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early with the patronage of the earl of Dorset, and succeeded Shadwell as poet laureat. The incidents of his life were few and uninteresting. He fell into great distress and died, it is said in the Mint, into which he had escaped from his creditors.

As a writer, he cannot receive much commendation—his poems and dramatic works could hardly be considered as entitling him to a notice here. But those far and universally known versions of the psalms, which have given to piety a welcome and available resource, and added to sacred music the utterance of inspired feeling, is not to be rated by the talent that has been employed in the pious and honourable task. When the proudest monuments of human genius shall have past away, and when the thoughts of which the very foundation and meaning subsist in perishable things shall have been forgotten, the meanest song, in which eternal truths are uttered, may be preserved by their abiding truth, and be a portion of the records of heaven.

The songs of Zion do not indeed demand the genius of Moore or Byron, to give to heavenly inspiration the power of earthly genius. They demand no refined and artful melody of versification, no terse and pointed rhetoric of style, to wrest them from their pure and simple significancy: they refuse the additions which are involved in the whole art of poetry, and have only required, with the utmost truth and fidelity to be conformed to the rhythm adapted to church music, and to the genius of the national ear. To be sung, as in their origin they were, and to be still the song of every rank and tongue, as well adapted to the sabbath-evening of the peasant, as the endowed cathedral; to be the effusion of the simplest christian piety, and still not lose their tone and echo of the ancient harp of Israel, only demanded changes of form, to which aspiring genius, with its excess of invention and profuse array of intellectual tints, will not be confined; and which a thorough infusion of genuine sympathy with pious sentiments, can alone command. In such a task a more refined and gifted mind than Tate's might have found itself wanting; and, it may perhaps be not unfitly added-for we have seen it variously exemplified-that a degree of intellectual power little competent in most exertions of human aim, when employed in the service of God, and elevated by that Spirit which is greater than the power of genius, will reach to heights which can be accounted for in no other way than by tracing them to the source of all truth and wisdom,-such efforts will ever be found characterized by a chaste adaptation to their good and hallowed purpose.

ROBERT, VISCOUNT MOLESWORTH.

BORN A.D. 1656.-DIED A.D. 1725.

THE Molesworth family anciently possessed rank and fortune in the counties of Bedford and Northampton; and are traced so far back as the reign of the first Edward, from whom their ancestor, Sir William de Molesworth, received knighthood in 1306, on the occasion when

prince Edward was knighted. He had attended the king in his expedition to the Holy Land, and, at several times, received distinguished honours from him and his successor.

From a younger branch of his descendants in a direct line, came Robert, the father of the person here under our notice. In the rebellion of 1641, he came into Ireland as a captain in the regiment commanded by his elder brother. At the termination of the civil wars, he became an undertaker, and obtained 2500 acres of land in the county of Meath. He afterwards became a merchant in Dublin, and rose into great wealth and favour with the government. He died in 1656.

Four days after his father's death, in the same year, Robert Molesworth was born-the only son of his father.

He received his education in Dublin, and entered the university. He married early, probably in his twentieth year, a sister of the earl of Bellamont. In the struggle previous to the Revolution, he came forward early in support of the prince of Orange, for which his estates were seized by king James, under whose parliament he was attainted. He was, however, soon restored to his rights, by king William, who entertained a high esteem for him; and, soon after his accession to the throne, sent him as an envoy into Denmark.

At Denmark he fell into some disfavour with the Danish court. The circumstances are only known through the representations of an adversary; but they are probable, and may be substantially true. He is stated, by Dr King, on the authority of the Danish envoy, to have most unwarrantably trespassed on the royal privileges, by hunting in the royal preserves, and riding on the road exclusively appropriated to the king. In consequence of those freedoms, he was forbidden the court, and left the country without the ordinary form of an audience. On his arrival in England, he wrote and published "An Account of Denmark." The book was written under the influence of resentment, and gave a very unfavourable account of the Danish government. was, of course, highly resented by that court, and most especially by prince George, who was married to the English princess Anne, afterwards queen of England. A complaint was made to king William, by Scheele, the Danish envoy in London-he also supplied Dr King with materials for a reply-on the warrant of which we have the above particulars.

It

Molesworth's book became at once popular, and was the means of greatly extending his reputation, and raising him in the estimation of the most eminent literary characters of the day. He served in the Irish house of commons, for the borough of Swords. He was elected to a seat in the English parliament, for East Retford. He obtained a seat in the privy council, in the reign of queen Anne-but lost it in 1713, in the heat of party, in consequence of a complaint brought against him by the lower house of convocation, for some words of an insulting purport spoken by him in public. It is, however, easy to see that, in the fierce animosity of the tories then striving for existence, a stanch supporter of the house of Hanover had little chance of favour. The "Crisis," mentioned in the previous memoir, was partly written in defence of Molesworth.

At length the accession of George the first once more restored the Whigs to place and favour. Molesworth was again named as one of the Irish privy council, and a commissioner of trade and plantations.

In 1716, the king created him an Irish peer, under the titles of baron Philipstown and viscount Molesworth of Swords, by patent, dated 16th July, 1716. He was a fellow of the Royal Society, and took a prominent part in every concern which affected the welfare of his country, till the last two years of his life, when he withdrew from public affairs, and devoted his time to literary retirement.

He died 22d May, 1725, and was buried at Swords.

Besides his "Account of Denmark," he wrote several pieces of considerable ability, which had, in their day, the effect of exciting public attention, and awakening a useful spirit in Ireland.

In 1723, he published an address to the Irish house of commons for the encouragement of agriculture, and in 1719, a letter relative to the Irish peerage. He translated a political treatise of the civilian Hottoman, from the Latin, and this work reached a second edition, in 1721. His tracts were numerous, and were generally approved for their strong sense and plain force of style.

THOMAS SOUTHERN.

BORN A D 1659-DIED A. D 1746.

SOUTHERN was born in Dublin in 1659, and entered the Dublin University in 1676. He did not continue his academical studies for more than a year, when he quitted Ireland, and went to study law in London. The temper of mind which was impatient of the studies of the University, was not likely to be fixed by the severer attractions of special pleading. Southern soon turned aside to dally with the lighter

muse.

In 1682, the "Persian Prince," his earliest dramatic production, was acted. One of the principal persons of this drama was designed as a compliment to the duke of York, from whom he received a gratuity in return. After the accession of this prince to the throne, Southern obtained an ensigncy in the regiment of earl Ferrers, and served in Monmouth's rebellion. After this was terminated by the capture of that ill-fated nobleman, Southern seems to have left the army and given himself wholly to dramatic composition. He is mentioned as having acquired more money by his plays than any writer up to his time, and to have been the first to obtain a second and third night of representation for the author of a successful play. He also received sums till then unknown for his copyright, and gave larger prices for prologues. Pope notices this, in his lines addressed to Southern, with which we shall close this notice. Dryden having once asked him how much he got by a play-was answered, £700; while, by Dryden's comment on the circumstance, it appears that he had himself

never obtained more than £100. This we are more inclined to attribute to the address and prudence of Southern, and to other causes of

a more general nature than to any superiority of dramatic power. Any comparison between the two would, indeed, be too absurd; but there is, nevertheless, an important consideration which we can here do no more than merely state. It cannot but be felt-and in later times it has become far too plain to be overlooked-that the acting success of a drama is no criterion of the genius of the writer, or of the intellectual qualities employed in its composition. Considerable talent there, indeed, must be, to secure success; but then it is mainly of that kind which is generally understood by the term artistic, and having the nature of skill rather than genius. We are the less desirous to pursue this point, because, in recent times, it has become too plain to be missed by any one. Indeed, some of the most thoroughly successful stageplays of the present generation, indicate to a reader no talent save in the very lowest degree-neither plot, character, passion, sentiment, nor the least power of exciting the smallest interest, unless in strict reference to mere stage effect. The principle appears to be, that it requires little power to awaken human sympathies with present and visible action and scene. Dramatic skill has improved upon the

maxim of the Roman critic:

Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem,
Quam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus, quæque
Ipse sibi tradit spectator.

The commonest incident, or most ordinary affection of humanity, actually presented to the eye, has on the crowd a more thoroughly awakening and attractive effect, than the noblest conceptions of genius, or the most refined and delicate traits of sentiment or character. In these remarks, we should regret much to be understood to depreciate the consummate art which, in modern fiction-for so far our remark may be easily extended-renders the very lowest degree of intellectual power available.

Southern who has, perhaps, the honour to be the great founder of this our modern school of dramatic production, seems also to have manifested a proportional command of those subordinate talents which have since so much contributed to its success. By the address and dexterity with which he practised the art of disposing of his tickets to the best advantage, he contributed, at the same time, to the success and to the produce of his dramas.

Notwithstanding these remarks, it must be admitted that Southern is, in no small degree, to be exempted from the depreciating estimate which they may be thought to imply. It was long before the stage had reached its full command over the elements of poverty, dryness, and triteness of incident, and attained the maximum of stage effect. Southern has no great power of any kind; but it is evident that to the cultivation of this great end, he adds considerable knowledge of the passions and some poetry. It may also be favourably noticed, that he showed much good taste in freeing the drama from the extravagance and impurity of the day in which he wrote. He was highly thought of by Dryden; Gray also, a far superior critic, praises his pathetic powers. It ought, however, to be a qualification of this praise, that

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his success was greatly to be attributed to the skill with which he seized on real incidents, which could not, by any clumsiness of treatment, be deprived of their affecting interest. The story of Oroonoke was true, almost to its minutest details. If read under this impression, the reader will see that Southern has not done much; and this is, probably his chief production. The story was first told in a novel by Mrs Behn-who had resided at the scene, been acquainted with the parties, and witnessed the incidents and the catastrophe.

Southern lived to his eighty-fifth year. He lived the latter years of his life in Tothill Street, Westminster, and was remarked to be a constant attendant at the cathedral service. Prior to this he had resided near Covent Garden; and is described by Mr Oldys as a person of grave and venerable exterior, dressed in black, "with his silver sword and silver locks ;" and the following notice occurs among Gray's letters to Horace Walpole-" We have old Mr Southern at a gentleman's house, a little way off, who often comes to see us. He is now seventy-seven years old, and has almost wholly lost his memory; but is as agreeable an old man as can be at least I persuade myself so, when I look at him and think of Isabella and Oroonoko." Dryden appears to have placed him on the same rank with Otway, and is said to have employed him to finish his own tragedy of Cleomenes. following are Pope's lines to Southern, on his birth-day in 1742.

Resigned to live-prepared to die,

With not one sin, but poetry,

This day Tom's fair account has run
Without a blot to eighty-one.
Kind Boyle before his poet lays
A table with a cloth of bays;

And Ireland, mother of sweet singer?,
Presents her harp still to his fingers.
The feast his tow'ring genius marks
In yonder wild-goose and the larks!
The mushrooms show his wit was sudden,

And for his judgment, lo, a pudden!

Roast beef, though old, proclaims him stout,
And grace, although a bard, devout.

May Tom, whom Heav'n sent down to raise
The price of prologues and of plays,

Be every birth-day more a winner,
Digest his thirty thousandth dinner;
Walk to his grave without reproach,
And scorn a rascal and a coach.

The

It is rather curious to observe how nearly Pope's allotment of din- ! ners approaches to the actual number of Southern's days, at the very birth-day which he celebrates. This, with the known minute love of precision which was characteristic of Pope, suggests the idea of a calculation and an oversight. In endeavouring to be precise, the poet forgot that he was setting a very near limit to the days he thus numbered. Southern lived till 1746-four years longer.

END OF VOL. II.

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