Henry Esmond; The English Humourists; The Four Georges Part 65

[We are indebted to Richardson's _Dictionary_ for this fragment of erudition. But a modern man of letters can know little on these points-by experience.]

60 "It has been observed that no change of Ministers affected him in the least, nor was he ever removed from any post that was given to him, except to a better. His place in the Custom-house, and his office of Secretary in Jamaica, are said to have brought him in upwards of twelve hundred a year."-_Biog. Brit._, Art. CONGREVE.

61 Dryden addressed his "twelfth epistle" to "My dear friend Mr.

Congreve," on his comedy called _The Double Dealer_, in which he says-

Great Jonson did by strength of judgement please; Yet, doubling Fletcher's force, he wants his case.

In differing talents both adorn'd their age: One for the study, t'other for the stage.

But both to Congreve justly shall submit, One match'd in judgement, both o'ermatched in wit.

In him all beauties of this age we see, &c. &c.

The _Double Dealer_, however, was not so palpable a hit as the _Old Bachelor_, but, at first, met with opposition. The critics having fallen foul of it, our "swell" applied the scourge to that presumptuous body, in the _Epistle Dedicatory_ to the "Right Honourable Charles Montague."

"I was conscious," said he, "where a true critic might have put me upon my defence. I was prepared for the attack, ... but I have not heard anything said sufficient to provoke an answer." He goes on-

"But there is one thing at which I am more concerned than all the false criticisms that are made upon me; and that is, some of the ladies are offended. I am heartily sorry for it; for I declare, I would rather disoblige all the critics in the world than one of the fair s.e.x. They are concerned that I have represented some women vicious and affected. How can I help it? It is the business of a comic poet to paint the vices and follies of human kind.... I should be very glad of an opportunity to make my compliments to those ladies who are offended. But they can no more expect it in a comedy, than _to be tickled by a surgeon when he is letting their blood_."

62 "Instead of endeavouring to raise a vain monument to myself, let me leave behind me a memorial of my friendship, with one of the most valuable men as well as finest writers of my age and country-one who has tried, and knows by his own experience, how hard an undertaking it is to do justice to Homer-and one who, I am sure, seriously rejoices with me at the period of my labours. To him, therefore, having brought this long work to a conclusion, I desire to dedicate it, and to have the honour and satisfaction of placing together in this manner the names of Mr. Congreve and of-A. POPE."-_Postscript to Translation of the Iliad of Homer._ Mar. 25, 1720.

63 "When asked why he listened to the praises of Dennis, he said, he had much rather be flattered than abused. Swift had a particular friendship for our author, and generally took him under his protection in his high authoritative manner."-THOS. DAVIES, _Dramatic Miscellanies_.

64 "Congreve was very intimate for years with Mrs. Bracegirdle, and lived in the same street, his house very near hers, until his acquaintance with the young d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough. He then quitted that house. The d.u.c.h.ess showed us a diamond necklace (which Lady Di.

used afterwards to wear) that cost seven thousand pounds, and was purchased with the money Congreve left her. How much better would it have been to have given it to poor Mrs. Bracegirdle."-DR. YOUNG (_Spence's Anecdotes_).

65 "A gla.s.s was put in the hand of the statue, which was supposed to bow to her Grace and to nod in approbation of what she spoke to it."-THOS. DAVIES, _Dramatic Miscellanies_.

66 The sum Congreve left her was 200_l._, as is said in the _Dramatic Miscellanies_ of Tom Davies; where are some particulars about this charming actress and beautiful woman.

She had a "lively aspect", says Tom, on the authority of Cibber, and "such a glow of health and cheerfulness in her countenance, as inspired everybody with desire". "Scarce an audience saw her that were not half of them her lovers."

Congreve and Rowe courted her in the persons of their lovers. "In _Tamerlane_, Rowe courted her Selima, in the person of Axalla....; Congreve insinuated his addresses in his Valentine to her Angelica, in his _Love for Love_; in his Osmyn to her Almena, in the _Mourning Bride_; and, lastly, in his Mirabel to her Millamant, in the _Way of the World_. Mirabel, the fine gentleman of the play, is, I believe, not very distant from the real character of Congreve."-_Dramatic Miscellanies_, vol. iii, 1784.

She retired from the stage when Mrs. Oldfield began to be the public favourite. She died in 1748, in the eighty-fifth year of her age.

67 Johnson calls his legacy the "acc.u.mulation of attentive parsimony, which," he continues, "though to her (the d.u.c.h.ess) superfluous and useless, might have given great a.s.sistance to the ancient family from which he descended, at that time, by the imprudence of his relation, reduced to difficulties and distress."-_Lives of the Poets._

68 He replied to Collier, in the pamphlet called "Amendments of Mr.

Collier's False and Imperfect Citations," &c. A specimen or two are subjoined:-

"The greater part of these examples which he has produced, are only demonstrations of his own impurity: they only savour of his utterance, and were sweet enough till tainted by his breath.

"Where the expression is unblameable in its own pure and genuine signification, he enters into it, himself, like the evil spirit; he possesses the innocent phrase, and makes it bellow forth his own blasphemies.

"If I do not return him civilities in calling him names, it is because I am not very well versed in his nomenclatures.... I will only call him Mr. Collier, and that I will call him as often as I think he shall deserve it.

"The corruption of a rotten divine is the generation of a sour critic."

"Congreve," says Dr. Johnson, "a very young man, elated with success, and impatient of censure, a.s.sumed an air of confidence and security.... The dispute was protracted through two years; but at last Comedy grew more modest, and Collier lived to see the reward of his labours in the reformation of the theatre."-_Life of Congreve._

69 The scene of Valentine's pretended madness in _Love for Love_ is a splendid specimen of Congreve's daring manner:-

_Scandal._-And have you given your master a hint of their plot upon him?

_Jeremy._-Yes, Sir; he says he'll favour it, and mistake her for _Angelica_.

_Scandal._-It may make us sport.

_Foresight._-Mercy on us!

_Valentine._-Husht-interrupt me not-I'll whisper predictions to thee, and thou shalt prophesie;-I am truth, and can teach thy tongue a new trick,-I have told thee what's pa.s.sed-now I'll tell what's to come:-Dost thou know what will happen to-morrow? Answer me not-for I will tell thee. To-morrow knaves will thrive thro' craft, and fools thro' fortune; and honesty will go as it did, frost-nipt in a summer suit. Ask me questions concerning tomorrow.

_Scandal._-Ask him, _Mr. Foresight_.

_Foresight._-Pray what will be done at Court?

_Valentine._-_Scandal_ will tell you;-I am truth, I never come there.

_Foresight._-In the city?

_Valentine._-Oh, prayers will be said in empty churches at the usual hours. Yet you will see such zealous faces behind counters, as if religion were to be sold in every shop. Oh, things will go methodically in the city, the clocks will strike twelve at noon, and the horn'd herd buzz in the Exchange at two. Husbands and wives will drive distinct trades, and care and pleasure separately occupy the family. Coffee-houses will be full of smoke and stratagem. And the cropt prentice that sweeps his master's shop in the morning, may, ten to one, dirty his sheets before night. But there are two things, that you will see very strange; which are, wanton wives with their legs at liberty, and tame cuckolds with chains about their necks.

But hold, I must examine you before I go further; you look suspiciously. Are you a husband?

_Foresight._-I am married.

_Valentine._-Poor creature! Is your wife of Covent Garden _Parish_?

_Foresight._-No; St. Martin's-in-the-Fields.

_Valentine._-Alas, poor man! his eyes are sunk, and his hands shrivelled; his legs dwindled, and his back bow'd. Pray, pray, for a metamorphosis-change thy shape, and shake off age; get the _Medea's_ kettle and be boiled anew; come forth with lab'ring callous hands, and chine of steel, and _Atlas'_ shoulders. Let Taliacotius trim the calves of twenty chairmen, and make the pedestals to stand erect upon, and look matrimony in the face. Ha, ha, ha! That a man should have a stomach to a wedding supper, when the pidgeons ought rather to be laid to his feet! ha, ha, ha!

_Foresight._-His frenzy is very high now, _Mr. Scandal_.

_Scandal._-I believe it is a spring-tide.

_Foresight._-Very likely-truly; you understand these matters. _Mr.

Scandal_, I shall be very glad to confer with you about these things he has uttered. His sayings are very mysterious and hieroglyphical.

_Valentine._-Oh! why would _Angelica_ be absent from my eyes so long?

_Jeremy._-She's here, Sir.

_Mrs. Foresight._-Now, Sister!

_Mrs. Frail._-O Lord! what must I say?

_Scandal._-Humour him, Madam, by all means.

_Valentine._-Where is she? Oh! I see her; she comes, like Riches, Health, and Liberty at once, to a despairing, starving, and abandoned wretch. Oh-welcome, welcome!