The History of Timon of Athens, the Man Hater. Altered from Shakespeare, and played 1678. The True Widow. A comedy, acted at the Duke's theatre in 1678. 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!" PETER PINDAR. NAHUM TATE. (1692-1715.) (6 Know, reader, that the Laureate's post sublime, If great-how happy is the tuneful tongue, 919 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. Ho 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; Angelick choirs, skill'd in triumphant song, On the accession of Queen Anne, in 1702, the following new letters patent were issued :— "These are to certify that I have sworn and admitted Nahum Tate into ye place and quality of Poet Laureate to Her Majesty in ordinary, to have, hold, and exercise and enjoy the said place, together with all rights, profits, privileges, and advantages thereunto belonging, in as full and ample manner as any Poet Laureate hath formerly held, and of right ought to have held and enjoyed the same. "Given under my hand this 24th day of December, in the first year of her Majesty's reign. "JERSEY." During this reign, the appointment of Laureate was placed in the gift of the Lord Chamberlain; consequently, in 1714, Tate was again formally appointed. In these documents, the name is spelt Tate, although it is doubtful when and for what reason the poet abandoned the correct orthography of the family name of Teat. Pope wittily summed up Tate's poetical talents, in lines of the utmost severity: "The Bard whom pilfer'd pastorals renown, Who turns a Persian tale for half-a-crown Just writes to make his barrenness appear, And strains from hard-bound brains, eight lines a year; And he, whose fustian's so sublimely bad, All these, my modest satire, bade translate, And own'd that nine such Poets made a Tate." All this bitter satire might have been applied with justice to Tate, had he produced nothing better than his official odes; but such was certainly not the case; his translation of Ovid's Remedy of Love, included in Tonson's edition of "Miscellaneous Poems," is very gracefully written, and Panacea, a poem on the power and virtues of tea (then a highly-priced luxury), is excellent in its construction, although the subject lacks interest at the present time. Sir Walter Scott speaks indulgently of Tate, and admits him amongst the "second-rate bards, who by dint of expletive and pleonasm, can find smooth lines, if any one will supply ideas." Contemporary critics ranked him far higher; one says: "The British laurel by old Chaucer worn, Still fresh and gay did Dryden's brow adorn, And another : "Long may the laurel flourish on your brow, Swift, with the characteristic ill-nature which prompted him to sneer at every one whom he did not greatly fear, or who did not greatly fear him, taunts Tate for being too prolific : "Nahum Tate, who is ready to take oath that he has caused many reams of verse to be published, whereof both himself and his bookseller (if lawfully required) can still produce authentic copies, and |