His poetical character is given by Mr. Fenton:
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In his writings," says Fenton, "we view the image of a mind which wasnaturally serious and solid; richly furnished and adorned with all theornaments of learning, unaffectedly disposed in the most regular andelegant order. His imagination might have probably been more fruitfuland sprightly, if his judgment had been less severe. But that severity,delivered in a masculine, clear, succinct style, contributed to makehim so eminent in the didactical manner, that no man, with justice, canaffirm, he was ever equalled by any of our nation, without confessing,at the same time, that he is inferiour to none. In some other kinds ofwriting his genius seems to have wanted fire to attain the point ofperfection; but who can attain it?" From this account of the riches of his mind, who would not imagine thatthey had been displayed in large volumes and numerous performances? Whowould not, after the perusal of this character, be surprised to findthat all the proofs of this genius, and knowledge, and judgment, arenot sufficient to form a single book, or to appear otherwise than inconjunction with the works of some other writer of the same pettysize[73]? But thus it is that characters are written: we know somewhat,and we imagine the rest. The observation, that his imagination would,probably, have been more fruitful and sprightly, if his judgment had beenless severe, may be answered, by a remarker somewhat inclined to cavil,by a contrary supposition, that his judgment would, probably, have beenless severe, if his imagination had been more fruitful. It is ridiculousto oppose judgment to imagination; for it does not appear that men havenecessarily less of one, as they have more of the other. We must allow of Roscommon, what Fenton has not mentioned so distinctlyas he ought, and what is yet very much to his honour, that he is,perhaps, the only correct writer in verse, before Addison; and that, ifthere are not so many or so great beauties in his compositions as inthose of some contemporaries, there are, at least, fewer faults. Nor isthis his highest praise; for Mr. Pope has celebrated him, as the onlymoral writer of king Charles's reign: Unhappy Dryden! in all Charles's days,Roscommon only boasts unspotted lays. His great work is his Essay on Translated Verse; of which Dryden writesthus, in the preface to his Miscellanies: "It was my lord Roscommon's Essay on Translated Verse," says Dryden,"which made me uneasy, till I tried whether or no I was capable offollowing his rules, and of reducing the speculation into practice. Formany a fair precept in poetry is like a seeming demonstration inmathematicks, very specious in the diagram, but failing in the mechanickoperation. I think I have generally observed his instructions: I am suremy reason is sufficiently convinced both of their truth and usefulness;which, in other words, is to confess no less a vanity than to pretendthat I have, at least, in some places, made examples to his rules." This declaration of Dryden will, I am afraid, be found little more thanone of those cursory civilities which one author pays to another; forwhen the sum of lord Roscommon's precepts is collected, it will notbe easy to discover how they can qualify their reader for a betterperformance of translation than might have been attained by his ownreflections. He that can abstract his mind from the elegance of the poetry, andconfine it to the sense of the precepts, will find no other directionthan that the author should be suitable to the translator's genius; thathe should be such as may deserve a translation; that he who intends totranslate him should endeavour to understand him; that perspicuity shouldbe studied, and unusual and uncouth names sparingly inserted; andthat the style of the original should be copied in its elevation anddepression. These are the rules that are celebrated as so definite andimportant; and for the delivery of which to mankind so much honour hasbeen paid. Roscommon has, indeed, deserved his praises, had they beengiven with discernment, and bestowed not on the rules themselves, but theart with which they are introduced, and the decorations with which theyare adorned. The essay, though generally excellent, is not without its faults. Thestory of the quack, borrowed from Boileau, was not worth the importation;he has confounded the British and Saxon mythology: I grant that from some mossy idol oak,In double rhymes, our Thor and Woden spoke. The oak, as, I think, Gildon has observed, belonged to the Britishdruids, and Thor and Woden were Saxon deities. Of the "double rhymes,"which he so liberally supposes, he certainly had no knowledge. His interposition of a long paragraph of blank verses is unwarrantablylicentious. Latin poets might as well have introduced a series ofiambicks among their heroicks. His next work is the translation of the Art of Poetry; which hasreceived, in my opinion, not less praise than it deserves. Blank verse,left merely to its numbers, has little operation either on the ear ormind: it can hardly support itself without bold figures and strikingimages. A poem, frigidly didactick, without rhyme, is so near to prose,that the reader only scorns it for pretending to be verse. Having disentangled himself from the difficulties of rhyme, he may justlybe expected to give the sense of Horace with great exactness, and tosuppress no subtilty of sentiment, for the difficulty of expressing it.This demand, however, his translation will not satisfy; what he foundobscure, I do not know that he has ever cleared. Among his smaller works, the eclogue of Virgil and the Dies Irae arewell translated; though the best line in the Dies Irae is borrowed fromDryden. In return, succeeding poets have borrowed from Roscommon. In the verses on the Lap-dog, the pronouns _thou_ and _you_ areoffensively confounded; and the turn at the end is from Waller. His versions of the two odes of Horace are made with great liberty, whichis not recompensed by much elegance or vigour. His political verses are sprightly, and, when they were written, musthave been very popular. Of the scene of Guarini, and the prologue to Pompey, Mrs. Phillips, inher letters to sir Charles Cotterel, has given the history. "Lord Roscommon," says she, "is certainly one of the most promising youngnoblemen in Ireland. He has paraphrased a psalm admirably; and a sceneof Pastor Fido, very finely, in some places much better than sir RichardFanshaw. This was undertaken merely in compliment to me, who happened tosay, that it was the best scene in Italian, and the worst in English. Hewas only two hours about it." It begins thus: Dear happy groves, and you, the dark retreatOf silent horrour, Rest's eternal seat. From these lines, which are since somewhat mended, it appears that he didnot think a work of two hours fit to endure the eye of criticism, withoutrevisal. When Mrs. Phillips was in Ireland, some ladies that had seen hertranslation of Pompey, resolved to bring it on the stage at Dublin; and,to promote their design, lord Roscommon gave them a prologue, andsir Edward Deering, an epilogue; "which," says she, "are the bestperformances of those kinds I ever saw." If this is not criticism, itis, at least, gratitude. The thought of bringing Caesar and Pompey intoIreland, the only country over which Caesar never had any power, islucky. Of Roscommon's works, the judgment of the publick seems to be right. Heis elegant, but not great; he never labours after exquisite beauties,and he seldom falls into gross faults. His versification is smooth, butrarely vigorous; and his rhymes are remarkably exact. He improvedtaste, if he did not enlarge knowledge, and may be numbered among thebenefactors to English literature[74]. [Footnote 70: The Biographia Britannica says, probably about the year1632; but this is inconsistent with the date of Stratford's viceroyaltyin the following page. C.] [Footnote 71: It was his grandfather, sir Robert Dillon, second earl ofRoscommon, who was converted from popery; and his conversion is recitedin the patent of sir James, the first earl of Roscommon, as one of thegrounds of his creation. M.] [Footnote 72: He was married to lady Frances Boyle in April, 1662. Bythis lady he had no issue. He married secondly, 10th November, 1674,Isabella, daughter of Matthew Boynton, of Barmston, in Yorkshire. M.] [Footnote 73: They were published, together with those of Duke, in anoctavo volume, in 1717. The editor, whoever he was, professes to havetaken great care to procure and insert all of his lordship's poems thatare truly genuine. The truth of this assertion is flatly denied by theauthor of an account of Mr. John Pomfret, prefixed to his Remains; whoasserts, that the Prospect of Death was written by that person, manyyears after lord Roscommon's decease; as also, that the paraphrase of thePrayer of Jeremy was written by a gentleman of the name of Southcourt,living in the year 1724. H.] [Footnote 74: This life was originally written by Dr. Johnson, in theGentleman's Magazine for May, 1748. It then had notes, which are nowincorporated with the text. C.]
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