Theophilus Cibber - The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753)

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We shall take a quotation from his version of the 104th psalm.

My soul the Lord for ever bless:
O God! thy greatness all confess;
Whom majesty and honour vest,
In robes of light eternal drest.

He heaven made his canopy;
His chambers in the waters lye:
His chariot is the cloudy storm,
And on the wings of wind is born.

He spirits makes his angels quire,
His ministers a flaming fire.
He so did earth's foundations cast,
It might remain for ever fast:

Then cloath'd it with the spacious deep,
Whose wave out-swells the mountains steep.
At thy rebuke the waters fled,
And hid their thunder-frighted head.

They from the mountains streaming flow,
And down into the vallies go:
Then to their liquid center hast,
Where their collected floods are cast.

These in the ocean met, and joyn'd,
Thou hast within a bank confin'd:
Not suff'ring them to pass their bound,
Lest earth by their excess be drown'd.

He from the hills his chrystal springs
Down running to the vallies brings:
Which drink supply, and coolness yield,
To thirsting beasts throughout the field.

By them the fowls of heaven rest,
And singing in their branches nest.
He waters from his clouds the hills;
The teeming earth with plenty fills.

He grass for cattle doth produce,
And every herb for human use:
That so he may his creatures feed,
And from the earth supply their need.

He makes the clusters of the vine,
To glad the sons of men with wine.
He oil to clear the face imparts,
And bread, the strength'ner of their hearts.

The trees, which God for fruit decreed,
Nor sap, nor moistning virtue need.
The lofty cedars by his hand
In Lebanon implanted stand.

Unto the birds these shelter yield,
And storks upon the fir-trees build:
Wild goats the hills defend, and feed,
And in the rocks the conies breed.

He makes the changing moon appear,
To note the seasons of the year:
The sun from him his strength doth get,
And knows the measure of his set.

Thou mak'st the darkness of the night,
When beasts creep forth that shun the light,
Young lions, roaring after prey,
From God their hunger must allay.

When the bright sun casts forth his ray,
Down in their dens themselves they lay.
Man's labour, with the morn begun,
Continues till the day be done.

O Lord! what wonders hast thou made,
In providence and wisdom laid!
The earth is with thy riches crown'd,
And seas, where creatures most abound.

There go the ships which swiftly fly;
There great Leviathan doth lye,
Who takes his pastime in the flood:
All these do wait on thee for food.

Thy bounty is on them distill'd,
Who are by thee with goodness fill'd.
But when thou hid'st thy face, they die,
And to their dust returned lie.

Thy spirit all with life endues,
The springing face of earth renews,
God's glory ever shall endure,
Pleas'd in his works, from change secure.

Upon the earth he looketh down,
Which shrinks and trembles at his frown:
His lightnings touch, or thunders stroak,
Will make the proudest mountains smoak.

To him my ditties, whilst I live,
Or being have, shall praises give:
My meditations will be sweet,
When fixt on him my comforts meet.

Upon the earth let sinners rot,
In place, and memory forgot.
But thou, my soul, thy maker bless:
Let all the world his praise express;

Footnotes:
1. Athen. Oxon, vol. ii. p. 431. 1721 Ed.
2. Wood Athen. Oxon, p. 431, vol. 2.

* * * * *

PHILIP MASSINGER,

A poet of no small eminence, was son of Mr. Philip Massinger, a
gentleman belonging to the earl of Montgomery, in whose service he
lived[1].

He was born at Salisbury, about the year 1585, and was entered a
commoner in St. Alban's Hall in Oxford, 1601, where, though he was
encouraged in his studies (says Mr. Wood) by the earl of Pembroke, yet
he applied his mind more to poetry and romances, than to logic and
philosophy. He afterwards quitted the university without a degree, and
being impatient to move in a public sphere, he came to London, in
order to improve his poetic fancy, and polite studies by conversation,
and reading the world. He soon applied himself to the stage, and wrote
several tragedies and comedies with applause, which were admired for
the purity of their stile, and the oeconomy of their plots: he was
held in the highest esteem by the poets of that age, and there were
few who did not reckon it an honour to write in conjunction with him,
as Fletcher, Middleton, Rowley, Field and Decker did[2]. He is said to
have been a man of great modesty. He died suddenly at his house on the
bank side in Southwark, near to the then playhouse, for he went to bed
well, and was dead before morning. His body was interred in St.
Saviour's church-yard, and was attended to the grave by all the
comedians then in town, on the 18th of March, 1669. Sir Aston
Cokain[e] has an epitaph on Mr. John Fletcher, and Mr. Philip
Massinger, who, as he says, both lie buried in one grave. He prepared
several works for the public, and wrote a little book against
Scaliger, which many have ascribed to Scioppius, the supposed author
of which Scaliger, uses with great contempt. Our author has published
14 plays of his own writing, besides those in which he joined with
other poets, of which the following is the list,

1. The Bashful Lover, a Tragi-Comedy, often acted at a private house
in Black Fryars, by his Majesty's Servants, with success, printed in
8vo. 1655.

2. The Bondman, an ancient Story, often acted at the Cockpit in Drury
Lane, by the Lady Elizabeth's servants, printed in 4to. London, 1638,
and dedicated to Philip, Earl of Montgomery.

3. The City Madam, a Comedy, acted at a private house in Black-fryars,
with applause, 4to. 1659, for Andrew Pennywick one of the actors, and
dedicated by him to Anne, Countess of Oxford.

4. The Duke of Milan, a Tragedy printed in 4to. but Mr. Langbaine has
not been able to find out when it was acted.

5. The Emperor of the East, a Tragi-Comedy, acted at the Black Fryars,
and Globe Playhouse, by his Majesty's Servants, printed in 4to.
London, 1632, and dedicated to John, Lord Mohune, Baron of Okehampton;
this play is founded on the History of Theodosius the younger; see
Socrates, lib. vii.

6. The Fatal Dowry, a Tragedy, often acted at private house in Black
Fryars, by his Majesty's servants, printed in 4to. London, 1632; this
play was written by our author, in conjunction with Nathaniel Field.
The behaviour of Charlois in voluntarily chusing imprisonment to
ransom his father's corpse, that it might receive the funeral rites,
is copied from the Athenian Cymon, so much celebrated by Valerius
Maximus, lib. v. c. 4. ex. 9. Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos,
notwithstanding, make it a forced action, and not voluntary.

7. The Guardian, a comical History, often acted at a private house in
Black Fryars, by the King's Servants, 1665. Severino's cutting off
Calipso's nose in the dark, taking her for his wife Jolantre, is
borrowed from the Cimerian Matron, a Romance, 8vo. the like story is
related in Boccace. Day 8. Novel 7.

7 [sic]. The Great Duke of Florence, a comical History, often
presented with success, at the Phaenix in Drury Lane, 1636; this play
is taken from our English Chronicles, that have been written in the
reign of Edgar.

9. The Maid of Honour, a Tragi-Comedy, often acted at the Phaenix in
Drury Lane, 1632.

10. A New Way to pay Old Debts, a Comedy, acted 1633; this play met
with great success on its first representation, and has been revived
by Mr. Garrick, and acted on the Theatre-Royal in Drury Lane, 1750.

11. Old Law, a New Way to please You, an excellent Comedy, acted
before the King and Queen in Salisbury-house, printed in 4to. London,
1656. In this play our author was assisted by Mr. Middleton, and Mr.
Rowley.

12. The Picture, a Tragi-Comedy, often presented at the Globe and
Black Fryars Playhouse, by the King's servants, printed in London,
1636, and dedicated to his selected friends, the noble Society of the
Inner-Temple; this play was performed by the most celebrated actors of
that age, Lowin, Taylor, Benfield.

13. The Renegado, a Tragi-Comedy, often acted by the Queen's Servants,
at the private Playhouse in Drury Lane, printed in 4to. London, 1630.

14. The Roman Actor, performed several times with success, at a
private house in the Black-Fryars, by the King's Servants; for the
plot read Suetonius in the Life of Domitian, Aurelius Victor,
Eutropius, lib. vii. Tacitus, lib. xiii.

15. Very Woman, or the Prince of Tarent, a Tragi-Comedy, often acted
at a private house in Black Fryars, printed 1655.

16. The Virgin Martyr, a Tragedy, acted by his Majesty's Servants,
with great applause, London, printed in 4to. 1661. In this play our
author took in Mr. Thomas Decker for a partner; the story may be met
with in the Martyrologies, which have treated of the tenth persecution
in the time of Dioclesian, and Maximian.

17. The Unnatural Combat, a Tragedy, presented by the King's Servants
at the Globe, printed at London 1639. This old Tragedy, as the author
tells his patron, has neither Prologue nor Epilogue, "it being
composed at a time, when such by-ornaments were not advanced above the
fabric of the whole work."

Footnotes:
1. Langbaine's Lives of the Poets.
2. Langbaine, ubi supra.

* * * * *

Sir ROBERT STAPLETON.

This gentleman was the third son of Richard Stapleton, esq; of
Carleton, in Mereland in Yorkshire, and was educated a Roman Catholic,
in the college of the English Benedictines, at Doway in Flanders, but
being born with a poetical turn, and consequently too volatile to be
confined within the walls of a cloister, he threw off the restraint of
his education, quitted a recluse life, came over to England, and
commenced Protestant[1]. Sir Robert having good interest, found the
change of religion prepared the way to preferment; he was made
gentleman usher of the privy chamber to King Charles II. then Prince
of Wales; we find him afterwards adhering to the interest of his Royal
Master, for when his Majesty was driven out of London, by the
threatnings and tumults of the discontented rabble, he followed him,
and on the 13th of September, 1642, he received the honour of
knighthood. After the battle of Edgehill, when his Majesty was obliged
to retire to Oxford, our author then attended him, and was created Dr.
of the civil laws. When the Royal cause declined, Stapleton thought
proper to addict himself to study, and to live quietly under a
government, no effort of his could overturn, and as he was not amongst
the most conspicuous of the Royalists, he was suffered to enjoy his
solitude unmolested. At the restoration he was again promoted in the
service of King Charles II. and held a place in that monarch's esteem
'till his death. Langbaine, speaking of this gentleman, gives him a
very great character; his writings, says he, have made him not only
known, but admired throughout all England, and while Musaeus and
Juvenal are in esteem with the learned, Sir Robert's fame will still
survive, the translation of these two authors having placed his name
in the temple of Immortality. As to Musaeus, he had so great a value
for him, that after he had translated him, he reduced the story into a
dramatic poem, called Hero and Leander, a Tragedy, printed in 4to.
1669, and addressed to the Duchess of Monmouth. Whether this play was
ever acted is uncertain, though the Prologue and Epilogue seem to
imply that it appeared on the stage.

Besides these translations and this tragedy, our author has written

The slighted Maid, a Comedy, acted at the Theatre in Little
Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, by the Duke of York's Servants, printed in
London 1663, and dedicated to the Duke of Monmouth.

Pliny's Panegyric, a Speech in the Senate, wherein public Thanks are
presented to the Emperor Trajan, by C. Plenius Caecilius Secundus,
Consul of Rome, Oxon, 1644.

Leander's Letter to Hero, and her Answer, printed with the Loves; 'tis
taken from Ovid, and has Annotations written upon it by Sir Robert.

A Survey of the Manners and Actions of Mankind, with Arguments,
Marginal Notes, and Annotations, clearing the obscure Places, out of
the History of the Laws and Ceremonies of the Romans, London, 1647,
8vo. with the author's preface before it. It is dedicated to Henry,
Marquis of Dorchester, his patron.

The History of the Low-Country War, or de bello Gallico, &c. 1650,
folio, written in Latin by Famianus Strada. Our author paid the last
debt to nature on the eleventh day of July, 1669, and was buried in
the Abbey of St. Peter at Westminster. He was uncle to Dr. Miles
Stapleton of Yorkshire, younger brother to Dr. Stapleton, a
Benedictine Monk, who was president of the English Benedictines at
Delaware in Lorraine, where he died, 1680.

Footnote:
1. Wood's Fasti, vol. ii. p. 23.

* * * * *

Dr. JASPER MAIN.

This poet was born at Hatherleigh, in the Reign of King James I. He
was a man of reputation, as well for his natural parts, as his
acquired accomplishments. He received his education at Westminster
school, where he continued 'till he was removed to Christ Church,
Oxon, and in the year 1624 admitted student. He made some figure at
the university, in the study of arts and sciences, and was sollicited
by men of eminence, who esteemed him for his abilities, to enter into
holy orders; this he was not long in complying with, and was preferred
to two livings, both in the gift of the College, one of which was
happily situated near Oxford.

Much about this time King Charles I. was obliged to keep his court at
Oxford, to avoid being exposed to the resentment of the populace in
London, where tumults then prevailed, and Mr. Main was made choice of,
amongst others, to preach before his Majesty. Soon after he was
created doctor of divinity, and resided at Oxford, till the time of
the mock visitation, sent to the university, when, amongst a great
many others, equally distinguished for their loyalty and zeal for that
unfortunate Monarch, he was ejected from the college, and stript of
both his livings. During the rage of the civil war, he was patronized
by the earl of Devonshire, at whose house he resided till the
restoration of Charles II. when he was not only put in possession of
his former places, but made canon of Christ's Church, and arch-deacon
of Chichester, which preferments he enjoyed till his death. He was an
orthodox preacher, a man of severe virtue, a ready and facetious wit.
In his younger years he addicted himself to poetry, and produced two
plays, which were held in some esteem in his own time; but as they
have never been revived, nor taken notice of by any of our critics, in
all probability they are but second rate performances.

The Amorous War. a Tragedy, printed in 4to. Oxon. 1658.

The City Match, a Comedy, acted before the King and Queen in
Whitehall, and afterwards on the stage in Black Fryars, with great
applause, and printed in 4to. Oxon. 1658. These two plays have been
printed in folio, 4to, and 8vo. and are bound together.

Besides these dramatic pieces, our author wrote a Poem upon the Naval
Victory over the Dutch by the Duke of York, a subject which Dryden has
likewise celebrated in his Annus Mirabilis. He published a translation
of part of Lucian, said to be done by Mr. Francis Hicks, to which he
added some dialogues of his own, though Winstanley is of opinion, that
the whole translation is also his. In the year 1646, --47, --52, --62,
he published several sermons, and entered into a controversy with the
famous Presbyterian leader, Mr. Francis Cheynel, and his Sermon
against False Prophets was particularly levelled at him. Cheynel's
Life is written by a gentleman of great eminence in literature, and
published in some of the latter numbers of of the Student, in which
the character of that celebrated teacher is fully displayed. Dr. Main
likewise published in the year 1647 a book called The People's War
examined according to the Principles of Scripture and Reason, which he
wrote at the desire of a person of quality. He also translated Dr.
Donne's Latin Epigrams into English, and published them under the
title of, A Sheaf of Epigrams.

On the 6th of December, 1642, he died, and his remains were deposited
on the North side of the choir in Christ's Church. In his will he left
several legacies for pious uses: fifty pounds for the rebuilding of
St. Paul's; a hundred pounds to be distributed by the two vicars of
Cassington and Burton, for the use of the poor in those parishes, with
many other legacies.

He was a man of a very singular turn of humour, and though, without
the abilities, bore some resemblance to the famous dean of St.
Patrick's, and perhaps was not so subject to those capricious whims
which produced so much uneasiness to all who attended upon dean Swift.
It is said of Dr. Main, that his propension to innocent raillery was
so great, that it kept him company even after death. Among other
legacies, he bequeathed to an old servant an old trunk, and somewhat
in it, as he said, that would make him drink: no sooner did the Dr.
expire, than the servant, full of expectation, visited the trunk, in
hopes of finding some money, or other treasure left him by his master,
and to his great disappointment, the legacy, with which he had filled
his imagination, proved no other than a Red Herring.

The ecclesiastical works of our author are as follow,

1. A Sermon concerning Unity and Agreement, preached at Carfax Church
in Oxford, August 9, 1646. 1 Cor. i. 10.

2. A Sermon against False Prophets, preached in St. Mary's Church in
Oxford, shortly after the surrender of that garrison, printed in 1697.
Ezek. xxii. 28. He afterwards published a Vindication of this Sermon
from the aspersions of Mr. Cheynel.

3. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the Right Reverend Father
in God, Herbert, Lord Bishop of Hereford, 1662. 1 Tim. iv. 14.

4. Concio ad Academiam Oxoniensem, pro more habita inchoante Jermino,
Maii 27, 1662.

As a specimen of his poetry, we present a copy of verses addressed to
Ben Johnson.

Scorn then, their censures, who gave't out, thy wit
As long upon a comedy did fit,
As elephants bring forth: and thy blots
And mendings took more time, than fortune plots;
That such thy draught was, and so great thy thirst,
That all thy plays were drawn at Mermaid[1] first:
That the King's yearly butt wrote, and his wine
Hath more right than those to thy Cataline.
Let such men keep a diet, let their wit,
Be rack'd and while they write, suffer a fit:
When th' have felt tortures, which outpain the gout;
Such as with less the state draws treason out;
Sick of their verse, and of their poem die,
Twou'd not be thy wont scene--

Footnote:
1. A tavern in Bread-street.

* * * * *

JOHN MILTON.

The British nation, which has produced the greatest men in every
profession, before the appearance of Milton could not enter into any
competition with antiquity, with regard to the sublime excellencies of
poetry. Greece could boast an Euripides, Eschylus, Sophocles and
Sappho; England was proud of her Shakespear, Spenser, Johnson and
Fletcher; but then the ancients had still a poet in reserve superior
to the rest, who stood unrivalled by all succeeding times, and in epic
poetry, which is justly esteemed the highest effort of genius, Homer
had no rival. When Milton appeared, the pride of Greece was humbled,
the competition became more equal, and since Paradise Lost is ours; it
would, perhaps, be an injury to our national fame to yield the palm to
any state, whether ancient or modern.

The author of this astonishing work had something very singular in his
life, as if he had been marked out by Heaven to be the wonder of every
age, in all points of view in which he can be considered. He lived in
the times of general confusion; he was engaged in the factions of
state, and the cause he thought proper to espouse, he maintained with
unshaken firmness; he struggled to the last for what he was persuaded
were the rights of humanity; he had a passion for civil liberty, and
he embarked in the support of it, heedless of every consideration of
danger; he exposed his fortune to the vicissitudes of party
contention, and he exerted his genius in writing for the cause he
favoured.

There is no life, to which it is more difficult to do justice, and at
the same time avoid giving offence, than Milton's, there are some who
have considered him as a regicide, others have extolled him as a
patriot, and a friend to mankind: Party-rage seldom knows any bounds,
and differing factions have praised or blamed him, according to their
principles of religion, and political opinions.

In the course of this life, a dispassionate regard to truth, and an
inviolable candour shall be observed. Milton was not without a share
of those failings which are inseparable from human nature; those
errors sometimes exposed him to censure, and they ought not to pass
unnoticed; on the other hand, the apparent sincerity of his
intentions, and the amazing force of his genius, naturally produce an
extream tenderness for the faults with which his life is chequered:
and as in any man's conduct fewer errors are seldom found, so no man's
parts ever gave him a greater right to indulgence.

The author of Paradise Lost was descended of an ancient family of that
name at Milton, near Abingdon in Oxfordshire. He was the son of John
Milton a money-scrivener, and born the 9th of December, 1608. The
family from which he descended had been long seated there, as appears
by the monuments still to be seen in the church of Milton, 'till one
of them, having taken the unfortunate side in the contests between the
houses of York and Lancaster, was deprived of all his estate, except
what he held by his wife[1]. Our author's grandfather, whose name was
John Milton, was under-ranger, or reaper of the forest of Shotover,
near Halton in Oxfordshire: but a man of Milton's genius needs not
have the circumstance of birth called in to render him illustrious; he
reflects the highest honour upon his family, which receives from him
more glory, than the longest descent of years can give. Milton was
both educated under a domestic tutor, and likewise at St. Paul's
school under Mr. Alexander Gill, where he made, by his indefatigable
application, an extraordinary progress in learning. From his 12th year
he generally sat up all night at his studies, which, accompanied with
frequent head-aches, proved very prejudicial to his eyes. In the year
1625 he was entered into Christ's College in Cambridge, under the
tuition of Mr. William Chappel, afterwards bishop of Ross in Ireland,
and even before that time, had distinguished himself by several Latin
and English poems[2]. After he had taken the degree of master of arts,
in 1632 he left the university, and for the space of five years lived
with his parents at their house at Horton, near Colebrook in
Buckinghamshire, where his father having acquired a competent fortune,
thought proper to retire, and spend the remainder of his days. In the
year 1634 he wrote his Masque of Comus, performed at Ludlow Castle,
before John, earl of Bridgwater, then president of Wales: It appears
from the edition of this Masque, published by Mr. Henry Lawes, that
the principal performers were, the Lord Barclay, Mr. Thomas Egerton,
the Lady Alice Egerton, and Mr. Lawes himself, who represented an
attendant spirit.

The Prologue, which we found in the General Dictionary, begins with
the following lines.

Our stedfast bard, to his own genius true,
Still bad his muse fit audience find, tho' few;
Scorning the judgment of a trifling age,
To choicer spirits he bequeath'd his page.
He too was scorned, and to Britannia's shame,
She scarce for half an age knew Milton's name;
But now his fame by every trumpet blown,
We on his deathless trophies raise our own.
Nor art, nor nature, could his genius bound:
Heaven, hell, earth, chaos, he survey'd around.
All things his eye, thro' wit's bright empire thrown,
Beheld, and made what it beheld his own.

In 1637 Our author published his Lycidas; in this poem he laments the
death of his friend Mr. Edward King, who was drowned in his passage
from Chester on the Irish seas in 1637; it was printed the year
following at Cambridge in 4to. in a collection of Latin and English
poems upon Mr. King's death, with whom he had contracted the strongest
friendship. The Latin epitaph informs us, that Mr. King was son of Sir
John King, secretary for Ireland to Queen Elizabeth, James I. and
Charles I. and that he was fellow in Christ's-College Cambridge, and
was drowned in the twenty-fifth year of his age. But this poem of
Lycidas does not altogether consist in elegiac strains of tenderness;
there is in it a mixture of satire and severe indignation; for in part
of it he takes occasion to rally the corruptions of the established
clergy, of whom he was no favourer; and first discovers his acrimony
against archbishop Laud; he threatens him with the loss of his head, a
fate which he afterwards met, thro' the fury of his enemies; at least,
says Dr. Newton, I can think of no sense so proper to be given to the
following verses in Lycidas;

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