THOMAS GRAY. To some unwearied minstrel dancing, While, as his flying fingers kissed the strings, As if he would the charming air repay, Shook thousand odours from his dewy wings. 91 THOMAS GRAY (b. 1716, d. 1771).-This poet was, like Milton, the son of a London scrivener. His father was a man of so harsh a nature that he was separated from his wife. It was to his mother, therefore, that Gray owed his education at Eton, and at Cambridge, where he afterwards became Professor of Modern History. His life was a very quiet one, spent, for the most part, in his study at Cambridge. Latin and Greek books were his constant friends, and it was but rarely he left them to take a breath of the fresh air among the mountains of Scotland or Wales, or to visit the beautiful scenery of the Lake Country. But when he did go, his letters describing what he saw show how thoroughly he enjoyed these excursions. He died in 1771. The poem by which he is best remembered is the Elegy in a Country Churchyard. It is not the best of his poems, but it is the most popular, because it expresses feelings which everybody has at some time or other experienced. This is a well known and favourite verse from the Elegy— "Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear; And waste its sweetness on the desert air." His other poems, such as the Progress of Poetry, and the Bard, are esteemed even more highly than the Elegy, because they show better how his scholarship affected his writings. Had Gray written more, he would have stood higher as a poet; but he will be always remembered as a splendid lyric poet, and be remarkable for his dignified language and finished grace. FROM "THE BARD." "On a rock, whose haughty brow Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood, With haggard eyes the poet stood- Streamed, like a meteor, to the troubled air- "Cold is Cadwallo's tongue, That hushed the stormy main: Brave Urien sleeps upon his craggy bed: Modred, whose magic song Made huge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-topped head. Smeared with gore, and ghastly pale: Far, far aloof the affrighted ravens sail; Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes, On yonder cliffs, a grisly band, With me in dreadful harmony they join, And weave with bloody hands the tissue of thy line.'"* Other Poets. Remarkable among these were DR. THOMAS PARNELL, a companion of Pope and Swift, and the writer of a quiet and graceful poem called The Hermit; ALLAN RAMSAY, an Edinburgh bookseller, the author of the Gentle Shepherd, the most charming of Scottish pastoral poems; JOHN DYER, who wrote a descriptive poem called Grongar Hill; ROBERT BLAIR, the thoughtful author of The Grave; WILLIAM SHENSTONE, whose poem of the Schoolmistress is wonderfully quaint and tender; MARK AKENSIDE, who wrote a didactic poem (one intended to teach or instruct) called the * Addressed to Edward I., who, according to tradition, caused the Bards of Wales to be massacred at Conway. Pleasures of the Imagination; and DR ISAAC WATTS, the well known hymn writer. DRAMATISTS. JOHN GAY (b. 1688, d. 1732) was born of poor but respectable parents, and lost them both when he was about six years old. For a short time he was apprenticed to a silk mercer, but not liking the work, he left it, and took to poetry. He was gentle in manners and witty in conversation, and soon became intimate with Pope and Swift. He seems to have been occasionally employed in the families of the great, but he was never prosperous till he wrote, at Swift's suggestion, the Beggar's Opera. Then he began to make money, and to keep it. The last days of his life were spent in the house of the Duke and Duchess of Queensberry, with both of whom he was a great favourite. He died of fever at the age of forty-four. Gay's most notable work, as already mentioned, is the Beggar's Opera-a comic play, in which all the characters are criminals or persons of evil reputation, and containing lessons for the most part of a hurtful tendency. Its great novelty was the introduction of songs, in imitation of the Italian opera; and this made it so successful as to give rise to English opera―a kind of stage performance which has never thriven very well. Gay wrote also a collection of Fables, which are familiar to most young people. His language is easily understood, and his rhymes are so musically put together that they are very readily remembered. In the matter of song writing there was no poet of his time who could equal him—his songs being even yet considered among the most charming in the language. Other Dramatists.-NICHOLAS ROWE was one of the few wealthy poets of his age. He wrote several tragedies, the most notable being Jane Shore and the Fair Penitent, in the latter of which occurs the epithet "a gay Lothario," as descriptive of the dissipated young gallant of the time. ADDISON attempted a tragedy called Cato, which was popular when it was first produced, but, with the exception of one or two passages usually to be found in books of elocution, it is now forgotten. STEELE, YOUNG, THOMSON, FIELDING, and SMOLLETT all tried their talents at writing for the stage, but their dramatic works have ceased to be of interest, and contain little that is worth remembering. CHAPTER XI. PROSE AUTHORS OF THE AUGUSTAN AGE. THE ESSAYISTS-Steele-Addison. WRITERS OF FICTION-NOVE Smollet. LISTS- Defoe-Swift Richardson Fielding THE ESSAYISTS. He SIR RICHARD STEELE (b. 1671, d. 1729).-This author is notable as being one of the founders of periodical literature-that is, literary matter published at regular intervals like our dailies, weeklies, and monthlies. was born in Dublin, but received his education at the Charter House in London, where he became the friend of Joseph Addison-destined to be the greater man of the two. He studied at Oxford for a while, and his uncle would have given him an estate if he had persevered in learning. But this did not suit him, so he joined the army, and lived a gay and careless life. Occasionally he would repent of his follies, and once he wrote a solemn book called the Christian Hero, which called down upon him the ridicule of his companions, who could not imagine Dick Steele becoming solemn under any circumstances. His wife brought him a fortune; but money was like water in his hands; he could not keep it. He was perpetually in debt, and those to whom he owed money led him such a life that, unable longer to endure their persecutions, he fled to Wales, where he died. Having written something in favour of the Government, he was rewarded with the post of Gazetteer. This gave him the opportunity of learning the very earliest official news; and the idea occurred to him that a paper might be published which should have news in it, as well as essays on the virtues, the vices, and the general habits of the people. This idea he carried out in The Tatler, a penny paper published thrice a week, and afterwards in the Spectator and the Guardian, which were issued daily. Steele was a lively and good humoured satirist, who strove by pleasant means to lead the people to love virtue and to hate vice. The following extract will show how pleasantly he describes the conversational bore of the time. "Poor Ned Poppy-he's gone-was a very honest man, but was so excessively tedious over his pipe that he was not to be endured. He knew so exactly what they had for dinner, when such a thing happened, in what ditch his bay horse had his sprain at that time, and how his man John-no, it was William-started a hare in the common field, that he never got to the end of his tale. Then he was extremely particular in marriages and intermarriages, and cousins twice or thrice removed, and whether such a thing happened at the latter end of July or the beginning of August. He had a marvellous tendency likewise to digressions; insomuch that if a considerable person was mentioned in his story, he would straightway launch out into an episode of him. The last time I was with him, as he was in the third hour of his story, and thankful that his memory did not fail him, I fairly nodded in the elbow chair. He was much affronted at this, till I told him, 'Old friend, you have your infirmity, and I have mine."" JOSEPH ADDISON (b. 1672, d. 1719) was born in Wiltshire, and educated at the Charter House, where he became intimate with Steele, as has already been noticed. At Oxford he was a prominent student, and so distinguished for his poetical abilities that, through Lord Somers, he received a pension, which enabled him to travel on the Continent When William ascended the |
