NOTES ON POEMS IN THE STANZA OF SPENSER. PSYCHE. Page 1. Of the Author of this Poem, Mr. Nichols has given the following account :-" This worthy Divine was descended collaterally from Dr. Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, who was burnt in the reign of Queen Mary. He was born at sea, in the year 1702, on board the Gloucester East-Indiaman, to which circumstance he was indebted for his christian name.. He received his education at Winchester school, and from thence was elected to a fellowship at New College, Oxford, where he proceeded B, C. L. April 29, 1729. In those two seminaries he cultivated an early acquaintance with the Muses, and laid the foundation of those elegant and solid acquirements for which he was afterwards so eminently distinguished, as a Poet, an Historian, and a Divine. During a vacation in 1728, he joined with four friends (Mr. Thomas Fletcher, afterwards Bishop of Kildare, Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Eyre, Mr. Morrison, and Mr. Jennens) ances. in writing a tragedy called "The Fruitless Redress," each undertaking an act on a plan previously concerted; and when they delivered in their several proportions at their meeting in the winter, few readers would have known that the whole was not the production of a single hand. This tragedy, which was offered to Mr. Wilks, but never acted, is still in MS. in the hands of his family; with "Jugurtha," of which a specimen shall be given in p. 82. Dr. Ridley in his youth was much addicted to theatrical performMidhurst in Sussex was the place where they were exhibited; and the company of gentlemen actors to which he belonged consisted chiefly of his coadju. tors in the tragedy already mentioned. He is said to have performed the characters of Marc Antony, Jaffier, Horatio, and Moneses, with distinguished applause, a circumstance that will be readily believed by those who are no strangers to his judicious and graceful manner of speaking in the pulpit. Young Cibber, being likewise a Wykehamist, called on Dr. Ridley soon after he had been appointed chaplain to the East India Company at Poplar, and would have persuaded him to quit the church for the stage. For great part of his life he had no other preferment than the small college living of Weston Longueville in Norfolk, and the donative of Poplar in Middlesex, where he resided. To these his college added, some years after, the donative of Rumford in Essex. "Between those two places the curricle of his life rolled (as he expressed it) for some time almost perpetually upon post-chaise wheels, and left him not time for even the proper studies of oeconomy, or the necessary ones of his profession." Yet in this obscure situation he remained in possession of, and content with, domestic happiness; and was honoured with the intimate friendship of some who were not less distinguished for learning than for worth: Among whom, it may be sufficient to mention Dr. Lowth (now Bishop of London), Mr. Pitt, Mr. Spence, and Dr. Berriman. To the last of these he was curate and executor, and preached his funeral sermon. In 1740 and 1741 he preached eight Sermons at Lady Moyer's Lecture, which were published in 1742, 8vo. In 1756 (it is said) he declined an offer of going to Ireland as first chaplain to the Duke of Bedford; in return for which he was to have had the choice of promotion, either at Christ Church, Canterbury, Westminster, or Windsor. His modesty inducing him to leave the choice of these to his patron, the consequence was that he obtained no one of them all. In 1763 he published the "Life of Bp. Ridley," in quarto, by subscription, and cleared by it as much as bought him 8ool. in the public funds. In the latter part of his life he had the misfortune to lose both his sons, each of them a youth of abilities. The elder, James, was author of, 1. "The Tales of the Genii ;" 2. a humourous paper called "The Schemer,” first printed in the London Chronicle, and since collected into a volume; 3. "The History of James Lovegrove, Esq;" and some other literary performances. Thomas, the younger, was sent by the East-India Company as a writer to Madras, where he was no soon er settled than he died of the small pox. In 1765, Dr. Ridley published his "Review of Philips's Life of Cardinal Pole;" and in 1768, in reward for his labours in this controversy, and in another which The Confessional produced, he was presented by Archbishop Secker to a golden prebend in the cathedral church of Salisbury (an option), the only reward he received from the Great, during a long, useful, and laborious life, devoted to the duties of his function. At length, worn out with infirmities, he departed this life in 1774, leaving a widow and four daughters, of whom the only married one (Mrs. Evans) has published several novels. He was buried at Poplar; and the following Epitaph, written by his learned and worthy friend the present Bishop of London, is inscribed upon his monument." H. S. E. 1 Vir optimus, integerrimus; Ab Academia Oxoniensi Pro meritis, et praeter ordinem, Poeta natus, Oratoriae facultati impensius studuit. THE SQUIRE OF DAMES. Page 32. The Author of this Poem was a Jew, resided at Mitcham in Surry, and was honored by the University of Oxford with the degree of Master of Arts. Three Dramatic pieces and some other Poems were written by him. He died in February 1758, and was the richest Poet of his time. As explanatory of this poem, the following Advertisement and Glossary were annexed by the Author. ADVERTISEMENT. IN the seventh Canto of the Legend of Chastity, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, the Squire of Dames tells Satyrane, that by order of his mistress Columbel, (after having served the Ladies for a year) he was sent out a second time, not to return till he could find three hundred Women incapable of yielding to any temptation. The bad success he met with in the course of three years, which is slightly touched upon by "Spenser, is the foundation of the following poem. Flight, arrow. Levin-brond, thunder-bolt. Ledden, language. To royne, to bite, or gnaw Recure, to repair. Blatant-beast, detraction or Kestrel, an hawk. Brond-iron, a sword. envy. Buskets, bushes. panion. Crumenal, purse. Borrel fere, clownish com- Pannikel, crown of the head. |