loaded with words of more pomp than ufe. There is little, however, that can be contradicted, even when a plainer tale comes to be told. EDMUND NEALE, known by the name of Smith, was born at Handley, the feat of the Lechmeres, in Worcester fhire. The year of his birth is uncertain *. . He was educated at Weftminster. It is known to have been the practice of Dr. Bufby to detain thofe youths long at fchool, of whom he had formed the highest expectations. Smith took his mafter's degree on the 8th of July 1696: he therefore was probably admitted into the university in 1889, when we may fuppofe him twenty years old. His reputation for literature in his college was fuch as has been told; but the indecency and licentioufnefs of his behaviour drew upon him, Dec. 24, 1694, while he was yet only a Batchelor, a public admonition, entered upon record, in order to his expulfion. Of this reproof the effect is not known. He was probably lefs notorious. At Oxford, as we all know, much will be forgiven to literary merit; and of that he had exhibited fufficient evidence by his excellent ode on the death of the great Orienta lift; Dr. Pocock, who died in 1691, and whofe praise must have been written by Smith, when he had been but two years in the university. This ode, which clofed the fecond volume of the Mufe Anglicana, though perhaps fome objections may be made to its Latinity, is by far the beft Lyrick compofition in that collection; nor do 1 know where to find it equalled among the modern writers. It expreffes, with great felicity, images * By his epitaph he appears to have been 42 years old when he died. He was confequently born in the year 1668. R. not not claffical in claffical diction: its digreffions and returns have been defervedly Trapp as models for imitation. recommended by He had feveral imitations from Cowley: I will not commend the figure which makes the orator pronounce the colours, or give to colours memory and delight. I quote it, however, as an imitation of thefe lines: So many languages he had in store, That only Fame shall speak of him in more. The fimile, by which an old man, retaining the fire of his youth, is compared to Etna flaming through the fnow, which Smith has ufed with great pomp, is stolen from Cowley, however little worth the labour of conveyance. He proceeded to take his degree of Mafter of Arts, July 8, 1696. Of the exercifes which he performed on that occafion, I have not heard any thing memorable. As his years advanced, he advanced in reputation; for he continued to cultivate his mind, though he did not amend his irregularities; by which he gave fo much offence, that, April 24, 1700, the Dean and Chapter declared "the place "of Mr. Smith void," he "having been convicted "of riotous behaviour in the houfe of Mr. Cole, 46 an apothecary; but it was referred to the Dean, "when and upon what occafion the fentence fhould be put in execution." Thus Thus tenderly was he treated; the governors of his college could hardly keep him, and yet wished that he would not force them to drive him away. Some time afterwards, he affumed an appearance of decency in his own phrafe, he whitened himself, having a defire to obtain the cenforfhip, an office of honour and fome profit in the college; but, when the election came, the preference was given to Mr. Foulkes, his junior: the fame, I fuppofe, that joined with Freind in an edition of part of Demofthenes. The cenfor is a tutor; and it was not thought proper to truft the fuperintendance of others to a man who took fo little care of himself. From this time Smith employed his malice and his wit against the Dean, Dr. Aldrich, whom he confidered as the opponent of his claim. Of his lampoon upon him, I once heard a fingle line too grofs to be repeated. But he was ftill a genius and a fcholar, and Oxford was unwilling to lofe him; he was endured, with all his pranks and his vices, two years longer; but on Dec. 20, 1705, at the inftance of all the canons, the fentence declared five years before was put in execution. The execution was, I believe, filent and tender;' for one of his friends, from whom I learned much of his life, appeared not to know it. He was now driven to London, where he affociated himself with the Whigs, whether because they were in power, or because the Tories had expelled him, or because he was a Whig by principle, may perhaps be doubted. He was, however, careffed by men of great abilities, whatever were their party, and was fupported by the liberality of those who delighted in his converfation. There There was once a defign, hinted at by Oldifworth, to have made him ufeful. One evening, as he was fitting with a friend at a tavern, he was called down by the waiter; and, having ftaid fome time below, came up thoughtful. After a paufe, faid he to his friend,"He that wanted me below was Addison, whose business was to tell me that a Hiftory of the Revolution was intended, and "to propofe that I fhould undertake it. I faid, "What fhall I do with the character of Lord "Sunderland' and Addifon immediately returned, When, Rag, were you drunk laft ?' and went "away." 66 Captain Rag was a name which he got at Oxford by his negligence of drefs. This story I heard from the late Mr. Clark of Lincoln's Inn, to whom it was told by the friend of Smith. Such fcruples might debar him from fome profitable employments; but, as they could not deprive him of any real esteem, they left him many friends; and no man was ever better introduced to the theatre than he, who, in that violent conflict of parties, had a Prologue and an Epilogue from the first wits on either fide. But Learning and Nature will now and then take different courfes. His play pleafed the criticks, and the criticks only. It was, as Addison has recorded, hardly heard the third night. Smith had indeed trufted entirely to his merit, had enfured no band of applauders, nor used any artifice to force fuccefs, and found that naked excellence was not fufficient for its own fupport. The play, however, was bought by Eintot, who advanced the price from fifty guineas, the current rate, rate, to fixty and Halifax, the general patron, accepted the dedication. Smith's indolence kept him from writing the dedication, till Lintot, after fruitless importunity, gave notice that he would publish the play without it. Now, therefore, it was written; and Halifax expected the author with his book, and had prepared to reward him with a place of three hundred pounds a year. Smith, by pride, or caprice, or indolence, or bafhfulness, neglected to attend him, though doubtless warned and preffed by his friends, and at laft miffed his reward by not going to folicit it... Addifon has, in the Spectator, mentioned the neglect of Smith's tragedy as difgraceful to the nation, and imputes it to the fondnefs for operas then prevailing. The authority of Addison is great ; yet the voice of the people, when to please the people is the purpofe, deferves regard. In this question, I cannot but think the people in the right. The fable is mythological, a ftory which we are accustomed to reject as falfe, and the manners are fo diftant from our own, that we know them not from fympathy, but by ftudy: the ignorant do not underftand the action; the learned reject it as a school-boy's tale; incredulus odi. What I cannot for a moment believe, I cannot for a moment behold with intereft or anxiety. The fentiments thus remote from life are removed yet further by the diction, which is too luxuriant and fplendid for dialogue, and envelopes the thoughts rather than difplays them. It is a fcholar's play, fuch as may please the reader rather than the spectator; the work of a vigorous and elegant mind, accuftomed to pleafe felf with its own conceptions, but of little acquaintance with the course of life. |