The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume II Part 2

The garrison of Newark defended themselves with much courage and resolution against the besiegers, and did not surrender but by the King's special command, after he had thrown himself into the hands of the Scots; which action of his Majesty's Cleveland pa.s.sionately resented, in his poem called, the King's Disguise: Upon some private intelligence, three days before the King reached them, he foresaw, that the army would be bribed to surrender him, in which he was not mistaken. As soon as this event took place, Cleveland, who warmly adhered to the regal party, was obliged to atone for his loyalty by languishing in a jail, at Yarmouth, where he remained for some time under all the disadvantages of poverty, and wretchedness: At last being quite spent with the severity of his confinement, he addressed Oliver Cromwell in a pet.i.tion for liberty, in such pathetic and moving terms, that his heart was melted with the prisoner's expostulation, and he ordered him to be set at liberty. In this address, our author did not in the least violate his loyalty, for he made no concessions to Oliver, but only a representation of the hardships he suffered, without acknowledging his sovereignty, tho' not without flattering his power. Having thus obtained his liberty, he settled himself in Gray's-Inn, and as he owed his releas.e.m.e.nt to the Protector, he thought it his duty to be pa.s.sive, and not at least to act against him: But Cleveland did not long enjoy his state of unenvied ease, for he was seized with an intermitting fever, and died the 29th of April, 1685.

[2]On the first of May he was buried, and his dear friend Dr. John Pearson, afterwards lord bishop of Chester, preached his funeral sermon, and gave this reason, why he declined commending the deceased, "because such praising of him would not be adequate to the expectation of the audience, seeing some who knew him must think it far below him."--There were many who attempted to write elegies upon him, and several performances of this kind, in Latin and English, are prefixed to the edition of Cleveland's works, in verse and prose, printed in 8vo, in 1677, with his effigies prefixed.

From the verses of his called Smectymnuus, we shall give the following specimen, in which the reader will see he did not much excel in numbers.

Smectymnuus! the goblin makes me start, I'th' name of Rabbi-Abraham, what art?

Syriack? or Arabick? or Welsh? what skilt?

Up all the brick-layers that Babel built?

Some conjurer translate, and let me know it, 'Till then 'tis fit for a West Saxon Poet.

But do the brotherhood then play their prizes?

Like murmurs in religion with disguises?

Out-brave us with a name in rank and file, A name, which if 'twere trained would spread a mile; The Saints monopoly, the zealous cl.u.s.ter, Which like a porcupine presents a muster.

The following lines from the author's celebrated satire, ent.i.tled, the Rebel-Scot, will yet more amply shew his turn for this species of poetry.

"Nature herself doth Scotchmen beasts confess, Making their country such a wilderness; A land that brings in question and suspence G.o.d's omnipresence; but that CHARLES came thence; But that MONTROSE and CRAWFORD'S loyal band Aton'd their sin, and christen'd half their land.-- A land where one may pray with curst intent, O may they never suffer banishment!

Had Cain been Scot, G.o.d would have chang'd his doom, Not forc'd him wander, but confin'd him home.--

"Lord! what a goodly thing is want of shirts!

How a Scotch stomach and no meat converts!

They wanted food and rayment, so they took Religion for their temptress and their cook.-- Hence then you proud impostors get you gone, You Picts in gentry and devotion.

You scandal to the stock of verse, a race Able to bring the gibbet in disgrace.--

"The Indian that heaven did forswear, Because he heard some Spaniards were there, Had he but known what Scots in h.e.l.l had been, He would, Erasmus-like, have hung between."

It is probable that this bitterness against our brethren of North-Britain, chiefly sprang from Mr. Cleveland's resentment of the Scots Army delivering up the King to the Parliament.

Footnotes: [text mark missing]. Wood fasti Oxon. p. 274.

1. Winst. Lives of the Poets 2. Winst. Lives of the Poets.

Dr. BARTEN HOLYDAY,

Son of Thomas Holyday, a taylor, was born at All Saints parish, within the city of Oxford, about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign; he was entered early into Christ Church, in the time of Dr, Ravis, his relation and patron, by whom he was chosen student, and having taken his degrees of batchelor and master of arts, he became archdeacon of Oxfordshire. In 1615, he entered into holy orders[1], and was in a short time taken notice of as an eloquent or rather popular preacher, by which he had two benefices confered on him both in the diocese of Oxford.

In the year 1618 he went as chaplain to Sir Francis Stewart, when he accompanied to Spain the Count Gundamore, after he had continued several Years at our court as emba.s.sador, in which journey Holyday behaved in a facetious and pleasant manner, which ingratiated him in the favour of Gundamore[2].

Afterwards our author became chaplain to King Charles I. and succeeded Dr. Bridges in the archdeaconry of Oxon, before the year 1626. In 1642 he was by virtue of the letters of the said King, created, with several others, Dr. of divinity. When the rebellion broke out, he sheltered himself near Oxford; but when he saw the royal party decline so much that their cause was desperate, he began to tamper with the prevailing power; and upon Oliver Cromwell's being raised to the Protectorship, he so far coincided with the Usurper's interests, as to undergo the examination of the Friers, in order to be inducted into the rectory of Shilton in Berks, in the place of one Thomas Lawrence, ejected on account of his being non compos mentis. For which act he was much blamed and censured by his ancient friends the clergy, who adhered to the King, and who rather chose to live in poverty during the usurpation, than by a mean compliance with the times, betray the interest of the church, and the cause of their exiled sovereign.

After the King's restoration he quitted the living he held under Cromwell, and returned to Eisley near Oxon, to live on his archdeaconry; and had he not acted a temporizing part it was said he might have been raised to a see, or some rich deanery. His poetry however, got him a name in those days, and he stood very fair for preferment; and his philosophy discovered in his book de Anima, and well languaged sermons, (says Wood) speaks him eminent in his generation, and shew him to have traced the rough parts, as well as the pleasant paths of poetry.

His works are,

1. Three Sermons, on the Pa.s.sion, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Saviour, Lond. 1626.

2. Two Sermons at Paul's Cross.

3. A Sermon on the Nature of Faith.

4. Motives to a G.o.dly Life, in Ten Sermons, Oxon, 1657.

5. Four Sermons against Disloyalty, Oxon, 1661.

Technogamia; or the Marriage of Arts, a Comedy, acted publicly in Christ's Church Hall, with no great applause 1617. But the Wits of those times being willing to distinguish themselves before the King, were resolved, with leave, to act the same comedy at Woodstock, whereupon (says Wood) the author making some foolish alterations in it, it was accordingly acted on Sunday night the 26th of August 1621, but it being too grave for the King, and too scholastic for the Audience, or as some said, that the actors in order to remove their timidity, had taken too much wine before, they began, his Majesty after two acts offered several times to withdraw; at length being persuaded by some of those who were near to him, to have patience till it was ended, lest the young men should be discouraged, he sat it out, tho' much against his will; upon which these Verses were made by a certain scholar;

At Christ Church Marriage done before the King Lest that those Mates should want an offering, The King himself did offer; what I pray?

He offered twice or thrice to go away.

6. Survey of the World in Ten Books, a Poem, Oxon, 1661, which was judged by Scholars to be an inconsiderable piece, and by some not to be his. But being published just before his death, it was taken for a posthumous work, which had been composed by him in his younger Days[3].

He translated out of Latin into English the Satires of Persius, Oxon.

1616, in apologizing for the defects of this work, he plays upon the word _translate_: To have committed no faults in this translation, says he, would have been to translate myself, and put off man. Wood calls this despicable pun, an elegant turn.

7. Satires of Juvenal ill.u.s.trated with Notes, Oxon. folio 1673. At the end of which is the Fourth Edition of Persius, before mentioned.

8. Odes of Horace, Lond. 1652; this Translation Wood says, is so near that of Sir Thomas Hawkins, printed 1638, or that of Hawkins so near this, that to whom to ascribe it he is in doubt.

Dr. Holyday, who according to the same author was highly conceited of his own worth, especially in his younger Days, but who seems not to have much reason for being so, died at a Village called Eisley on the 2d day of October 1661, and was three days after buried at the foot of Bishop King's monument, under the south wall of the [a]isle joining on the south side to the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, near the remains of William Cartwright, and Jo. Gregory.

Footnotes: 1. Athen. Oxon. 259. Ed. 1721.

2. Wood ubi supra.

3. Athen. Oxon. p. 260.

THOMAS NABBES.

A writer, in the reign of Charles I, whom we may reckon, says Langbaine, among poets of the third rate, but who in strict justice cannot rise above a fifth. He was patronized by Sir John Suckling. He has seven plays and masks extant, besides other poems, which Mr.

Langbaine says, are entirely his own, and that he has had recourse to no preceding author for a.s.sistance, and in this respect deserves pardon if not applause from the critic. This he avers in his prologue to Covent-Garden.

He justifies that 'tis no borrowed strain, From the invention of another's brain.

Nor did he steal the fancy. 'Tis the fame He first intended by the proper name.

'Twas not a toil of years: few weeks brought forth, This rugged issue, might have been more worth, If he had lick'd it more. Nor doth he raise From the ambition of authentic plays, Matter or words to height, nor bundle up Conceits at taverns, where the wits do sup; His muse is solitary, and alone Doth practise her low speculation.

The reader from the above specimen may see what a poet he was; but as he was in some degree of esteem in his time, we thought it improper to omit him.

The following are his plays;

1. The Bride, a Comedy; acted in the Year 1638 at a private House in Drury-Lane by their Majesty's Servants, printed 4to. 1640.