3539 > Keate Probationary Ode for the Laureatship THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD ENDOWMENT FUND PROBATIONARY ODE. [PRICE TWO SHILLINGS.] entetetj at ©tationet*4&al!> A PROBATIONARY ODE FOR THE LAUREATSHIP, B Y GEORGE K E A 7 ' E y Efqr WRITTEN IN 1785. WITH NOTES CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY* B V THE EDITOR. NEQUE CUIQUAM TAM STATIM CLARUM INGENIUM EST, UT POSSIT EMERGERE, NISI ILLI MATERIA, OCCASIO, FAUTOR ETIAM, COM- MENDATORQUE CONTINGAT. Pliny's Epjlks. iUI— '-"ItfiV MP LONDON: PRINTED FOR G. KEARSLEY, NO. 46, IN FLEET STREET„- M.DCC.LXXXVII. r< 5" k e tt h e s fi °om 7\fa. tii. r c 5? Keatc ADVERTISEMENT. 1 HE Origin of the " Probationary Odes'* is well known. The following, written by the ingenious Mr. Keate, has, like the reft of that great Man\ Works, been wholly neglected by the Public, who, with a ihame- ful Depravity of Tafte, openly give the Preference to fuch Writers as Warton, Mason, Hayley, & 9 r. I HAVE 959433 [ vii ] I have long waited in Expectation of the Author's publiihing this Ode under his own Infpe£Hon ; but having hitherto been difappointed, I here offer it to the World, as a Treafure too valuable to be locked up in the Cabinet of an Individual. 1 muft acknowledge, that I have not confulted Mr. Keate in the Publication, fearing that his extreme Modejly would object to it : but when he confiders the valuable Commentary fubjoined, and the voluntary Tafk impofed upon myfelf, of endeavouring to place his CharacJer, and Abilities, in the moft exalt- ed Point of View, I trufl he will not only beftow his Pardon, but alfo his Praife. As C vii ] As Mr. Keate well knows to whom he is indebted for this Mark of Efteem, I have thought it unneceflary to prefix my Name. PROBATIONARY ODE. i. OON of my Mother, here I am I Born of a fpanking Polifh Dam, Begot by God knows who r Anxious to reach immortal Fame, I afk the Laureat's envied Name, And claim the Honours due. IL Is I io ] II. Is there a Bard who dares afpirc To equal my poetic Fire, My fweet harmonious ftrains? Hayley be damn'd ! — damn Warton too !— Damn all the living rhyming Crew! They have not half my Brains ! III. What ! — ihall thefe bafe-born Brats compare With great Cowalsky's greater Heir, Of Birth almoft divine ? Ravens and Screech-Owls might as well Vie with melodious Philomel, As their dull Notes with mine, IV. By [ " 3 IV. By FAME, that " glorious mad Dog" bit, (To borrow Brother Peter s Wit), I've ftrove in various ways ; In Profe and Verfe, and Verfe and Profe, And fometimes neither, Phoebus knows, To win the Meed of Praife. V. With Ferney's Lord my Verfe hath rung — Have I not Netley's Abbey fung In lofty Verfe fublime ? Did I not Kauffman's Fame extend, When I my foft Epiftle penn'd In many a tuneful Rhime ? VI. Dont [ u ] VI. Don't I in annual Prologue fhine ? Is not the flippant Ep'logue mine, Which Garrick's own furpafles ? Without me vain were Newcombe's Plays ; 'Tis I alone confer the Bays On thefe theatric Asses, VII. What tho' the Critics pedant corps With Satire's Whip-Cord la£h me fore,. And ftrive to blaft my Name ? The half-ftarv'd Witlings I defpife : — By Heav'n ! my Works mall reach the Skies- Til have eternal Fame ! — VIII. For [ >3 3 VIII. For this, Arcadia's Scenes I plann'd — For this, with facrilegious Hand v I pillag'd Yorick's Urn ; And, viewing " Nature's Sketches," cry'd, With more than fam'd Correggio's Pride, " / alfo am a Sterne." IX. Th' Etruscan Dome's fuperb Design, O'er Cloacina's facred Shrine, For this majeftic rofe : — For this, at Pride or Folly's call, Each Year in Academic Hall My Drawings I expofe. D X, For [ 14 ] X. For this my Angel Form and Face, Enwrapp'd in Robes of furry Grace ^ Before my Poems ftare : Though once a wicked Wit declar'd, The Frontifpiece to him appear'd An old Jiarvd Ruffian Bear. XL Then bring the Laurel — bind my Brows- My Soul with confcious Genius glows, Difdaining abjecl: Pray'r : Give me the Sal'ry, Sack, and Praife, O give to KEATE's triumphant lays The LAUREAT's vacant Chair !— NOTES, C is ] NOTES. STANZA I. LINE J. " Son of my Mother." J. HE Pindaric Grandeur and Abruptnefs with which this Ode opens, muft forcibly flrike every Reader of true Tafle. Son Stile impetueux fouvent marche au Hazard: Chez elle tin beau Dcfordre ejl un Effet de I'Art. Boileau. Nothing more ftxongly evinces the fervor of a Poet's Genius, than a bold and beautiful Introduction — And what can be more truly Sublime [ 16 ] Sublime, than this " Son of my Mother ? "—What a new and vail Idea do thefe Words convey to the Mind ! — What Force and Simplicity of Expreflion ! — Pindar is a very School-Boy — and Gray a mere Bellman's Verfifier, compared with our Author. — Unlike the Heroes of Antiquity, he pretends not to derive Honor, but to refleSl it: he does not call his great Progenitrix, the fair, the perfect, or the good, (though all who knew her, knew how well flie deferved thefe Titles) but limply " my Mother," con- fcious that this alone is fufficient to immortalize her Name. It has been hinted to us, that our Author borrowed this Expreflion from the Phrafe, " Son of a B — h," fo common in the Mouths of the Canaille: but this I {hall leave to the Candour of the Reader.. STANZA I. LINE II. " Born of a fpanking Polifh Dam." The proper Selection and Application of Epithets has always,. from Dionyjius HaUcarnaJfenfs down to the Monthly Reviewers, been [ *7 ] been confidered as one of the diftinguiihing tefts of true Judge- ment. — Our Author's Skill is here confpicuous — for though the Epithet " fpanking " may to common Readers appear low and vulgar, yet every learned Critic will allow that it is extremely ap- pofite, piclurefque, and characleriilic — and, I doubt not but fu- ture Blairs and JVartons will cite it as an Inftance of finking Ap- propriation fuperior even to Pope's " browner horror." See Z)/v Wartoris EJfay, Page 331. STANZA I. LINE III. " Begot by God knows who," Here was an Opportunity which a vain Writer would not ha\ e overlooked, of deriving his Exiftence from fome Demi-God, on ancient Hero j — but our Author modejily and wifely leaves this Point in Obfcurity. — The Eafe and Elegance of the Expreffion cannot efcape the Notice of every Reader of true Tafte. > E * STANZA [ i3 ] STANZA II. LINE IV. * l Hayley be damn'cU— '* The leading Idea here feems borrowed from Lord T- celebrated Ode, the MS. of which, it has been uncandidly faid, our Author, in one of his Vifits to Weftminfter Hall, pick'd out .of the noble Lord's Pocket. — But even if this infinuation were true, it could, according to the Statute of Plagiary, amount only to Petty Larceny, which could not poffibly depreciate our Author's long-efbblifhed Character. It is with peculiar Propriety he de- nounces Damnation on Warton and Hayley — the firft his moft for- midable Rival, and the laft a known Defpifer of Mr. Keate's li- terary Productions* STANZA i 19 3 STANZA II. LINE V. " Damn all the living rhyming Crew." Our Author, remembering the Maxim " de Mortuis nil nj/i *' bonum" confines his anger to the living Writers; and, it muft be owned, with very great Juftice — for they fhare fo much of the Praife and Profit of the Public, that it is with Difficulty bis Pub- lications force themfelves into Notice, notwithstanding their fupe- xior Excellence. — It may, however, be obferved, that an ingeni- ous Writer*, in that elegant and clojjicul Mifcellany called " The " Lady's Magazine," has lately beffowed the higheft Encomiums on the poetical and defcriptive Talents of our Author. — The Praife of one competent Judge, like this, is fuperior to an Hod: of fuch {hallow Critics as the Wartons, Hurds, and Blairs. * See the Rover, in the Lady's Magazine for November, 1786. STANZA [ 20 ] STANZA If. LINE VL " They have not half my Brains." Some affected Readers will fuppofe this a Violation of that Modefby and Diffidence which every Writer ought to feel when fpeaking of his own Works. — But be it known to thofe unletter- ed Wights, who cavil at what they do not understand, that our Poet is deeply read in all the ancient Philofophers, particularly in the great Plato, who ennumerates many Situations in which a Man may praife himfelf — One of them is, " When his Merit will " not be known without." Mr. Keatc is therefore juftified in telling the World that of which they might otherwife be un- informed. STANZA i »! 3 STANZA IIL LINE IL cc With great Cowalfky's greater Heir." Notwithftanding the modefl Obfcurity with which our Author in his firft Stanza enveloped his Begetter, he could no longer con- ceal his illuftrious Defcent from the far-fanid Houfe of great Cowalskv. It lias indeed been whifpered, that he is the illegi- timate offspring of Cowalfky ; but furely he would not call others •* bafe-born Brats," were he confcious of being fo himfelf. — - This is a fufficient Refutation of thofe Calumnies, notwithftand- ing they originated, in Dcflors Commons, STANZA [ ^ J STANZA III. LINE V. u Vie with melodious Philomel." That the greateft Men are unacquainted with themfelves, , is a Truth as old as the Delphic Oracle. It is not extraordinary, then, that our Bard fhould difcover fo little Self-Knowledge, as by Implication to compare himfelf to the Nightingale — a Bird whofe Notes are as original as they are delightful. — I am lorry a Man I fo profoundly admire, mould have given fuch an opening for Ridicule — as it will certainly remind fuch of his Enemies as are acquainted with the daffies, of Virgil's " inter Jirepit Anfer ** O/ores.." STANZA C 23 ] STANZA IV. LINE II. " To borrow Brother Peter's Wit." The Compliment here palled by our Author on himfelf is deli- cate and allowable : but on reading it to a Wit of my Acquaint- ance, he malicioufly obferved, that " Mr. Keate was at moil but " a Bajiard Brother of Peter Pindar s." STANZA IV. LINE V. " And fometimes neither." Every Perfon who is acquainted with Mr. Keate's Productions muil acknowledge, that many of them are non defcript — and not to be claiTed with any Species of Poetry, or Profe, known in the learned World. " Phcubus [ H J << Phoebus knows."" Some ill-natured Critics have aflerted, that the God of Verfe knows nothing about our Author — but fuch Remarks are beneath the Dignity of a Commentator to Anfwer. STANZA V. LINE I. II, IV. " Ferney— Netley Abbey — Kauffman." Candor obliges me to acknowledge, that thefe Pieces juft peep'd into the World, and then were feen no more — Like Virgil's *' Glaucumque, Medonfaque, Thcrfihchuinqiie ■/' They were introduced, as Addifon humouroufly obferves, only to- be knocked on the Head. - STANZA [ *s J STANZA V. LINE III. " In lofty Verfe fublime." Unlearned Readers may perhaps here accufe our Poet of Tau- tology — but thofe who have ftudied the Ninth Chapter of Longinus on Amplification, will be charmed with the Pleonafm, and highly admire his" lofty Verfe fublime." STANZA VI. LINE I. * l Don't I in annual Prologue fhine ? " Net to dwell on the Beauty of this Figure of Rhetoric, c. " .nogatioit — it may be obferved, that the Circumftancc writing Prologues and Epilogues in fuch abundance for Mi*. Ne'w- G [ 26 J combe's School at Hackney, is introduced with peculiar Propriety into a Probationary Ode for the Laureatfhip : — for furely the Man whofe prolific Genius has every Chriftmas for fo many Years pafl produced a Head and Tail Piece to be fpoken at the fame Place, and on the fame Occafion, muft be capable of furnifhing annually- a Birth-Day and New-Year's Ode. — This muft have given him an Advantage which none of his Competitors could boaft — not even the fuccefsful Warton. — Indeed Warton is no more to be compared to our illuftrious Bard, than our gracious Sovereign (God blefs him !) to the late King of Pruflia. — The candid Cri- ; tic will doubtlefs notice, en pajfant, with what Modefty and De- licacy our Author alludes to the fimilar Production of his late: Friend Mr. Garrick. STANZA VIL LINE II. With Satire's Whip-Cord lafh me fore." << To ennoble a low or mean Expreffion, is one of the higheft ■ell-chofen Metaphor- Attainments of the Poetic Art. What an elegant well-chofen [ *7 ] Metaphor is " Whip-Cord!" — How familiar, and yet how ex- preflive ! — Neither Addifon, nor Swift, ever produced any Thing to be compared with this. ** Cedite Romani Scrip tores, Cedite Graii ! " STANZA VII. LINE III. tl And drive to blafl my Name." It muft be acknowledged the Reviewers have, with their ufual Ignorance and Ill-Nature, endeavoured to depreciate the Abilities of our Author : but in Defpite of thefe Cavillers, the World have formed their own Judgement of his Works, and have given them their proper Rank in the literary Scale — Genius will always be envied — The greater! Poets have had their Detractors, and Mr. Keate may be confoled by the Remembrance — ** Ingmiutn magni detreclat Livor Homeri, " Quifquis es ex illo," etc. STANZA [ 28 ] STANZA VII. LINE IF. " The half-ftarv'd Witlings I defpife." With what Force of Language and Liberality of Sentiment does our Poet ridicule the Poverty of the Reviewers, as well as the Futility of their Criticifms ! He knows that their Heads, and their Stomachs, are equally empty, and that to be poor in Pocket is to be poor in Wit : there is therefore peculiar Beauty and Propriety in the Exprefhon " half-Jiarvd Witlings:' STANZA VII. LINE V. " By Heav'n!" — It is v 11 known that one cf the greatest Rl r q • - ' loticed the conf late Skill - ! ' . ' [ *9 ] Art and Addrefs. Thofe who would know how far Mr. Keate has adhered to this Rule, are referred to ^uintiluui, Chap. II. Book IX.. STANZA VII. LINE VI. . " I'll have eternal Fame ! " The claffical Reader will here be reminded of Cicero, who laid, " Sefatis vel ad Naturam, vel ad gloriam vixij'e." — But our Poet is as fuperior to the Roman Orator in Sentiment, as in Ability — this muft be confidered as- a Proof of his high and daring Spirit. STANZA VIIL LINE L ** For this, Arcadia's Scenes I plann'cf.i' " The Monument in Arcadia" is a dramatic Morceau, pecu- liarly diftinguifhed by the Simplicity of its Fable and Characters — H and [ 30 ] and abounds, like the Comedies of Mr. Cumberland, and all our hejl Writers, with Scraps of Morality and Religion in every Page. When this petit Piece was offered to Mr. Garrick for Reprefen- tation, he, with his ufual bad Tafte, indignantly replied, '* I " fhould as foon think of acting one of Tillotfons Sermons." STANZA VIII. LINE II L 11 I pillag'd Yorrick's Urn." Our Author with a noble Scorn of vulgar Prejudices openly avows the Plagiaries which have been detected in his " Sketches '* from Nature." — I know that Longinus juffifies and recom- mends Imitation — -but I wonder a Genius fo original and fo unique as Mr. Keate mould condefcend to copy fo poor a Writer as Siernc ! STANZA u [ 3* ] STANZA VIII. LINE VI. I alfo am a Sterne." With what Delicacy and Ingenuity has our Poet parodied the ancient Painter's Exclamation, «« E Jon Pittore anch' Io !" — Whether Keate is more nearly allied to Sterne, than Correggio is to Raphael, let the intelligent Reader determine. STANZA IX. LINE I. " Th' Etruscan Dome." Mr. Keate, whofe refined Tafte in the Arts is equalled only by his enthufiaftic Patronage, erected an Etrufcan Dome in the folijlied Environs of St. Giles's : and this elegant and admired Structure is (0 delightfully fituated, that it happily terminates in a direct [ 32 3 a direct line with his Neighbours Commoditees, and riles perpendi- cularly over his own. — Thus it is to have Spirit united with Tafie. The fatal Cataftrophe of the " Dry-rot,'' which has befallen this proud Erection, has been, the fubjecT: of much Litigation in Wejlminjler Hall, where he has been three times fucceflively defeat- ed j but whether thefe Defeats are to be imputed to the Weaknefs of his Caufe, or to the Arts of his Opponent, it would be unbe- coming in me to determine. Mr. Adam, however, has the fatis- faction of reflecting, that our Author has immortalized him in. his ?iever-fading Poetry — and that he will be handed down to the lateft Posterity as the acknowledged Friend of that inimitable Writer. STANZA IX,. LINE VL. c< My Drawings I expofe." The Word expofe is a beautiful Inftance of the ParanomafiV cf the Ancients — and not inferior to many celebrated Examples o£ E S3 1 of Cicero's.— Some affected ConnohTeurs fay, that Af/\ i&vtft 1 expofes himfelf, not his Drawings, in the Royal Academy every Year : but I £hall not pretend to confute thofe Illiberalities. STANZA. X. LINE IT. Ci Enwrapp'd in Robes of furry Grace" Our Author has long been unjuftly ridiculed for the Angularity of his Drefs in the Portrait prefixed to his Poems — but knowing himfelf reduced to a State of abfolute Baldnefs, and remembering that " Robes and furr'd Gowns hide all," wifelv endeavoured to fupply his natural Defects by the hairy Covering of a Bear. — Our Poet's fudden Deprivation of Beard, Eye-Brows, &c. is a Phe- nomenon in the human Constitution not eafily reducible to any known Principles of Philofophy. — He himfelf, indeed, attributes the Lofs of thefe Ornaments to his having been fliaved with a Razor that had been recently ufed on one of the unfortunate Per- yeaut after he had Suffered the Sentence of the Law, winch occa- I fioned. 1 M ] lioned a Kind of Dry-rot, fimilar to that mentioned in the pre- ceding Note. — However unphilofophical fuch an opinion may be, it is probable, this Circumflance gave Birth to that admirable Poem, in which our Author fo feelingly defcribes " the Humours " of an Execution." — See his fublime Ode '* on clearing his " Houfe of Workmen." STANZA X. LINE IV.