of application', yet did not lose his propensity to cards and dice, but was very often plundered by gamesters. Being severely reproved for this folly he professed, and perhaps 6 believed, himself reclaimed, and, to testify the sincerity of his repentance, wrote and published An Essay upon Gaming2. He seems to have divided his studies between law and poetry, 7 for in 1636 he translated the second book of the Æneid3. Two years after his father died*; and then, notwithstanding 8 his resolutions and professions, he returned again to the vice of gaming, and lost several thousand pounds that had been left him 5. In 16316 he published The Sophy. This seems to have 9 given him his first hold of the publick attention, for Waller remarked that he broke out like the Irish rebellion threescore thousand strong, when nobody was aware, or in the least suspected it"'—an observation which could have had no propriety, had his poetical abilities been known before. He was after that pricked for sheriff of Surrey, and made 10 governor of Farnham Castle for the king; but he soon resigned 250. [Records of Lincoln's Inn. Admissions, i. 213. He was called to the Bar, Jan. 29, 1639. Black Books of Lincoln's Inn, ii. 350.] 'He was generally temperate as to drinking, but one time, when he was a student of Lincolne's inne, having been merry at ye taverne with his camerades late at night, a frolick came into his head to gett a playsterer's brush and a pott of inke, and blott out all the signes between Temple barre and Charing crosse, wch made a strange confusion the next day, and 'twas in terme time. But it happened that they were discovered, and it cost him and them some moneys. This I had from R. Estcott esq. that carried the inke pot.' AUBREY, MS. Lives, quoted in Athenae Oxon. iii. 824; Brief Lives, i. 220. It was not published till 1651, and then without the author's consent, under the title of The Anatomy of Play, Written by a Worthy and Learned Gent. Dedicated to his Father to shew his Detestation of it.' See also Brief Lives, i. 217. 3 The Destruction of Troy. An Essay upon the Second Book of Virgil's Eneis. Written in the year 1636. London, 1656. Post, DENHAM, 33; Eng. Poets, ix. 172. For Essay see post, ROSCOMMON, 25. According to Aubrey 'he also burlesqued Virgil, and burnt it, sayeing that 'twas not fitt that the best poet should be so abused.' Brief Lives, i. 218. On Jan. 6, 1638-9. N. & l. 4 S. i. 552. 5 '2000 or 1500 li. in ready money, 2 houses well furnished and much plate.' Aubrey's Brief Lives, i. 217. A slip for 1641. According to Masson's Milton, iii. 447, The Sophy was published in Aug. 1642. 6 7 Athenae Oxon. iii. 824. Dryden makes this said, not by Waller, but of Waller. Works, xviii. 5. It suits Denham, for at the same time he and the Irish rebellion 'broke out.' The Sophy was acted at the private house in Black Friars with great applause.' Biog. Brit. ed. 1750, p. 1646. 11 12 that charge', and retreated to Oxford, where, in 1643, he published Cooper's Hill2. This poem had such reputation as to excite the common artifice by which envy degrades excellence. A report was spread that the performance was not his own, but that he had bought it of a vicar for forty pounds3. The same attempt was made to rob Addison of his Cato, and Pope of his Essay on Criticism 5. In 1647 the distresses of the royal family required him to engage in more dangerous employments. He was entrusted by the queen with a message to the king; and, by whatever means, so far softened the ferocity of Hugh Peters that by his intercession admission was procured. Of the king's condescension he has given an account in the dedication of his works". ['He was but a young soldier, and did not keepe it.' Aubrey's Brief Lives, i. 218. Farnham Castle was captured by Sir William Waller Dec. 1, 1642, and Denham sent a prisoner to London. Rushworth's Collections, v. 82. It was at this time probably that he 'contracted a great familiarity' with Hugh Peters which was of service to him five years later. Memoirs of Sir John Berkeley, Harl. Misc. ix. 470. See post, DENHAM, 12. Denham was soon set at liberty and retired to Oxford. Dict. Nat. Biog.] 2 Eng. Poets, ix. 159. 'This hill is in the parish of Egham in Surrey above Runey Mead, and hath a very noble prospect.' Athenae Oxon. iii. 824. In 1642-3, after Edgehill fight, his poeme was printed at Oxford in a sort of browne paper, for then they could gett no better. Aubrey's Brief Lives, i. 218. The fight was on Oct. 23, 1642. 'Cooper's Hill was published in Aug. 1642, the very month in which the King raised his standard.' Masson's Milton, iii. 447. See also N.&Q.7 S. iii. 137. 3 Then in came Denham, that limp- Whose fame on the Sophy and He was afterwards employed in carrying on the king's 13 correspondence', and, as he says, discharged this office with great safety to the royalists; and being accidentally discovered by the adverse party's knowledge of Mr. Cowley's hand he escaped, happily both for himself and his friends. 2 He was yet engaged in a greater undertaking. In April, 14 1648, he conveyed James the duke of York from London into France, and delivered him there to the Queen and prince of Wales 3. This year he published his translation of Cato Major*. He now resided in France as one of the followers of the 15 exiled King; and, to divert the melancholy of their condition, was sometimes enjoined by his master to write occasional verses 5: one of which amusements was probably his ode or song upon the Embassy to Poland, by which he and lord Crofts procured a contribution of ten thousand pounds from the Scotch, that wandered over that kingdom'. Poland was at that time very of genial temper... who, without 2 Ante, COWLEY, 12. 3 Wood is Johnson's authority for this. Athenae Oxon. iii. 824. But Aubrey (Brief Lives, i. 218), who was Wood's authority, introduces the statement with quaere. According to Clarendon (Hist. Rebel. vi. 19) the Duke escaped with Colonel Bamfield only.' Carte (Hist. of Eng. iv. 579) makes Bamfield (sometimes called Bamford) the leader; among those who helped he does not mention Denham. Post, DENHAM, 33. 5 Eng. Poets, ix. 156. On my Lord Crofts and my Journey into Poland, from whence we brought 10,000l. for His Majesty by the Decimation of his Scottish subjects there. Ib. ix. 196. The contribution was forced. The poet tells how the Scots would 'Not assist our affairs 'For when It was moved there and then Milton, on Feb. 6, 1649-50, in the 7 'I can remember when every pedlar was called a Scotchman by servants,' &c. MRS. PIOZZI, Auto. 1861, ii. 134. [In the Parliament of 1606, one of the arguments used against union with Scotland was the danger that England would be overrun with 'the multiplicities of the Scots' as Poland had been. It is suggested that 'the special accident of time and place that draws the Scots to Poland,' mentioned by Bacon in these debates, was that large bodies had been levied 16 17 18 much frequented by itinerant traders, who, in a country of very little commerce and of great extent, where every man resided on his own estate, contributed very much to the accommodation of life, by bringing to every man's house those little necessaries which it was very inconvenient to want and very troublesome to fetch. I have formerly read without much reflection of the multitude of Scotchmen that travelled with their wares in Poland; and that their numbers were not small the success of this negotiation gives sufficient evidence. About this time what estate the war and the gamesters had left him was sold by order of the parliament; and when, in 1652, he returned to England he was entertained by the earl of Pembroke1. 3 Of the next years of his life there is no account. At the Restoration he obtained, that which many missed, the reward of his loyalty, being made surveyor of the king's buildings and dignified with the order of the Bath. He seems now to have learned some attention to money, for Wood says that he got by his place seven thousand pounds 5. After the Restoration he wrote the poem On [Of] Prudence and Justice, and perhaps some of his other pieces; and as he appears, whenever any serious question comes before him, to have in Scotland during the latter half of the sixteenth century for the service of Sweden and employed in Polish wars. N. & Q. I S. vii. 600.] I Philip Herbert, fourth Earl. For Clarendon's character of him see Hist. Rebel. iii. 553. 'At Wilton [the Earl's mansion],' writes Aubrey, I had the honour to contract an acquaintance with Sir John Denham.' Brief Lives, i. 218. un Mr. C. H. Firth has printed in N. & Q.7 S. x. 41 an order by the Council, dated June 9, 1655, for Denham's arrest; also some published verses, almost certainly the poet's, on the Cavaliers imprisoned that year. 'The patent dated June 13, 1660.' Cunningham, Lives of the Poets, i. 70. According to Wood, 'Charles I did grant to him the reversion of the place after the decease of Inigo Jones.' Ath. Oxon. iii. 825. Denham says that Charles II con ferred it upon him freely. Eng.Poets, ix. 156. Evelyn, consulting with Denham 'about the placing of the palace at Greenwich, came away, knowing Sir John to be a better poet than architect.' Diary, i. 377. On April 19, 1661, Evelyn recorded:-To London, and saw the bath-ing and rest of the ceremonies of the Knights of the Bath, preparatory to the Coronation. I might have received this honour, but declined it.' Ib. i. 366. 5 'He got seaven thousand pounds, as Sir Christopher Wren told me of, to his owne knowledge. Sir Christopher was his deputie.' Aubrey's Brief Lives, i. 219. Butler, in sixteen verses, accuses him of making money by 'little tricks.' Genuine Remains, i. 158; Eng. Poets, xiv. 201. 6 Ib. ix. 243. been a man of piety, he consecrated his poetical powers to religion, and made a metrical version of the psalms of David'. In this attempt he has failed; but in sacred poetry who has succeeded 2? It might be hoped that the favour of his master and esteem of 19 the publick would now make him happy. But human felicity is short and uncertain: a second marriage brought upon him so much disquiet as for a time disordered his understanding; and Butler lampooned him for his lunacy. I know not whether the malignant lines were then made publick, nor what provocation incited Butler to do that which no provocation can excuse. His frenzy lasted not long3; and he seems to have regained 20 his full force of mind, for he wrote afterwards his excellent poem upon the death of Cowley, whom he was not long to survive; for on the 19th of March, 1668, he was buried by his side 5. DENHAM is deservedly considered as one of the fathers of 21 English poetry. 'Denham and Waller,' says Prior, 'improved our versification, and Dryden perfected it".' He has given specimens of various composition, descriptive, ludicrous, didactick, and sublime. He appears to have had, in common with almost all man- 22 kind, the ambition of being upon proper occcasions a merry fellow', and in common with most of them to have been by there was a Spenser, a Harrington, a Fairfax, before Waller and Denham were in being; and our numbers were in their nonage till these last appeared.' DRYDEN, Works, xi. 226. Cowper, writing of 'the breaks and pauses' in Milton's blank verse, continues:-'But these are graces to which rhyme is not competent; so broken, it loses all its music; of which any person may convince himself by reading a page only of any of our poets anterior to Denham, Waller and Dryden.' Southey's Cowper, xi. Preface, p. 13. See also ib. ii. 130; ante, COWLEY, 63; post, WALLER, 5, 142; DRYDEN, 343. Johnson perhaps prints 'merry fellow' in italics to show that he is thinking of the Clown in Twelfth Night, iii. 1. 30, of whom Viola says: |