Part 8 (1/2)

[Footnote 7: He was a candidate this year at Westminster school for election to Trinity college, but proved unsuccessful.]

[Footnote 8: In the first edition of this life, Dr. Johnson wrote, ”which was never inserted in any collection of his works;” but he altered the expression when the Lives were collected into volumes. The satire was added to Cowley's works by the particular direction of Dr. Johnson. N.]

[Footnote 9: Consulting the Virgilian lots, Sortes Virgilianae, is a method of divination by the opening of Virgil, and applying to the circ.u.mstances of the peruser the first pa.s.sage in either of the two pages that he accidentally fixes his eye on. It is said, that king Charles the first, and lord Falkland, being in the Bodleian library, made this experiment of their future fortunes, and met with pa.s.sages equally ominous to each.

That of the king was the following:

At bello audacis populi vexatus et armis, Finibus extorris, complexu avulsus luli, Auxilium imploret, videatque indigna suorum Funera, nec, c.u.m se sub leges pacis iniquae Tradiderit, regno aut optata luce fruatur: Sed cadat ante diem, mediaque inhumatus arena. Aeneid. iv. 615.

Yet let a race untam'd, and haughty foes, His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose, Oppress'd with numbers in th' unequal field, His men discourag'd and himself expell'd: Let him for succour sue from place to place, Torn from his subjects and his son's embrace.

First let him see his friends in battle slain, And their untimely fate lament in vain: And when, at length, the cruel war shall cease, On hard conditions may he buy his peace; Nor let him then enjoy supreme command.

But fall untimely by some hostile hand, And lie unburied on the barren sand. DRYDEN.

Lord Falkland's:

Non haec, O Palla, dederas promissa parenti, Cautius ut saevo velles te credere Marti.

Haud ignarus eram, quantum nova gloria in armis, Et praedulce decus primo certamine posset.

Primitiae juvenis miserae, bellique propinqui Dura rudimenta, et nulli exaudita deorum, Vota precesque meae! Aeneid. xi. 152.

O Pallas, thou hast fail'd thy plighted word, To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword; I warn'd thee, but in vain, for well I knew What perils youthful ardour would pursue, That boiling blood would carry thee too far, Young as thou wert to dangers, raw to war.

O curst essay of arms, disastrous doom, Prelude of b.l.o.o.d.y fields and fights to come!

Hard elements of unauspicious war, Vain vows to heaven, and unavailing care! DRYDEN

Hoffman, in his Lexicon, gives a very satisfactory account of this practice of seeking fates in books: and says, that it was used by the pagans, the jewish rabbins, and even the early Christians; the latter taking the New Testament for their oracle.]

[Footnote 10: Johnson has exhibited here us little feeling for the neglected servant of the thankless house of Stewart, as he displayed in the cold contempt of his sixth Rambler. An unmeaning compliment from a worthless king was Cowley's only recompense for years of faithful and painful services. A heart loyal and affectionate, like his, may well be excused the utterance of its pains, when wounded by those for whom it would so cheerfully have poured forth its blood. We repeat, that Cowley's misfortune was his devotion to a family, who invariably forgot, in their prosperity, those who had defended them in the day of adversity. ED.]

[Footnote 11: See Campbell's Poets, iv. 75.]

[Footnote 12: By May's poem, we are here to understand a continuation of Lucan's Pharsalia, to the death of Julius Caesar, by Thomas May, an eminent poet and historian, who flourished in the reigns of James and Charles the first, and of whom a life is given in the Biographia Britannica. The merit of Cowley's Latin poems is well examined in Censura Literatia, vol. viii. See also Warton's Preface to Milton's Juvenile Poems. ED.]

[Footnote 13: 1663.]

[Footnote 14: Here is an error in the designation of this comedy, which our author copied from the t.i.tle page of the latter editions of Cowley's works: the t.i.tle of the play itself is without the article, ”Cutter of Coleman street,” and that, because a merry sharking fellow about the town, named Cutter, is a princ.i.p.al character in it.]

[Footnote 15: L'Allegro of Milton. Dr. J.]

[Footnote 16: About three hundred pounds per annum. See Campbell's Poets, iv.]

[Footnote 17: Now in the possession of Mr. Clark, alderman of London.

Dr. J.--Mr. Clark was, in 1798, elected to the important office of chamberlain of London; and has every year since been unanimously reelected. N.]

[Footnote 18: For metaphysical poets, see Brydges' Rest.i.tuta, vol. iv.]

[Footnote 19: It is but justice to the memory of Cowley, to quote here an exquisite stanza which Johnson has inserted in the Idler, No. 77, where he says; ”Cowley seems to have possessed the power of writing easily beyond any other of our poets; yet his pursuit of remote thought led him often into harshness of expression.” The stanza is to a lady elaborately dressed:

Th' adorning thee with so much art Is but a barb'rous skill, 'Tis like the pois'ning of a dart Too apt before to kill. ED.]