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

Spenser,

Whose Work He Had Then Never Read[160]. So Little, Sometimes, Is

Criticism The Effect Of Judgment. It Is Necessary To Inform The Reader,

That About This Time He Was Introduced by Congreve To Montague, Then

Chancellor Of The Exchequer[161]: Addison Was Then Learning the Trade Of

A Courtier, And Subjoined montague, As A Poetical Name To Those Of Cowley

And Dryden.

 

 

 

By The Influence Of Mr. Montague, Concurring, According to Tickell, With

His Natural Modesty, He Was Diverted from His Original Design Of Entering

Into Holy Orders. Montague Alleged the Corruption Of Men Who Engaged in

Civil Employments Without Liberal Education; And Declared, That, Though

He Was Represented as An Enemy To The Church, He Would Never Do It Any

Injury But By Withholding addison From It.

 

 

 

Soon After, In 1695, He Wrote A Poem To King william, With A Rhyming

Introduction, Addressed to Lord Somers[162]. King william Had No Regard

To Elegance Or Literature; His Study Was Only War; Yet By A Choice

Of Ministers, Whose Disposition Was Very Different From His Own, He

Procured, Without Intention, A Very Liberal Patronage To Poetry. Addison

Was Caressed both By Somers And Montague.

 

 

 

In 1697 Appeared his Latin Verses On The Peace Of Ryswick, Which He

Dedicated to Montague, And Which Was Afterwards Called, By Smith, "The

Best Latin Poem Since The Aeneid." Praise Must Not Be Too Rigorously

Examined; But The Performance Cannot Be Denied to Be Vigorous And

Elegant.

 

 

 

Having yet No Publick Employment, He Obtained, In 1699, A Pension Of

Three Hundred pounds A Year, That He Might Be Enabled to Travel. He Staid

A Year At Blois[163], Probably To Learn The French Language; And Then

Proceeded in his Journey To Italy, Which He Surveyed with The Eyes Of A

Poet.

 

 

 

While He Was Travelling at Leisure, He Was Far From Being idle; For He

Not Only Collected his Observations On The Country, But Found Time To

Write His Dialogues On Medals, And Four Acts Of Cato. Such, At Least, Is

The Relation Of Tickell. Perhaps He Only Collected his Materials, And

Formed his Plan.

 

 

 

Whatever Were His Other Employments In italy, He There Wrote The Letter

To Lord Halifax, Which Is Justly Considered as The Most Elegant, If Not

The Most Sublime, Of His Poetical Productions[164]. But In about Two

Years He Found It Necessary To Hasten Home; Being, As Swift Informs

Us, Distressed by Indigence, And Compelled to Become The Tutor Of A

Travelling squire, Because His Pension Was Not Remitted[165].

 

 

 

At His Return He Published his Travels, With A Dedication To Lord Somers.

As His Stay In foreign Countries Was Short[166], His Observations Are

Such As Might Be Supplied by A Hasty View, And Consist Chiefly In

Comparisons Of The Present Face Of The Country With The Descriptions Left

Us By The Roman Poets, From Whom He Made Preparatory Collections, Though

He Might Have Spared the Trouble, Had He Known That Such Collections Had

Been Made Twice Before By Italian Authors.

 

 

 

The Most Amusing passage Of His Book Is His Account Of The Minute

Republick Of San Marino: Of Many Parts It Is Not A Very Severe Censure To

Say, That They Might Have Been Written At Home. His Elegance Of Language,

And Variegation Of Prose And Verse, However, Gains Upon The Reader; And

The Book, Though Awhile Neglected, Became, In time, So Much The Favourite

Of The Publick, That Before It Was Reprinted it Rose To Five Times Its

Price.

 

 

 

When He Returned to England, In 1702, With A Meanness Of Appearance Which

Gave Testimony Of The Difficulties To Which He Had Been Reduced, He Found

His Old Patrons Out Of Power, And Was, Therefore, For A Time, At Full

Leisure For The Cultivation Of His Mind; And A Mind So Cultivated gives

Reason To Believe That Little Time Was Lost[167].

 

 

 

But He Remained not Long Neglected or Useless. The Victory At Blenheim,

1704, Spread Triumph And Confidence Over The Nation; And Lord Godolphin,

Lamenting to Lord Halifax, That It Had Not Been Celebrated in a Manner

Equal To The Subject, Desired him To Propose It To Some Better Poet.

Halifax Told Him, That There Was No Encouragement For Genius; That

Worthless Men Were Unprofitably Enriched with Publick Money, Without Any

Care To Find Or Employ Those Whose Appearance Might Do Honour To Their

Country. To This Godolphin Replied, That Such Abuses Should, In time, Be

Rectified; And That, If A Man Could Be Found Capable Of The Task Then

Proposed, He Should Not Want An Ample Recompense. Halifax Then Named

Addison; But Required that The Treasurer Should Apply To Him In his

Own Person. Godolphin Sent The Message By Mr. Boyle, Afterwards Lord

Carleton; And Addison, Having undertaken The Work, Communicated it To The

Treasurer, While It Was Yet Advanced no Farther Than The Simile Of The

Angel, And Was Immediately Rewarded by Succeeding mr. Locke In the Place

Of Commissioner Of Appeals.

 

 

 

In The Following year He Was At Hanover With Lord Halifax: And The Year

After Was Made Under-Secretary Of State, First To Sir Charles Hedges, And

In A Few Months More To The Earl Of Sunderland.

 

 

 

About This Time The Prevalent Taste For Italian Operas Inclined him To

Try What Would Be The Effect Of A Musical Drama In our Own Language. He,

Therefore, Wrote The Opera Of Rosamond, Which, When Exhibited on The

Stage, Was Either Hissed or Neglected[168]; But, Trusting that The

Readers Would Do Him More Justice, He Published it, With An Inscription

To The Dutchess Of Marlborough; A Woman Without Skill, Or Pretensions

To Skill, In poetry Or Literature. His Dedication Was, Therefore, An

Instance Of Servile Absurdity, To Be Exceeded only By Joshua Barnes'S

Dedication Of A Greek Anacreon To The Duke.

 

 

 

His Reputation Had Been Somewhat Advanced by The Tender Husband, A Comedy

Which Steele Dedicated to Him, With A Confession, That He Owed to Him

Several Of The Most Successful Scenes. To This Play Addison Supplied a

Prologue.

 

 

 

When The Marquis Of Wharton Was Appointed lord Lieutenant Of

Ireland[169], Addison Attended him As His Secretary; And Was Made Keeper

Of The Records In birmingham'S Tower, With A Salary Of Three Hundred

Pounds A Year. The Office Was Little More Than Nominal, And The Salary

Was Augmented for His Accommodation.

 

 

 

Interest And Faction Allow Little To The Operation Of Particular

Dispositions, Or Private Opinions. Two Men Of Personal Characters More

Opposite Than Those Of Wharton And Addison Could Not Easily Be Brought

Together. Wharton Was Impious, Profligate, And Shameless, Without Regard,

Or Appearance Of Regard, To Right And Wrong: Whatever Is Contrary To This

May Be Said Of Addison; But, As Agents Of A Party, They Were Connected,

And How They Adjusted their Other Sentiments We Cannot Know.

 

 

 

Addison, Must, However, Not Be Too Hastily Condemned. It Is Not Necessary

To Refuse Benefits From A Bad Man, When The Acceptance Implies No

Approbation Of His Crimes; Nor Has The Subordinate Officer Any Obligation

To Examine The Opinions Or Conduct Of Those Under Whom He Acts, Except

That He May Not Be Made The Instrument Of Wickedness. It Is Reasonable To

Suppose, That Addison Counteracted, As Far As He Was Able, The Malignant

And Blasting influence Of The Lieutenant; And That, At Least, By His

Intervention Some Good Was Done, And Some Mischief Prevented.

 

 

 

When He Was In office, He Made A Law To Himself, As Swift Has Recorded,

Never To Remit His Regular Fees In civility To His Friends: "For," Said

He, "I May Have A Hundred friends; And, If My Fee Be Two Guineas, I

Shall, By Relinquishing my Right, Lose Two Hundred guineas, And No Friend

Gain More Than Two; There Is, Therefore, No Proportion Between The Good

Imparted and The Evil Suffered." He Was In ireland When Steele, Without

Any Communication Of His Design, Began The Publication Of The Tatler; But

He Was Not Long Concealed: By Inserting a Remark On Virgil, Which Addison

Had Given Him, He Discovered himself. It Is, Indeed, Not Easy For Any Man

To Write Upon Literature, Or Common Life, So As Not To Make Himself Known

To Those With Whom He Familiarly Converses, And Who Are Acquainted with

His Track Of Study, His Favourite Topicks, His Peculiar Notions, And His

Habitual Phrases.

 

 

 

If Steele Desired to Write In secret, He Was Not Lucky; A Single Month

Detected him. His First Tatler Was Published april 12, 1709; And

Addison'S Contribution Appeared may 26. Tickell Observes, That The Tatler

Began, And Was Concluded without His Concurrence. This Is, Doubtless,

Literally True; But The Work Did Not Suffer Much By His Unconsciousness

Of Its Commencement, Or His Absence At Its Cessation; For He Continued

His Assistance To December 23, And The Paper Stopped on January 2,

1710-11. He Did Not Distinguish His Pieces By Any Signature; And I Know

Not Whether His Name Was Not Kept Secret Till The Papers Were Collected

Into Volumes.

 

 

 

To The Tatler, In about Two Months, Succeeded the Spectator[170]; A

Series Of Essays Of The Same Kind, But Written With Less Levity, Upon A

More Regular Plan, And Published daily. Such An Undertaking showed the

Writers Not To Distrust Their Own Copiousness Of Materials Or Facility

Of Composition, And Their Performance Justified their Confidence. They

Found, However, In their Progress, Many Auxiliaries. To Attempt A Single

Paper Was No Terrifying labour; Many Pieces Were Offered, And Many Were

Received.

 

 

 

Addison Had Enough Of The Zeal Of Party; But Steele Had, At That Time,

Almost Nothing else. The Spectator, In one Of The First Papers, Showed

The Political Tenets Of Its Authors; But A Resolution Was Soon Taken, Of

Courting general Approbation By General Topicks, And Subjects On Which

Faction Had Produced no Diversity Of Sentiments; Such As Literature,

Morality, And Familiar Life. To This Practice They Adhered with Few

Deviations. The Ardour Of Steele Once Broke Out In praise Of Marlborough;

And When Dr. Fleetwood Prefixed to Some Sermons A Preface, Overflowing

With Whiggish Opinions, That It Might Be Read By The Queen[171], It Was

Reprinted in the Spectator.

 

 

 

To Teach The Minuter Decencies And Inferiour Duties, To Regulate The

Practice Of Daily Conversation, To Correct Those Depravities Which Are

Rather Ridiculous Than Criminal, And Remove Those Grievances Which, If

They Produce No Lasting calamities, Impress Hourly Vexation, Was First

Attempted by Casa In his Book Of Manners, And Castiglione In his

Courtier; Two Books Yet Celebrated in italy For Purity And Elegance, And

Which, If They Are Now Less Read, Are Neglected only Because They Have

Effected that Reformation Which Their Authors Intended, And Their

Precepts Now Are No Longer Wanted. Their Usefulness To The Age In which

They Were Written Is Sufficiently Attested by The Translations Which

Almost All The Nations Of Europe Were In haste To Obtain.

 

 

 

This Species Of Instruction Was Continued, And Perhaps Advanced, By The

French; Among Whom La Bruyere'S Manners Of The Age, Though, As Boileau

Remarked, It Is Written Without Connexion, Certainly Deserves Great

Praise, For Liveliness Of Description, And Justness Of Observation.

 

 

 

Before The Tatler And Spectator, If The Writers For The Theatre Are

Excepted, England Had No Masters Of Common Life. No Writers Had

Yet Undertaken To Reform Either The Savageness Of Neglect, Or The

Impertinence Of Civility; To Show When To Speak, Or To Be Silent; How

To Refuse, Or How To Comply. We Had Many Books To Teach Us Our More

Important Duties, And To Settle Opinions In philosophy Or Politicks;

But An Arbiter Elegantiarum, A Judge Of Propriety, Was Yet Wanting, Who

Should Survey The Track Of Daily Conversation, And Free It From Thorns

And Prickles, Which Tease The Passer, Though They Do Not Wound Him.

 

 

 

For This Purpose Nothing is So Proper As The Frequent Publication Of

Short Papers, Which We Read Not As Study But Amusement. If The Subject Be

Slight, The Treatise, Likewise, Is Short. The Busy May Find Time, And The

Idle May Find Patience.

 

 

 

This Mode Of Conveying cheap And Easy Knowledge Began Among Us In the

Civil War[172], When It Was Much The Interest Of Either Party To Raise

And Fix The Prejudices Of The People. At That Time Appeared mercurius

Aulicus, Mercurius Rusticus, And Mercurius Civicus. It Is Said, That When

Any Title Grew Popular, It Was Stolen By The Antagonist, Who, By This

Stratagem, Conveyed his Notions To Those Who Would Not Have Received him,

Had He Not Worn The Appearance Of A Friend. The Tumult Of Those

Unhappy Days Left Scarcely Any Man Leisure To Treasure Up Occasional

Compositions; And So Much Were They Neglected, That A Complete Collection

Is Nowhere To Be Found.

 

 

 

These Mercuries Were Succeeded by L'Estrange'S Observator; And That By

Lesley'S Rehearsal, And, Perhaps, By Others; But Hitherto Nothing had

Been Conveyed to The People, In this Commodious Manner, But Controversy

Relating to The Church Or State; Of Which They Taught Many To Talk, Whom

They Could Not Teach To Judge.

 

 

 

It Has Been Suggested that The Royal Society Was Instituted soon After

The Restoration, To Divert The Attention Of The People From Publick

Discontent. The Tatler And Spectator Had The Same Tendency; They Were

Published at A Time When Two Parties, Loud, Restless,