Park; and acted at the Theatre-royal, in 1672, he became acquainted with
several of the most celebrated wits, both of the court and town; and
likewise with the duchess of Cleveland. Mr. Dennis, in his Letters
quoted above, has given a particular relation of the beginning of his
acquaintance with this celebrated beauty of the times, which is singular
enough.--One day Mr. Wycherley riding in his chariot through St. James's
Park, he was met by the duchess, whose chariot jostled with his, upon
which she looked out of her chariot, and spoke very audibly, "You
Wycherley, you are a son of a whore," and then burst into a fit of
laughter. Mr. Wycherley at first was very much surprized at this, but
he soon recovered himself enough to recollect, that it was spoke in
allusion to the latter end of a Song in his Love in a Wood;
When parents are slaves,
Their brats cannot be any other;
Great wits, and great braves,
Have always a punk for their mother.
During Mr. Wycherley's surprize, the chariots drove different ways, they
were soon at a considerable distance from each other; when Mr. Wycherley
recollecting, ordered his coachman to drive back, and overtake the lady.
As soon as he got over against her, he said to her, "Madam, you was
pleased to bestow a title upon me, which generally belongs to the
fortunate. Will your ladyship be at the play to night? Well, she
replied, what if I should be there? Why then, answered he, I will be
there to wait on your ladyship, though I disappoint a fine woman, who
has made me an assignation. So, said she, you are sure to disappoint a
woman who has favoured you, for one who has not. Yes, he replied, if she
who has not favoured me is the finer woman of the two: But he who will
be constant to your ladyship, till he can find a finer woman, is sure to
die your captive."
The duchess of Cleveland, in consequence of Mr. Wycherley's compliment,
was that night, in the first row of the king's box in Drury-Lane, and
Mr. Wycherley in the pit under her, where he entertained her during the
whole play; and this was the beginning of a correspondence between these
two persons, which afterwards made a great noise in the town.
This accident, was the occasion of bringing Mr. Wycherley into favour
with George duke of Buckingham, who was passionately in love with that
lady, but was ill-treated by her, and who believed that Mr. Wycherley
was his happy rival. The duke had long sollicited her, without obtaining
any favour: Whether the relation between them shocked her, for she was
his cousin-german; or, whether she apprehended that an intrigue with a
person of his rank and character, must necessarily in a short time come
to the king's ears; whatever was the cause, she refused so long to admit
his visits, that at last indignation, rage, and disdain took place of
love; and he resolved to ruin her. When he took this resolution, he had
her so narrowly watched by his spies, that he soon discovered those whom
he had reason to believe were his rivals; and after he knew them, he
never failed to name them aloud, in order to expose the lady to all
those who visited her; and among others, he never failed to mention Mr.
Wycherley. As soon as it came to the knowledge of the latter, who had
all his expectations from court, he apprehended the consequences of such
a report, if it should reach the King; and applied himself therefore to
Wilmot earl of Rochester, and Sir Charles Sedley, entreating them to
remonstrate to the duke of Buckingham, the mischief he was about to do
to one who had not the honour to know him, and who had not offended him.
Upon opening the matter to the duke, he cried out immediately, that
he did not blame Wycherley, he only accused his cousin. 'Ay, but they
replied, by rendering him suspected of such an intrigue, you are
about to ruin him; that is, your grace is about to ruin a man, whose
conversation you would be pleased with above all things.'
Upon this occasion, they said so much of the shining qualities of Mr.
Wycherley, and the charms of his conversation, that the duke, who was as
much in love with wit, as he was with his cousin, was impatient, till
he was brought to sup with him, which was in two or three nights. After
supper, Mr. Wycherley, who was then in the height of his vigour, both
in body and mind, thought himself obliged to exert his talents, and the
duke was charmed to that degree, that he cried out with transport, and
with an oath, 'My cousin's in the right of it.' and from that very
moment made a friend of a man he before thought his rival.
In the year 1673 a comedy of his called the Gentleman Dancing-Master,
was acted at the duke's Theatre, and in 1678 his Plain Dealer was acted
with general applause. In 1683 his Country Wife was performed at the
same Theatre. These Plays raised him so high in the esteem of the world,
and so recommended him to the favour of the duke of Buckingham, that as
he was master of the horse, and colonel of a regiment, he bestowed two
places on Wycherley: As master of the horse, he made him one of his
equeries; and as colonel of a regiment, a captain lieutenant of his own
company. King Charles likewise gave our author the most distinguishing
marks of favour, perhaps beyond what any sovereign prince had shewn
before to an author, who was only a private gentleman: Mr. Wycherley
happened to be ill of a fever, at his lodgings in Bow-Street,
Covent-Garden; during his sickness, the king did him the honour of a
visit; when finding his fever indeed abated, but his body extremely
weakened, and his spirits miserably shattered, he commanded him to
take a journey to the south of France, believing that nothing could
contribute more to the restoring his former state of health, than the
gentle air of Montpelier, during the winter season: at the same time,
the king assured him, that as soon as he was able to undertake that
journey, he would order five-hundred pounds to be paid him, to defray
the expences of it.
Mr. Wycherley accordingly went to France, and returned to England the
latter end of the spring following, with his health entirely restored.
The king received him with the utmost marks of esteem, and shortly after
told him, he had a son, whom he resolved should be educated like the son
of a king, and that he could make choice of no man so proper to be his
governor as Mr. Wycherley; and, that for this service, he should have
fifteen-hundred pounds a year allotted him; the King also added, that
when the time came, that his office should cease, he would take care to
make such a provision for him, as should set him above the malice of the
world and fortune. These were golden prospects for Mr. Wycherley, but
they were soon by a cross accident dashed to pieces.
Soon after this promise of his majesty's, Mr. Dennis tells us, that Mr.
Wycherley went down to Tunbridge, to take either the benefit of the
waters, or the diversions of the place; when walking one day upon the
wells-walk, with his friend Mr. Fairbeard of Grey's-Inn, just as he came
up to the bookseller's, the countess of Drogheda, a young widow, rich,
noble and beautiful, came to the bookseller, and enquired for the Plain
Dealer. 'Madam, says Mr. Fairbeard, since you are for the Plain Dealer,
there he is for you,' pushing Mr. Wycherley towards her. 'Yes, says Mr.
Wycherley, this lady can bear plain dealing, for she appears to be so
accomplished, that what would be a compliment to others, when said to
her, would be plain dealing.--No truly Sir, said the lady, I am not
without my faults more than the rest of my sex; and yet, notwithstanding
all my faults, I love plain dealing, and never am more fond of it, then
when it tells me of a fault:' Then madam, says Mr. Fairbeard, you and
the plain dealer seem designed by heaven for each other. In short, Mr.
Wycherley accompanied her upon the walks, waited upon her home, visited
her daily at her lodgings whilst she stayed at Tunbridge; and after she
went to London, at her lodgings in Hatton-Garden: where in a little
time he obtained her consent to marry her. This he did by his father's
command, without acquainting the king; for it was reasonably supposed
that the lady having a great independent estate, and noble and powerful
relations, the acquainting the king with the intended match, would be
the likeliest way to prevent it. As soon as the news was known at court,
it was looked upon as an affront to the king, and a contempt of his
majesty's orders; and Mr. Wycherley's conduct after marriage, made the
resentment fall heavier upon him: For being conscious he had given
offence, and seldom going near the court, his absence was construed into
ingratitude.
The countess, though a splendid wife, was not formed to make a husband
happy; she was in her nature extremely jealous, and indulged it to such
a degree, that she could not endure her husband should be one moment out
of her sight. Their lodgings were in Bow-street, Covent Garden, over
against the Cock Tavern; whither if Mr. Wycherley at any time went, he
was obliged to leave the windows open, that his lady might see there was
no woman in the company.
This was the cause of Mr. Wycherley's disgrace with the King, whose
favour and affection he had before possessed in so distinguished a
degree. The countess settled all her estate upon him, but his title
being disputed after her death, the expence of the law, and other
incumbrances, so far reduced him, that he was not able to satisfy the
impatience of his creditors, who threw him at last into prison; so that
he, who but a few years before was flourishing in all the gaiety of
life, flushed with prospects of court preferment, and happy in the most
extensive reputation for wit and parts, was condemned to suffer all the
rigours of want: for his father did not think proper to support him. In
this severe extremity, he fell upon an expedient, which, no doubt, was
dictated by his distress, of applying to his Bookseller, who had got
considerably by his Plain Dealer, in order to borrow 20 l. but he
applied in vain; the Bookseller refused to lend him a shilling; and in
that distress he languished for seven years: nor was he released 'till
one day King James going to see his Plain-Dealer performed, was so
charmed with it, that he gave immediate orders for the payment of the
author's debts, adding to that bounty a pension of 200 1. per annum,
while he continued in England. But the generous intention of that Prince
to him, had not the designed effect, purely through his modesty; he
being ashamed to tell the earl of Mulgrave, whom the King had sent to
demand it, a full state of his debts. He laboured under the weight of
these difficulties 'till his father died, and then the estate that
descended to him, was left under very uneasy limitations, he being only
a tenant for life, and not being allowed to raise money for the payment
of his debts: yet, as he had a power to make a jointure, he married,
almost at the eve of his days, a young gentlewoman of 1500 l. fortune,
part of which being applied to the uses he wanted it for, he died eleven
days after the celebration of his nuptials in December 1715, and was
interred in the vault of Covent Garden church.
Besides the plays already mentioned, he published a volume of poems
1704, which met with no great success; for, like Congreve, his strength
lay only in the drama, and, unless on the stage, he was but a second
rate poet. In 1728 his posthumous works in prose and verse were
published by Mr. Lewis Theobald at London in 8vo.
Mr. Dennis, in a few words, has summed up this gentleman's character;
'he was admired by the men for his parts, in wit and learning; and
he was admired by the women for those parts of which they were more
competent judges.' Mr. Wycherley was a man of great sprightliness,
and vivacity of genius, he was said to have been handsome, formed for
gallantry, and was certainly an idol with the ladies, a felicity which
even his wit might not have procured, without exterior advantages.
As a poet and a dramatist, I cannot better exhibit his character than
in the words of George lord Lansdowne; he observes, 'that the earl of
Rochester, in imitation of one of Horace's epistles, thus mentions our
author;
Of all our modern wits none seem to me,
Once to have touch'd upon true comedy
But hasty Shadwel, and slow Wycherley.
Shadwel's unfinish'd works do yet impart
Great proofs of nature's force; tho' none of art.
'But Wycherley earns hard whate'er he gains,
He wants no judgment, and he spares no pains.'
'Lord Lansdowne is persuaded, that the earl fell into this part of the
character (of a laborious writer) merely for the sake of the verse; if
hasty, says he, would have stood as an epithet for Wycherley, and slow,
for Shadwel, they would in all probability have been so applied, but the
verse would have been spoiled, and to that it was necessary to submit.
Those, who would form their judgments only upon Mr. Wycherley's
writings, without any personal acquaintance with him, might indeed be
apt to conclude, that such a diversity of images and characters, such
strict enquiries into nature, such close observations on the several
humours, manners, and affections of all ranks and degrees of men, and,
as it were, so true and perfect a dissection of humankind, delivered
with so much pointed wit, and force of expression, could be no other
than the work of extraordinary diligence, labour, and application; but
in truth, we owe the pleasure and advantage of having been so well
entertained, and instructed by him, to his facility of doing it; if it
had been a trouble to him to write, I am much mistaken if he would
not have spared that trouble. What he has performed, would have been
difficult for another; but a club, which a man of an ordinary size could
not lift, was a walking staff for Hercules. To judge by the sharpness,
and spirit of his satires, you might be led into another mistake, and
imagine him an ill-natur'd man, but what my lord Rochester said of lord
Dorset, is applicable to him, the best good man with the worst natured
muse. As pointed, and severe as he is in his writings, in his temper
he had all the softness of the tenderest disposition; gentle and
inoffensive to every man in his particular character; he only attacks
vice as a public enemy, compassionating the wound he is under a
necessity to probe, or grieving, like a good natured conqueror, at the
occasions which provoke him to make such havock. King Charles II. a
nice discerner of men, and himself a man of wit, often chose him for a
companion at his leisure hours, as Augustus did Horace, and had very
advantageous views for him, but unluckily an amorous inclination
interfered; the lover got the better of the courtier, and ambition fell
a sacrifice to love, the predominant passion of the noblest mind. Many
object to his versification; it is certain he is no master of numbers,
but a Diamond is not less a Diamond for not being polished.'
Mr. Pope, when very young, made his court to Mr. Wycherley, when very
old; and the latter was so well pleased with the former, and had such
an opinion of his rising genius, that he entered into an intimate
correspondence with him, and submitted his works to Mr. Pope's
correction. See the letters between Pope and Wycherley, printed in
Pope's works.
[Footnote 1: Dennis's Letters, vol. i. p. 213.]
* * * * *
NAHUM TATE
Was born about the middle of the reign of Charles II. in the kingdom of
Ireland, and there received his education. He was a man of learning,
courteous, and candid, but was thought to possess no great genius, as
being deficient in what is its first characteristic, namely, invention.
He was made poet laureat to King William, upon the death of Shadwell,
and held that place 'till the accession of King George I, on whom he
lived to write the first Birth-Day Ode, which is executed with unusual
spirit. Mr. Tate being a man of extreme modesty, was never able to make
his fortune, or to raise himself above necessity; he was obliged to have
recourse to the patronage of the earl of Dorset, to screen him from
the persecution of his creditors. Besides several other poetical
performances, which will be afterwards enumerated and a Version of the
Psalms, in conjunction with Dr. Brady, Mr. Tate has been the author of
nine plays, of which the following is the list;
1. Brutus of Alba, a Tragedy; acted at the Duke's Theatre 1678,
dedicated to the Earl of Dorset. This play is founded on Virgil's Æneid,
b. iv, and was finished under the name of Dido and Æneas, but by the
advice of some friends, was transformed to the dress it now wears.
2. The Loyal General, a Tragedy; acted at the Duke's Theatre 1680.
3. Richard II. revived, and altered from Shakespear, under the title
of the Sicilian Usurper; a Tragedy, with a Prefatory Epistle, in
Vindication of the Author, occasioned by the Prohibition of this Play on
the Stage. The scene is in England.
4. The Ingratitude of a Commonwealth, or the Fall of Caius Marius
Coriolanus; this was printed in 4to. 1682, and dedicated to the Marquis
of Worcester; it is founded on Shakespear's Coriolanus.
5. Cuckold's Haven, or an Alderman no Conjuror; a Farce; acted at the
Queen's Theatre in the Dorset-Garden 1685. Part of the plot of this
piece seems to be taken from Ben. Johnson's Eastward Hoe or the Devil is
an Ass.
6. A Duke, and No Duke, a Farce, acted 1684. The plot from Trappolin
supposed a Prince.
7. The Island Princess, a Tragi-Comedy; acted at the Theatre Royal 1687,
dedicated to Henry Lord Waldegrave. This is the Island Princess of
Fletcher revived, with alterations.
8. Lear King of England, and his Three Daughters, an Historical Play,
acted at the Duke s Theatre 1687. It is one of Shakespear's most moving
tragedies revived, with alterations.
9. Injured Love, or the Cruel Husband, a Tragedy, acted at the
Theatre-Royal 1707.
His other works are chiefly these,
The Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel. Mr. Dryden, author of the
first, assisted in this, he being himself pressed to write it, but
declined the task, and encouraged Mr. Tate in the performance.
The Rise and Progress of Priestcraft.
Syphilis, or a Poetical History of the French Disease.
Jephtha's Vow.
In Memory of his Grace the Illustrious Duke of Ormond, 1688.
On the Death of the Countess of Dorset.
The Characters of Virtue and Vice described, in the Person of the Wise
Man and the Hypocrite; attempted in Verse, from a Treatise of Jos. Hall,
Bishop of Exeter.
A Poem upon Tea.
The Triumph, or Warriors Welcome; a Poem on the glorious Success of the
last Year, with the Ode for New-Year's-Day, 1705.
Thoughts on Human Life.
The Kentish Worthies.
The Monitor, intended for the promoting Religion and Virtue, and
suppressing Vice and Immorality; containing forty one Poems on several
Subjects, in pursuance of her Majesty's most gracious directions,
performed by Mr. Tate, Mr. Smith, and others. This paper was published
on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, in the years 1712, and 1713.
The Triumph of Peace, a Poem on the Magnificent, Public Entry of his
Grace the Duke of Shrewsbury, Ambassador from the Queen of Great Britain
to the Most Christian King, and the Magnificent Entry of his Excellency
the illustrious Duke D'Aumont, Ambassador from his Most Christian
Majesty to the Queen of Great Britain, with the Prospect of the Glorious
Procession for a General Thanksgiving at St. Paul's.
The Windsor Muse's Address, presaging the taking of Lisle; presented
to her Majesty at the Court's departure from the Castle, September 28,
1708, 4to.
The Muses Memorial of the Right Hon. the Earl of Oxford and Mortimer,
Lord High Treasurer of Great Britain, 1713. Funeral Poems on Queen Mary,
Archbishop of Canterbury, &c. 8vo. 1700.
A Poem occasioned by the late Discontents, and Disturbances in the
State; with Reflections upon the Rise and Progress of Priestcraft.
An Elegy on the much esteemed, and truly worthy Ralph Marshall, Esq; one
of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, &c. fol. 1700.
Comitia Lyrica, five carmen Panegyricum, in quo, ad exornandas Magni
Godolphini laudes, omnes omnium Odarum modi ab Horatio delegantur (per
Ludovicum Maidvellium) Paraphrased in English, fol. 1707.
On the Sacred Memory of our late Sovereign; with a Congratulation to his
present Majesty, fol. 1685, second edition.
Mausoleum, a Funeral Poem on our late Gracious Sovereign Queen Mary, of
blessed memory.
An Elegy on the most Rev. Father in God, his Grace John, late Archbishop
of Canterbury; written in the year 1693.
A Poem in Memory of his Grace the illustrious Duke of Ormond, and of the
Right Hon. the Earl of Offory; written in the year 1688.
An Elegy in Memory of that most excellent Lady, the late Countess of
Dorset; written in the year 1691.
A Consolatory Poem to the Right Hon. John Lord Cutts, upon the Death of
his most accomplished Lady.
A Poem on the last Promotion of several eminent Persons in Church and
State; written in the year 1694, fol. dedicated in Verse to the Right
Hon. Charles Earl of Middlesex, &c. These are all printed under the
title of Funeral Poems on her late Majesty of blessed memory, &c. 8vo,
1700.
Miscellanea Sacra; or Poems on Divine and Moral Subjects, collected by
Mr. Tate. He also gave the public a great many translations from Ovid,
Horace, Juvenal, Virgil.
His song on his Majesty's birth-day has the following stanza,
When Kings that make the public good their care
Advance in dignity and state,
Their rise no envy can create;
Their subjects in the princely grandeur share:
For, like the sun, the higher they ascend,
The farther their indulgent beams extend.
Yet long before our royal sun
His destin'd course has run,
We're bless'd to see a glorious heir,
That shall the mighty loss repair;
When he that blazes now shall this low sphere resign
In a sublimer orb eternally to shine.
A Cynthia too, adorn'd with every grace
Of person and of mind;
And happy in a starry race,
Of that auspicious kind,
As joyfully presage,
No want of royal heirs in any future age.
CHORUS.
Honour'd with the best of Kings,
And a set of lovely springs,
From the royal fountain flowing,
Lovely streams, and ever growing,
Happy Britain past expressing,
Only learn to prize thy blessing.
We shall give some further account of the translation of the Psalms in
the life of Dr. Brady. This author died in the Mint 1716, was interred
in St. George's church, Southwark, and was succeeded in the laurel by
Mr. Eusden.
* * * * *
Sir SAMUEL GARTH.
This gentleman was descended from a good family in Yorkshire; after he
had passed through his school education, he was removed to Peter-house
in Cambridge, where he is said to have continued till he was created Dr.
of Physic July 7, 1691[1].
In 1696 Dr. Garth zealously promoted the erecting the Dispensary, being
an apartment, in the college for the relief of the sick poor, by giving
them advice gratis, and dispensing medicines to them at low rates. This
work of charity having exposed him, and many other of the most eminent
Physicians to the envy and resentment of several persons of the same
faculty, as well as Apothecaries, he ridiculed them with peculiar
spirit, and vivacity, in his poem called the Dispensary in 6 Cantos;
which, though it first stole into the world a little hastily, and
incorrect, in the year 1669, yet bore in a few months three impressions,
and was afterwards printed several times, with a dedication to Anthony
Henley, esquire. This poem, gained our author great reputation; it is
of the burlesque species, and executed with a degree of humour, hardly
equal'd, unless in the Rape of the Lock.