And Says, With Great Calmness And

Candour, "I Have Pleaded guilty To All Thoughts Or Expressions Of Mine

That Can Be Truly Accused of Obscenity, Immorality, Or Profaneness, And

Retract Them. If He Be My Enemy, Let Him Triumph; If He Be My Friend,

He Will Be Glad Of My Repentance." Yet, As Our Best Dispositions Are

Imperfect, He Left Standing in the Same Book A Reflection On Collier Of

Great Asperity, And, Indeed, Of More Asperity Than Wit.

 

 

 

Blackmore He Represents As Made His Enemy By The Poem Of Absalom And

Achitophel, Which "He Thinks A Little Hard Upon His Fanatick Patrons;"

And Charges Him With Borrowing the Plan Of His Arthur From The Preface To

Juvenal, "Though He Had," Says He, "The Baseness Not To Acknowledge His

Benefactor, But Instead Of It To Traduce Me In a Libel."

 

 

 

The Libel In which Blackmore Traduced him, Was A Satire Upon Wit; In

Which, Having lamented the Exuberance Of False Wit, And The Deficiency Of

True, He Proposes That All Wit Should Be Recoined before It Is Current,

And Appoints Masters Of Assay Who Shall Reject All That Is Light Or

Debased:

 

 

 

  'Tis True, That, When The Coarse And Worthless Dross

  Is Purg'D Away, There Will Be Mighty Loss:

  E'En Congreve, Southern, Manly Wycherley,

  When Thus Refin'D, Will Grievous Sufferers Be;

  Into The Melting-Pot When Dryden Comes,

  What Horrid Stench Will Rise, What Noisome Fumes!

  How Will He Shrink, When All His Lewd Allay,

  And Wicked mixture, Shall Be Purg'D Away!

 

 

 

Thus Stands The Passage In the Last Edition; But In the Original There

Was An Abatement Of The Censure, Beginning thus:

 

 

 

  But What Remains Will Be So Pure, 'Twill Bear

  Th' Examination Of The Most Severe.

 

 

 

Blackmore, Finding the Censure Resented, And The Civility Disregarded,

Ungenerously Omitted the Softer Part. Such Variations Discover A Writer

Who Consults His Passions More Than His Virtue; And It May Be Reasonably

Supposed that Dryden Imputes His Enmity To Its True Cause.

 

 

 

Of Milbourne He Wrote Only In general Terms, Such As Are Always Ready

At The Call Of Anger, Whether Just Or Not: A Short Extract Will Be

Sufficient. "He Pretends A Quarrel To Me, That I Have Fallen Foul Upon

Priesthood; If I Have, I Am Only To Ask Pardon Of Good Priests, And

Am Afraid His Share Of The Reparation Will Come To Little. Let Him Be

Satisfied that He Shall Never Be Able To Force Himself Upon Me For An

Adversary; I Contemn Him Too Much To Enter Into Competition With Him.

 

 

 

"As For The Rest Of Those Who Have Written Against Me, They Are Such

Scoundrels That They Deserve Not The Least Notice To Be Taken Of Them.

Blackmore And Milbourne Are Only Distinguished from The Crowd By Being

Remembered to Their Infamy."

 

 

 

Dryden, Indeed, Discovered, In many Of His Writings, An Affected and

Absurd Malignity To Priests And Priesthood, Which Naturally Raised him

Many Enemies, And Which Was Sometimes As Unseasonably Resented as It Was

Exerted. Trapp Is Angry That He Calls The Sacrificer In the Georgicks

"The Holy Butcher:" The Translation Is, Indeed, Ridiculous; But Trapp'S

Anger Arises From His Zeal, Not For The Author, But The Priest; As If Any

Reproach Of The Follies Of Paganism Could Be Extended to The Preachers Of

Truth.

 

 

 

Dryden'S Dislike Of The Priesthood Is Imputed by Langbaine, And, I Think,

By Brown, To A Repulse Which He Suffered when He Solicited ordination;

But He Denies, In the Preface To His Fables, That He Ever Designed to

Enter Into The Church; And Such A Denial He Would Not Have Hazarded, If

He Could Have Been Convicted of Falsehood.

 

 

 

Malevolence To The Clergy Is Seldom At A Great Distance From Irreverence

Of Religion, And Dryden Affords No Exception To This Observation. His

Writings Exhibit Many Passages, Which, With All The Allowance That Can

Be Made For Characters And Occasions, Are Such As Piety Would Not Have

Admitted, And Such As May Vitiate Light And Unprincipled minds. But There

Is No Reason For Supposing that He Disbelieved the Religion Which He

Disobeyed. He Forgot His Duty Rather Than Disowned it. His Tendency To

Profaneness Is The Effect Of Levity, Negligence, And Loose Conversation,

With A Desire Of Accommodating himself To The Corruption Of The Times, By

Venturing to Be Wicked as Far As He Durst. When He Professed himself A

Convert To Popery, He Did Not Pretend To Have Received any New Conviction

Of The Fundamental Doctrines Of Christianity.

 

 

 

The Persecution Of Criticks Was Not The Worst Of His Vexations; He Was

Much More Disturbed by The Importunities Of Want. His Complaints Of

Poverty Are So Frequently Repeated, Either With The Dejection Of Weakness

Sinking in helpless Misery, Or The Indignation Of Merit Claiming its

Tribute From Mankind, That It Is Impossible Not To Detest The Age Which

Could Impose On Such A Man The Necessity Of Such Solicitations, Or Not To

Despise The Man Who Could Submit To Such Solicitations Without Necessity.

 

 

 

Whether By The World'S Neglect, Or His Own Imprudence, I Am Afraid That

The Greatest Part Of His Life Was Passed in exigencies. Such Outcries

Were, Surely, Never Uttered but In severe Pain. Of His Supplies Or His

Expenses No Probable Estimate Can Now Be Made. Except The Salary Of

The Laureate, To Which King james Added the Office Of Historiographer,

Perhaps With Some Additional Emoluments, His Whole Revenue Seems To Have

Been Casual; And It Is Well Known That He Seldom Lives Frugally Who Lives

By Chance. Hope Is Always Liberal; And They That Trust Her Promises Make

Little Scruple Of Revelling to-Day On The Profits Of The Morrow.

 

 

 

Of His Plays The Profit Was Not Great; And Of The Produce Of His Other

Works Very Little Intelligence Can Be Had. By Discoursing with The

Late Amiable Mr. Tonson, I Could Not Find That Any Memorials Of The

Transactions Between His Predecessor And Dryden Had Been Preserved,

Except The Following papers:

 

 

 

"I Do Hereby Promise To Pay John Dryden, Esq. Or Order, On The 25Th Of

March, 1699, The Sum Of Two Hundred and Fifty Guineas, In consideration

Of Ten Thousand Verses, Which The Said John Dryden, Esq. Is To Deliver

To Me, Jacob Tonson, When Finished, Whereof Seven Thousand Five Hundred

Verses, More Or Less, Are Already In the Said Jacob Tonson'S Possession.

And I Do Hereby Further Promise And Engage Myself, To Make Up The Said

Sum Of Two Hundred and Fifty Guineas Three Hundred pounds Sterling to The

Said John Dryden, Esq. His Executors, Administrators, Or Assigns, At The

Beginning of The Second Impression Of The Said Ten Thousand Verses.

 

 

 

"In Witness Whereof I Have Hereunto Set My Hand And Seal, This 20Th Day

Of March, 1698-9.

 

 

 

"Jacob Tonson.

 

 

 

  "Sealed and Delivered, Being

  First Duly Stampt, Pursuant

  To The Acts Of Parliament For

  That Purpose, In the Presence

  Of

  "Ben. Portlock,

  "Will. Congreve."

 

 

 

  "March 24, 1698.

 

 

 

"Received then Of Mr. Jacob Tonson The Sum Of Two Hundred sixty-Eight

Pounds Fifteen Shillings, In pursuance Of An Agreement For Ten Thousand

Verses, To Be Delivered by Me To The Said Jacob Tonson, Whereof I Have

Already Delivered to Him About Seven Thousand Five Hundred, More Or Less;

He, The Said Jacob Tonson, Being obliged to Make Up The Foresaid Sum Of

Two Hundred sixty-Eight Pounds Fifteen Shillings Three Hundred pounds,

At The Beginning of The Second Impression Of The Foresaid Ten Thousand

Verses;

 

 

 

"I Say, Received by Me,

 

 

 

"John Dryden.

 

 

 

"Witness, Charles Dryden."

 

 

 

Two Hundred and Fifty Guineas, At 1_L_, 1_S_. 6_D_. Is 268_L_. 15_S_.

 

 

 

It Is Manifest, From The Dates Of This Contract, That It Relates To The

Volume Of Fables, Which Contains About Twelve Thousand Verses, And For

Which, Therefore, The Payment Must Have Been Afterwards Enlarged.

 

 

 

I Have Been Told Of Another Letter Yet Remaining, In which He Desires

Tonson To Bring him Money, To Pay For A Watch Which He Had Ordered for

His Son, And Which The Maker Would Not Leave Without The Price.

 

 

 

The Inevitable Consequence Of Poverty Is Dependence. Dryden Had Probably

No Recourse In his Exigencies But To His Bookseller. The Particular

Character Of Tonson I Do Not Know; But The General Conduct Of Traders

Was Much Less Liberal In those Times Than In our Own; Their Views Were

Narrower, And Their Manners Grosser. To The Mercantile Ruggedness Of That

Race, The Delicacy Of The Poet Was Sometimes Exposed. Lord Bolingbroke,

Who In his Youth Had Cultivated poetry, Related to Dr. King, Of

Oxford, That One Day, When He Visited dryden, They Heard, As They Were

Conversing, Another Person Entering the House. "This," Said Dryden, "Is

Tonson. You Will Take Care Not To Depart Before He Goes Away; For I

Have Not Completed the Sheet Which I Promised him; And If You Leave Me

Unprotected, I Must Suffer All The Rudeness To Which His Resentment Can

Prompt His Tongue."

 

 

 

What Rewards He Obtained for His Poems, Besides The Payment Of The

Bookseller, Cannot Be Known. Mr. Derrick, Who Consulted some Of His

Relations, Was Informed that His Fables Obtained five Hundred pounds From

The Dutchess Of Ormond; A Present Not Unsuitable To The Magnificence Of

That Splendid Family; And He Quotes Moyle, As Relating that Forty Pounds

Were Paid By A Musical Society For The Use Of Alexander'S Feast.

 

 

 

In Those Days The Economy Of Government Was Yet Unsettled, And The

Payments Of The Exchequer Were Dilatory And Uncertain: Of This Disorder

There Is Reason To Believe That The Laureate Sometimes Felt The Effects;

For, In one Of His Prefaces He Complains Of Those, Who, Being intrusted

With The Distribution Of The Prince'S Bounty, Suffer Those That Depend

Upon It To Languish In penury.

 

 

 

Of His Petty Habits Or Slight Amusements, Tradition Has Retained little.

Of The Only Two Men, Whom I Have Found, To Whom He Was Personally Known,

One Told Me, That At The House Which He Frequented, Called will'S

Coffee-House, The Appeal Upon Any Literary Dispute Was Made To Him;

And The Other Related, That His Armed