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BOLINGBROKE

[Henry St. John was born in 1678, and belonged to a family which had for the most part adhered to the Parliamentary side in the Civil War. After a childhood passed under the stern supervision of a Puritan grandmother, he went to Eton and then to Christ Church: and after some foreign travel, and an experience of scandalous debauchery, he entered Parliament in 1700. He joined the Tories, and was in office as Secretary of War from 1704 to 1708, when he was dismissed with Harley. In 1710 he became Secretary of State, with Harley as Lord Treasurer. He was created Viscount Bolingbroke in 1711, and for four years he and Harley maintained their power. Ultimately they quarrelled, and the death of Queen Anne brought about Bolingbroke's fall. Under suspicion of Jacobite intrigues he fled to France, and for a short time took office with the Pretender. In 1723 he was enabled to return to England, and in 1725 was restored to his estates, but never recovered his rights as a peer. He became the heart and soul of the opposition to Walpole, whose fall he survived. He died in 1751.

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Few of Bolingbroke's works were published until after his death, when his dependent, David Malet, in accordance with his instructions issued them. 1716 he wrote the Letter to Sir W. Windham, which is an Apologia for his political conduct. In 1735 he wrote Letters on the Study of History (addressed to Lord Cornbury) which were published in 1753. The letters On the Spirit of Patriotism, The Idea of a Patriot King, and The State of Parties, were printed in 1749. In the later years of his life he contributed largely to the Craftsman, the journal started to oppose Walpole; and these contributions were afterwards brought together and published. His views on religion, which amounted to a very superficial scepticism, which attacked at once metaphysical speculation and revealed religion, were given forth chiefly in certain letters to Pouilly, written in 1720, and in others written to Pope, late in his life.]

BOLINGBROKE is one of the few men whose literary reputation has probably been enhanced by the fact that he is rarely read. The saying is not so absurd as, at first sight, it looks. Few figures in history have come down to us with more of a halodetractors might say of a glamour-of romance than his. His pre-eminence in many gifts is familiar to us. He was one of a small and brilliant galaxy, whose combined gifts threw lustre on

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each member of the group. The tradition of his social fascination, of the charm of his conversation, of his eminently handsome person, of his prowess as a Lothario, of his stately eloquence, of his rare versatility, of the marvellous rapidity of his genius; his attainment of great office while as yet little more than a boy; his masterly conduct of difficult negotiations; his grasp of a commercial policy which later ages brought to full ripeness only after slow stages and tedious struggles; the striking vicissitudes of his fortunes; the great place he occupies at once on the stage of politics and on that of literature—all these have given him an entrancing interest for us even in an age of distinguished personalities. Swift's description is, by itself, enough to immortalise him, "His mind, adorned with the choicest gifts that God has yet thought fit to bestow upon the children of men: a strong memory, a clear judgment, a vast range of wit and fancy, a thorough comprehension, an invincible eloquence, with a most agreeable elocution" (Inquiry into the Behaviour of the Queen's Last Ministry). But Swift was not blind to the weaker points in his character. "He was fond of mixing business and pleasure, and of being esteemed excellent at both. . . . His detractors charged him with some degree of affectation, and perhaps not altogether without grounds." The defects are here hinted at rather than clearly stated, as was proper in a treatise written in defence of the ministry of which Bolingbroke was a leading member; and it is rather in scattered expressions that we have to look for Swift's distrust of Bolingbroke's moral and intellectual sincerity. To most

of his contemporaries St. John's genius was the subject of even more unqualified adulation; but the exaggeration is often so absurd as to force us to be sceptical. When Orrery—the type of fribbles writes that "his conversation united the wisdom of Socrates, the dignity and ease of Pliny, and the wit of Horace," we see the exaggeration to which glamour could · prompt flattery. The more degrading traits in St. John's character were partly the result of his training and experience. Brought up under the chilling influence of a home in which a rigid Puritanism was the prevailing atmosphere, St. John threw himself in early manhood with the abandonment of a thoroughly vain and selfish nature into a profligacy bred of arrogance and affectation as much as of passion. When he first touched politics he found himself in a hotbed of selfish struggle, and possessed

of faculties that gave him the opportunity of an easy and He rose with surprising rapidity to posts His fall was even more sudden; from

ostentatious triumph.

of great importance.

Thrust

being the leader of a powerful party in England he became the titular minister of the exiled claimant of the throne. even from that employment, his skilful apology made an ignominious dismissal from a fictitious court appear to be the effect of jealousy bred by his own wider and more patriotic aims. After humiliating efforts to procure his own restoration, when his baffled ambition found every gate closed against its intrigues, he gratified his resentment by siding with a faction which assumed to itself the merit of withstanding corruption, and setting up an ideal standard of civil duty. When it became clear that all his skill in the arts of fomenting faction could result in no personal gain, he made a merit of renouncing politics in order to be free for the pursuit of what he called philosophy. His versatility, his memory, his fertility of device, and his perseverance were sufficient to preserve him from conspicuous failure in any of the varied parts he chose to play. But in no sphere does his genius conquer a place in the first rank: and the impression he has left is due rather to the dramatic contrasts and variety of his career, than to its permanent influence; to the specious gaudiness of his talents, rather than to commanding genius.

When from this career we turn to the literary achievement, the glamour is stript off. We cannot deny to him many high literary gifts. His prose style has the easy flow, the rotund and grandiloquent sound, which the habit of the orator gives. His arguments are always specious and often at first presentation persuasive. He sets forth his case with a wonderful harmony of illusion, even when that case is most palpably a perversion of the truth. He maintains without faltering or hesitation an attitude of proud and dignified patriotism, founded upon the fundamental principles of a consistent political creed: and we have only to think of his actual career to estimate the consummate skill of the actor in so doing. His display of reading-much of it necessarily superficial—has all the manner of one careless how he draws upon an inexhaustible store: and yet without a doubt, Bolingbroke relied upon his tact alone in skimming over the thinnest of ice in his copious allusions, and in affecting profound learning. But if his style is easy and flowing it is also tiresome in its tautology. His flowing sentences weary us by their lack

each member of the group. The tradition of his social face tion, of the charm of his conversation, of his eminently handso person, of his prowess as a Lothario, of his stately eloquent his rare versatility, of the marvellous rapidity of his ges his attainment of great office while as yet little more a boy; his masterly conduct of difficult negotiations; his gra of a commercial policy which later ages brought to fal ness only after slow stages and tedious struggles; the S vicissitudes of his fortunes; the great place be occupies once on the stage of politics and on that of literaturethese have given him an entrancing interest for us even an age of distinguished personalities. Swift's description is itself, enough to immortalise him, "His mind, . . . ade with the choicest gifts that God has yet thought fit to bestow the children of men: a strong memory, a clear judgment range of wit and fancy, a thorough comprehension, an i eloquence, with a most agreeable elocution" (Ingary i Behaviour of the Queen's Last Ministry). But Swift w blind to the weaker points in his character. He was mixing business and pleasure, and of being esteemed exxx both.... His detractors charged him with some de affectation, and perhaps not altogether without grounds. defects are here hinted at rather than clearly stated, proper in a treatise written in defence of the mi which Bolingbroke was a leading member; and it is scattered expressions that we have to look for Swiff of Bolingbroke's moral and intellectual sincerity. of his contemporaries St. John's genius was the s even more unqualified adulation; but the exaggeratic so absurd as to force us to be sceptical. When O type of fribbles - writes that "his conversation wisdom of Socrates, the dignity and ease of Pliny, a of Horace," we see the exaggeration to which gla prompt flattery. The more degrading traits in St. acter were partly the result of his training and Brought up under the chilling influence of a home rigid Puritanism was the prevailing atmosphere, St. himself in early manhood with the abandonment of vain and selfish nature into a profligacy bred of ar affectation as much as of passion. When he first to: he found himself in a hotbed of selfish struggle, c

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