The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland/Volume 4/George Stepney
George Stepney, Eſq;
This poet was deſcended of the family of the Stepneys of Pindigraſt in Pembrokeſhire, but born in Weſtminſter in the year 1693. He received the rudiments of his education in Weſtminſter ſchool, and after making ſome progreſs in literature there, he was removed to Trinity College in Cambridge, where he was cotemporary with Charles Montague, eſq; afterwards earl of Hallifax; and being of the ſame college with him, a very ſtrict friendſhip was contracted between them. To this lucky accident of being early known to Mr. Montague, was owing all the preferment Mr. Stepney afterwards enjoyed, for he ſeems not to have had parts ſufficient to have riſen to any diſtinction, without the immediate patronage of ſo great a man, as the lord Hallifax. When Stepney firſt ſet out in life, he was perhaps attached to the Tory intereſt, for one of the firſt poems he wrote, was an Addreſs to king James the Second, on his Acceſſion to the Throne. In this little piece, in which there is as little poetry, he compares that monarch to Hercules, but with what propriety let the reader judge. Soon after the acceſſion of James II. when Monmouth’s rebellion broke out, the univerſity of Cambridge, to demonſtrate their zeal for the King, thought proper to burn the picture of that raſh Prince, who had formerly been their chancellor. Upon this occaſion Stepney wrote ſome good verſes, in anſwer to this queſtion;
Sed quid
Turba Remi? ſequitur fortunam, ut ſemper et odit damnatos.
Upon the revolution he embraced another intereſt, and procured himſelf to be nominated for ſeveral foreign embaſſies. In the year 1692 he went to the elector of Brandenburgh’s court in quality of envoy, and, in the year following, to the Imperial court in the ſame character. In 1694 he was ſent to the elector of Saxony, and two years after to the electors of Mentz, Cologn, &c. and the congreſs at Francfort. He was employed in ſeveral other embaſſies, and in the year 1706 Queen Anne ſent him envoy to the States General. He was very ſucceſsful in his negotiations, which occaſioned his conſtant employment in the moſt weighty affairs. At his leiſure hours he compoſed ſeveral other pieces of poetry beſides thoſe already mentioned; which are chiefly theſe,
An Epiſtle to the Earl of Hallifax, on his Majeſty’s Voyage to Holland.
A Tranſlation of the Eighth Satire of Juvenal.
To the Earl of Carliſle upon the Death of his Son.
Some Imitations of Horace’s Odes.
The Auſtrian Eagle.
The Nature of Dreams.
A Poem to the Memory of Queen Mary.
Theſe performances are not very long, nor are the ſubjects upon which they are written very conſiderable. It ſeems probable that the eminence to which Stepney roſe, muſt have been more owing to ſome perſonal kindneſs lord Hallifax had for him, than to his merit as a writer. In raiſing Stepney, his lordſhip might act as the friend of the man, but not as a patron of the poet. Friendſhip, in many reſpects, participates of the nature of love; it begins, we know not how, it ſtrengthens by imperceptible degrees, and grows into an eſtabliſhed firmneſs. Such might be the regard lord Hallifax had for Stepney, but we may venture to aſſert, from his lordſhip’s exquiſite taſte in poetry, that he never could highly admire the pretty trifles which compoſe the works of this author; and which are printed amongſt the works of the Minor Poets, publiſhed ſome years ago by Mr. Tonſon in two volumes 12 mo.[1]
Our author died at Chelſea in the year 1707, and was buried in Weſtminſter-Abbey, where a fine monument is erected over him, with the following inſcription upon the pedeſtal;
H. S. E.
Georgius Stepneius, Armiger,
viz.
Obe Ingenii acumen,
Literarum Scientiam,
Morum Suavitatem,
Rerum Uſum,
Virorum Ampliſſimorum Conſuetudinem,
Linguæ, Styli ac Vitæ Elegantiam,
Præclara Officia cum Britanniæ tum Europæ Præſtita,
Suâ ætate multum celebratus,
Apud Poſteros ſemper celebrandus;
Plurimas Legationes obiit
Ea Fide, Diligentiâ, & Felicitate,
Ut Auguſtiſſimorum Principum
Gulielmi & Annæ
Spem in illo repoſitam
Nunquam fefellerit,
Huad raro ſuperavit.
Poſt longum honorum Curſum
Brevi Temporis ſpatio confectum,
Cum Naturæ parvæ Fama ſatis vixerat,
Animam ad altiora aſpirantem placide efflavit.
On the left hand.
G. S.
Ex Equeſtri Familia Stepneiorum,
De Pendegrast, in Comitatu
Pembrochiensi Oriendus,
Westmonasterii natus eſt, A. D. 1663.
Electus in Collegium
Sancti Petri Westmonast. A. 1676.
Sanctæ Trinitatis Cantab. 1682.
Conſiliariorum quibus Commercii
Cura commiſſa est 1697.
Chelseiæ mortuus, & Comitante
Magna Procerum
Frequentiâ huc elatus, 1707.
On the right hand is a particular account of all his employments abroad.
As a ſpecimen of Mr. Stepney's poetry, we ſhall quote the following lines on the Nature of Dreams,
At dead of night imperial reaſon ſleeps,
And fancy with her train looſe revels keeps:
Then airy phantoms a mixt ſcene diſplay,
Of what we heard, or ſaw, or wiſh’d by day;
For memory thoſe images retains
Which paſſion form’d, and ſtill the ſtrongeſt reigns.
Huntſmen renew the chaſe they lately ran;
And generals fight again their battles won.
Spectres and furies haunt the murth’rers dreams;
Grants, or diſgraces, are the courtiers themes.
The miſer ſpies a thief, or ſome new hoard,
The cit’s a knight, the ſycophant a lord.
Thus fancy’s in the wild diſtraction loſt
With what we moſt abhor, or covet moſt.
But of all paſſions that our dreams controul,
Love prints the deepeſt image in the ſoul;
For vigorous fancy, and warm blood diſpenſe
Pleaſures ſo lively, that they rival ſenſe.
Such are the tranſports of a willing maid,
Not yet by time and place to act betray’d.
Whom ſpies, or ſome faint virtue force to fly
That ſcene of joy, which yet ſhe dies to try.
’Till fancy bawds, and by myſterious charms
Brings the dear object to her longing arms;
Unguarded then ſhe melts, acts fierce delight,
And curſes the returns of envious light.
In ſuch bleſs’d dreams Biblis enjoys a flame;
Which waking ſhe deteſts, and dares not name.
Ixion gives a looſe to his wild love,
And in his airy viſions cuckolds Jove.
Honours and ſtate before this phantom fall;
For ſleep, like death its image, equals all.
Our author likewiſe wrote ſome political pieces in proſe, particularly an Eſſay on the preſent Intereſt of England, 1701. To which are added, The Proceedings of the Houſe of Commons in 1677, upon the French King’s Progreſs in Flanders. This piece is reprinted in Cogan’s Collection of Tracts, called Lord Somers’s Collection.
- ↑ And likewiſe of another work of the ſame kind, in two volumes alſo, publiſhed by one Cogan.