WILLIAM KING was born in London in 1663; the son of Ezekiel King, a
gentleman. He was allied to the family of Clarendon.
From Westminster School, where he was a scholar on the foundation under
the care of Dr. Busby, he was at eighteen elected to Christ Church in
1681; where he is said to have prosecuted his studies with so much
intenseness and activity, that before he was eight years’ standing he had
read over, and made remarks upon, twenty-two thousand odd hundred books
and manuscripts. The books were certainly not very long, the manuscripts
not very difficult, nor the remarks very large; for the calculator will
find that he despatched seven a day for every day of his eight years;
with a remnant that more than satisfies most other students. He took his
degree in the most expensive manner, as a _grand compounder_; whence it
is inferred that he inherited a considerable fortune.
In 1688, the same year in which he was made Master of Arts, he published
a confutation of Varillas’s account of Wickliffe; and, engaging in the
study of the civil law, became Doctor in 1692, and was admitted advocate
at Doctors’ Commons.
He had already made some translations from the French, and written some
humorous and satirical pieces; when, in 1694, Molesworth published his
“Account of Denmark,” in which he treats the Danes and their monarch with
great contempt; and takes the opportunity of insinuating those wild
principles by which he supposes liberty to be established, and by which
his adversaries suspect that all subordination and government is
endangered.
This book offended Prince George; and the Danish Minister presented a
memorial against it. The principles of its author did not please Dr.
King; and therefore he undertook to confute part, and laugh at the rest.
The controversy is now forgotten: and books of this kind seldom live long
when interest and resentment have ceased.
In 1697 he mingled in the controversy between Boyle and Bentley; and was
one of those who tried what wit could perform in opposition to learning,
on a question which learning only could decide.
In 1699 was published by him “A Journey to London,” after the method of
Dr. Martin Lister, who had published “A Journey to Paris.” And in 1700
he satirised the Royal Society—at least, Sir Hans Sloane, their
president—in two dialogues, intituled “The Transactioner.”
Though he was a regular advocate in the courts of civil and canon law, he
did not love his profession, nor, indeed, any kind of business which
interrupted his voluptuary dreams or forced him to rouse from that
indulgence in which only he could find delight. His reputation as a
civilian was yet maintained by his judgments in the Courts of Delegates,
and raised very high by the address and knowledge which he discovered in
1700, when he defended the Earl of Anglesea against his lady, afterwards
Duchess of Buckinghamshire, who sued for a divorce and obtained it.
The expense of his pleasures, and neglect of business, had now lessened
his revenues; and he was willing to accept of a settlement in Ireland,
where, about 1702, he was made Judge of the Admiralty, Commissioner of
the Prizes, Keeper of the Records in Birmingham’s Tower, and
Vicar-General to Dr. Marsh, the primate.
But it is vain to put wealth within the reach of him who will not stretch
out his hand to take it. King soon found a friend, as idle and
thoughtless as himself, in Upton, one of the judges, who had a pleasant
house called Mountown, near Dublin, to which King frequently retired;
delighting to neglect his interest, forget his cares, and desert his
duty.
Here he wrote “Mully of Mountown,” a poem; by which, though fanciful
readers in the pride of sagacity have given it a poetical interpretation,
was meant originally no more than it expressed, as it was dictated only
by the author’s delight in the quiet of Mountown.
In 1708, when Lord Wharton was sent to govern Ireland, King returned to
London, with his poverty, his idleness, and his wit; and published some
essays, called “Useful Transactions.” His “Voyage to the Island of
Cajamai” is particularly commended. He then wrote the “Art of Love,” a
poem remarkable, notwithstanding its title, for purity of sentiment; and
in 1709 imitated Horace in an “Art of Cookery,” which he published with
some letters to Dr. Lister.
In 1710 he appeared as a lover of the Church, on the side of Sacheverell;
and was supposed to have concurred at least in the projection of the
_Examiner_. His eyes were open to all the operations of Whiggism; and he
bestowed some strictures upon Dr. Kennet’s adulatory sermon at the
funeral of the Duke of Devonshire.
“The History of the Heathen Gods,” a book composed for schools, was
written by him in 1711. The work is useful, but might have been produced
without the powers of King. The same year he published “Rufinus,” an
historical essay; and a poem intended to dispose the nation to think as
he thought of the Duke of Marlborough and his adherents.
In 1711, competence, if not plenty, was again put into his power. He
was, without the trouble of attendance or the mortification of a request,
made Gazetteer. Swift, Freind, Prior, and other men of the same party,
brought him the key of the Gazetteer’s office. He was now again placed
in a profitable employment, and again threw the benefit away. An Act of
Insolvency made his business at that time particularly troublesome; and
he would not wait till hurry should be at an end, but impatiently
resigned it, and returned to his wonted indigence and amusements.
One of his amusements at Lambeth, where he resided, was to mortify Dr.
Tenison, the archbishop, by a public festivity on the surrender of
Dunkirk to Hill; an event with which Tenison’s political bigotry did not
suffer him to be delighted. King was resolved to counteract his
sullenness, and at the expense of a few barrels of ale filled the
neighbourhood with honest merriment.
In the autumn of 1712 his health declined; he grew weaker by degrees, and
died on Christmas Day. Though his life had not been without
irregularity, his principles were pure and orthodox, and his death was
pious.
After this relation it will be naturally supposed that his poems were
rather the amusements of idleness than efforts of study; that he
endeavoured rather to divert than astonish; that his thoughts seldom
aspired to sublimity; and that, if his verse was easy and his images
familiar, he attained what he desired. His purpose is to be merry; but
perhaps, to enjoy his mirth, it may be sometimes necessary to think well
of his opinions.