author of several plays, now forgotten, some miscellaneous poems, and translations from Ovid's Metamorphoses; but it is chiefly as an editor of Shakspeare, that a permanent place is assigned him among authors.

THEOBALD, (LEWIS,) the son of an attorney, at Sittingbourne, in Kent, was born there about the year 1690, and was himself brought up to the law, but soon quitted it for literature. He engaged in a paper called The Censor, published in Mist's Weekly Journal, and exposed himself to the resentment of the wits, by delivering his opinion somewhat too freely and acrimoniously. He however, praised Pope's Homer in the most extravagant terms, but afterwards thought proper to abuse it, which, with other circumstances, induced Pope to make him the hero of his Dunciad; and it is not improbable that Theobald's publication of a translation of the first book of the Odyssey, was an additional instigation of Pope's virulence. In 1720, he introduced upon the stage a tragedy, entitled The Double Falsehood, the greatest part of which he affirmed to be Shakspeare's, though Dr. Farmer assigns it to Shirley. Pope insinuated that the whole or greatest part was his own, quoting from it the line

None but thyself can be thy parallel. In 1726, he published Shakspeare Restored, or Specimens of Blunders committed and unamended in Pope's edition of that author; of which he had the impudence to aver, "that to expose any errors in it was impracticable;" and, that "whatever care might, for the future, be taken, either by Mr. Pope, or any other assistants, he would give above five hundred emendations that would escape them all." Theobald died in September, 1744. He appears to have been a vain man, but not without a portion of both talent and learning; though his application exceeded both. He was the

CAVE, (EDWARD,) the son of a shoemaker, was born at Newton, in Warwickshire, on the 29th of February, 1691, but passed his early years at

He

leaving school, he was placed under a collector of Excise, but being employed, by his master's wife, in menial offices, he quitted his situation in disgust; and, going to London, became apprentice to a printer. Before the expiration of his apprenticeship, he married a young widow, and afterwards was employed as journeyman, with Mr. Barber, a printer of note, and through whose means he became a writer in Mist's Journal. He subsequently obtained a situation in the Post-office, as clerk of the franks; but, in consequence of stopping some letters, which he considered illegally franked, he was cited before the house of commons, and deprived of his place. now resolved to carry into effect his long-cherished scheme of The Gentleman's Magazine, and the first number of that periodical was accordingly published at St. John's Gate, Smithfield, in January, 1731. The success which it met with, brought him into immediate reputation; and, being a great lover of poetry, he proposed a prize of £50 for the best contribution to his magazine, referring the decision to the universities; no member of which, however, would condescend to arbitrate upon the occasion. The great emoluments which he derived from the sale of his new periodical, are said to have been considerably diminished by a variety of unfortunate speculations; but he, nevertheless, left a considerable fortune at his death, which took place on the 10th of January, 1754. His friend and biographer, Dr. Johnson, in reference to Cave's intellectual character, observes, he saw little at a time, but that little he saw with exactness, and though he was long in finding the right, he seldom failed to find it at last."

SOMERVILLE, (WILLIAM,) the son of a gentleman of family, whose

manuscript poems, one of which contained an entire translation of Lucan. This was, however, never published; a circumstance which Dr. Johnson regrets, though, for what reason, does not appear. In 1724, he graduated M. A., and shortly afterwards translated Vida's Art of Poetry, in which he displayed great skill and elegance. In 1727, he published a volume of Miscellaneous Poems, which was succeeded by his admirable translation. in verse, of The Eneid. He died on the 13th of April, 1748; and is recorded, on his tombstone at Blandford, to have been very eminent for his talents in poetry, and yet more for the universal candour of his mind, and the primitive simplicity of his manners. In comparing his translation of Virgil with that of Dryden, Johnson observes, that Dryden leads the reader forward by his general vigour and sprightliness, whilst Pitt often stops him to contemplate the excellence of a single couplet that Dryden's faults are forgot in the hurry of delight, and that Pitt's beauties are neglected in the languor of a cold and listless perusal; that Pitt pleases the critics, and Dryden the people; that Pitt is quoted, and Dryden read.

WHARTON, (PHILIP, Duke of,) son of the marquess of that name, was born in 1699. He received a private education; and, at an early age, developed strong passions and superior abilities. When scarcely fifteen, he married the daughter of Major-general Holmes, and, shortly afterwards, lost his father, whose death is said to have been accelerated by this ill-timed union. In 1716, he travelled, in the company of his tutor, to Geneva, from whom, however, he soon parted, impatient of restraint on his principles, or control over his conduct. Having picked up a bear in the course of his travels, he told his tutor on quitting him, "he had left him the animal, as the best companion that could be selected for him." Before his return to England, he visited the court of the Pretender, at Avignon, who conferred on him the title of Duke of Northumberland. Being remonstrated with, at Paris, for swerving so much from his father's principles, he answered, "that he had pawned his principle to the Pretender's banker; and, till he could repay him, he must be a

Jacobite." On taking his seat, however, in the Irish house of peers, he defended government with so much zeal, that he was soon created a duke; but his subsequent defence of Bishop Atterbury, in the English parliament, proved he was not long to be relied on. To give more publicity to his sentiments, he published a paper called The True Briton, in which he attacked the ministry with equal wit and virulence. His extravagance having involved his estate, it fell into the hands of trustees, who allowed him £1,200 a year, with which he went abroad a second time; and, losing his wife in 1726, he shortly afterwards married Mademoiselle Obern, one of the maids of honour to the Queen of Spain. He then joined the troops of that country, at the siege of Gibraltar, and took such a part in foreign politics, as ultimately subjected him to an indictment for high treason in England. An offer of indemnification, however, and of restoration to his estate, was, it is said, made to him by Sir Robert Walpole; but, not consenting to the conditions, the duke returned to Spain, and, after a series of adventures, equally subversive of his health and reputation, died at a convent, in the mountains of Catalonia, on the 31st of May, 1731. In the same year, his poems, speeches, and letters were published in two volumes; besides which he wrote a tragedy on the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a paper in Mist's Journal, under the title of An Account of Mire vais and Sultan Ezref. The character of Wharton has been admirably described by Pope, who concludes his sketch of it in the following lines:

A fool, with more of wit than half mankind,
Too rash for thought, for action too refined;
A tyrant to the wife his heart approves ;
And rebel to the very king he loves;
He dies, sad out-cast of each church and state,
And, harder still flagitious, yet not great.
Ask you why Wharton broke thro' ev'ry rule?
"Twas all for fear the knaves should call him fool.

DYER, (JOHN,) the son of an attorney of Aberglasney, in Caermarthenshire, was born in 1700, and received his education at Westminster School. He was at first articled to his father, but, on his death, disliking the law, studied painting under Richardson, and is said to have wandered about Wales, for some time,

as an itinerant artist, with indifferent success. In 1727, his poem of Grongar Hill appeared in Lewis's Miscellany; and, some time afterwards, he travelled to Italy for professional improvement. On his return, he published, in 1740, a poem, called The Ruins of Rome; and, entering into holy orders, he, in 1741, was presented to the living of Calthorp, in Lincolnshire, and, about the same time, he married a Miss Enson. He was subsequently appointed to two other livings, worth, together, about £250 per annum, and died July the 24th, 1758.

His longest poem had appeared, the preceding year, under the title of The Fleece; "of which," says Johnson, "I will not suppress a ludicrous story. Dodsley, the bookseller, was, one day, mentioning it to a critical visitor, with more expectation of success than the other could easily admit. In the conversation, the author's age was asked, and being represented as advanced in life, he will,' said the critic, be buried in woollen.'" The subject of The Fleece admits little scope for poetry, and is, accordingly, tedious and repulsive; yet Akenside is reported to have said that he would regulate his opinion of the reigning taste by the fate of Dyer's Fleece; for, if that were illreceived, he should not think it any longer reasonable to expect fame from excellence." The merit of Grongar Hill is universally allowed; there are few poems that suggest more pleasing images to the eye, or more welcome reflections to the mind.

MALLET, (DAVID,) was born about 1700, at Crief, in Perthshire, Scotland; where his father kept a public-house, under the name of James Malloch. Of his education little is known, but, as Johnson says, "he surmounted the disadvantages of his birth and fortune;" for when the Duke of Montrose applied to the college of Edinburgh for a tutor to his sons, Mallet was recommended. After having made the tour of Europe with his pupils, he returned to England, and published, in 1724, his ballad of William and Margaret; of which, says Dr. Johnson, though it contains nothing striking, "he has been envied the reputation." In 1728, appeared his poem of The Excursion; and, in 1731, his tragedy of Eurydice was produced at

Not

Drury Lane, but met with no applause. In 1733, he published his poem on Verbal Criticisms, a pert and presumptuous effusion, written, as Wharton says, to gratify Pope, by abusing Bentley. He was shortly afterwards appointed under-secretary to the Prince of Wales, with a salary of £200 a year; and, in 1734, in recompense for some verses on the visit of the Prince of Orange to Oxford, he was created M. A. In 1739, he produced, with success, his tragedy of Mustapha; and, in the following year, he, in conjunction with Thomson, received the commands of the prince to write the Masque of Alfred. In 1740, he wrote the life of Bacon, to be prefixed to a new edition of that great man's works, and of which, though written with elegance, Warburton said, when Mallet afterwards undertook the life of Marlborough, that he might perhaps forget that Marlborough was a general, as he had forgotten that Bacon was a philosopher. In 1747, he published his Hermit, or Amyntor and Theodora ; a poem now forgotten, but displaying many of the highest attributes of poetry, and for which he received £120. long afterwards, he was employed by Lord Bolingbroke to blast the memory of Pope, on his discovering that the latter had clandestinely printed an unauthorized number of his Patriot King; in an advertisement to which, Mallet stigmatized the conduct of Pope with merciless severity, in return for which Bolingbroke bequeathed him the whole of his manuscripts. The legacy, however, involved him in a suit with Franklin, the printer, which terminated to his disadvantage, and he ultimately gained a very small profit from the publication of his lordship's works. On the prosecution of Byng, he was employed to turn the odium of the people from the ministry against that unfortunate admiral, and, for that purpose, wrote a letter of accusation, under the character of a Plain Man, for which he was rewarded with a pension. Nothing was heard of him during the next six years, except a dedication of his poems to the late Duke of Marlborough, in which he talks of dedicating also to his grace, A Life of his Illustrious Ancestor; a promise which ended not very honourably to himself, for, though he had received £1,000 for the purpose, he died

without having written a line towards it. In 1763, in order to turn the popular favour towards Lord Bute, he wrote a political tragedy, called Elvira, and was rewarded by his lordship with a place in the Customs. Towards the close of his career he visited France; after which, he returned to England, and died of a decline, on the 21st of April, 1765. Mallet appears to have written with ease; and, in both his poetry and prose, there is a predominance of elegance of style. Of his character as a man, there is much to blame and nothing to praise. He was twice married, and had several children by his first wife; his second one brought him a fortune of £10,000.

HOOKE, (NATHANIEL,) of whose history little is known, is supposed to have been born about the year 1700. He was a zealous Roman catholic, and tried to convert to popery many of the distinguished persons with whom he is said to have been acquainted. On this account, he lost the friendship of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, who had previously presented him with £5,000, for assisting her in compiling the memoirs of her own life. His celebrated Roman History, from its earliest period, to the settlement of the empire under Octavius, was first published in four quarto volumes, in 1733, 1745, 1764 (the year of Hooke's death), and 1771. He also

published a translation of Ramsay's Travels of Cyrus, and Observations on Four Pieces upon the Roman Senate, in which he attempted to invalidate the historical authority of Dionysius of Halicarnassus. As a historian, Hooke is entitled to the praise of accuracy and precision in the detail of facts, and of considerable critical acumen in the description of conflicting evidence and authority. His style is clear and easy; and though, perhaps, he has rather a leaning to the democratical party, he is, upon the whole, candid and impartial.

DODSLEY, (ROBERT,) was born in 1703, and, whilst in the humble station of footman to a lady of fashion, acquired a taste for literature, and published, by subscription, a collection of poems, entitled The Muse in Livery. A satirical dramatic piece, called The Toy Shop, was his next performance, which, through the influence of Pope, was

brought upon the stage, and met with such success, that Dodsley gained profit enough to open a bookseller's shop in Pall Mall. Continuing, however, his career as an author, he produced, in addition to other dramatic pieces, the farce of The King and the Miller of Mansfield, and a sequel to it, entitled Sir John Cockle at Court; which were succeeded by his most important prose production, called The Economy of Human Life. Much of the celebrity of this work arose, at the time, from its being supposed to be written by Lord Chesterfield, though its subsequent popularity has proved that its own merits were sufficient to justify the immediate applause with which it was received. In 1758, he wrote his tragedy of Cleone, which the acting of Mrs. Bellamy as the heroine, rendered highly successful; and, in 1760, he published his Select Fables of Esop, with an ingenious essay on fable. Dodsley also framed the design of The Preceptor, published a collection of old plays, and also of poems, by different hands; one of the most valuable of its kind; the poems of Shenstone, and others of eminence, having been first given to the world in this collection. The subject of our memoir, who acquired a large fortune, and was highly respected in private life, died at Durham, in 1764.

PEGGE, (SAMUEL,) born in 1704, was a native of Chesterfield, and received his education at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship. Having taken holy orders, he was presented to the livings of Godmersham, near Canterbury, in 1731, and in 1751, to those of Brindle, in Lancashire, and Whittington, in Staffordshire. He died, in 1796, with the reputation of one of the most learned and industrious antiquaries of his time. Besides numerous papers inserted in The Gentleman's Magazine, under the signature of Paul Gemage, and also in the Archæologia, he wrote A History of Beanchief Abbey; Anonyame; An Essay on Ancient British Coins, at the time of Cunobelinus, or Cymbeline; another on Ancient English Cookery; on Anglo-Saxon Remains, &c.; and the Lives of Grossetete, Bishop of Lincoln, and Roger de Wescham, Bishop of Lichfield.