KING.
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ILLIAM KING was born in London in 1663; the son of Ezekiel King, agentleman. He was allied to the family of Clarendon. From Westminster School, where he was a scholar on the foundation underthe care of Dr. Busby, he was at eighteen elected to Christ Church in1681; where he is said to have prosecuted his studies with so muchintenseness and activity, that before he was eight years’ standing he hadread over, and made remarks upon, twenty-two thousand odd hundred booksand manuscripts. The books were certainly not very long, the manuscriptsnot very difficult, nor the remarks very large; for the calculator willfind that he despatched seven a day for every day of his eight years;with a remnant that more than satisfies most other students. He took hisdegree in the most expensive manner, as a _grand compounder_; whence itis inferred that he inherited a considerable fortune. In 1688, the same year in which he was made Master of Arts, he publisheda confutation of Varillas’s account of Wickliffe; and, engaging in thestudy of the civil law, became Doctor in 1692, and was admitted advocateat Doctors’ Commons. He had already made some translations from the French, and written somehumorous and satirical pieces; when, in 1694, Molesworth published his“Account of Denmark,” in which he treats the Danes and their monarch withgreat contempt; and takes the opportunity of insinuating those wildprinciples by which he supposes liberty to be established, and by whichhis adversaries suspect that all subordination and government isendangered. This book offended Prince George; and the Danish Minister presented amemorial against it. The principles of its author did not please Dr.King; and therefore he undertook to confute part, and laugh at the rest.The controversy is now forgotten: and books of this kind seldom live longwhen interest and resentment have ceased. In 1697 he mingled in the controversy between Boyle and Bentley; and wasone of those who tried what wit could perform in opposition to learning,on a question which learning only could decide. In 1699 was published by him “A Journey to London,” after the method ofDr. Martin Lister, who had published “A Journey to Paris.” And in 1700he satirised the Royal Society—at least, Sir Hans Sloane, theirpresident—in two dialogues, intituled “The Transactioner.” Though he was a regular advocate in the courts of civil and canon law, hedid not love his profession, nor, indeed, any kind of business whichinterrupted his voluptuary dreams or forced him to rouse from thatindulgence in which only he could find delight. His reputation as acivilian was yet maintained by his judgments in the Courts of Delegates,and raised very high by the address and knowledge which he discovered in1700, when he defended the Earl of Anglesea against his lady, afterwardsDuchess of Buckinghamshire, who sued for a divorce and obtained it. The expense of his pleasures, and neglect of business, had now lessenedhis revenues; and he was willing to accept of a settlement in Ireland,where, about 1702, he was made Judge of the Admiralty, Commissioner ofthe Prizes, Keeper of the Records in Birmingham’s Tower, andVicar-General to Dr. Marsh, the primate. But it is vain to put wealth within the reach of him who will not stretchout his hand to take it. King soon found a friend, as idle andthoughtless as himself, in Upton, one of the judges, who had a pleasanthouse called Mountown, near Dublin, to which King frequently retired;delighting to neglect his interest, forget his cares, and desert hisduty. Here he wrote “Mully of Mountown,” a poem; by which, though fancifulreaders in the pride of sagacity have given it a poetical interpretation,was meant originally no more than it expressed, as it was dictated onlyby the author’s delight in the quiet of Mountown. In 1708, when Lord Wharton was sent to govern Ireland, King returned toLondon, with his poverty, his idleness, and his wit; and published someessays, called “Useful Transactions.” His “Voyage to the Island ofCajamai” is particularly commended. He then wrote the “Art of Love,” apoem remarkable, notwithstanding its title, for purity of sentiment; andin 1709 imitated Horace in an “Art of Cookery,” which he published withsome letters to Dr. Lister. In 1710 he appeared as a lover of the Church, on the side of Sacheverell;and was supposed to have concurred at least in the projection of the_Examiner_. His eyes were open to all the operations of Whiggism; and hebestowed some strictures upon Dr. Kennet’s adulatory sermon at thefuneral of the Duke of Devonshire. “The History of the Heathen Gods,” a book composed for schools, waswritten by him in 1711. The work is useful, but might have been producedwithout the powers of King. The same year he published “Rufinus,” anhistorical essay; and a poem intended to dispose the nation to think ashe thought of the Duke of Marlborough and his adherents. In 1711, competence, if not plenty, was again put into his power. Hewas, without the trouble of attendance or the mortification of a request,made Gazetteer. Swift, Freind, Prior, and other men of the same party,brought him the key of the Gazetteer’s office. He was now again placedin a profitable employment, and again threw the benefit away. An Act ofInsolvency made his business at that time particularly troublesome; andhe would not wait till hurry should be at an end, but impatientlyresigned it, and returned to his wonted indigence and amusements. One of his amusements at Lambeth, where he resided, was to mortify Dr.Tenison, the archbishop, by a public festivity on the surrender ofDunkirk to Hill; an event with which Tenison’s political bigotry did notsuffer him to be delighted. King was resolved to counteract hissullenness, and at the expense of a few barrels of ale filled theneighbourhood with honest merriment. In the autumn of 1712 his health declined; he grew weaker by degrees, anddied on Christmas Day. Though his life had not been withoutirregularity, his principles were pure and orthodox, and his death waspious. After this relation it will be naturally supposed that his poems wererather the amusements of idleness than efforts of study; that heendeavoured rather to divert than astonish; that his thoughts seldomaspired to sublimity; and that, if his verse was easy and his imagesfamiliar, he attained what he desired. His purpose is to be merry; butperhaps, to enjoy his mirth, it may be sometimes necessary to think wellof his opinions.
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