It is probable he had Wycherley in his eye when he wrote this. The
veteran bard latterly scribbled much indifferent verse; and Pope had
freely given his opinion, by which he lost his friendship!
It is still worse when aged poets devote their exhausted talents to
_divine poems_, as did Waller; and Milton in his second epic. Such
poems, observes Voltaire, are frequently entitled "_sacred poems_;" and
_sacred_ they are, for no one touches them. From a soil so arid what can
be expected but insipid fruits? Corneille told Chevreau several years
before his death, that he had taken leave of the theatre, for he had
lost his poetical powers with his teeth.
Poets have sometimes displayed an obliquity of taste in their female
favourites. As if conscious of the power of ennobling others, some have
selected them from the lowest classes, whom, having elevated into
divinities, they have addressed in the language of poetical devotion.
The Chloe of Prior, after all his raptures, was a plump barmaid. Ronsard
addressed many of his verses to Miss Cassandra, who followed the same
occupation: in one of his sonnets to her, he fills it with a crowd of
personages taken from the Iliad, which to the honest girl must have all
been extremely mysterious. Colletet, a French bard, married three of his
servants. His last lady was called _la belle Claudine_. Ashamed of such
menial alliances, he attempted to persuade the world that he had married
the tenth muse; and for this purpose published verses in her name. When
he died, the vein of Claudine became suddenly dry. She indeed published
her "Adieux to the Muses;" but it was soon discovered that all the
verses of this lady, including her "Adieux," were the compositions of
her husband.
Sometimes, indeed, the ostensible mistresses of poets have no existence;
and a slight occasion is sufficient to give birth to one. Racan and
Malherbe were one day conversing on their amours; that is, of selecting
a lady who should be the object of their verses. Racan named one, and
Malherbe another. It happening that both had the same name, Catherine,
they passed the whole afternoon in forming it into an anagram. They
found three: Arthenice, Eracinthe, and Charinté. The first was
preferred, and many a fine ode was written in praise of the beautiful
Arthenice!
Poets change their opinions of their own productions wonderfully at
different periods of life. Baron Haller was in his youth warmly attached
to poetic composition. His house was on fire, and to rescue his poems
he rushed through the flames. He was so fortunate as to escape with his
beloved manuscripts in his hand. Ten years afterwards he condemned to
the flames those very poems which he had ventured his life to preserve.
Satirists, if they escape the scourges of the law, have reason to dread
the cane of the satirised. Of this kind we have many anecdotes on
record; but none more poignant than the following:--Benserade was caned
for lampooning the Duc d'Epernon. Some days afterwards he appeared at
court, but being still lame from the rough treatment he had received, he
was forced to support himself by a cane. A wit, who knew what had
passed, whispered the affair to the queen. She, dissembling, asked him
if he had the gout? "Yes, madam," replied our lame satirist, "and
therefore I make use of a cane." "Not so," interrupted the malignant
Bautru, "Benserade in this imitates those holy martyrs who are always
represented with the instrument which occasioned their sufferings."