Sir William Davenant.

BORN A. D. 1605.-DIED A. D. 1668.

THIS once popular writer was born at Oxford in the February of 1605, and was the son of a vintner, who kept a tavern with the sign of the Crown, but was a man of such acknowledged respectability, that notwithstanding his occupation he served in 1621 the office of mayor. It is related of him that his demeanour was singularly grave, and that no person had ever seen him laugh. The mother of the poet is said to have been as remarkable for her beauty, as his father was for gravity; but they seem to have been alike in their parental fondness for their son, who was carefully educated first in the grammar school of a Mr Edward Sylvester, and afterwards in Lincoln college, where he had for his tutor Mr Daniel Haigh, one of the fellows. He was, however, little distinguished for application to the usual branches of academical study. The acquaintance he obtained with logic and philosophy was only sufficient to preserve him from being ranked among the least worthy of his fellow-collegians; but it is added by Mr Wood, that though he had only an indifferent stock of university learning, "yet he made as high and noble flights in the poetical faculty as Fancy could advance without it."

On quitting college, he entered the service of the duchess of Richmond, to whom the brightness of his wit and other accomplishments were a recommendation little depreciated by his want of more solid merits. From the house of this lady, he passed to that of Sir Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, a nobleman distinguished for his patronage of literature, and fondness for the fine arts; and of whom it was recorded on his tomb that he had been servant to Queen Elizabeth, counsellor to King James, and friend to Sir Philip Sydney. Sir Fulke held the talents of our poet in the highest estimation; and he enjoyed while under the protection of this patron, not only the countenance of a man whose own taste and ability were well-fitted to aid him in his pursuits, but the society of the most celebrated wits of the time. Unfortunately for him, Lord Brooke died before he could reap from his friendship all the advantages which he might have hoped to enjoy in his service; but on his lordship's decease, which occurred in 1628, he ventured to appear in the character of an author before the public, and was so successful in his dramas as to obtain the patronage of Mr Endymion Porter, and Henry Jermyn, afterwards Earl of St Alban's. He was received at the same time into the circle formed of the most eminent men of the day, as one of themselves, and had the credit of being noticed-though with no very agreeable compliment-by Sir John Suckling, in the Session of Poets. His reputation was, by these circumstances, kept continually on the increase, and, at length, on the death of Ben Johnson, he was elected to the office of poet-laureate. In this situation he continued till the May of 1641, when he became involved in the political troubles of the country. The chief personages of the court having determined to make an effort in favour of the unfortunate Charles, while there was yet time, had entered into a combination to secure the assistance of the army against

the parliament. In this party were included Goring, Wilmot, Ashburnham, and Davenant's friend, Jermyn. From his situation and connections, the poet was almost necessarily obliged to take a deep share in their proceedings. Accordingly, when the plot was discovered to the house of commons, he was among the first who found it expedient to escape from the metropolis. He had not, however, got farther than Feversham in Kent, when he was apprehended and committed to the custody of the serjeant-at-arms. By the interest he was able to make, he soon recovered his freedom, and in July proceeded to France. He remained, however, but a short period in that country, and on his return to England was graciously received by the marquess of Newcastle, who had then the command of a large force in the north, which he had raised in defence of the king. It does not appear that Davenant had had much opportunity of acquiring any military knowledge, but the marquess had sufficient confidence in his ability to make him lieutenant-general of the ordnance, in which capacity he served with the royalist forces when they besieged the city of Gloucester. The favour shown him by the marquess of Newcastle was confirmed by the kindness of Charles himself, who, while the army was engaged in the siege, bestowed on him the honour of knighthood.

The affairs of the king shortly after this, began every day to wear a less promising aspect. In this situation of things, Sir William Davenant either deemed it prudent himself, or was especially directed by his friends, to repair again to France, where we find that he was admitted into the confidence of Charles' queen, who was then abroad. The intercourse which he thereby kept up with her party, had the effect of still farther estranging him from that portion of his countrymen who were so soon to have possession of the sovereign authority. It was to his credit that his zeal and loyalty increased with the decline of his master's fortunes; but he appears to have been more firm in his political than in his religious opinions, and to have been more ardent and honest, than clear-sighted and reasonable. One of the first effects of his residence near the exiled queen, was his recantation of protestantism ; and the well-educated student of Oxford was admitted, through the instrumentality of foreign priests, into the communion of the Church of Rome. So great was the confidence reposed in him by the unfortunate Henrietta, that she employed him as her messenger to the king, when she desired to persuade his majesty to pursue a more moderate line of conduct with his subjects than that which had by this time involved the whole country in civil war. But Sir William Davenant was, it appears, as little calculated as a person could be to perform so delicate a task. The king had never known him in any other character than that of a poet, and the favourite of courtiers. He had given no instance of political wisdom; and it was not probable that he had acquired much knowledge of this kind since his residence in France. Charles, therefore, gave little heed to the message which he brought from his consort; and on his presuming to add some arguments of his own, the king is said to have dismissed him with a degree of severity not common to the character of that monarch.

On his return to Paris, after this unsuccessful expedition, he commenced his poem of Gondibert, but being fond of adventure, and desiring to repair his fortunes-which there now seemed so little chance

299

of doing in his native country-he formed the bold design of carrying over a number of mechanics and weavers to the new state of Virginia. In this scheme he was assisted by the queen, who procured him the permission of the king of France to put it into execution, and he had actually set sail with his colonists, but was suddenly stopped in his career by the approach of an English man-of-war, which, in the name of the commonwealth, seized his vessel, and carried him a prisoner to the Isle of Wight. It was while awaiting his fate in Cowes castle that he finished the first part of the poem of Gondibert, in the postscript to which, dated October 22, 1650, he thus pathetically speaks of his situation. "I am here arrived at the middle of the third book, which makes an equal half of the poem; and I was now by degrees to present you, as I promised in the preface, the several keys of the main building, which should convey you through such short walks, as give an easy view of the whole frame. But it is high time to strike sail, and cast anchor, though I have run but half my course, when at the helm I am threatened with death; who, though he can visit but once, seems troublesome, and, even in the innocent, may beget such gravity as diverts the music of verse. And I beseech thee (if thou art so civil as to be pleased with what is written,) not to take it ill, that I run not on to my last gasp. For though I intended in this poem to strip nature naked, and clothe her again in the perfect shape of virtue, yet even in so worthy a design I shall ask leave to desist, when I am interrupted by so great an experiment as dying; and it is an experiment to the most experienced; for no man (though his mortifications may be much greater than mine) can say he has already died."

From Cowes castle he was removed to the Tower of London, where he was kept preparatory to his trial before the high court of justice. But, contrary to his apprehensions, he escaped the peril in which he was thus placed, and he was indebted for his delivery to no other than Milton, who was then high in authority, and who, losing all asperity of political feeling in his veneration for literary talent, successfully employed his interest for the delivery of the captive poet. Sir William was accordingly allowed to go at large, and he took advantage of his liberty to resume his labours as a dramatist. The restrictions which Cromwell and his government had put upon the stage, prevented his pursuing the regular tract of theatrical writers, and he was thus led to invent the opera which was to be performed, says Wood, "by declamations and music, and that they might be performed with all decency, seemliness, and without rudeness and profaneness, John Maynard, serjeant-atlaw, and several sufficient citizens, were engagers." At the Restoration, Sir William greatly improved the plan of these operas, and under the patronage of the duke of York, opened a theatre at the Tennis court, in Little Lincoln's-inn-fields. The remainder of his somewhat adventurous life was tranquil and not unprosperous. His theatre enjoyed a considerable share of public attention, and his reputation as a poet was acknowledged at his death by his burial in Westminster abbey. Dryden has given the character of this writer with great propriety, and though his remarks breathe rather of eulogy than criticism, they show that he had carefully estimated Sir William's talents, and seen in what his merit more particularly consisted. "I found him," says he, "of so quick a fancy, that nothing was proposed to him on which he could not

suddenly produce a thought extremely pleasant and surprising; and those first thoughts of his, contrary to the old Latin proverb, were not always the least happy. And as his fancy was quick, so likewise were the products of it remote and new. He borrowed not of any other, and his imaginations were such as could not easily enter into any other man. His corrections were sober and judicious, and he corrected his own writings much more severely than those of another man, bestowing twice the time and labour in polishing which he used in invention." Dryden had ample means for judging of the ability of Davenant, and of his methods of composition. The opinion he has given of him, however, while it proves how well he was qualified to please the age in which he flourished by the liveliness of his fancy, represents him to us as yielding full obedience to the bad taste of his age-to that straining after originality, which, in nine cases out of ten, produced only misconceptions, ingenious perversions of nature, instead of the pure and beautiful offspring of free genius.

Robert Herrick.

RORN A. D. 1591.-DIED CIR. A. D. 1670.

ROBERT HERRICK, a minor poet of considerable merit, was born in the year 1591, and lived to an advanced age, although the exact period of his death has not been ascertained. He was the fourth son of Nicholas Herrick of St Vedast. Wood assigns him a place in his 'Athenæ Oxonienses,' but it is certain that Cambridge was his Alma Mater. He was of St John's college from 1615 to 1617, and afterwards removed to Trinity. On the promotion of Dr Potter to the see of Carlisle, Herrick obtained the vicarage of Dean Prior in Devonshire. His 'Hesperides' appeared in 1648, shortly after he had been ejected from his vicarage by the parliamentarians, and had reassumed his lay title. It is a collection of beautiful lyric pieces, exquisite in their versification, and full of fancy and feeling. The following stanzas may be taken as an average specimen of the volume :—

It is to be regretted that the productions of this pleasing writer should ever be disfigured by the indelicacy and coarseness of expression which we sometimes encounter in his works.

James Shirley.

BORN A. D. 1596.—died A. D. 1666.

THIS celebrated dramatic poet was descended from the Shirleys of Sussex or Warwickshire. He was born in September, 1596, in the parish of St Mary Woolchurch, London. At twelve years of age he was admitted into Merchant-tailors' school, where he displayed superior abilities. In 1612 he entered St John's college, Oxford. "At the same time," says Wood, "Dr William Laud presiding in that house, he had a very great affection for him, especially for the pregnant parts that were visible in him; but then having a broad or large mole upon his left cheek, which some esteemed a deformity, that worthy doctor would often tell him that he was an unfit person to take the sacred function upon him, and should never have his consent so to do." He seems to have quitted Oxford without taking a degree; but he afterwards repaired to Cambridge, where he graduated Master of Arts. His earliest publication was entitled, Eccho, or the Infortunate Lovers,' a poem. It was printed at London in 1618, but his latest biographer, Mr Dyce, says that not a single copy of this edition of the poem is known to survive: it was probably the same, however, that was printed in 1646, under the title of Narcissus, or the Self-Lover.' Having finished his academical course, he took orders, and obtained a living; but only a short time elapsed between his establishment in a benefice, and his conversion to Roman Catholicism. There seems no reason to believe that Shirley's motives were not conscientious in making this change of religious profession. With it, however, he abandoned the clerical profession altogether, and became a teacher in St Alban's grammar-school; "which employment also," says Wood, “he finding uneasy to him, he retired to the metropolis, lived in Gray's inn, and set up for a play-maker."

'Love Tricks, or the School of Complement,' was the earliest dramatic production of Shirley, and it would appear from the language of the prologue to this piece, that, at the time of its publication, its author entertained no thoughts of devoting himself to the drama. Pepys tells us, in his gossipping memoranda, that he saw this piece acted in the duke of York's house, on the 5th of August, 1667, and that it proved but " a silly play." His second piece was The Maid's Revenge,' which was licensed in 1625. From this period up to the Restoration Shirley continued to write actively for the stage, besides producing various masques, interludes, and minor pieces. He died in 1666.

Thirty-three regular five-act pieces are printed in Gifford and Dyce's edition of that poet's dramatic works. It is remarkable that, out of all this number, there is not one which has its foundation on native British history. "Most of his plays," says Mr Dyce, "are tragi-comedies, now sprightly and broadly humorous; now serious and solemn. The happiest efforts of his genius will perhaps be found in the tragic