The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland/Volume 4/Major Richardson Pack
Major Richardſon Pack.
This gentleman was the ſon of John Pack, of Stocke-Aſh in Suffolk, eſq; who in the year 1697 was high ſheriff of that county. He had his early education at a private country ſchool, and was removed from thence to Merchant Taylor’s, where he received his firſt taſte of letters; for he always reckoned that time which he ſpent at the former ſchool as loſt, ſince he had only contracted bad habits, and was obliged to unlearn what had been taught him there.
At the age of ſixteen he was removed to St. John’s College in Oxford. About eighteen his father entered him of the Middle Temple, deſigning him for the profeſſion of the Law; and by the peculiar indulgence of the treaſurer, and benchers of that honourable ſociety, he was at eight Terms ſtanding admitted barriſter, when he had not much exceeded the age of 20. But a ſedentary, ſtudious life agreeing as ill with his health, as a formal one with his inclinations, he did not long purſue thoſe ſtudies. After ſome wavering in his thoughts, he at laſt determined his views to the army, as being better ſuited to the gaiety of his temper, and the ſprightlineſs of his genius, and where he hoped to meet with more freedom, as well as more action. His firſt command was that of a company of foot in March 1705.
In November 1710 the regiment in which he ſerved was one of thoſe two of Engliſh foot, that were with the marſhal Staremberg at the battle of Villa Vicioſa, the day after general Stanhope, and the troops under his command were taken at Brighuega,[1] where the major being killed, and our author’s behaviour being equal to the occaſion on which he acted, his grace the duke of Argyle confirmed his pretenſions to that vacancy, by giving him the commiſſion of the deceaſed major, immediately on his arrival in Spain. It was this accident which firſt introduced our gallant ſoldier to the acquaintance of that truly noble and excellent perſon, with whoſe protection and patronage he was honoured during the remaining part of his life.
The ambition he had to celebrate his grace’s heroic virtues (at a time when there ſubſiſted a jealouſy between him and the duke of Marlborough, and it was faſhionable by a certain party to traduce him) gave birth to ſome of the beſt of his performances.
What other pieces the major has written in verſe, are, for the moſt part, the unlaboured reſult of friendſhip, or love; and the amuſement of thoſe few ſolitary intervals in a life that ſeldom wanted either ſerious buſineſs, or ſocial pleaſures, of one kind or other, entirely to fill up the circle. They are all publiſhed in one volume, together with a tranſlation of the Life of Miltiades and Cymon, from Cornelius Nepos; the firſt edition was in 1725.
The moſt conſiderable of them are the following,
1. The Muſe’s Choice, or the Progreſs of Wit.
2. On Friendſhip. To Colonel Stanhope.
3. To Mr. Addiſon, occaſioned by the news of the victory obtained over the Rebels in Scotland, by his Grace the Duke of Argyle.
4. To Lady Catherine Manners.
5. The Lovers Parting.
6. The Retreat.
7. An Epiſtle from a Half-pay Officer in the Country, to his Friend in Town.
8. Upon Religious Solitude; occaſioned by reading the Inſcription on the Tomb of Caſimir King of Poland, who abdicated his Crown, and ſpent the remainder of his life in the Abbey of St. Germains, near Paris, where he lies interred.
9. A Paſtoral in Imitation of Virgil’s Second Eclogue.
10. The 2d, 3d, and 4th Elegies of the Fourth Book of Tibullus.
11. Elegy. Sylvia to Amintor, in Imitation of Ovid. Alter Sylvia is enjoyed, ſhe gives this Advice to her ſex.
Nor in your boaſted honour much confide;
So ſtill the motion, and ſo ſmooth the dart,
It ſteals unfelt into the heedleſs heart.
A Prologue to the Tragedy of Sir Walter Raleigh, and an Epilogue to Mr. Southern’s Spartan Dame. In the former he has the following beautiful lines on Ambition;
Falſe to our hopes, and to our wiſhes coy;
The bold ſhe bafflles, and defeats the ſtrong;
And all are ruined who purſue her long;
Yet ſo bewitching are her fatal charms,
We think it heav’n to die within her arms.
Major Pack obliged the world with ſome Memoirs of the Life of Mr. Wycherley, which are prefixed to Theobald’s edition of that author. Mr. Jacob mentions a piece of his which he ſaw in MS. entitled Religion and Philoſophy, which, ſays he, with his other works, demonſtrate the author to be a polite writer, and a man of wit and gallantry.
This amiable gentleman died at Aberdeen in Scotland, in the month of September 1728, colonel Montague’s regiment, in which he was then a major, being quartered there.
- ↑ Vide Jacob’s Lives.