This man was made laureat, for the joke's sake; his poetry was inspired
by his cups, a kind of poet who came in with the dessert; and he recited
twenty thousand verses. He was rather the _arch-buffoon_ than the
_arch-poet_ of Leo. X. though honoured with the latter title. They
invented for him a new kind of laureated honour, and in the intermixture
of the foliage raised to Apollo, slily inserted the vine and the cabbage
leaves, which he evidently deserved, from his extreme dexterity in
clearing the pontiff's dishes and emptying his goblets.
Urban VIII. had a juster and more elevated idea of the children of
Fancy. It appears that he possessed much poetic sensibility. Of him it
is recorded, that he wrote a letter to Chiabrera to felicitate him on
the success of his poetry: letters written by a pope were then an honour
only paid to crowned heads. One is pleased also with another testimony
of his elegant dispositions. Charmed with a poem which Bracciolini
presented to him, he gave him the surname of DELLE-APE, of the bees,
which were the arms of this amiable pope. He, however, never crowned
these favourite bards with the laurel, which, probably, he deemed
unworthy of them.
In Germany, the laureat honours flourished under the reign of Maximilian
the First. He founded, in 1504, a Poetical College at Vienna; reserving
to himself and the regent the power of bestowing the laurel. But the
institution, notwithstanding this well-concerted scheme, fell into
disrepute, owing to a cloud of claimants who were fired with the rage of
versifying, and who, though destitute of poetic talents, had the laurel
bestowed on them. Thus it became a prostituted honour; and satires were
incessantly levelled against the usurpers of the crown of Apollo: it
seems, notwithstanding, always to have had charms in the eyes of the
Germans, who did not reflect, as the Abbé elegantly expresses himself,
that it faded when it passed over so many heads.
The Emperor of Germany retains the laureatship in all its splendour. The
selected bard is called _Il Poeta Cesareo_. APOSTOLO ZENO, as celebrated
for his erudition as for his poetic powers, was succeeded by that most
enchanting poet, METASTASIO.
The French never had a _Poet Laureat_, though they had _Regal Poets_;
for none were ever solemnly crowned. The Spanish nation, always desirous
of titles of honour, seem to have known that of the _Laureat_; but
little information concerning it can be gathered from their authors.
Respecting our own country little can be added to the information of
Selden. John Kay, who dedicated a History of Rhodes to Edward IV., takes
the title of his _humble Poet Laureat_. Gower and Chaucer were laureats;
so was likewise Skelton to Henry VIII. In the Acts of Rymer, there is a
charter of Henry VII. with the title of _pro Poeta Laureato_, t hat is,
perhaps, only _a Poet laureated at the university_, in the king's
household.
Our poets were never solemnly crowned as in other countries. Selden,
after all his recondite researches, is satisfied with saying, that some
trace of this distinction is to be found in our nation. Our kings from
time immemorial have placed a miserable dependent in their household
appointment, who was sometimes called the _King's poet_, and the _King's
versificator_. It is probable that at length the selected bard assumed
the title of _Poet Laureat_, without receiving the honours of the
ceremony; or, at the most, the _crown of laurel_ was a mere obscure
custom practised at our universities, and not attended with great public
distinction. It was oftener placed on the skull of a pedant than
wreathed on the head of a man of genius. Shadwell united the offices
both of Poet Laureat and Historiographer; and by a MS. account of the
public revenue, it appears that for two years' salary he received six
hundred pounds. At his death Rymer became the Historiographer and Tate
the Laureat: both offices seem equally useless, but, if united, will not
prove so to the Poet Laureat.