The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) - Theophilus Cibber
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--that he most would gaze and wonder at,
Is th' horned mitre, and the bloody hat,
The crooked staffe, their coule's strange form and store,
Save that he saw the fame in hell before.
The first satire of the fifth book is levelled at Racking Landlords.
The following lines are a strong example of the taste of those times
for the Punn and Paronomasia.
While freezing Matho, that for one lean fee
Won't term each term the term of Hillary,
May now, instead of those his simple fees,
Get the fee-simples of faire manneries.
The second satire lashes the incongruity of stately buildings and want
of hospitality, and naturally reminds us of a pleasant epigram
of Martial's on the same occasion, where after describing the
magnificence of a villa, he concludes however, there is no room either
to sup or lodge in it. It ends with a transition on the contumely with
which the parasites are treated at the tables of the great; being a
pretty close imitation of Juvenal on the same subject. This satire has
also a few skabbarded initials.
In his third, titled, [Greek: KOINA PHIAON], where he reprehends
Plato's notion of a political community of all things, are the
following lines:
Plato is dead, and dead is his device,
Which some thought witty, none thought ever wise:
Yet certes Macha is a Platonist
To all, they say, save whoso do not list;
Because her husband, a far traffick' man,
Is a profess'd Peripatician.
His last book and satire, for it consists but of one, is a humorous
ironical recantation of his former satires; as the author pretends
there can be no just one in such perfect times as his own. The
latter part of it alludes to different passages in Juvenal; and he
particularly reflects on some poetaster he calls Labeo, whom he had
repeatedly lash'd before; and who was not improbably some cotemporary
scribler.
Upon the whole, these satires sufficiently evince both the learning
and ingenuity of their author. The sense has generally such a
sufficient pause, and will admit of such a punctuation at the close of
the second line, and the verse is very often as harmonious too, as if
it was calculated for a modern ear: tho' the great number of obsolete
words retained would incline us to think the editors had not procured
any very extraordinary alteration of the original edition, which we
have never seen. The present one is nearly printed; and, if it should
occasion another, we cannot think but a short glossary at the end of
it, or explanations at the bottom of the pages, where the most uncouth
and antiquated terms occur, would justly increase the value of it, by
adding considerably to the perspicuity of this writer; who, in other
respects, seems to have been a learned divine, a conscientious
christian, a lover of peace, and well endued with patience; for the
exercise of which virtue, the confusions at the latter end of his
life, about the time of the death of Charles I. furnished him with
frequent opportunities, the account of his own hard measures being
dated in May 1647. We have met with no other poetical writings of
the bishop's, except three anthems, composed for the use of his
cathedral-church; and indeed, it seems as if his continual occupation
after his youth, and his troubles in age, were sufficient to suppress
any future propensity to satirical poetry: which we may infer from the
conclusion of the first satire of his fourth book.
While now my rhimes relish of the ferule still,
Some nose-wise pedant saith; whose deep-seen skill
Hath three times construed either Flaccus o'er,
And thrice rehears'd them in his trivial flore.
So let them tax me for my hot blood's rage,
Rather than say I doated in my age.
[Footnote 1: Specialities of this bishop's life prefixed to his
works.]
[Footnote 2: Slight.]
* * * * *
RICHARD CRASHAW.
Son of an eminent divine named William Crashaw, was educated in
grammar learning in Sutton's-Hospital called the Charter-House, near
London, and in academical, partly in Pembroke-Hall, of which he was a
scholar, and afterwards in Peterhouse, Cambridge, of which he was a
fellow, where, as in the former house, he was distinguished for his
Latin and English poetry. Afterwards he took the degree of master of
arts; but being soon after thrown out of his fellowship, with many
others of the University of Cambridge, for denying the Covenant during
the time of the rebellion, he was for a time obliged to shift for
himself, and struggle against want and oppression. At length being
wearied with persecution and poverty, and foreseeing the calamity
which threatened and afterwards fell upon his church and country, by
the unbounded fury of the Presbyterians, he changed his religion,
and went beyond sea, in order to recommend himself to some Popish
preferment in Paris; but being a mere scholar was incapable of
executing his new plan of a livelihood. Mr. Abraham Cowley hearing of
his being there, endeavoured to find him out, which he did, and to his
great surprize saw him in a very miserable plight: this happened in
the year 1646. This generous bard gave him all the assistance he
could, and obtained likewise some relief for him from Henrietta Maria
the Queen Dowager, then residing at Paris. Our author receiving
letters of recommendation from his Queen, he took a journey into
Italy, and by virtue of those letters became a secretary to a Cardinal
at Rome, and at length one of the canons or chaplains of the rich
church of our lady of Loretto, some miles distant from thence, where
he died in 1650.
This conduct of Crashaw can by no means be justified: when a man
changes one religion for another, he ought to do it at a time when no
motive of interest can well be supposed to have produced it; for it
does no honour to religion, nor to the person who becomes a convert,
when it is evident, he would not have altered his opinion, had not
his party been suffering; and what would have become of the church
of England, what of the Protestant religion, what of christianity in
general, had the apostles and primitive martyrs, and later champions
for truth, meanly abandoned it like Crashaw, because the hand of power
was lifted up against it. It is an old observation, that the blood of
the martyrs is the seed of the church; but Crashaw took care that
the church mould reap no benefit by his perseverance. Before he left
England he wrote poems, entitled, Steps to the Temple; and Wood says,
"That he led his life in St. Mary's church near to Peterhouse, where
he lodged under Tertullian's roof of angels; there he made his nest
more glad than David's swallow near the house of God, where like a
primitive saint he offered more prayers in the night than others
usually offer in the day. There he pen'd the poems called Steps to the
Temple for Happy Souls to climb to Heaven by. To the said Steps are
joined other poems, entitled, The Delights of the Muses, wherein are
several Latin poems; which tho' of a more humane mixture, yet are
sweet as they are innocent. He hath also written Carmen Deo Nostro,
being Hymns and other sacred Poems, addressed to the Countess of
Denbigh. He is said to have been master of five languages, besides
his mother tongue, viz. Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, and Spanish."
Mr. Crashaw seems to have been a very delicate and chaste writer; his
language is pure, his thoughts natural, and his manner of writing
tender.
* * * * *
WILLIAM ROWLEY.
An author who lived in the reign of Charles I. and was some time a
member of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge. There are no particulars on
record concerning this poet. He was beloved, says Langbaine, by
Shakespear, Johnson, and Fletcher, and writ with the former the
British Merlin, besides what he joined in writing with poets of the
third class, as Heywood, Middleton, Day, and Webster.
The author has six plays in print of his own writing, which are as
follows;
1. A New Wonder, a Woman never vext, a Comedy, acted Anno 1632. The
Widow's finding her wedding Ring (which she dropt crossing the Thames)
in the Belly of a Fish, is taken from the Story of Polycrates, in the
Thalia of Herodotus.
2. A Match at Midnight, a Comedy, acted by the Children of the Revels,
1633. Part of the Plot is taken from a Story in the English Rogue,
Part the fourth.
3. All's lost by Lust, a Tragedy, acted at the Phoenix in Drury-lane
by the Lady Elizabeth's Servants, 1633. This is esteemed a tolerable
Play.
4. Shoemaker's a Gentleman, a Comedy, acted at the Red-Bull, 1638.
This Play was afterwards revived at the Theatre in Dorset-Garden. Plot
from Crispin and Crispianus; or the History of the Gentle Craft.
5. The Witch of Edmonton, a Tragi-Comedy, acted by the Prince's
Servants at the Cock-pit in Drury-Lane, 1658. This Play was afterwards
acted at Court with Applause.
6. The Birth of Merlin, a Tragi-Comedy, 1662. The Plot from Geofrey of
Monmouth. Shakespear assisted in this Play. He joined with Middleton
in his Spanish Gypsies, Webster in his Thracian Wonder.
* * * * *
THOMAS NASH.
A versifier in the reign of King Charles I. was educated in the
university of Cambridge, and was designed for holy orders. He was
descended from a family in Hertfordshire, and was born at Leostoff
in Suffolk. Whether he obtained any preferment in the church, or was
honoured with any great man's patronage, is no where determined. It
is reasonable to believe the contrary, because good fortune is seldom
without the evidence of flattery, or envy, whereas distress and
obscurity, are almost inseparable companions. This is further
confirmed in some lines vehemently passionate, in a performance of
his called Piers Penniless; which to say nothing of the poetry, are a
strong picture of rage, and despair, and part of which as they
will shew that he was no mean versifier, shall be quoted by way
of specimen. In the abovementioned piece of Piers Penniless, or
Supplication to the Devil, he had some reflections on the parentage
of Dr. Harvey, his father being a rope-maker of Saffron-Walden. This
produced contests between the Doctor and him, so that it became a
paper war. Amongst other books which Mr. Nash wrote against him, was
one entitled, Have with ye, to Saffron Walden; and another called,
Four letters confuted. He wrote likewise a poem, called, The White
Herring and the Red. He has published two plays, Dido Queen of
Carthage, in which he joined with Marloe: and Summers last Will and
Testament, a Comedy. Langbaine says, he could never procure a sight of
either of these, but as to the play called, See me, and See me
not, ascribed to him by Winstanley, he says, it is written by one
Drawbridgecourt Belchier, Esq; Thomas Nash had the reputation of a
sharp satirist, which talent he exerted with a great deal of acrimony
against the Covenanters and Puritans of his time: He likewise wrote a
piece called, The Fourfold way to Happiness, in a dialogue between a
countryman, citizen, divine, and lawyer, printed in 4to. London, 1633.
In an old poem called the return to Parnassus; or a scourge for
Simony, Nash's character is summed up in four lines, which Mrs. Cooper
thinks is impartially done.
Let all his faults sleep in his mournful chest,
And there for ever with his ashes rest!
His stile was witty; tho he had some gall:
Something he might have mended----so may all
From his PIERS PENNILESS.
Why is't damnation to despair and die,
When life is my true happiness disease?
My soul! my soul' thy safety makes me fly
The faulty means that might my pain appease,
Divines, and dying men may talk of Hell;
But, in my heart, her sev'ral torments dwell!
Ah! worthless wit to train me to this woe!
Deceitful arts, that nourish discontent!
Ill thrive the folly that bewitched me so!
Vain thoughts adieu, for now I will repent!
And yet my wants persuade me to proceed,
Since none take pity of a Scholar's need!
Forgive me God, altho' I curse my birth,
And ban the air wherein I breath a wretch!
Since misery hath daunted all my mirth
And I am quite undone, thro' promise breach
O friends! no friends! that then ungently frown,
When changing fortune casts us headlong down!
Without redress, complains my careless verse,
And Midas ears relent not at my moan!
In some far land will I my griefs rehearse,
'Mongst them that will be moved when I shall groan!
England adieu! the soil that brought me forth!
Adieu unkind where still is nothing worth!
* * * * *
JOHN FORD,
A Gentleman of the Middle-Temple, who wrote in the reign of Charles I.
He was a well-wisher to the muses, and a friend and acquaintance of
most of the poets of his time. He was not only a partner with Rowley
and Decker in the Witch of Edmonton, and with Decker in the Sun's
Darling; but wrote likewise himself seven plays, most of which were
acted at the Phaenix in the Black-Fryars, and may be known by an
Anagram instead of his name, generally printed in the title-page, viz,
FIDE HONOR.
His genius was more turned for tragedy than comedy, which occasioned
an old poet to write thus of him:
Deep in a dump, John Ford was alone got,
With folded arms, and melancholy hat.
These particulars I find in Mr. Langbaine, who gives the following
account of his plays;
1. Broken Heart, a Tragedy, acted by the King's Servants at the
private House in Black-Fryars, printed in 4to. London 1633, and
dedicated to Lord Craven, Baron of Hamstead-Marshal: The Speaker's
Names are fitted to their Qualities, and most of them are derived from
Greek Etymologies.
2. Fancies Chaste and Noble, a Tragi-Comedy, acted by the Queen's
Servants, at the Phoenix in Drury Lane, printed 4to. London 1638, and
dedicated to Lord Randel Macdonell, Earl of Antrim, in the Kingdom of
Ireland.
3. Ladies Tryal, a Tragi-Comedy, acted by both their Majesties
Servants, at the Private House in Drury-Lane, printed 4to. London,
1639.
4. Lover's Melancholy, a Tragi-Comedy, acted at a Private House in
Black-Fryars, and publickly at the Globe by the King's Servants,
printed 4to. London 1629, and dedicated to the Society of Gray's-Inn.
This Play is commended by four of the author's Friends, one of whom
writes the following Tetrastich:
'Tis not the language, nor the fore-placed rhimes
Of friends, that shall commend to after times
The lover's melancholy: It's own worth
Without a borrowed praise shall see it forth.
The author, says Langbaine, has imbellished this Play with several
fancies from other Writers, which he has appositely brought in, as
the Story of the Contention between the Musician and the Nightingale,
described in Strada's academical Prolusions, Lib. ii. Prol. 6.
5. Love's Sacrifice, a Tragedy, received generally well, acted by the
Queen's Servants, at the Phoenix in Drury-Lane; printed 4to. Lond.
1663. There is a copy of verses prefixed to this Play, written by
James Shirley, Esq; a dramatic writer.
6. Perkin Warbeck, a Chronicle History, and strange Truth, acted by
the Queen's Servants in Drury-Lane, printed 4to. 1634, and dedicated
to William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle. This Play, as several of
the former, is attended with Verses written by four of the Author's
friends. The Plot is founded on Truth, and may be read in all the
Chronicles of Henry VII.
7. Sun's Darling, a Moral Mask, often presented by their Majesties
Servants at the Cock-pit in Drury-Lane, with great Applause, printed
in 4to. London 1657, dedicated to the Right Hon. Thomas Wriothesley,
Earl of Southampton. This Play was wrote by our author and John
Decker, but not published till after their decease. A Copy of Verses
written by Mr. John Tateham is the Introduction to the Mask, at the
Entry whereof the Reader will find an Explanation of the Design
alluding to the Four Seasons of the Year.
8. 'Tis Pity she's a Whore, a Tragedy, printed in 4to. Mr.
Langbaine says, that this equals if not exceeds any of our author's
performances, and were to be commended did not he paint the incestuous
love between Giovanni, and his Sister Annabella, in too beautiful
colours. I have not been able to ascertain the year in which this
author died; but imagine from circumstances, that it must have been
some time before the Restoration, and before the Year 1657, for the
Sun's Darling, written between him and Decker was published in 1657,
which Mr. Langbaine says, was after their Decease.
* * * * *
THOMAS MIDDLETON
Lived in the reign of King Charles I. he was cotemporary with Johnson,
Fletcher, Maslinger and Rowley, in whose friendship he is said to have
shared, and though he fell much short of the two former, yet being
joined with them in writing plays, he arrived at some reputation. He
joined with Fletcher and Johnson in a play called The Widow, and the
highest honour that is known of this poet, is, his being admitted to
make a triumvirate with two such great men: he joined with Massinger
and Rowley in writing the Old Law; he was likewise assisted by
Rowley in writing three plays[1]. We have not been able to find any
particulars of this man's life, further than his friendship and
connection already mentioned, owing to his obscurity, as he was never
considered as a genius, concerning which the world thought themselves
interested to preserve any particulars.
His dramatic works are,
1. The Five Gallants, acted at the Black Fryars.
2. Blur, Mr. Constable, or the Spaniard's Night Walk, a Comedy, acted
by the Children of St. Paul's School, 1602.
3. The Phaenix, a Tragedy, acted by the Children of St. Paul's, and
also before his Majesty, 1607; the story is taken from a Spanish
Novel, called the Force of Love.
4. The Family of Love, a Comedy, acted by the children of his
Majesty's Revels, 1608.
5. The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cutpurse, acted by the Prince's Players,
1611; part of this play was writ by Mr. Decker.
6. A Trick to catch the Old One, a Comedy, acted both at St. Paul's
and Black Fryars before their Majesties, with success, 1616.
7. The Triumphs of Love and Antiquity, a Masque, performed at the
Confirmation of Sir William Cokain, General of his Majesty's Forces,
and Lord Mayor of the city of London, 1619.
8. The Chaste Maid of Cheapside, a pleasant Comedy, acted by the Lady
Elizabeth's servants, 1620.
9. The World toss'd at Tennis, a Masque, presented by the Prince's
servants, 1620.
10. The Fair Quarrel, a Comedy, acted in the year 1622, Mr. Rowley
assisted in the composing this Play.
11. The Inner Temple Masque, a Masque of Heroes, represented by the
Gentlemen of the Inner-Temple, 1640.
12. The Changeling, a Tragedy, acted at a private house in Drury Lane,
and Salisbury Court, with applause, 1653, Mr. Rowley joined in writing
this play; for the plot see the story of Alsemero, and Beatrice Joanna
in Reynolds's God's Revenge against Murder.
13. The Old Law, or a New Way to Please You, a Comedy, acted before
the King and Queen in Salisbury Court, printed 1656. Massenger and
Rowley assisted in this Play.
14. No Wit, No Help like a Woman's, a Comedy, acted in the year 1657.
15. Women, beware Women, a Tragedy, 1657. This Play is founded on a
Romance called Hyppolito and Isabella.
16. More Dissemblers besides Women, a Comedy, acted 1657.
17. The Spanish Gypsies, a Comedy, acted with applause, both at the
private house in Drury Lane, and Salisbury Court, 1660; in this Play
he was assisted by Mr. Rowley. Part of it is borrowed from a Spanish
Novel called the Force of Blood, written originally by Cervantes.
18. The Mayor of Queenborough, a Comedy, acted by his Majesty's
servants, 1661. For the plot see the Reign of Vartigas, by Stow and
Speed.
19. Any Thing for a Quiet Life, acted at the Globe on the Bank Side.
This is a game between the Church of England, and that of Rome,
wherein the former gains the victory.
20. Michaelmas Term, a Comedy; it is uncertain whether this play was
ever acted.
21. A Mad World, my Masters, a Comedy, often acted at a private house
in Salisbury Court with applause.
[Footnote 1: Langbaine's Lives of the Poets, p. 370.]
* * * * *
End of the First VOLUME.