The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland/Volume 4/James More Smyth
James More Smyth, Eſq;
This gentleman was ſon of Arthur More, eſq; one of the lords commiſſioners of trade, in the reign of Queen Anne; his mother was the daughter of Mr. Smyth, a man of conſiderable fortune, who left this his grandſon a handſome eſtate, on which account he obtained an Act of Parliament to change his name to Smyth.
Our author received his education at Oxford, and while he remained at the univerſity he wrote a comedy called The Rival Modes, his only dramatic performance. This play was condemned in the repreſentation, but he printed it in 1727, with the following motto, which the author of the Notes to the Dunciad, by way of irony, calls modeſt.
Hic cœſtus, artemque repono.
Upon the death of our author’s grandfather, he enjoyed the place of paymaſter to the band of gentlemen-penſioners, in conjunction with his younger brother, Arthur More; of this place his mother procured the reverſion from his late Majeſty during his father’s lifetime. Being a man of a gay diſpoſition, he inſinuated himſelf into the favour of his grace the duke of Wharton, and being, like him, deſtitute of prudence, he joined with that volatile great man in writing a paper called the Inquiſitor, which breathed ſo much the ſpirit of Jacobitiſm, that the publiſher thought proper to ſacrifice his profit to his ſafety, and diſcontinue it.
By uſing too much freedom with the character of Pope, he provoked that gentleman, who with great ſpirit ſtigmatized him in his Dunciad. In his ſecond book Mr. Pope places before the eyes of the dunces the phantom of a poet. He ſeems willing to give ſome account of the poſſibility of dulneſs making a wit, which can be done no otherwiſe than by chance. The lines which have relation to Mr. More are ſo elegantly ſatyric, that it probably will not diſpleaſe our readers to find them inſerted here.
A poet’s form ſhe plac’d before their eyes,
And bad the nimbleſt racer ſeize the prize;
No meagre muſe-rid mope, aduſt and thin,
In a dun night gown of his own looſe ſkin,
But ſuch a bulk as no twelve bards could raiſe,
Twelve ſtarv’ling bards of theſe degenerate days.
All as a partridge plump, full-fed, and fair,
She form’d this image of well-bodied air,
With pert, flat eyes, ſhe window’d well its head,
A brain of feathers, and a heart of lead,
And empty words ſhe gave, and founding ſtrain,
But ſenſeleſs, lifeleſs! idol void and vain!
Never was daſh’d out at one lucky hit,
A fool ſo juſt a copy of a wit;
So like, that critics ſaid, and courtiers ſwore,
A wit it was, and call’d the phantom More.
Though theſe lines of Pope are ſufficiently ſatirical, yet it ſeems they very little affected Mr. More. A gentleman intimately acquainted with him informs us, that he has heard Mr. More ſeveral times repeat thoſe lines, without diſcovering any chagrin; and he uſed to obſerve, that he was now ſecure of being tranſmitted to poſterity: an honour which, ſays he, I could never have arrived at, but by Pope’s means. The cauſe of the quarrel between this gentleman and that great poet ſeems to have been this.
In a letter publiſhed in the Daily Journal March 18, 1728, written by Mr. More, he has the following words, ‘Upon reading the third volume of Pope’s Miſcellanies, I found five lines which I thought excellent, and happening to praiſe them, a gentleman produced a modern comedy, the Rival Modes, publiſhed laſt year, where were the ſame verſes to a tittle. Theſe gentlemen are undoubtedly the firſt plagiaries that pretend to make a reputation, by ſtealing from a man’s works in his own life-time, and out of a public print.’ But it is apparent from the notes to the Dunciad, that Mr. More himſelf borrowed the lines from Pope; for in a letter dated January 27, 1726, addreſſed to Mr. Pope, he obſerves, ‘That theſe verſes which he had before given him leave to inſert in the Rival Modes, would be known for his, ſome copies being got abroad. He deſires, nevertheleſs, that ſince the lines in his comedy have been read to ſeveral, Mr. Pope would not deprive it of them.’
As a proof of this circumſtance, the teſtimony of lord Bolingbroke is adduced, and the lady of Hugh Bethel, eſq; to whom the verſes were originally addreſſed, who knew them to be Mr. Pope’s long before the Rival Modes was compoſed.
Our author further charges Mr. Pope with being an enemy to the church and ſtate. ‘The Memoirs of a Pariſh Clerk, ſays he, was a very dull, and unjuſt abuſe of the biſhop of Sarum (who wrote in defence of our religion and conſtitution) who has been dead many years.’ ‘This alſo, continues the author of the Notes to the Dunciad, is likewiſe untrue, it being known to divers, that theſe Memoirs were written at the ſeat of the lord Harcourt in Oxfordſhire, before the death of biſhop Burnet, and many years before the appearance of that hiſtory, of which they are pretended to be an abuſe. Moſt true it is that Mr. More had ſuch a deſign, and was himſelf the man who preſſed Dr. Arbuthnot, and Mr. Pope to aſſiſt him therein; and that he borrowed thoſe Memoirs of the latter, when that hiſtory came forth, with intent to turn them to ſuch abuſe; but being able to obtain from Pope but one ſingle hint, and either changing his mind, or having more mind than ability, he contented himſelf to keep the ſaid Memoirs, and read them as his own to all his acquaintance. A noble perſon there is, into whoſe company Pope once chanced to introduce him, who well remembered the converſation of Mr. More to have turned upon the contempt he had for that reverend prelate, and how full he was of a deſign he declared himſelf to have of expoſing him; this noble perſon is the earl of Peterborough.’
Thus Mr. Pope was obliged to repreſent this gentleman as a plagiary, or to paſs for one himſelf. His caſe indeed, as the author of the notes to the Dunciad obſerves, was like that of a man who, as he was ſitting in company, perceived his next neighbour had ſtolen his handkerchief. ‘Sir, ſaid the thief, finding himſelf detected, do not expoſe me, I did it for mere want; be ſo good but to take it privately out of my pocket again, and ſay nothing.’ The honeſt man did ſo, but the other cried out, ‘See, gentlemen! what a thief we have among us! look, he is ſtealing my handkerchief.’
The plagiariſm of this perſon gave occaſion to the following epigram;
More always ſmiles whenever he recites;
He ſmiles (you think) approving what he writes;
And yet in this no vanity is ſhown;
A modeſt man may like what’s not his own.
The ſmaller pieces which we have heard attributed to this author, are, An Epigram on the Bridge at Blenheim, by Dr. Evans; Coſmelia, by Mr. Pitt, Mr. Jones, &c. The Saw-Pit, a Simile, by a Friend; and ſome unowned Letters, Advertiſements, and Epigrams againſt Mr. Pope in the Daily Journal. He died in the year 1734, and as be wrote but one comedy unſucceſsfully, and no other pieces of his meeting with any applauſe, the reader will probably look upon him as a man of little genius; he had a power however of rendering his converſation agreeable by a facetious and gentleman-like manner, without any of the ſtiffneſs of the ſcholar, or the uſual petulance of a poet. He always lived in affluent circumſtances, and by mixing with genteel company, his habit of elegance was never loſt, a fate which too frequently happens to thoſe, who, notwithſtanding the brighteſt parts, are excluded the circle of politeneſs by the oppreſſions of poverty. In this light Mr. Pope mull have conſidered him, or he, who was one of the politeſt men of the age, as well as the greateſt poet, would never have introduced him to the earl of Peterborough. It does not appear that Mr. More had parts otherwiſe ſufficient to entitle him to the notice of Pope, and therefore he muſt have conſidered him only as a gentleman. Had he poſſeſſed as much prudence, as politeneſs, he would have avoided by all means incurring the diſpleaſure of Pope, who, as he was the warmeſt friend, was likewiſe a very powerful and implacable enemy. In this controverſy, however, it is evident enough that Mr. Moore was the aggreſſor, and it is likewiſe certain that his puniſhment has been equal to his offence.
He died October 18, 1734, at Whiſter, near Iſleworth in Middleſex, for which county he was a juſtice of peace.