Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

Oh! happiest was I in my humble state:
Tho' I lay down in want, I slept in peace:
My daily toil begat my night's repose,

My night's repose made day-light pleasing to me.
But now I've climb'd the top-bough of the tree,
And sought to build my nest among the clouds,
The gentlest gales of summer shake my bed,
And dreams of murder harrow up my soul.
But, hark! not yet: 'Tis dreadful being alone.
This awful silence, that unbroken reigns
Thro' earth and air, awakes attention more
Than thunder bursting from ten thousand clouds.

And, again,

Ambition, av'rice, lust,

That drove me on to murder, now forsake me.

Franklin makes the following exclamation on the

discovery of the murderers:

Eternal Providence, to whose bright eye
Darkness itself is as the noon-day blaze,

Who brings the midnight murd'rer and his deeds
To light and shame, has, in their own security,
Found thee.

[blocks in formation]

Th' unerring hand of justice; and with silence
Had yielded to my fate: but for this maid,
Who, as my soul dreads justice on her crimeš,
Knew not, nor e'er consented to this deed-

Mayor. But did she not consent to keep it secret?
Mosby. To save a brother and most wretched friend.
Mayor. She has undone herself.-Behold how innocence
May suffer in bad fellowship.

In the Biographia Dramatica and in Egerton's Theatrical Remembrancer mention is made of a Comedy written by Lillo and left in M. S. called The Regulators, but this appears now to be lost.

To return to the account of Lillo: It appears from an assignment of the copy-right of George Barnwell to Gray the bookseller, dated Nov. 25, 1735, that Lillo was at that time living at Rotherhithe near London. I thought it not improbable, therefore, that he had died there, as Davies informs us that he ended his life September the 3d, 1739, in the 47th year of his age; but, on making inquiry there, the name of Lillo does not appear in the

Register of Burials, from 1730 to 1740, nor in those for Marriages and Baptisms; so that he was not married there, nor had any children baptized; neither is there any monument to him in the church or church-yard. Hammond in his Prologue to Elmerick has stated that Lillo died in want and misery:

Deprest by want, afflicted by disease,

Dying he wrote, and dying wish'd to please.

But it appears from his Will, that, besides an estate of £60. per annum which he bequeathed to a nephew of the name of Underwood, subject to payments to different persons, he died possessed of several effects by no means inconsiderable. He had also accumulated by his plays, in the course of seven years, about £800. He had always lived a very temperate life, and was not addicted to any vice or extravagance.

Davies mentions a curious anecdote respecting our author, in the latter part of his life. He determined, either from judgment or humour, to put the sincerity of his friends, who professed a very high regard for him, to a trial. In order to do this he asked one of his intimate acquaintance to lend him a considerable sum of money, and declared that he would give no bond for it, nor any other security, except a note of hand; the person to whom he applied, not liking the terms, civilly refused him. Soon after, Lillo met his nephew Mr. Underwood, with whom he had been at variance for some time; he made the same application to him. His nephew, either from a sagacious apprehension of his uncle's real intention, or from generosity of spirit, immediately offered to comply with his request. Lillo was so well pleased with this ready compliance, that he immediately declared that he was fully satisfied with the love and regard his nephew bore him; he was convinced that his friendship was entirely disinterested, and assured him that he should reap the benefit such generous behaviour deserved. In consequence of this promise, he bequeathed him the bulk of his fortune.

This incident is quite in the manner of a dramatic author accustomed to plots and contrivances. Such trials

may certainly sometimes be allowable, but Lillo, in his Fatal Curiosity! has shewn that the consequences are sometimes attended with great evil, and they are seldom practised without falsehood on the side of the proposer.

66

Lillo, though strongly attached to poetry, and to the Drama in particular, seems ever to have kept in mind that it ought to tend to the promotion of virtue, morality and religion. "A love of truth, innocence, and virtue," (says his Biographer) a firm resignation to the will of "Providence, and a detestation of vice and falsehood, (6 are constantly insisted upon, and strongly inculcated "in all the compositions of honest Lillo." (p. 31.) He was a most valuable and amiable man in his moral con"duct, and in the candour, generosity, and openness of "his temper, resembling the character of Thorowgood "in his own Barnwell". (p. 38.) A few months after his death Henry Fielding gave a character of him in The Champion, in which he says, that "He had the spirit of an old Roman, joined to the innocence of a "primitive Christian; he was content with his little state "of life, in which his excellent temper of mind' gave "him a happiness beyond the power of riches, and it was necessary for his friends to have a sharp insight "into his want of their services, as well as good incli"nation or abilities to serve him. In short, he was one "of the best of men, and those who knew him best will "most regret his loss." (Life by Davies, p. 32.)

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

In his person he was lusty, but not tall, of a pleasing aspect, though unhappily deprived of the sight of one

eye.

The Tragedy of THE LONDON MERCHANT, or THE HISTORY OF GEORGE BARNWELL, is taken from the old Ballad of George Barnwell, but varies from it in several particulars which tend to make the piece more interesting and more instructive. Davies says that it was offered 66 to Mr. Theophilus Cibber, manager of a company of "comedians then acting at the Theatre in Drury Lane, "during the summer season. The author's friends,

"though they were well acquainted with the merit of "Barnwell, could not be without their fears for the 66 success of a play, which was formed on a new plan— "A history of manners deduced from an old ballad; "and which the witlings of the time called a Newgate

Tragedy. It is true some of our best dramatic poets, "in their most affecting pieces, had lowered the buskin, "and fitted it to characters in life inferior to Kings and "Heroes; yet no writer had ventured to descend so low 66 as to introduce the character of a merchant, or his ❝clerk, into a tragedy. However the author's attempt 66 was fully justified by his success; plain sterling sense, "joined to many happy strokes of nature and passion, "supplied the imagined deficiencies of art, and more "tears were shed at the representation of this home-spun

drama, than at all the elaborate imitations of ancient "fables and ancient manners by the learned moderns. "Mr. Pope, who was present at the first acting of "Barnwell, very candidly observed that Lillo had never "deviated from propriety, except in a few passages in "which he aimed at a greater elevation of language than was consistent with character and situation. (See "Lillo, in Cibber's Lives, Vol. 1.)

"Barnwell was acted about twenty nights in the hottest "part of the year to crouded houses. The great success of "this play excited the attention of Queen Caroline, who "desired to see it in MS. (Gentleman's Magazine, July

1731.) A message was dispatched to Drury Lane "Theatre, and July 2nd 1731, Mr. Wilks waited upon "her Majesty at Hampton Court with the play."—" One "circumstance which happened the first night that Barn"well was acted, is so singular that it ought not to be ❝ forgotten. Certain witty and facetious persons, who "call themselves The Town, bought up thousands of "the ballad of George Barnwell, with an intent to make 66 a ludicrous comparison between the old song, and the << new tragedy; but so forcible and so pathetic were the (6 scenes of the London Merchant, that these merry "gentlemen were quite disappointed and ashamed; they were obliged to throw away their ballads and take out

"their handkerchiefs. (Cibber's Life of Lillo.)"-Davies, p. 8, 9.

The author of the Biographia Dramatica says of this play, "It is written in prose, and although the language is consequently not so dignified as that of the buskin "is usually expected to be, yet it is well adapted to the "subject it is written on, and exalted enough to express "the sentiments of the characters, which are all thrown "into domestic life. The plot is ingenious, the catas-' "trophe just, and the conduct of it affecting. And no "lesson surely can be more proper or indeed more 86 necessary to inculcate among that valuable body of "youths, who are trained up to the branches of mer"cantile business, so eminently estimable in a land of 66 commerce such as England, and who must necessarily ́ "have large trusts confided to their care, and conse"quently large temptations thrown into the way of their "integrity, than the warning them how much greater "strength will be added to these temptations, how "almost impossible it will be for them to avoid the snares "of ruin, if they suffer themselves but once to be drawn "aside into the paths of the harlot, or permit their eyes "once to glance on the allurements of the wanton, "where they will be sure to meet with the most insatiable "avarice to cope with on one hand, and an unguarded "sensibility proceeding at first from the goodness of their

own hearts, on the other, which will excite the practice "of the most abandoned artifices in the first, and render "the last most liable to be imposed on by them, and "plunge headlong into vice, infamy and ruin. This "warning is strongly, loudly given in this play; and "indeed I cannot help wishing that the performance of "it was more frequent, or at least that the managers "would make it a rule constantly to have it acted once "at least in each house during the course of every period "of those holidays in which the very youth to whom "this instruction is addressed almost always form a "considerable part of the audience." Vol. 2. p 192. This advice, originally given in the first edition of that work under the title of The Companion to the Play

« FöregåendeFortsätt »