Part 3 (2/2)
They resolved to bring out the book at their own risk. It hit the popular taste, and after sixteen editions had been sold, Mr. Murray paid for the copyright one hundred and thirty-one pounds. The poems yielded the authors over a thousand pounds.
Editors of newspapers and magazines have often made ludicrous blunders in rejecting poems of sterling merit. It is generally known that the editor of the _Greenock Advertiser_ expressed his regret that he could not insert in his newspaper one of Thomas Campbell's best poems on account of it not being quite up to his standard.
The Rev. Charles Wolfe submitted to the editor of a leading magazine his famous ode on ”The Burial of Sir John Moore,” but it was rejected in such a scornful manner as to cause the writer to hand it to the editor of _The Newry Telegraph_, an Ulster newspaper of no standing as a literary journal. It was published in 1817, in that obscure paper, with the initials of ”C. W.” It was reproduced in various publications, and attracted great attention. It is one of the best in our limited number of pieces of martial poetry.
Epigrams on Authors.
The epigram is of considerable antiquity. The Greeks placed on their monuments, statues, and tombs, short poetical inscriptions, written in a simple style, and it was from this practice that we derive the epigram. In the earlier examples we fail to find any traces of satire which is now its chief characteristic. The Romans were the first to give a satirical turn to this cla.s.s of literature. Amongst the writers of Latin epigrams, Catullus and Martial occupy leading places. The French are, perhaps, the most gifted writers of epigrams. German epigrammatists have put into verse moral proverbs. Schiller and Goethe did not, however, follow the usual practice of their countrymen, but wrote many satirical epigrams, having great force. Many of our English poets have displayed a fine faculty of writing epigrams.
The birthplace of Homer is a disputed point, and has given rise to not a few essays and epigrams. Thomas Heywood, in one of his poetical publications, published in 1640, wrote:--
”Seven cities warr'd for Homer, being dead, Who, living, had no roof to shroud his head.”
Much in the same strain wrote Thomas Seward, a century and a half later:--
”Seven wealthy towns contend for Homer dead, Through which the living Homer begg'd his bread.”
The two writers have not stated fully the number of cities which claim to have given birth to Homer. The number is nearer twenty than seven. Pope, in his translation of Homer, was a.s.sisted by a poet named William Broome, a circ.u.mstance which prompted John Henley to pen the following:--
”Pope came off clean with Homer; but, they say, Broome went before, and kindly swept the way.”
Butler, the author of ”Hudibras,” was much neglected during his life. It is true that Charles II. and his courtiers read and were delighted with his poem, but they did not extend to him any patronage. The greater part of his days were pa.s.sed in obscurity and poverty. He had been buried about forty years when a monument was placed in Westminster Abbey to his memory, by John Barber, a printer, and afterwards an Alderman and Lord Mayor of London. Samuel Wesley wrote on the memorial the following lines:--
”Whilst Butler, needy wretch! was yet alive, No gen'rous patron would a dinner give; See him, when starved to death, and turn'd to dust, Presented with a monumental bust!
The poet's fate is here in emblem shown,-- He asked for bread, and he receiv'd a stone.”
An epitaph similar in sentiment to the foregoing was placed by Horace Walpole over the remains of Theodore, King of Corsica, who, after many trials and disappointments, ended his life as a prisoner for debt in King's Bench, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Anne's, Westminster:--
”The grave, great teacher, to a level brings Heroes and beggars, galley slaves and kings.
But Theodore this moral learn'd ere dead; Fate pour'd its lesson on his living head; Bestow'd a kingdom, and denied him bread.”
The fourth Earl of Chesterfield, on seeing a whole-length portrait of Nash between the busts of Sir Isaac Newton and Pope in the rooms at Bath, wrote as follows:--
”Immortal Newton never spoke More truth than here you'll find; Nor Pope himself e'er penn'd a joke More cruel on mankind.
The picture, plac'd the busts between, Gives satire all its strength: Wisdom and Wit are little seen, But Folly at full length.”
Stephen Duck's poetry and progress in life gave rise to some lively lines by the lampooners of the eighteenth century. He was an agricultural labourer, having a thirst for knowledge and some skill as a writer of verse. This humble and self-taught student was brought under the notice of Queen Caroline, who was much interested in his welfare, and pleased with his poetry; she granted him a pension of 30 a year. He was next made a yeoman of the guard, an appointment he did not long retain, for he was advanced to the position of a clergyman in the Church of England, and presented to the living of Byfleet, Surrey. It is to be feared that his education was not sufficiently liberal for a clerk in holy orders. Dean Swift a.s.sailed the poor poet as follows:--
”The thresher Duck could o'er the Queen prevail; The proverb says 'No fence against a flail.'
From thres.h.i.+ng corn he turns to thresh his brains, For which Her Majesty allows him grains.
Though 'tis confess'd that those who ever saw His poems, think them all not worth a straw.
Thrice happy Duck, employed in thres.h.i.+ng stubble!
Thy toil is lessen'd and thy profits doubled.”
The want of dignity displayed in the foregoing is unworthy of Swift, and the reply as follows made by Duck is certainly much to his credit:--
”You think it, censor, mighty strange That, born a country clown, I should my first profession change And wear a chaplain's gown!
<script>