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Anglistica & Americana
A Series of Reprints Selected by Bernhard Fabian, Edgar Mertner, Karl
Schneider and Marvin Spevack
17
GEORG OLMS VERLAGSBUCHHANDLUNG
HILDESHEIM
THEOPHILUS CIBBER
The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland
(1753)
Vol. II
1968
GEORG OLMS VERLAGSBUCHHANDLUNG
HILDESHEIM
Note
The present facsimile is reproduced from a copy in the possession of
the Library of the University of Göttingen.
Shelfmark: H. lit. biogr. I 8464.
Although the title-page of Volume I announces four volumes, the work
is continued in a fifth volume of the same date. Like Volumes II, III,
and IV, it is by "Mr. CIBBER, and other Hands" and is "Printed for R.
GRIFFITHS".
M.S.
Reprografischer Nachdruck der Ausgabe London 1753
Printed in Germany
Herstellung: fotokap wilhelm weihert, Darmstadt
Best.-Nr. 5102040
THE
LIVES
OF THE
POETS
OF
GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND.
Compiled from ample Materials scattered in a Variety of Books, and
especially from the MS. Notes of the late ingenious Mr. COXETER and
others, collected for this Design,
By Mr. CIBBER, and other Hands.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
Printed for R. GRIFFITHS, at the Dunciad in St. Paul's Church-Yard.
MDCCLIII
VOLUME II.
Contains the
LIVES
OF
Brewer Newcastle, Duchess
May Newcastle, Duke
Taylour Birkenhead
Habington Boyle, E. Orrery
Goldsmith Head
Cleveland Hobbs
Holiday [sic] Cokaine
Nabbes Wharton
Shirley Killegrew, Anne
Howel Lee
Fanshaw Butler
Cowley Waller
Davenant Ogilby
King Rochester
[Massinger] Buckingham
Stapleton Smith
Main Otway
Milton [Oldham]
Philips [Roscommon]
* * * * *
_Just Published,_
In one small Octavo Volume, Price bound in Calf 3s.
A TRANSLATION of the Ingenious Abbé DE MABLY'S _Observations on the_
ROMANS. A learned and curious Performance; wherein the Policy of that
People is set in so clear a Light, and the Characters of their great
Men drawn with such a masterly Pen, as cannot but recommend it to all
Lovers of Classical Learning.
In this Work many new Lights are cast upon the Characters and Conduct
of the following celebrated Personages:
Romulus, | Pompey, | Otho,
Tarquin the Elder, | Cato, | Vitellius,
Servius Tullus, | Cæsar, | Vespasian,
Brutus, | Cicero, | Titus,
The Gracchi, | Antony, | Domitian,
Marius, | Augustus, | Nerva,
Sylla, | Tiberius, | Trajan,
Crassus, | Caligula, | Antoninus,
Scipio, | Claudius, | Marcus Aurelius,
Hannibal, | Nero, | Diocletian,
Pyrrhus, | Galba, | Constantine the Great
&c. &c. &c.
Printed for R. GRIFFITHS, in _Paul's Church-Yard_.
* * * * *
THE
LIVES
OF THE
POETS
ANTHONY BREWER,
A poet who flourished in the reign of Charles I. but of whose birth
and life we can recover no particulars. He was highly esteemed by some
wits in that reign, as appears from a Poem called Steps to Parnassus,
which pays him the following well turned compliment.
Let Brewer take his artful pen in hand,
Attending muses will obey command,
Invoke the aid of Shakespear's sleeping clay,
And strike from utter darkness new born day.
Mr. Winstanley, and after him Chetwood, has attributed a play to our
author called Lingua, or the Contention of the Tongue and the Five
Senses for Superiority, a Comedy, acted at Cambridge, 1606; but Mr.
Langbaine is of opinion, that neither that, Love's Loadstone,
Landagartha, or Love's Dominion, as Winstanley and Philips affirm, are
his; Landagartha being written by Henry Burnel, esquire, and Love's
Dominion by Flecknoe. In the Comedy called Lingua, there is a
circumstance which Chetwood mentions, too curious, to be omitted here.
When this play was acted at Cambridge, Oliver Cromwel performed the
part of Tactus, which he felt so warmly, that it first fired his
ambition, and, from the possession of an imaginary crown, he stretched
his views to a real one; to accomplish which, he was content to wade
through a sea of blood, and, as Mr. Gray beautifully expresses it,
shut the Gates of Mercy on Mankind; the speech with which he is said
to have been so affected, is the following,
Roses, and bays, pack hence: this crown and robe,
My brows, and body, circles and invests;
How gallantly it fits me! sure the slave
Measured my head, that wrought this coronet;
They lie that say, complexions cannot change!
My blood's enobled, and I am transform'd
Unto the sacred temper of a king;
Methinks I hear my noble Parasites
Stiling me Cæsar, or great Alexander,
Licking my feet,--&c.
Mr. Langbaine ascribes to Brewer the two following plays,
Country Girl, a Comedy, often acted with applause, printed in 4to.
1647. This play has been revived since the Restoration, under the
title of Country Innocence, or the Chamber-maid turned Quaker.
Love-sick King, an English Tragical History, with the Life and Death
of Cartesmunda, the Fair Nun of Winchester; printed in 4to. London,
1655; this play was likewise revived 1680, and acted by the name of
the Perjured Nun. The historical part of the plot is founded upon the
Invasion of the Danes, in the reign of King Ethelred and Alfred.
This last play of Anthony Brewer's, is one of the best irregular
plays, next to those of Shakespear, which are in our language. The
story, which is extremely interesting, is conducted, not so much with
art, as spirit; the characters are animated, and the scene busy.
Canutus King of Denmark, after having gained the city of Winchester,
by the villainy of a native, orders all to be put to the sword, and at
last enters the Cloister, raging with the thirst of blood, and panting
for destruction; he meets Cartesmunda, whose beauty stops his ruffian
violence, and melts him, as it were, into a human creature. The
language of this play is as modern, and the verses as musical as those
of Rowe; fire and elevation run through it, and there are many strokes
of the most melting tenderness. Cartesmunda, the Fair Nun of
Winchester, inspires the King with a passion for her, and after a long
struggle between honour and love, she at last yields to the tyrant,
and for the sake of Canutus breaks her vestal vows. Upon hearing that
the enemy was about to enter the Cloister, Cartesmunda breaks out into
the following beautiful exclamation:
The raging foe pursues, defend us Heaven!
Take virgin tears, the balm of martyr'd saints
As tribute due, to thy tribunal throne;
With thy right hand keep us from rage and murder;
Let not our danger fright us, but our sins;
Misfortunes touch our bodies, not our souls.
When Canutus advances, and first sees Cartesmunda, his speech is
poetical, and conceived in the true spirit of Tragedy.
Ha! who holds my conquering hand? what power unknown,
By magic thus transforms me to a statue,
Senseless of all the faculties of life?
My blood runs back, I have no power to strike;
Call in our guards and bid 'em all give o'er.
Sheath up your swords with me, and cease to kill:
Her angel beauty cries, she must not die,
Nor live but mine: O I am strangely touch'd!
Methinks I lift my sword, against myself,
When I oppose her--all perfection!
O see! the pearled dew drops from her eyes;
Arise in peace, sweet soul.
In the same scene the following is extremely beautiful.
I'm struck with light'ning from the torrid zone;
Stand all between me, and that flaming sun!
Go Erkinwald, convey her to my tent.
Let her be guarded with more watchful eyes
Than heaven has stars:
If here she stay I shall consume to death,
'Tis time can give my passions remedy,
Art thou not gone! kill him that gazeth on her;
For all that see her sure must doat like me,
And treason for her, will be wrought against us.
Be sudden--to our tents--pray thee away,
The hell on earth is love that brings delay.
* * * * *
THOMAS MAY,
A Poet and historian of the 17th century, was descended of an ancient,
but decayed family in the county of Sussex, in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth[1], and was educated a fellow commoner in Sidney Sussex
College in Cambridge. He afterwards removed to London, and lived about
the court, where he contracted friendships with several gentlemen of
fashion and distinction, especially with Endymion Porter esquire, one
of the gentlemen of the bedchamber to King Charles I. while [sic] he
resided at court he wrote five plays, which are extant under his name.
In 1622, he published at London, in 8vo. a translation of Virgil's
Georgics with annotations; and in 1635, a Poem on King Edward III. It
was printed under the title of the Victorious Reign of Edward III.
written in seven books, by his Majesty's command. In the dedication to
Charles I. our author writes thus; "I should humbly have craved your
Majesty's pardon for my omission of the latter part of King Edward's
reign, but that the sense of mine own defects hath put me in mind of a
most necessary suit, so beg forgiveness for that part which is here
written. Those great actions of Edward III. are the arguments of this
poem, which is here ended, where his fortune began to decline, where
the French by revolts, and private practices regained that which had
been won from them by eminent and famous victories; which times may
afford fitter observations for an acute historian in prose, than
strains of heighth for an heroic poem." The poem thus begins,
The third, and greatest Edward's reign we sing,
The high atchievements of that martial King,
Where long successful prowesse did advance,
So many trophies in triumphed France,
And first her golden lillies bare; who o're
Pyrennes mountains to that western shore,
Where Tagus tumbles through his yellow sand
Into the ocean; stretch'd his conquering hand.
From the lines quoted, the reader will be able to judge what sort of
versifier our author was, and from this beginning he has no great
reason to expect an entertaining poem, especially as it is of the
historical kind; and he who begins a poem thus insipidly, can never
expect his readers to accompany him to the third page. May likewise
translated Lucan's Pharsalia, which poem he continued down to the
death of Julius Cæsar, both in Latin and English verse.
Dr. Fuller says, that some disgust was given to him at court, which
alienated his affections from it, and determined him, in the civil
wars to adhere to the Parliament.
Mr. Philips in his Theatrum Poetarum, observes, that he stood
candidate with Sir William Davenant for the Laurel, and his ambition
being frustrated, he conceived the most violent aversion to the King
and Queen. Sir William Davenant, besides the acknowledged superiority
of his abilities, had ever distinguished himself for loyalty, and was
patronized and favoured by men of power, especially the Marquis of
Newcastle: a circumstance which we find not to have happened to May:
it is true, they were both the friends of the amiable Endymion Porter,
esq; but we are not informed whether that gentleman interested himself
on either side.
In the year 1647, was published in London in folio, The History of the
Parliament of England, which began November 3, 1640, with a Short and
Necessary View of some precedent Years, written by Thomas May, Esq;
Secretary to the Parliament, and published by their authority. In 1650
he published in 8vo. A Breviary of the History of the Parliament of
England. Besides these works, Mr. Philips tells us, he wrote a History
of Henry IV. in English verse, the Comedy of the Old Wives Tale, and
the History of Orlando Furioso; but the latter, Mr. Langbaine, who is
a higher authority than Philips, assures us was written before May was
able to hold a pen, much less to write a play, being printed in 4to.
London, 1594. Mr. Winstanley says, that in his history, he shews all
the spleen of a mal-content, and had he been preferred to the Bays, as
he happened to be disappointed, he would have embraced the Royal
interest with as much zeal, as he did the republican: for a man who
espouses a cause from spite only, can be depended upon by no party,
because he acts not upon any principles of honour or conviction.
Our author died suddenly in the year 1652, and was interred near the
tomb of Camden, on the West side of the North isle of Westminster
Abbey, but his body, with several others, was dug up after the
restoration, and buried in a pit in St. Margaret's church yard[2]. Mr.
May's plays are,
1. Agrippina, Empress of Rome, a Tragedy, printed in 12mo. London,
1639. Our author has followed Suetonius and Tacitus, and has
translated and inserted above 30 lines from Petronius Arbiter; this
circumstance we advance on the authority of Langbaine, whose extensive
reading has furnished him with the means of tracing the plots of most
part of our English plays; we have heard that there is a Tragedy on
this subject, written by Mr. Gray of Cambridge, the author of the
beautiful Elegy in a Country Church Yard; which play Mr. Garrick has
sollicited him to bring upon the stage; to which the author has not
yet consented.
2. Antigone, the Theban Princess, a Tragedy, printed in 8vo. London,
1631, and dedicated to Endymion Porter, Esq; Our author in the
contexture of this Tragedy, has made use of the Antigone of Sophocles,
and the Thebais of Seneca.
3. Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, a Tragedy, acted 1626, and printed in
12mo. London, 1639, and dedicated to Sir Kenelme Digby: The author has
followed the historians of those times. We have in our language two
other plays upon the same subject, one by Shakespear, and the other by
Dryden.
4. Heir, a Comedy, acted by the company of revels, 1620; this play is
much commended by Mr. Thomas Carew, in a copy of verses prefixed to
the play, where, amongst other commendations bestowed on the stile,
and natural working up of the passions, he says thus of the oeconomy
of the play.
The whole plot doth alike itself disclose,
Thro' the five Acts, as doth a lock, that goes
With letters, for 'till every one be known,
The lock's as fast, as if you had found none.
If this comedy, is no better than these wretched commendatory lines,
it is miserable indeed.
5. Old Couple, a Comedy, printed in 4to; this play is intended to
expose the vice of covetousness.
Footnotes:
1. Langbaine's Lives of the Poets.
2. Wood's Fasti Oxon. vol. i. p. 205.
* * * * *
JOHN TAYLOUR, Water-Poet,
Was born in Gloucestershire, where he went to school with one Green,
and having got into his accidence, was bound apprentice to a Waterman
in London, which, though a laborious employment, did not so much
depress his mind, but that he sometimes indulged himself in poetry.
Taylour retates [sic] a whimsical story of his schoolmaster Mr. Green,
which we shall here insert upon the authority of Winstanley. "Green
loved new milk so well, that in order to have it new, he went to the
market to buy a cow, but his eyes being dim, he cheapened a bull, and
asking the price of the beast, the owner and he agreed, and driving it
home, would have his maid to milk it, which she attempting to do,
could find no teats; and whilst the maid and her master were arguing
the matter, the bull very fairly pissed into the pail;" whereupon his
scholar John Taylour wrote these verses,
Our master Green was overseen
In buying of a bull,
For when the maid did mean to milk,
He piss'd the pail half full.
Our Water-poet found leisure to write fourscore books, some of which
occasioned diversion enough in their time, and were thought worthy to
be collected in a folio volume. Mr. Wood observes, that had he had
learning equal to his natural genius, which was excellent, he might
have equalled, if not excelled, many who claim a great share in the
temple of the muses. Upon breaking out of the rebellion, 1642, he left
London, and retired to Oxford, where he was much esteemed for his
facetious company; he kept a common victualling house there, and
thought he did great service to the Royal cause, by writing Pasquils
against the round-heads. After the garrison of Oxford surrendered, he
retired to Westminster, kept a public house in Phænix Alley near Long
Acre, and continued constant in his loyalty to the King; after whose
death, he set up a sign over his door, of a mourning crown, but that
proving offensive, he pulled it down, and hung up his own picture[1],
under which were these words,
There's many a head stands for a sign,
Then gentle reader why not mine?
On the other side,
Tho' I deserve not, I desire
The laurel wreath, the poet's hire.
He died in the year 1654, aged 74, and was buried in the church yard
of St. Paul's Covent-Garden; his nephew, a Painter at Oxford, who
lived in Wood's time, informed him of this circumstance, who gave his
picture to the school gallery there, where it now hangs, shewing him
to have had a quick and smart countenance. The following epitaph was
written upon him,
Here lies the Water-poet, honest John,
Who row'd on the streams of Helicon;
Where having many rocks and dangers past,
He at the haven of Heaven arrived at last.
Footnote:
1. Athen. Oxon. vol. ii. p. 393.
* * * * *
WILLIAM HABINGTON,
Son of Thomas Habington, Esq; was born at Hendlip in Worcestershire,
on the 4th of November 1605, and received his education at St. Omers
and Paris, where he was earnestly pressed to take upon him the habit
of a Jesuit; but that sort of life not suiting with his genius, he
excused himself and left them[1]. After his return from Paris, he was
instructed by his father in history, and other useful branches of
literature, and became, says Wood, a very accomplished gentleman. This
author has written,
1. Poems, 1683, in 8vo. under the title of Castara: they are divided
into three parts under different titles, suitable to their subject.
The first, which was written when he was courting his wife, Lucia, the
beautiful daughter of William Lord Powis, is introduced by a
character, written in prose, of a mistress. The second are copies to
her after marriage, by the character of a wife; after which is a
character of a friend, before several funeral elegies. The third part
consists of divine poems, some of which are paraphrases on several
texts out of Job, and the book of psalms.
2. The Queen of Arragon, a Tragi-Comedy, which play he shewed to
Philip Earl of Pembroke, who having a high opinion of it, caused it to
be acted at court, and afterwards to be published, the contrary to the
author's inclination.
3. Observations on History, Lond. 1641, 8vo.
4. History of Edward IV. Lond. 1640, in a thin folio, written and
published at the desire of King Charles I. which in the opinion of
some critics of that age, was too florid for history, and fell short
of that calm dignity which is peculiar to a good historian, and which
in our nation has never been more happily attained than by the great
Earl of Clarendon and Bishop Burnet. During the civil war, Mr.
Habington, according to Wood, temporized with those in power, and was
not unknown to Oliver Cromwell; but there is no account of his being
raised to any preferment during the Protector's government. He died
the 30th of November, 1654.
We shall present the readers with the prologue to the Queen of
Arragon, acted at Black-Fryars, as a specimen of this author's poetry.
Ere we begin that no man may repent,
Two shillings, and his time, the author sent
The prologue, with the errors of his play,
That who will, may take his money and away.
First for the plot, 'tis no way intricate
By cross deceits in love, nor so high in state,
That we might have given out in our play-bill
This day's the Prince, writ by Nick Machiavil.
The language too is easy, such as fell
Unstudied from his pen; not like a spell
Big with mysterious words, such as inchant
The half-witted, and confound the ignorant.
Then, what must needs, afflict the amourist,
No virgin here, in breeches casts a mist
Before her lover's eyes; no ladies tell
How their blood boils, how high their veins do swell.
But what is worse no baudy mirth is here;
(The wit of bottle-ale, and double beer)
To make the wife of citizen protest,
And country justice swear 'twas a good jest.
Now, Sirs, you have the errors of his wit,
Like, or dislike, at your own perils be't.
Footnote:
1. Wood Athen. Oxon. v. 1, p, 100.
* * * * *
FRANCIS GOLDSMITH.
Was the son of Francis Goldsmith, of St. Giles in the Fields in
Middlesex, Esq; was educated under Dr. Nicholas Grey, in
Merchant-Taylor's School, became a gentleman commoner in
Pembroke-College in the beginning of 1629, was soon after translated
to St. John's College, and after he had taken a degree in arts, to
Grey's-Inn, where he studied the common law several years, but other
learning more[1]. Mr. Langbaine says, that he could recover no other
memoirs of this gentleman, but that he lived in the reign of King
Charles the First, and obliged the World with a translation of a play
out of Latin called, Sophompaneas, or the History of Joseph, with
Annotations, a Tragedy, printed 4to. Lond. 1640, and dedicated to the
Right Hon. Henry Lord Marquis of Dorchester. This Drama was written by
the admirable Hugo Grotius, published by him at Amsterdam 1635, and
dedicated to Vossius, Professor of History and Civil Arts in
Amsterdam. He stiles it a Tragedy, notwithstanding it ends
successfully, and quotes for his authority in so doing, Æschilus,
Euripides, and even Vossius, in his own Art of Poetry. Some make it a
Question, whether it be lawful to found a dramatic Poem on any sacred
subject, and some people of tender consciences have murmured against
this Play, and another of the same cast called Christ's Passion; but
let us hear the opinion of Vossius himself, prefixed to this Play. "I
am of opinion, (says he) it is better to chuse another argument than
sacred. For it agrees not with the majesty of sacred things, to be
made a play and a fable. It is also a work of very dangerous
consequence, to mingle human inventions with things sacred; because
the poet adds uncertainties of his own, sometimes falsities; which is
not only to play with holy things, but also to graft in men's minds
opinions, now and then false. These things have place, especially when
we bring in God, or Christ speaking, or treating of the mysteries of
religion. I will allow more where the history is taken out of the
sacred scriptures; but yet in the nature of the argument is civil, as
the action of David flying from his son Absolom; or of Joseph sold by
his brethren, advanced by Pharaoh to the government of Egypt, and that
dignity adored by, and made known unto his brethren. Of which argument
is Sophompaneas, written by Hugo Grotius, embassador from the Queen of
Sweden to the King of France; which tragedy, I suppose, may be set for
a pattern to him, that would handle an argument from the holy
scriptures." This is the opinion of Vossius, and with him all must
agree who admire the truly admirable Samson Agonistes of Milton.
As we have frequently mentioned Grotius, the short account of so great
a man, which is inserted in Langbaine, will not be unpleasing to the
reader.
"Hugo Grotius, says he, was an honour to his country: he was born in
the year 1583, and will be famous to posterity, in regard of those
many excellent pieces he has published. In some of his writings he
defended Arminianism, for which he suffered imprisonment in the castle
of Louverstein, in the year 1618; at which time his associate
Barnevelt lost his head on the same account. Afterwards Grotius
escaped out of prison, by means of Maria Reigersberg his wife, and
fled into Flanders; and thence into France, where he was kindly
received by Lewis XIII. He died at Rostock in Mecclebourg, Sept. 1,
1645. His life is written at large by Melchoir Adamus, in Latin."
As to our outhor's [sic] translation, which is in heroic verse, it is
much commended by verses from four of his friends.
He also translated Grotius's consolatory oration to his father, with
epitaphs; and also his Catechism into English verse.
Mr. Goldsmith died at Ashton in Northamptonshire, in September 1655,
and was buried there, leaving behind him an only daughter named
Katherine, afterwards the wife of Sir Henry Dacres.
Footnote:
1. Wood Athen. Oxon. v. 2. p. 194.
* * * * *
JOHN CLEVELAND,
Was the son of a vicar of Hinkley, in Leicestershire, where he was
born, and received his grammatical education, under one Mr. Richard
Vines, a zealous Puritan. After he had compleated his school
education, he was sent to Christ's College in Cambridge, and in a
short time distinguishing himself for his knowledge of the Latin
tongue, and for Oratory, he was preferred to a fellowship in St.
John's-College, in the said university. He continued there about nine
years, and made during that time some successful attempts in poetry.
At length, upon the eruption of the civil war, he was the first who
espoused the Royal cause in verse, against the Presbyterians, who
persecuted him in their turn with more solid severity; for he was
ejected, as soon as the reins of power were in their hands. Dr. Fuller
bestows upon our author the most lavish panegyric: He was (says he) a
general artist, pure latinist, an exquisite orator, and what was his
masterpiece, an eminent poet. Dr. Fuller thus characterizes him, but
as Cleveland has not left remains behind him sufficient to convey to
posterity so high an idea of his merit, it may be supposed that the
Doctor spoke thus in his favour, meerly on account of their agreement
in political principles. He addressed an oration, says Winstanley, to
Charles I. who was so well pleased with it, that he sent for him, and
gave him his hand to kiss, with great expressions of kindness. When
Oliver Cromwell was in election to be member for the town of
Cambridge, as he engaged all his friends and interests to oppose it;
so when it was carried but by one vote, he cried out with much
passion, that, that single vote had ruined church and kingdom[1], such
fatal events did he presage from the success of Oliver. Mr. Cleveland
was no sooner forced from the College, by the prevalence of the
Parliament's interest, but he betook himself to the camp, and
particularly to Oxford the head quarters of it, as the most proper
sphere for his wit, learning and loyalty. Here he began a paper war
with the opposite party, and wrote some smart satires against the
Rebels, especially the Scots. His poem called the Mixt Assembly; his
character of a London Diurnal, and a Committee-man, are thought to
contain the true spirit of satire, and a just representation of the
general confusion of the times. From Oxford he went to the garrison of
Newark, where he acted as judge advocate till that garrison was
surrendered, and by an excellent temperature, of both, says
Winstanley, he was a just and prudent judge for the King, and a
faithful advocate for the Country.
Here he drew up a bantering answer and rejoinder to a Parliament
officer, who had written to him on account of one Hill, that had
deserted their side, and carried off with him to Newark, the sum of
133 l. and 8 d. We shall give part of Mr. Cleveland's answer to the
officer's first letter, by which an estimate may be formed of the
rest.
SIXTHLY BELOVED!
"It is so, that our brother and fellow-labourer in the gospel, is
start aside; then this may serve for an use of instruction, not to
trust in man, or in the son of man. Did not Demas leave Paul? Did not
Onesimus run from his master Philemon? Also this should teach us to
employ our talents, and not to lay them up in a napkin; had it been
done among the cavaliers, it had been just, then the Israelite had
spoiled the Egyptian; but for Simeón to plunder Levi, that--that, &c."
The garrison of Newark defended themselves with much courage and
resolution against the besiegers, and did not surrender but by the
King's special command, after he had thrown himself into the hands of
the Scots; which action of his Majesty's Cleveland passionately
resented, in his poem called, the King's Disguise: Upon some private
intelligence, three days before the King reached them, he foresaw,
that the army would be bribed to surrender him, in which he was not
mistaken. As soon as this event took place, Cleveland, who warmly
adhered to the regal party, was obliged to atone for his loyalty by
languishing in a jail, at Yarmouth, where he remained for some time
under all the disadvantages of poverty, and wretchedness: At last
being quite spent with the severity of his confinement, he addressed
Oliver Cromwell in a petition for liberty, in such pathetic and moving
terms, that his heart was melted with the prisoner's expostulation,
and he ordered him to be set at liberty. In this address, our author
did not in the least violate his loyalty, for he made no concessions
to Oliver, but only a representation of the hardships he suffered,
without acknowledging his sovereignty, tho' not without flattering his
power. Having thus obtained his liberty, he settled himself in
Gray's-Inn, and as he owed his releasement to the Protector, he
thought it his duty to be passive, and not at least to act against
him: But Cleveland did not long enjoy his state of unenvied ease, for
he was seized with an intermitting fever, and died the 29th of April,
1685.
[2]On the first of May he was buried, and his dear friend Dr. John
Pearson, afterwards lord bishop of Chester, preached his funeral
sermon, and gave this reason, why he declined commending the deceased,
"because such praising of him would not be adequate to the expectation
of the audience, seeing some who knew him must think it far below
him."--There were many who attempted to write elegies upon him, and
several performances of this kind, in Latin and English, are prefixed
to the edition of Cleveland's works, in verse and prose, printed in
8vo, in 1677, with his effigies prefixed.
From the verses of his called Smectymnuus, we shall give the following
specimen, in which the reader will see he did not much excel in
numbers.
Smectymnuus! the goblin makes me start,
I'th' name of Rabbi-Abraham, what art?
Syriack? or Arabick? or Welsh? what skilt?
Up all the brick-layers that Babel built?
Some conjurer translate, and let me know it,
'Till then 'tis fit for a West Saxon Poet.
But do the brotherhood then play their prizes?
Like murmurs in religion with disguises?
Out-brave us with a name in rank and file,
A name, which if 'twere trained would spread a mile;
The Saints monopoly, the zealous cluster,
Which like a porcupine presents a muster.
The following lines from the author's celebrated satire, entitled, the
Rebel-Scot, will yet more amply shew his turn for this species of
poetry.
"Nature herself doth Scotchmen beasts confess,
Making their country such a wilderness;
A land that brings in question and suspence
God's omnipresence; but that CHARLES came thence;
But that MONTROSE and CRAWFORD'S loyal band
Aton'd their sin, and christen'd half their land.--
A land where one may pray with curst intent,
O may they never suffer banishment!
Had Cain been Scot, God would have chang'd his doom,
Not forc'd him wander, but confin'd him home.--
"Lord! what a goodly thing is want of shirts!
How a Scotch stomach and no meat converts!
They wanted food and rayment, so they took
Religion for their temptress and their cook.--
Hence then you proud impostors get you gone,
You Picts in gentry and devotion.
You scandal to the stock of verse, a race
Able to bring the gibbet in disgrace.--
"The Indian that heaven did forswear,
Because he heard some Spaniards were there,
Had he but known what Scots in Hell had been,
He would, Erasmus-like, have hung between."
It is probable that this bitterness against our brethren of
North-Britain, chiefly sprang from Mr. Cleveland's resentment of the
Scots Army delivering up the King to the Parliament.
Footnotes:
[text mark missing]. Wood fasti Oxon. p. 274.
1. Winst. Lives of the Poets
2. Winst. Lives of the Poets.
* * * * *
Dr. BARTEN HOLYDAY,
Son of Thomas Holyday, a taylor, was born at All Saints parish, within
the city of Oxford, about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign;
he was entered early into Christ Church, in the time of Dr, Ravis, his
relation and patron, by whom he was chosen student, and having taken
his degrees of batchelor and master of arts, he became archdeacon of
Oxfordshire. In 1615, he entered into holy orders[1], and was in a
short time taken notice of as an eloquent or rather popular preacher,
by which he had two benefices confered on him both in the diocese of
Oxford.
In the year 1618 he went as chaplain to Sir Francis Stewart, when he
accompanied to Spain the Count Gundamore, after he had continued
several Years at our court as embassador, in which journey Holyday
behaved in a facetious and pleasant manner, which ingratiated him in
the favour of Gundamore[2].
Afterwards our author became chaplain to King Charles I. and succeeded
Dr. Bridges in the archdeaconry of Oxon, before the year 1626. In 1642
he was by virtue of the letters of the said King, created, with
several others, Dr. of divinity. When the rebellion broke out, he
sheltered himself near Oxford; but when he saw the royal party decline
so much that their cause was desperate, he began to tamper with the
prevailing power; and upon Oliver Cromwell's being raised to the
Protectorship, he so far coincided with the Usurper's interests, as to
undergo the examination of the Friers, in order to be inducted into
the rectory of Shilton in Berks, in the place of one Thomas Lawrence,
ejected on account of his being non compos mentis. For which act he
was much blamed and censured by his ancient friends the clergy, who
adhered to the King, and who rather chose to live in poverty during
the usurpation, than by a mean compliance with the times, betray the
interest of the church, and the cause of their exiled sovereign.
After the King's restoration he quitted the living he held under
Cromwell, and returned to Eisley near Oxon, to live on his
archdeaconry; and had he not acted a temporizing part it was said he
might have been raised to a see, or some rich deanery. His poetry
however, got him a name in those days, and he stood very fair for
preferment; and his philosophy discovered in his book de Anima, and
well languaged sermons, (says Wood) speaks him eminent in his
generation, and shew him to have traced the rough parts, as well as
the pleasant paths of poetry.
His works are,
1. Three Sermons, on the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of our
Saviour, Lond. 1626.
2. Two Sermons at Paul's Cross.
3. A Sermon on the Nature of Faith.
4. Motives to a godly Life, in Ten Sermons, Oxon, 1657.
5. Four Sermons against Disloyalty, Oxon, 1661.
Technogamia; or the Marriage of Arts, a Comedy, acted publicly in
Christ's Church Hall, with no great applause 1617. But the Wits of
those times being willing to distinguish themselves before the King,
were resolved, with leave, to act the same comedy at Woodstock,
whereupon (says Wood) the author making some foolish alterations in
it, it was accordingly acted on Sunday night the 26th of August 1621,
but it being too grave for the King, and too scholastic for the
Audience, or as some said, that the actors in order to remove their
timidity, had taken too much wine before, they began, his Majesty
after two acts offered several times to withdraw; at length being
persuaded by some of those who were near to him, to have patience till
it was ended, lest the young men should be discouraged, he sat it out,
tho' much against his will; upon which these Verses were made by a
certain scholar;
At Christ Church Marriage done before the King
Lest that those Mates should want an offering,
The King himself did offer; what I pray?
He offered twice or thrice to go away.
6. Survey of the World in Ten Books, a Poem, Oxon, 1661, which was
judged by Scholars to be an inconsiderable piece, and by some not to
be his. But being published just before his death, it was taken for a
posthumous work, which had been composed by him in his younger
Days[3].
He translated out of Latin into English the Satires of Persius, Oxon.
1616, in apologizing for the defects of this work, he plays upon the
word _translate_: To have committed no faults in this translation,
says he, would have been to translate myself, and put off man. Wood
calls this despicable pun, an elegant turn.
7. Satires of Juvenal illustrated with Notes, Oxon. folio 1673. At the
end of which is the Fourth Edition of Persius, before mentioned.
8. Odes of Horace, Lond. 1652; this Translation Wood says, is so near
that of Sir Thomas Hawkins, printed 1638, or that of Hawkins so near
this, that to whom to ascribe it he is in doubt.
Dr. Holyday, who according to the same author was highly conceited of
his own worth, especially in his younger Days, but who seems not to
have much reason for being so, died at a Village called Eisley on the
2d day of October 1661, and was three days after buried at the foot of
Bishop King's monument, under the south wall of the [a]isle joining on
the south side to the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, near the
remains of William Cartwright, and Jo. Gregory.
Footnotes:
1. Athen. Oxon. 259. Ed. 1721.
2. Wood ubi supra.
3. Athen. Oxon. p. 260.
* * * * *
THOMAS NABBES.
A writer, in the reign of Charles I, whom we may reckon, says
Langbaine, among poets of the third rate, but who in strict justice
cannot rise above a fifth. He was patronized by Sir John Suckling. He
has seven plays and masks extant, besides other poems, which Mr.
Langbaine says, are entirely his own, and that he has had recourse to
no preceding author for assistance, and in this respect deserves
pardon if not applause from the critic. This he avers in his prologue
to Covent-Garden.
He justifies that 'tis no borrowed strain,
From the invention of another's brain.
Nor did he steal the fancy. 'Tis the fame
He first intended by the proper name.
'Twas not a toil of years: few weeks brought forth,
This rugged issue, might have been more worth,
If he had lick'd it more. Nor doth he raise
From the ambition of authentic plays,
Matter or words to height, nor bundle up
Conceits at taverns, where the wits do sup;
His muse is solitary, and alone
Doth practise her low speculation.
The reader from the above specimen may see what a poet he was; but as
he was in some degree of esteem in his time, we thought it improper to
omit him.
The following are his plays;
1. The Bride, a Comedy; acted in the Year 1638 at a private House in
Drury-Lane by their Majesty's Servants, printed 4to. 1640.
2. Covent Garden, a Comedy; acted in the Year 1632.
3. Hannibal and Scipio, an Historical Tragedy, acted in the year 1635.
4. Microcosmus, a Moral Masque, represented at a private house in
Salisbury Court, printed 1637.
5. Spring's Glory, Vindicating Love by Temperance, against the Tenet,
Sine Cerere & Baccho friget Venus; moralized in a Masque. With other
Poems, Epigrams, Elegies, and Epithalamiums of the author's, printed
in 4to, London, 1638. At the end of these poems is a piece called A
Presentation, intended for the Prince's Birth day, May 29, 1638,
annually celebrated.
6. Tottenham-Court, a Comedy, acted in the year 1633, at a private
house in Salisbury Court, printed in 4to. 1638.
7. Unfortunate Lovers, a Tragedy, never acted, printed in 4to. London,
1640.
Mr. Philips and Mr. Winstanley, according to their old custom, have
ascribed two other anonymous plays to our author: The Woman Hater
Arraigned, a Comedy, and Charles the First, a Tragedy, which Langbaine
has shewn not to be his.
* * * * *
JAMES SHIRLEY,
A very voluminous dramatic author, was born in the city of London,
and: was descended from the Shirleys in Suffex or Warwickshire; he was
educated in grammar learning in Merchant Taylors school, and
transplanted thence to St. John's College, but in what station he
lived there, we don't find.
Dr. William Laud, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, presiding over
that house, conceived a great affection for our author, and was
willing to cherish and improve those promising abilities early
discoverable in him. Mr. Shirley had always an inclination to enter
into holy orders, but, for a very particular reason, was discouraged
from attempting it by Dr. Laud; this reason to some may appear
whimsical and ridiculous, but has certainly much weight and force in
it.
Shirley had unfortunately a large mole upon his left cheek, which much
disfigured him, and gave him a very forbidding appearance. Laud
observed very justly, that an audience can scarce help conceiving a
prejudice against a man whose appearance shocks them, and were he to
preach with the tongue of an angel, that prejudice could never be
surmounted; besides the danger of women with child fixing their eyes
on him in the pulpit, and as the imagination of pregnant women has
strange influence on the unborn infants, it is somewhat cruel to
expose them to that danger, and by these means do them great injury,
as ones fortune in some measure depends upon exterior comeliness[1].
But Shirley, who was resolute to be in orders, left that university
soon after, went to Cambridge, there took the degrees in arts, and
became a minister near St. Alban's in Hertfordshire; but never having
examined the authority, and purity of the Protestant Church, and being
deluded by the sophistry of some Romish priests, he changed his
religion for theirs[2], quitted his living, and taught a grammar
school in the town of St. Alban's; which employment he finding an
intolerable drudgery, and being of a fickle unsteady temper, he
relinquished it, came up to London, and took lodgings in Gray's Inn,
where he commenced a writer for the stage with tolerable success. He
had the good fortune to gain several wealthy and beneficent patrons,
especially Henrietta Maria the Queen Consort, who made him her
servant.
When the civil war broke out, he was driven from London, and attended
upon his Royal Mistress, while his wife and family were left in a
deplorable condition behind him. Some time after that, when the Queen
of England was forced, by the fury of opposition, to sollicit succours
from France, in order to reinstate her husband; our author could no
longer wait upon her, and was received into the service of William
Cavendish, marquis of Newcastle, to take his fortune with him in the
wars. That noble spirited patron had given him such distinguishing
marks of his liberality, as Shirley thought himself happy in his
service, especially as by these means he could at the same time serve
the King.
Having mentioned Henrietta Maria, Shirley's Royal Mistress, the reader
will pardon a digression, which flows from tenderness, and is no more
than an expression of humanity. Her life-time in England was
embittered with a continued persecution; she lived to see the unhappy
death of her Lord; she witnessed her exiled sons, not only oppressed
with want, but obliged to quit France, at the remonstrance of
Cromwel's ambassador; she herself was loaded with poverty, and as
Voltaire observes, "was driven to the most calamitous situation that
ever poor lady was exposed to; she was obliged to sollicit Cromwel to
pay her an allowance, as Queen Dowager of England, which, no doubt,
she had a right to demand; but to demand it, nay worse, to be obliged
to beg it of a man who shed her Husband's blood upon a scaffold, is an
affliction, so excessively heightened, that few of the human race ever
bore one so severe."
After an active service under the marquis of Newcastle, and the King's
cause declining beyond hope of recovery, Shirley came again to London,
and in order to support himself and family, returned his former
occupation of teaching a school, in White Fryars, in which he was
pretty successful, and, as Wood says, 'educated many ingenious youths,
who, afterwards in various faculties, became eminent.' After the
Restoration, some of the plays our author had written in his leisure
moments, were represented with success, but there is no account
whether that giddy Monarch ever rewarded him for his loyalty, and
indeed it is more probable he did not, as he pursued the duke of
Lauderdale's maxim too closely, of making friends of his enemies, and
suffering his friends to shift for themselves, which infamous maxim
drew down dishonour on the administration and government of Charles
II. Wood further remarks, that Shirley much assisted his patron, the
duke of Newcastle, in the composition of his plays, which the duke
afterwards published, and was a drudge to John Ogilby in his
translation of Homer's Iliad and Odysseys, by writing annotations on
them. At length, after Mr. Shirley had lived to the age of 72, in
various conditions, having been much agitated in the world, he, with
his second wife, was driven by the dismal conflagration that happened
in London, Anno 1666, from his habitation in Fleet-street, to another
in St. Giles's in the Fields. Where, being overcome with miseries
occasioned by the fire, and bending beneath the weight of years, they
both died in one day, and their bodies were buried in one grave, in
the churchyard of St. Giles's, on October 29, 1666.
The works of this author
1. Changes, or Love in a Maze, a Comedy, acted at a private house in
Salisbury Court, 1632.
2. Contention for Honour and Riches, a Masque, 1633.
3. Honoria and Mammon, a Comedy; this Play is grounded on the
abovementioned Masque.
4. The Witty Fair One, a Comedy, acted in Drury Lane, 1633.
5. The Traitor, a Tragedy, acted by her Majesty's servants, 1635. This
Play was originally written by Mr. Rivers, a jesuit, but altered by
Shirley.
6. The Young Admiral, a Tragi-Comedy, acted at a private house in
Drury Lane, 1637.
7. The Example, a Tragi-Comedy, acted in Drury Lane by her Majesty's
Servants, 1637.
8. Hyde Park, a Comedy, acted in Drury Lane, 1637.
9. The Gamester, a Comedy, acted in Drury Lane, 1637; the plot is
taken from Queen Margate's Novels, and the Unlucky Citizen.
10. The Royal Master, a Tragi-Comedy, acted at the Theatre in Dublin,
1638.
11. The Duke's Mistress, a Tragi-Comedy, acted by her Majesty's
servants, 1638.
12. The Lady of Pleasure, a Comedy, acted at a private house in Drury
Lane, 1638.
13. The Maid's Revenge, a Tragedy, acted at a private house in Drury
Lane, with applause, 1639.
13 [sic]. Chabot, Admiral of France, a Tragedy, acted in Drury Lane,
1639; Mr. Chapman joined in this play; the story may be found in the
histories of the reign of Francis I.
15. The Ball, a Comedy, acted in Drury Lane, 1639; Mr. Chapman
likewise assisted in this Comedy.
16. Arcadia, a Dramatic Pastoral, performed at the Phænix in Drury
Lane by the Queen's servants, 1649.
17. St. Patrick for Ireland, an Historical Play, 1640; for the plot
see Bedes's Life of St. Patrick, &c.
18. The Humorous Courtier, a Comedy, presented at a private house in
Drury Lane, 1640.
19. Love's Cruelty, a Tragedy, acted by the Queen's servants, 1640.
20. The Triumph of Beauty, a Masque, 1646; part of this piece seems to
be taken from Shakespear's Midsummer's Night's Dream, and Lucian's
Dialogues.
21. The Sisters, a Comedy, acted at a private house in Black Fryars,
1652.
22. The Brothers, a Comedy, 1652.
23. The Doubtful Heir, a Tragi-Comedy, acted at Black Fryars, 1652.
24. The Court Secret, a Tragi-Comedy, acted at a private house in
Black Fryars, 1653, dedicated to the Earl of Strafford; this play was
printed before it was acted.
25. The Impostor, a Tragi-Comedy, acted at a private house in Black
Fryars, 1653.
26. The Politician, a Tragedy, acted in Salisbury Court, 1655; part of
the plot is taken from the Countess of Montgomery's Urania.
27. The Grateful Servant, a Tragi-Comedy, acted at a private house in
Drury Lane, 1655.
28. The Gentleman of Venice, a Tragi-Comedy, acted at a private house
in Salisbury Court. Plot taken from Gayron's Notes on Don Quixote.
29. The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses for Achilles's Armour, a
Masque, 1658. It is taken from Ovid's Metamorphosis, b. xiii.
30. Cupid and Death, a Masque, 1658.
30 [sic]. Love Tricks, or the School of Compliments, a Comedy, acted by the
Duke of York's servants in little Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, 1667.
31. The Constant Maid, or Love will find out the Way, a Comedy, acted
at the New House called the Nursery, in Hatton Garden, 1667.
33. The Opportunity, a Comedy, acted at the private house in Drury
Lane by her Majesty's servants; part of this play is taken from
Shakespear's Measure for Measure.
34. The Wedding, a Comedy, acted at the Phænix in Drury Lane.
35. A Bird in a Cage, a Comedy, acted in Drury Lane.
36. The Coronation, a Comedy. This play is printed with Beaumont's and
Fletcher's.