6 of writing with great success; and about this time shewed his knowledge of human nature by an Essay on the Pleasure of being deceived. In 1702 he published, on the death of king William, a Pindarick ode called The House of Nassau, and wrote another paraphrase on the Otium Divos of Horace 3. In 1703 his Ode on Musick was performed at Stationers' Hall; and he wrote afterwards six cantatas, which were set to musick by the greatest masters of that time, and seem intended to oppose or exclude the Italian opera, an exotick and irrational entertainment, which has been always combated and always has prevailed'. 7 His reputation was now so far advanced that the publick began to pay reverence to his name, and he was solicited to prefix a preface to the translation of Boccalini, a writer whose satirical vein cost him his life in Italy; but who never, I believe, found many readers in this country, even though introduced by such powerful recommendation. 8 He translated Fontenelle's Dialogues of the Dead, and his version was perhaps read at that time, but is now neglected; for by a book not necessary, and owing its reputation wholly to its turn of diction, little notice can be gained but from those who can enjoy the graces of the original. To the dialogues of Fontenelle he added two composed by himself; and, though not only an honest but a pious man, dedicated his work to the earl of 1 Poems on Several Occasions with Some Select Essays in Prose, 1735, i. 256. [At the end of the Essay the date, 1701, is given. Ib. p. 264.] For Pindarick Odes see ante, COWLEY, 124. 3 HORACE, Odes, ii. 16; Eng. Poets, xxxi. 103. 2 Ib. p. 37. 4 lb. p. 142. 'It was the custom of this time for almost every rhymer to try his hand in an Ode on St. Cecilia; we find many despicable rhapsodies, so called, in Tonson's Miscellanies? J. WARTON, Essay on Pope, i. 51. See ante, DRYDEN, 150; post, CONGREVE, 39; POPE, 320. 5 'Master' in the Lives is a mistake for 'masters.' 'His pieces,' writes Duncombe (Hughes Corres. Preface, p. 7), 'were set by Dr. Pepusch, Mr. Galliard, Mr. Handel and other great masters. The six cantatas were all set by Pepusch.' Eng. Poets, xxxi. III. Henry Purcell was dead before this. ''Mr. Hughes had no such intention.' HAWKINS,'Johnson's Works, 1787, iii. 114. 'Ante, ADDISON, 27; post, GAY, 18, 20. See also Appendix Z. 8 According to Hughes, being threatened by the Spaniards, 'who were chiefly lashed in his satire,' he fled from Rome to Venice. There 'early one morning four bravos rushed into his chamber, and beat him to death with sand bags.' Biog. Brit. p. 2701. For his fable of the traveller who, annoyed by the chirpings of the grasshoppers, stopped to kill them, and so missed his way, see Euvres de Voltaire, ii. 329. Wharton'. He judged skilfully enough of his own interest, for Wharton, when he went lord lieutenant to Ireland, offered to take Hughes with him, and establish him; but Hughes, having hopes or promises from another man in power of some provision more suitable to his inclination, declined Wharton's offer and obtained nothing from the other". He translated the Miser of Molière3, which he never offered 9 to the Stage; and occasionally amused himself with making versions of favourite scenes in other plays. Being now received as a wit among the wits he paid his 10 contributions to literary undertakings, and assisted both The Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian*. In 1712 he translated Vertot's History of the Revolution of Portugal'; produced an Ode to the Creator of the World, from [occasioned by the Fragments of Orpheus; and brought upon the Stage an opera called Calypso and Telemachus, intended to shew that the English language might be very happily adapted to musick. was impudently opposed by those who were employed in the Italian opera; and, what cannot be told without indignation, the intruders had such interest with the duke of Shrewsbury, then lord Chamberlain, who had married an Italian, as to obtain an obstruction of the profits, though not an inhibition of the performance 8. This There was at this time a project formed by Tonson for a trans- 11 lation of the Pharsalia by several hands, and Hughes englished 'Ante, ADDISON, 30. 2 Biog. Brit. p. 2702; Hughes Corres. Preface, p. 10. 3 Le Misanthrope. Of L'Avare he translated but the first act. For The Lay Monastery, which, when 'Steele abruptly dropped The Guardian,' Hughes and Blackmore started, see post, BLACKMORE, 26, and Addison's Works, v. 411, 414. 5 Addison, this same year, quoted Vertot in The Spectator, No. 349. Gibbon describes him as an author whose works are read with the same pleasure as romances, to which in other respects they bear too much resemblance.' Misc. Works, v. 389. Eng. Poets, xxxi. 187. The Ode and its ingenious author' are mentioned in The Spectator, No. 554. See also Spectator, No. 537, and Hughes's Poems, 1735, Pref. p. 19. 7 Swift wrote to Stella on Aug. 2, 1711: The Duchess of Shrewsbury asked the Secretary, was not that Dr. Dr.? and she could not say my name in English, but said Dr. Presto, which is Italian for Swift.' Swift's Works, ii. 312. 'She was descended by the mother's side from Robert, Earl of Leicester, the favourite of Queen Elizabeth.' Ib. n. 8The Italians obtained from the Duke an order either to act at common prices, or not to act at all.' Biog. Brit. p. 2704. Addison, in The Spectator, No. 405, says 'the town is highly obliged to Signor Nicolini, the greatest performer in dramatic music that is now living, for that generous approbation he lately gave to an opera of our own country [Calypso and Telemachus].' 12 13 the tenth book'. But this design, as must often happen where the concurrence of many is necessary, fell to the ground; and the whole work was afterwards performed by Rowe 2. His acquaintance with the great writers of his time appears to have been very general; but of his intimacy with Addison there is a remarkable proof. It is told, on good authority, that Cato was finished and played by his persuasion 3. It had long wanted the last act, which he was desired by Addison to supply. If the request was sincere it proceeded from an opinion, whatever it was, that did not last long; for when Hughes came in a week to shew him his first attempt he found half an act written by Addison himself". He afterwards published the works of Spenser, with his Life, a Glossary, and a Discourse on Allegorical Poetry, a work for which he was well qualified as a judge of the beauties of writing, but perhaps wanted an antiquary's knowledge of the obsolete words ". He did not much revive the curiosity of the publick; for near thirty years elapsed before his edition was reprinted'. The same year produced his Apollo and Daphne3, of which the success was very earnestly promoted by Steele, who, when the 2 Eng. Poets, xxxi. 285. Ante, ROWE, 22, 35. See Cunningham's Lives of the Poets, ii. 185 n. 3 The authority is John Duncombe. Hughes Corres. Preface, p. 12. Ante, ADDISON, 56 n. 4 Ante, ADDISON, 56. Dr. Warton says that 'Hughes was very capable of writing this fifth act. The Siege of Damascus [post, HUGHES, 15] is a better tragedy than Cato. Pope's Works, 1822, i. 394. 5 'Spenser and Hughes seem to be allied by genius. Both great poets,' &c. Biog. Brit. p. 2706. Pope wrote to Hughes on Oct. 7, 1715:-'Spenser has been ever a favourite poet to me; he is like a mistress whose faults we see, but love her with them all.' Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), x. 120. "Johnson wrote to T. Warton, about his Observations on Spenser's Fairy Queen :-'You have shown to all who shall hereafter attempt the study of our ancient authors the way to success; by directing them to the perusal of the books which those authors had read. Of this method For an interesting criticism of The first edition appeared in 1715, the second in 1750. 'It was followed by an edition of The Fairy Queen in 1751; and in 1758 three separate editions appeared. Ib. p. 86. 8 Eng. Poets, xxxi. 215. 'It was performed at Drury Lane with success.' Biog. Dram. ii. 32. 9 Steele wrote to him on Jan. 8, 1715-16: A paper called The Town-talk is particularly designed to be helpful to the stage. If you have not sent the masque which is to come out on Thursday to press, if you please to send me the copy, it shall be recommended to the town, and published on Thursday night with that paper.' Hughes Corres. i. 135. There was no notice of the masque rage of party did not misguide him, seems to have been a man of boundless benevolence'. Hughes had hitherto suffered the mortifications of a narrow 14 fortune; but in 1717 the lord chancellor Cowper set him at ease, by making him secretary to the Commissions of the Peace; in which he afterwards, by a particular request, desired his successor lord Parker to continue him2. He had now affluence; but such is human life, that he had it when his declining health could neither allow him long possession nor quick enjoyment. His last work was his tragedy The Siege of Damascus ; after 15 which A Siege became a popular title3. This play, which still continues on the Stage, and of which it is unnecessary to add a private voice to such continuance of approbation, is not acted or printed according to the author's original draught, or his settled intention. He had made Phocyas apostatize from his religion; after which the abhorrence of Eudocia would have been reasonable, his misery would have been just, and the horrors of his repentance exemplary. The players, however, required that the guilt of Phocyas should terminate in desertion to the enemy; and Hughes, unwilling that his relations should lose the benefit of his work, complied with the alteration 5. in Town-talk, which lasted only nine numbers. It was reprinted in 1790. Post, SAVAGE, 29. 2 Parker (afterwards created Earl of Macclesfield) succeeded Cowper on May 12, 1718. Burke's Peerage. 'Lord Cowper made Hughes Secretary a month after he read the manuscript of The Siege of Damascus, and when Lord Parker succeeded him, though Lord C. was too angry with him to desire him to continue any one else, he did desire him to continue Mr. Hughes. Lord Parker did so. He was never in any circumstances till his secretaryship, which was but a few years before his death.' Spence's Anec. p. 302. For Cowper's letter of recommendation to Parker see Hughes Corres. i. 190. Hughes ends an Ode to Lord Chancellor Cowper by wishing that on his own tombstone should be engraved : 'Here lies his clay to earth consigned 5 'The managers of Drury Lane house pretended that Phocyas could not be a hero if he changed his religion, and that the audience would not bear the sight of him after it.' Hughes Corres. iii. App. p. 70. See ib. p. 71 for the original draught' of this scene. Gibbon, in a note in The Decline and Fall, v. 426, says :-' On the fate of these lovers, whom he names Phocyas and Eudocia, Mr. Hughes has built the siege of Damascus, one 16 He was now weak with a lingering consumption, and not able to attend the rehearsal; yet was so vigorous in his faculties that only ten days before his death he wrote the dedication to his patron, lord Cowper1. On February 17, 1719-20, the play was represented, and the author died. He lived to hear that it was well received; but paid no regard to the intelligence, being then wholly employed in the meditations of a departing Christian. 17 A man of his character was undoubtedly regretted2; and Steele devoted an essay, in the paper called The Theatre, to the memory of his virtues3. His life is written in the Biographia with some degree of favourable partiality, and an account of him is prefixed to his works by his relation the late Mr. Duncombe 5, a man whose blameless elegance deserved the same respect. 18 The character of his genius I shall transcribe from the correspondence of Swift and Pope. 19 'A month ago,' says Swift', 'was sent me over by a friend of mine the works of John Hughes, Esquire. They are in prose and verse. I never heard of the man in my life, yet I find your name as a subscriber [too]. He is too grave' a poet for me; and I think among the mediocrists, in prose as well as verse.' of our most popular tragedies, and which possesses the rare merit of blending nature and history, the manners of the times and the feelings of the heart. The foolish delicacy of the players compelled him to soften the guilt of the hero and the despair of the heroine. Instead of a base renegado, Phocyas serves the Arabs as an honourable ally; instead of prompting their pursuit, he flies to the succour of his countrymen, and, after killing Caled and Derar, is himself mortally wounded, and expires in the presence of Eudocia, who professes her resolution to take the veil at Constantinople. A frigid catastrophe!' formance, 'recalled,' he writes, 'into my thought a speech in the tragedy which was attended to with an awful silence. . . . The words with which the Turkish general makes his exit from the prisoners are: "Farewell, and think of death.”’ Steele quotes the prisoner's speech that follows. The Theatre, No. xv, quoted in Hughes Corres. Preface, p. 21. * Ante, MILTON, 143 n. 4. 5 He married Hughes's sister; was the author of two tragedies and other ingenious productions, and died Feb. 26, 1769, aged 79.' MALONE, Boswell's Johnson, iii. 314. For Johnson's praise of him as 'a pleasing man' see ib. [see Nichols's Lit. Anec. viii. 266 for a memoir of him]. ❝ An edition of Hughes's Poems, in 2 vols. 12mo, was published in 1735. Swift wrote on September 3 of that year and Pope replied in November. Swift's Works, xviii. 330, 331; Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), vii. 333, 335. In the first edition 'great.' Swift wrote mediocribus, with |