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

Was

Written; And Halifax Expected the Author With His Book, And Had Prepared

To Reward Him With A Place Of Three Hundred pounds A Year. Smith, By

Pride, Or Caprice, Or Indolence, Or Bashfulness, Neglected to Attend Him,

Though Doubtless Warned and Pressed by His Friends, And, At Last, Missed

His Reward By Not Going to Solicit It.

 

 

 

Addison Has, In the Spectator, Mentioned the Neglect Of Smith'S Tragedy

As Disgraceful To The Nation, And Imputes It To The Fondness For Operas,

Then Prevailing. The Authority Of Addison Is Great; Yet The Voice Of The

People, When To Please The People Is The Purpose, Deserves Regard. In

This Question, I Cannot But Think The People In the Right. The Fable Is

Mythological, A Story Which We Are Accustomed to Reject As False; And The

Manners Are So Distant From Our Own, That We Know Them Not From Sympathy,

But By Study: The Ignorant Do Not Understand The Action; The Learned

Reject It As A Schoolboy'S Tale; "Incredulus Odi;" What I Cannot For A

Moment Believe, I Cannot For A Moment Behold With Interest Or Anxiety.

The Sentiments Thus Remote From Life Are Removed yet Further By The

Diction, Which Is Too Luxuriant And Splendid For Dialogue, And Envelopes

The Thoughts Rather Than Displays Them. It Is A Scholar'S Play, Such As

May Please The Reader Rather Than The Spectator; The Work Of A Vigorous

And Elegant Mind, Accustomed to Please Itself With Its Own Conceptions,

But Of Little Acquaintance With The Course Of Life.

 

 

 

Dennis Tells Us, In one Of His Pieces, That He Had Once A Design To Have

Written The Tragedy Of Phaedra; But Was Convinced that The Action Was Too

Mythological.

 

 

 

In 1709, A Year After The Exhibition Of Phaedra, Died john Philips, The

Friend And Fellow-Collegian Of Smith, Who, On That Occasion, Wrote A

Poem, Which Justice Must Place Among The Best Elegies Which Our Language

Can Show, An Elegant Mixture Of Fondness And Admiration, Of Dignity

And Softness. There Are Some Passages Too Ludicrous; But Every Human

Performance Has Its Faults.

 

 

 

This Elegy It Was The Mode Among His Friends To Purchase For A Guinea;

And, As His Acquaintance Was Numerous, It Was A Very Profitable Poem.

 

 

 

Of His Pindar, Mentioned by Oldisworth, I Have Never Otherwise Heard.

His Longinus He Intended to Accompany With Some Illustrations, And Had

Selected his Instances Of The False Sublime From The Works Of Blackmore.

 

 

 

He Resolved to Try Again The Fortune Of The Stage, With The Story Of Lady

Jane Grey. It Is Not Unlikely, That His Experience Of The Inefficacy And

Incredibility Of A Mythological Tale Might Determine Him To Choose An

Action From English History, At No Great Distance From Our Own Times,

Which Was To End In a Real Event, Produced by The Operation Of Known

Characters.

 

 

 

A Subject Will Not Easily Occur That Can Give More Opportunities

Of Informing the Understanding, For Which Smith Was Unquestionably

Qualified, Or For Moving the Passions, In which I Suspect Him To Have Had

Less Power.

 

 

 

Having formed his Plan, And Collected materials, He Declared, That A Few

Months Would Complete His Design; And, That He Might Pursue His Work With

Less Frequent Avocations, He Was, In june 1710, Invited, By Mr. George

Ducket To His House, At Gartham, In wiltshire. Here He Found Such

Opportunities Of Indulgence As Did Not Much Forward His Studies, And

Particularly Some Strong Ale, Too Delicious To Be Resisted. He Ate And

Drank Till He Found Himself Plethorick; And Then, Resolving to Ease

Himself By Evacuation, He Wrote To An Apothecary In the Neighbourhood A

Prescription Of A Purge So Forcible, That The Apothecary Thought It His

Duty To Delay It, Till He Had Given Notice Of Its Danger. Smith, Not

Pleased with The Contradiction Of A Shopman, And Boastful Of His Own

Knowledge, Treated the Notice With Rude Contempt, And Swallowed his Own

Medicine, Which, In july, 1710, Brought Him To The Grave. He Was Buried

At Gartham.

 

 

 

Many Years Afterwards, Ducket Communicated to Oldmixon, The Historian,

An Account, Pretended to Have Been Received from Smith, That Clarendon'S

History Was, In its Publication, Corrupted by Aldrich, Smalridge,

And Atterbury; And That Smith Was Employed to Forge And Insert The

Alterations.

 

 

 

This Story Was Published triumphantly By Oldmixon, And May Be Supposed

To Have Been Eagerly Received; But Its Progress Was Soon Checked; For,

Finding its Way Into The Journal Of Trevoux, It Fell Under The Eye Of

Atterbury, Then An Exile In france, Who Immediately Denied the Charge,

With This Remarkable Particular, That He Never, In his Whole Life, Had

Once Spoken To Smith[129]; His Company Being, As Must Be Inferred, Not

Accepted by Those Who Attended to Their Characters.

 

 

 

The Charge Was Afterwards Very Diligently Refuted, By Dr. Burton, Of

Eton, A Man Eminent For Literature, And, Though Not Of The Same Party

With Aldrich And Atterbury, Too Studious Of Truth To Leave Them Burdened

With A False Charge. The Testimonies Which He Has Collected have

Convinced mankind, That Either Smith Or Ducket Was Guilty Of Wilful And

Malicious Falsehood.

 

 

 

This Controversy Brought Into View Those Parts Of Smith'S Life, Which,

With More Honour To His Name, Might Have Been Concealed.

 

 

 

Of Smith I Can Yet Say A Little More. He Was A Man Of Such Estimation

Among His Companions, That The Casual Censures Or Praises, Which He

Dropped in conversation, Were Considered, Like Those Of Scaliger, As

Worthy Of Preservation.

 

 

 

He Had Great Readiness And Exactness Of Criticism, And, By A Cursory

Glance Over A New Composition, Would Exactly Tell All Its Faults And

Beauties.

 

 

 

He Was Remarkable For The Power Of Reading with Great Rapidity, And Of

Retaining, With Great Fidelity, What He So Easily Collected.

 

 

 

He, Therefore, Always Knew What The Present Question Required; And, When

His Friends Expressed their Wonder At His Acquisitions, Made In a State

Of Apparent Negligence And Drunkenness, He Never Discovered his Hours Of

Reading, Or Method Of Study, But Involved himself In affected silence,

And Fed his Own Vanity With Their Admiration And Conjectures.

 

 

 

One Practice He Had, Which Was Easily Observed: If Any Thought Or Image

Was Presented to His Mind, That He Could Use Or Improve, He Did Not

Suffer It To Be Lost; But, Amidst The Jollity Of A Tavern, Or In the

Warmth Of Conversation, Very Diligently Committed it To Paper.

 

 

 

Thus It Was That He Had Gathered two Quires Of Hints For His New Tragedy;

Of Which Howe, When They Were Put Into His Hands, Could Make, As He Says,

Very Little Use, But Which The Collector Considered as A Valuable Stock

Of Materials.

 

 

 

When He Came To London, His Way Of Life Connected him With The Licentious

And Dissolute; And He Affected the Airs And Gaiety Of A Man Of Pleasure;

But His Dress Was Always Deficient; Scholastick Cloudiness Still Hung

About Him; And His Merriment Was Sure To Produce The Scorn Of His

Companions.

 

 

 

With All His Carelessness And All His Vices, He Was One Of The Murmurers

At Fortune; And Wondered why He Was Suffered to Be Poor, When Addison Was

Caressed and Preferred; Nor Would A Very Little Have Contented him; For

He Estimated his Wants At Six Hundred pounds A Year.

 

 

 

In His Course Of Reading it Was Particular, That He Had Diligently

Perused, And Accurately Remembered, The Old Romances Of Knight-Errantry.

 

 

 

He Had A High Opinion Of His Own Merit, And Was Something contemptuous In

His Treatment Of Those Whom He Considered as Not Qualified to Oppose Or

Contradict Him. He Had Many Frailties; Yet It Cannot But Be Supposed that

He Had Great Merit, Who Could Obtain To The Same Play A Prologue From

Addison, And An Epilogue From Prior; And Who Could Have At Once The

Patronage Of Halifax, And The Praise Of Oldisworth.

 

 

 

For The Power Of Communicating these Minute Memorials, I Am Indebted

To My Conversation With Gilbert Walmsley[130], Late Registrar Of The

Ecclesiastical Court Of Lichfield, Who Was Acquainted both With Smith And

Ducket; And Declared, That, If The Tale Concerning clarendon Were Forged,

He Should Suspect Ducket Of The Falsehood, "For _Rag_ Was A Man Of Great

Veracity."

 

 

 

Of Gilbert Walmsley, Thus Presented to My Mind, Let Me Indulge Myself In

The Remembrance. I Knew Him Very Early: He Was One Of The First Friends

That Literature Procured me, And I Hope That, At Least, My Gratitude Made

Me Worthy Of His Notice.

 

 

 

He Was Of An Advanced age, And I Was Only Not A Boy; Yet He Never

Received my Notions With Contempt. He Was A Whig, With All The Virulence

And Malevolence Of His Party; Yet Difference Of Opinion Did Not Keep Us

Apart. I Honoured him, And He Endured me.

 

 

 

He Had Mingled with The Gay World, Without Exemption From Its Vices Or

Its Follies, But Had Never Neglected the Cultivation Of His Mind; His

Belief Of Revelation Was Unshaken; His Learning preserved his Principles;

He Grew First Regular, And Then Pious.

 

 

 

His Studies Had Been So Various, That I Am Not Able To Name A Man Of

Equal Knowledge. His Acquaintance With Books Was Great: And What He Did

Not Immediately Know, He Could, At Least, Tell Where To Find. Such Was

His Amplitude Of Learning, And Such His Copiousness Of Communication,

That It May Be Doubted whether A Day Now Passes In which I Have Not Some

Advantage From His Friendship.

 

 

 

At This Man'S Table I Enjoyed many Cheerful And Instructive Hours, With

Companions Such As Are Not Often Found; With One Who Has Lengthened, And

One Who Has Gladdened life; With Dr. James, Whose Skill In physick

Will Be Long Remembered; And With David Garrick, Whom I Hoped to Have

Gratified with This Character Of Our Common Friend; But What Are The

Hopes Of Man! I Am Disappointed by That Stroke Of Death, Which Has

Eclipsed the Gaiety Of Nations, And Impoverished the Publick Stock Of

Harmless Pleasure.

 

 

 

In The Library At Oxford Is The Following ludicrous Analysis Of

Pocockius:

 

 

 

 

Ex Autographo.

 

 

 

[Sent By The Author To Mr. Urry.]

 

 

 

Opusculum Hoc, Halberdarie Amplissime, In lucem Proferre Hactenus

Distuli, Judicii Tui Acumen Subveritus Magis Quam Bipennis. Tandem

Aliquando Oden Hanc Ad Te Mitto Sublimem, Teneram, Flebilem, Suavem,

Qualem Demum Divinus (Si Musis Vacaret) Scripsisset Gastrellus: Adeo

Scilicet Sublimem Ut Inter Legendum Dormire, Adeo Flebilem Ut Ridere

Velis. Cujus Elegantiam Ut Melius Inspicias, Versuum Ordinem Et Materiam

Breviter Referam. 1Mus Versus De Duobus Praeliis Decantatis. 2Dus Et 3Us

De Lotharingio, Cuniculis Subterraneis, Saxis, Ponto, Hostibus, Et

Asia. 4Tus Et 5Tus De Catenis, Sudibus, Uncis, Draconibus, Tigribus Et

Crocodilis. 6Us, 7Us, 8Us, 9Us De Gomorrha, De Babylone, Babele, Et

Quodam Domi Suae Peregrine. 10Us, Aliquid De Quodam Pocockio. 11Us, 12Us,

De Syria, Solyma. 13Us, 14Us, De Hosea, Et Quercu, Et De Juvene Quodam

Valde Sene. 15Us, 16Us, De Aetna, Et Quomodo Aetna Pocockio Sit Valde

Similis. 17Us, 18Us, De Tuba, Astro, Umbra, Flammis, Rotis, Pocockio Non

Neglecto. Caetera, De Christianis, Ottomanis, Babyloniis, Arabibus, Et

Gravissima Agrorum Melancholia; De Caesare, _Flacco_[131], Nestore,

Et Miserando Juvenis Cujusdam Florentissimi Fato, Anno Aetatis Suae

Centesimo Praemature Abrepti. Quae Omnia Cum Accurate Expenderis, Necesse

Est Ut Oden Hanc Meam Admiranda Plane Varietate Constare Fatearis.

Subito Ad Batavos Proficiscor, Lauro Ab Illis Donandus. Prius Vero

Pembrochienses Voco Ad Certamen Poeticum. Vale.

 

 

 

Illustrissima Tua Deosculor Crura.

 

 

 

E. Smith.

 

 

 

[Footnote 125: Dr. Ralph Bathurst, Whose Life And Literary Remains Were

Published in 1761, By Mr. Thomas Warton. C.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 126: By His Epitaph He Appears To Have Been Forty-Two Years Old

When He Died. He Was, Consequently, Born In the Year 1668. R.

 

 

 

He Was Born In 1662, As Appears From The Register Of Matriculations Among

The Archives Of The University Of Oxford.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 127: He Was Elected to Cambridge, 1688; But, As Has Been Before

Stated, Went To Oxford. J.B.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 128: Cowley On Sir R. Wotton. L. B.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 129: See Bishop Atterbury'S Epistolary Correspondence, 1799,

Vol. Iii. Pp. 126, 133. In the Same Work, Vol. I. P. 325, It Appears That

Smith Was At One Time Suspected, By Atterbury, To Have Been The Author Of

The Tale Of A Tub. N. See Idler, No. 65.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 130: See Prefatory Remarks To Irene, Vol. I. P. 25.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 131: Pro _Flacco_, Animo Paulo Attentiore, Scripsissem

_Marone_.]

 

Duke

Of Mr. Richard Duke I Can Find Few Memorials. He Was Bred at

Westminster[132] And Cambridge; And Jacob Relates, That He