ΤΟ

THE MEMORY

OF

THOMAS SECCOMBE

Manufactured in Great Britain

In the preface to a preceding volume entitled English Lyric in the Age of Reason I expressed the intention of producing a second volume which, in treating of the minor lyrists of the eighteenth century, should continue the earlier work. Unforeseen circumstances have since rendered the immediate fulfilment of that aim, in the form then contemplated, impossible. The following pages, however, contain a small portion of the material collected for the intended volume.

In order to make this present work independent of its predecessor, I have been obliged in one or two instances to touch upon points discussed in detail in the earlier one. With these very few and necessary exceptions, I have excluded the poets and poems mentioned in the preceding volume. In the opening chapter on Reason I have attempted to trace amongst the minor poets of the time that general attitude to life so characteristic of the age, which I previously tried to follow in the lives and works of the leading poets. The examples here given of the worship of Reason might easily be multiplied a hundred-fold; but to continue the multiplication of examples could give little pleasure to the general reader, for whom these pages are written.

As my aim in preparing this little volume is merely to suggest certain characteristics of the eighteenth century by presenting some of its minor verses for the reader's consideration, I have generally quoted in full. The work is, indeed, intended as a kind of reasoned anthology, so arranged as to emphasise some of those elements which together form the peculiar quality of eighteenth-century verse.

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What those elements are will become clear, I trust, as the reader advances; but a word may be said here about the quality as a whole. The strong realism of the age has left its mark upon these minor poets, as upon the more famous writers of the time. Everywhere is a quiet enjoyment of the good things of life of friends and books, of the delights of town and country. Whether it be in the favourite rhythms of the heroic couplet or in more lyrical measures, we find the expression of a wise, slightly cynical and disillusioned mind; a mind neither forgetful of the past nor openly fearful of the future; a mind quietly conscious of the limitations of humanity, but not scornful of them. Such is the temper of these minor poets. Their more highly strung contemporaries who surpassed them, Pope and Swift, Collins and Gray, Cowper and Chatterton, with nerves less steady than theirs, might fail to attain the equanimity of these lesser versifiers; but the minors were undisturbed. They remained glad in the gift of life, content in the small pleasures of the daily round, never yielding to the futile rebellion of the

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romantic temper that chafed at the limitations of human existence. Cultivating elegance and urbanity, they calmly accept life on the terms on which it is granted to them, and refusing to dream of an impossible paradise they display only the strong resignation of the classical temper. Whatever Fate or Fortune brings them, they will

"Govern their passions with an absolute sway."

Nor perhaps are these common-sense poets so destitute of passion as they would have us believe. As the music of the eighteenth century becomes more familiar to his ears, the reader learns to detect the accents of real feeling in lines that once seemed lifeless and cold. To some, indeed, the restrained emotion so characteristic of the eighteenth century may bear a more intimate appeal than does much more obviously impassioned verse. Some, too, may prefer this poetry of average human nature, which is of the earth, to the mystical and metaphysical ecstasies of late seventeenth-century and early nineteenth-century poets, or to the passionate life of the Elizabethans.

But whatever may be our poetic idols, few will deny the pleasure which the occasional companionship of these solid, common-sense, sometimes whimsical poets of the eighteenth century brings. Their feet were firmly planted on the good earth of their native land; their heads were never more than six feet above it. They are pleasant, reliable persons, who will oblige with a few well-timed stanzas when requested. Seeing them thus, we must like them. Wings they do not desire, for they have the good sense to know that wings would only make them ridiculous and uncomfortable. To them it fell to sing of the practical and commonplace in life; it is to their credit that at times they did so with felicity and charm. And their poetry is a reflection of their lives:

"With will by no reverse unmanned,
With pulse of even tone,

They from to-day and from to-night
Expected nothing more

Than yesterday and yesternight

Had proffered them before."

In that attitude, surely, lay the deepest wisdom of the eighteenth century.

It is with pleasure that I take this opportunity of thanking my friends, Mr P. Leon and Mr J. W. Jeaffreson, for kindly assisting me in the revision of the proof sheets, and for most helpful advice on various small problems which arose.

O. D.