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

Was Some Time

Tutor To The Duke Of Richmond.

 

 

 

He Appears, From His Writings, To Have Been Not Ill Qualified for

Poetical Compositions; And Being conscious Of His Powers, When He Left

The University, He Enlisted himself Among The Wits[133]. He Was The

Familiar Friend Of Otway; And Was Engaged, Among Other Popular Names, In

The Translations Of Ovid And Juvenal. In his Review, Though Unfinished,

Are Some Vigorous Lines. His Poems Are Not Below Mediocrity; Nor Have I

Found Much In them To Be Praised[134].

 

 

 

With The Wit He Seems To Have Shared the Dissoluteness Of The Times;

For Some Of His Compositions Are Such As He Must Have Reviewed with

Detestation In his Later Days, When He Published those Sermons Which

Felton Has Commended.

 

 

 

Perhaps, Like Some Other Foolish Young Men, He Rather Talked than Lived

Vitiously, In an Age When He That Would Be Thought A Wit Was Afraid To

Say His Prayers; And Whatever Might Have Been Bad In the First Part Of

His Life, Was Surely Condemned and Reformed by His Better Judgment.

 

 

 

In 1683, Being then Master Of Arts And Fellow Of Trinity College In

Cambridge, He Wrote A Poem, On The Marriage Of The Lady Anne With George,

Prince Of Denmark. He Took Orders[135]; And, Being made Prebendary Of

Gloucester, Became A Proctor In convocation For That Church, And Chaplain

To Queen Anne.

 

 

 

In 1710, He Was Presented, By The Bishop Of Winchester, To The Wealthy

Living of Witney, In oxfordshire, Which He Enjoyed but A Few Months. On

February 10, 1710-11, Having returned from An Entertainment, He Was Found

Dead The Next Morning. His Death Is Mentioned in swift'S Journal.

 

 

 

[Footnote 132: He Was Admitted there In 1670; Was Elected to Trinity

College, Cambridge, In 1675; And Took His Master'S Degree In 1682. N.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 133: Floriana, A Pastoral, On The Death Of The Dutchess Of

Southampton, Published anonymously In folio, May 17, 1681, Was Written By

Richard Duke. M.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 134: They Make A Part Of A Volume Published by Tonson In 8Vo.

1717, Containing the Poems Of The Earl Of Roscommon, And The Duke Of

Buckingham'S Essay On Poetry; But Were First Published in dryden'S

Miscellany, As Were Most, If Not All, Of The Poems In that Collection.

H.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 135: He Was Presented to The Rectory Of Blaby, In

Leicestershire, In 1687-8; And Obtained a Prebend At Gloucester In 1688.

N.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

King

 

 

William King was Born In london In 1663; The Son Of Ezekiel King, A

Gentleman. He Was Allied to The Family Of Clarendon.

 

 

 

From Westminster School, Where He Was A Scholar On The Foundation, Under

The Care Of Dr. Busby, He Was, At Eighteen, Elected to Christ Church,

In 1681; Where He Is Said To Have Prosecuted his Studies With So Much

Intenseness And Activity, That Before He Was Eight Years Standing he Had

Read Over, And Made Remarks Upon, Twenty-Two Thousand Odd Hundred books

And Manuscripts[136]. The Books Were Certainly Not Very Long, The

Manuscripts Not Very Difficult, Nor The Remarks Very Large; For The

Calculator Will Find That He Despatched seven A Day For Every Day Of His

Eight Years, With A Remnant That More Than Satisfies Most Other Students.

He Took His Degree In the Most Expensive Manner, As A Grand Compounder;

Whence It Is Inferred that He Inherited a Considerable Fortune.

 

 

 

In 1688, The Same Year In which He Was Made Master Of Arts, He Published

A Confutation Of Varillas'S Account Of Wickliffe; And, Engaging in the

Study Of The Civil Law, Became Doctor In 1692, And Was Admitted advocate

At Doctors' Commons.

 

 

 

He Had Already Made Some Translations From The French, And Written Some

Humorous And Satirical Pieces; When, In 1694, Molesworth Published his

Account Of Denmark, In which He Treats The Danes And Their Monarch With

Great Contempt; And Takes The Opportunity Of Insinuating those Wild

Principles, By Which He Supposes Liberty To Be Established, And By

Which His Adversaries Suspect That All Subordination And Government Is

Endangered.

 

 

 

This Book Offended prince George; And The Danish Minister Presented a

Memorial Against It. The Principles Of Its Author Did Not Please Dr.

King; And, Therefore, He Undertook To Confute Part, And Laugh At The

Rest. The Controversy Is Now Forgotten; And Books Of This Kind Seldom

Live Long, When Interest And Resentment Have Ceased.

 

 

 

In 1697, He Mingled in the Controversy Between Boyle And Bentley; And Was

One Of Those Who Tried what Wit Could Perform In opposition To Learning;

On A Question Which Learning only Could Decide.

 

 

 

In 1699, Was Published by Him, A Journey To London, After The Method Of

Dr. Martin Lister, Who Had Published a Journey To Paris. And, In 1700, He

Satirized the Royal Society, At Least Sir Hans Sloane, Their President,

In Two Dialogues, Entitled the Transactioneer.

 

 

 

Though He Was A Regular Advocate In the Courts Of Civil And Canon Law,

He Did Not Love His Profession, Nor, Indeed, Any Kind Of Business Which

Interrupted his Voluptuary Dreams, Or Forced him To Rouse From That

Indulgence In which Only He Could Find Delight. His Reputation, As A

Civilian, Was Yet Maintained by His Judgments In the Courts Of Delegates,

And Raised very High By The Address And Knowledge Which He Discovered in

1700, When He Defended the Earl Of Anglesea Against His Lady, Afterwards

Dutchess Of Buckinghamshire, Who Sued for A Divorce, And Obtained it.

 

 

 

The Expense Of His Pleasures, And Neglect Of Business, Had Now Lessened

His Revenues; And He Was Willing to Accept Of A Settlement In ireland,

Where, About 1702, He Was Made Judge Of The Admiralty, Commissioner

Of The Prizes, Keeper Of The Records In birmingham'S Tower, And

Vicar-General To Dr. Marsh, The Primate.

 

 

 

But It Is Vain To Put Wealth Within The Reach Of Him Who Will Not

Stretch Out His Hand To Take It. King soon Found A Friend, As Idle And

Thoughtless As Himself, In upton, One Of The Judges, Who Had A Pleasant

House Called mountown, Near Dublin, To Which King frequently Retired;

Delighting to Neglect His Interest, Forget His Cares, And Desert His

Duty.

 

 

 

Here He Wrote Mully Of Mountown, A Poem; By Which, Though Fanciful

Readers, In the Pride Of Sagacity, Have Given It A Political

Interpretation, Was Meant Originally No More Than It Expressed, As It Was

Dictated only By The Author'S Delight In the Quiet Of Mountown.

 

 

 

In 1708, When Lord Wharton Was Sent To Govern Ireland, King returned to

London, With His Poverty, His Idleness, And His Wit; And Published some

Essays, Called useful Transactions. His Voyage To The Island Of Cajamai

Is Particularly Commended. He Then Wrote The Art Of Love, A Poem

Remarkable, Notwithstanding its Title, For Purity Of Sentiment; And, In

1709, Imitated horace In an Art Of Cookery, Which He Published, With Some

Letters To Dr. Lister.

 

 

 

In 1710, He Appeared as A Lover Of The Church, On The Side Of

Sacheverell; And Was Supposed to Have Concurred, At Least, In the

Projection Of The Examiner. His Eyes Were Open To All The Operations Of

Whiggism; And He Bestowed some Strictures Upon Dr. Kennett'S Adulatory

Sermon At The Funeral Of The Duke Of Devonshire.

 

 

 

The History Of The Heathen Gods, A Book Composed for Schools, Was Written

By Him In 1710. The Work Is Useful; But Might Have Been Produced without

The Powers Of King. The Same Year He Published rufinus, An Historical

Essay; And A Poem, Intended to Dispose The Nation To Think As He Thought

Of The Duke Of Marlborough And His Adherents.

 

 

 

In 1711, Competence, If Not Plenty, Was Again Put Into His Power. He Was,

Without The Trouble Of Attendance, Or The Mortification Of A Request,

Made Gazetteer. Swift, Freind, Prior, And Other Men Of The Same Party,

Brought Him The Key Of The Gazetteer'S Office. He Was Now Again Placed

In A Profitable Employment, And Again Threw The Benefit Away. An Act Of

Insolvency Made His Business, At That Time, Particularly Troublesome;

And He Would Not Wait Till Hurry Should Be At An End, But Impatiently

Resigned it, And Returned to His Wonted indigence And Amusements.

 

 

 

One Of His Amusements At Lambeth, Where He Resided, Was To Mortify Dr.

Tenison, The Archbishop, By A Publick Festivity, On The Surrender Of

Dunkirk To Hill; An Event With Which Tenison'S Political Bigotry Did

Not Suffer Him To Be Delighted. King was Resolved to Counteract His

Sullenness, And, At The Expense Of A Few Barrels Of Ale, Filled the

Neighbourhood With Honest Merriment.

 

 

 

In The Autumn Of 1712, His Health Declined; He Grew Weaker By Degrees,

And Died on Christmas Day. Though His Life Had Not Been Without

Irregularity, His Principles Were Pure And Orthodox, And His Death Was

Pious.

 

 

 

After This Relation It Will Be Naturally Supposed that His Poems Were

Rather The Amusements Of Idleness Than Efforts Of Study; That He

Endeavoured rather To Divert Than Astonish; That His Thoughts Seldom

Aspired to Sublimity; And That, If His Verse Was Easy And His Images

Familiar, He Attained what He Desired. His Purpose Is To Be Merry; But,

Perhaps, To Enjoy His Mirth, It May Be Sometimes Necessary To Think Well

Of His Opinions[137].

 

 

 

[Footnote 137: Dr. Johnson Appears To Have Made But Little Use Of The

Life Of Dr. King, Prefixed to His Works, In three Vols. 1776; To Which It

May Not Be Impertinent To Refer The Reader. His Talent For Humour Ought

To Be Praised in the Highest Terms. In that, At Least, He Yielded to None

Of His Contemporaries.]

Sprat

Thomas Sprat Was Born In 1636, At Tallaton In devonshire, The Son Of

A Clergyman; And Having been Educated, As He Tells Of Himself, Not At

Westminster Or Eton, But At A Little School By The Church-Yard Side,

Became A Commoner Of Wadham College, In oxford, In 1651; And, Being

Chosen Scholar Next Year, Proceeded through The Usual Academical Course,

And, In 1657, Became Master Of Arts. He Obtained a Fellowship, And

Commenced poet.

 

 

 

In 1659, His Poem On The Death Of Oliver Was Published, With Those Of

Dryden And Waller. In his Dedication To Dr. Wilkins, He Appears A Very

Willing and Liberal Encomiast, Both Of The Living and The Dead. He

Implores His Patron'S Excuse Of His Verses, Both As Falling "So

Infinitely Below The Full And Sublime Genius Of That Excellent Poet Who

Made This Way Of Writing free Of Our Nation," And Being "So Little Equal

And Proportioned to The Renown Of The Prince On Whom They Were Written;

Such Great Actions And Lives Deserving to Be The Subject Of The Noblest

Pens And Most Divine Phansies." He Proceeds: "Having so Long Experienced

Your Care And Indulgence, And Been Formed, As It Were, By Your Own Hands,

Not To Entitle You To Any Thing which My Meanness Produces, Would Be Not

Only Injustice, But Sacrilege."

 

 

 

He Published, The Same Year, A Poem On The Plague Of Athens; A Subject Of

Which It Is Not Easy To Say What Could Recommend It. To These He Added,

Afterwards, A Poem On Mr. Cowley'S Death.

 

 

 

After The Restoration He Took Orders, And By Cowley'S Recommendation Was

Made Chaplain To The Duke Of Buckingham, Whom He Is Said To Have Helped

In Writing the Rehearsal. He Was Likewise Chaplain To The King.

 

 

 

As He Was The Favourite Of Wilkins, At Whose House Began Those

Philosophical Conferences And Inquiries, Which In time Produced the Royal

Society, He Was Consequently Engaged in the Same Studies, And Became One

Of The Fellows; And When, After Their Incorporation, Something seemed

Necessary To