In misery's haunts, thy friend thy bounties seize,
And give an urgent life some days of ease;
Ah! ye vain griefs, superfluous tears I chide!
I live, alas! I live--and thou hast died!
The literary friendship of a father with his son is one of the rarest
alliances in the republic of letters. It was gratifying to the feelings
of young Gibbon, in the fervour of literary ambition, to dedicate his
first-fruits to his father. The too lively son of Crebillon, though his
was a very different genius to the grandeur of his father's, yet
dedicated his works to him, and for a moment put aside his wit and
raillery for the pathetic expressions of filial veneration. We have had
a remarkable instance in the two Richardsons; and the father, in his
original manner, has in the most glowing language expressed his
affectionate sentiments. He says, "My time of learning was employed in
business; but after all, I have the Greek and Latin tongues, because a
part of me possesses them, to whom I can recur at pleasure, just as I
have a hand when I would write or paint, feet to walk, and eyes to see.
My son is my learning, as I am that to him which he has not.--We make
one man, and such a compound man may probably produce what no single man
can." And further, "I always think it my peculiar happiness to be as it
were enlarged, expanded, made another man, by the acquisition of my son;
and he thinks in the same manner concerning my union with him." This is
as curious as it is uncommon; however the cynic may call it egotism!
Some for their friend have died penetrated with inconsolable grief; some
have sacrificed their character to preserve his own; some have shared
their limited fortune; and some have remained attached to their friend
in the cold season of adversity.
Jurieu denounced Bayle as an impious writer, and drew his conclusions
from the "Avis aux Réfugiés." This work is written against the
Calvinists, and therefore becomes impious in Holland. Bayle might have
exculpated himself with facility, by declaring the work was composed by
La Roque; but he preferred to be persecuted rather than to ruin his
friend; he therefore was silent, and was condemned. When the minister
Fouquet was abandoned by all, it was the men of letters he had
patronised who never forsook his prison; and many have dedicated their
works to great men in their adversity, whom they scorned to notice at
the time when they were noticed by all. The learned Goguet bequeathed
his MSS. and library to his friend Fugere, with whom he had united his
affections and his studies. His work on the "Origin of the Arts and
Sciences" had been much indebted to his aid. Fugere, who knew his friend
to be past recovery, preserved a mute despair, during the slow and
painful disease; and on the death of Goguet, the victim of sensibility
perished amidst the manuscripts which his friend had in vain bequeathed
to prepare for publication. The Abbé de Saint Pierre gave an interesting
proof of literary friendship. When he was at college he formed a union
with Varignon, the geometrician. They were of congenial dispositions.
When he went to Paris he invited Varignon to accompany him; but Varignon
had nothing, and the Abbé was far from rich. A certain income was
necessary for the tranquil pursuits of geometry. Our Abbé had an income
of 1800 livres; from this he deducted 300, which he gave to the
geometrician, accompanied by a delicacy which few but a man of genius
could conceive. "I do not give it to you," he said, "as a salary, but an
annuity, that you may be independent, and quit me when you dislike me."
Something nearly similar embellishes our own literary history. When
Akenside was in great danger of experiencing famine as well as fame, Mr.
Dyson allowed him three hundred pounds a year. Of this gentleman,
perhaps, nothing is known; yet whatever his life may be, it merits the
tribute of the biographer. To close with these honourable testimonies of
literary friendship, we must not omit that of Churchill and Lloyd. It is
known that when Lloyd heard of the death of our poet, he acted the part
which Fugere did to Goguet. The page is crowded, but my facts are by no
means exhausted.
The most illustrious of the ancients prefixed the name of some friend to
the head of their works.--We too often place that of some patron. They
honourably inserted it in their works. When a man of genius, however,
shows that he is not less mindful of his social affection than his fame,
he is the more loved by his reader. Plato communicated a ray of his
glory to his brothers; for in his Republic he ascribes some parts to
Adimanthus and Glauchon; and Antiphon the youngest is made to deliver
his sentiments in the Parmenides, To perpetuate the fondness of
friendship, several authors have entitled their works by the name of
some cherished associate. Cicero to his Treatise on Orators gave the
title of Brutus; to that of Friendship, Lelius; and to that of Old Age,
Cato. They have been imitated by the moderns. The poetical Tasso to his
dialogue on Friendship gave the name of Manso, who was afterwards his
affectionate biographer. Sepulvueda entitles his Treatise on Glory by
the name of his friend Gonsalves. Lociel to his Dialogues on the Lawyers
of Paris prefixes the name of the learned Pasquier. Thus Plato
distinguishes his Dialogues by the names of certain persons; the one on
Lying is entitled Hippius; on Rhetoric, Gorgias; and on Beauty, Phædrus.
Luther has perhaps carried this feeling to an extravagant point. He was
so delighted by his favourite "Commentary on the Epistle to the
Galatians," that he distinguished it by a title of doting fondness; he
named it after his wife, and called it "His Catherine."