The memorable friendship of Beaumont and Fletcher so closely united
their labours, that we cannot discover the productions of either; and
biographers cannot, without difficulty, compose the memoirs of the one,
without running into the life of the other. They pourtrayed the same
characters, while they mingled sentiment with sentiment; and their days
were as closely interwoven as their verses. Metastasio and Farinelli
were born about the same time, and early acquainted. They called one
another _Gemello_, or The Twin, both the delight of Europe, both lived
to an advanced age, and died nearly at the same time. Their fortune
bore, too, a resemblance; for they were both pensioned, but lived and
died separated in the distant courts of Vienna and Madrid. Montaigne and
Charron were rivals, but always friends; such was Montaigne's affection
for Charron, that he permitted him by his will to bear the full arms of
his family; and Charron evinced his gratitude to the manes of his
departed friend, by leaving his fortune to the sister of Montaigne, who
had married. Forty years of friendship, uninterrupted by rivalry or
envy, crowned the lives of Poggius and Leonard Aretin, two of the
illustrious revivers of letters. A singular custom formerly prevailed
among our own writers, which was an affectionate tribute to our literary
veterans by young writers. The former adopted the latter by the title of
sons. Ben Jonson had twelve of these poetical sons. Walton the angler
adopted Cotton, the translator of Montaigne.
Among the most fascinating effusions of genius are those little pieces
which it consecrates to the cause of friendship. In that poem of Cowley,
composed on the death of his friend Harvey, the following stanza
presents a pleasing picture of the employments of two young students:--
Say, for you saw us, ye immortal lights,
How oft unwearied have we spent the nights!
Till the Ledæan stars, so famed for love,
Wondered at us from above.
We spent them not in toys, in lust, or wine,
But search of deep philosophy,
Wit, eloquence, and poetry,
Arts which I loved, for they, my friend, were thine.
Milton has not only given the exquisite Lycidas to the memory of a
young friend, but in his _Epitaphium Damonis_, to that of Deodatus, has
poured forth some interesting sentiments. It has been versified by
Langhorne. Now, says the poet,
To whom shall I my hopes and fears impart,
Or trust the cares and follies of my heart?
The elegy of Tickell, maliciously called by Steele "prose in rhyme," is
alike inspired by affection and fancy; it has a melodious languor, and a
melancholy grace. The sonnet of Gray to the memory of West is a
beautiful effusion, and a model for English sonnets. Helvetius was the
protector of men of genius, whom he assisted not only with his
criticism, but his fortune. At his death, Saurin read in the French
Academy an epistle to the manes of his friend. Saurin, wrestling with
obscurity and poverty, had been drawn into literary existence by the
supporting hand of Helvetius. Our poet thus addresses him in the warm
tones of gratitude:
C'est toi qui me cherchant au sein de l'infortune,
Relevas mon sort abattu,
Et sus me rendre chère une vie importune.
* * * *
Qu'importent ces pleurs--
O douleur impuissante! ô regrets superflus!
Je vis, helas! Je vis, et mon ami n'est plus!