The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland Volume IV Part 6

All these thy watchful providence supplies; To thee alone, they turn their waiting eyes.

For them thou open'st thy exhaustless store, Till the capacious wish can grasp no more.

[Footnote A: Biograph. Brit. Art, Brady.]

GEORGE STEPNEY, Esq;

This poet was descended of the family of the Stepneys of Pindigrast in Pembrokeshire, but born in Westminster in the year 1693. He received the rudiments of his education in Westminster school, and after making some progress in literature there, he was removed to Trinity College in Cambridge, where he was cotemporary with Charles Montague, esq; afterwards earl of Halifax; and being of the same college with him, a very strict friendship was contracted between them. To this lucky accident of being early known to Mr. Montague, was owing all the preferment Mr. Stepney afterwards enjoyed; for he seems not to have had parts sufficient to have risen to any distinction, without the immediate patronage of so great a man, as the lord Hallifax. When Stepney first set out in life, he was perhaps attached to the Tory interest, for one of the first poems he wrote, was an Address to king James the Second, on his Accession to the Throne. In this little piece, in which there is as little poetry, he compares that monarch to Hercules, but with what propriety let the reader judge. Soon after the accession of James II. when Monmouth's rebellion broke out, the university of Cambridge, to demonstrate their zeal for the King, thought proper to burn the picture of that rash Prince, who had formerly been their chancellor. Upon this occasion Stepney wrote some good verses, in answer to this question;

--Sed quid Turba Remi? sequitur fortunam, ut semper et odit d.a.m.natos.

Upon the revolution he embraced another interest, and procured himself to be nominated for several foreign emba.s.sies. In the year 1692 he went to the elector of Brandenburgh's court in quality of envoy, and, in the year following, to the Imperial court in the same character. In 1694 he was sent to the elector of Saxony, and two years after to the electors of Mentz, Cologn, &c. and the congress at Francfort. He was employed in several other emba.s.sies, and in the year 1706 Queen Anne sent him envoy to the States General. He was very successful in his negotiations, which occasioned his constant employment in the most weighty affairs. At his leisure hours he composed several other pieces of poetry besides those already mentioned; which are chiefly these,

An Epistle to the Earl of Hallifax, on his Majesty's Voyage to Holland.

A Translation of the Eighth Satire of Juvenal.

To the Earl of Carlisle upon the Death of his Son.

Some Imitations of Horace's Odes.

The Austrian Eagle.

The Nature of Dreams.

A Poem to the Memory of Queen Mary.

These performances are not very long, nor are the subjects upon which they are written very considerable. It seems probable that the eminence to which Stepney rose, must have been more owing to some personal kindness lord Hallifax had for him, than to his merit as a writer. In raising Stepney, his lordship might act as the friend of the man, but not as a patron of the poet. Friendship, in many respects, partic.i.p.ates of the nature of love; it begins, we know not how, it strengthens by imperceptible degrees, and grows into an established firmness. Such might be the regard lord Hallifax had for Stepney, but we may venture to a.s.sert, from his lordship's exquisite taste in poetry, that he never could highly admire the pretty trifles which compose the works of this author; and which are printed amongst the works of the Minor Poets, published some years ago by Mr. Tonson in two volumes 12mo.[A]

Our author died at Chelsea in the year 1707, and was buried in Westminster-Abbey, where a fine monument is erected over him, with the following inscription upon the pedestal;

H.S.E.

GEORGIUS STEPNEIUS, Armiger,

viz.

Ob Ingenii ac.u.men, Literarum Scientiam, Morum Suavitatem, Rerum Usum, Virorum Amplissimorum Consuetudinem, Linguae, Styli ac Vitae Elegantiam, Praeclara Officia c.u.m Britanniae; tum Europae Praest.i.ta, Sua aetate multum celebratus, Apud Posteros semper celebrandus; Plurimas Legationes obiit Ea Fide, Diligentia, & Felicitate, Ut Augustissimorum Principum GULIELMI & ANNae Spem in illo repositam Nunquam sesellerit, Haud raro superavit.

Post longum honorum Cursum Brevi Temporis spatio confectum, c.u.m Naturae parvae Fama satis vixerat, Animam ad altiora aspirantem placide efflavit.

On the left hand.

G.S.

Ex Equestri Familia STEPNEIORUM, De PENDEGRAST, in Comitatu PEMBROCHIENSI ORIENDUS, WESTMONASTERII natus est, A.D. 1663.

Electus in Collegium Sancti PETRI WESTMONAST. A, 1676.

Sanctae TRINITATIS CANTAB. 1682.

Consiliariorum quibus Commercii Cura commissa est 1697.

CHELSEIae mortuus, & Comitante Magna Procerum Frequentia huc elatus, 1707.

On the right hand is a particular account of all his employments abroad.

As a specimen of Mr. Stepney's poetry, we shall quote the following lines on the Nature of Dreams,

At dead of night imperial reason sleeps, And fancy with her train loose revels keeps: Then airy phantoms a mixt scene display, Of what we heard, or saw, or wish'd by day; For memory those images retains Which pa.s.sion form'd, and still the strongest reigns, Huntsmen renew the chase they lately run; And generals fight again their battles won.

Spectres and furies haunt the murth'rers dreams; Grants, or disgraces, are the courtiers themes.

The miser spies a thief, or some new h.o.a.rd, The cit's a knight, the sycophant a lord.

Thus fancy's in the wild distraction lost With what we most abhor, or covet most.

But of all pa.s.sions that our dreams controul, Love prints the deepest image in the soul; For vigorous fancy, and warm blood dispense Pleasures so lively, that they rival sense.

Such are the transports of a willing maid, Not yet by time and place to act betray'd.

Whom spies, or some faint virtue force to fly That scene of joy, which yet she dies to try.

'Till fancy bawds, and by mysterious charms Brings the dear object to her longing arms; Unguarded then she melts, acts fierce delight, And curses the returns of envious light.

In such bless'd dreams Biblis enjoys a flame; Which waking she detests, and dares not name.

Ixion gives a loose to his wild love, And in his airy visions cuckolds Jove.

Honours and state before this phantom fall; For sleep, like death its image, equals all.

Our author likewise wrote some political pieces in prose, particularly an Essay on the present Interest of England, 1701. To which are added, The Proceedings of the House of Commons in 1677, upon the French King's Progress in Flanders. This piece is reprinted in Cogan's Collection of Tracts, called Lord Somers's Collection.

[Footnote A: And likewise of another work of the same kind, in two volumes also, published by one Cogan.]

Major RICHARDSON PACK,

This gentleman was the son of John Pack, of Stocke-Ash in Suffolk, esq; who in the year 1697 was high sheriff of that county. He had his early education at a private country school, and was removed from thence to Merchant Taylor's, where he received his first taste of letters; for he always reckoned that time which he spent at the former school as lost, since he had only contracted bad habits, and was obliged to unlearn what had been taught him there.

At the age of sixteen he was removed to St. John's College in Oxford. About eighteen his father entered him of the Middle Temple, designing him for the profession of the Law; and by the peculiar indulgence of the treasurer, and benchers of that honourable society, he was at eight Terms standing admitted barrister, when he had not much exceeded the age of 20. But a sedentary studious life agreeing as ill with his health, as a formal one with his inclinations, he did not long pursue those studies. After some wavering in his thoughts, he at last determined his views to the army, as being better suited to the gaiety of his temper, and the sprightliness of his genius, and where he hoped to meet with more freedom, as well as more action. His first command was that of a company of foot in March 1705. In November 1710 the regiment in which he served was one of those two of English foot, that were with the marshal Staremberg at the battle of Villa Viciosa, the day after general Stanhope, and the troops under his command were taken at Brighuega[A], where the major being killed, and our author's behaviour being equal to the occasion on which he acted, his grace the duke of Argyle confirmed his pretensions to that vacancy, by giving him the commission of the deceased major, immediately on his arrival in Spain. It was this accident which first introduced our gallant soldier to the acquaintance of that truly n.o.ble and excellent person, with whose protection and patronage he was honoured during the remaining part of his life.

The ambition he had to celebrate his grace's heroic virtues (at a time when there subsisted a jealousy between him and the duke of Marlborough, and it was fashionable by a certain party to traduce him) gave birth to some of the best of his performances.

What other pieces the major has written in verse, are, for the most part, the unlaboured result of friendship, or love; and the amus.e.m.e.nt of those few solitary intervals in a life that seldom wanted either serious business, or social pleasures, of one kind or other, entirely to fill up the circle. They are all published in one volume, together with a translation of the Life of Miltiades and Cymon, from Cornelius Nepos; the first edition was in 1725.

The most considerable of them are the following,

1. The Muse's Choice, or the Progress of Wit.

2. On Friendship. To Colonel Stanhope.

3. To Mr. Addison, occasioned by the news of the victory obtained over the Rebels in Scotland, by his Grace the Duke of Argyle.

4. To Lady Catherine Manners.

5. The Lovers Parting.

6. The Retreat.

7. An Epistle from a Half-pay Officer in the Country, to his Friend in Town.

8. Upon Religious Solitude; occasioned by reading the Inscription on the Tomb of Casimir King of Poland, who abdicated his Crown, and spent the remainder of his life in the Abbey of St. Germains, near Paris, where he lies interred.

9. A Pastoral in Imitation of Virgil's Second Eclogue.

10. The 2d, 3d, and 4th Elegies of the Fourth Book of Tibullus.

11. Elegy. Sylvia to Amintor, in Imitation of Ovid. After Sylvia is enjoyed, she gives this Advice to her s.e.x.

Trust not the slight defence of female pride.

Nor in your boasted honour much confide; So still the motion, and so smooth the dart, It steals unfelt into the heedless heart.