The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-04-14 00:00:00

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LITERATURE.

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Eli prriadm tognescere.

lii R.

• TIE rozricAt. WORKS OF •TIIF. LATE
TIIUMAS WARTON, B. D.
• TOGITHEA 11TH
• mr.motrs OF HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS.

FIT ILICHARD 14• MT.
'l he poetry of the late Laureat has long been in
the possession of the public ; but his life, annexed
to this edition, is new, and cf.nsequently is entitled
to our attention. '1 he zeal of biographical friend-
ship ha; been latel:. more than ordinarily displayed ;
and having just witnessed the efforts of Mr. Ray-
ley, to cAbrate the ohjeet of his literary regard, we
are now to behold the similar exertions of 'Mr.
Mare, in favour of an inferior subj.a, but not per-
haps -with inferior success. Men would be an-
gels—angels would be gods." Cowper, thOngh
not ii the first ranks of those resplendent orders, is
unquestionably of the ethereal race : but Warm is
a mere mortal, fashioned of the same hothely clay
with multitudes of his species, and wit:: the com-
mon obstru:tion of the

frigiduscircum przcoalia salgui4.
Every endeavour, therefore,, to raise him above his
mortal destiny can answer no other purpose, than,
that of discovering the ingenuity or the friendliness
of the Writer who makes it. Posterity will always
adjust the balance between the biographer and
truth; and throwing all exaggerated or fiittitious me-
rit out of the scale, will leave, in the instances to
which we refer, much to Cowper and very little to
Warton. Warton, as we are p2rsuaded, has reaped
his w;hole harvest- of fame, and has no springing
crop of poetical or of critical celebrity to form the
objeEt of hope. Some interest, however, rray as
yet be attached to his name; and we will, there-
fore, sketch the principal features of his history
from the fuller drawing of it by Mr. Mant.
Thomas Warton, the Laureat,• was of the family
of Sir Michael Warton, Bart. of Warton-hall, in
Lancashire; And was the grandson of Antony War-
ton, reffor of Breamore in the New Forest. The
Laureat's father, Thomas Warton, the third son of
Antony, was a man of some distinai,n in
,his day,
raised .o consequence in Oxford, by a fellowship cf
Magdalen College and the professorship of poetry,
and, to rank in the world, by the acquaintance of
Pope, and the intimacy of Pope's particular friend,
Dighy. The professor's second son, Thomas, the
subjea of our present narrative, was born at Basing-
stoke in 1728 ; and at an early age discovered a
propensity to reading, and a talent for poetry. A
letter, written by ham to his sister, when he was
only nine years old, has very properly been pre-
served, as an extraordinary instance of mature in-
tellen in childhood, The letter inclosed the .fol-
lowing verses, with an apology for the first pro-
duction of the writer's little muse.'
ON LEANDER's SWIMMING OVER THE HELLES-

PONT TO HERO.
Trate:laird ly me from the Latta cf MARTIAL.

" When boll t L N Dalt sought his d.staiit Fair,
" (Nor could 111 a ►ea a bralf,.ir burthen bear,) .
" Thus to the swelitil waves he spoke his woe,
" Drown use on my return,—but spare me as I go."
Our author's education was condated by his fa-
ther, till, on the 16th of March, 1743, he was ad-
mitted a Commoner of Trinity College, in Oxford,
and was soon afterwards elected a Scholar of that
Society. He had scarcely been four years in this
situation, when he began his career of authorship,
by publishing " The Pleasures of Melancholy ;'' a
poem, which he had written at an earlier period,
when he was only in his seventeenth year. In
1744 he produced " the Triumph of Isis," in an-
swer to Mason's " Isis ;" and discovered, at the age
of twenty, an excellence in compoSition, which his
riper years perhaps never exceeded. In 1750 he
contributed several pieces of poetry to a periodical
paper, published at that time in Oxford, with the
title of "The Students." Having taking the pre-
vious degree of A. B. he took that of A.M. in
1750, and in the following year he succeeded to a
Yellowship. In the year ot, this promotion, he wrote
two poems in the Oxford Collection, on the death of
Frederick Prince of Wales ; and in 1753, he sup•
plied several pieces of poetry to a volume called
"1 he Union; or, Select Scotch and English Poems,"
which was published at Edinburgh. 'I he next work
of Mr. Warton's was a Body of Statutes for the
Radcliffe library, which he drew up in 1754,, at the
desire of Dr. Huddersfield the President of Trinity
College, and at that time V ice-Chancellor of the
University. On this occasion, it is obsert-ed by Mr.
Mant, that Dr. Radcliffe had a peculiar claim to.the
services of a Trinity man, as Dr. it. was the only
person, not a member of that Cc.llege, who sub-
scribed towards the rebuilding of its chapel in

..spts.l
101. In the same year.( If-54:) Mr. W. published
his observations on •' Tlic Faery Queen." Ir. this
v.%)rk, it is noticed by his biographer that many notes
and refe!.ences occur, which had been written some
years before by the author in an interleaved copy Of
Milton's smaller poems ; and that thcse literary
wares were again transferred to that edition of Mil-
ton's Juvenilia, witch was the prodace of Mr. '% .'s
later years. Are we, in this instance, to admirethd.
extratmiinary value of the notes, or the admirable
ceconomy of the conunentator Oar author's bro-
ther, the respectable Master of Winch ter, disco-
vered similar p..rsimony of information and -4 inter-
let.l, when he melted ids Essay into a Commentary.
•ua Pope ; but sue', condua may, perhaps,. be tOr-
given :o old -tge, whet. thought hi!

!411

r:i.ii~ti

FPRICF, SIXPENCE.

boriously solicited, or fresh knowledge effeaually
explored. In that part of the biographer'irwork, to
which we are now come, we are amuscat"witl: n
anecdote respecting Mr.W. in his bey isleeears,n+:,.'i
from the importance attached to it byethe narr e
(Dr. Huntingford the bishop of Glpfteester) CA: i• ,
be read without a smile. The story, gas " a zee
will make one split." Dr:Jore'ish Weirton (Dr. Hen-
tingford observes) was accustomed to relate a ch-
cumstance, which, though in. itself apparently triiin-
portant, yet with respell to the writings of Mr. T.
Warton, was perhaps, in effects, of cop,siderable
co sequence. When they were both boys, their
father took them to see Windsor Castle ; the seve-
ml objects presented to their view much eeeaged the
attention, and excited the admiration of the' father,
and his son Joseph; as they were returning, the f,7-•
ther,..With some concern, said to Joseph, 4 Thoee:s
goes on, and takes no notice of any thing he has seen.'
This remark was never forgotten by his son ; who,
however, in mature years; made this reilexion : I
believe my brother was more struck with what he
saw, and took more notice•of every object than either
of us.' And there is gond reason to think, that the
peculiar fondness for Castle imagery, "which our
author, on manyoccasionse stroagry discovers, may
be traced to this incident of his early days !'
The year j-757 was distinguished, in theillifeof
Mrs.W. by his elation to the 'office of Poetry Pro-
fessor ; and, by his activity to promote the interests
of Dr. Johnson, who was at that time-soliciting
• degrikr Ifbm the University of Oxford, and sub-'
seri ns from its "members for the publication
of his dictionary. The intimacy between our author
and the 'great Lexicographer, whielt seems to !rave
commenced at this period, subsisted for some years,
an! then expired in mutual, coolness, if not in mu-'
tual disgust. During the usual term of ten yeei
for which the Poetry -Professorship is held, Mr. W
discharged the duties of his office with ability .in. .
with zeal. In 4758 he published a seledioa
Latin Sepulchral Inscriptions in verse, from the
collections of Grater, Mazochius, and others. In
1760, and halite following year, he discovered his
respell for his college, by producing the lives of Sir
Thomas Pope, its founder, and of Di:actor Bathurst,
one of its principal benefatE'ors. The obligation, as
we mist remark,, in these instances of his literary
industry, seems to be Confined, altogether, to his.
cellege, and) in no portion of it, to be extended
the public.
In December 1767 he took his degree of B.D. and,
in three years afterwards, he published his edition of,
Thcocritus, on which he had bestowed the attention
of nearly twelve years, and which is certainly a re,
speaable work. In 1771 he was elected fellow of
the Antiquarian Society ; and, in the Oclober of the
same year, he was presented by the Eatl of Litzh-
field, the Chancellor of the University, to the living
of Kiddington, in the county of Oxford. In 1774 p
the first volume of his principal work, " The His-
tory. of English Poetry," made its appearance, a
work which the author never completed, or carried
nearer to his own times than the age of Elizabeth. The
history of literary; and particularly of academical
men, must generally be the history of their writings.
The lite of Mr. Warton was not marked by any in-
equalities to distinguish its several periods : during
the University terms jt was passed at Oxford ; and
in the vacations it glided smoothly .along in an
intercourse of paternal affeaion at Winchester.
In 1781, he published the history of Kiddington,
and in the succeeding year he entered into the con-
troversy respeaing the authenticity of Rowley's
Poems. Confining his investigation to the interne'
evidence of these extraordinary compositions, he
ventured to pronounce them spurious and modern.
The ground on Which he stood, was altogether fill-
lacious ; and the decision, which he did not hesitate
to make, was, as we are convinced, egregiously
wrong. In the same year in which he engaged in
this controversy, he published his verses to Sir Joshua
Reynolds, on the painted window in New College,
and obtained the acknowledgrrients of that eminent
artist, in a very complimentary letter.. Sir Joshua,
however, complained with some little vanity, per-
haps, but certainly with 'Mich true judgment, that •
the name of Iteynolds had not found admission into
the poem : and that consequently, on the loss of the
title-page, the praise might be assigned from its pro-
per objeel to any other painter. In a new edition
of the poem, this error was corrected, and the name
of the. artist introduced into a verse. Of the same
species of inaccuracy, Mr..W. has been guilty in
another of his compositions. His Epitaph on Mr.
Head consists of a supplication, as it may be gues-
sed, to Death ; -but neither of the person in whose
favour the entreaty is made, -nor of that allegorical
being to whom it is addressed,•are the names to te•
found within the limits of the inscription. In 17e t
Mr. W. was presented by -his college to the donaTi..e
of mill-Ferrante in Somersetshire, and was eica..:
into the Literary arts," formed originally by Dr
Johnson, and consisting of the first wits and scholar:-
of the age. The year 1785 was one of the mem
ruble years of our Author's life ; for it vew him eke -
ed to the office ofeernden PrOfessor of Hisrory; and
appointed, on the death of Whitehead, to the clig11:-
ty of the Laurent. In this a ar alas, he published his
edition of Milton's Juvenile, Poems, for which he
had been preparing materinls,during a considerable
period of his life. The publishing a new edition of •
his own poems was his last literary labour. Before
the priteing of the impression was completed; he was
reeenved from this state of existehce by a stroke of
apoplexy,' on the 21st of May, 1730. On the 2tth
his body was interred in the chapel of his college,
with all those high ecadeniieril honours to whiclr'he
was justly entitled by his social and literary meritS;
as is ell as by a residence in the University for forty-
see en of Ore-sixty-two years which constituted the
duration of his life.
Mr. Mant has concluded his biography with re•
marks on , the writings of Mr. Walton, and with a
comparison of him. With Gray. On the justneseof this
comparison We shell enable our readers to form their
own judgment; by subinitthZg to them in a fut.!, e
Paper this part of Mr. Mant's vne:k, as an eesreei,
wh eh nub eaten:Liu them. •
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