The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland Volume IV Part 22

All Men Mad, or England a Great Bedlam, 4to. 1704.

The Double Welcome, a Poem to the Duke of Marlborough.

Apollo's Maggot in his Cups, or The Whimsical Creation of a Little Satirical Poet; a Lyric Ode, dedicated to d.i.c.key d.i.c.kenson, the witty, but deformed Governor of Scarborough Spaw, 8vo. 1729.

The Ambitious Father, or The Politician's Advice to his Son; a Poem in five Cantos, 1733, the last work he left finished.

Mr. Ward's works, if collected, would amount to five volumes in 8vo. but he is most distinguished by his London Spy, a celebrated work in prose.

[Footnote A: Notes on the Dunciad.]

Sir ROGER L'ESTRANGE,

This gentleman was second son of Sir Hammon L'Estrange of Hunston in Norfolk, knt. and was born anno 1617[A]. In the year 1644 Sir Roger having obtained a commission from King Charles I. for reducing Lynne in Norfolk, then in possession of the Parliament, his design was discovered to colonel Walton the governour, and his person seized. Upon the failing of this enterprize he was tried by a court-martial at Guildhall, London, and condemned to lose his life as a spy, coming from the King's quarters without drum, trumpet, or pa.s.s; but was afterwards reprieved, and continued in Newgate several years. Sir Roger in a work of his, called Truth and Loyalty Vindicated, has informed us, that, when he received sentence of death, which was p.r.o.nounced against him by Dr. Mills, then judge advocate, and afterwards chancellor to the bishop of Norwich, he was cast into Newgate, where he was visited by Mr. Thorowgood and Mr. Arrowsmith, two members of the a.s.sembly of divines, who kindly offered him their utmost interest if he would make some pet.i.tionary acknowledgment, and submit to take the covenant, which he refused. But that he might obtain a reprieve, he wrote several letters to the earl of Northumberland, the earl of Stamford, and others of the n.o.bility, from whom he received favours. In the House of Commons he was particularly obliged to Sir John Corbet, and Sir Henry Cholmondley. He was reprieved in order to a further hearing; but after almost thirty months spent in vain endeavours, either to come to a hearing, or to put himself into an exchangeable condition, he printed a state of his case, as an Appeal from the Court-martial to the Parliament, dated at Newgate in 1647.

After almost four years imprisonment, with his keeper's privity, he slipt into Kent, and then with much difficulty got beyond sea. About the latter end of August 1653, upon the dissolution of the Long Parliament, by Cromwel, he returned into England, and presently acquainted the council, then sitting at Whitehall, that finding himself within the Act of Indemnity, he thought it his duty to give them notice of his return. Soon after this he was served with the following order,

Wednesday September 7, 1655,

Ordered,

That Roger L'Estrange be sent unto, to attend the committee of this council for examination.

JOHN THURLOE, Secretary.

This order laid him under a necessity of attending for his discharge, but perceiving his business to advance very slowly, and his father at that time lying upon his death-bed, he was sollicitous to have his discharge as much hastened as possible, that he might pay his duty to his father, whom he had not seen for many years before. Mr. Strickland was one of the commissioners appointed to examine him, and the person from whom, in the judgment of his friends, he was to expect the least favour. Mr. L'Estrange therefore to render him more propitious to his purpose, paid him the compliment of a visit, telling him frankly that he was returned upon the invitation of the Act of Indemnity; and laying before him how much it concerned him, both in comfort and interest, to see his dying father. Mr. Strickland, in place of complying with Mr. L'Estrange's proposition, answered, that he would find himself mistaken, and that his case was not included in that Act. Mr. L'Estrange's reply to him was, 'that he might have been safe among the Turks upon the same terms; and so he left him. From that time matters beginning to look worse and worse, he considered it, as his last expedient, to address Cromwel himself. After several disappointments, for want of opportunity, he spoke to him at last in the c.o.c.k-pit, and the sum of his desire was, either a speedy examination, or that it might be deferred 'till he had seen his father. Cromwel remonstrated against the restlessness of his party, observed, 'that rigour was not his inclination, but that he was but one man, and could do little by himself; and that Mr. L'Estrange's party would do well to give some better testimony of their quiet, and peaceable intentions.' Mr. L'Estrange told him, 'that every man was to answer for his own actions, at his own peril;' and so Cromwel took his leave. Some time after this Mr. L'Estrange was called, and Mr. Strickland, with another gentleman, were his examiners; but the latter pressed nothing against him. Mr. Strickland indeed insisted upon his condemnation, and would have deprived him of the benefit of the Act of Indemnity, telling him at last, 'that he had given no evidence of the change of his mind, and consequently was not to be trusted.' Mr. L'Estrange's final answer was to this effect, 'that it was his interest to change his opinion, if he could, and that whenever he found reason so to do, he would obey the sense of his own mind.' Some few days after this he was discharged[B]. 'During the dependency of this affair (says Mr. L'Estrange) I might well be seen at Whitehall, but that I spake to Cromwel on any other business than this, that I either sought, or pretended to, any privacy with him, or that I ever spake to him after this time, I absolutely disown. Concerning the story of the fiddle[C], this I suppose might be the rise of it: being in St. James's Park, I heard an organ touched in a little low room of one Mr. Henckson's; I went in, and found a private company of some five or six persons. They desired me to take up a Viol, and bear a part. I did so, and that part too, not much advance to the reputation of my cunning. By and by, without the least colour of design, or expectation, in comes Cromwel. He found us playing, and, as I remember, so he left us.-As to bribing of his attendants, I disclaim it. I never spake to Thurloe, but once in my life, and that was about my discharge. Nor did I ever give bribe, little or great, in the family.'

The above declaration Sir Roger was obliged to make, as some of his enemies wanted to turn those circ.u.mstances of favour he received from the Oliverian government to his disadvantage, and prevent his rising in court distinction.

Sir Roger having little paternal fortune, and being a man rather profuse than oeconomical, he had recourse to writing for bread. After the restoration he set up a news-paper, which was continued 'till the Gazette was first set on foot by Sir Joseph Williamson, under secretary of state, for which, however, the government allowed Mr. L'Estrange a consideration. Mr. Wood informs us, that our author published his paper twice every week in 4to. under the t.i.tle of The Public Intelligence and News; the first of which came out August the 31st, 1663, and the other September the 3d, the same year. 'These continued till the 9th of January 1665, at which time Mr. L'Estrange desisted, because in the November before, there were other News-Papers published twice every week, in half a sheet in folio. These were called The Oxford Gazettes, and commenced the 7th of November, 1665, the king and queen, with their courts being then at Oxford. These for a little while were written by one Henry Muddeman; but when the court removed to London, they were called the London Gazette. Soon after Mr. Joseph Williamson, under secretary of State, procured the writing of them for himself; and thereupon employed Charles Perrot, M.A. and fellow of Oriel College in Oxford, who had a good command of his pen, to do that office under him, and so he did, though not constantly, till about 1671; after which time they were constantly written by under secretaries, belonging to those that are princ.i.p.al, and do continue so to this day.'

Soon after the popish plot, when the Tories began to gain the ascendant over the Whigs, Mr. L'Estrange became a zealous promoter of the Tory interest. He set up a paper called the Observator, in which he defended the court, and endeavoured to invalidate those evidences which were given by Oates's party against the Jesuits. He likewise wrote a pamphlet, in which he attempts to prove, that Sir Edmundbury G.o.dfrey's murther, for which so many suffered, and so great a flame was raised in the nation, was really perpetrated by himself. He attempts to shew that Sir Edmundbury was a melancholy enthusiastic man; that he was weak in his undemanding, and absurd in his conduct. The activity he discovered in Oates's plot, had raised him to such reputation, that he was unable to bear it, and therefore the natural enthusiasm of his temper prompted him to make himself a sacrifice, from a view of advancing the Protestant cause, as he knew his murther would be charged upon the Papists.

Mr. L'Estrange's reasoning, being only conjectural, and very improbable, is therefore far from conclusive: It is certain that there never was a more intricate affair than this. We have read the trials of all those who suffered for this murther, chiefly upon the evidence of one Prance, and one Bedloe, who pretended to have been accomplices; but their relation is so inconsistent; their characters so very infamous, and their reward for being evidences supposed to be so considerable, that the most candid enquirer after truth, can determine nothing positively concerning it. All who suffered for the popish plot, denied their knowledge of it; the four men who were executed, as being the perpetrators persisted to the last in protesting their innocence of it. After all, the murther of Sir Edmundbury G.o.dfrey is perhaps one of those secrets, which will ever remain so, till the hearts of all men are laid open.

The services, which Mr. L'Estrange rendered the court, procured him the honour of knighthood; and he served as a member for Winchester, in the parliament called by king James the IId. 1685. But things taking quite a different turn in that prince's reign, in point of liberty of conscience, to what most people expected, our author's Observators were dropt, as not being suitable to the times. However he continued licenser of the press 'till the accession of the prince of Orange to the throne; in whose reign, on account of his Tory principles, and his attachment to his late master, he met with some troubles. He was suffered however to descend to the grave in peace, though he had in a manner survived his understanding. He died December 12, 1705, in the 88th year of his age.

[D]Besides his Observators, which make three volumes in folio, he published a great number of poetical and other works. Winstanley, in his Lives of the Poets, says, 'That those who shall consider the number and greatness of his books, will admire he should ever write so many; and those who have read them, considering the skill and method they are written in, will admire he should write so well. Nor is he less happy in verse than prose, which for elegance of language, and quickness of invention, deservedly ent.i.tles him to the honour of a poet.'

The following are the t.i.tles of some of his works, viz. Collections in Defence of the King. Toleration Discussed. Relapsed Apostate. Apology for Protestants. Richard against Baxter. Tyranny and Popery. Growth and Knavery. Reformed Catholic. Free-born Subjects. The Case Put. Seasonable Memorials. Answer to the Appeal. L'Estrange no Papist; in answer to a Libel, int.i.tled L'Estrange a Papist, &c. with Notes and Animadversions upon Miles Prance, Silver-Smith, c.u.m multis aliis. The Shammer Shamm'd. Account Cleared. Reformation Reformed. Dissenters Sayings, in two Parts. Notes on Colledge, the Protestant Joiner. Citizen and b.u.mpkin, in two Parts. Further Discovery in the Plot. Discovery on Discovery. Narrative of the Plot. Zekiel and Ephraim. Appeal to the King and Parliament. Papist in Masquerade. Answer to the second Character of a Popish Successor. Confederations upon a Printed Sheet int.i.tled, The Speech of Lord Russel to the Sheriffs: Together with the Paper delivered by him to them at the place of execution, on July 1683. These pieces with many more, were printed in quarto; besides which he wrote the following, viz. The History of the Plot in Folio. Caveat to the Cavaliers. He translated into English Cicero's Offices; Seneca's Mora's, Erasmus's Colloquies; Quevedo's Visions; Bona's Guide to Eternity; Five Love Letters from a Nun to a Cavalier; Josephus's Works; Aesop's Fables.

Mr. Gordon, author of the Independent Whig, and translator of Tacitus, has very freely censured L'Estrange. He bestows very freely upon him the epithet of a buffoon, an ignorant droll, &c.--He charges him with having no knowledge of the Latin tongue; and says, he is unfit to be read by any person of taste. That his stile is full of technical terms, and of phrases picked up in the streets, from apprentices and porters.

Sir Roger L'Estrange translated the third Book of Tacitus, an author of whom Mr. Gordon made an entire translation. To raise the reputation of his own performance, he has abused that of L'Estrange, in terms very unfit for a gentleman to use, supposing the censure had been true. Sir Roger's works indeed are often calculated for the meanest capacities, and the phrase is consequently low; but a man must be greatly under the influence of prejudice, who can discover no genius in his writings; not an intimate acquaintance with the state of parties, human life, and manners.

Sir Roger was but ill-rewarded by the Tories, for having been their champion; the latter part of his life was clouded with poverty, and though he descended in peace to the grave, free from political turmoils, yet as he was bowed down with age and distress, he cannot be said to have died in comfort. He had seen much of the world, examined many characters, experienced the vicissitudes of fortune, and was as well instructed as any man that ever lived, in the important lesson of human life, viz. That all things are vanity.

[Footnote A: See Gen. Dict. Art. L'Estrange.]

[Footnote B: Truth and Loyalty, ubi supra.]

[Footnote C: Sir Roger L'Estrange was called, by way of derision, Cromwell's Fidler.]

[Footnote D: General Dictionary.]

Mr. EDMUND SMITH,

This distinguished poet was son of an eminent merchant, one Mr. Neal, by a daughter of baron Lechemere[A]. Some misfortunes of his father, which were soon followed by his death, occasioned our author's being left very young in the care of a near relation (one who married Mr. Neal's mother, whose name was Smith).

This gentleman treated him with as much tenderness as if he had been his own child, and placed him at Westminster-school, under the care of Dr. Busby. After the death of his generous guardian (whose name in grat.i.tude he thought proper to a.s.sume) he was removed to Christ's Church in Oxford, and was there by his aunt handsomely supported till her death; after which he continued a member of that learned society, till within five years of his own. Some time before his leaving Christ-Church, he was sent for by his mother to Worcester, and acknowledged by her as a legitimate son. We chuse to mention this circ.u.mstance, in order to wipe off the aspersion which folly and ignorance cast upon; his birth[B].

In honour to Mr. Smith it should be remembered, that when he stood a candidate for one of the universities, at the Westminster election, he so peculiarly distinguished himself by his conspicuous performances, that there arose no small contention between the representative electors of Trinity College in Cambridge, and Christ-Church College in Oxon, which of those two ill.u.s.trious societies should adopt him as their own. But the electors of Trinity College having the preference of choice that year, they resolutely elected him; but being invited at the same time to Christ-Church, Mr. Smith chose to accept of a students.h.i.+p there.

He pa.s.sed through the exercises of the college, and the university, with unusual applause; and tho' he often suffered his friends to call him off from his retirement; yet his return to his studies was so much the more pa.s.sionate, and his love of reading and thinking being so vehement, the habit grew upon him, and the series of meditation and reflexion being kept up whole weeks together, he could better arrange his ideas, and take in sundry parts of a science at one view without interruption or confusion. Some of his acquaintance, who were pleased to distinguish between the wit and the scholar, extoll'd him altogether on account of the first of these excellencies; but others, who were more candid, admired him as a prodigy in both. He had acquired reputation in the schools, both as a philosopher and polemic of extensive knowledge, and deep penetration, and went through all the courses with a proper regard to the dignity, and importance of each science. Mr. Smith had a long and perfect intimacy with all the Greek and Latin Cla.s.sics; with whom he had industriously compared whatever was worth perusing in the French, Spanish, and Italian, and all the celebrated writers in his own country. He considered the antients and moderns, not as parties, or rivals for fame, but as architects upon one and the same plan, the Art of Poetry. If he did not always commend the compositions of others, it proceeded not from ill-nature (for that was foreign to his temper) but a strict regard to justice would not suffer him to call a few flowers elegantly adorned, without much art, and less genius, by so distinguished a name as poetry. He was of Ben Johnson's opinion, who could not admire,

--Verses, as smooth and soft as cream, In which their was neither depth nor stream.

Mr. Smith's Bodleian Oration, printed with his other works, though taken from a remote and imperfect copy, has shewn the world, how great a matter he was of Ciceronian Eloquence. Since Temple and Roscommon (says Mr. Oldisworth) 'No man understood Horace better, especially as to his happy diction, rolling numbers, beautiful imagery, and alternate mixture of the soft and sublime. His friend Mr. Philips's Ode to Mr. St. John, after the manner of Horace's Lusory, or Amatorian Odes, is certainly a master-piece: But Mr. Smith's Poc.o.c.kius is of the sublimer kind; though like Waller's writings upon Cromwell, it wants not the most delicate and surprizing turns, peculiar to the person praised.'

He was an excellent judge of humanity, and so good a historian, that in familiar conversation, he would talk over the most memorable fads in antiquity; the lives, actions, and characters of celebrated men, with amazing facility and accuracy. As he had carefully read and distinguished Thua.n.u.s's Works, so he was able to copy after him: And his talent in this kind was so generally confess'd, that he was made choice of by some great men, to write a history, which it was their interest to have executed with the utmost art, and dexterity; but this design was dropp'd, as Mr. Smith would not sacrifice truth to the caprice, and interested views of a party.

Our author's Poem, condoling the death of Mr. Philips, is full of the n.o.blest beauties, and pays a just tribute to the venerable ashes of that great man. Mr. Smith had contracted for Mr. Philips the most perfect friends.h.i.+p, a pa.s.sion of which he was very susceptible, and whole laws he considered as sacred and inviolable.

In the year 1707 Mr. Smith's Tragedy called Phaedra and Hippolitus was acted at the Theatre-Royal. This play was introduced upon the stage, at a time when the Italian Opera so much engrossed the attention of the polite world, that sense was sacrificed to sound. It was dress'd and decorated, at an extraordinary expence:--and inimitably perform'd in all its parts, by Betterton, Booth, Barry, and Oldfield. Yet it brought but few, and slender audiences.--To say truth, 'twas a fine Poem; but not an extraordinary Play. Notwithstanding the intrinsic merit of this piece, and the countenance it met with from the most ingenious men of the age, yet it languished on the stage, and was soon neglected. Mr. Addison wrote the Prologue, in which he rallies the vitiated taste of the public, in preferring the unideal entertainment of an Opera, to the genuine sense of a British Poet.

The PROLOGUE.

Long has a race of Heroes fill'd the stage, That rant by note, and thro' the gamut rage; In songs, and airs, express their martial fire, Combat in trills, and in a feuge expire; While lull'd by sound, and undisturb'd by wit, Calm and serene, you indolently fit; And from the dull fatigue of thinking free, Hear the facetious fiddle's rapartee; Our home-spun authors must forsake the field, And Shakespear to the soft Scarlatti yield.

To your new taste, the poet of this day, Was by a friend advis'd to form his play; Had Valentini musically coy, Shun'd Phaedra's arms, and scorn'd the proffer'd joy, It had not mov'd your wonder to have seen, An Eunuch fly from an enamour'd queen.

How would it please, should me in English speak, And could Hippolitus reply in Greek?

We have been induced to transcribe these lines of Mr. Addison, in order to have the pleasure of producing so great an authority in favour of the English drama, when placed in contradistinction to an entertainment, exhibited by Eunuchs and Fidlers, in a language, of which the greatest part of the audience are ignorant; and from the nature of which no moral instruction can be drawn.

The chief excellence of this play certainly consists in the beauty and harmony of the verification. The language is luxuriantly poetical. The pa.s.sion of Phaedra for her husband's son has been considered by some critics as too unnatural to be shewn on the stage; and they have observed that the poet would have written more successfully if he had converted the son into a brother. Poetical justice is carefully distributed; Phaedra and Lycon are justly made the sufferers, while Hippolitus and Ismena escape the vengeance of Theseus. The play is not dest.i.tute of the pathetic, tho' much more regard is paid to the purity and elegance of the language, than a poet more acquainted with the workings of the heart would have done. We shall give an example to ill.u.s.trate this observation. When Theseus reproaches Hippolitus for his love to Ismena, and at the same time dooms him as the victim, of his revenge and jealousy, he uses these words,

Canst thou be only clear'd by disobedience, And justified by crimes?-What! love my foe!

Love one descended from a race of tyrants, Whose blood yet reeks on my avenging sword!

I'm curst each moment I delay thy fate: Haste to the shades, and tell, the happy Pallas, Ismena's flames, and let him taste such joys As thou giv'st me; go tell applauding Minos, The pious love you bore his daughter Phaedra; Tell it the chatt'ring ghosts, and hissing furies, Tell it the grinning fiends, till h.e.l.l found nothing To thy pleas'd ears, but Phaedra and Ismena.