Thou pleasing source of all my earthly joy:
Thou tenderest husband, and thou best of friends,
To thee, this first, this last adieu I send.
At length the conqueror death asserts his right,
And will forever veil me from thy sight.
He wooes me to him, with a chearful grace;
And not one terror clouds his meagre face.
He promises a lasting rest from pain;
And shews that all life's fleeting joys are vain.
Th' eternal scenes of Heaven he sets in view,
And tells me, that no other joys are true.
But love, fond love, would yet resist his power;
Would fain a-while defer the parting hour:
He brings the mourning image to my eyes,
And would obstruct my journey to the skies.
But say thou dearest, thou unwearied friend;
Say should'st thou grieve to see my sorrows end?
Thou know'st a painful pilgrimage I have past,
And should'st thou grieve, that rest is come at last;
Rather rejoice to see me shake off life,
And die as I have liv'd, thy faithful wife.
* * * * *
Mr. THOMAS BROWN.
This humorous poet was the son of a considerable Farmer of Shiffnall,
in Shropshire, and educated at Newport-school in that county, under the
reverend and learned Dr. Edwards, a gentleman who had the honour to
qualify many persons of distinction for the university. Under the
tuition of this master, he attained a knowledge of the Latin, Greek,
French, Italian, and Spanish languages, and his exercises were generally
so well performed, that the Dr. was filled with admiration of his parts.
From Newport school he removed to Christ's-Church College in Oxford, and
distinguished himself there for his easy attainments in literature; but
some little irregularities of his life would not suffer him to
continue long at the university. It is probable he became sick of that
discipline, which they who spend their life in the recluseness of a
college, are in some measure obliged to submit to. The father of Mr.
Brown, who intended to have him educated to some profession, was not
made acquainted with his design of quitting the university, and having
remitted him a sum of money, to be appropriated for the promotion of his
studies, his son thought proper to defeat his kind intentions. With this
money, our author plann'd a scheme of going to London, which he soon
after executed, not very advantageously.--'My first business, says he,
was to apply myself to those few friends I had there, who conjecturing
I had left the university, exclusive of my father's knowledge, gave but
slender encouragement to a young beginner. However, no whit daunted (my
first resolution still standing by me) I launched forth into the world,
committing myself to the mercy of fortune, and the uncertain temper of
the town. I soon acquired a new set of acquaintance; and began to have
a relish of what I had only tasted before by hearsay; and indeed, every
thing served to convince me, I had changed for the better, except that
my slender subsistance began to waste extremely; and ruminating upon the
difficulty of obtaining a supply, I was then laid under the necessity
of thinking what course to steer. I knew how justly I had incurred the
displeasure of an indulgent father, and how far I had put myself from
retrieving his favour. Amidst this serious contemplation! I resolved to
go through stitch with my enterprize, let what will come on't: However,
that I might use discretion, to palliate an unforeseen event, I
determined 'twere better to trust to the flexibility of a father's
temper, than to lay too great a stress upon the humanity of fortune,
who would let a man of morals starve if he depended on her favours.
Therefore, without more ado (having taken my sorrowful leave of my last
guinea, and reduced Carolus Secundus, from a whole number, to decimal
fractions) I dispatched a letter into the country, full of excuse, and
penitence, baited with all the submissive eloquence imaginable. In the
mean time, I was no less sedulous to find out some employment, that
might suit with my genius, and with my dependencies at home, render my
life easy.'
Whether his father was touched by the epistle which our author in
consequence of this resolution wrote to him, we cannot ascertain, as
there is no mention made of it. Soon after this, we find him school
master of Kingston upon Thames, and happy for him, had he continued in
that more certain employment, and not have so soon exchanged it for
beggary and reputation. Mr. Brown, impatient of a recluse life, quitted
the school, and came again to London; and as he found his old companions
more delighted with his wit, than ready to relieve his necessities, he
had recourse to scribbling for bread, which he performed with various
success. Dr. Drake, who has written a defence of our author's character,
prefixed to his works, informs us, that the first piece which brought
him into reputation, was an account of the conversion of Mr. Bays, in a
Dialogue, which met with a reception suitable to the wit, spirit, and
learning of it. But though this raised his fame, yet it added very
little to his profit: For, though it made his company exceedingly
coveted, and might have recommended him to the great, as well as to
the ingenious, yet he was of a temper not to chuse his acquaintance by
interest, and slighted such an opportunity of recommending himself to
the powerful and opulent, as, if wisely improved, might have procured
him dignities and preferments. The stile of this dialogue, was like that
of his ordinary conversation, lively and facetious. It discovered no
small erudition, but managed with a great deal of humour, in a burlesque
way; which make both the reasoning and the extensive reading, which are
abundantly shewn in it, extremely surprizing and agreeable. The same
manner and humour runs through all his writings, whether Dialogues,
Letters, or Poems.
The only considerable objection, which the critics have made to his
works is, that they want delicacy. But in answer to this, it may be
affirmed, that there is as much refinement in his works, as the nature
of humorous satire, which is the chief beauty of his compositions, will
admit; for, as satire requires strong ideas, the language will sometimes
be less polished. But the delicacy so much demanded, by softening the
colours weakens the drawing. Mr. Brown has been charged with inequality
in his writings: which is inseparable from humanity.
Our author's letters, though written carelesly to private friends, bear
the true stamp and image of a genius. The variety of his learning may be
seen in the Lacedaemonian Mercury, where abundance of critical questions
of great nicety, are answered with much solidity and judgment, as
well as wit, and humour. But that design exposing him too much to the
scruples of the grave and reserved, as well as to the censure, and
curiosity of the impertinent, he soon discontinued it. Besides, as this
was a periodical work, he who was totally without steadiness, was very
ill qualified for such an undertaking. When the press called upon him
for immediate supply, he was often found debauching himself at a tavern,
and by excessive drinking unable to perform his engagements with the
public, by which no doubt the work considerably suffered.
But there is yet another reason why Mr. Brown has been charged with
inequality in his writings, viz. that most of the anonymous pieces which
happened to please the town, were fathered upon him. This, though in
reality an injury to him, is yet a proof of the universality of his
reputation, when whatever pleased from an unknown hand was ascribed
to him; but by these means he was reputed the writer of many things
unworthy of him. In poetry he was not the author of any long piece, for
he was quite unambitious of reputation of that kind. They are generally
Odes, Satires, and Epigrams, and are certainly not the best part of his
works. His Translations in Prose are many, and of various kinds. His
stile is strong and masculine; and if he was not so nice in the choice
of his authors, as might be expected from a man of his taste, he must be
excused; for he performed his translations as a talk, prescribed him
by the Booksellers, from whom he derived his chief support. It was the
misfortune of our author to appear on the stage of the world, when
fears, and jealousies had soured the tempers of men, and politics, and
polemics, had almost driven mirth and good nature out of the nation:
so that the careless gay humour, and negligent chearful wit, which
in former days of tranquility, would have recommended him to the
conversation of princes, was, in a gloomy period, lost upon a people
incapable of relishing genuine humour.
An anonymous author who has given the world some account of Mr. Brown,
observes, 'that it was not his immorality that hindered him from
climbing to the top of poetry, and preferment; but that he had a
particular way of sinning to himself. To speak in plain English (says
he) Tom Brown had less the spirit of a gentleman than the rest of
the Wits, and more of a Scholar. Tom thought himself as happy with a
retailer of damnation in an obscure hole, as another to have gone to
the devil with all the splendour of a fine equipage. 'Twas not the
brightness of Caelia's eyes, nor her gaudy trappings that attracted his
heart. Cupid might keep his darts to himself; Tom always carried his
fire about him. If he had but a mouth, two eyes, and a nose, he never
enquired after the regularity of her dress, or features. He always
brought a good stomach with him, and used but little ceremony in the
preface. As of his mistresses, so he was very negligent in the choice of
his companions, who were sometimes mean and despicable, a circumstance
which never fails to ruin a man's reputation. He was of a lazy temper,
and the Booksellers who gave him credit enough as to his capacity, had
no confidence to put in his diligence. The same gentleman informs us,
that though Tom Brown was a good-natured man, yet he had one pernicious
quality, which eternally procured him enemies, and that was, rather to
lose his friend, than his joke.
One of his lampoons had almost cost him a procession at the cart's tail;
nor did he either spare friend or foe, if the megrim of abuse once
seized him. He had a particular genius for scandal, and dealt it out
liberally when he could find occasion. He is famed for being the author
of a Libel, fixed one Sunday morning on the doors of Westminster-abbey,
and many others, against the clergy and quality. As for religion, Brown
never professed any, and used to say, that he understood the world
better than to have the imputation of righteousness laid to his charge:
and the world, to be even with him, really thought him an Atheist. But
though Brown never made any professions of religion, yet it proceeded
more from affectation than conviction. When he came upon his death-bed,
he expressed remorse for his past life, and discovered at that period,
sentiments which he had never before suffered to enter his mind. This
penitential behaviour, in the opinion of some, was the occasion why all
his brethren neglected him, and did not bestow on his memory one elegiac
song, nor any of the rites of verse. We find no encomiums upon him, but
what appeared in a Grubstreet Journal, which, however, are much superior
to what was usually to be found there.
----A mournful muse from Albion swains produce,
Sad as the song a gloomy genius chuse,
In artful numbers let his wit be shewn,
And as he sings of Doron's speak his own;
Such be the bard, for only such is fit,
To trace pale Doron thro' the fields of wit.
Towards the latter end of our author's life, we are informed by Mr.
Jacob, that he was in favour with the earl of Dorset, who invited him to
dinner on a Christmas-day, with Mr. Dryden, and some other gentlemen,
celebrated for ingenuity, (according to his lordship's usual custom)
when Mr. Brown, to his agreeable surprize, found a Bank Note of 50 l.
under his plate, and Mr. Dryden at the same time was presented with
another of 100 l. Acts of munificence of this kind were very common with
that generous spirited nobleman.
Mr. Brown died in the year 1704, and was interred in the Cloyster of
Westminster-abbey, near the remains of Mrs. Behn, with whom he was
intimate in his life-time. His whole works consisting of Dialogues,
Essays, Declamations, Satires, Letters from the Dead to the Living,
Translations, Amusements, &c. were printed in 4 vol. 12mo, 1707. In
order that the reader may conceive a true idea of the spirit and humour,
as well as of the character of Tom Brown, we shall here insert an
Imaginary Epistle, written from the Shades to his Friends among the
Living; with a copy of Verses representing the Employment of his
poetical Brethren in that fancied Region.
TOM. BROWN to his Friends among the Living.
GENTLEMEN,
I bear it with no little concern to find myself so soon forgot among ye;
I have paid as constant attendance to post-hours, in expectation to hear
from ye, as a hungry Irish Man (at twelve) to a three-penny ordinary, or
a decayed beau for nice eating to a roasting-cock's. No amorous-keeping
fool, banished from his Chloris in town, to his country solitude, has
waited with greater impatience for a kind epistle from her, than I for
one from you. I have searched all private packets, and examined every
straggling ghost that came from your parts, without being able to get
the least intelligence of your affairs. This is the third since my
arrival in these gloomy regions, and I can give myself no reason why I
have received none in answer, unless the packet-boat has been taken
by the French, or that so little time has quite excluded me from your
memories. In my first I gave you an account of my journey hither, and my
reception among the ingenious in these gloomy regions.
I arrived on the Banks of Acheron, and found Charon scooping his wherry,
who seeing me approach him, bid me sit down a little, for he had been
hard worked lately, and could not go with a single passenger: I was
willing enough to embrace the proposal, being much fatigued and weary.
Having finished what he was about, he cast his rueful aspect up to
the clouds, and demonstrating from thence (as I suppose) it was near
dinner-time, he took from out a locker or cupboard in the stern of his
pinnace, some provender pinned up in a clean linnen clout, and a jack of
liquor, and fell too without the least shew of ceremony, unless indeed
it were to offer me the civility of partaking with him. He muttered
something to himself, which might be grace as far as I know; but if it
were, 'twas as short as that at an Auction-dinner, nor did he devour
what was before him with less application than I have seen some there.
For my part, I could not but contemplate on his shaggy locks, his
wither'd sun-burnt countenance, together with the mightiness and
sanctity of his beard; but above all, his brawny chopt knuckles employed
my attention: In short, having satisfied the cormorant in his guts,
he had time to ask me what country-man I was? to which I submissively
answered, an English-man: O, says he, those English-men are merry
rogues, and love mischief; I have sometimes a diverting story from
thence: What news have you brought with you? truly I told his highness
I came away a little dissatisfied, and had not made any remarks on the
world for some time before my death; and for news I had not leisure to
bring any thing of moment. But ere we had talked much more, we saw
two other passengers approach us, who, by their often turning to one
another, and their laying down arguments with their hands, seemed to be
in warm debate together; which was as we conjectured; for when they
drew nearer to us, they proved to be a termagant High-Flyer, and a
puritanical Scripturian, a fiery Scotchman: Occasional Conformity was
their subject; for I heard the Scot tell him 'twas all popery, downright
popery, and that the inquisition in Spain was christianity to it, by
retarding the sons of grace from partaking of the gifts of the Lord; he
said it was the building of Babel, and they were confounded in the works
of their hands by the confusion of tongues; such crys, says he, went
forth before the desolation of the great city.
Thou the son of grace, says the other, thou art a son of Satan, and hast
preached up iniquity; ye are the evil tares, and the land can never
prosper 'till ye are rooted out from among the good corn.
Thou art an inventer of lies, said the disciple of John Calvin, and the
truth is not in thee; ye are bloody minded wretches, and your fury is
the only sign of your religion, as the steeple is to the church; your
organs are the prophane tinkling of the cimbals of Satan, that tickle
the ears with vanity.
Thus the dispute lasted till they came to us, and getting into the boat,
they jostled for preeminence, which might have proved a sharp conflict,
had not the old fellow took up a stretcher and parted them. After which
we parted peaceably over to the other side: being-landed, the Scot and I
took our way together, and left the furious churchman to vent his spleen
by himself. We had not travelled long before we came to a populous
village, where, from the various multitude, our eyes encountered at a
distance, we might easily conjecture that something more than ordinary
had gathered them together in that manner; it resembled (as near as
I can describe it) that famous place called Sherrick-fair, or a
Staffordshire-Wake. While we were applying our admiration that way, we
arrived at a small hut erected for that purpose, where Nero the tyrant,
like a blind fiddler, was surrounded by a confused tribe of all sorts
and sexes, like another Orpheus among the beasts.
The various remarks I made (some dancing, some prancing; some clapping,
some knapping; some drinking, some winking; some kissing, some pissing;
some reeling, some stealing) urged my curiosity to enquire for what
it was possible those noble sports might be ordained, and was soon
satisfied it was the Anniversary Feast of their Great Lady Proserpine's
birth-day. But these things that I took to be diverting, so elevated the
spleen of my Puritan companion, that he began loudly to exclaim against
those prophane exercises: he said, they were impure, and lifted up
the mind to lewdness; that those that followed them, were the sons of
Belial, and wore the mark of the beast in their foreheads. I endeavoured
to pacify the sanctified brother, by putting him in mind where we were,
and that his rashness might draw us into danger, being in a strange
place; but all was in vain, I but stirred up his fury more; for, turning
his rebukes upon me, he told me, I was myself one of the wicked, and did
rejoice in my heart at the deeds of darkness: no, says he, I will not be
pacified, I will roar aloud to drown their incantations; yea, I will set
out a throat even as the beast that belloweth! so that perceiving the
mob gather about him, I thought it prudence to steal off, and leave him
to the fury of those, whose displeasure he was about to incur.
I had not gone far, but I 'spied two brawney champions at a rubbers
of cuffs, which by the dexterity of their head's, hands, and heels,
I judged could be no other than Englishmen: nor were my sentiments
groundless, for presently I heard the mob cry out, O! rare Jo! O! rare
Jo! and attentively Surveying the combatants, I found it to be the merry
Jo Haynes, fallen out with Plowden the famous Lawyer, about a game
at Nine-holes; and that shout had proclaimed Joe victorious. I was
something scrupulous of renewing my acquaintance, not knowing how the
conqueror, in the midst of his success, might use me for making bold
with his character in my letters from the read; though I felt a secret
desire to discover myself, yet prudence withstood my inclination, 'till
a more convenient season might so that I brushed off to a place where I
saw a concourse of the better sort of people; there I found Millington
the famous Auctioneer, among a crowd of Lawyers, Physicians, Scholars,
Poets, Critics, Booksellers, &c. exercising his old faculty; for which,
gentlemen, he is as particularly famed in these parts, as Herostratus
for firing the famous Temple, or Barthol Swarts, for the invention of
Gunpowder. He is head journey-man to Ptolemy, who keeps a Bookseller's
shop here, and rivals even Jacob Tonson in reputation among the great
wits.
But most of all I was obliged to admire my friend Millington, who, by
his powerful knack of eloquence, to the wonder of the whole company,
sold Cave's Lives of the Fathers to Solomon the Magnificent, and the
Scotch Directory to the Priests of the Sun; nay, he sold-Archbishop
Laud's Life to Hugh Peters, Hob's Leviathan to Pope Boniface, and pop'd
Bunyan's Works upon Bellarmine for a piece of unrevealed Divinity; After
the sale was over, I took an opportunity of making myself known to him,
who caressed me with all the freedom imaginable, asking me, how long
I had been in these parts? and what news from the other world? and a
thousand particular questions about his old friends; to all which I
responded as well as I could: and having given me a caution to avoid
some people, by whom I was threatened, for exposing them in my letters,
we went to take a bottle together.
Now I presume, gentlemen, you will conclude it high time for me to take
my leave; nor shall I tire your patience much longer, only permit me
to give ye the trouble of some particular services to those honest
gentlemen whose generosity gave me the reputation of a funeral above
what I e'er expected, especially to Dr. S----t for bestowing the ground
I never frequented, to Dr. Garth and the rest for the charge of a hearse
and mourning coaches, which I could not have desired, and to Dr. D----ke
for designing me a monument I know the world will reflect I never
deserved; but for that, let my works testify for me. And though ye are
satisfied my genius was never over-fruitful in the product of verse,
yet knowing these favours require something a little uncommon to make a
suitable return, I shall take my leave in metre, and, if contrary to my
opinion, it meets with a kind acceptance from the town, honest Sam. may
clap it in the next edition of the State Poems, with Buckingham's name
to it.
When a scurvy disease had lain hold of my carcase,
And death to my chamber was mounting the stair-case.
I call'd to remembrance the sins I'd committed,
Repented, and thought I'd for Heaven been fitted;
But alas! there is still an old proverb to cross us,
I found there no room for the sons of Parnassus;
And therefore contented like others to fare,
To the shades of Elizium I strait did repair;
Where Dryden and other great wits o' the town,
To reward all their labours, are damn'd to write on.
Here Johnson may boast of his judgment and plot,
And Otway of all the applause that he got;
Loose Eth'ridge presume on his stile and his wit,
And Shadwell of all the dull plays he e'r writ;
Nat. Lee here may boast of his bombast and rapture,
And Buckingham rail to the end of the chapter;
Lewd Rochester lampoon the King and the court,
And Sidley and others may cry him up for't;
Soft Waller and Suckling, chaste Cowley and others,
With Beaumont and Fletcher, poetical brothers,
May here scribble on with pretence to the bays,
E'en Shakespear himself may produce all his plays,
And not get for whole pages one mouth full of praise.
To avoid this disaster, while Congreve reforms,
His muse and his morals fly to Bracegirdle's arms;
Let Vanbrugh no more plotless plays e'er impose,
Stuft with satire and smut to ruin the house;
Let Rowe, if he means to maintain his applause,
Write no more such lewd plays as his Penitent was.
O Satire! from errors instruct the wild bard,
Bestow thy advice to reclaim each lewd bard;
Bid the Laureat sincerely reflect on the matter;
Bid Dennis drink less, but bid him write better;
Bid Durfey cease scribbling, that libelling song-ster;
Bid Gildon and C----n be Deists no longer;
Bid B----t and C----r, those wits of the age,
Ne'er expose a dull coxcomb, but just on the stage;
Bid Farquhar (tho' bit) to his consort be just,
And Motteux in his office be true to his trust;
Bid Duffet and Cowper no longer be mad,
But Parsons and Lawyers mind each their own trade.
To Grubster and others, bold satire advance;
Bid Ayliffe talk little, and P----s talk sense;
Bid K----n leave stealing as well as the rest;
When this can be done, they may hope to be blest.
* * * * *
The Revd. Mr. JOHN POMFRET.