The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-02-22

lolOWlnk CtutuTJ tue lduIbl WAS Efhntoa W
John Shelton, who, though no great poet, did
good service as a satirist, and wes so honest in
his denunciations of clerical folly and eItrav-
bgancs that he was prosecuted even by Car
dingl Wosey. he is best known ss tae
author of "Colin Clout" production rs
coarse rs it is clever.
Ater hin. though not Immediately, came
Il lmund Spencer, from whose time until our
own the succession Of poet lsureate has
been as regular ~ Of sovereigns He ia the
greatest of them all. Upon his death, in
1899, he wHs succeeded by Samuel Daniel,
the author Of "a history of the WAT between
the houses Of York and Lancaster" and of
"Mu9ophlius," dialogue in defense of learn
ing Ho il known ~ the "wel.languaged
Daniel" but this characteristic appears, we
think, in his short poems rather than in his
more ambitious attempts. After him came
Ben Jonson, the trend of ShsS espeare
iIodman, soldier, actor, dramatiss, and poet.
be is perhaps the most interesting Of oil tho
lNureates, Tor his life as Collier says, was
hard and rugged. He had the misfortune to
Mil brother actor in a duel he reveed n
tho hermaid; no got drunk; he repented :;
and b" died in poverty. His every Man in
Ills Humor" still holds possession OF the
Stag, and ihe sans may, in n qualified SENSE
be said OF "Osiiline, ''Sejanus" and 1.-The
Alchemist." Like his nsmesske of the die.
tionary-tor Bon sometimes spelled his nsme
johnson -ho had AN intense hatred OF
Scotchmen; and, although no paid three
weeks visit TO Drummond, OF Hawthornder
and was himself OF Scotch descent, that
hatred often leaks out In fact in 1906 he
underwent Imprisonment for his share 10
Eastward Hoe, comedy directed against the
presence Of the Schtch in London. Ills
finest work is TO be found in the songs which
are met with in his p,ays. In 1887 no died,
and was succeeded by Sir William Davenanl,
who loved to call himself natural son OF
Shakespeare; "Gondbert" ponderous
heoric, was his principal poetical production,
bu' he wrote largely for tho ,tsgc
| lie died in 1868, soon after which the laurel
w'' given to John Dryden of whom roler-
ring TO English poetry, DR.. johnson said
that he had found il brick ana loti il marble.
Tho criLiclcism Is oxaggorAt ID and unjust; y,
Dryden, a. writer OF pure English, is I'M
tennbly great master, He Amonted tho
death of Cromwell; he celebrated the return
| Of Charles ii. indeed h1 seems TO nave
thought that, as he had only inherited q
\ very small estate, It WAS necessary for him to
sail with the wind, and in 1870 the laureate.
ship WAS ono Of his rewards The post WAS
worth Gl00 q year and tiorce of wine, the
latter being now compounded for but court
favor bridlod his genius, and caused MIN to
avn where he ought To have sat rized. His
crfl had rendered it impossible for him to
retain tho laureateshp after tho fight of King
dalu0a ; and, upon the accession of William
! sd Mary, the vacant distictiou WAS confer
rod upon Thomas Snsdwell n third.r rate
p3ut, whom Dryden himself had iercely and
scorchngly satrized in "Msc Flecknoe.'
S0aiWcll WAS m sxeCrshle writer, but a
brilliant talker, and Rochester SAID 10 him,
1t no had burned all he wrote, aud printed
sll he spoke, he would nave had more wit
Md humor than any other poet" Rochester.
however, WAS, we know, indecent if liant;
and ShHdwal w-s much the same lie died
| Ia 1892, and bis funeral sermon WAS preached
| by no less person than Dr. Nicholas Brady
ono of the authors Of tho well-kaewn and
Horribly unpootcal version of the pslams.
| Curlously enough, his COLLEAGUES in that work
| Nahum Tate, succeeded to the laurealeship,
He was remarkable for cast down look
suJ bad seldom much to ssy for hllnselgn
.nys one who knew him. Another remarks
tnat che was free, good natured, bat in,em-
! ptrate;' aud no may in general terms bo
described rs the most utterly contemptiblaof
al the laureates. Nicholas IL we, far bet
ter poet, took Misplace when he died in IT'S;
and Rowe, three years later, was succeeded
! by Lawrence Eusden An individual of whom
| probably but few living persons have ever
heard. Ho gained the patronage If Lord
! Halifax by translating that nOblemau's poem
IN tao battle Of the Boyne into Latin, aru
of tho Duke of Nswcs. tie by writing All epi
'halamum upon his graces marriage with
| Lady Henrietta Godolphn. The Duke was
Lord Chamberlain, and he used his influence
70 procure Eusden's appointment to the
aureateShip, lilo WAS clergyman, and in
Iaier life n bosutted drunkard, if we may
believe Gray's account of him; aud whom he
died, in 1880, even Colly Crbber who took
his place, appeared, by comparison, Il first
rste poet. He in his turn, was succeeded
h-sL by William Whitehead (1751.S5) aud
atterward by Thomas Wharton Q7S5 90
| The former WAS respectable but stupid
mediocrity;the latt was,no great poet though
| in other respects great man.
And thea came Pye. tho VERY dulles. poe.
who has over written odes. II 8 christian
names were Henry James, he came of a
"oospcctablo" family which chad como into
England with tho conqucror," and he
"eu;ored a gentleman commoner VI Msdgslen
| College, Oxford" He was magistrate. A
member OF parliament, and mighty hunter
but no poet, snd the reader will probably,un>
der taeso circumstances, be surprisud tn hear
that tne amount of verse no produced was
extraordinary Chalmers gives the titles
of Dearly thirty volumes Poole who
caro- 70 search will hnd great deal II Mr..
Pyc'' polished versiaca.on' in those vol
umns Ut the Annual Register for the years
| 1870 1878, for he was wonderfully resdy with
hi. odes Tor the new year, for royal birthdays,
sd for all kinds Of suspicious or important
eve-k4. Robert Southry reigned in hi, stead
'nl SouIhey WAS even greater improve
m9ut upon Pye th'n Cbber had been upon
lGusdcn Scott had declined the hureataship,
and he who Ind been wild and ardent re-
publcaN with Level ard Coleridge, took to
writing fttterng verses to tho king. He
cannot be called y poe; but hs tenure Of the
Office Of laureate was a gradual preparation
for the solvent of n brighter star in the person
| Of Wordsworth, who succeeded him Ia 1913.
The great lake poet was then considerably
over seventy, His productive days were
past; but he glorl d an otlioa witch, whom
he dird in 1850, he loft to greater evon
than himself--t Alfred Tonnyson, who,
though wllsiuous laureate, will, in his own
! especial sphere, remain ever uurivaled.
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