W Repeat "unask'd; lament, the " wit's too fine X And from the moment we oblige the town, y Yet think, great Sir! (so many virtues shown ;) a Charles, to late times to be transmitted fair, Assign'd his figure to Bernini's care; b And great Nassau to Kneller's hand decreed 370 375 380 NOTES. cut two bustos; one of the king, the other of herself: which were to be brought over by Panzani, alleging that her husband was uncommonly curious in works of that kind, and no present could be more acceptable to him. Bernini was one of a haughty temper, and had lately refused the like favour to the Cardinal Richlieu, who desired his own busto from the same hand. But Barberini's reputation and address prevailed upon him to grant the request. I mention this busto upon account of the extraordinary circumstances which attended it ; some whereof are taken notice of by our historians. But what I shall further relate, is not commonly known. It is reported that when Bernini took a view of the original picture, according to which he was to form the king's busto, he observed such melancholic lines, that they in a manner spoke some dismal fate that would befal the person it represented. And this he signified to those who were present," p. 38.-Warburton. Ver. 382. And great Nassau] "This prince," says Mr. Walpole, "like most of those in our annals, contributed nothing to the advancement of the arts. He was born in a country where taste never flourished, and nature had not given it to him as an embellishment to his great qualities. Reserved, unsociable, ill in his health, and soured by his situation, he sought none of those amusements that make the hours of the happy, much happier. He had so little leisure to attend to, or so little disposition to men of wit, that when St. Evremond was introduced to him, the king said coldly: 'I think you was a major-general in the French service." -Warton. Judicium subtile videndis artibus illud [At neque dedecorant tua de se judicia, atque Munera, quæ multa dantis cum laude tulerunt, Dilecti tibi Virgilius Variusque poëtæ ;] d Nec magis expressi vultus per ahenea signa, NOTES. Ver. 384. So well in paint] The taste and knowledge of Charles I. in the fine arts are universally known and acknowledged; and his fondness for Shakespear and Fairfax's Tasso, shows his judgment in poetry.-Warton. Ver. 385. But kings in wit may want discerning spirit.] This is not to be wondered at, since the sacerdotal character has been separated from the regal. This discerning of spirits now seems to be the allotment of the ecclesiastical branch, which the following instance will put out of doubt. The famous HUGO GROTIUS had, somehow or other, surprized the world into an early admiration of his parts and virtues. But his Grace, Archbishop Abbot, was not to be deceived by dazzling appearances. In one of his rescripts to Sir Ralph Winwood, at the Hague, he unmasks this forward Dutchman, who a little before had been sent over to England by the States. "You must take heed how you trust DOCTOR GROTIUS too far, for I perceive him to be so ADDICTED TO SOME PARTIALITIES IN THOSE PARTS, THAT HE FEARETH NOT TO LASH SO IT MAY SERVE A TURN. At his first coming to the king, by reason of his good Latin tongue, he was so tedious, and full of tittle tattle, that the king's judgment was of him, that he was some PEDANT, full of words, and of NO GREAT JUDGment. And I MYSELF DISCOVERING that to be his habit, as if he did imagine that every man was bound to hear him so long as he would talk, did privately give him notice thereof, that he should plainly and directly deliver his mind, or else he would make the king weary of him. This did not take place, but that afterwards he fell to it again, as was especially observed one night at supper at the Lord Bishop of Ely's, whither being brought by Mr. Casaubon (as I think), my Lord intreated him to stay to supper, which he did. There was present Dr. Steward and another civilian, unto whom he flings out some question of that profession; and was so full of words, that Dr. Steward afterwards told my Lord: That he did perceive by him, that, like a SMATTERER, he had studied some two or three questions; whereof when he came in company he must be talking, to vindicate his skill; but if he were put from those, he would show himself but a SIMPLE FELLOW. There was present also Dr. Richardson, the king's Professor of Divinity in Cambridge, and another doctor in that faculty, with whom he falleth in also, about some of those questions, which are now controverted amongst the ministers in Holland; and being matters wherein he was studied, he uttered all his skill concerning them. MY LORD OF ELY SITTING STILL AT THE SUPPER ALL THE WHILE, AND WONDERING what a man he had there, who never being in the place or company before, could overwhelm them so So well in paint and stone they judg'd of merit : 385 The hero William, and the martyr Charles, One knighted Blackmore, and one pension'd Quarles; Which made old Ben and surly Dennis swear, с "No Lord's anointed, but a Russian bear." d Not with such a majesty, such bold relief, The forms august, of king, or conquering chief, E'er swell'd on marble; as in verse have shined (In polish'd verse) the manners and the mind. Oh! could I mount on the Mæonian wing, Your arms, your actions, your repose to sing! NOTES. 390 395 with talk for so long a time. I write this unto you so largely, that you may know the disposition of the man : and How KINDLY HE USED MY LORD OF ELY FOR HIS GOOD ENTERTAINMENT."-Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii. p. 459.-Scribl. : Seriously, my Lord of Ely's case was to be pitied. But this will not happen every day for as exposed as their Lordships may be to these kind of insults, happy is it that the men are not always at hand, who can offer them. A second Grotius, for aught I know, may be as far off as a second century of my Lords of Ely. But it was enough that this simple fellow was an Arminian and a Republican, to be despised by Abbot and his Master. For, in the opinion of these great judges of merit, religion and society could not subsist without PREDESTINATION and ARBITRARY POWER. However, this discerning spirit, it is certain, had not left L. when the grave historian, Anthony Wood, was so hospitably entertained there; who, in the journal of his life, under the year 1671, tells the following story: "I and John Echard, the author of the Contempt of the Clergy, dined with Archbishop Sheldon. After dinner, when the Archbishop had withdrawn and selected his company, I was called into the withdrawing room, and Echard was left behind to go drink and smoke with the Chaplains." So well adjusted was this respect of persons; Echard, the wittiest man of the age, was very fitly left to divert the chaplains; and Anthony Wood, without all peradventure the dullest, was called in to enjoy the conversation of his Grace.-Warburton. Ver. 385. But kings in wit] They may, nevertheless, be very good kings. It is not for his verses, any more than for his victories, that the late king of Prussia will be celebrated by posterity: but for softening the rigours of a despotic government, by a code of milder laws than his crouching people had known before; and for building many villages and farm-houses, to encourage agriculture, and repair the wastes and ravages of war. must therefore be pardoned for an absurd judgment, which he has passed on Homer, whom he could not read in the original, where he says: Ses chants et l'action ont peu ou point de liaison les uns avec les autres, ce qui leur a mérité le nom de rapsodies." Preface to the Henriade.Warton. He Ver. 387. pension'd Quarles ;] Who has lately been more favourably spoken of by some ingenious critics; particularly by the author of Thirty Letters.-Warton. g Terrarumque 'situs et flumina dicere, et arces h h Claustraque custodem pacis cohibentia Janum, Si, quantum cuperem, possem quoque. Sed neque k parvum Carmen majestas recipit tua; nec meus audet Rem tentare pudor, quam vires ferre recusent. Sedulitas autem 'stultè, quem diligit, urget; Præcipuè cùm se numeris commendat et arte. Discit enim citiùs, meminitque libentiùs illud Quod quis deridet, quàm quod probat et veneratur. Nil moror "officium, quod me gravat: ac neque ficto In ° pejus vultu proponi cereus usquam, m Nec pravè factis decorari versibus opto: P q Ne rubeam pingui donatus munere, et unà NOTES. Ver. 397. how dearly bought !] All this is in the spirit of the most contemptuous irony !-Bowles. Ver. 409. they say I bite.] If any key had been wanting to the artful irony contained in this imitation, especially in the last sixteen lines, this one verse would have been sufficient to fix the poet's intention. Neither Dr. Warburton nor Dr. Hurd take the least notice of any irony being intended in this imitation. To what motive shall we ascribe this cautious silence ?-Warton. Undoubtedly to their supposing it to be impossible for any person to misunderstand it. The Satire, however, is not directed so much against the monarch, who frequently cannot avoid the ridiculous praises and gross flatteries which are so abundantly poured out upon him, as against those writers who sacrifice their conscience and debase their talents in commending a sovereign for qualifications which he does not possess, and to which perhaps he does not even pretend. What 'seas you traversed, and what fields you fought! Your country's peace, how oft, how dearly bought! How barbarous rage subsided at your word, h g And nations wonder'd while they dropp'd the sword! How, when you nodded, o'er the land and deep, 400 Peace stole her wing, and wrapt the world in sleep; Till earth's extremes your mediation own, And Asia's tyrants tremble at your throne! k And I'm not used to panegyric strains : q (Like Journals, Odes, and such forgotten things Clothe spice, line trunks, or fluttering in a row, 405 410 415 |