Volume 5 — Notes.

CIBBER'S LIVES OF THE POETS.

It is rather extraordinary that none of Dr. Johnson's biographers appear to have been aware that the prospectus of Cibber's Lives was furnished by Johnson. In Mr. Croker's last edition of Boswell there is a long note (see Edit. 1848, p. 818.) on the claim of Theophilus Cibber to the authorship of the Lives, or a participation in it: but though he remarks that the plan on which these Lives are written is substantially the same as that which Johnson long after adopted in his own work, his attention does not seem to have been directed to the prospectus of Cibber's Lives. As, however, this prospectus was not adopted as a preface to the work, but merely appeared in the newspapers and periodicals of the day, it is the less surprising that it has hitherto remained unnoticed. The internal evidence is decisive; and, as it has never, that I am aware of, been reprinted, and is of great interest in connexion with Johnson's own Lives of the Poets, of which admirable work it may be considered to have "cast the shadows before," at the distance of nearly thirty years, I trust, though rather long, it may claim insertion in "N. & Q." It is extracted from a London newspaper of the 20th February, 1753.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

"This Day [20th Feb. 1753] is published,

"In Twelves (Price Six pence),

"NUMBER III. of

"The LIVES of the POETS, of Great-Britain and Ireland, to the present Time.

"Compiled from ample Materials scattered in a Variety of Books, and especially from the MS. Notes of the late ingenious Mr. COXETER, and others, collected for this Design.

"By Mr. CIBBER.

"Printed for R. Griffiths, at the Dunciad, in St. Paul's Church-yard.

"Where may be had, No. I. and II.

"This Work is published on the following Terms,

"I. That it shall consist of Four neat Pocket Volumes, handsomely printed.

"II. That it shall be published in Numbers, at Six-pence each, every Number containing Three Sheets, or Seventy-Two Pages; the Numbers to be printed every Saturday without Intermission, till the Whole is finished.

"III. That Five Numbers shall make a Volume; so that the whole Work will not exceed the Price of Ten Shillings unbound.

"To the Public.

"The Professors of no Art have conferred more Honour on our Nation than the Poets. All Countries have been diligent in preserving the Memoirs of those who have, either by their Actions or Writings, drawn the Attention of the World upon them: it is a Tribute due to the illustrious Dead; and has a Tendency to awaken, in the Minds of the Living, the laudable Principle of Emulation. As there is no Reading at once so entertaining and instructive, as that of Biography, so none ought to have the Preference to it: It yields the most striking Pictures of Life, and shews us the many Vicissitudes to which we are exposed in the Course of that important Journey. It has happened that the Lives of the Literati have been less attended to than those of Men of Action, whether in the Field or Senate; possibly because Accounts of them are more difficult to be attained, as they move in a retired Sphere, and may therefore be thought incapable of exciting so much Curiosity, or affecting the Mind with equal Force; but certain it is, that familiar Life, the Knowledge of which is of the highest Importance, might often be strikingly exhibited, were its various Scenes but sufficiently known, and properly illustrated. Of this, the most affecting Instances will be found in the Lives of the Poets, whose Indigence has so often subjected them to experience Variety of Fortune, and whose Parts and Genius have been so much concerned in furnishing Entertainment to the Public. As the Poets generally converse more at large, than other men, their Lives must naturally be productive of such Incidents as cannot but please those who deem the Study of Human Nature, and Lessons of Life, the most important.

"The Lives of the Poets have been less perfectly given to the World, than the Figure they have made in it, and the Share they have in our Admiration, naturally demand. The Dramatic Authors indeed have had some Writers who have transmitted Accounts of their works to Posterity: Of these Langbain is by far the most considerable. He was a Man of extensive Reading, and has taken a great deal of Pains to trace the Sources from which our Poets have derived their Plots; he has given a Catalogue of their Plays, and, as far as his Reading served him, very accurately: He has much improved upon Winstanley and Philips, and his Account of the Poets is certainly the best now extant. Jacob's Performance is a most contemptible one; he has given himself no Trouble to gain Intelligence, and has scarcely transcribed Langbain with Accuracy. Mrs. Cooper, Author of The Muses Library, has been industrious in collecting the Works and some Memoirs of the Poets who preceded Spenser: But her Plan did not admit of enlarging, and she has furnished but little Intelligence concerning them.

"The general Error into which Langbain, Mrs. Cooper, and all the other Biographers have fallen, is this: They have considered the Poets merely as such, without tracing their Connexions in civil Life, the various Circumstances they have been in, their Patronage, their Employments, and in short, the Figure they made as Members of the Community; which Omission has rendered their Accounts less interesting; and while they have shewn us the Poet, they have quite neglected the Man. Many of the Poets, besides their Excellency in that Profession, were held in Esteem by Men in Power, and filled civil Employments with Honour and Reputation; various Particulars of their Lives are to be found in the Annals of the Age in which they lived, and which were connected with those of their Patron.

"But these Particulars lie scattered in a Variety of Books, and the collecting them together and properly arranging them, is as yet unattempted, and is no easy task to accomplish. This however, we have endeavoured to do, and if we are able to execute our Plan, their Lives will prove entertaining, and many Articles of Intelligence, omitted by others, will be brought to Light. Another Advantage we imagine our Plan has over those who have gone before us in the same Attempt is, that we have not confined ourselves to Dramatic Writers only, but have taken in all who have had any Name as Poets, of whatsoever Class: and have besides given some Account of their other Writings: So that if they had any Excellence independant of Poetry, it will appear in full View to the Reader. We have likewise considered the Poets, not as they rise Alphabetically, but Chronologically, from Chaucer, the Morning Star of English Poetry, to the present Times: And we promise in the Course of this work, to make short Quotations by Way of Specimen from every Author, so that the Readers will be able to discern the Progress of Poetry from its Origin in Chaucer to its Consummation in Dryden. He will discover the gradual Improvements made in Versification, its Rise and Fall; and in a Word, the compleat History of Poetry will appear before him. In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth for Instance, Numbers and Harmony were carried to a great Perfection by the Earl of Surry, Spenser, and Fairfax; in the Reign of James and Charles the First, they grew harsher; at the Restoration, when Taste end Politeness began again to revive, Waller restored them to the Smoothness they had lost: Dryden reached the highest Excellence of Numbers, and compleated the Power of Poetry.

"In the Course of this Work we shall be particular in quoting Authorities for every Fact advanced, as it is fit the Reader should not be left at an Uncertainty; and where we find judicious Criticisms on the Works of our Authors, we shall take care to insert them, and shall seldom give our Opinion in the Decision of what Degree of Merit is due to them. We may venture, however, in order to enliven the Narration as much as possible, sometimes to throw in a Reflection, and in Facts that are disputed, to sum up the Evidence on both Sides. But though the Poets were often involved in Parties, and engaged in the vicissitudes of State, we shall endeavour to illustrate their Conduct, without any satirical Remarks, or favourable Colouring; never detracting from the Merit of one, or raising the Reputation of another, on Account of political Principles."

JOB: HEBREW : איוב ARABIC : أيوب CUNEIFORM "AIUB."

"This celebrated Patriarch has been represented by some sacred writers as imaginary, and his book as a fictitious dramatic composition."—Dr. Hales: See D'Oyly and Mant's Bible.

But Hales goes on to prove from the sacred writings that Job was a real character, and that his history is entitled to credit. That such a person as Job was a real character, and that he lived about the time asserted of him, I am about to give a very remarkable proof, quite independent of Scripture testimony.

In Kæmpfer's Amœnitates Exoticæ, there is a plate describing two processions, one after the other: of the first but little mention is made; of the second, the place from which the procession set out is not mentioned, but the place of its final destination is Persepolis. It is separated, in Kæmpfer, from the interpretation thereof, by a few leaves; but as I have not his Exoticæ by me, I cannot give an exact reference as to pages; it will, however, be easily found, since the inscription contains twenty-four lines, and the plate, I think, precedes it. It is called "Inscriptio Persepolitana," and is evidently among the most ancient of Cuneiform inscriptions. As neither the inscription, nor the word I am about to point out, could probably be inserted in the "N. & Q.," I must be content to describe the word in the clearest manner possible.

The lines, if I mistake not, measure about 5-¾ inches in length, and at about 1-¼ inches from the beginning of the second line (beginning at the left hand, and measuring towards the right) is a word compounded of four letters (five wedges), and reading a i u b. Take a wedge and form them thus,—sharp point to the right, near the top of the group, is a; sharp point downwards is i; sharp point to the left is u; the two under wedges joined, viz. sharp point to the blunt part of the second, is b.

It is remarkable that the Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian-Cuneiform should have precisely the same letters for the name of Job. It may lead to some conclusion with which I shall not meddle. See again D'Oyly and Mant, and the comment of Bishop Sanderson in ch. i. v. 3., "and not improbably he was a king."

Refer again to the plate, and behold him in two places, i.e. in both processions, crowned. And now examine the word following, Aiub; it is compounded of four letters, easily distinguishable. The first is a T, scil. the Coptic , the mystic cross, as may be shown in the Chinese language; the second is a, compounded of the horizontal wedge and the following perpendicular one; the third, or perpendicular line, is i; and the last two, one under the other, is j, or the Persian or , j; making altogether taij, being crowned. These two words, therefore, represent the patriarch as being a king, "Aiub taij," "Job crowned."

T. R. BROWNE.

Southwick, near Oundle.

A NEW ZEALAND LEGEND.

The following legend was related to me by a gentleman when discoursing upon the customs of the New Zealanders. It is their account of the origin of their land, and illustrates the absurdities which they believe.

"Old Morm (Query, rightly spelt) was a great fisherman, and being at one time in want of fish-hooks, he quietly killed his two sons, and took their jaw bones for hooks. As a requital to them for the loss of their lives, he made the right eye of his eldest son the morning star, and the right eye of his youngest son the evening star. One day he was sitting on a rock fishing with one of the jawbones, when he hooked something extraordinarily heavy,—whales were nothing to him. However, this resisted all his endeavours, and at length he was obliged to resort to other means to land this monster. He caught a dove, and tying the line to its leg, he filled it with his spirit, and commanded it to fly upwards. It did so, and without the least difficulty raised New Zealand! Old Morm looked at this prodigy with wonder, but thinking it very pretty he stepped ashore, where he saw men and fire. The first thing he did was to burn his fingers, and then to cool them he jumped into the sea; when the sulphur which arose from him was so great, that the Sulphur Island was formed. After this things went on smoothly, till the New Zealanders began to get refractory, and so offended the sun, that his majesty refused to shine. So old Morm got up one day early and chased after the sun, but it was not till after three days' hard hunting he managed to catch him. A good deal of parleying then took place, and at last the sun consented to shine for half the day only. Old Morm, to remedy this evil, immediately made the moon, and tied it by a string to the sun, so that when one went down it pulled the other up."

I did not hear on what authority this was given, but I dare say some of your learned correspondents may have met with it, and will be kind enough to give it, and say whether this fable was believed by all the tribes of New Zealand.

UNICORN.

Minor Notes.

A Dutch Commentary on Pope.—

"It may be asked," said Bilderdyk in a note to his imitation of the Essay on Man,[1] "why the little stone is thrown into the water by a Dutchman in particular. The reason is, that the Dutch sailors when lying idle in the Thames, often amuse themselves in calm weather by throwing little stones along the surface of the water, so as to make ducks and drakes, as it is called. This practice the English look at with great astonishment, and wonder at a use of the hands so different from that which they make of their own in boxing."

Bilderdyk speaks contemptuously of Pope: yet it may be surmised, from the above commentary, that he was but ill qualified to criticise him, otherwise he would not have supposed that "plump" could have the remotest allusion to the light skimming amusement of "ducks and drakes;" not to mention that he would have suspected that it was no "steentje" that plumped into the lakes.

Satirical Verses on the Chancellor Clarendon's Downfall.

—In MS. Add. 4968., British Museum, a duodecimo volume containing a collection of arms and achievements tricked by a painter-stainer in the reign of Charles II., at fol. 62o. is the following poem "On the Chancellor's Downfall," which, if not already printed, may be worth preserving:—

μ.

Execution of Charles I.

—In a letter which is preserved in the State Paper Office, addressed to Secretary Bennet, by Lord Ormonde and the Council of Ireland, and dated the 29th of April, 1663, their Lordships request the Secretary to move his Majesty that "Henry Porter, then known as Martial General Porter, standing charged as being the person by whose hand the head of our late Sovereign King Charles the First, of blessed memory, was cutt off, and now two years imprisoned in Dublin, should be brought to trial in England."

J. F. F.

Dublin.

Born within the Sound of Bow Bell.

—In his edition of Stow's Survey of London, Mr. Thoms appends the subjoined note to the account which is given of Bow Church and its bells:—

"From the absence of every allusion on the part of Stow to the common definition of a cockney, a person born within the sound of Bow Bells, the saying would appear to be of somewhat more recent date."

Stow's work was first published in 1598, and the author died in 1605. Fuller, author of the Worthies of England, was born in 1608: and it would seem that during his lifetime the definition of a cockney was well-known; for thus does Fuller speak:—

"[He was born within the sound of Bow Bell.] This is the periphrasis of a Londoner at large, born within the suburbs thereof; the sound of this bell exceeding the extent of the Lord Mayor's mace."

Can any correspondent of "N. & Q." refer me to an earlier writer than Fuller for the same definition?

ALFRED GATTY.