The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland/Volume 4/G. Granville, L. Lansdowne

by Theophilus Cibber

 

G. Granville, L. Lansdowne,

Was deſcended from an illuſtrious family, which traced their anceſtry from Rollo, the firſt duke of Normandy. He was ſecond ſon of Bernard Granville, and grandſon of the famous Sir Bevil Granville, killed at the battle of Lanſdowne 1643. This nobleman received the firſt tincture of his education in France, under the tuition of Sir William Ellis, a gentleman, who was eminent afterwards in many public employments.

When our author was but eleven years of age, he was ſent to Trinity College in Cambridge, where he remained five years, but at the age of thirteen was admitted to the degree of maſter of arts, having, before he was twelve years old, ſpoken a copy of Engliſh verſes, of his own compoſition, to the Ducheſs of York, when her Royal Highneſs paid a viſit to that univerſity.

At the time when the nation was embroiled by the public diſtractions, occaſioned by the efforts of King James II. to introduce Popery, lord Lanſdowne did not remain an unconcerned ſpectator. He had early imbibed principles of loyalty, and as ſome of his forefathers had fallen in the cause of Charles I. he thought it was his duty to ſacrifice his life alſo, for the intereſt of his Sovereign. However miſtaken he might be in this furious zeal for a Prince, the chief ſcope of whoſe reign was to overthrow the law, and introduce abſolute dominion, yet he appears to be perfectly ſincere. In a letter he wrote to his father upon the expected approach of the Prince of Orange’s fleet, he expreſſes the moſt ardent deſire to ſerve the King in perſon.^[1] This letter we ſhall inſert, but beg our readers patience to make a digreſſion, which will juſtify what we have ſaid concerning James II.

The genuine mark of a tyrant is cruelty, and it is with concern we can produce an inſtance of the moſt inhuman barbarity in that Prince, which ever ſtained the Annals of any reign. Cruelty ſhould be the badge of no party; it ought to be equally the abhorrence of all; and whoever is tainted with it, ſhould be ſet up to view, as a terror to the world, as a monſter, whom it is the intereſt of mankind to deſtroy.

After the ſuppreſſion of Monmouth’s rebellion, many of the unfortunate perſons engaged in it fled to London, and took ſhelter there, ’till the Act of Indemnity ſhould be publiſhed. They who afforded them ſhelter, were either of the Monmouth faction, or induced from principles of humanity, to adminiſter to their ſafety: what would become of the world, if our friends were always to forſake us in diſtreſs? There lived then in London an amiable lady, attached to no party, who enjoyed a large fortune, which ſhe ſpent in the exerciſe of the moſt extenſive beneficence. She made it her buſineſs to viſit the Jails, and the priſoners who were moſt neceſſitous and deſerving, ſhe relieved. Her houſe was an aſylum for the poor; ſhe lived but for charity, and ſhe had every hour the prayers of the widow and orphan poured out to her. It happened that one of the rebels found ſhelter in her houſe; ſhe ſuffered him to be ſcreened there; ſhe fed and cloathed him. The King had often declared that he would rather pardon thoſe who were found in arms, againſt him, than the people who harboured or ſecretly encouraged them. This miſcreant, who ſometimes ventured out at night to a public houſe, was informed, that the King had made ſuch a declaration, and it entered into his baſe heart to betray his benefactreſs. He accordingly went before a magiſtrate, and lodged an information, upon which the lady was ſecured, brought to a trial, and upon the evidence of this ungrateful villain, caſt for her life. She ſuffered at a ſtake with the moſt reſigned chearfulneſs for when a, woman is convicted of treaſon, it ſeems, ſhe is ſentenced to be burnt.^[2] The reader will eaſily judge what fort of bowels that King muſt have, who could permit ſuch a puniſhment to take place upon a woman ſo compleatly amiable, upon the evidence of a villain ſo conſummately infamous, and he will, we are perſuaded, be of opinion that had his Majeſty poſſeſſed a thouſand kingdoms, he deſerved to loſe them all for this one act of genuine barbarity.

Lord Lanſdowne, who did not conſider, or was not then capable of diſcovering, the dangers to which this prince expoſed his people, wrote the following letter to his father, earneſtly preſſing him to permit his entering voluntarily into king James’s ſervice.

‘Sir,

‘Your having no proſpect of obtaining a commiſſion for me, can no way alter, or cool my deſire at this important juncture, to venture my life, in ſome manner or other, for my King and country. I cannot bear to live under the reproach of lying obſcure and idle in a country retirement, when every man, who has the leaſt ſenſe of honour, ſhould be preparing for the field. You may remember, ſir, with what reluctance I ſubmitted to your commands upon Monmouth’s rebellion, when no importunity could prevail with you to permit me to leave the academy; I was too young to be hazarded; but give me leave to ſay, it is glorious, at any age, to die for one’s country; and the ſooner, the nobler ſacrifice; I am now older by three years. My uncle Bath was not ſo old, when he was left among the ſlain at the battle of Newberry, nor you yourſelf, ſir, when you made your eſcape from your Tutors, to join your brother in the defence of Scilly. The ſame cauſe is now come round about again. The King has been miſled, let thoſe who miſled him be anſwerable for it. Nobody can deny but he is ſacred in his own perſon, and it is every honeſt man’s duty to defend it. You are pleaſed to ſay it is yet doubtful, if the Hollanders are raſh enough to make ſuch an attempt. But be that as it will, I beg leave to be preſented to his Majeſty, as one, whoſe utmoſt ambition is to devote his life to his ſervice, and my country’s, after the example of all my anceſtors. The gentry aſſembled at York, to agree upon the choice of repreſentatives for the county, have prepared an Addreſs to aſſure his Majeſty they are ready to ſacrifice their lives and fortunes for him upon this, and all other occaſions, but at the ſame time they humbly beſeech him to give them ſuch magiſtrates as may be agreeable to the laws of the land, for at preſent there is no authority to which they can legally ſubmit. By what I can hear, every body wiſhes well to the King, but would be glad hit miniſters were hanged. The winds continue ſo contrary, that no landing can be ſo ſoon as was apprehended, therefore I may hope, with your leave and aſſiſtance, to be in readineſs before any action can begin; I beſeech you, ſir, moſt humbly, and moſt earneſtly, to add this one act of indulgence more, to ſo many teſtimonies I have ſo conſtantly received of your goodneſs, and be pleaſed to believe me always with the utmoſt duty and ſubmiſſion,

‘Yours, &c.’

We are not told whether his father yielded to his importunity, or whether he was preſented to his Majeſty; but if he really joined the army, it was without danger to his perſon, for the revolution was effected in England without one drop of blood. In the year 1690 Lord Lanſdowne wrote a copy of verſes addreſſed to Mrs. Elizabeth Higgins, in anſwer to a poetical Addreſs ſent him by that lady in his retirement. The verſes of the lady are very elegant, and are only exceeded by the polite compliments his lordſhip wrote in anſwer to them. They both deſerve a place here,

I.

Why Granville is thy life to ſhades confin’d,
Thou whom the Gods deſign’d
In public to do credit to mankind?

Why ſleeps the noble ardour of thy blood,
Which from thy anceſtors ſo many ages paſt,
From Rollo down to Bevil flowed,
And then appeared again at laſt,
In thee when thy victorious lance
Bore the diſputed prize from all the youth of France.

II.

In the firſt trials which are made for fame,
Thoſe to whom fate ſucceſs denies,
If taking council from their ſhame;
They modeſtly retreat are wiſe;
But why ſhould you, who ſtill ſucceed,
Whether with graceful art you lead.
The fiery barb, or with a graceful motion tread
In ſhining balls where all agree
To give the higheſt praiſe to thee?
Such harmony in every motion’s found,
As art could ne’er expreſs by any found.

III.

So lov’d and prais’d whom all admire,
Why, why ſhould you from courts and camps retire?
If Myra is unkind, if it can be
That any nymph can be unkind to thee;
If penſive made by love, you thus retire,
Awake your muſe, and ſtring your lyre;
Your tender ſong, and your melodious ſtrain
Can never be addreſs’d in vain;
She needs muſt love, and we ſhall have you back again.

His lordſhip’s Anſwer thus begins.

Ceaſe, tempting ſyren, ceaſe thy flattering ſtrain,
Sweet is thy charming ſong, but ſung in vain:
When the winds blow, and loud the tempeſts roar,
What fool would truſt the waves, and quit the ſhore?
Early and vain into the world I came,
Big with falſe hopes and eager after fame:
Till looking round me, e’er the race began,
Madmen and giddy fools were all that ran.
Reclaimed betimes, I from the liſts retire,
And thank the Gods, who my retreat inſpire.
In happier times our anceſtors were bred,
When virtue was the only path to tread.
Give me, ye Gods, but the ſame road to fame,
Whate’er my father’s dar’d, I dare the ſame.
Changed is the ſcene, ſome baneful planet rules
An impious world contriv’d for knaves and fools.

He concludes with the following lines.

Happy the man, of mortals happieſt he,
Whoſe quiet mind of vain deſires is free;
Whom neither hopes deceive, nor ſeats torment,
But lives at peace, within himſelf content,
In thought or act accountable to none
But to himſelf, and to the Gods alone.
O ſweetneſs of content, ſeraphic joy!
Which nothing wants, and nothing can deſtroy.
Where dwells this peace, this freedom of the mind?
Where but in ſhades remote from human kind;
In flow’ry vales, where nymphs and ſhepherds I meet,
But never comes within the palace-gate.
Farewel then cities, courts, and camps farewel,
Welcome ye groves, here let me ever dwell.

From care and bus’neſs, and mankind remove,
All but the Muſes, and inſpiring love:
How ſweet the morn, how gentle is the night!
How calm the evening, and the day how bright!
From thence, as from a hill, I view below
The crowded world, a mighty wood in ſhew,
Where ſeveral wand’rers travel day and night,
By different paths, and none are in the right.

In 1696 his Comedy called the She Gallants was acted at the Theatre-Royal^[3] in Lincoln’s-inn Fields. He afterwards altered this Comedy, and publiſhed it among his other works, under the title of Once a Lover and Always a Lover, which, as he obſerves in the preface, is a new building upon an old foundation.

‘It appeared firſt under the name of the She-Gallants, and by the preface then prefixed to it, is ſaid to have been the Child of a Child. By taking it ſince under examination, ſo many years after, the author flatters himſelf to have made a correct Comedy of it; he found it regular to his hand; the ſcene conſtant to one place, the time not exceeding the bounds preſcribed, and the action entire. It remained only to clear the ground, and to plant as it were freſh flowers in the room of thoſe which were grown into weeds or were faded by time; to retouch and vary the characters; enliven the painting, retrench the ſuperfluous; and animate the action, where it appeared the young author ſeemed to aim at more than he had ſtrength to perform.’

The ſame year alſo his Tragedy, intitled Heroic Love, was acted at the Theatre. Mr. Gildon obſerves, ‘that this Tragedy is written after the manner of the antients, which is much more natural and eaſy, than that of our modern Dramatiſts.’ Though we cannot agree with Mr. Gildon, that the antient model of Tragedy is ſo natural as the modern; yet this piece muſt have very great merit, ſince we find Mr. Dryden addreſſing verſes to the author upon this occaſion, which begin thus,

Auſpicious poet, wert thou not my friend,
How could I envy, what I muſt commend!
But ſince ’tis nature’s law, in love and wit,
That youth would reign, and with’ring age ſubmit,
With leſs regret, thoſe laurels I reſign,
Which dying on my brow, revive on thine.

Our author wrote alſo a dramatic poem, called the Britiſh Enchanters,^[4] in the preface to which he obſerves,

‘that it is the firſt Eſſay of a very infant Muſe, rather as a taſk at ſuch hours as were free from other exerciſes, than any way meant for public entertainment. But Mr. Betterton having had a caſual ſight of it, many years after it was written, begged it for the ſtage, where it met with ſo favourable a reception as to have an uninterrupted run of upwards of forty nights. To this Mr. Addiſon wrote the Epilogue.’

Lord Lanſdowne altered Shakeſpear’s Merchant of Venice, under the title of the Jew of Venice, which was acted with applauſe, the profits of which were deſigned for Mr. Dryden, but upon that poet’s death were given to his ſon.

In 1702 he tranſlated into Engliſh the ſecond Olynthian of Demoſthenes. He was returned member for the county of Cornwall, in the parliament which met in November 1710, and was ſoon after made ſecretary of war, next comptroller of the houſehold, and then treaſurer, and ſworn one of the privy council. The year following he was created baron Lanſdowne of Biddeford in Devonſhire.^[5]

In 1719 he made a ſpeech in the houſe of lords againſt the practice of occaſional conformity, which is printed among his works, and among other things, he ſays this.

‘I always underſtood the toleration to be meant as an indulgence to tender conſciences, not a licence for hardened ones; and that the act to prevent occaſional conformity was deſigned only to correct a particular crime of particular men, in which no ſect of diſſenters was included, but theſe followers of Judas, which came to the Lord’s-Supper, from no other end but to ſell, and betray him. This crime however palliated and deſcended, by ſo many right reverend fathers in the church, is no leſs than making the God of truth, as it were in perſon ſubſervient to acts of hypocriſy; no leſs than ſacrificing the myſtical Blood and Body of our Saviour to worldly and ſiniſter purpoſes, an impiety of the higheſt nature! which in juſtice called for protection, and in charity for prevention. The bare receiving the holy Euchariſt, could never be intended ſimply as a qualification for an office, but as an open declaration, an undubitable proof of being, and remaining a ſincere member of the church. Whoever preſumes to receive it with any other view profanes it, and may be ſaid to ſeek his promotion in this world, by eating and drinking his own damnation in the next.’

This accompliſhed nobleman died in February, Anno 1735. By his lady, Mary, widow of Thomas Thynne, Eſq.; (father of Thomas lord viſcount Weymouth) and daughter of Edward Villiers, earl of Jerſey, he had iſſue, four daughters, Anne, Mary, Grace and Elizabeth.

His lady died but a few days before him.

Mr. Pope, with many other poets of the firſt eminence, have celebrated lord Lanſdowne, who ſeems to have been a good-natur’d agreeable nobleman. The luſtre of his ſtation no doubt procured him more incenſe, than the force of his genius would otherwiſe have attracted; but he appears not to have been deſtitute of fine parts, which were however rather elegantly poliſhed, than great in themſelves.

Lord Landſdowne likewiſe wrote a Maſque, called Peleus and Thetis. His lordſhip’s works have been often printed both in quarto and in duo-decimo.

 

 

1. Gen. Dict. Art. Granville.
2. See Burnet’s Hiſtory of his own Times.
3. General Dictionary, ubi ſupra.
4. It was called a Dramatic Opera, and was decorated at a great expence, and intermixed with Songs, Dances, &c.
5. Upon the acceſſion of King George the Iſt., the lord Lanſdowne was ſeized, and impriſoned in the Tower, upon an impeachment of high treaſon; but was ſoon after honourably discharged, without being brought to a trial.