At the time of the publication of the first volume of Pope's " Homer," he published the first Book of the Iliad, as tranflated by himself, in apparent opposition to Pope's tranflation, with an elegant dedication, to the memory of Halifax.

To apologise for presenting his version to the public at such a juncture, this advertisement was prefixed: "I must inform the reader, that when I began this first book, I had some thoughts of tranflating the whole Iliad; but I had the pleasure of being diverted from that design, by finding the work was fallen into a much abler hand; I would not, therefore, be thought to have any other view in publishing this small specimen of Homer's Iliad, than to bespeak, if poflible, the favour of the public to a trauflation of Homer's Odyffey, wherein I have already made fome progress."

Addison declared that the verfions were both good, but that Tickell's was the best that ever was made; and with Addison, the wits, his adherents and followers, concurred in opinion.

Pope did not long think Addison an impartial judge; for he considered him as the writer of Ticke ell's verfion, and appealed to the people as his proper judges, " and if they are not inclined to condemn me," says he, " I am in little care about the highfliers at Button's."

The reasons for his suspicion have been transcribed by Dr. Johnson, from Spence's MS. Collec tions.

"There had been a coldness (faid Mr. Pope,) between Mr. Addison and me for some time; and we had not been in company together for a good while, any where but at Button's Coffechouse, where I used to see him almost every day. On his meeting me there one day in particular, he took me afide; and said he would be glad to dine with me at such a tavern, if I staid till those people were gone (Budgell and Philips). He went accordingly; and, after dinner, Mr. Addifon faid, that he had wanted for fome time to talk with me; that his friend Tickell had formerly, whilft at Oxford, tranflated the first Book of the Iliad; that he designed to print it; and had defired him to look it oyer; that he must therefore beg that I would not defire him to look over my first book; because, if he did, it would have the air of double dealing. I assured him, that I did not at all take it ill of Mr. Tickell, that he was going to publish his tranflation; that he certainly had as much right to translate any author as myself; and that publishing both was entering on a fair ftage. I then added, that I would not defire him to look over my first book of the Iliad, because Le had looked over Mr. Tickell's; but could wish to have the benefit of his observations on my fecond, which I had then finished, and which Mr. Tickell had not touched upon. Accordingly, I sent him the second book the next morning; and, Mr. Addison, a few days after, returned it, with very high commendations. Soon after, it was generally known that Mr. Tickell was publishing the first Book of the Iliad, I met Dr. Young in the street; and, upon our falling into that subject, the Doctor expressed a great deal of surprise at Tickell's having had such a translation fo long by him. He faid, that it was inconceivable to him; and that there must be fome mistake in the matter; that each used to conmmunicate to each other whatever verses they wrote, even to the least things; that Tickell could not be busied in so long a work there, without his knowing fomething of the matter; and that he had never heard a single word on it, till on this occasion. This surprise of Dr. Young, together with what Steele has faid against Tickell, in relation to this affair, make it highly probable, that there was some underhand dealing in that business; and indeed, Tickell himself, who is a very fair, worthy man, has fince, in a manner, as good as owned it to me. When it was introduced into a conversation between Mr. Tickell and Mr. Pope, by a third person, Tickell did not deny it; which, confidering his honour and zeal for his departed friend, was the fame as owning it."

Upon these fufpicions, Pope, always in his " Art of Sinking," quotes this version as the work of Addison; though the circumstances of the publication, not only do not prove that Addison was the translator, but do not even render probable the charge of meanness and disingenuity alleged by Pope against him; the opinions of Young and Steele are no proof.

Addison had a very great affection for Tickell, and might have revised his version, and approved of the publication, to confer a pecuniary obligation on him, by promoting a subscription for his Odyssey. But, it is evident, that he had no intention to oppose Pope; for, at the time of the appear ance of Tickell's version, opposition to Pope could not do him any material injury. His subscription

!

!

was full, and his contract with his bookseller completely performed. Had Addison wished to obstruct Pope's translation, the time for effecting his purpose, would have been when the subscription was beginning. He might then have promoted a subscription for Tickell, which would have interfered with Pope's. The influence of Addison with the Whigs, was fully equal to that of Swift with the Tories. With those, who were of neither party, his recommendation would have had more weight than Swift's, becauso he was in greater estimation, for elegant literature in general, and particularly for classical knowledge.

The circumstance of the time of publication, which provoked the irritable disposition of Pope, who supposed his character and interest so much concerned, is sufficiently explained by the advertisement above quoted. This advertisement was industriously suppressed, in Pope's publication on the subject. That Addison had any intention of publishing a version of the Iliad, there is no evidence even probable. Had he been actuated by jealousy, envy, or malevolence, it is not probable he would have spoke so highly of Pope's Iliad as he did in " The Freeholder."

"The tranflation of the first book of the Iliad," says Mr. Nichols, “which has been ascribed to Tickell, was faid to be in reality the production of Addison, to prejudice that which Pope had undertaken; a notion certainly without foundation. Mr. Watts the printer, assured a friend of mine, that the tranflation of the first book of the Iliad was in Tickell's band-writing, but much corre&ed and intera lined by Addison.

To compare the two translations would be tedious; the superiority is universally allowed to Pope. Tickell has, perhaps, more of the simple majesty of Homer; but his version is inferior to that of Pope, in force, animation, elegance, and harmony.

In 1717, when Addison was appointed Secretary of State, he made Tickell under-secretary. When Addison's ill health obliged him to resign, he so effectually recommended Tickell to the patronage of Craggs, his successor, that he was continued in place till that gentleman's death.

Addifon's appointment of Tickell to be his under-fecretary, is said to have been difpleasing, on some account, to Steele, who warmly opposed it; and his opposition having been reported to Tickell, produced a coldness between them, which might be aggravated by the controversy between Addifon and Steele, on the Peerage bill.

His friendship with Addison seems to have continued without abatement; for when that great man died, he left him the charge of publishing his works, which, on his death-bed, he had dedicated to Craggs.

To the works of Addison, which appeared foon after his death, in 4 vols. 4to, he prefixed an account of his life, and an elegy on his death, addressed to the Earl of Warwick, his fon-in-law, replete with genuine tenderness. It is the effusion of a refined mind, lamenting the death of a friend of the highest intellectual and moral excellence; whose value it completely comprehended, and whose loss it poignantly felt.

In his life of Addison he charged Steele with assuming the credit of Addison's papers in the "Spectator," an imputation from which Steele vindicated himself in the dedication of "the Drummer," to Congreve.

It is a remarkable circumstance, that Craggs, to whom Addison had dedicated his works, died before they were published; and that Lord Warwick, to whom the verses on Addison were dedicated, died likewife before their publication.

Tickell's interest with the great did not expire with his friend. His merit enabled him to retain and improve the footing on which he had been placed by Addison. In 1725, he was appointed fecretary to the Lord Justices of Ireland, a place of great honour, trust, and emolument, in which he kontinued till his death, which happened at Bath, April 23, 1740, in the 54th year of his age.

He was married, and had children, the eldest of whom was the father of Richard Tickell, Efq. one of the Committioners of the Stamp-office, and author of "The Wreath of Fashion," a poem ; " Anticipation of the Debates of the House of Commons," 1778; "The Carnival of Venice," an opera; and other ingenious performances.

He died at Hampton Court, Nov. 4. 1793, universally beloved and lamented, leaving three chil dren by his wife, Miss Linley, the fifter of the lovely Mrs. Sheridan, wife of the celebrated Richard Brinfley Sheridan, Fiq who died in 1787.

6

His poems were printed in the second volume of "The Minor Poets," 1749, and have been frequently reprinted.

Tickell is faid to have been a man of most pleasing manners, and of unquestioned honour and integrity. His conversation was gay and lively; he was a very agreeable companion, at least a temperate lover of wine and conviviality, and in domestic relations without cenfure. His writings difcover a good understanding, an extensive knowledge of classical literature, a refined taste, and a feeling heart.

As a poet, he is characterised by elegance of diction, correctness of judgment, tenderness of fentiment, opulence of allufion, and harmony of numbers.

His verfification exceeds Addison's, and is inferior to few of the English poets, except Dryden and Pope.

Most of his pieces, particularly the Profpet of Peace; the Royal Progress; the Letter to Avignon; Oxford; Kensington Gardens; Epistle to a Lady before Marriage, and the Elegy on the death of Addison, are distinguished by a judicious combination of ornament and fimplicity; a happy mixture of sentiment and description, and a rare union of the beauties of style, and the elegancies of versification, with the niceties of method, connection, and arrangement.

Of Tickell, it has been said by Goldsmith, that through all his poetry, there is a strain of Ballad-tbinking to be found: The remark is just, and to that strain he is not a little indebted for the reception he has met with; whether he had it from reading, or from nature, cannot now be known, as no memoirs of his life are satisfactory enough to inform us of his particular studies. His beautiful ballad of Colin and Lucy, probably affumed a tincture of tenderness and simplicity, from his taste for our obfcurer writers ; a taste which his friend Addison undoubtedly possessed in a degree superior to any of his contemporaries, except Rowe, as appears by his elegant critique on " Chevy Chace," and various scattered notices of a congenial nature in his periodical papers.

"In the few things that Tickell wrote," says Dr. Warton, "there appear to be a peculiar terseness and neatness. Highly elegant and polished are his Verses on Addison's death."

"The Elegy on Addison," says Dr. Johnson, " could owe none of its beauties to the assistance which might be suspected to have strengthened or embellished his earlier compositions; but neither he nor Addison ever produced nobler lines than are contained in the third and fourth paragraphs; nor is a more fublime or more elegant funeral poem to be found in the whole compass of English literature. "Of his Royal Progress, it is just to say, that it is neither high nor low. Of his Kensington Gardens, the verfification is smooth and elegant, but the fiction unskilfully compounded of Grecian deities and Gothic fairies. Neither species of these exploded beings could have done much; and when they are Brought together, they only make each other contemptible.

"To Tickell, however, cannot be denied a high place among the minor poets; nor should it be forgotten that he was one of the contributors to the Spectator."

If by the term minor poet, the quantity of his poetry is meant, he is not improperly so called; but if the quality is thereby understood, it is a disparagement. If he cannot be placed in the first rank of poets, he has at least an unexceptionable claim to the second.

C c iiij

POEMS.

On Queen Caroline's rebuilding the Lodgings of the
Black Prince, and Henry V. at Queen's College,
Oxford.

WHERE bold and graceful foars, secure of fame,
The pile, now worthy great Philippa's name,
Mark that old ruin, Gothic and uncouth, youth;
Where the Black Edward pass'd his beardless
And the Fifth Henry, for his first renown,
Out-stripp'd each rival in a student's gown.

In that coarse age were princes fond to dwell
With meagre monks, and haunt the filent cell:
Sent from the monarch's to the muse's court,
Their meals were frugal, and their fleeps wereshort;
To couch at curfeu-time they thought no scorn,
And froze at matins every winter morn;
They read, an early book, the starry frame,
And lifp'd each conftellation by its name;
Art after art still dawning to their view,
And their mind opening as their stature grew.

Inchanted by this prostituted fair,
Our youth run headlong in the fatal snare;
In height of rapture clasp unheeded pains,
And fuck pollution through their tingling veins?

Thy spotless thoughts unshock'd the priest may
hear;

And the pure vestal in her bosom wear.
To confcious blushes and diminish'd pride, [hide;
Thy glass betrays what treacherous love would
Nor harsh thy precepts, but infus'd by stealth,
Pleas'd while they cure, and cheat us into health.
Thy works in Chloe's toilet gain a part,
And with his tailor share the fopling's heart:
Lash'd in thy fatire, the penurious cit

Laughs at himself, and finds no harm in wit:
From felon gamesters the raw 'squire is free,
And Britain owes her rescued oaks to thee.
His miss the frolic vifcount dreads to toaft,
Or his third cure the shallow templar boaft;
And the rafh fool, who scorn'd the beaten road,

Yet, whose ripe manhood spread our fame fo far, Dares quake at thunder, and confess his God.

Sages in peace, and demi-gods in war!
Who, stern in fight, made echoing Creffi ring,
And, mild in conquest, serv'd his captive king !
Who gain'd, at Agincourt, the victor's bays;
Nor took himself, but gave good heaven, the
praife!

Thy nurselings, ancient dome! to virtue form'd;
To mercy listening, whilst in fields they storm'd;
Fierce to the fierce; and warm th' opprest to save;
Through life rever'd, and worship'd in the grave !

In tenfold pride the mouldering roofs shall shine,
The stately work of bounteous Caroline;
And blest Philippa, with unenvious eyes,
From heaven behold her rival's fabric rife.
If ftill, bright faint, this spot deferves thy care,
Incline thee to th' ambitious muse's prayer :
O! could'ist thou win young William's bloom to

grace

His mother's walls, and fill thy Edward's place,
How would that genius, whose propitious wings
Have here twice hover'd o'er the fons of kings,
Defcend triumphant to his ancient feat,
And take in charge a third Plantagenet!

TO THE

SUPPOSED AUTHOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
In courts licentious, and a shameless stage,
How long the war shall wit with virtue wage?

The brainless stripling, who, expell'd the town,
Damn'd the ftiff college and pedantic gown,
Aw'd by thy name, is dumb, and thrice a week
Spells uncouth Latin, and pretends to Greek.
A fauntering tribe! such born to wide estates,
With yea and no in fenates hold debates :
At length defpis'd each to his fields retires,
First with the dogs, and king amidst the 'squires;
From pert to stupid, finks supinely down,
In youth a coxcomb, and in age a clown.

Such reader's scorn'd, thou wing'st thy daring
flight,

Above the stars, and tread'st the fields of light;
Fame, heaven, and hell, are thy exalted theme,
And visions fuch as Jove himself might dream;
Man funk to flavery, though to glory born, [scorn.
Heaven's pride when upright, and deprav'd his

Such hints alone could British Virgil lend,
And thou alone deserve from fuch a friend;
A debt fo borrow'd is illustrious shame,

And fame, when shar'd with him, is double fame.
So, flush'd with sweets by beauty's queen bestow'd,
With more than mortal charms Æneas glow'd :
Such generous strifes Eugene and Marlborough try,
And as in glory, so in friendship vie.

Permit these lines by thee to live-nor blame
A muse that pants and languishes for fame;
That fears to fink when humbler themes she sings,
Loft in the mafs of mean forgotten things: