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accommodations, is to them a matter of perfect indifference." Whether his heart was torn with the agonies of love or not, Cowper does not tell us. He has left no confessions of this nature. His appeal is not to our passionate 'prentice years, but to our maturity, when having suffered, we have learnt our lesson, and profited by it to pass out of the petty circle of ourselves into the study of life's larger whole.LAW, ALICE, 1900, William Cowper, Fortnightly Review, vol. 73, p. 777.

Cowper was pre-eminently a poet of feelings; he may have been melancholy, but he pointed out to his readers how they were themselves subjects of emotion. He owed a debt to Providence, and he rebuked the people for their follies. In doing so he was regardless of his own fame and of their opprobrium. He gave them tolerable advice, and strove to awaken them from their apathy to a sense of their duty towards their neighbours. First, of poets, since the days of Milton, to champion the sacredness of religion, he was the forerunner of a new school that disliked the political satires of the disciples of Pope, and aimed at borrowing for their lines of song from the simple beauties of a perfect. nature. SPENDER, A. EDMUND, 1900, The Centenary of Cowper, The Westminster Review, vol. 153, p. 545.

Cowper knew every landmark about Olney and weaved many a one into his verse. He loved Nature in his gentle way, and her influence must often have been a healing one, when thoughts of those dark insane fits, which turned his homely life into a tragedy, hovered about his mind. He did not observe her with so nice an eye as poor Clare the peasant, who beginning in gladness also ended in the despondency and madness which a poet has declared to be the lot of poets; and I have always had my doubts about the nightingale which he believed he heard in full song on New Year's Day. And yet the "Winter Walk at Noon," among other poems, has lines and descriptions worth remembering. The rich laburnum-"laburnum," as Tennyson put it, "drooping wells of fire"-and the leafless but lovely mezereon and the myriad blossomed yellow broom of full summertide these and many other features in the pageant of the spring and summer he noted and set forth with a lover's eye, if in rather stilted language and in somewhat too much the form of a catalogue to please us to-day. Cowper belonged as a poet of nature rather to the Thomson than the Wordsworth school.-DEWAR, GEORGE A. B., 1900, William Cowper, The Saturday Review, vol. 89, p. 521.

Joseph Warton

1722-1800

Born at Dunsfold, Surrey, was the son of the Rev. Thomas Warton (1688-1745), vicar of Basingstoke and Oxford professor of Poetry. In 1740 he passed from Winchester to Oriel, and, rector of Winslade from 1748, returned to Winchester as second master in 1755, and was its head 1766-93. His preferments were a prebend of St. Paul's, the living of Thorley, a prebend of Winchester, and the rectories of Easton and Upham. His "Odes" (1746) marked a reaction from Pope. An edition of Virgil (1753), with translation of the "Eclogues" and "Georgics," gained him a high reputation. He was, like his brother Thomas, a member of the Literary Club. In 1756 appeared vol. i. of his "Essay on Pope" (vol. ii. in 1782), with its distinction between the poetry of reason and the poetry of fancy. Later works were editions of Pope (1797) and Dryden. See the panegyrical "Memoir" by Wooll (1806).-PATRICK AND GROOME, eds., 1897, Chambers's Biographical Dictionary, p. 956.

That ardent mind which had so eminently distinguished the exercise of his public duties, did not desert him in the hours of leisure and retirement; for inactivity was foreign to his nature. His parsonage, his farm, his garden, were cultivated and adorned with the eagerness and taste of undiminished youth. His

lively sallies of playful wit, his rich stores of literary anecdote, and the polished and habitual ease with which he imperceptibly entered into the various ideas and pursuits of men, rendered him an acquaintance both profitable and amusing; whilst his unaffected piety and unbounded charity stamped him a pastor adored by his

parishioners. Difficult indeed would it. be to decide whether he shone in a degree less, in this social character, than in the closest of criticism or the chair of instruction.-WOOLL, JOHN, 1806, Memoirs of Warton.

I knew Joseph Warton well. When Matthias attacked him in "The Pursuits of Literature" for reprinting some loose things in his edition of Pope, Joseph wrote a letter to me, in which he called Matthias "his pious critic, "-rather an odd expression to come from a clergyman.-He certainly ought not to have given that letter of Lord Cobham.-ROGERS, SAMUEL, 1855, Table-Talk, p. 133.

He remained a schoolmaster for thirtyeight years. As a teacher Warton achieved little success. He was neither an exact

scholar nor a disciplinarian. Thrice in his
headmastership the boys openly mutinied
against him, and inflicted on him ludicrous
humiliations. The third insurrection took
place in the summer of 1793, and, after
ingloriously suppressing it, Warton pru-
dently resigned his post. His easy good
nature secured for him the warm affection
of many of his pupils, among whom his
favourites were William Lisle Bowles and
Richard Mant. Although the educational
fame of the school did not grow during his
régime, his social and literary reputation
gave his office increased dignity and im-
portance. In 1778 George III visited the
college, Warton's private guests on the
occasion included Sir Joshua Reynolds and
Garrick.-LEE, SIDNEY, 1899, Dictionary
of National Biography, vol. LIX, p. 429.
H. S. E.

JOSEPHUS WARTON, S. T. P.
HUJUS ECCLESIÆ
PREBENDARIUS:

SCHOLE WINTONIENSIS
PER ANNOS FERE TRIGINTA
INFORMATOR:

POETA FERVIDUS, FACILIS, EXPOLITUS:
CRITICUS ERUDITUS, PRESPICAX, ELEGANS:
OBIIT XXIII° FEB. MDCCC.,
ETAT. LXXVIII.

HOC QUALECUNQUE
PIETATIS MONUMENTUM

PRÆCEPTORI OPTIMO,

DESIDERATISSIMO,

WICCAMICI SUI

P. C.

- INSCRIPTION ON TOMB, WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL.

ESSAY AND EDITION OF POPE. Is, I think, the most extraordinary work I ever read, and is indeed everything but what it promises. The writer seems to have copied, and impudently enough printed, his commonplace book of anecdotes and remarks upon various writers. Some parts are indeed critical, but his criticisms are not in my opinion always just, and there is but little anywhere to be found that can be called new. CHARLEMONT, LORD, 1782, Letter to Edmond Malone, Oct. 4, Life by Prior, p. 96.

Though by nature one of the most candid and liberal of critics, continues, as a biographer, to indulge that prejudice which had early induced him, in his popular "Essay" on this illustrious poet, to endeavour to sink him a little in the scale of poetical renown not, I believe, from any envious motive, but as an affectionate compliment to his friend Young, the patron to whom he inscribed his Essay.-HAYLEY, WILLIAM, 1803, The Life and Posthumous Writings of William Cowper, vol. II, p. 157.

Dr. Joseph Warton was an exquisite scholar, of very general reading, a man of the purest taste, and of some genius; yet it is obvious that he had not clearly settled in his own mind the theoretic principles of poetry, otherwise he would not have wavered in so feeble a manner, in finally drawing up a summary of the poetical merits of Pope, in his elegant "Essay" on that poet.-BRYDGES, SIR SAMUEL EGERTON, 1824, Recollections of Foreign Travel, Aug. 6, vol. 1, p. 257.

He was seventy-five when he published his edition of Pope, and to save himself trouble he apportioned out the old farrago in notes. Profuse in digressions, he is sparing of needful explanations His turn was for the lighter portions of criticism and biography, and most of his apposite remarks are critical opinions. They are often just, but never profound, for he had neither fervid feelings nor a robust understanding, and his highest qualities are a fair poetical taste, and a tolerable acquaintance with ancient and modern authors.ELWIN, WHITWELL, 1871, ed., The Works of Alexander Pope, Introduction, vol. I, p. xxiii.

His delay in following up the first volume of his "Essay" with a second, and the long period of forty years which elapsed between his first volume and his edition,

have led to its being asserted that he abstained, from fear of Warburton. This assertion is not supported by Dr. Johnson, who, when asked the reason of Warton's delay in bringing out the second volume of his "Essay," said, he supposed "it was because he could not persuade the world to be of his opinion about Pope." But Warton may, very likely, have been afraid of Warburton. If he was, such fear would have been no imputation on his courage and honour. He may, nay, he must, have feared Warburton, not as cowed by his superiority, but as a just and reasonableminded man fears the contact of the irrepressible slanderer. He feared dirt, not confutation. It was impossible to suppress Warburton, and Warton was too refined a scholar to fight him with his own weapons of scurrility and abuse. When a man is incurably wrong-headed, the only resource is to avoid him. If it seems unhandsome in Warton to have spoken his opinion of the Bishop after his death, having preserved silence for so many years, it should be remembered that what might have been presumptuous in him at thirty-five, when he was only beginning to be known, was no longer so at seventyfive, when he had a long and honourable career of a life devoted to learning behind Strange to say, though Warton's Pope was published in 1797, and though it has been superseded in the market, it has never yet been improved upon. -PATTISON, MARK, 1872-89, Pope and His Editors, Essays, ed. Nettleship, vol. II, pp. 368, 373.

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GENERAL

Have you seen the works of two young authors, a Mr. Warton and a Mr. Collins, both writers of Odes? It is odd enough, but each is the half of a considerable man, and one the counterpart of the other. The first has but little invention, very poetical choice of expression, and a good ear. The second, a fine fancy, modelled upon the antique, a bad ear, great variety of words, and images with no choice at all. They both deserve to last some years but will not.-GRAY, THOMAS, 1746, Letter to Thomas Wharton, Dec. 27; Works, ed. Gosse, vol. II, p. 159.

To every classical reader, indeed, Warton's Virgil will afford the richest fund of instruction and amusement; and as a professional man, I hesitate not to declare,

that I scarcely know a work, to the upper classes of schools, so pregnant with the most valuable advantages: as it imparts information, without the encouragement of idleness; and crowns the exertions of necessary and laudable industry with the acquisition of a pure and unadulterated taste.-WOOLL, JOHN, 1806, Memoirs of Warton, p. 28.

The power which feels, and the power which originates poetry, are totally distinct. The former no writer seems to have possessed with more exquisite precision, than Dr. Warton; and I do not mean to deny that he possessed the latter in a considerable degree: I only say that his powers of execution do not seem to have been equal to his taste.-BRYDGES, SIR SAMUEL EGERTON, 1807, Censura Literaria, vol. III, p. 199.

On this small collection of Lyric verse the fame of Dr. Warton, as a poet, principally rests. Of the seventeen Odes, however, of which it is composed, there are but two entitled to an elevated rank for their lofty tones and high finish; the Odes "To Fancy" and "On reading Mr. West's Pindar," and of these the first is much the superior. It abounds, indeed, in a succession of strongly contrasted and highwrought imagery, clothed in a versification of the sweetest cadence and most brilliant polish. . . . The studies and propensities of Warton peculiarly fitted him for a translator of this portion of Virgil. His knowledge of the language of his original was intimate and critical; he was well versed in the manners, customs, and mythology of the ancients; he had a strong relish of the tender and sympathetic; his taste was delicately pure and chastised, and his versification correctly harmonious. With these qualifications, he has produced a translation of the Georgics which, in taste, costume, and fidelity, in sweetness, tenderness, and simplicity, has far exceeded any previous attempt, and has only been rivalled by the version of Mr. Sotheby. -DRAKE, NATHAN, 1810, Essays, Illustrative of the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler, vol. II, pp. 117, 123.

As a critic, Dr. Warton is distinguished by his love of the fanciful and romantic. He examined our poetry at a period when it appeared to him that versified observations on familiar life and manners had usurped the honours which

were exclusively due to the bold and inventive powers of imagination.

The school of the Wartons, considering them as poets, was rather too studiously prone to description. The doctor, like his brother, certainly so far realized his own ideas of inspiration, as to burden his verse with few observations on life which oppress the mind by their solidity. To his brother he is obviously inferior in the graphic and romantic style of composition, at which he aimed; but in which, it must nevertheless be owned, that in some parts of his "Ode to Fancy" he has been pleasingly successful. CAMPBELL, THOMAS, 1819, Specimens of the British Poets.

His reputation as a critic and a scholar has preserved his poetry from neglect. Of his Odes, that to Fancy, written when he was very young, is one that least disappoints us by a want of poetic feeling. Yet if we compare it with that by Collins, on the Poetical Character, we shall see of how much higher beauty the same subject was capable. In the "Ode to Evening,' he has again tried his strength with Collins. There are some images of rural life in it that have the appearance of being drawn from nature, and which therefore please. In his "Dying Indian," he has produced a few lines of extraordinary force and pathos. The rest of his poems, in blank verse, are for the most part of an indifferent structure.-CARY, HENRY FRANCIS, 1821-24-45, Lives of the English Poets, From Johnson to Kirke White, pp. 177, 178.

One of the ripest scholars and soundest critics England has produced.-CLEVELAND, CHARLES D., 1853, English Literature of the Nineteenth Century, p. 19.

Joseph Warton was not one of those original men of genius who rouse our curiosity and leave their mark on their age. Johnson, with far less learning, and Gray, who left only a few hundred lines of fragmentary poetry, will count as more remarkable men than Warton. But if, from want of force of character, Warton does not hold a first place among his contemporaries, he will always claim the regard of students of our literature, both for what he was himself, and for the new direction which he impressed on poetical criticism criticism in this country.-PATTISON, MARK, 1872-89, Pope and His Editors, Essays, ed. Nettleship, vol. II, p. 369.

What Warton laid down as principles in his prose essays, he tried to exemplify in his verse. He turned directly away from Classicism, and drew his inspiration from fresh out-door nature and from meditative melancholy. Perhaps he is the first consciously romantic poet in the eighteenth century.-PHELPS, WILLIAM LYON, 1893, The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement, p. 92.

Warton deserves remembrance as a

learned and sagacious critic. He was a literary, not a philological, scholar. His verse, although it indicates a true appreciation of natural scenery, is artificial and constrained in expression. He was well equipped for the rôle of literary historian, but his great designs in that field. never passed far beyond the stage of preliminary meditation. It was as a leader of the revolution which overtook literary criticism in England in the eighteenth century that his chief work was done.-LEE, SIDNEY, 1899, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. LIX, p. 430.

Elizabeth Montagu

1720-1800

An

Born at York, Oct. 2, 1720: died at Montagu House, London, Aug. 25, 1800. English author and social leader. On Aug 5, 1742, she married Edward Montagu, grandson of the first Earl of Sandwich. After 1750 she held her salon in Hill street, Mayfair. The epithet "blue-stocking" was first applied to her assemblies. Among her visitors were Lord Lyttelton, Burke, Garrick, and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Her younger associates included Hannah More and Fanny Burney. In 1760 she contributed three dialogues to Lyttelton's "Dialogues of the Dead." She visited Paris after the peace of 1763. In 1769 she wrote an essay on the "Genius of Shakspere" in answer to Voltaire. In 1776 she built Montagu House, now No. 22 Portman Square, where she died. (This was not the Montagu House upon the site of which the British Museum was built.) SMITH, BENJAMIN E., 1894-97, The Century Cyclopedia of Names, p. 700.

PERSONAL

The husband of Mrs. Montagu, of Shakespeareshire, is dead, and has left her an estate of seven thousand pounds a year in her own power. Will you come and be candidate for her hand? I conclude it will be given to a champion at some Olympic games; and were I she, I would sooner marry you than Pindar. WALPOLE, HORACE, 1775, Letter to William Mason; Letters, ed. Cunningham, vol. VI, p. 217.

Just returned from spending one of the most agreeable days of my life, with the female Mæcenas of Hill-street; she en gaged me five or six days ago to dine with her, and had assembled half the wits of the age. The only fault that charming woman has, is, that she is fond of collecting too many of them together at one time. There were nineteen persons assembled at dinner, but after the repast, she has a method of dividing her guests, or rather letting them assort themselves, into little groups of five or six each. I spent my time in going from one to the other of these little societies, as I happened more or less to like the subjects they were discussing. Mrs. Scott, Mrs. Montagu's sister, a very good writer, Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Barbauld, and a man of letters, whose name I have forgotten, made up one of these little parties. When we had canvassed two or three subjects, I stole off and joined in with the next group, which was composed of Mrs. Montagu, Dr. Johnson, the Provost of Dublin, and two other ingenious men.

MORE, HANNAH, 1776, Letter to her Sister, Memoirs, ed. Roberts, vol. I, p. 44.

Mrs. Montague wants to make up with me again. I dare say she does; but I will not be taken and left even at the pleasure of those who are much nearer and dearer to me than Mrs. Montague. We want no flash, no flattery. I never had more of either in my life, nor ever lived half so happily: Mrs. Montague wrote creeping letters when she wanted my help, or foolishly thought she did, and then turned her back upon me and sent her adherents to do the same. -THRALE, HESTER LYNCH (MRS. Piozzi), 1789, Journal, May 1; Autobiography, ed. Hayward, p. 107.

To me, on all occasions, ever since 1771, when I first became acquainted with her, she has been a faithful and affectionate friend especially in seasons of distress and difficulty. You will not wonder, then,

For some years

that her death afflicts me. past a failure in her eyes had made writing very painful to her; but for not less than twenty years she was my punctual correspondent. She was greatly attached to Montagu, who received his name from her, and not less interested in my other son, and in everything that related to my family. I need not tell you what an excellent writer she was: you must have seen her book on Shakespeare, as compared with the Greek and French dramatic writers. I have known several ladies eminent in literature, but she excelled them all; and in conversation she had more wit than any other person, male or female, whom I have ever known. These, however, were her slighter accomplishments: what was infinitely more to her honour, she was a sincere Christian, both in faith and in practice, and took every proper opportunity to show it; so that by her example and influence she did much good.BEATTIE, JAMES, 1799, Letter to Rev. Dr. Laing, March 7; Forbes' Life of Beattie, vol. III, p. 162.

At the same time of which I speak, the gens de lettres, or "Blue Stockings," as they were commonly denominated, formed a very numerous, powerful, compact phalanx in the midst of London.

Mrs.

Montague was then the Madame du Deffand stituted the central point of union, for all of the English capital; and her house conthose persons who already were known, or who emulated to become known by their talents and productions. Her supremacy

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was indeed established on more solid foundations than those of intellect, and rested on more tangible materials than any with which Shakspeare himself could furnish her. Though she had not as yet begun to construct the splendid mansion in which she afterwards resided near Portman Square, but lived in an elegant house in Hill Street Mrs. Montague was accustomed to open her house to a large company of both sexes, whom she frequently entertained at dinner. A service of plate, and a table plentifully covered, disposed her guests to admire the splendour of her fortune, not less than the lustre of her talents. Montague, in 1776, verged towards her sixtieth year. But her person, which was thin, spare, and in good preservation, gave her an appearance of less antiquity. From

Mrs.

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