An English Garner: Critical Essays & Literary Fragments Part 30

and added, at the same time, that since Mr. TICKELL had not thought fit to make that play a part of Mr. ADDISON's _Works_; he would sell the Copy to any bookseller that would give most for it [_i.e., TONSON threw the onus of the authenticity of the_ Drummer _on STEELE_].

This is represented thus circ.u.mstantially, to shew how inc.u.mbent it is upon me, as well in justice to the bookseller, as for many other considerations, to produce this Comedy a second time [_It was first printed in_ 1716]; and take this occasion to vindicate myself against certain insinuations thrown out by the Publisher [_THOMAS TICKELL_] of Mr. ADDISON's Writings, concerning my behaviour in the nicest circ.u.mstance--that of doing justice to the Merit of my Friend.

I shall take the liberty, before I have ended this Letter, to say why I believe the _Drummer_ a performance of Mr. ADDISON: and after I have declared this, any surviving writer may be at ease; if there be any one who has. .h.i.therto been vain enough to hope, or silly enough to fear, it may be given to himself.

Before I go any further, I must make my Public Appeal to you and all the Learned World, and humbly demand, Whether it was a decent and reasonable thing, that Works written, as a great part of Mr. ADDISON's were, in correspondence [_coadjutors.h.i.+p_] with me, ought to have been published without my review of the Catalogue of them; or if there were any exception to be made against any circ.u.mstance in my conduct, Whether an opportunity to explain myself should not have been allowed me, before any Reflections were made on me in print.

When I had perused Mr. TICKELL's _Preface_, I had soon so many objections, besides his omission to say anything of the _Drummer_, against his long-expected performance: the chief intention of which (and which it concerns me first to examine) seems to aim at doing the deceased Author justice, against me! whom he insinuates to have a.s.sumed to myself, part of the merit of my friend.

He is pleased, Sir, to express himself concerning the present Writer, in the following manner--

_The Comedy called_ The Tender Husband, _appeared much about the same time; to which Mr. ADDISON wrote the _Prologue: _Sir RICHARD STEELE surprised him with a very handsome_ Dedication _of this Play; and has since acquainted the Public, that he owed some of the most taking scenes of it, to Mr. ADDISON_. Mr. TICKELL's _Preface_. Pag. 11.

_He was in that Kingdom_ [Ireland], _when he first discovered Sir RICHARD STEELE to be the Author of the_ Tatler, _by an observation upon_ VIRGIL, _which had been by him communicated to his friend. The a.s.sistance he occasionally gave him afterwards, in the course of the Paper, did not a little contribute to advance its reputation; and, upon the Change of the Ministry_ [in the autumn of 1710], _he found leisure to engage more constantly in that Work: which, however, was dropped at last, as it had been taken up, without his partic.i.p.ation_.

_In the last Paper which closed those celebrated Performances, and in the_ Preface _to the last Volume, Sir RICHARD STEELE has given to Mr.

ADDISON, the honour of the most applauded Pieces in that Collection. But as that acknowledgement was delivered only in general terms, without directing the Public to the several Papers; Mr. ADDISON (who was content with the praise arising from his own Works, and too delicate to take any part of that which belonged to others), afterwards thought fit to distinguish his Writings in the_ Spectators _and_ Guardians _by such marks as might remove the least possibility of mistake in the most undiscerning readers. It was necessary that his share in the_ Tatlers _should be adjusted in a complete Collection of his_ Works: _for which reason, Sir RICHARD STEELE, in compliance with the request of his deceased friend, delivered to him by the Editor, was pleased to mark with his own hand, those_ Tatlers _which are inserted in this edition; and even to point out several, in the writing of which, they both were concerned_.

Pag. 12.

_The Plan of the_ Spectator, _as far as it related to the feigned Person of the Author, and of the several Characters that compose his Club, was projected in concert with Sir_ RICHARD STEELE: _and because many pa.s.sages in the course of the Work would otherwise be obscure, I have taken leave to insert one Paper written by Sir_ RICHARD STEELE, _wherein those Characters are drawn; which may serve as a_ Dramatis Personae, _or as so many pictures for an ornament and explication of the whole. As for the distinct Papers, they were never or seldom shewn to each other, by their respective Authors, who fully answered the Promise they made, and far outwent the Expectation they had raised, of pursuing their Labour in the same Spirit and Strength with which it was begun_. Pag. 13.

It need not be explained that it is here intimated, that I had not sufficiently acknowledged what was due to Mr. ADDISON in these Writings.

I shall make a full Answer to what seems intended by the words, _He was too delicate to take any part of that which belonged to others_; if I can recite out of my own Papers, anything that may make it appear groundless.

The subsequent [_following_] encomiums bestowed by me on Mr. ADDISON will, I hope, be of service to me in this particular.

_But I have only one Gentleman_, who will be nameless, _to thank for any frequent a.s.sistance to me: which indeed it would have been barbarous in him, to have denied in one with whom he has lived in an intimacy from childhood; considering the great Ease with which he is able to despatch the most entertaining Pieces of this nature. This good office he performed with such force of Genius, Humour, Wit, and Learning, that I fared like a distressed Prince who calls in a powerful neighbour to his aid; I was undone by my auxiliary! When I had once called him in, I could not subsist without dependence on him_.

_The same Hand wrote the distinguis.h.i.+ng Characters of Men and Women under the names of_ Musical Instruments, _the_ Distress of the News-Writers, _the_ Inventory of the Play House, _and the_ Description of the Thermometer; _which I cannot but look upon, as the greatest embellishments of this Work. Pref_. to the 4th Vol. of the _Tatlers_.

_As to the Work itself, the acceptance it has met with is the best proof of its value: but I should err against that candour which an honest man should always carry about him, if I did not own that the most approved Pieces in it were written by others; and those, which have been most excepted against by myself. The Hand that has a.s.sisted me in those n.o.ble Discourses upon the Immortality of the Soul, the Glorious Prospects of another Life, and the most sublime ideas of Religion and Virtue, is a person, who is too fondly my friend ever to own them: but I should little deserve to be his, if I usurped the glory of them. I must acknowledge, at the same time, that I think the finest strokes of Wit and Humour in all Mr_. BICKERSTAFF's Lucubrations, _are those for which he is also beholden to him. Tatler_, No. 271.

_I hope the Apology I have made as to the license allowable to a feigned Character may excuse anything which has been said in these Discourses of the_ Spectator _and his Works. But the imputation of the grossest vanity would still dwell upon me, if I did not give some account by what means I was enabled to keep up the Spirit of so long and approved a performance.

All the Papers marked with _a C, L, I, _or_ O--_that is to say, all the Papers which I have distinguished by any letter in the name of the Muse_ CLIO--_were given me by the Gentleman, of whose a.s.sistance I formerly boasted in the_ Preface _and concluding Leaf of the_ Tatler. _I am indeed much more proud of his long-continued friends.h.i.+p, than I should be of the fame of being thought the Author of any Writings which he himself is capable of producing_.

_I remember, when I finished the_ Tender Husband; _I told him, there was nothing I so ardently wished as that we might, some time or other, publish a Work written by us both; which should bear the name of the Monument, in memory of our friends.h.i.+p. I heartily wish what I have done here, were as honorary to that sacred name, as Learning, Wit, and Humanity render those Pieces, which I have taught the reader how to distinguish for his_.

_When the Play above mentioned was last acted, there were so many applauded strokes in it which I had from the same hand, that I thought very meanly of myself that I had never publicly acknowledged them_.

_After I have put other friends upon importuning him to publish Dramatic as well as other Writings, he has by him; I shall end what I think I am obliged to say on this head, by giving the reader this hint for the better judgement of my productions: that the best Comment upon them would be, an Account when the Patron_ [i.e., ADDISON] _to the_ Tender Husband _was in England or abroad_ [i.e., Ireland]. _Spectator_, No. 555.

_My purpose in this Application is only to shew the esteem I have for you, and that I look upon my intimacy with you as one of the most valuable enjoyments of my life. Dedication_ before the _Tender Husband_.

I am sure, you have read my quotations with indignation against the little [_petty_] zeal which prompted the Editor (who by the way, has himself done nothing in applause of the Works which he prefaces) to the mean endeavour of adding to Mr. ADDISON, by disparaging a man who had (for the greatest part of his life) been his known bosom friend, and s.h.i.+elded him from all the resentments which many of his own Works would have brought upon him, at the time they were written. It is really a good office to Society, to expose the indiscretion of Intermedlers in the friends.h.i.+p and correspondence [_coadjutors.h.i.+p_] of men, whose sentiments, pa.s.sions, and resentments are too great for their proportion of soul!

Could the Editor's indiscretion provoke me, even so far as (within the rules of strictest honour) I could go; and I were not restrained by supererogatory affection to dear Mr. ADDISON, I would ask this unskilful Creature, What he means, when he speaks in an air of a reproach, _that the_ Tatler _was laid down as it was taken up, without his partic.i.p.ation_? Let him speak out and say, why _without his knowledge_ would not serve his purpose as well!

If, as he says, he restrains himself to "Mr. ADDISON's character as a Writer;" while he attempts to lessen me, he exalts me! for he has declared to all the World what I never have so explicitly done, that I am, to all intents and purposes, _the Author of the_ Tatler! He very justly says, the occasional a.s.sistance Mr. ADDISON gave me, in the course of that Paper, "did not a little contribute to advance its reputation, especially when, upon the Change of Ministry [_August, 1710_], he found leisure to engage more constantly in it." It was advanced indeed! for it was raised to a greater thing than I intended it! For the elegance, purity, and correctness which appeared in his Writings were not so much my purpose; as (in any intelligible manner, as I could) to rally all those Singularities of human life, through the different Professions and Characters in it, which obstruct anything that was truly good and great.

After this Acknowledgement, you will see; that is, such a man as you will see, that I rejoiced in being excelled! and made those little talents (whatever they are) which I have, give way and be subservient to the superior qualities of a Friend, whom I loved! and whose modesty would never have admitted them to come into daylight, but under such a shelter.

So that all which the Editor has said (either out of design, or incapacity), Mr. CONGREVE! must end in this: that STEELE has been so candid and upright, that he owes nothing to Mr. ADDISON as a Writer; but whether he do, or does not, whatever STEELE owes to Mr. ADDISON, the Public owe ADDISON to STEELE!

But the Editor has such a fantastical and ignorant zeal for his Patron, that he will not allow his correspondents [_coadjutors_] to conceal anything of his; though in obedience to his commands!

What I never did declare was Mr. ADDISON's, I had his direct injunctions to hide; against the natural warmth and pa.s.sion of my own temper towards my friends.

Many of the Writings now published as his, I have been very patiently traduced and culminated for; as they were pleasantries and oblique strokes upon certain of the wittiest men of the Age: who will now restore me to their goodwill, in proportion to the abatement of [the] Wit which they thought I employed against them.

But I was saying, that the Editor won't allow us to obey his Patron's commands in anything which he thinks would redound to his credit, if discovered. And because I would shew a little Wit in my anger, I shall have the discretion to shew you that he has been guilty, in this particular, towards a much greater man than your humble servant, and one whom you are much more obliged to vindicate.

Mr. DRYDEN, in his _VIRGIL_, after having acknowledged that a "certain excellent young man" [_i.e., W. CONGREVE himself_] had shewed him many faults in his translation of _VIRGIL_, which he had endeavoured to correct, goes on to say, "Two other worthy friends of mine, who desire to have their names concealed, seeing me straightened in my time, took pity on me, and gave me the _Life of VIRGIL_, the two _Prefaces_ to the _Pastorals_ and the _Georgics_, and all the Arguments in prose to the whole Translation." If Mr. ADDISON is one of the two friends, and the _Preface_ to the _Georgics_ be what the Editor calls the _Essay upon the Georgics_ as one may adventure to say they are, from their being word for word the same, he has cast an inhuman reflection upon Mr. DRYDEN: who, though tied down not to name Mr. ADDISON, pointed at him so as all Mankind conservant in these matters knew him, with an eulogium equal to the highest merit, considering who it was that bestowed it, I could not avoid remarking upon this circ.u.mstance, out of justice to Mr. DRYDEN: but confess, at the same time, I took a great pleasure in doing it; because I knew, in exposing this outrage, I made my court to Mr. CONGREVE.

I have observed that the Editor will not let me or any one else obey Mr.

ADDISON's commands, in hiding anything he desired to be concealed.

I cannot but take further notice, that the circ.u.mstance of marking his _Spectators_ [_with the letters C, L, I, O,_], which I did not know till I had done with the Work; I made my own act! because I thought it too great a sensibility in my friend; and thought it (since it was done) better to be supposed marked by me than the Author himself. The real state of which, this zealot rashly and injudiciously exposes! I ask the reader, Whether anything but an earnestness to disparage me could provoke the Editor, in behalf of Mr. ADDISON, to say that he marked it out of caution against me: when I had taken upon me to say, it was I that did it! out of tenderness to him.

As the imputation of any the Least Attempt of arrogating to myself, or detracting from Mr. ADDISON, is without any Colour of Truth: you will give me leave to go on in the same ardour towards him, and resent the cold, unaffectionate, dry, and barren manner, in which this Gentleman gives an Account of as great a Benefactor as any one Learned Man ever had of another. Would any man, who had been produced from a College life, and pushed into one of the most considerable Employments of the Kingdom as to its weight and trust, and greatly lucrative with respect to a Fellows.h.i.+p [_i.e., of a College_]: and who had been daily and hourly with one of the greatest men of the Age, be satisfied with himself, in saying _nothing_ of such a Person besides what all the World knew! except a particularity (and that to his disadvantage!) which I, his friend from a boy, don't know to be true, to wit, that "he never had a regular pulse"!

As for the facts, and considerable periods of his life, he either knew nothing of them, or injudiciously places them in a worse light than that in which they really stood.

When he speaks of Mr. ADDISON's declining to go into Orders, his way of doing it is to lament _his seriousness and modesty_, which might have recommended him, _proved the chief obstacles to it, it seems these qualities, by which the Priesthood is so much adorned, represented the duties of it as too weighty for him, and rendered him still more worthy of that honour which they made him decline_. These, you know very well!

were not the Reasons which made Mr. ADDISON turn his thoughts to the civil World; and, as you were the instrument of his becoming acquainted with my Lord HALIFAX, I doubt not but you remember the warm instances that n.o.ble Lord made to the Head of the College, not to insist upon Mr.

ADDISON's going into Orders. His arguments were founded on the general pravity [_depravity_] and corruption of men of business [_public men_]

who wanted liberal education. And I remember, as if I read the letter yesterday, that my Lord ended with a compliment, that "however he might be represented as no friend to the Church, he would never do it any other injury than keeping Mr. ADDISON out of it!"

The contention for this man in his early youth, among the people of greatest power; Mr. Secretary TICKELL, the Executor for his Fame, is pleased to ascribe to "a serious visage and modesty of behaviour."

When a Writer is grossly and essentially faulty, it were a jest to take notice of a false expression or a phrase, otherwise _Priesthood_ in that place, might be observed upon; as a term not used by the real well-wishers to Clergymen, except when they would express some solemn act, and not when that Order is spoken of as a Profession among Gentlemen. I will not therefore busy myself about the "unconcerning parts of knowledge, but be content like a reader of plain sense without politeness." And since Mr. Secretary will give us no account of this Gentleman, I admit "the Alps and Apennines" instead of the Editor, to be "Commentators of his Works," which, as the Editor says, "have raised a demand for correctness." This "demand," by the way, ought to be more strong upon those who were most about him, and had the greatest advantage of his example. But as our Editor says, "that those who come nearest to exactness are but too often fond of unnatural beauties, and aim at something better than perfection."

Believe me, Sir, Mr. ADDISON's example will carry no man further than that height for which Nature capacitated him: and the affectation of following great men in works above the genius of their imitators, will never rise farther than the production of uncommon and unsuitable ornaments in a barren discourse, like flowers upon a heath, such as the Author's phrase of "something better than perfection."

But in his _Preface_, if ever anything was, is that "something better:"

for it is so extraordinary, that we cannot say, it is too long or too short, or deny but that it is both. I think I abstract myself from all manner of prejudice when I aver that no man, though without any obligation to Mr. ADDISON, would have represented him in his family and in his friends.h.i.+ps, or his personal character, so disadvantageously as his Secretary (in preference of whom, he incurred the warmest resentments of other Gentlemen) has been pleased to describe him in those particulars.

Mr. Dean ADDISON, father of this memorable Man, left behind him four children, each of whom, for excellent talents and singular preferments, was as much above the ordinary World as their brother JOSEPH was above them. Were things of this nature to be exposed to public view, I could shew under the Dean's own hand, in the warmest terms, his blessing on the friends.h.i.+p between his son and me; nor had he a child who did not prefer me in the first place of kindness and esteem, as their father loved me like one of them: and I can with pleasure say, I never omitted any opportunity of shewing that zeal for their persons and Interests as became a Gentleman and a Friend.

Were I now to indulge myself, I could talk a great deal to you, which I am sure would be entertaining: but as I am speaking at the same time to all the World, I consider it would be impertinent.

Let me then confine myself awhile to the following Play [_The Drummer_], which I at first recommended to the Stage, and carried to the Press.

No one who reads the _Preface_ which I published with it, will imagine I could be induced to say so much, as I then did, had I not known the man I best loved had had a part in it; or had I believed that any other concerned had much more to do than as an amanuensis.

But, indeed, had I not known at the time of the transaction concerning the acting on the Stage and the sale of the Copy; I should, I think, have seen Mr. ADDISON in every page of it! For he was above all men in that talent we call Humour; and enjoyed it in such perfection, that I have often reflected, after a night spent with him apart from the World, that I had had the pleasure of conversing with an intimate acquaintance of TERENCE and CATULLUS, who had all their Wit and Nature heightened with Humour more exquisite and delightful than any other man ever possessed.

They who shall read this Play, after being let into the secret that it was written by Mr. ADDISON or under his direction, will probably be attentive to those excellencies which they before overlooked, and wonder they did not till now observe that there is not an expression in the whole Piece which has not in it the most nice propriety and apt.i.tude to the Character which utters it. Here is that smiling Mirth, that delicate Satire and genteel Raillery, which appeared in Mr. ADDISON when he was free among intimates; I say, when he was free from his _remarkable_ bashfulness, which is a cloak that hides and m.u.f.fles merit: and his abilities were covered only by modesty, which doubles the beauties which are seen, and gives credit and esteem to all that are concealed.