Curiosities of Literature Volume Iii Part 45

So intent was Oldys on these literary researches that we see, by the last words of this entry, how in hunting after one sort of game, his undivided zeal kept his eye on another. One of his favourite subjects was the realising of original discoveries respecting Spenser and Shakspeare; of whom, perhaps, to our shame, as it is to our vexation, it may be said that two of our master-poets are those of whom we know the least! Oldys once flattered himself that he should be able to have given the world a Life of Shakspeare. Mr. John Taylor informs me, that "Oldys had contracted to supply ten years of the life of Shakspeare _unknown to the biographers_, with one Walker, a bookseller in the Strand; and as Oldys did not live to fulfil the engagement, my father was obliged to return to Walker twenty guineas which he had advanced on the work."

_That interesting narrative is now hopeless for us._ Yet, by the solemn contract into which Oldys had entered, and from his strict integrity, it might induce one to suspect that he had made positive discoveries which are now irrecoverable.

We may observe the manner of his anxious inquiries about _Spenser_:--

Ask Sir Peter Thompson if it were improper to try if Lord Effingham Howard would procure the pedigrees in the Herald's office, to be seen for Edmund Spenser's parentage or family? or how he was related to Sir John Spenser of Althorpe, in Northamptons.h.i.+re? to three of whose daughters, who all married n.o.bility, Spenser dedicates three of his poems.

Of Mr. Vertue, to examine Stowe's memorandum-book. Look more carefully for the year when Spenser's monument was raised, or between which years the entry stands--1623 and 1626.

Sir Clement Cottrell's book about Spenser.

Captain Power, to know if he has heard from Capt. Spenser about my letter of inquiries relating to Edward Spenser.

Of Whiston, to examine if my remarks on Spenser are complete as to the press--Yes.

Remember, when I see Mr. W. Thompson, to inquire whether he has printed in any of his works any other character of our old poets than those of Spenser and Shakspeare;[353] and to get the liberty of a visit at Kentish Town, to see his _Collection of Robert Greene's Works_, in about _four large volumes quarto_. He commonly published a pamphlet every term, as his acquaintance Tom Nash informs us.

Two or three other memorials may excite a smile at his peculiar habits of study, and unceasing vigilance to draw from original sources of information.

_Dryden's Dream_, at Lord Exeter's, at Burleigh, while he was translating Virgil, as Signior Verrio, then painting there, related it to the Yorks.h.i.+re painter, of whom I had it, lies in _the parchment book in quarto_, designed for his life.

At a subsequent period Oldys inserts, "Now entered therein." Malone quotes this very memorandum, which he discovered in _Oldys's Langbaine_, to show Dryden had some confidence in Oneirocriticism, and supposed that future events were sometimes prognosticated by dreams. Malone adds, "Where either the _loose_ prophetic _leaf_ or the _parchment book_ now is, I know not."[354]

Unquestionably we have incurred a great loss in Oldys's collections for Dryden's Life, which are very extensive; such a ma.s.s of literary history cannot have perished unless by accident; and I suspect that many of _Oldys's ma.n.u.scripts_ are in the possession of individuals who are not acquainted with his hand-writing, which may be easily verified.

To search the old papers in one of my large deal boxes for Dryden's letter of thanks to my father, for some communication relating to Plutarch, while they and others were publis.h.i.+ng a translation of Plutarch's Lives, in five volumes 8vo. 1683. It is copied in _the yellow book for Dryden's Life_, in which there are about 150 transcriptions, in prose and verse, relating to the life, character, and writings of Dryden.--Is England's Remembrancer extracted out of my _obit._ (obituary) into my remarks on him in the _poetical bag_?

My extracts in the _parchment budget_ about Denham's seat and family in Surrey.

My _white vellum pocket-book_, bordered with gold, for the extract from "Groans of Great Britain" about Butler.

See my account of the great yews in Tankersley's park, while Sir R.

Fanshaw was prisoner in the lodge there; especially Talbot's yew, which a man on horseback might turn about in, in my _botanical budget_.

This Donald Lupton I have mentioned in my _catalogue_ of all the books and pamphlets relative to London in folio, begun anno 1740, and in which I have now, 1740, entered between 300 and 400 articles, besides remarks, &c. Now, in June, 1748, between 400 and 500 articles. Now, in October, 1750, six hundred and thirty-six.[355]

There remains to be told an anecdote which shows that Pope greatly regarded our literary antiquary. "Oldys," says my friend, "was one of the librarians of the Earl of Oxford, and he used to tell a story of the credit which he obtained as a scholar, by setting Pope right in a Latin quotation which he made at the earl's table. He did not, however, as I remember, boast of having been admitted as a guest at the table, but as happening to be in the room." Why might not Oldys, however, have been seated, at least below the salt? It would do no honour to either party to suppose that Oldys stood among the menials. The truth is, there appears to have existed a confidential intercourse between Pope and Oldys; of this I shall give a remarkable proof. In those fragments of Oldys, preserved as "additional anecdotes of Shakspeare," in Steevens's and Malone's editions, Oldys mentions a story of Davenant, which, he adds, "Mr. Pope told me at the Earl of Oxford's table!" And further relates a conversation which pa.s.sed between them. Nor is this all; for in Oldys's Langbaine he put down this memorandum in the article of _Shakspeare_--"Remember what I observed to my Lord Oxford for Mr. Pope's use out of Cowley's preface." Malone appears to have discovered this observation of Cowley's, which is curious enough, and very ungrateful to that commentator's ideas: it is "to prune and lop away the old withered branches" in the new editions of Shakspeare and other ancient poets!

"Pope adopted," says Malone, "this very unwarrantable idea; Oldys was the person who suggested to Pope the singular course he pursued in his edition of Shakspeare." Without touching on the felicity or the danger of this new system of republis.h.i.+ng Shakspeare, one may say that if many pa.s.sages were struck out, Shakspeare would not be injured, for many of them were never composed by that great bard! There not only existed a literary intimacy between Oldys and Pope, but our poet adopting his suggestions on so important an occasion, evinces how highly he esteemed his judgment; and unquestionably Pope had often been delighted by Oldys with the history of his predecessors, and the curiosities of English poetry.

I have now introduced the reader to Oldys sitting amidst his "poetical bags," his "parchment biographical budgets," his "catalogues," and his "diaries," often venting a solitary groan, or active in some fresh inquiry. Such is the _Silhouette_ of this prodigy of literary curiosity!

The very existence of Oldys's ma.n.u.scripts continues to be of an ambiguous nature; referred to, quoted, and transcribed, we can but seldom turn to the originals. These ma.s.ses of curious knowledge, dispersed or lost, have enriched an after-race, who have often picked up the spoil and claimed the victory, but it was Oldys who had fought the battle!

Oldys affords one more example how life is often closed amidst discoveries and acquisitions. The literary antiquary, when he has attempted to embody his multiplied inquiries, and to finish his scattered designs, has found that the LABOR ABSQUE LABORE, "the labour void of labour," as the inscription on the library of Florence finely describes the researches of literature, has dissolved his days in the voluptuousness of his curiosity; and that too often, like the hunter in the heat of the chase, while he disdained the prey which lay before him, he was still stretching onwards to catch the fugitive!

_Transvolat in medio posita, et fugientia captat._

At the close of every century, in this growing world of books, may an Oldys be the reader for the nation! Should he be endowed with a philosophical spirit, and combine the genius of his own times with that of the preceding, he will hold in his hand the chain of human thoughts, and, like another Bayle, become the historian of the human mind!

FOOTNOTES:

[338] His intention was to publish a general cla.s.sified biography of all the Italian authors.

[339] He says in his advertis.e.m.e.nt, "It will be difficult to ascertain whether he meant to give them to the public, or only to reserve them for his own amus.e.m.e.nt and the entertainment of his friends." Many of these anecdotes are evidently mere loose scandal.

[340] Grose narrates his early history thus:--"His parents dying when he was very young, he soon squandered away his small patrimony, when he became, at first an attendant in Lord Oxford's library, and afterwards librarian; at whose death he was obliged to write for the booksellers for a subsistence."

[341] Mr. John Taylor, the son of Oldys's intimate friend, has furnished me with this interesting anecdote. "Oldys, as my father informed me, was many years in quiet obscurity in the Fleet prison, but at last was spirited up to make his situation known to the Duke of Norfolk of that time, who received Oldys's letter while he was at dinner with some friends. The duke immediately communicated the contents to the company, observing that he had long been anxious to know what had become of an old, though an humble friend, and was happy by that letter to find that he was alive. He then called for his _gentleman_ (a kind of humble friend whom n.o.blemen used to retain under that name in those days), and desired him to go immediately to the Fleet, to take money for the immediate need of Oldys, to procure an account of his debts, and discharge them. Oldys was soon after, either by the duke's gift or interest, appointed Norroy King of Arms; and I remember that his official regalia came into my father's hands at his death."

In the "Life of Oldys," by Mr. A. Chalmers, the date of this promotion is not found. My accomplished friend, the Rev. J.

Dallaway, has obligingly examined the records of the college, by which it appears that Oldys had been _Norfolk herald extraordinary_, but not belonging to the college, was appointed _per saltum_ Norroy King of Arms by patent, May 5th, 1755.

Grose says--"The patronage of the duke occasioned a suspicion of his being a papist, though I think really without reason; this for a while r.e.t.a.r.ded his appointment: it was underhand propagated by the heralds, who were vexed at having a stranger put in upon them."

[342] The beautiful simplicity of this Anacreontic has met the unusual fate of entirely losing its character, by an additional and incongruous stanza in the modern editions, by a gentleman who has put into practice the unallowable liberty of _altering_ the poetical and dramatic compositions of acknowledged genius to his own notion of what he deems "morality;" but in works of genius whatever is dull ceases to be moral. "The Fly" of Oldys may stand by "The Fly" of Gray for melancholy tenderness of thought; it consisted only of these two stanzas:

Busy, curious, thirsty fly!

Drink with me, and drink as I!

Freely welcome to my cup, Couldst thou sip and sip it up: Make the most of life you may; Life is short and wears away!

Both alike are mine and thine, Hastening quick to their decline!

Thine's a summer, mine no more, Though repeated to threescore!

Threescore summers when they're gone, Will appear as short as one!

[343] This anecdote should be given in justice to both parties, and in Grose's words, who says:--"He was a man of great good-nature, honour, and integrity, particularly in his character of an historian. Nothing, I firmly believe, would ever have bia.s.sed him to insert any fact in his writings he did not believe, or to suppress any he did. Of this delicacy he gave an instance at a time when he was in great distress. After his publication of the 'Life of Sir Walter Raleigh,' some booksellers thinking his name would sell a piece they were publis.h.i.+ng, offered him a considerable sum to father it, which he rejected with the greatest indignation."

[344] We have been taught to enjoy the two ages of Genius and of Taste. The literary public are deeply indebted to the editorial care, the taste, and the enthusiasm of Mr. Singer, for exquisite reprints of some valuable writers.

[345] Gibbon once meditated a life of Rawleigh, and for that purpose began some researches in that "memorable era of our English annals."

After reading Oldys's, he relinquished his design, from a conviction that "he could add nothing new to the subject, except the uncertain merit of style and sentiment."

[346] The British Museum is extremely deficient in our National Literature. The gift of George the Third's library has, however, probably supplied many deficiencies. [The recent bequest of the Grenville collection, and the constant search made of late years for these relics of early literature by the officers of our great national library, has greatly altered the state of the collection since the above was written _s--Ed_.]

[347] Grose says--"His mode of composing was somewhat singular: he had a number of small parchment bags, inscribed with the names of the persons whose lives he intended to write; into these bags he put every circ.u.mstance and anecdote he could collect, and from thence drew up his history."

[348] At the Bodleian Library, I learnt by a letter with which I am favoured by the Rev. Dr. Bliss, that there is an interleaved "Gildon's Lives and Characters of the Dramatic Poets," with corrections, which once belonged to c.o.xeter, who appears to have intended a new edition. Whether c.o.xeter transcribed into his Gildon the notes of Oldys's _first_ "Langbaine," is worth inquiry.

c.o.xeter's conduct, though he had purchased Oldys's first "Langbaine," was that of an ungenerous miser, who will quarrel with a brother rather than share in any acquisition he can get into his own hands. To c.o.xeter we also owe much; he suggested Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, and the first tolerable edition of Ma.s.singer.

Oldys could not have been employed in Lord Oxford's library, as Mr.

Chalmers conjectures, about 1726; for here he mentions that he was in _Yorks.h.i.+re_ from 1724 to 1730. This period is a remarkable blank in Oldys's life. My learned friend, the Rev. Joseph Hunter, has supplied me with a note in the copy of Fuller in the Malone collection preserved at the Bodleian. Those years were pa.s.sed apparently in the household of the first Earl of Malton, who built Wentworth House. There all the collections of the antiquary Gascoigne, with "seven great chests of ma.n.u.scripts," some as ancient as the time of the Conquest, were condemned in one solemn sacrifice to Vulcan; the ruthless earl being impenetrable to the prayers and remonstrances of our votary to English History. Oldys left the earl with little satisfaction, as appears by some severe strictures from his gentle pen.

[349] This copy was lent by Dr. Birch to the late Bishop of Dromore, who with his own hand carefully transcribed the notes into an interleaved copy of "Langbaine," divided into four volumes, which, as I am informed, narrowly escaped the flames, and was injured by the water, at a fire at Northumberland House. His lords.h.i.+p, when he went to Ireland, left this copy with Mr. Nichols, for the use of the projected editions of the _Tatler_, the _Spectator_, and the _Guardian_, with notes and ill.u.s.trations; of which I think the _Tatler_ only has appeared, and to which his lords.h.i.+p contributed some valuable communications.

[350] I know that not only this lot of _Oldys's ma.n.u.scripts_, but a great quant.i.ty of _original contributions_ of whole lives, intended for the "Biographia Britannica," must lie together, unless they have been destroyed as waste paper. These biographical and literary curiosities were often supplied by the families or friends of eminent persons. Some may, perhaps, have been reclaimed by their owners. I am informed there was among them an interesting collection of the correspondence of Locke; and I could mention several lives which were prepared.

[351] This collection, and probably the other letters, have come down to us, no doubt, with the ma.n.u.scripts of this collector, purchased for the British Museum. The correspondence of Dr.

Davenant, the political writer, with his son, the envoy, turns on one perpetual topic, his son's and his own advancement in the state.