Calamities And Quarrels Of Authors Part 39

_25 April, 1711._ Essay on Public Spirit 2 12 6

_6 Jan. 1711._ Remarks on Pope's Essay 2 12 6

Dennis must have sold himself to criticism from ill-nature, and not for pay. One is surprised that his two tragedies should have been worth a great deal more than his criticism. Criticism was then worth no more than too frequently it deserves; Dr. Sewel, for his "Observations on the Tragedy of _Jane Sh.o.r.e_," received only a guinea.

I had suggested a doubt whether Theobald attempted to translate from the original Greek: one would suppose he did by the following entry, which has a line drawn through it, as if the agreement had not been executed. Perhaps Lintot submitted to pay Theobald for _not doing_ the Odyssey when Pope undertook it.

MR. THEOBALD.

s. d.

_23 May, 1713._ Plato's Phaedon 5 7 6 For _aesculus's_ Trag. 1 1 6 being part of Ten Guineas.

_12 June, 1714._ La Motte's Homer 3 4 6

_April_ 21, 1714. Articles signed by Mr. Theobald, to translate for B. Lintot the 24 books of Homer's Odyssey into English blank verse. Also the four Tragedies of Sophocles, called dipus Tyrannus, dipus Coloneus, Trachiniae, and Philoctetes, into English blank verse, with Explanatory Notes to the twenty-four Books of the Odyssey, and to the four Tragedies. To receive, for translating every 450 Greek verses, with Explanatory Notes thereon, the sum of 2_l._ 10_s._

To translate likewise the Satires and Epistles of Horace into English rhyme. For every 120 Latin lines so translated, the sum of 1_l._ 1_s._ 6_d._

These Articles to be performed, according to the time specified, under the penalty of fifty pounds, payable by either party's default in performance.

Paid in hand, 2_l._ 10_s._

It appears that Toland never got above 5_l._, 10_l._, or 20_l._, for his publications. See his article in "Calamities of Authors," p.

155. I discovered the humiliating conditions that attended his publications, from an examination of his original papers. All this author seems to have reaped from a life devoted to literary enterprise, and philosophy, and patriotism, appears not to have exceeded 200_l._

Here, too, we find that the facetious Dr. King threw away all his sterling wit for five miserable pounds, though "The Art of Cookery,"

and that of "Love," obtained a more honourable price. But a mere school-book probably inspired our lively genius with more real facetiousness than any of those works which communicate so much to others.

DR. KING.

s. d.

_18 Feb. 1707-8._ Paid for Art of Cookery 32 5 0

_16 Feb. 1708-9._ Paid for the First Part of Transactions 5 0 0 Paid for his Art of Love 32 5 0

_23 June, 1709._ Paid for the Second Part of the Transactions[246] 5 0 0

_4 March, 1709-10._ Paid for the History of Cajamai 5 0 0

_10 Nov. 1710._ Paid for King's G.o.ds 50 0 0

_1 July, 1712._ Useful Miscellany, Part I 1 1 6 Paid for the Useful Miscellany 3 0 0

Lintot utters a groan over "The Duke of Buckingham's Works"

(Sheffield), for "having been _jockeyed_ of them by Alderman Barber and Tonson." Who can ensure literary celebrity? No bookseller would _now_ regret being _jockeyed_ out of his Grace's works!

The history of plays appears here somewhat curious:--tragedies, then the fas.h.i.+onable dramas, obtained a considerable price; for though Dennis's luckier one reached only to 21_l._, Dr. Young's _Busiris_ acquired 84_l._ Smith's _Phaedra and Hippolytus_, 50_l._; Rowe's _Jane Sh.o.r.e_, 50_l._ 15_s._; and _Jane Gray_, 75_l._ 5_s._ Cibber's _Nonjuror_ obtained 105_l._ for the copyright.

Is it not a little mortifying to observe, that among all these customers of genius whose names enrich the ledger of the bookseller, Jacob, that "blunderbuss of law," while his law-books occupy in s.p.a.ce as much as Mr. Pope's works, the amount of his account stands next in value, far beyond many a name which has immortalised itself!

FOOTNOTES:

[241] "Miscellaneous Poems and Translations, by several Hands,"

1712.--The second edition appeared in 1714; and in the t.i.tle-page are enumerated the poems mentioned in this account, and Pope's name affixed, as if he were the actual editor--an idea which Mr. Nichols thought he affected to discountenance.

It is probable that Pope was the editor. We see, by this account, that he was paid for his contributions.

[242] This was a new edition, published conjointly by Lintot and Lewis, the Catholic bookseller and early friend of Pope, of whom, and of the first edition, 1711, I have preserved an anecdote, p. 280.

[243] The late Isaac Reed, in the Biog. Dramatica, was uncertain whether Gay was the author of this unacted drama. It is a satire on the inhuman frolics of the bucks and bloods of those days, who imitated the savageness of the Indians whose name they a.s.sumed.[244] Why Gay repurchased "The Mohocks," remains to be discovered. Was it another joint production with Pope?--The literary co-partners.h.i.+p between Pope and Gay has never been opened to the curious. It is probable that Pope was consulted, if not concerned, in writing "The What d'ye call it?" which, Jacob says in his "Poetical Register," "exposes several of our eminent poets." Jacob published while Gay was living, and seems to allude to this literary co-partners.h.i.+p; for, speaking of Gay, he says: "that having an inclination to poetry, by the strength of his own genius, and the _conversation_ of Mr.

Pope, he has made some progress in poetical writings."

This tragi-comical farce of "The Mohocks" is satirically dedicated to Dennis, "as a _horrid_ and _tremendous_ piece, formed on the model of his own 'Appius and Virginia.'" This touch seems to come from the finger of Pope. It is a mock-tragedy, for the Mohocks themselves rant in blank verse; a feeble performance, far inferior to its happier predecessor, "The What d'ye call it?"

[244] The brutal amus.e.m.e.nts of these "Mohocks," and the helpless terror of London, is scarcely credible in modern days. Wild bands of drunken men nightly infested the streets, attacking and ill-using every pa.s.ser-by. A favourite pastime was to surround their victim with drawn swords, p.r.i.c.king him on every side as he endeavoured to escape. Many persons were maimed and dangerously wounded. Gay, in his _Trivia_, has noted some of their more innocent practical jokes; and asks--

"Who has not trembled at the Mohock's name?

Was there a watchman took his hourly rounds, Safe from their blows or new invented wounds?"

Swift, in his notes to Stella, has expressed his dread, while in London, of being maimed, or perhaps killed, by them.--ED.

[245] Bought of Mr. George Strahan, bookseller.

[246] For an account of these humorous pieces, see the following article on "The Royal Society."

POPE'S EARLIEST SATIRE.

We find by the first edition of Lintot's "Miscellaneous Poems," that the anonymous lines "To the Author of a Poem called _Successio_," was a literary satire by Pope, written when he had scarcely attained his fourteenth year. This satire, the first probably he wrote for the press, and in which he has succeeded so well, that it might have induced him to pursue the bent of his genius, merits preservation. The juvenile composition bears the marks of his future excellences: it has the tune of his verse, and the images of his wit. Thirty years afterwards, when occupied by the _Dunciad_, he transplanted and pruned again some of the original images.

The hero of this satire is Elkanah Settle. The subject is one of those Whig poems, designed to celebrate the happiness of an uninterrupted "Succession" in the Crown, at the time the Act of Settlement pa.s.sed, which transferred it to the Hanoverian line. The rhymer and his theme were equally contemptible to the juvenile Jacobite poet.

The hoa.r.s.e and voluminous Codrus of Juvenal aptly designates this eternal verse-maker;--one who has written with such constant copiousness, that no bibliographer has presumed to form a complete list of his works.[247]

When Settle had outlived his temporary rivals.h.i.+p with Dryden, and was reduced to mere Settle, he published party-poems, in folio, composed in Latin, accompanied by his own translations. These folio poems, uniformly bound, except that the arms of his patrons, or rather his purchasers, richly gilt, emblazon the black morocco, may still be found. These presentation-copies were sent round to the chiefs of the party, with a mendicant's pet.i.tion, of which some still exist. To have a clear conception of the _present views_ of some politicians, it is necessary to read their history backwards. In 1702, when Settle published "Successio," he must have been a Whig. In 1685 he was a Tory, commemorating, by a heroic poem, the coronation of James II., and writing periodically against the Whigs. In 1680 he had left the Tories for the Whigs, and conducted the whole management of burning the Pope, then a very solemn national ceremony.[248] A Whig, a pope-burner, and a Codrus, afforded a full draught of inspiration to the nascent genius of our youthful satirist.

Settle, in his latter state of wretchedness, had one standard _elegy_ and _epithalamium_ printed off with _blanks_. By the ingenious contrivance of inserting the name of any considerable person who died or was married, no one who had gone out of the world or was entering into it but was equally welcome to this dinnerless livery-man of the draggled-tailed Muses. I have elsewhere noticed his last exit from this state of poetry and of pauperism, when, leaping into a green dragon which his own creative genius had invented, in a theatrical booth, Codrus, in hissing flames and terrifying-morocco folds, discovered "the fate of talents misapplied!"

TO THE AUTHOR OF A POEM ENt.i.tLED "SUCCESSIO."

Begone, ye critics, and restrain your spite; Codrus writes on, and will for ever write.

The heaviest Muse the swiftest course has gone, As clocks run fastest when most lead is on.[249]

What though no bees around your cradle flew, Nor on your lips distill'd their golden dew; Yet have we oft discover'd in their stead, A swarm of drones that buzz'd about your head.

When you, like Orpheus, strike the warbling lyre, Attentive blocks stand round you, and admire.

Wit past through thee no longer is the same, As meat digested takes a different name;[250]