The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland/Volume 4/John Hughes

John Hughes.

William Duncomb, eſq; has obliged the world with an entire edition of this author’s poetical and proſe works, to which he has prefixed ſome account of his life, written with candour and ſpirit. Upon his authority we chiefly build the following narration; in which we ſhall endeavour to do as much juſtice as poſſible to the memory of this excellent poet.

Our author was the ſon of a worthy citizen of London, and born at Marlborough in the county of Wilts, on the 29th of January 1677; but received the rudiments of his learning at private ſchools in London.

In the earlieſt years of his youth, he applied himſelf with ardour to the purſuit of the ſiſter arts, poetry, drawing, and muſic, in each of which by turns, he made a conſiderable progreſs; but for the moſt part purſued theſe and other polite ſtudies, only as agreeable amuſements, under frequent confinement from indiſpoſition, and a valetudinary ſtate of health. He had ſome time an employment in the office of ordinance; and was ſecretarv to two or three commiſſioners under the great-ſeal, for purchaſing lands for the better ſecuring the docks and harbours at Portſmouth, Chatham, and Harwich.

In the year 1717 the lord chancellor Cowper, (to whom Mr. Hughes was then but lately known) was pleaſed, without any previous ſollicitation, to make him his ſecretary for the commiſſions of the peace, and to diſtinguiſh him with ſingular marks of his favour and affection: And upon his lordſhip’s laying down the great-ſeal, he was at his particular recommendation, and with the ready concurrence of his ſucceſſor, continued in the ſame employment under the earl of Macclesfield.

He held this place to the time of his deceaſe, which happened on the 17th of February 1719, the very night in which his tragedy, entitled the Siege of Damaſcus, was firſt acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane.

He was cut off by a conſumption, after a painful life, at the age of 42, when he had juſt arrived at an agreeable competence, and advancing in fame and fortune. So juſt is the beautiful reflexion of Milton in his Lycidas;

Fame is the ſpur, that the clear ſpirit doth raiſe,
(That laſt infirmity of noble mind)
To ſcorn delights, and live laborious days;
But the fair guerdon, when we hope to find,
And think to burſt out into ſudden blaze,
Comes the blind fury with th’ abhorred ſhears,
And ſlits the thin-ſpun life.——

He was privately buried in the vault under the chancel of St. Andrew’s Church in Holborn.

Mr. Hughes, as a teſtimony of gratitude to his noble friend, and generous patron, earl Cowper, gave his lordſhip a few weeks before he died, his picture drawn by Sir Godfrey Kneller, which he himſelf had received from that maſterly painter. The value lord Cowper ſet upon it will be beſt ſhewn, by the letter he wrote upon this occaſion to Mr. Hughes. As ſuch a teſtimony from ſo eminent a perſon, was conſidered by himſelf as one of the higheſt honours he was capable of receiving, we ſhall therefore inſert it.

24th Jan. 1719–20.

‘SIR,

‘I thank you for the moſt acceptable preſent of your picture, and aſſure you that none of this age can ſet a higher value on it than I do, and ſhall while I live, tho’ I am ſenſible poſterity will out-do me in that particular.’

I am with the greateſt eſteem,

and ſincerity

Your moſt affectionate, and

obliged humble ſervant

COWPER.

Mr. Hughes was happy in the acquaintance and friendſhip of ſeveral of the greateſt men, and moſt diſtinguiſhed genius’s of the age in which he lived; particularly of the nobleman juſt now mentioned, the preſent lord biſhop of Wincheſter, lord chief baron Gilbert, Sir Godfrey Kneller, Mr. Congreve, Mr. Addiſon, Sir Richard Steele, Mr. Southern, Mr. Rowe, &c. and might have juſtly boaſted in the words of Horace

————————————————me
Cum magnis vixiſſe, invita fatebitus uſque
Invidia.————

Having given this ſhort account of his life, which perhaps is all that is preſerved any where concerning him; we ſhall now conſider him, firſt, as a poet, and then as a proſe writer.

The Triumph of Peace was the earlieſt poem he wrote of any length, that appeared in public. It was written on occaſion of the peace of Ryſwick, and printed in the year 1677. A learned gentleman at Cambridge, in a letter to a friend of Mr. Hughes’s, dated the 28th of February 1697–8, gives the following account of the favourable reception this poem met with there, upon its firſt publication. ‘I think I never heard a poem read with ſo much admiration, as the Triumph of Peace was by our beſt critics here; nor a greater character given to a young poet, at his firſt appearing; no, not even to Mr. Congreve himſelf. So nobly elevated are his thoughts, his numbers ſo harmonious, and his turns ſo fine and delicate, that we cry out with Tully, on a like occaſion,

‘Noſtræ ſpes altera Romæ!’

The Court of Neptune, was written on king William’s return from Holland, two years after the peace, in 1699. This Poem was admired for the verſification, however, the muſical flow of the numbers is its leaſt praiſe; it rather deſerves to be valued for the propriety, and boldneſs of the figures and metaphors, and the machinery.

The following lines have been juſtly quoted as an inſtance of the author’s happy choice of metaphors.

As when the golden god, who rules the day,
Drives down his flaming chariot to the ſea,
And leaves the nations here, involved in night,
To diſtant regions he tranſports his light;
So William’s rays by turns, two nations cheer,
And when he ſets to them, he riſes here.

A friend of Mr. Hughes’s ſoon after the publication of this poem, complimented him upon the choice of his ſubject, and for the moral ſentiments contained in it. ‘I am ſure (ſays he) virtue is moſt for the intereſt of mankind; and thoſe poets have ever obtained the moſt honour in the world, who have made that the end and deſign of their works. A wanton Sappho, or Anacreon, among the ancients, never had the ſame applauſe, as a Pindar, or Alexis; nor in the judgment of Horace did they deſerve it. In the opinion of all poſterity, a lewd and debauch’d Ovid, did juſtly ſubmit to the worth of a Virgil; and, in future ages, a Dryden will never be compared to Milton. In all times, and in all places of the world, the moral poets have been ever the greateſt; and as much ſuperior to others in wit, as in virtue. Nor does this ſeem difficult to be accounted for, ſince the dignity of their ſubjects naturally raiſed their ideas, and gave a grandeur to their ſentiments.’

The Houſe of Naſſau, a Pindaric Ode (printed in 1702) was occaſioned by the death of king William. ‘In Pindaric and Lyric Poetry (ſays Mr. Duncomb) our author’s genius ſhines in its full luſtre. Tho’ he enjoyed all that fire of imagination, and divine enthuſiaſm, for which ſome of the ancient poets are ſo deſervedly admired, yet did his fancy never run away with his reaſon, but was always guided by ſuperior judgment; and the muſic of his verſe is exquiſite.’

The Tranſlation of the third Ode of the third Book of Horace, and the Paraphraſe of the twenty-ſecond Ode, of the firſt book, were both written when he was very young; and the latter of them was his firſt poetical Eſſay, which appeared in print. Mr. Hughes, in a private letter ſent to one of his friends, gives it as his opinion, that the Odes of Horace, are fitter to be paraphraſed, than tranſlated.

The Tenth Book of Lucan, was tranſlated by Mr. Hughes, long before Mr. Rowe undertook that author. The occaſion of it was this: Mr. Tonſon the bookſeller, ſollicited a tranſlation of Lucan, by ſeveral hands. Mr. Hughes performed his part, but others failing in their promiſes, the deſign was dropp’d; and Mr. Rowe was afterwards prevailed upon to undertake the whole, which he performed with great ſucceſs.

In the year 1709 Mr. Hughes obliged the publick, with an elegant tranſlation of Moliere’s celebrated Comedy, the Miſantrope. This has been ſince reprinted, with the other plays of that admirable author, tranſlated by Mr. Ozell; but care is taken to diſtinguiſh this particular play.

In the year 1712 his Opera of Calypſo and Telemachus, was performed at the Queen’s Theatre in the Hay-Market. Perhaps it may be worth while to mention here, one circumſtance concerning this Opera, as it relates to the Hiſtory of Muſic in England, and diſcovers the great partiality ſhewn at that time to Operas performed in Italian. After many ſuch had been encouraged by large ſubſcriptions, this, originally written, and ſet in Engliſh, after the Italian manner, was prepared with the uſual expence of ſcenes and decorations; and being much crowded and applauded at the rehearſals, a ſubſcription was obtained for it as uſual.

This alarmed the whole Italian band, who, apprehending that their profeſſion would ſuffer thereby, procured an order from the duke of Shrewſbury, then lord chamberlain, the day before the performing of this Opera, to take off the ſubſcription for it, and to open the houſe at the loweſt prices, or not at all. This was deſigned to ſink it, but failed of its end. It was performed, though under ſuch great diſcouragement; and was revived afterwards at the theatre in Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields. Mr. Addiſon, in the Spectator, Numb. 405, ſpeaking of the juſt applauſe given this opera, by Signior Nicolini (who he ſays was the greateſt performer in dramatic muſic, that perhaps ever appeared upon a ſtage) has theſe words,

‘The town is highly obliged to that excellent artiſt, for having ſhewn us the Italian muſic in its perfection, as well as for that generous approbation he gave to an Opera of our own country, in which Mr. Galliard the compoſer endeavoured to do juſtice to the beauty of the words, by following that noble example which has been ſet him by the greateſt foreign maſters of that art.’

The Ode to the Creator of the World, occaſioned by the fragments of Orpheus, was printed in the year 1713, at the particular inſtance of Mr. Addiſon; and is mentioned with applauſe in the Spectator. This, and the Extaſy, (publiſhed ſince the death of the author) are juſtly eſteemed two of the nobleſt Odes in our language. The ſeventh Stanza of the laſt mentioned piece, is ſo ſublimely excellent, that it would be denying ourſelves, and our poetical readers, a pleaſure not to tranſcribe it. The whole of this Ode is beautifully heightened, and poetically conceived. It furniſhed a hint to a living Poet to write what he entitles the Excurſion, which tho’ it has very great merit, yet falls infinitely ſhort of this animated Ode of Mr. Hughes.

After having repreſented the natural and artificial calamities to which man is doomed, he proceeds,

But why do I delay my flight?
Or on ſuch gloomy objects gaze?
I go to realms ſerene, with ever-living light.
Haſte, clouds and whirlwinds, haſte a raptured bard to raiſe;
Mount me ſublime along the ſhining way,
Where planets, in pure ſtreams of Æther driven,
Swim thro’ the blue expanſe of heav’n.
And lo! th’ obſequious clouds and winds obey!
And lo! again the nations downward fly;
And wide-ſtretch’d kingdoms periſh from my eye.
Heav’n! what bright viſions now ariſe!
What op’ning worlds my raviſh’d ſenſe ſurprize!
I paſs Cerulian gulphs, and now behold
New ſolid globes; their weight ſelf-ballanc’d, bear
Unprop’d amidſt the fluid air,
And all, around the central Sun, incircling eddies roll’d.
Unequal in their courſe, ſee they advance
And form the planetary dance!
Here the pale Moon, whom the ſame laws ordain
T’ obey the earth, and rule the main;
Here ſpots no more in ſhadowy ſtreaks appear;
But lakes inſtead, and groves of trees,
The wand’ring muſe, tranſported ſees,
And their tall heads diſcover’d mountains rear.
And now once more, I downward caſt my ſight,
When lo! the earth, a larger moon diſplays,
Far off, amidſt the heav’ns, her ſilver face,
And to her ſiſter moons by turns gives light!
Her ſeas are ſhadowy ſpots, her land a milky white.

The author of an Eſſay on Criticiſm, printed in the year 1728, informs us, that the Tragedy of Cato being brought upon the ſtage in 1713 was owing to Mr. Hughes. The circumſtances recorded by this author are ſo remarkable, that they deſerve to be related; and as they ſerve to ſhew the high opinion Mr. Addiſon entertained of our author’s abilities as a Poet, I ſhall therefore tranſcribe his own words.——

‘It has been often ſaid by good judges, that Cato was no proper ſubject for a dramatic poem: That the character of a ſtoic philoſopher, is inconſiſtent with the hurry and tumult of action, and paſſions which are the ſoul of tragedy. That the ingenious author miſcarried in the plan of his work, but ſupported it by the dignity, the purity, the beauty, and juſtneſs of the ſentiments. This was ſo much the opinion of Mr. Maynwaring, who was generally allowed to be the beſt critic of our time; that he was againſt bringing the play upon the ſtage, and it lay by unfiniſhed many years. That it was play’d at laſt was owing to Mr. Hughes. He had read the four acts which were finiſhed, and really thought it would be of ſervice to the public, to have it repreſented at the latter end of queen Anne’s reign, when the ſpirit of liberty was likely to be loſt. He endeavoured to bring Mr. Addiſon into his opinion, which he did, and conſented it ſhould be acted if Mr. Hughes would write the laſt act; and he offered him the ſcenery for his aſſiſtance, excuſing his not finiſhing it himſelf, upon account of ſome other avocations. He preſs’d Mr. Hughes to do it ſo earneſtly, that he was prevailed upon, and ſet about it. But, a week after, ſeeing Mr. Addiſon again, with an intention to communicate to him what he thought of it, he was agreeably ſurprized at his producing ſome papers, where near half of the act was written by the author himſelf, who took fire at the hint, that it would be ſerviceable; and, upon a ſecond reflexion, went through with the fifth act, not that he was diffident of Mr. Hughes’s abilities; but knowing that no man could have ſo perfect a notion of his deſign as himſelf, who had been ſo long, and ſo carefully thinking of it. I was told this by Mr. Hughes, and I tell it to ſhew, that it was not for the love-ſcenes, that Mr. Addiſon conſented to have his Tragedy acted, but to ſupport public ſpirit; which in the opinion of the author was then declining.’

In the year 1720 the Siege of Damaſcus was acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, with univerſal applauſe. His preſent majeſty honoured it with his preſence, and the late queen diſtinguiſhed it with marks of favour.

Mr. Hughes drew up the dedication of this Tragedy to the late Earl Cowper, about ten days before he died. It is indeed ſurpriſing, that he ſhould be able to form a piece ſo finely turned, and at ſuch an hour; when death was juſt before him, and he was too weak to tranſcribe it himſelf.

Mr. Pope, in a letter to Mr. Hughes’s brother, written ſoon after his death, in anſwer to one received from him, with the printed copy of the play, has the following pathetic paſſage.

‘I read over again your brother’s play, with more concern and ſorrow, than I ever felt in the reading any Tragedy. The real loſs of a good man may be called a diſtreſs to the world, and ought to affect us more, than any feigned diſtreſs, how well drawn ſoever. I am glad of an occaſion of giving you under my hand this teſtimony, both how excellent I think this work to be, and how excellent I thought the author.’

It is generally allowed that the characters in this play are finely varied and diſtinguiſhed; that the ſentiments are juſt, and well adapted to the characters; that it abounds with beautiful deſcriptions, apt alluſions to the manners, and opinions of the times where the ſcene is laid, and with noble morals; that the diction is pure, unaffected, and ſublime; and that the plot is conducted in a ſimple and clear manner.

Some critics have objected, that there is not a ſufficient ground and foundation, for the diſtreſs in the fourth and fifth acts. That Phocyas only aſſiſts the enemy to take Damaſcus a few days ſooner, than it muſt unavoidably have fallen into the hands of the Saracens by a capitulation, which was far from diſhonourable. If Phocyas is guilty, his guilt muſt conſiſt in this only, that he performed the ſame action from a ſenſe of his own wrong, and to preſerve the idol of his ſoul from violation, and death, which he might have performed laudably, upon better principles. But this (ſay they) ſeems not ſufficient ground for thoſe ſtrong and ſtinging reproaches he caſts upon himſelf, nor for Eudocia’s rejecting him with ſo much ſeverity. It would have been a better ground of diſtreſs, conſidering the frailty of human nature, and the violent temptations he lay under; if he had been at laſt prevailed upon to profeſs himſelf a Mahometan: For then his remorſe, and ſelf-condemnation, would have been natural, his puniſhment juſt, and the character of Eudocia placed in a more amiable light. In anſwer to theſe objections, and in order to do juſtice to the judgment of Mr. Hughes, we muſt obſerve, that he formed his play according to the plan here recommended: but, over-perſuaded by ſome friends, he altered it as it now ſtands.

When our author was but in the nineteenth year of his age, he wrote a Tragedy, entitled, Amalaſont Queen of the Goths, which diſplays a fertile genius, and a maſterly invention. Beſides theſe poetical productions Mr Hughes is author of ſeveral works in proſe, particularly,

The Advices from Parnaſſus, and the Poetical Touchſtone of Trajano Boccalini, tranſlated by ſeveral hands, were printed in folio 1706. This tranſlation was reviſed and corrected, and the preface to it was written by Mr. Hughes.

Fontenelle’s Dialogues of the Dead, tranſlated by our author; with two original Dialogues, publiſhed in the year 1708. The greateſt part of this had lain by him for ſix years.

Fontenelle’s Diſcourſe concerning the antients, and moderns, are printed with his converſations with a Lady, on the Plurality of Worlds, tranſlated by Glanville.

The Hiſtory of the Revolutions in Portugal, written in French, by Monſieur L’Abbé de Vertot, was tranſlated by Mr. Hughes.

The Tranſlation of the Letters of Abelard and Heloiſe, was done by Mr. Hughes; upon which Mr. Pope has built his beautiful Epiſtle of Heloiſe to Abelard.

As Mr. Hughes was an occaſional contributor to the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, the reader perhaps may be curious to know more particularly what ſhare he had in thoſe papers, which are ſo juſtly admired in all places in the world, where taſte and genius have viſited. As it is the higheſt honour to have had any concern in works like theſe, ſo it would be moſt injurious to the memory of this excellent genius, not to particularize his ſhare in them.

In the Tatler he writ,

Vol. II.	Numb. 64. A Letter ſigned Joſiah Couplet.
	Numb. 73. A Letter againſt Gameſters, ſigned William Truſty.

Mr. Tickell alludes to this Letter, in a Copy of Verſes addreſſed to the Spectator, Vol. VII. N^o. 532.

From Felon Gameſters, the raw ’ſquire is free,
And Briton owes her reſcued oaks to thee.

Numb. 113. The Inventory of a Beau.

In the Spectator.

Vol. I.	Numb. 33. A Letter on the Art of improving beauty.
	Numb. 53. A Second Letter on the ſame ſubject.
	Numb. 66. Two Letters concerning fine breeding.

Vol. II.	Numb. 91. The Hiſtory of Honoria, or the Rival Mother.
	Numb. 104. A Letter on Riding-Habits for Ladies.
	Numb. 141. Remarks on a Comedy, intitled the Lancaſhire Witches.

Vol. III.	Numb. 210. On the immortality of the Soul.
	Numb. 220. A Letter concerning expedients for Wit.
	Numb. 230. All, except the laſt Letter.
	Numb. 231. A Letter on the awe of appearing before public aſſemblies.
	Numb. 237. On Divine Providence.

Vol. IV.	Numb. 252. A Letter on the Eloquence of Tears, and fainting fits.
	Numb. 302. The Character of Emilia.
	Numb. 311. A letter from the Father of a great Fortune.

Vol. V. Numb. 57. A Picture of Virtue in Diſtreſs.

Vol. VII.	Numb. 525. On Conjugal Love.
	Numb. 537. On the Dignity of Human Nature.
	Numb. 541. Rules for Pronunciation and Action, chiefly collected from Cicero.

Vol. VII. Numb. 554. On the Improvement of the Genius, illuſtrated in the characters of Lord Bacon, Mr. Boyle, Sir Iſaac Newton, and Leonardo da Vinci.—We have not been able to learn, what papers in the Guardian were written by him, beſides Number 37, Vol. I. which contains Remarks on the Tragedy of Othello.

In the year 1715 Mr. Hughes publiſhed a very accurate edition of the works of our famous poet Edmund Spenſer, in ſix volumes, 12mo. to this edition are prefixed the Life of Spenſer; an Eſſay on Allegorical poetry; Remarks on the Fairy Queen, on the Shepherd’s Calendar, and other writings of Spenſer; and a Gloſſary explaining the Old and obſolete Words.

In 1718 he publiſhed a piece called Charon, or The Ferry-Boat, a Viſion. This, and Mr. Walſh’s Æſculapius, or Hoſpital of Fools, are perhaps two; of the fineſt dialogues we have in Engliſh, as well as the moſt lively imitations of Lucian.

Sir Richard Steele, in a paper called The Theatre, N^o. 15. has paid a tribute to the memory of Mr. Hughes, with which as it illuſtrates his amiable character, we ſhall conclude his life.

‘I laſt night (ſays he) ſaw the Siege of Damaſcus, and had the mortification to hear this evening that Mr. Hughes, the author of it, departed this life within ſome few hours after his play was acted, with univerſal applauſe. This melancholy circumſtance recalled into my thought a ſpeech in the tragedy, which very much affected the whole audience, and was attended to with the greateſt, and moſt ſolemn inſtance of approbation, and awful ſilence.’ The incidents of the play plunge a heroic character into the laſt extremity; and he is admoniſhed by a tyrant commander to expect no mercy, unleſs he changes the Chriſtian religion for the Mahometan. The words with which the Turkiſh general makes his exit from his priſoner are,

‘Farewel, and think of death.

‘Upon which the captive breaks into the following ſoliloquy,

‘Farewel! and think of death!—was it not ſo?
Do murtherers then, preach morality?
But how to think of what the living know not,
And the dead cannot, or elſe may not tell!
What art thou? O thou great myſterious terror!
The way to thee, we know; diſeaſes, famine,
Sword, fire, and all thy ever open gates,
That day and night ſtand ready to receive us.
But what, beyond them? who will draw that veil?
Yet death’s not there.—No, ’tis a point of time;
The verge ’twixt mortal, and immortal Being.
It mocks our thought—On this ſide all is life;
And when we’ve reach’d it, in that very inſtant,
’Tis paſt the thinking of—O if it be
The pangs, the throes, the agonizing ſtruggle,
When ſoul and body part, ſure I have felt it!
And there’s no more to fear.

‘The gentleman (continues Sir Richard) to whoſe memory I devote this paper, may be the emulation of more perſons of different talents, than any one I have ever known. His head, hand, or heart, was always employed in ſomething worthy imitation; his pencil, his bow (ſtring), or his pen, each of which he uſed in a maſterly manner, were always directed to raiſe, and entertain his own mind, or that of others, to a more chearful proſecution of what is noble and virtuous. Peace be with thy remains, thou amiable ſpirit! but I talk in the language of our weakneſs, that is flown to the regions of immortality, and relieved from the aking engine and painful inſtrument of anguiſh and ſorrow, in which for many tedious years he panted with a lively hope for his preſent condition.’ We ſhall conſign the trunk, in which he was ſo long impriſoned, to common earth, with all that is due to the merit of its inhabitant.^[1]

 

1. There are ſeveral copies of verſes written to the memory of Mr. Hughes, prefixed to Mr. Duncomb’s edition of his poems, of which one by a lady who has withheld her name, deſerves particular diſtinction.