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

Reconcile The Publick To The New Institution, He Undertook

To Write Its History, Which He Published in 1667. This Is One Of The Few

Books Which Selection Of Sentiment And Elegance Of Diction Have Been

Able To Preserve, Though Written Upon A Subject Flux And Transitory. The

History Of The Royal Society Is Now Read, Not With The Wish To Know What

They Were Then Doing, But How Their Transactions Are Exhibited by Sprat.

 

 

 

In The Next Year He Published observations On Sorbiere'S Voyage Into

England, In a Letter To Mr. Wren. This Is A Work Not Ill-Performed; But,

Perhaps, Rewarded with At Least Its Full Proportion Of Praise.

 

 

 

In 1668, He Published cowley'S Latin Poems, And Prefixed, In latin, The

Life Of The Author; Which He Afterwards Amplified, And Placed before

Cowley'S English Works, Which Were By Will Committed to His Care.

 

 

 

Ecclesiastical Benefices Now Fell Fast Upon Him. In 1668, He Became A

Prebendary Of Westminster, And Had Afterwards The Church Of St. Margaret,

Adjoining to The Abbey. He Was, In 1680, Made Canon Of Windsor; In 1683,

Dean Of Westminster; And, In 1684, Bishop Of Rochester.

 

 

 

The Court Having thus A Claim To His Diligence And Gratitude, He Was

Required to Write The History Of The Rye-House Plot; And, In 1685,

Published a True Account And Declaration Of The Horrid Conspiracy Against

The Late King, His Present Majesty, And The Present Government; A

Performance Which He Thought Convenient, After The Revolution, To

Extenuate And Excuse.

 

 

 

The Same Year, Being clerk Of The Closet To The King, He Was Made Dean Of

The Chapel Royal; And, The Year Afterwards, Received the Last Proof Of

His Master'S Confidence, By Being appointed one Of The Commissioners

For Ecclesiastical Affairs. On The Critical Day, When The Declaration

Distinguished the True Sons Of The Church Of England, He Stood Neuter,

And Permitted it To Be Read At Westminster; But Pressed none To Violate

His Conscience; And, When The Bishop Of London Was Brought Before Them,

Gave His Voice In his Favour.

 

 

 

Thus Far He Suffered interest Or Obedience To Carry Him; But Further

He Refused to Go. When He Found That The Powers Of The Ecclesiastical

Commission Were To Be Exercised against Those Who Had Refused the

Declaration, He Wrote To The Lords, And Other Commissioners, A Formal

Profession Of His Unwillingness To Exercise That Authority Any Longer,

And Withdrew Himself From Them. After They Had Read His Letter, They

Adjourned for Six Months, And Scarcely Ever Met Afterwards.

 

 

 

When King james Was Frighted away, And A New Government Was To Be

Settled, Sprat Was One Of Those Who Considered, In a Conference, The

Great Question, Whether The Crown Was Vacant, And Manfully Spoke In

Favour Of His Old Master.

 

 

 

He Complied, However, With The New Establishment, And Was Left

Unmolested; But, In 1692, A Strange Attack Was Made Upon Him By One

Robert Young And Stephen Blackhead, Both Men Convicted of Infamous

Crimes, And Both, When The Scheme Was Laid, Prisoners In newgate. These

Men Drew Up An Association, In which They Whose Names Were Subscribed,

Declared their Resolution To Restore King james, To Seize The Princess Of

Orange, Dead Or Alive, And To Be Ready With Thirty Thousand Men To Meet

King james When He Should Land. To This They Put The Names Of Sancroft,

Sprat, Marlborough, Salisbury, And Others. The Copy Of Dr. Sprat'S Name

Was Obtained by A Fictitious Request, To Which An Answer In his Own Hand

Was Desired. His Hand Was Copied so Well, That He Confessed it Might Have

Deceived himself. Blackhead, Who Had Carried the Letter, Being sent

Again With A Plausible Message, Was Very Curious To See The House, And

Particularly Importunate To Be Let Into The Study; Where, As Is Supposed,

He Designed to Leave The Association. This, However, Was Denied him;

And He Dropped it In a Flower-Pot In the Parlour. Young Now Laid An

Information Before The Privy Council; And May 7, 1692, The Bishop Was

Arrested, And Kept At A Messenger'S, Under A Strict Guard, Eleven Days.

His House Was Searched, And Directions Were Given That The Flower-Pots

Should Be Inspected. The Messengers, However, Missed the Room In which

The Paper Was Left. Blackhead Went, Therefore, A Third Time; And Finding

His Paper Where He Had Left It, Brought It Away.

 

 

 

The Bishop Having been Enlarged, Was, On June The 10Th And 13Th, Examined

Again Before The Privy Council, And Confronted with His Accusers. Young

Persisted, With The Most Obdurate Impudence, Against The Strongest

Evidence; But The Resolution Of Blackhead, By Degrees, Gave Way. There

Remained at Last No Doubt Of The Bishop'S Innocence, Who, With Great

Prudence And Diligence, Traced the Progress, And Detected the Characters

Of The Two Informers, And Published an Account Of His Own Examination And

Deliverance; Which Made Such An Impression Upon Him, That He Commemorated

It Through Life By A Yearly Day Of Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

With What Hope Or What Interest, The Villains Had Contrived an Accusation

Which They Must Know Themselves Utterly Unable To Prove, Was Never

Discovered.

 

 

 

After This He Passed his Days In the Quiet Exercise Of His Function.

When The Cause Of Sacheverell Put The Publick In commotion, He Honestly

Appeared among The Friends Of The Church. He Lived to His Seventy-Ninth

Year, And Died may 20, 1713.

 

 

 

Burnet Is Not Very Favourable To His Memory; But He And Burnet Were Old

Rivals. On Some Publick Occasion They Both Preached before The House Of

Commons. There Prevailed, In those Days, An Indecent Custom: When The

Preacher Touched any Favourite Topick, In a Manner That Delighted his

Audience, Their Approbation Was Expressed by A Loud _Hum_, Continued in

Proportion To Their Zeal Or Pleasure. When Burnet Preached, Part Of His

Congregation _Hummed_ So Loudly And So Long, That He, Sat Down To Enjoy

It, And Rubbed his Face With His Handkerchief. When Sprat Preached, He

Likewise Was Honoured with The Like Animating _Hum_; But He Stretched

Out His Hand To The Congregation, And Cried, "Peace, Peace, I Pray You,

Peace."

 

 

 

This I Was Told In my Youth By My Father, An Old Man, Who Had Been No

Careless Observer Of The Passages Of Those Times.

 

 

 

Burnet'S Sermon, Says Salmon, Was Remarkable For Sedition, And Sprat'S

For Loyalty. Burnet Had The Thanks Of The House; Sprat Had No Thanks, But

A Good Living from The King, Which, He Said, Was Of As Much Value As The

Thanks Of The Commons.

 

 

 

The Works Of Sprat, Besides His Few Poems, Are, The History Of The Royal

Society, The Life Of Cowley, The Answer To Sorbiere, The History Of The

Rye-House Plot, The Relation Of His Own Examination, And A Volume Of

Sermons. I Have Heard It Observed, With Great Justness, That Every

Book Is Of A Different Kind, And That Each Has Its Distinct And

Characteristical Excellence[138].

 

 

 

My Business Is Only With His Poems. He Considered cowley As A Model; And

Supposed that, As He Was Imitated, Perfection Was Approached. Nothing,

Therefore, But Pindarick Liberty Was To Be Expected. There Is In his Few

Productions No Want Of Such Conceits As He Thought Excellent; And Of

Those Our Judgment May Be Settled by The First That Appears In his Praise

Of Cromwell, Where He Says, That Cromwell'S "Fame, Like Man, Will Grow

White As It Grows Old."

 

 

 

[Footnote 138: This Observation Was Made To Dr. Johnson By The Right Hon.

Wm. Gerard Hamilton, As He Told Me, At Tunbridge, August, 1792. M.]

 

 

 

 

Halifax

The Life Of The Earl Of Halifax Was Properly That Of An Artful And Active

Statesman, Employed in balancing parties, Contriving expedients, And

Combating opposition, And Exposed to The Vicissitudes Of Advancement And

Degradation; But, In this Collection, Poetical Merit Is The Claim To

Attention; And The Account Which Is Here To Be Expected may Properly Be

Proportioned not To His Influence In the State, But To His Rank Among The

Writers Of Verse.

 

 

 

Charles Montague Was Born April 16, 1661, At Horton, In northamptonshire,

The Son Of Mr. George Montague, A Younger Son Of The Earl Of Manchester.

He Was Educated first In the Country, And Then Removed to Westminster,

Where, In 1677, He Was Chosen A King'S Scholar, And Recommended himself

To Busby By His Felicity In extemporary Epigrams. He Contracted a Very

Intimate Friendship With Mr. Stepney; And, In 1682, When Stepney Was

Elected to Cambridge, The Election Of Montague Being not To Proceed till

The Year Following, He Was Afraid Lest, By Being placed at Oxford, He

Might Be Separated from His Companion, And, Therefore, Solicited to Be

Removed to Cambridge, Without Waiting for The Advantages Of Another Year.

 

 

 

It Seems, Indeed, Time To Wish For A Removal; For He Was Already A

Schoolboy Of One-And-Twenty.

 

 

 

His Relation, Dr. Montague, Was Then Master Of The College In which He

Was Placed a Fellow-Commoner, And Took Him Under His Particular Care.

Here He Commenced an Acquaintance With The Great Newton, Which Continued

Through His Life, And Was At Last Attested by A Legacy[139].

 

 

 

In 1685, His Verses On The Death Of King charles Made Such An Impression

On The Earl Of Dorset, That He Was Invited to Town, And Introduced by

That Universal Patron To The Other Wits. In 1687, He Joined with Prior

In The City Mouse And Country Mouse, A Burlesque Of Dryden'S Hind And

Panther. He Signed the Invitation To The Prince Of Orange, And Sat In

The Convention. He, About The Same Time, Married the Countess Dowager Of

Manchester, And Intended to Have Taken Orders; But Afterwards Altering

His Purpose, He Purchased, For 1500_L_. The Place Of One Of The Clerks Of

The Council.

 

 

 

After He Had Written His Epistle On The Victory Of The Boyne, His Patron

Dorset Introduced him To King william, With This Expression: "Sir, I Have

Brought A _Mouse_ To Wait On Your Majesty." To Which The King is Said

To Have Replied, "You Do Well To Put Me In the Way Of Making a _Man_

Of Him;" And Ordered him A Pension Of Five Hundred pounds. This Story,

However Current, Seems To Have Been Made After The Event. The King'S

Answer Implies A Greater Acquaintance With Our Proverbial And Familiar

Diction Than King william Could Possibly Have Attained.

 

 

 

In 1691, Being member Of The House Of Commons, He Argued warmly In favour

Of A Law To Grant The Assistance Of Counsel In trials For High Treason;

And, In the Midst Of His Speech Falling into Some Confusion, Was For

Awhile Silent; But, Recovering himself, Observed, "How Reasonable It Was

To Allow Counsel To Men Called as Criminals Before A Court Of Justice,

When It Appeared how Much The Presence Of That Assembly Could Disconcert

One Of Their Own Body[140]."

 

 

 

After This He Rose Fast Into Honours And Employments, Being made One Of

The Commissioners Of The Treasury, And Called to The Privy Council. In

1694, He Became Chancellor Of The Exchequer; And The Next Year Engaged

In The Great Attempt Of The Recoinage, Which Was In two Years Happily

Completed. In 1696, He Projected the _General Fund_ And Raised the

Credit Of The Exchequer; And, After Inquiry Concerning a Grant Of Irish

Crown-Lands, It Was Determined, By A Vote Of The Commons, That Charles

Montague, Esquire, "Had Deserved his Majesty'S Favour." In 1698, Being

Advanced to The First Commission Of The Treasury, He Was Appointed one Of

The Regency In the King'S Absence; The Next Year He Was Made Auditor Of

The Exchequer, And The Year After Created baron Halifax. He Was, However,

Impeached by The Commons; But The Articles Were Dismissed by The Lords.

 

 

 

At The Accession Of Queen Anne He Was Dismissed from The Council; And In

The First Parliament Of Her Reign Was Again Attacked by The Commons, And

Again Escaped by The Protection Of The Lords. In 1704, He Wrote An Answer

To Bromley'S Speech Against Occasional Conformity. He Headed the Inquiry

Into The Danger Of The Church. In 1706, He Proposed and Negotiated the

Union With Scotland; And When The Elector Of Hanover Received the Garter,

After The Act Had Passed for Securing the Protestant Succession, He Was

Appointed to Carry The Ensigns Of The Order To The Electoral Court. He

Sat As One Of The Judges Of Sacheverell; But Voted for A Mild Sentence.

Being now No Longer