The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume IV Part 18

An Apology for Loving a Widow.

The Fifth Psalm Paraphrased.

A Poetical Epistle, written from Hampstead to Mr. Thornhill, upon Mr.

Addison's Cato.

An Epistle to Mr. Addison on the Death of the Earl of Hallifax. This poem begins thus,

And shall great Hallifax resign to fate, And not one bard upon his ashes wait?

Or is with him all inspiration fled, And lye the muses with their patron dead?

Convince us, Addison, his spirit reigns, Breathing again in thy immortal strains: To thee the list'ning world impartial bends, Since Hallifax and envy now are friends.

Cupid's Proclamation, or a Defence of Women; a Poem from Chaucer.

Dr. Sewel, in his state principles, was inclined to the cause of the Tories, and takes every occasion to combat with the bishop of Salisbury, who had so eminently appeared in the cause of the Whigs.

The following is a list of his prose works, in which there are some letters addressed to, and animadversions upon that eminent prelate's works.

The Clergy, and the Present Ministry defended; being a Letter to the Bishop of Salisbury, occasioned by his Lords.h.i.+p's new Preface to his Pastoral Case, 8vo. 1713, third Edition that year. In a fourth Edition (same date) this is called Mr. Sewel's First Letter to the Bishop of Salisbury, the Clergy, &c.

A Second Letter to the Bishop of Salisbury, upon the Publication of his new Volume of Sermons, wherein his Lords.h.i.+p's Preface concerning the Revolution, and the Case of the Lord Russel are examined, &c. 8vo.

1713.

Remarks upon a Pamphlet ent.i.tled Observations upon the State of the Nation 1712-13, third Edition; to which is added a Postscript to the Vindicator of the Earl of Nottingham, 8vo. 1714.

An Introduction to the Life and Writings of G----t Lord Bishop of S----m, &c. being a Third Letter to the Bishop of Salisbury, 8vo.

1716.

A Vindication of the English Stage, exemplified in the Cato of Mr.

Addison. In a Letter to a n.o.bleman, 8vo. 1716.

Schism destructive of the Government, both in Church and State; being a Defence of the Bill int.i.tled An Act to prevent the Growth of Schism; wherein all the Objections against it, and particularly those in 'Squire Steele's Letter are fully Refuted. Humbly offered to the Consideration of the House of Lords, 8vo. 1714, second Edition.

More News from Salisbury, viz. I. An Examination of some Parts of the Bishop of Sarum's Sermon and Charge, &c. 8vo. 1714.

The Reasons for writing against the Bishop of Salisbury, 8vo. 1714.

The Life of Mr. John Philips, Author of the Poem on Cyder.

Dr. Sewel died at Hampstead in Middles.e.x, where, in the latter part of his life, he had practised physic, on the 8th of February 1726, and was buried there. He seems to have been a man of an amiable disposition, and to have possessed a very considerable genius.

ANTHONY HAMMOND, Esq;

This gentleman was descended from a good family, of Somersham-Place, in the county of Huntingdon, and was born in the year 1668[A]. When he arrived at a proper age, he was chosen member of Parliament, and did not remain long in the house before he distinguished himself as a very eminent speaker. Having espoused the court interest, his zeal and merit recommended him to very considerable public employments, particularly that of being one of the commissioners of the royal navy, which place he quitted in the year 1712. The ingenious Mr. Southern in his dedication of his Innocent Adultery, to Mr. Hammond, speaks thus of him. 'If generosity with friends.h.i.+p, learning with good sense, true wit and humour, with good-nature, be accomplishments to qualify a gentleman for a patron, I am sure I have hit right in Mr. Hammond.'

Our author obliged the public with a Miscellany of Original Poems, by the Most Eminent Hands; in which himself had no small share. In this miscellany are several poetical performances of Mrs. Martha Fowkes, a lady of exquisite taste in the belle accomplishments. As to Mr.

Hammond's own pieces, he acknowleges in his preface, that they were written at very different times, and particularly owned by him, lest they should afterwards be ascribed to other persons; as the Ode on Solitude, was falsely ascribed to the earl of Roscommon, and other pieces of his, were likewise given to other authors.

This author wrote the Life of Walter Moyle Esq; prefixed to his works.----Mr. Hammond died about the year 1726.

[Footnote A: c.o.xeter's Miscellaneous Notes.]

The Revd. Mr. LAWRENCE EUSDEN.

This gentleman was descended from a very good family in the kingdom of Leland, but received his education at Trinity college in Cambridge.

He was honoured with the encouragement of that eminent patron of the poets the earl of Halifax, to whom he consecrated the first product of his Muse. He enjoyed likewise the patronage of the duke of Newcastle, who being lord chamberlain, at the death of Mr. Rowe, preferred him to the Bays.

Mr. Eusden was for some part of his life chaplain to Richard lord Willoughby de Brook: In this peaceful situation of life, one would not expect Mr. Eusden should have any enemies, either of the literary, or any other sort. But we find he has had many, amongst whom Mr. Pope is the most formidable both in power and keenness. In his Dunciad, Book I. Line 101. where he represents Dulness taking a view of her sons, he says

She saw old Pryn, in restless Daniel s.h.i.+ne, And Eusden eke out Blackmore's endless line.

Mr. Oldmixon likewise in his Art of Logic and Rhetoric, page 413, affirms, 'That of all the Galimatias he ever met with, none comes up to some verses of this poet, which have as much of the ridiculum and the fustian in them, as can well be jumbled together, and are of that sort of nonsense, which so perfectly confounds all ideas, that there is no distinct one left in the mind. Further he says of him, that he hath prophesy'd his own poetry shall be sweeter than Catullus, Ovid and Tibullus; but we have little hope of the accomplishment of it from what he hath lately published.' Upon which Mr. Oldmixon has not spared a reflexion, that the placing the laurel on the head of one who wrote such verses, will give posterity a very lively idea of the justice and judgment of those who bestowed it.

Mr. Oldmixon no doubt by this reflexion insinuates, that the laurel would have better become his own brows than Eusden's; but it would perhaps have been more decent for him to acquiesce in the opinion of the duke of Buckingham (Sheffield) who in his Session of the Poets thus mentions Eusden.

--In rush'd Eusden, and cry'd, who shall have it, But I the true Laureat to whom the king gave it?

Apollo begg'd pardon, and granted his claim, But vow'd that till then, he ne'er heard of his name.

The truth is, Mr. Eusden wrote an Epithalamium on the marriage of his grace the duke of Newcastle, to the right honourable the lady Henrietta G.o.dolphin; which was considered as so great a compliment by the duke, that in grat.i.tude for it, he preferred him to the laurel.

Nor can I at present see how he could have made a better choice: We shall have occasion to find, as we enumerate his writings, that he was no inconsiderable versifier, and though perhaps he had not the brightest parts; yet as we hear of no moral blemish imputed to him, and as he was dignified with holy-orders, his grace acted a very generous part, in providing for a man who had conferred an obligation on him. The first rate poets were either of principles very different from the government, or thought themselves too distinguished to undergo the drudgery of an annual Ode; and in this case Eusden seems to have had as fair a claim as another, at least a better than his antagonist Oldmixon. He succeeded indeed a much greater poet than himself, the ingenious Mr. Rowe, which might perhaps draw some ridicule upon him.

Mr. Cooke, in his Battle of the Poets, speaks thus of our author.

Eusden, a laurel'd bard, by fortune rais'd By very few was read, by fewer prais'd.

A fate which some critics are of opinion must befall the very poet himself, who is thus so ready to expose his brother.

The chief of our author's poetical writings are these,

To the lord Hallifax, occasioned by the translating into Latin his lords.h.i.+p's Poem on the Battle of the Boyne.

On the duke of Marlborough's victory at Oudenaid.

A Letter to Mr. Addison.

On the king's accession to the throne.