These recent honours of thy reign rehearse!
How to thy virtues turn her dazzled views,
Or consecrate thy deeds in equal verse!
Amidst the field of horrors wide display'd,
How paint the calm[4] that smil'd upon, thy brow!
Or speak that thought which every part surveyed,
'Directing where the rage of war should glow:'[5]
While watchful angels hover'd round thy head,
And victory on high the palm of glory spread.
XIV.
Nor royal youth reject the artless praise,
Which due to worth like thine the Muse bestows,
Who with prophetic extasy surveys
These early wreaths of fame adorn thy brows.
Aspire like Nassau in the glorious strife,
Keep thy great fires' examples full in eye;
But oh! for Britain's sake, consult a life
The noblest triumphs are too mean to buy;
And while you purchase glory--bear in mind,
A prince's truest fame is to protect mankind.
XV.
Alike in arts and arms acknowledg'd great,
Let Stair accept the lays he once could own!
Nor Carteret, thou the column of the state!
The friend of science! on the labour frown!
Nor shall, unjust to foreign worth, the Muse
In silence Austria's valiant chiefs conceal;
While Aremberg's heroic line she views,
And Neiperg's conduct strikes even envy pale:
Names Gallia yet shall further learn to fear,
And Britain, grateful still, shall treasure up as dear!
XIX.
But oh! acknowledg'd victor in the field,
What thanks, dread sovereign, shall thy toils reward!
Such honours as delivered nations yield,
Such for thy virtues justly stand prepar'd:
When erst on Oudenarde's decisive plain,
Before thy youth, the Gaul defeated fled,
The eye of fate[6] foresaw on distant Maine,
The laurels now that shine around thy head:
Oh should entwin'd with these fresh Olives bloom!
Thy Triumphs then would shame the pride of antient Rome.
XX.
Mean time, while from this fair event we shew
That British valour happily survives,
And cherish'd by the king's propitious view,
The rising plant of glory sweetly thrives!
Let all domestic faction learn to cease,
Till humbled Gaul no more the world alarms:
Till GEORGE procures to Europe solid peace,
A peace secur'd by his victorious arms:
And binds in iron fetters ear to ear,
Ambition, Rapine, Havock, and Despair,
With all the ghastly fiends of desolating war.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A Profession, which in that City is denominated a Writer.
[2] Savage.
[3] During his abode at Reading an accident had like to have put an end
to his follies and his life together; for he had the ill-luck to
fall from his garret down the whole flight of stairs; but being
destined to lengthen out a useless life for some time longer, he
escaped with only a severe bruising.
[4] The King gave his orders with the utmost calmness, tho' no body was
more expos'd.
[5]
Inspir'd repuls'd battalions to engage,
And taught the doubtful battle where to rage.
Mr. Addison's Campaign.
[6] His Majesty early distinguished himself as a volunteer at the battle
of Oudenarde, in 1708.
* * * * *
Sir RICHARD BLACKMORE.
This eminent poet and physician was son of Mr. Robert Blackmore, an
Attorney at Law. He received his early education at a private country
school, from whence, in the 13th year of his age, he was removed to
Westminster, and in a short time after to the university of Oxford,
where he continued thirteen years.
In the early period of our author's life he was a Schoolmaster, as
appears by a satirical copy of verses Dr. Drake wrote against him,
consisting of upwards of forty lines, of which the following are very
pungent.
By nature form'd, by want a pedant made,
Blackmore at first set up the whipping trade:
Next quack commenc'd; then fierce with pride he swore,
That tooth-ach, gout, and corns should be no more.
In vain his drugs, as well as birch he tried;
His boys grew blockheads, and his patients died.
Some circumstances concurring, it may be presumed in Sir Richard's
favour, he travelled into Italy, and at Padua took his degrees in
physic[1].
He gratified his curiosity in visiting France, Germany, and the Low
Countries, and after spending a year and a half in this delightful
exercise, he returned to England. As Mr. Blackmore had made physic his
chief study, so he repaired to London to enter upon the practice of it,
and no long after he was chosen fellow of the Royal College of
Physicians, by the charter of King James II. Sir Richard had seen too
much of foreign slavery to be fond of domestic chains, and therefore
early declared himself in favour of the revolution, and espoused those
principles upon which it was effected. This zeal, recommended him to
King William, and in the year 1697 he was sworn one of his physicians in
ordinary. He was honoured by that Prince with a gold medal and chain,
was likewise knighted by him, and upon his majesty's death was one of
those who gave their opinion in the opening of the king's body. Upon
Queen Anne's accession to the throne, he was appointed one of her
physicians, and continued so for some time.
This gentleman is author of more original poems, of a considerable
length, besides a variety of other works, than can well be conceived
could have been composed by one man, during the longest period of human
life. He was a chaste writer; he struggled in the cause of virtue, even
in those times, when vice had the countenance of the great, and when an
almost universal degeneracy prevailed. He was not afraid to appear the
advocate of virtue, in opposition to the highest authority, and no
lustre of abilities in his opponents could deter him from stripping vice
of those gaudy colours, with which poets of the first eminence had
cloathed her.
An elegant writer having occasion to mention the state of wit in the
reign of King Charles II, characterizes the poets in the following
manner;
The wits of Charles found easier ways to fame:
Nor sought for Johnson's art, nor Shakespear's flame:
Themselves they studied; as they lived, they writ,
Intrigue was plot, obscenity was wit.
Their cause was gen'ral, their supports were strong,
Their slaves were willing, and their reign was long.
Mr. Pope somewhere says,
Unhappy Dryden--in all Charles's days,
Roscommon only boasts unspotted lays.
He might likewise have excepted Blackmore, who was not only chaste in
his own writings, but endeavoured to correct those who prostituted the
gifts of heaven, to the inglorious purposes of vice and folly, and he
was, at least, as good a poet as Roscommon.
Sir Richard had, by the freedom of his censures on the libertine writers
of his age, incurred the heavy displeasure of Dryden, who takes all
opportunities to ridicule him, and somewhere says, that he wrote to the
rumbling of his chariot wheels. And as if to be at enmity with Blackmore
had been hereditary to our greatest poets, we find Mr. Pope taking up
the quarrel where Dryden left it, and persecuting this worthy man with
yet a severer degree of satire. Blackmore had been informed by Curl,
that Mr. Pope was the author of a Travestie on the first Psalm, which he
takes occasion to reprehend in his Essay on Polite Learning, vol. ii. p.
270. He ever considered it as the disgrace of genius, that it should be
employed to burlesque any of the sacred compositions, which as they
speak the language of inspiration, tend to awaken the soul to virtue,
and inspire it with a sublime devotion. Warmed in this honourable cause,
he might, perhaps, suffer his zeal to transport him to a height, which
his enemies called enthusiasm; but of the two extremes, no doubt can be
made, that Blackmore's was the safest, and even dullness in favour of
virtue (which, by the way, was not the case with Sir Richard) is more
tolerable than the brightest parts employed in the cause of lewdness and
debauchery.
The poem for which Sir Richard had been most celebrated, was,
undoubtedly, his Creation, now deservedly become a classic. We cannot
convey a more amiable idea of this great production, than in the words
of Mr. Addison, in his Spectator, Number 339, who, after having
criticised on that book of Milton, which gives an account of the Works
of Creation, thus proceeds, 'I cannot conclude this book upon the
Creation, without mentioning a poem which has lately appeared under that
title. The work was undertaken with so good an intention, and executed
with so great a mastery, that it deserves to be, looked upon as one of
the most useful and noble productions in our English verse. The reader
cannot but be pleased to find the depths of philosophy, enlivened with
all the charms of poetry, and to see so great a strength of reason
amidst so beautiful a redundancy of the imagination. The author has
shewn us that design in all the works of nature, which necessarily leads
us to the knowledge of its first cause. In short, he has illustrated, by
numberless and incontestable instances, that divine wisdom, which the
son of Sirach has so nobly ascribed to the Supreme Being in his
formation of the world, when he tells us, that he _created her, and saw
her, and numbered her, and poured her out upon all his works_.'
The design of this excellent poem is to demonstrate the self-existence
of an eternal mind, from the created and dependent existence of the
universe, and to confute the hypothesis of the Epicureans and the
Fatalists, under whom all the patrons of impiety, ancient and modern, of
whatsoever denomination may be ranged. The first of whom affirm, the
world was in time caused by chance, and the other, that it existed from
eternity without a cause. 'Tis true, both these acknowledge the
existence of Gods, but by their absurd and ridiculous description of
them, it is plain, they had nothing else in view, but to avoid the
obnoxious character of atheistical philosophers. To adorn this poem, no
embellishments are borrowed from the exploded and obsolete theology of
the ancient idolaters of Greece and Rome; no rapturous invocations are
addressed to their idle deities, nor any allusions to their fabulous
actions. 'I have more than once (says Sir Richard) publicly declared my
opinion, that a Christian poet cannot but appear monstrous and
ridiculous in a Pagan dress. That though it should be granted, that the
Heathen religion might be allowed a place in light and loose songs, mock
heroic, and the lower lyric compositions, yet in Christian poems, of the
sublime and greater kind, a mixture of the Pagan theology must, by all
who are masters of reflexion and good sense, be condemned, if not as
impious, at least, as impertinent and absurd. And this is a truth so
clear and evident, that I make no doubt it will, by degrees, force its
way, and prevail over the contrary practice. Should Britons recover
their virtue, and reform their taste, they could no more bear the
Heathen religion in verse, than in prose. Christian poets, as well as
Christian preachers, the business of both being to instruct the people,
though the last only are wholly appropriated to it, should endeavour to
confirm, and spread their own religion. If a divine should begin his
sermon with a solemn prayer to Bacchus or Apollo, to Mars or Venus, what
would the people think of their preacher? and is it not as really,
though not equally absurd, for a poet in a great and serious poem,
wherein he celebrates some wonderful and happy event of divine
providence, or magnifies the illustrious instrument that was honoured to
bring the event about, to address his prayer to false deities, and cry
for help to the abominations of the heathen?'
Mr. Gildon, in his Compleat Art of Poetry, after speaking of our author
in the most respectful terms, says, 'that notwithstanding his merit,
this admirable author did not think himself upon the same footing with
Homer.' But how different is the judgment of Mr. Dennis, who, in this
particular, opposes his friend Mr. Gildon.
'Blackmore's action (says he) has neither unity, integrity, morality,
nor universality, and consequently he can have no fable, and no heroic
poem. His narration is neither probable, delightful, nor wonderful. His
characters have none of these necessary qualifications.--The things
contained in his narrations, are neither in their own nature delightful
nor numerous enough, nor rightly disposed, nor surprizing, nor
pathetic;' nay he proceeds so far as to say Sir Richard has no genius;
first establishing it as a principle, 'That genius is known by a furious
joy, and pride of soul, on the conception of an extraordinary hint. Many
men (says he) have their hints without these motions of fury and pride
of soul; because they want fire enough to agitate their spirits; and
these we call cold writers. Others who have a great deal of fire, but
have not excellent organs, feel the fore-mentioned motions, without the
extraordinary hints; and these we call fustian writers.'
And he declares, that Sir Richard hath neither the hints nor the
motions[2]. But Dennis has not contented himself, with charging
Blackmore with want of genius; but has likewise the following remarks to
prove him a bad Church of England man: These are his words. 'All Mr.
Blackmore's coelestial machines, as they cannot be defended so much as
by common received opinion, so are they directly contrary to the
doctrine of the church of England, that miracles had ceased a long time
before prince Arthur come into the world. Now if the doctrine of the
church of England be true, as we are obliged to believe, then are all
the coelestial machines of prince Arthur unsufferable, as wanting not
only human but divine probability. But if the machines are sufferable,
that is, if they have so much as divine probability, then it follows of
necessity, that the doctrine of the church is false; so that I leave it
to every impartial clergyman to consider.'
If no greater objection could be brought against Blackmore's Prince
Arthur, than those raised by Mr. Dennis, the Poem would be faultless;
for what has the doctrine of the church of England to do with an epic
poem? It is not the doctrine of the church of England, to suppose that
the apostate spirits put the power of the Almighty to proof, by openly
resisting his will, and maintaining an obstinate struggle with the
angels commissioned by him, to drive them from the mansions of the
bless'd; or that they attempted after their perdition, to recover heaven
by violence. These are not the doctrines of the church of England; but
they are conceived in a true spirit of poetry, and furnish those
tremendous descriptions with which Milton has enriched his Paradise
Lost.
Whoever has read Mr. Dryden's dedication of his Juvenal, will there
perceive, that in that great man's opinion, coelestial machines might
with the utmost propriety be introduced in an Epic Poem, built upon a
christian model; but at the same time he adds, 'The guardian angels of
states and kingdoms are not to be managed by a vulgar hand.'
Perhaps it may be true, that the guardian angels of states and kingdoms
may have been too powerful for the conduct of Sir Richard Blackmore; but
he has had at least the merit of paving the way, and has set an example
how Epic Poems may be written, upon the principles of christianity; and
has enjoyed a comfort of which no bitterness, or raillery can deprive
him, namely the virtuous intention of doing good, and as he himself
expresses it, 'of rescuing the Muses from the hands of ravishers,
and restoring them again to their chaste and pure mansions.'
Sir Richard Blackmore died on the 9th of October 1729, in an advanced
age; and left behind him the character of a worthy man, a great poet,
and a friend to religion. Towards the close of his life, his business as
a physician declined, but as he was a man of prudent conduct, it is not
to be supposed that he was subjected to any want by that accident, for
in his earlier years he was considered amongst the first in his
profession, and his practice was consequently very extensive.
The decay of his employment might partly be owing to old age and
infirmities, which rendered him less active than before, and partly to
the diminution his character might suffer by the eternal war, which the
wits waged against him, who spared neither bitterness nor calumny; and,
perhaps, Sir Richard may be deemed the only poet, who ever suffered for
having too much religion and morality.
The following is the most accurate account we could obtain of his
writings, which for the sake of distinction we have divided into
classes, by which the reader may discern how various and numerous his
compositions are--To have written so much upon so great a variety of
subjects, and to have written nothing contemptibly, must indicate a
genius much superior to the common standard.--His versification is
almost every where beautiful; and tho' he has been ridiculed in the
Treatise of the Bathos, published in Pope's works, for being too minute
in his descriptions of the objects of nature; yet it rather proceeded
from a philosophical exactness, than a penury of genius.
It is really astonishing to find Dean Swift, joining issue with less
religious wits, in laughing at Blackmore's works, of which he makes a
ludicrous detail, since they were all written in the cause of virtue,
which it was the Dean's business more immediately to support, as on this
account he enjoy'd his preferment: But the Dean perhaps, was one of
those characters, who chose to sacrifice his cause to his joke. This was
a treatment Sir Richard could never have expected at the hands of a
clergyman.
A List of Sir Richard Blackmore's
Works.
THEOLOGICAL.
I. Just Prejudices against the Arian Hypothesis, Octavo. 1725
II. Modern Arians Unmask'd, Octavo, 1721
III. Natural Theology; or Moral Duties considered apart from positive;
with some Observations on the Desirableness and Necessity of a
super-natural Revelation, Octavo, 1728
IV. The accomplished Preacher; or an Essay upon Divine Eloquence,
Octavo, 1731
This Tract was published after the author's death, in pursuance of his
express order, by the Reverend Mr. John White of Nayland in Essex; who
attended on Sir Richard during his last illness, in which he manifested
an elevated piety towards God, and faith in Christ, the Saviour of the
World. Mr. White also applauds him as a person in whose character great
candour and the finest humanity were the prevailing qualities. He
observes also that he had the greatest veneration for the clergy of the
Church of England, whereof he was a member. No one, says he, did more
highly magnify our office, or had a truer esteem and honour for our
persons, discharging our office as we ought, and supporting the holy
character we bear, with an unblameable conversation,
POETICAL.
I. Creation, a Philosophical Poem, demonstrating the Existence and
Providence of God, in seven Books, Octavo, 1712
II. The Redeemer, a Poem in six Books, Octavo, 1721
III. Eliza, a Poem in ten Books, Folio, 1705
IV. King Arthur, in ten Books, 1697
V. Prince Arthur, in ten Books, 1695
VI. King Alfred, in twelve books, Octavo, 1723
VII. A Paraphrase on the Book of Job; the Songs of Moses, Deborah and
David; the ii. viii. ciii. cxiv, cxlviii. Psalms. Four chapters of
Isaiah, and the third of Habbakkuk, Folio and Duodecimo, 1716
VIII. A New Version of the Book of Psalms, Duodecimo, 1720
IX. The Nature of Man, a Poem in three Books, Octavo, 1720
X. A Collection of Poems, Octavo, 1716
XI. Essays on several Subjects, 2 vols. Octavo. Vol. I. On Epic Poetry,
Wit, False Virtue, Immortality of the Soul, Laws of Nature, Origin of
Civil Power. Vol. II. On Athesim, Spleen, Writing, Future Felicity,
Divine Love. 1716
XII. History of the Conspiracy against King William the IIId, 1696,
Octavo, 1723
MEDICINAL.
I. A Discourse on the Plague, with a preparatory Account of Malignant
Fevers, in two Parts; containing an Explication of the Nature of those
Diseases, and the Method of Cure, Octavo, 1720
II. A Treatise on the Small-Pox, in two Parts; containing an Account of
the Nature, and several Kinds of that Disease; with the proper Methods
of Cure: And a Dissertation upon the modern Practice of Inoculation,
Octavo, 1722
III. A Treatise on Consumptions, and other Distempers belonging to the
Breast and Lungs, Octavo, 1724
VI. A Treatise on the Spleen and Vapours; or Hyppocondriacal and
Hysterical Affections; with three Discourses on the Nature and Cure of
the Cholic, Melancholly and Palsy, Octavo, 1725
V. A Critical Dissertation upon the Spleen, so far as concerns the
following Question, viz. Whether the Spleen is necessary or useful to
the animal possessed of it? 1725
VI. Discourses on the Gout, Rheumatism, and the King's Evil; containing
an Explanation of the Nature, Causes, and different Species of those
Diseases, and the Method of curing them, Octavo, 1726
VII. Dissertations on a Dropsy, a Tympany, the Jaundice, the Stone, and
the Diabetes, Octavo, 1727
Single POEMS by Sir _Richard Blackmore_.
I. His Satire against Wit, Folio, 1700
II. His Hymn to the Light of the World; with a short Description of the
Cartoons at Hampton-Court, Folio, 1703
III. His Advice to the Poets, Folio, 1706
IV. His Kit-Kats, Folio, 1708
It might justly be esteemed an injury to Blackmore, to dismiss his life
without a specimen from his beautiful and philosophical Poem on the
Creation. In his second Book he demonstrates the existence of a God,
from the wisdom and design which appears in the motions of the heavenly
orbs; but more particularly in the solar system. First in the situation
of the Sun, and its due distance from the earth. The fatal consequences
of its having been placed, otherwise than it is. Secondly, he considers
its diurnal motion, whence the change of the day and night proceeds;
which we shall here insert as a specimen of the elegant versification,
and sublime energy of this Poem.
Next see Lucretian Sages, see the Sun,
His course diurnal, and his annual run.
How in his glorious race he moves along,
Gay as a bridegroom, as a giant strong.
How his unweari'd labour he repeats,
Returns at morning, and at eve retreats;
And by the distribution of his light,
Now gives to man the day, and now the night:
Night, when the drowsy swain, and trav'ler cease
Their daily toil, and sooth their limbs with ease;
When all the weary sons of woe restrain
Their yielding cares with slumber's silken chain,
Solace sad grief, and lull reluctant pain.
And while the sun, ne'er covetous of rest,
Flies with such rapid speed from east to west,
In tracks oblique he thro' the zodiac rolls,
Between the northern and the southern poles;
From which revolving progress thro' the skies.
The needful seasons of the year arise:
And as he now advances, now retreats,
Whence winter colds proceed, and summer heats,
He qualifies, and chears the air by turns,
Which winter freezes, and which summer burns.
Thus his kind rays the two extremes reduce,
And keep a temper fit for nature's use.
The frost and drought by this alternate pow'r.
The earth's prolific energy restore.
The lives of man and beast demand the change;
Hence fowls the air, and fish the ocean range.
Of heat and cold, this just successive reign,
Which does the balance of the year maintain,
The gard'ner's hopes, and farmer's patience props,
Gives vernal verdure, and autumnal crops.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Jacob.
[2] Preface to Remarks on Prince Arthur, octavo 1696.
* * * * *
Mr. JAMES THOMSON.
This celebrated poet, from whom his country has derived the most
distinguished honour, was son of the revd. Mr. Thomson, a minister of
the church of Scotland, in the Presbytery of Jedburgh.
He was born in the place where his father was minister, about the
beginning of the present century, and received the rudiments of his
education at a private country school. Mr. Thomson, in the early part of
his life, so far from appearing to possess a sprightly genius, was
considered by his school master, and those which directed his education,
as being really without a common share of parts.
While he was improving himself in the Latin and Greek tongues at this
country school, he often visited a minister, whose charge lay in the
same presbytery with his father's, the revd. Mr. Rickerton, a man of
such amazing powers, that many persons of genius, as well as Mr.
Thomson, who conversed with him, have been astonished, that such great
merit should be buried in an obscure part of the country, where he had
no opportunity to display himself, and, except upon periodical meetings
of the ministers, seldom an opportunity of conversing with men of
learning.