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

And Violent, Each

With Plausible Declarations, And Each, Perhaps, Without Any Distinct

Termination Of Its Views, Were Agitating the Nation; To Minds Heated with

Political Contest They Supplied cooler And More Inoffensive Reflections;

And It Is Said By Addison, In a Subsequent Work, That They Had A

Perceptible Influence Upon The Conversation Of That Time, And Taught The

Frolick And The Gay To Unite Merriment With Decency; An Effect Which They

Can Never Wholly Lose, While They Continue To Be Among The First Books By

Which Both Sexes Are Initiated in the Elegancies Of Knowledge.

 

 

 

The Tatler And Spectator Adjusted, Like Casa, The Unsettled practice Of

Daily Intercourse By Propriety And Politeness; And, Like La Bruyere,

Exhibited the Characters And Manners Of The Age. The Personages

Introduced in these Papers Were Not Merely Ideal; They Were Then Known

And Conspicuous In various Stations. Of The Tatler This Is Told By Steele

In His Last Paper; And Of The Spectator By Budgel, In the Preface To

Theophrastus, A Book Which Addison Has Recommended, And Which He Was

Suspected to Have Revised, If He Did Not Write It. Of Those Portraits,

Which May Be Supposed to Be Sometimes Embellished, And Sometimes

Aggravated, The Originals Are Now Partly Known And Partly Forgotten.

 

 

 

But To Say That They United the Plans Of Two Or Three Eminent Writers,

Is To Give Them But A Small Part Of Their Due Praise; They Superadded

Literature And Criticism, And Sometimes Towered far Above Their

Predecessors; And Taught, With Great Justness Of Argument And Dignity Of

Language, The Most Important Duties And Sublime Truths.

 

 

 

All These Topicks Were Happily Varied with Elegant Fictions And Refined

Allegories, And Illuminated with Different Changes Of Style And

Felicities Of Invention.

 

 

 

It Is Recorded by Budgel, That, Of The Characters Feigned or Exhibited

In The Spectator, The Favourite Of Addison Was Sir Roger De Coverley, Of

Whom He Had Formed a Very Delicate And Discriminated idea[173], Which He

Would Not Suffer To Be Violated; And, Therefore, When Steele Had Shown

Him Innocently Picking up A Girl In the Temple, And Taking her To A

Tavern, He Drew Upon Himself So Much Of His Friend'S Indignation, That He

Was Forced to Appease Him By A Promise Of Forbearing sir Roger For The

Time To Come.

 

 

 

The Reason Which Induced cervantes To Bring his Hero To The Grave, "Para

Mi Solo Nacio Don Quixote, Y Yo Para El," Made Addison Declare, With An

Undue Vehemence Of Expression, That He Would Kill Sir Roger; Being of

Opinion That They Were Born For One Another, And That Any Other Hand

Would Do Him Wrong.

 

 

 

It May Be Doubted whether Addison Ever Filled up His Original

Delineation. He Describes His Knight As Having his Imagination Somewhat

Warped; But Of This Perversion He Has Made Very Little Use. The

Irregularities In sir Roger'S Conduct Seem Not So Much The Effects Of A

Mind Deviating from The Beaten Track Of Life, By The Perpetual Pressure

Of Some Overwhelming idea, As Of Habitual Rusticity, And That Negligence

Which Solitary Grandeur Naturally Generates.

 

 

 

The Variable Weather Of The Mind, The Flying vapours Of Incipient

Madness, Which, From Time To Time, Cloud Reason, Without Eclipsing it,

It Requires So Much Nicety To Exhibit, That Addison Seems To Have Been

Deterred from Prosecuting his Own Design.

 

 

 

To Sir Roger, Who, As A Country Gentleman, Appears To Be A Tory, Or, As

It Is Gently Expressed, An Adherent To The Landed interest, Is Opposed

Sir Andrew Freeport, A New Man, A Wealthy Merchant, Zealous For The

Moneyed interest, And A Whig. Of This Contrariety Of Opinions, It Is

Probable More Consequences Were At First Intended, Than Could Be Produced

When The Resolution Was Taken To Exclude Party From The Paper. Sir Andrew

Does But Little, And That Little Seems Not To Have Pleased addison, Who,

When He Dismissed him From The Club, Changed his Opinions. Steele Had

Made Him, In the True Spirit Of Unfeeling commerce, Declare That He

"Would Not Build An Hospital For Idle People;" But At Last He Buys Land,

Settles In the Country, And Builds Not A Manufactory, But An Hospital

For Twelve Old Husbandmen, For Men With Whom A Merchant Has Little

Acquaintance, And Whom He Commonly Considers With Little Kindness.

 

 

 

Of Essays Thus Elegant, Thus Instructive, And Thus Commodiously

Distributed, It Is Natural To Suppose The Approbation General, And The

Sale Numerous. I Once Heard It Observed, That The Sale May Be Calculated

By The Product Of The Tax, Related in the Last Number To Produce More

Than Twenty Pounds A Week, And, Therefore, Stated at One-And-Twenty

Pounds, Or Three Pounds Ten Shillings A Day: This, At A Half-Penny A

Paper, Will Give Sixteen Hundred and Eighty[174] For The Daily Number.

 

 

 

This Sale Is Not Great; Yet This, If Swift Be Credited, Was Likely To

Grow Less; For He Declares That The Spectator, Whom He Ridicules For His

Endless Mention Of The _Fair Sex,_ Had, Before His Recess, Wearied his

Readers. The Next Year, 1713, In which Cato Came Upon The Stage, Was The

Grand Climacterick Of Addison'S Reputation. Upon The Death Of Cato, He

Had, As Is Said, Planned a Tragedy In the Time Of His Travels[175], And

Had, For Several Years, The First Four Acts Finished, Which Were Shown To

Such As Were Likely To Spread Their Admiration. They Were Seen By Pope,

And By Cibber, Who Relates That Steele, When He Took Back The Copy, Told

Him, In the Despicable Cant Of Literary Modesty, That, Whatever Spirit

His Friend Had Shown In the Composition, He Doubted whether He Would Have

Courage Sufficient To Expose It To The Censure Of A British Audience.

 

 

 

The Time, However, Was Now Come, When Those, Who Affected to Think

Liberty In danger, Affected, Likewise, To Think That A Stage-Play Might

Preserve It; And Addison Was Importuned, In the Name Of The Tutelary

Deities Of Britain, To Show His Courage And His Zeal By Finishing his

Design.

 

 

 

To Resume His Work He Seemed perversely And Unaccountably Unwilling; And

By A Request, Which, Perhaps, He Wished to Be Denied, Desired mr. Hughes

To Add A Fifth Act[176]. Hughes Supposed him Serious; And, Undertaking

The Supplement, Brought, In a Few Days, Some Scenes For His Examination;

But He Had, In the Mean Time, Gone To Work Himself, And Produced half

An Act, Which He Afterwards Completed, But With Brevity Irregularly

Disproportionate To The Foregoing parts, Like A Task Performed with

Reluctance, And Hurried to Its Conclusion.

 

 

 

It May Yet Be Doubted whether Cato Was Made Publick By Any Change Of The

Author'S Purpose; For Dennis Charged him With Raising prejudices In

His Own Favour By False Positions Of Preparatory Criticism, And With

"Poisoning the Town" By Contradicting, In the Spectator, The Established

Rule Of Poetical Justice, Because His Own Hero, With All His Virtues, Was

To Fall Before A Tyrant. The Fact Is Certain; The Motives We Must Guess.

 

 

 

Addison Was, I Believe, Sufficiently Disposed to Bar All Avenues Against

All Danger. When Pope Brought Him The Prologue, Which Is Properly

Accommodated to The Play, There Were These Words, "Britons, Arise, Be

Worth Like This Approved;" Meaning nothing more Than, Britons, Erect

And Exalt Yourselves To The Approbation Of Publick Virtue. Addison Was

Frighted lest He Should Be Thought A Promoter Of Insurrection, And The

Line Was Liquidated to "Britons, Attend."

 

 

 

Now "Heavily In clouds Came On The Day, The Great, The Important Day,"

When Addison Was To Stand The Hazard Of The Theatre. That There Might,

However, Be Left As Little Hazard As Was Possible, On The First Night

Steele, As Himself Relates, Undertook To Pack An Audience. This, Says

Pope[177], Had Been Tried, For The First Time, In favour Of The Distrest

Mother; And Was Now, With More Efficacy, Practised for Cato.

 

 

 

The Danger Was Soon Over. The Whole Nation Was, At That Time, On Fire

With Faction. The Whigs Applauded every Line In which Liberty Was

Mentioned, As A Satire On The Tories; And The Tories Echoed every Clap,

To Show That The Satire Was Unfelt. The Story Of Bolingbroke Is Well

Known. He Called booth To His Box, And Gave Him Fifty Guineas For

Defending the Cause Of Liberty So Well Against A Perpetual Dictator[178].

The Whigs, Says Pope, Design A Second Present, When They Can Accompany It

With As Good A Sentence.

 

 

 

The Play, Supported thus By The Emulation Of Factious Praise, Was Acted,

Night After Night For A Longer Time Than, I Believe, The Publick Had

Allowed to Any Drama Before; And The Author, As Mrs. Porter Long

Afterwards Related, Wandered through The Whole Exhibition Behind The

Scenes With Restless And Unappeasable Solicitude.

 

 

 

When It Was Printed, Notice Was Given That The Queen Would Be Pleased

If It Was Dedicated to Her; "But, As He Had Designed that Compliment

Elsewhere, He Found Himself Obliged," Says Tickell, "By His Duty On The

One Hand, And His Honour On The Other, To Send It Into The World Without

Any Dedication."

 

 

 

Human Happiness Has Always Its Abatements; The Brightest Sunshine Of

Success Is Not Without A Cloud. No Sooner Was Cato Offered to The Reader,

Than It Was Attacked by The Acute Malignity Of Dennis, With All The

Violence Of Angry Criticism. Dennis, Though Equally Zealous, And Probably

By His Temper More Furious, Than Addison, For What They Called liberty,

And Though A Flatterer Of The Whig Ministry, Could Not Sit Quiet At A

Successful Play; But Was Eager To Tell Friends And Enemies, That They Had

Misplaced their Admirations. The World Was Too Stubborn For Instruction;

With The Fate Of The Censurer Of Corneille'S Cid, His Animadversions

Showed his Anger Without Effect, And Cato Continued to Be Praised.

 

 

 

Pope Had Now An Opportunity Of Courting the Friendship Of Addison, By

Vilifying his Old Enemy, And Could Give Resentment Its Full Play, Without

Appearing to Revenge Himself. He, Therefore, Published a Narrative Of The

Madness Of John Dennis; A Performance Which Left The Objections To The

Play In their Full Force, And, Therefore, Discovered more Desire Of

Vexing the Critick Than Of Defending the Poet.

 

 

 

Addison, Who Was No Stranger To The World, Probably Saw The Selfishness

Of Pope'S Friendship; And, Resolving that He Should Have The Consequences

Of His Officiousness To Himself, Informed dennis, By Steele, That He Was

Sorry For The Insult; And That, Whenever He Should Think Fit To Answer

His Remarks, He Would Do It In a Manner To Which Nothing could Be

Objected.

 

 

 

The Greatest Weakness Of The Play Is In the Scenes Of Love, Which Are

Said, By Pope[179], To Have Been Added to The Original Plan Upon A

Subsequent Review, In compliance With The Popular Practice Of The Stage.

Such An Authority It Is Hard To Reject; Yet The Love Is So Intimately

Mingled with The Whole Action, That It Cannot Easily Be Thought

Extrinsick And Adventitious; For, If It Were Taken Away, What Would Be

Left? Or How Were The Four Acts Filled in the First Draught?

 

 

 

At The Publication The Wits Seemed proud To Pay Their Attendance With

Encomiastick Verses. The Best Are From An Unknown Hand, Which Will,

Perhaps, Lose Somewhat Of Their Praise When The Author Is Known To Be

Jeffreys.

 

 

 

Cato Had Yet Other Honours. It Was Censured as A Party-Play By A Scholar

Of Oxford; And Defended in a Favourable Examination By Dr. Sewel. It Was

Translated by Salvini Into Italian, And Acted at Florence; And By The

Jesuits Of St. Omer'S Into Latin, And Played by Their Pupils. Of This

Version A Copy Was Sent To Mr. Addison: It Is To Be Wished that It Could

Be Found, For The Sake Of Comparing their Version Of The Soliloquy With

That Of Bland.

 

 

 

A Tragedy Was Written On The Same Subject By Deschamps, A French Poet,

Which Was Translated with A Criticism On The English Play. But The

Translator And The Critick Are Now Forgotten.

 

 

 

Dennis Lived on Unanswered, And, Therefore, Little Read. Addison Knew The

Policy Of Literature Too Well To Make His Enemy Important By Drawing

The Attention Of The Publick Upon A Criticism, Which, Though Sometimes

Intemperate, Was Often Irrefragable.

 

 

 

While Cato Was Upon The Stage, Another Daily Paper, Called the Guardian,

Was Published by Steele[180]. To This Addison Gave Great Assistance,

Whether Occasionally, Or By Previous Engagement, Is Not Known.

 

 

 

The Character Of Guardian Was Too Narrow And Too Serious: It Might

Properly Enough Admit Both The Duties And The Decencies Of Life, But

Seemed not To Include Literary Speculations, And Was, In some Degree,

Violated by Merriment And Burlesque. What Had The Guardian Of The Lizards

To Do With Clubs Of Tall Or Of Little Men, With Nests Of Ants, Or With

Strada'S Prolusions?

 

 

 

Of This Paper Nothing is Necessary To Be Said, But That It Found Many

Contributors, And That It Was A Continuation Of The Spectator, With The

Same Elegance, And The Same Variety, Till Some Unlucky Sparkle, From A

Tory Paper, Set Steele'S Politicks On Fire, And Wit At Once Blazed

Into Faction. He Was Soon Too Hot For Neutral Topicks, And Quitted the

Guardian To Write The Englishman.

 

 

 

The Papers Of Addison Are Marked