the office of Laureate for Shadwell, said to those who were advocating the claims of other poets, "Well, gentlemen, I will not pretend to determine how great a poet Shadwell may be, but I am sure he is an honest man.' Shadwell had studied music for many years, and he guided the composition of the melodies for the songs in his opera Psyche, to which Dryden refers: "Or, if thou would'st thy different talents suit, Set thy own songs, and sing them to thy lute." It is unfortunate that the coarseness of Shadwell's language banishes his plays from our modern stage, where loose expressions are only tolerated when veiled in poetical diction, or couched in double entendre, and no immorality is hinted at, except in the gestures and expressions of the actresses, which are not set down in the copy of the drama forwarded to the licenser of plays. Notwithstanding the peculiarities of Shadwell's outspoken muse, there are many scenes in his comedies of great humour and originality; in The Virtuoso, for instance, the scene in the laboratory, where Sir Nicholas Gimcrack, the Virtuoso, is learning to swim upon a table, by imitating the movements of a frog in a bowl of water, has some exceedingly comical situations and dialogue, quite equal to the celebrated Undertaker's Scene in Steele's Funeral. Lord Macaulay, in his History, praises these comedies for throwing a strong light upon life and society in Shadwell's times; and in the preface to The Fortunes of Nigel, Sir Walter Scott mentions that he was partly indebted to The Squire of Alsatia for the vivid account he gives of the disreputable sanctuary of Whitefriars. In the dedication of the latter play to the Earl of Dorset, Shadwell observes that it was eminently successful: "No comedy these many years having filled the theatre so long together. And I had the great honour to find so many friends, that the house was never so full since it was built as upon the third day of this play, and vast numbers went away that could not be admitted." Although Shadwell was buried in old Chelsea church, a handsome tablet was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey, by his son, Dr. John Shadwell, with an inscription stating that he came of an ancient family and was poet laureate and historiographer to King William. A bust surmounts the tablet, showing a clean shaven, very fat face, with a sharp prominent nose. T. SHADWELL'S DRAMATIC WORKS. The Sullen Lovers; or, the Impertinents. A comedy acted by the Duke of York's servants, 1668. Partly taken from Les Facheux, of Molière. The Royal Shepherdess.-Tragi-comedy, acted 1669. The Humourists. Comedy acted by their Majesty's servants, 1671. This play gave offence, and was withdrawn for a time. A comedy called The Miser, taken from L'Avare, and acted in 1672. Epsom Wells. Comedy, acted in 1673. Psyche. An unsuccessful operatic tragedy, acted 1675. The Libertine. Tragedy, acted 1676, founded upon the old tale from whence springs the plot of Don Giovanni. The Virtuoso. A successful and amusing comedy, acted in 1676. The History of Timon of Athens, the Man Hater. Altered from Shakespeare, and played 1678. The Trace Widow. theatre in 1678. A comedy, acted at the Duke's The Woman Captain. Comedy, 1680. The Lancashire Witches, and Teague O'Devilly, the Irish Priest. Comedy, 1682. The Squire of Alsatia. Comedy, 1688. Bury Fair. Comedy, 1689. Molière's Précieuses Ridicules. Partly taken from The Amorous Bigot, with the second part of Teague O'Devilly. Comedy, 1690. The Scourers. Comedy, 1691. The Volunteers; or, the Stock Jobbers. Comedy, acted in 1693, and dedicated by Shadwell's widow to the Queen. "Who shall resume St. James's fife, On tip-toe gaping, lo, I stand, To see the future Laureate of the land!" NAHUM TATE. (1692—1715.) Know, reader, that the Laureate's post sublime, If great—how happy is the tuneful tongue, BUT for two circumstances the name of Nahum Teat would have been totally forgotten, and they are, that he was part author of a new version of the Psalms, and was Poet Laureate in the reigns of William III., Queen Anne, and George I. He was the son of Dr. Faithful Teat, a clergyman, was born in Dublin in 1652, and educated at Trinity College, in that City. Determined to adopt the literary profession, he went to London, where he became acquainted with Dryden, whom he assisted in the composition of several plays, and for whom he wrote most of the second part of Absalom and Achitophel, which was published in November, 1682. In the edition of this poem, published by Jacob Tonson in 1716 (when both Dryden and Tate were dead), the preface states that "In the year 1680, Mr. Dryden undertook the poem of Absalom and Achitophel, upon the desire of King Charles II. The performance was applauded by every one; and several persons pressing him to write a second part, he, upon declining it himself, spoke to Mr. Tate to write one, and gave him his advice in the direction of it; and that part beginning, and ending 'Next these, a troop of busy spirits press,' 'To talk like Doeg, and to write like thee,' containing near two hundred verses, were entirely Mr. Dryden's composition, besides some touches in other places." Having a strong Tory tone, Tate's verses, though far inferior to Dryden's, brought him into notice at Court; and, encouraged by the patronage he received, he produced several plays, which, however, were only moderately successful. He had the temerity to alter King Lear for the stage, and, whatever may now be the opinion as to the merits of his version, it held possession of the boards for nearly a century. On the death of Shadwell, Tate was appointed Poet Laureate; but the office of Historiographer Royal, which Shadwell and Dryden had previously also filled, was conferred upon Thomas Rymer. The greatest merit of Tate's official odes is their brevity; they are characterised by more than the usual amount of fulsome adulation, and in the verses on the death of Queen Mary II., he stretches poetical license to the extent of asserting that queens have a special reception on their entry into Paradise. Having borrowed metaphors and similes from Milton, he rearranges them in his own style, after the following fashion: "With robes invested of celestial dies, She towr's, and treads the Empyrean Skies; |