tyrants of the town, against the unexorable sun, who pursues his course without any regard to love or beauty; and visits either tropic3 at the stated time, whether shunned or courted, deprecated or implored. virtue, though they have been dissipated by negligence, or misled by example; and who would gladly find the way to rational happiness, though it should be necessary to struggle 5 with habit, and abandon fashion. To these many arts of spending time might be recommended, which would neither sadden the present hour with weariness, nor the future with repentance. 7 It would seem impossible to a solitary speculatist, that a human being can want employment. To be born in ignorance with a capacity of knowledge, and to be placed in the midst of a world filled with variety, perpetually To them who leave the places of public resort in the full bloom of reputation, and withdraw from admiration, courtship, submission, and applause; a rural triumph can give nothing equivalent. The praise of ignorance, 10 and the subjection of weakness, are little regarded by beauties who have been accustomed to more important conquests, and more valuable panegyrics. Nor indeed should the powers which have made havoc in the theatres, 15 pressing upon the senses, and irritating curiosor borne down rivalry in courts, be degraded to a mean attack upon the untravelled heir, or ignoble contest with the ruddy milk-maid. How then must four long months be worn away? Four months, in which there will be 20 no routs, no shews, no ridottos; in which visits must be regulated by the weather, and assemblies will depend upon the moon! The Platonists imagine, that the future punishment of those who have in this life debased 25 their reason by subjection to their senses, and have preferred the gross gratifications of lewdness and luxury, to the pure and sublime felicity of virtue and contemplation, will arise from the predominance and solicitations of the same 30 appetites, in a state which can furnish no means of appeasing them. I cannot but suspect that this month, bright with sun-shine, and fragrant with perfumes; this month, ity, is surely a sufficient security against the languishment of inattention. Novelty is indeed necessary to preserve eagerness and alacrity; but art and nature have stores inexhaustible by human intellects; and every moment produces something new to him, who has quickened his faculties by diligent observation. Some studies, for which the country and the summer afford particular opportunities, I shall perhaps endeavour to recommend in a future essay; but if there be any apprehensions not apt to admit unaccustomed ideas, or any attention so stubborn and inflexible, as not easily to comply with new directions, even these obstructions cannot exclude the pleasure of application; for there is a higher and nobler employment, to which all faculties are adapted by him who gave them. The which covers the meadow with verdure, and 35 duties of religion, sincerely and regularly per formed, will always be sufficient to exalt the meanest, and to exercise the highest understanding. That mind will never be vacant, which is frequently recalled, by stated duties, any hour be long, which is spent in obtaining some new qualification for celestial happiness. decks the gardens with all the mixtures of colorific radiance; this month, from which the man of fancy expects new infusions of imagery, and the naturalist new scenes of observation; this month will chain down mul- 40 to meditations on eternal interests; nor can titudes to the Platonic penance of desire without enjoyment, and hurry them from the highest satisfactions, which they have yet learned to conceive, into a state of hopeless wishes, and pining recollection, where the eye 45 of vanity will look round for admiration to no purpose, and the hand of avarice shuffle cards in a bower with ineffectual dexterity. From the tediousness of this melancholy suspension of life, I would willingly preserve 50 those who are exposed to it, only by inexperience; who want not inclination to wisdom or In the astronomical tropics, circles in the celestial sphere, 23% distant from the equator, called from the signs of the zodiac through which they pass Capricorn and Cancer. Noisy entertainments. 5 Dancing parties: an Italian word. For the Platonic doctrine of future rewards and punishments see Jowett's translation of the Phaedo, near the close, 131. Cf. also the close of the Republic, Milton's Comus, lines 461-475, and the Spectator, No. 90. LETTER TO LORD CHESTERFIELD1 "My Lord, "February 7, 1755. "I have been lately informed, by the proprietor of the World, that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, ? A philosopher, a theorizer; almost obs. si. e., any whose apprehension is not apt, etc. 1 Johnson began his Dictionary in 1747, and did not complete and publish it until 1755. The preparation of so large a book was expensive as well as laborious, and Johnson made some effort to secure the patronage of Lord Chesterfield for his important undertaking. Johnson's overtures were rejected in a manner that, to his sturdy and independent temper, seemed insulting. Shortly before the publication of the Dictionary, Chesterfield wrote two notices of the forthcoming book, whereupon Johnson addressed him in the famous letter, which has been called The Declaration of Independence for Authors v. Chesterfield, p. 379, n. 1. were written by your Lordship. To be so distinguished, is an honour, which, being very little accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge. COLLINS (From Lives of the Poets, 1779-81) William Collins was born at Chichester, 5 on the twenty-fifth day of December, about 1720. His father was a hatter of good reputation. He was in 1733, as Dr. Warton2 has kindly informed me, admitted scholar of Winchester College, where he was educated by than his Latin. He first courted the notice of the public by some verses to a "Lady weeping," published in "The Gentleman's Magazine." "When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your Lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself Le 10 Dr. Burton. His English exercises were better vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre;-that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so little encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it. When 15 I had once addressed your Lordship in public, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it 20 ever so little. "Seven years, my Lord, have now past, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through 25 difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication, without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did not expect, 30 for I never had a Patron before. "The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks. In 1740, he stood first in the list of the scholars to be received in succession at New College, but unhappily there was no vacancy. He became a Commoner' of Queen's College, probably with a scanty maintenance; but was, in about half a year, elected a Demy of Magdalen College, where he continued till he had taken a Bachelor's degree, and then suddenly left the University; for what reason I know not that he told. He now (about 1744) came to London a literary adventurer, with many projects in his head, and very little money in his pocket. He designed many works; but his great fault was irresolution; or the frequent calls of immediate necessity broke his scheme, and suffered him to pursue no settled purpose. A man doubtful of his dinner, or trembling at a creditor, is not much disposed to abstracted meditation, or remote inquiries. He published proposals for and I have heard him speak with great kindness of Leo the Tenth, and with keen resentment of his tasteless successor. But probably not a page of his history was ever written. He "Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks 35 a "History Of The Revival Of Learning;" with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind, but it has 40 planned several tragedies, but he only planned been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to con them. He wrote now and then odes and other poems; and did something, however little. About this time I fell into his company. His appearance was decent and manly; his fess obligations where no benefit has been re- 45 knowledge considerable, his views extensive, ceived, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a Patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for myself. "Having carried on my work thus far with 50 "Your Lordship's most humble his conversation elegant, and his disposition 1 Collins was born Dec. 25th, 1721. 2 Dr. Joseph Warton (1722-1800), was a schoolfellow of Collins at Winchester, and his life-long friend. 3 Winchester School, or the College of St. Mary Winton, one of the leading English public schools. It was founded towards the end of the 14th century, by William of Wykeham, who was also the founder of New College, Oxford. A certain number of New College scholarships are open to the Winchester students. Queen's College, Oxford. A Commoner at Oxford is a student who does not depend on the endownment for support, but pays for his own board. A Demy is the holder of one of certain scholarships at Magdalen (one of the most beautiful of the Oxford colleges); the Demys are so called because their allowance was about half that of a Fellow. Pope from 1513-21, distinguished for his encouragement of art and letters, when the Renaissance was at its height. cheerful. By degrees I gained his confidence; 20 "Mr. Collins was a man of extensive literature, and of vigorous faculties. He was ac- 25 quainted not only with the learned tongues, but with the Italian, French, and Spanish languages. He had employed his mind chiefly on the works of fiction, and subjects of fancy; and, by indulging some peculiar habits of 30 thought, was eminently delighted with those flights of imagination which pass the bounds of nature, and to which the mind is reconciled only by a passive acquiescence in popular traditions. He loved fairies, genii, giants, and 35 monsters; he delighted to rove through the meanders of enchantment, to gaze on the magnificence of golden palaces, to repose by the waterfalls of Elysian gardens. somewhat obstructed in its progress by deviation in quest of mistaken beauties. "His morals were pure, and his opinions pious; in a long continuance of poverty, and 5 long habits of dissipation, it cannot be expected that any character should be exactly uniform. There is a degree of want by which the freedom of agency is almost destroyed; and long association with fortuitous companions will at last relax the strictness of truth, and abate the fervour of sincerity. That this man, wise and virtuous, as he was, passed always unentangled through the snares of life, it would be prejudice and temerity to affirm; but it may be said that at least he preserved the source of action unpolluted, that his principles were never shaken, that his distinctions of right and wrong were never confounded, and that his faults had nothing of malignity or design, but proceeded from some unexpected pressure, or casual temptation. "The latter part of his life cannot be remembered but with pity and sadness. He languished some years under that depression of mind which enchains the faculties without destroying them, and leaves reason the knowledge of right without the power of pursuing it. These clouds which he perceived gathering on his intellects, 10 he endeavoured to disperse by travel, and passed into France; but found himself constrained to yield to his malady, and returned. He was for some time confined in a house of lunatics, and afterwards retired to the care of his sister in Chichester, where death, in 1756,11 came to his relief. "After his return from France, the writer of this character paid him a visit at Islington, where he was waiting for his sister, whom he had directed to meet him: there was then nothing of disorder discernible in his mind by "This was however the character rather of 40 any but himself; but he had withdrawn from study, and travelled with no other book than an English Testament, such as children carry to the school: when his friend took it into his hand, out of curiosity to see what companion his inclination than his genius; the grandeur and obscurity, they likewise produced in hap- 8 Johnson's Character of Collins appeared in the Political Calendar, 1763, and was inserted as part of the Life in 1781. 9i. e., the mazes, or windings; from the river Meander in Asia Minor, noted for its tortuous course. book,' said Collins, 'but that is the best."" Such was the fate of Collins, with whom I once delighted to converse, and whom I yet remember with tenderness. He was visited at Chichester, in his last illness, by his learned friends, Dr. Warton and his brother; to whom he spoke with disapprobation of his Oriental Eclogues, 12 as not suf 10 Plural, like "wits." The 18th century writers sometimes used the plural where we use the singular. 11 Johnson is wrong in the date. Collins died June 12th, 1759. 12 Published as Persian Eclogues in 1742, and republished as Oriental Eclogues in 1757. Dr. Francis Warton's brother was Thomas Warton, author of the History of English Poetry. ficiently expressive of Asiatic manners, and called them his Irish Eclogues. He showed them at the same time, an ode inscribed to Mr. John Home, 13 on the superstitions of the Highlands; which they thought superior to his other works, but which no search has yet found.14 His disorder was no alienation of mind, but general laxity and feebleness, a deficiency his account of the "Little Club," compared himself to a spider, and by another is described as protuberant behind and before. He is said to have been beautiful in his infancy; but he 5 was of a constitution originally feeble and weak; and, as bodies of a tender frame are easily distorted, his deformity was probably in part the effect of his application. His stature was so low, that, to bring him to a level with seat. But his face was not displeasing, and his eyes were animated and vivid. rather of his vital than his intellectual powers. 10 common tables, it was necessary to raise his What he spoke wanted neither judgment nor spirit; but a few minutes exhausted him, so that he was forced to rest upon the couch, till a short cessation restored his powers, and he was again able to talk with his former vigour. By natural deformity, or accidental distortion, his vital functions were so much dis15 ordered, that his life was "long disease." His most frequent assailment was the headache, which he used to relieve by inhaling the steam of coffee, which he very frequently required. The approaches of this dreadful malady he began to feel soon after his uncle's death; and, with the usual weakness of men so diseased, eagerly snatched that temporary relief with which the table and the bottle flatter and 20 seduce. But his health continually declined, and he grew more and more burthensome to himself. To what I have formerly said of his writings may be added, that his diction was often harsh, 25 unskilfully laboured, and injudiciously selected. He affected the obsolete when it was not worthy of revival; and he puts his words out of the common order, seeming to think, with some later candidates for fame, that not to 30 write prose is certainly to write poetry. His lines commonly are of slow motion, clogged and impeded with clusters of consonants. As men are often esteemed who cannot be loved, so the poetry of Collins may sometimes extort 35 praise when it gives little pleasure. Mr. Collins's first 15 production is added here from the "Poetical Calendar." Most of what can be told concerning his petty peculiarities was communicated by a female domestic of the Earl of Oxford, who knew him perhaps after the middle of life. He was then so weak as to stand in perpetual need of female attendance; extremely sensible of cold, so that he wore a kind of fur doublet, under a shirt of very coarse warm linen with fine sleeves. When he rose, he was invested in bodice made of stiff canvas, being scarcely able to hold himself erect till they were laced, and he then put on a flannel waistcoat. One side was contracted. His legs were so slender, that he enlarged their bulk with three pair of stockings, which were drawn on and off by the maid; for he was not able to dress or undress himself, and neither went to bed nor rose without help. His weakness made it very difficult for him to be clean. His hair had fallen almost all away; and he used to dine sometimes with Lord Oxford, 40 privately, in a velvet cap. His dress of ceremony was black, with a tie-wig, and a little sword. The indulgence and accommodation which his sickness required, had taught him all the 45 unpleasing and unsocial qualities of a valetudinary man. He expected that every thing should give way to his ease or humour; as a child, whose parent will not hear her cry, has an unresisted dominion in the nursery. 50 The person of Pope is well known not to have been formed by the nicest model. He has, in 55 13 John Home (1722-1808), a Scotch clergyman who was censured by his presbytery for writing plays. 14 It was first published in 1788, and has since been included in the editions of Collins' poetry. 15 Published in the Gentleman's Magazine for January, 1739, while Collins was still at school. 1 A club of men under five feet in height, described by Pope in the Guardian, Nos. 91 and 92. 2 Pope was 4 ft. 6 in. in height. 3 Pope's own expression (v. p. 305, supra): "The muse but served to ease some friend, not wife, To help me through this long disease my life." Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, 1, 131. 4 Edward Harley, Second Earl of Oxford, friend, admirer, and correspondent of Pope. The doublet, originally an outer coat, had become an undergarment in King Charles's time. 6 A wig that has the hair gathered and tied at the back with a ribbon. C'est que l'enfant toujours est homme, C'est que l'homme est toujour enfant." When he wanted to sleep he "nodded in company;" and once slumbered at his own table while the Prince of Wales was talking of poetry,8 that his sensuality shortened his life will not be hastily concluded, when it is remembered that a conformation so irregular lasted six and fifty years, notwithstanding such per5 tinacious diligence of study and meditation. In all his intercourse with mankind, he had great delight in artifice, and endeavoured to attain all his purposes by indirect and unsuspected methods, "He hardly drank tea with The reputation which his friendship gave procured him many invitations; but he was a very troublesome inmate. He brought no servant, and had so many wants, that a numer- 10 out a stratagem." "12 If, at the house of friends, he wanted any accommodation, he was not willing to ask for it in plain terms, but would mention it remotely as something convenient; though, when it was procured, he soon made ous attendance was scarcely able to supply them. Wherever he was he left no room for another, because, he exacted the attention, and employed the activity, of the whole family. His errands were so frequent and frivolous, 15 it appear for whose sake it had been recomthat the footmen in time avoided and neglected him; and the Earl of Oxford discharged some of the servants for their resolute refusal of his messages. The maids, when they had neglected their business, alleged that they had 20 been employed by Mr. Pope. One of his constant demands was of coffee in the night, and to the woman that waited on him in his chamber he was very burthensome: but he was careful to recompense her want of sleep; and 25 Lord Oxford's servant declared, that in the house where her business was to answer his call, she would not ask for wages. mended. Thus he teased Lord Orrery13 till he obtained a screen. He practised his arts on such small occasions, that Lady Bolingbroke used to say, in a French phrase, that "he played the politician about cabbages and turnips." His unjustifiable impression of the "Patriot King,"14 as it can be imputed to no particular motive, must have proceeded from his general habit of secrecy and cunning; he caught an opportunity of a sly trick, and pleased himself with the thought of outwitting Bolingbroke. In familiar or convivial conversation, it does not appear that he excelled. He may be said to have resembled Dryden, as being not company. It is remarkable, that so near his He had another fault, easily incident to those who, suffering much pain, think them- 30 one that was distinguished by vivacity in selves entitled to what pleasures they can snatch. He was too indulgent to his appetite: he loved meat highly seasoned and of strong taste; and, at the intervals of the table, amused himself with biscuits and dry conserves. If he 35 sat down to a variety of dishes, he would oppress his stomach with repletion; and though he seemed angry when a dram was offered him, did not forbear to drink it. His friends, who knew the avenues to his heart, pampered 40 him with presents of luxury, which he did not suffer to stand neglected. The death of great men is not always proportioned to the lustre of their lives. Hannibal, says Juvenal, did not perish by the javelin or the sword; the 45 slaughters of Cannæ were revenged by a ring.9 The death of Pope was imputed by some of his friends to a silver saucepan, in which it was his delight to heat potted 10 lampreys.1 That he loved too well to eat, is certain; but 50 7 There is always a man in the infant, There is always an infant in the man. 11 This occurred after the accession of George II, in 1727, when Frederick (who died before his father in 1751) was Prince of Wales. He frequently dined at Pope's house. Hannibal after the Carthaginian campaign became a fugitive in Asia Minor. Fearing arrest and death, he took poison which he always carried with him in a ring. So that it may be said the ring, in causing the death of Hannibal avenged the slaughter of Cannæ. 10 Preserved. 11 The lamprey, when full grown resembles an eel, and is considered a delicacy. V. 13 John Boyle, the fifth Earl of Orrery, (1707-62) was the friend of Swift, Pope, and Johnson. 14 A political essay written by Henry St. John, first Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751). "The Patriots" was a name given to a faction of the Whig party in the reigns of George I, and George II, opposed to the rule of Walpole. Bolingbroke, after the failure of the Pretender's cause, had affiliated himself with them, and wrote The Patriot King in defence of their principles. Not deeming it wise at the time to publish the essay broadcast, he entrusted the manuscript to Pope, who was to have a few copies printed for distribution among Bolingbroke's 44 'assured him friends, and Pope, according to Johnson, that no more had been printed than were allowed." When, soon after Pope's death, it was discovered that 1500 copies had been printed and secretly kept by the printer at Pope's request, Bolingbroke's indignation knew no bounds, and he publicly attacked the memory of his former friend. 15 Pope died 1744. The Lives of the Poets appeared in 1781. 16 "When Dr. Meade once urged to our author the authority of Patrick, the dictionary-maker, against the latinity of the expression, 'amor publicus,' which he had used in an inscription, he replied that he would allow a dictionary-maker to understand a single word, but not two words put together." Warton. |