poem in the language,—the "Art of Preserving Health." The affectations of men of genius are sometimes in direct contradiction to their best qualities, and assumed to avoid a show of pretending what they feel. Armstrong, who had bad health, and was afraid perhaps of being thought effeminate, affected the bully in his prose writings; and he was such a swearer, that the late Mr. Fuseli's indulgence in that infirmity has been attributed to his keeping company with the Doctor when a youth.-HUNT, LEIGH, 1848, The Town, p. 320. ART OF PRESERVING HEALTH 1744 To describe so difficult a thing, gracefully and poetically, as the effects of distemper on a human body, was reserved for Dr. Armstrong, who accordingly hath executed it at the end of his third book of his "Art of Preserving Health," where he hath given us that pathetick account of the sweating sickness. There is a classical correctness and closeness of style in this poem, that are truly admirable, and the subject is raised and adorned by numberless poetical images.-WARTON, JOSEPH, 1753–78, Reflections on Didactic Poetry. Dr. Armstrong, in his "Art of Preserving Health," has not aimed at so high strain as the other [Akenside]. But he is more equal; and maintains throughout a chaste and correct elegance.-BLAIR, HUGH, 1783, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres, ed. Mills, Lecture xl. His "Art of Preserving Health" is the most successful attempt, in our language, to incorporate material science with poetry. Its subject had the advantage of being generally interesting; for there are few things that we shall be more willing to learn, either in prose or verse, than the means of preserving the outward bulwark of all other blessings. At the same time, the difficulty of poetically treating a subject, which presented disease in all its associations, is one of the most just and ordinary topics of his praise. Of the triumphs of poetry over such difficulty, he had no doubt high precedents, to show that strong and true delineations of physical evil are not without an attraction of fearful interest and curiosity to the human mind; and that the enjoyment, which the fancy derives from conceptions of the bloom and beauty of healthful nature, may be heightened, by contrasting them with the opposite pictures of her mortality and decay. Milton had turned disease itself into a subject of sublimity, in the vision of Adam, with that intensity of the fire of genius, which converts whatever materials it meets with into its ailment: and Armstrong, though his powers were not Miltonic, had the courage to attempt what would have repelled a more timid taste. His Muse might be said to show a professional intrepidity in choosing the subject; and, like the physician who braves contagion (if allowed to prolong the simile), we may add, that she escaped, on the whole, with little injury from the trial. By the title of the poem, the author judiciously gave his theme a moral as well as a medical interest. He makes the influence of the passions an entire part of it. By professing to describe only how health is to be preserved, and not how it is to be restored, he avoids the unmanageable horrors of clinical detail; and though he paints the disease wisely spares us its pharmaceutical treatment. His course through the poem is sustained with lucid. management and propriety.-CAMPBELL, THOMAS, 1819, Specimens of the British Poets. His sentences are generally short and easy, his sense clear and obvious. The full extent of his conceptions is taken at the first glance; and there are no lofty mysteries to be unravelled by repeated perusal. What keeps his language from being prosaic, is the vigour of his sentiments. He thinks boldly, feels strongly, and therefore expresses himself poetically. Where the subject sinks, his style sinks with it; but he has for the most part excluded topics incapable either of vivid description, or of the oratory of sentiment. He had from nature a musical ear, whence his lines are scarcely ever harsh, and are usually melodious, though apparently without much study to render them so. Perhaps he has not been careful enough to avoid the monotony of making several successive lines close with a rest or pause in the sense. On the whole, it may not be too much to assert, that no writer in blank verse can be found more free from stiffness and affectation, more energetic without harshness, and more dignified without formality.-AIKIN, JOHN, 1820, An Essay on Dr. Armstrong's Poem on the Art of Preserving Health. Has the rare merit of an original and characteristic style, distinguished by raciness and manly grace.-CRAIK, GEORGE L., 1861, A Compendious History of English Literature and of the English Language, vol. II, p. 287. Warton has praised the "Art of Preserving Health" for its classical correctness and closeness of style, and its numberless poetical images. In general, however, it is stiff and laboured, with occasional passages of tumid extravagance; and the images are not unfrequently echoes of those of Thomson and other poets. The subject required the aid of ornament, for scientific rules are in general bad themes for poetry, and few men are ignorant of the true philosophy of life, however they may deviate from it in practice. CHAMBERS, ROBERT, 1876, Cyclopædia of English Literature, ed. Carruthers. On the whole however the merits of "The Art of Preserving Health" far outweigh its defects. It may indeed be urged by a devil's advocate that it is but a left-handed compliment to say that a man has done better than could be expected a task which, as sense and taste should have shown him, ought not to have been attempted at all. But Armstrong must always have, with competent judges, the praise which belongs to an author who has a distinct and peculiar grasp of a great poetical form.-SAINTSBURY, GEORGE, 1880, The English Poets, ed. Ward, vol. III, p. 184. In the class of poetry to which it belongs, the "Art of Preserving Health" holds a distinguished place. No writer of the eighteenth century had so masterful a grasp of blank verse as is shown in parts of this poem. The powerful passage descriptive of the plague (book iii.) has been highly praised. As in all didactic poetry, the practical directions are of little interest; but those who value austere imagination and weighty diction cannot afford to neglect Armstrong's masterpiece. -BULLEN, A. H., 1885, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 1, p. 95. A poem containing some powerful passages, and many which are better fitted Read musty lectures on Benevolence, But not one hour of darkness. On the whole, he is likely to be remembered as a poet of judicious thoughts and correct expression; and, as far as the rarely successful application of verse to subjects of science can be admired, an additional merit must be ascribed to the hand which has reared poetical flowers on the dry and difficult ground of philosophy. -CAMPBELL, THOMAS, 1819, Specimens of the British Poets. The "Economy of Love," 1736, 8vo, was published anonymously; and it is indeed a production which not many men would care to claim. A more nauseous piece of work could not easily be found. When the author reissued the poem in 1768, he had the good sense to cancel some of the worst passages.—BULLEN, A. H., 1885, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. II, p. 94. Armstrong's diction was absurdly tumid; he calls a wild briar-rose "a cynorrhodon," and a cold bath "a gelid cistern." But his merits of dignity and melody are at present underrated. The structure of Armstrong's blank verse is excellent, and though founded upon Thomson's, has a certain independent stateliness.-GOSSE, EDMUND, 1888, A History of Eighteenth Century Literature, p. 227. Armstrong's early imitation of Shakespeare and his critical panegyrics on the great dramatists reveal his true leanings. He was indeed indebted to Thomson, but only in a slight degree; and the influence of his country is rather seen in the independence of the fashionable mode which it helped him to maintain, than in positive features of his style. He was one of the earliest students of the Elizabethans who went so far as to make them his models, and acknowledge them as supreme masters of poetic art. He owes to the school in which he studied the daring of his sombre imagination, the manliness of his style, and the strength of his verse.WALKER, HUGH, 1893, Three Centuries of Scottish Literature, vol. II, p. 90. No one now would write on Armstrong's subjects in Armstrong's manner, but his grasp of the peculiar Thomsonian diction and versification was extraordinary.SAINTSBURY, GEORGE, 1898, A Short History of English Literature, p. 579. John Langhorne An English divine, poet, and historian, was born at Kirkby Stephen, in Westmoreland, in 1735. He published several popular pieces, particularly a poem, entitled "Genius and Valor," and having therein defended Scotland from the scurrility thrown out by Churchill in his "Prophecy of Famine," he was complimented with the degree of D. D. by the university of Edinburgh. In 1770 in conjunction with his brother, he published a translation of Plutarch, which is still a very popular work: in 1777 he was presented to a prebendal stall in the cathedral of Wells, and died in 1779.-GODWIN, PARKE, 1852, Hand-Book of Universal Biography, p. 567. PERSONAL He died in the flower of his prime, when the promises of his youth were on the verge of their full accomplishment. That such a man should take pains to put out the lamp that lights up the chamber of speculation and thought within him, is as lamentable as it is censurable; and little more can be said for him but that his guilt and folly appear harmless in comparison with the malignity of those of our day who abuse the arts of composition and the power of song, to spread a moral blight around them.-ROBERTS, WILLIAM, 1834, Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Hannah More, pt. i. GENERAL It is but a cheerless task of criticism, to pass with a cold look and irreverent step, over the literary memories of men, who, though they may rank low in the roll of absolute genius, have yet possessed refinement, information, and powers of amusement, above the level of their species, and such as would interest and attach us in private life. Of this description was Langhorne; an elegant scholar, and an amiable man. He gave delight to thousands, from the press and the pulpit; and had sufficient attraction, in his day, to sustain his spirit and credit as a writer, in the face of even Churchill's envenomed satire. Yet, as a prose writer, it is impossible to deny that his rapidity was the effect of lightness more than vigour; and, as a poet, there is no ascribing to him either fervour or simplicity. His Muse is elegantly languid. She is a fine lady, whose complexion is rather indebted to art than to the healthful bloom of nature. It would be unfair not to except from this observation several plain and manly sentiments, which are expressed in his poem "On the Enlargement of the Mind," and some passages in his "Country Justice," which are written with genuine feeling. CAMPBELL, THOMAS, 1819, Specimens of the British Poets. There is a period in youth when the effect on ear and imagination than in mere power of numbers has a more strong afterlife. At this season of immature taste, the author was greatly delighted with the poems of Mickle and Langhorne. -SCOTT, SIR WALTER, 1821, Kenilworth, Preface. His [Scott's] youthful admiration of Langhorne has been rendered memorable by his own record of his first and only interview with his great predecessor, Robert Burns. LOCKHART, JOHN GIBSON, 1836, Life of Sir Walter Scott, ch. v. For LANGHORNE, Reverend let him still continue, Although his mind had very little sinew. Langhorne, an amiable man, and highly popular as well as warmly beloved in his day, survives now in memory chiefly through his Plutarch's Lives, and through a few lines in his "Country Justice,' which are immortalised by the well-known story of Scott's interview with Burns. Campbell puts in a plea besides for his "Owen of Carron," but the plea, being founded on early reading, is partial, and has not been responded to by the public. -GILFILLAN, GEORGE, 1860, Specimens with Memoirs of Less-Known British Poets. The only poem of Langhorne's which has a cast of originality is his "Country Justice." Here he seems to have anticipated Crabbe in painting the rural life of England in true colours. His picture of the gipsies, and his sketches of venal clerks and rapacious overseers, are genuine likenesses. He has not the raciness or the distinctness of Crabbe, but is equally faithful, and as sincerely a friend to humanity. He pleads warmly for the poor vagrant tribe.-CHAMBERS, ROBERT, 1876, Cyclopædia of English Literature, ed. Carruthers. Langhorne was a popular writer in his day, but his sentimental tales and his pretty verses have long ceased to please, and he is now best remembered as the joint translator of "Plutarch's Lives." BARKER, G. F. RUSSELL, 1892, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. XXXII, p. 101. That he had a tender feeling towards animals is shown by his poems on birds and by his protest against the cruelty of confining birds in cages. The most striking characteristic of Langhorne's poems is his direct expression of the excellence of the gift that nature's hand bestows. Langhorne's perception of the power of nature over man, and his passionate sense of personal indebtedness to nature are the keynotes of his work. In a narrow way and with feeble speech he shows a mental and spiritual experience of the same type as that which Wordsworth records of his own youth. His motive in writing "an unaffected wish to promote the love of nature and the interests of humanity, " is likewise Wordsworthian.-REYNOLDS, MYRA, 1896, The Treatment of Nature in English Poetry, Between Pope and Wordsworth, pp. 132, 133. Langhorne at least sometimes has a melancholy clangour of verse too rare in his century.-SAINTSBURY, GEORGE, 1898, A Short History of English Literature, p. 587. William Kenrick 1725?-1779 A critic of equal ability, impudence, and literary ferocity, was for a long timefirst in the Monthly and subsequently in the London Review-the terror of the new scribes, and the object of disgust to the old authors, of his own day. Goldsmith, Akenside, Johnson, Colman, Boswell, Garrick, and a host of others, were in turn made to suffer for having gained that popularity or notoriety which the public denied to him. We have already had something to say of this "Literary Ishmaelite" in our lives of Goldsmith and Dr. Johnson, and have little to add in this place. His productions-consisting of poems, poetical epistles, philosophical and philological speculations, comedies, letters, &c., pub. from 1751 to 1773-are now forgotten, save in connexion with the better men whom he attacked; nor would the world be much benefited by a revival of this lost knowledge. But those who desire to explore further may consult the Monthly Review (Kenrick's own child) the London Review; Gent. Mag.; Chalmers's Biog. Dict.; Boswell's "Life of Johnson," and other literary records of the day, and the "Encyc. Brit." His most ambitious publication was "A New Dictionary of the English Language: to which is prefixed a Rhetorical Grammar," Lon., 1773, 4to. "The Rhetorical Grammar" was also pub. separately in 1784, 8vo. -ALLIBONE, S. AUSTIN, 1854-58, A Critical Dictionary of English Literature, vol. I, p. 1022. PERSONAL Dreaming of genius which he never had, Seizing like Shirley on the poet's lyre, From others' brows that wreath he must not wear, Next Kenrick came; all furious and replete With Reason's offal glut his ravening soul; Pleas'd with his prey, its inmost blood he drinks, And mumbles, paws, and turns it-till it stinks. -SHAW, CUTHBERT, 1766, The Race. He was brought up as a scale-maker, or in some such employment, but early became a hack writer. He had a strong love of notoriety, a jealous and perverse temper, and was often drunk and violent. He became the enemy of every decent and successful person, and so notorious as a libeller that few condescended to answer him. His vanity led him to fancy himself equal to any task with serious study. In his later years Kenrick seldom wrote without a bottle of brandy at his elbow. Though a superlative scoundel, he was clever, and especially proud of the rapidity of his writing, even his more serious works. -GOODWIN, GORDON, 1892, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. XXXI, pp. 16, 19. GENERAL Though he certainly was not without considerable merit, he wrote with so little regard to decency and principles, and decorum, and in so hasty a manner, that his reputation was neither extensive nor lasting. I remember one evening, when some of his works were mentioned, Dr. Goldsmith said, he had never heard of them; upon which Dr. Johnson observed, "Sir, he is one of the many who have made themselves publick, without making themselves known."-BosWELL, JAMES, 1791-93, Life of Johnson, ed. Hill, vol. 1, p. 576. The turn of his criticism, the airiness or the asperity of his sarcasm, the arrogance with which he treated some of our great authors, would prove very amusing, and serve to display a certain talent of criticism. . . . He was a man of talents, who ran a race with the press; could criticise all the genius of the age faster than it could be produced; could make his own malignity look like wit, and turn the wit of others into absurdity by placing it topsyturvy,-DISRAELI, ISAAC, 1812-13, Calamities of Authors. It may be well, however, in passing, to bestow our mite of notoriety upon the miscreant who launched the slander. [On Goldsmith] He deserves it for a long course of dastardly and venomous attacks, not merely upon Goldsmith, but upon most of the successful authors of the day.IRVING, WASHINGTON, 1849, Life of Goldsmith, p. 135. Sir William Blackstone 1723-1780 Born at London, July 10, 1723: died at London, Feb. 14, 1780. A celebrated English jurist, appointed Vinerian professor of common law at Oxford in 1758, and Justice in the Court of Common Pleas in 1770. His chief work is "Commentaries on the Laws of England" (1765-68). Eight editions appeared in the author's lifetime, and for sixty years after his death they followed in quick succession. These editions were edited and annotated by Coleridge, Chitty, Christian, and others. An American edition was printed in 1884, but the text has not been reprinted in England since 1844. There are various adaptations of it for modern use. -SMITH, BENJAMIN E., ed., 189497, The Century Cyclopedia of Names, p. 160. PERSONAL If I were personally your enemy, I should dwell with a malignant pleasure upon those great and useful qualities you certainly possess, and by which you once acquired, though they could not preserve to you, the respect and esteem of your country. I should enumerate the honours you have lost, and the virtues you have disgraced; but, having no private resentments to gratify, I think it sufficient to have given my opinion of your public conduct, leaving the punishment it deserves to your closet and to yourself. —JUNIUS, 1769-72, Letter xviii. He was a believer in the great truths of Christianity, from a thorough investigation of its evidence: attached to the church of England from conviction of its excellence, his principles were those of its genuine members, enlarged and tolerant. His religion was pure and unaffected, and his attendance on its public duties regular, and those duties always performed with seriousness and devotion. CLITHEROW, J., 1781, ed., Reports, Memoir. |