Chapter I: DID not think to have taken up my pen any more, to have written on (2)

* * * * *

After this, we took in several garrisons in Cheshire: Lathom [House] only in Lancashire held out; which was besieged by the forces of that Country [_County_], but afterwards [the siege was] raised by Prince RUPERT.

* * * * *

Having spent three or four months in this Expedition; my father commanded me back into Yorkshire, that by the conjunction of forces he might be the more able to take the Field.

We met about Ferrybridge [in April 1644]: he being come out of Hull thither, with intention to fall upon the Enemy's garrison at Selby.

And here I received another Command from the Parliament, to march immediately with my Horse and Dragoons, into Northumberland, to join with the Scots Army. The Earl of NEWCASTLE, who was then at Durham, being much stronger in Horse than they; for want of which they could not advance no further. But it being resolved, within a day or two to storm Selby; I stayed till that business was over: which proved as effectual for the relief of the Scots Army.

The Governor of York lay in the town with 2,000 men. We drew Horse and Foot close to it. Sir JOHN MELDRUM led on the Foot; which had their General Posts appointed, where they should storm: I, with the Horse, ready to second them.

The Enemy within defended themselves [on the 11th April 1644] stoutly a good while. Our men at length beat them from the Line; but could not advance farther because of the Horse within.

I getting a Barricado open, which let us in betwixt the houses and the river. Here we had an encounter with their Horse. [After one charge, they fled over a Bridge of Boats to York.]

Other Horse came up, and charged us again, where my horse was overthrown; [I] being single [_alone_] a little before my men: who presently relieved me, and forced the Enemy back; who retreated also to York. In this charge, we took Colonel [Lord] BELLASIS, Governor of York.

By this, the Foot had entered the town; and also took many prisoners.

* * * * *

This good success put them into great distraction and fears at York: who speedily sent to the Earl of NEWCASTLE, to haste back thither; believing we would presently attempt them. This news suddenly called him back, leaving the Scots: who, with cold and oft alarms, were reduced to great extremity; but now advanced without delay after him.

The Earl of NEWCASTLE gets into York [on 19th April 1644].

The Scots joined their forces with my father's at Wetherby: altogether making 16,000 Foot and 4,000 Horse. They marched on to York [, from Tadcaster, on 19th April 1644].

But for this work, it was thought fit to have more men; the town [of York] being large in compass, and strongly manned. Therefore the Earl of CRAWFORD, [Lord] LINDSAY and myself were sent to the Earl of MANCHESTER, to desire him to join with us in the Siege: which he willingly consented to, bringing an addition of 6,000 Foot and 3,000 Horse [on 2nd June 1644].

So now the Army had three Generals, [ALEXANDER] LESLIE [, Earl of LEVEN], MANCHESTER, and FAIRFAX; who lay apart in three Quarters before the town. But the north side still remained open to the town.

Some time was spent here without any considerable action till, in my Lord of MANCHESTER's Quarters, approaches were made to St Mary's Tower; and soon came to mine it. Which Colonel [LAURENCE] CRAWFORD, a Scotsman, who commanded that Quarter, (ambitious to have the honour alone of springing the mine [on 16th June 1644] undertook, without acquainting of the other two Generals with it, for their advice and concurrence): which proved very prejudicial. For, having engaged his party against the whole strength of the town, without more force to second him, he was repulsed with the loss of 300 men. For which, he had been surely called to account; but that he escaped the better by reason of this triumviral goverment.

So after, Prince RUPERT came to relieve the town. We raised the siege [_which had lasted from Monday the 3rd June to Monday the 1st July 1644_] and Hessa[y] Moor [_a portion of Marston Moor, 7 miles from York_] being appointed the rendezvous, the whole Army drew thither.

About a mile from whence, Prince RUPERT lay; the river Ouse being only betwixt us: which he, that night, passed over at Poppleton. And, the next day, [he] drew his Army into the same Moor we were on: who, being now joined with the Earl of NEWCASTLE's forces, made about 23,000 or 24,000 men. But we, something more.

* * * * *

We were divided in our opinions what to do. The English were for fighting them; the Scots, for retreating, to gain (as they alleged) both time and place of more advantage. This latter being resolved on; we marched away [on Tuesday 2nd July 1644] to[wards] Tadcaster; which made the Enemy to advance the faster.

Lieutenant General CROMWELL, Major General [DAVID] LESLIE, and myself, being appointed to bring up the Rear; we sent word to the Generals, of the necessity of making a stand. For else, the Enemy, having the advantage, might put us in some disorder; but, by the advantage of the ground we were on, we hoped to make it good till they came back to us.

[Which they did.]

The place was Marston Fields, which afterwards gave the name to this battle.

* * * * *

Here we drew up our Army. The Enemy was drawn up in Battalia on the Moor a little below us.

The day being, for the most part, spent in preparation we now began to descend toward them.

Lieutenant General CROMWELL commanded the Left Wing of Horse; and [was] seconded by Major General [DAVID] LESLIE. I had the Right Wing [of Horse], with some Scotch Horse and Lances for my Reserves. The three Generals were with the Foot.

Our Left Wing charged first the Enemy's Right Wing; which was performed for a while with much resolution on both sides; but the Enemy, at length, was put to the worst.

Our Right Wing had not, all, so good success, by reason of the whins [_furze_] and ditches which we were to pass over before we could get to the Enemy, which put us into great disorder: notwithstanding, I drew up a body of 400 Horse. But because the intervals of [their] Horse, in this Wing only, were lined with Musketeers; which did us much hurt with their shot: I was necessitated to charge them. We were a long time engaged one with another; but at last we routed that part of their Wing. We charged, and pursued them a good way towards York.

[I] myself only [_alone_] returned presently, to get to the men I left behind me. But that part of the Enemy which stood [opposite to them], perceiving the disorder they were in, had charged and routed them, before I could get to them. So that the good success we had at first was eclipsed much by this bad conclusion.

But our other Wing, and most of the Foot, went on prosperously till they had cleared the Field.

* * * * *

But I must not forget to remember with thankfulness GOD's goodness to me this day. For having charged through the Enemy, and my [400] men going after [in] the pursuit; returning back [alone] to go to my other troops, I was gotten in among the Enemy, which stood up and down the Field in several bodies of Horse. So, taking the Signal [_a white handkerchief, or a piece of paper_] out of my hat, I passed through, for one of their own Commanders; and so got to my Lord of MANCHESTER's Horse in the other Wing; only with a cut in my cheek which was given me in the first charge, and a shot [which] my horse received.

* * * * *

In which [first] charge also, many of my Officers and soldiers were hurt and slain. The Captain of my own Troop was shot in the arm. My Cornet had both his hands cut, that rendered him ever after unserviceable. Captain MICKELTHWAITE, an honest stout man, was slain. And [there was] scarce[ly] any Officer which was in this charge, which did not receive a hurt.

But Colonel LAMBERT (who should have seconded me; but could not get up to me) charged in another place. Major FAIRFAX, who was Major to his Regiment, had, at least, thirty wounds: of which he died; after he was abroad [_out of doors_] again, and [had] good hopes of his recovery.

But that which nearest of all concerned me, was the loss of my brother [CHARLES FAIRFAX]: who, being deserted of his men, was sore wounded; of which, in three or four days after, he died.

So as, in this charge, as many were hurt and killed as in the whole [Parliamentary] Army besides.[24]

Of the Enemy's part, there were above 4,000 slain, and many taken prisoners.

* * * * *

Prince RUPERT returned into the South. The Earl of NEWCASTLE went beyond the seas [on 5th July 1644], with many of his Officers. York presently surrendered [on the 15th July 1644], and the North now was wholly reduced by the Parliament's forces, except some garrisons.

* * * * *

Soon after this, I went to Helmsley, to take in the Castle there: but received a dangerous shot in my shoulder; and was brought back to York. All, for some time, being doubtful of my recovery.

Yet, at the same time, the Parliament voted me to command in the South.

* * * * *

But my intention being only to keep in mind what I had been present in, during this Northern War; I shall put an end to this Discourse, where it pleased GOD to determine my service there.

Yet thus, with some smart from his rod, to let me see I was not mindful enough of returning my humble thanks and acknowledgments for the deliverances and mercies I received; and for which, alas, I am not yet capable enough to praise him as I ought. [I] that may say by experience, "Who is a GOD like unto our GOD?" [_Ps._ lxxi. 19.] Therefore, "Not unto us, O Lord; not unto us, but unto Thy Name; give we the praise!" [_Ps._ cxv.]

But as for myself, and what I have done, I may say with SOLOMON, "I looked on all the works that my hands have wrought; and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was Vanity and Vexation of Spirit. For there is no remembrance of the Wise more than of the Fool for ever; seeing that which now is, in the days to come shall be forgotten." _Eccles._ ii. 16.

FINIS.

[Footnote 20: _Sir HENRY SLINGSBY gives the following Account
of this Action:_

My Lord of CUMBERLAND sent out Sir THOMAS GLENHAM
once again to beat up Sir THOMAS FAIRFAX's Quarters at
Wetherby; commanding out a party both of Horse and Dragoons. He comes
close up to the town, undiscovered, a little before sunrise; and
PRIDEAUX and some others enter the town through a back yard.
This gave an alarm quite through the town.

Sir THOMAS FAIRFAX was, at this juncture, drawing on his
boots, to go to his father at Tadcaster. He gets on horseback, draws
out some Pikes, and so meets our Gentlemen. Every one had a shot at
him: he only making at them with his sword; and then retired again,
under the guard of his Pikes.

At another part, Lieutenant Colonel NORTON enters with his
Dragoons. Captain ATKINSON encounters him on horseback: the
other being on foot. They meet. ATKINSON missed with his
pistol. NORTON pulls him off horseback by the sword-belt.
Being both on the ground; ATKINSON's soldiers come in, fell
NORTON into the ditch with the butt ends of their muskets, to
rescue their Captain. NORTON's soldiers come in, and beat down
ATKINSON; and with repeated blows break his thigh; of which
wound, he died. A sore scuffle between two that had been neighbours
and intimate friends. After this they [_NORTON's Dragoons_]
retreated out of the town; with the loss of more than one Trooper
killed, and one Major CARR, a Scotchman.

_Memoirs_, p. 40, Ed. 1806, 8vo.]

[Footnote 21: _This is clearly wrong, and a slip of the memory.
The Writer did not again go to Bradford until after the Victory of
the Club Men there, on Sunday, 18th December 1642; which is thus
described by FERDINANDO, Lord FAIRFAX, in a letter from Selby on
29th December 1642._

I have formerly advertised that the Earl of NEWCASTLE's Army have
seized upon Leeds: where they plunder the well-affected party; and
raise a very great sum of money out of those that they can draw to
compound for their securities.

And from Leeds, they marched on Sunday, the 18th of this month,
with 5 Troops of Horse, 6 Companies of Dragoons, 200 Foot, and
two drakes [_small cannon, or field pieces_], of the Earl of
NEWCASTLE's Army; besides Sir WILLIAM SAVILE and divers other
Gentlemen of Yorkshire and their forces, that joined themselves
with them: and came to Bradford, about ten a clock in the morning;
intending to surprise the town, in [the] time of Prayer.

But the town, having scouts abroad, had notice of their coming; and
gave the alarm to the country [_district_]: who came in to their
succour from the parts adjoining.

Yet they had not in all above 80 muskets: the rest being armed with
clubs and such rustic weapons; with which small force, they put the
cause to trial with [_against_] the great strength of the Enemy.
Who planted their drakes, and discharged each of them seventeen
times upon the town; until a townsman, with a fowling piece, killed
one of the Cannoniers. And then they all, with great courage,
issued from the town upon the enemies; and killed many of them, and
took about 30 prisoners: and forced the rest to retreat, leaving
40 of their muskets and [a] barrel of powder, with much other
provision, behind them. And this, with [the] loss of 3 Bradford men.

The report of the country is that [of] the enemies, amongst those
that were killed were Colonel EVERS, and Captain BINNS, and another
Commander; and that Colonel GORING, General of the Horse with the
Earl of NEWCASTLE, was wounded; and Serjeant Major CARR, taken
prisoner. And it is generally spoken, That 150 more are run away,
upon the retreat; and are not since returned to Leeds.

In which victory the hand and power of GOD was most evident, the
town being open on all sides and not defensible; assaulted on
every side by a malicious and bloody Enemy; and defended by a few
half-naked [_half-armed_] men: there being in the town not above 80
muskets before they got 40 more by the spoils of their enemies; so
that [the] slaughter was, for the most part, with clubs and scythes
mounted on poles, and came to hand blows.

With this defeat, the enemies are so enraged as they threaten
revenge to Bradford.

Whereupon the Bradford men sent to me for succour of men and arms.
And I have sent my son [Sir THOMAS FAIRFAX] and Sir HENRY FOULIS
to them, with 3 Troops of Horse and 120 Dragooners; who are safely
arrived there: and [have been] received with great joy and
acclamation of the country [_district_]; who flock to him and offer
themselves most willingly to serve against their Popish enemies, if
arms could be furnished to them.

He hath already surprised some victuals [_convoys of provisions_]
sent in, upon warrants [_requisitions_], to the Enemy at Leeds,
by the over-awed country [_district_]. And he hath sent Captain
MILDMAY, with his Troop of Horse, into Craven [_i.e. the upper
Wharfe-dale_] to stop the raising of forces and money in that
country: which is attempted by the Earl of CUMBERLAND; who is
lately retired from York to Skipton. And I hope he may leave
nothing unattempted that may conduce to the safety of the country,
so far as can be expected from the few forces he hath with him.

_A Second Letter from the Lord FAIRFAX._ Printed 5th Jan. 1642[-3].
British Museum Press Mark, E. 84. (15).

_Another Account of the Bradford Victory, dated 21st December 1642,
states:_

They appeared in Barker End, about 9 a clock, when we had not in
[the] town above 40 Musketeers; planted their ordnance in WILLIAM
COOKE's Barn; marched down the Causey [_Causeway_] with their Foot,
whilst their Horse coasted about the town to hinder aid from coming
in; possessed themselves of those houses under the Church; and from
thence played hotly upon our Musketeers in the Church till 11 a
clock: about which time [the] Halifax men, and other neighbours,
came in to our help.

The fight, before hot, was then hotter. Our men, impatient to be
cooped up in the Church, rushed out [and] forced a passage into the
foresaid houses; and there our Club Men did good execution upon
them. Thereabouts the fight continued till it was dark. Many of
theirs were slain....

Their cannon, one of which shoots a 9 lb. ball [_if so, it was a
Demi-Culverin: see Vol. IV., p. 251_] played all that time upon the
town: but hurt no man, praised be GOD! who hath delivered those
that were ordained to death, &c.

_Brave News of the taking of Chichester, &c. &c._ Printed 30th Dec.
1642. British Museum Press Mark, E. 83. (36).]

[Footnote 22: _Sir HENRY SLINGSBY says of this Fight:_

Two days after, His Excellency [the Earl of NEWCASTLE] came to
York [5th December 1642]; he undertook to attempt to beat Lord
FAIRFAX out of Tadcaster: in this he succeeded pretty well [on 7th
December 1642]; and marched to Pomfret [_Pontefract_], which he
made his Head Quarters. His Horse [was] at Sherburn, and towns next
adjacent.

Here we were a little too secure. Sir THOMAS FAIRFAX (with a party
of 300 Horse; and, it seems, hearing the Officers in Sherburn were
to have a feast) comes at noon-day, beats up our Quarters; [and]
takes Commissary WINDHAM, Sir WILLIAM RIDDALL, and many others,
prisoners.

_Memoirs_, p. 42, Ed. 1806, 8vo.

_The date of this Fight is fixed by the following passage:_

On Tuesday last [13th December 1642], about four of the clock in
the morning, Sir THOMAS FAIRFAX marched from Selby; fetching a
compass, as if he declined Sherburn: yet, at last, [he] wheeled
about, and assaulted that town about one of the clock, the next
day [14th December 1642] &c. &c. _A True Relation of the Fight at
Sherburn, &c._ Written on [Friday] 16th December 1642. British
Museum Press Mark, E. 83. (15).]

[Footnote 23: Saturday night, the 20th of May [1643]. The Lord
General [i.e. FERDINANDO, Lord FAIRFAX] gave Order for a party of
1,000 Foot, 3 Companies of Dragooners, and 8 Troops of Horse, to
march from the garrisons of Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, and Howley.
Sir THOMAS FAIRFAX commanded in chief. The Foot were commanded by
Serjeant Major General GIFFORD and Sir WILLIAM FAIRFAX. The Horse
were divided into two bodies: 4 Troops commanded by Sir THOMAS
FAIRFAX, and the other 4 Troops by Sir HENRY FOULIS.

Howley was the rendezvous, where they all met on Saturday [20th
May] last, about twelve a clock at night.

About two, next morning, they marched away: and coming to Stanley,
where 2 of the Enemy's Troops lay, with some Dragooners; that
Quarter was beaten up, and about one and twenty prisoners taken.

About four a clock in the morning [of 21st May 1643], we came
before Wakefield. Where, after some of their Horse were beaten into
the town, the Foot, with unspeakable courage, beat the enemies from
the hedges, which they had lined with Muskeeters, into the town;
and assaulted it in two places, Wrengate and Norgate: and, after
an hour and a half's fight, we recovered [_captured_] one of their
Pieces [of Ordnance] and turned it upon them; and entered the
town, at both places, at one and the same time.

When the Barricadoes were opened, Sir THOMAS FAIRFAX, with the
Horse, fell into the town; and cleared the street: where Colonel
GORING was taken by Lieutenant ALURED, brother to Captain ALURED, a
Member of the House [of Commons].

Yet in the Market Place, there stood 3 Troops of Horse; and
Colonel LAMPTON's Regiment: to whom Major General GIFFORD sent a
Trumpet[er], with offer of Quarter, if they would lay down their
arms.

They answered, They scorned the motion.

Then he fired a Piece of their own Ordnance upon them: and the
Horse fell in upon them, [and] beat them out of [the] town. We took
39 Officers, 27 Colours of Foot, 3 Coronets of Horse, and about
1,500 common soldiers.

The Enemy had in the town 3,000 Foot and 7 Troops of Horse: besides
Colonel LAMPTON's Regiment; which came into the town, after we had
entered the town.

The Enemy left behind them 4 Pieces of Ordnance, with Amunition;
which we brought away.

THOMAS FAIRFAX. JOHN GIFFORD. JOHN HOLMAN. TITUS LEIGHTON. HENRY
FOULIS. WILLIAM FAIRFAX. ROBERT FOULIS. FRANCIS TALBOT.

_A Miraculous Victory...at Wakefield_. Printed 27th May 1643.
British Museum Press Mark, E. 104. (13).]

[Footnote 24: A modest Refutation of an Error published in print by
Master [THOMAS] FULLER, in his book of _Worthies_ [_of England_].
Title, [_Yorkshire_] _Battles_, pagina 225 [, Ed. 1662], in these
words, viz.

GORING, [at the fight of Marston Moor,] _so valiantly charged the
Right Wing of the Enemy, that they fairly forsook the Field_.

On this, Lord FAIRFAX made the following marginal Note in his copy:

I envy none the honour they deservedly got in this battle; nor am
I ambitiously desirous of a branch of their laurel. But I see no
reason to be excluded [from] the Lists: in which I underwent equal
hazards with any others that day.

But [it] being my lot to be cast upon many disadvantages, having
command of the Right Wing, with much difficulty I could get but
5 Troops in order: with which I charged the Enemy's Left Wing;
when the business was hotly disputed a long time, at [the] sword's
point. We broke through; and had the chase of many of them.

But, indeed, the rest of the Horse, [that] I could not draw up to
charge with me, were soon routed with that part of the Enemy we
left behind.

But to shew that some did their parts: having routed some of the
Enemy, and taken GORING's Major General prisoner; few of us came
off without dangerous wounds; and many [of them] were mortal.

Which shews that the Right Wing did not wholly leave the Field; as
the Author of that book relates.

F. GROSE, _Antiquarian Repertory_, 2nd Ed., III., p. 31, 1808, 4.]

GEORGE VILLIERS, second Duke of BUCKINGHAM.

_An Epitaph on THOMAS, third Lord FAIRFAX_.

[Sidenote: [_A Third Collection of...Poems,
Satires, Songs, &c. against Popery
and Tyranny_. London, 1689. 4to.]

[Lord FAIRFAX, the great General on the side of the Parliament, died in 1671; and his son-in-law, the Writer of this _Epitaph_, in 1688. VILLIERS never wrote a nobler Poem, irregular though it be.]

Under this stone does lie
One born for Victory,

1.
FAIRFAX the valiant; and the only He
Whoe'er, for that alone a Conqueror would be.
Both sexes' virtues were in him combined:
He had the fierceness of the manliest mind,
And eke the meekness too of womankind.
He never knew what Envy was, or Hate.
His soul was filled with Worth and Honesty;
And with another thing, quite out of date,
Called Modesty.

2.
He ne'er seemed impudent but in the Field: a place
Where Impudence itself dares seldom show her face.
Had any stranger spied him in the room
With some of those whom he had overcome,
And had not heard their talk; but only seen
Their gestures and their mien:
They would have sworn he had, the vanquished been.
For as they bragged, and dreadful would appear;
While they, their own ill lucks in war repeated:
His modesty still made him blush to hear
How often he had them defeated.

3.
Through his whole life, the Part he bore
Was wonderful and great:
And yet it so appeared in nothing more
Than in his private last retreat.
For it's a stranger thing to find
One man of such a glorious mind,
As can dismiss the Power he has got;
Than millions of the Polls and Braves
(Those despicable fools and knaves),
Who such a pother make,
Through dulness and mistake,
In seeking after Power: but get it not.

4.
When all the nation he had won,
And with expense of blood had bought;
Store great enough, he thought,
Of fame and of renown:
He then his arms laid down
With full as little pride
As if he had been of his Enemies' side;
Or one of them could do that were undone.
He neither wealth, nor Places sought.
For others, not himself, he fought.
He was content to know
(For he had found it so)
That when he pleased, to conquer he was able;
And left the spoil and plunder to the rabble.
He might have been a King:
But that he understood
How much it is a meaner thing
To be unjustly Great, than honourably Good.

5.
This from the World, did admiration draw;
And from his friends, both love and awe:
Remembering what in fight he did before.
And his foes loved him too,
As they were bound to do,
Because he was resolved to fight no more.
So blessed of all, he died. But far more blessed were we,
If we were sure to live till we could see
A Man as great in War, in Peace as just, as he.

ADVICE

TO A

YOUNG REVIEWER,

WITH A

SPECIMEN OF THE ART.

OXFORD:

SOLD BY J. PARKER AND J. COOKE;
AND BY

F. C. AND J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL's
CHURCHYARD, LONDON.

1807.

[This splendid piece of irony was occasioned by
the omniscient arrogance of the first Writers of
the _Edinburgh Review_, then in its fifth year of
publication, with, as Sir WALTER SCOTT tells us, a sale
of 9,000 copies each quarter, and a paramount influence
in British society.

One usually looks to the reign of Queen ANNE, to a
DEFOE, a SWIFT, or an ARBUTHNOT, for depth and subtilty
of invention in prose; but here it is in abundance: not
so much, perhaps, in what is so wittily said, as in the
management and studied unfairness of the pettifogging
malignant sham Review; where everything is said that
ought to have been left out, and everything is left out
that ought to have been said.

The Writer, of course, would only take a noble Poem
for such maltreatment; and we must note the extreme
liberality of his mind that, being a strong Churchman,
and also at that time Tutor of Oriel College, Oxford,
he selected a poem of the then scouted MILTON for his
example.

Among the brilliant strokes of this Satire, two seem
pre-eminent:

(1) The designation of the Archangel of English Song
as--_Mr. M._

(2) Speaking thus of one whose life and thought were
Purity itself--_But we have already had occasion to
remark on the laxity of Mr M.'s amatory notions._]

ADVICE

TO A

YOUNG REVIEWER, &c.

YOU are now about to enter on a Profession which has the means of doing much good to society, and scarcely any temptation to do harm. You may encourage Genius, you may chastise superficial Arrogance, expose Falsehood, correct Error, and guide the Taste and Opinions of the Age in no small degree by the books you praise and recommend. And this too may be done without running the risk of making any enemies; or subjecting yourself to be called to account for your criticism, however severe. While your name is unknown, your person is invulnerable: at the same time your aim is sure, for you may take it at your leisure; and your blows fall heavier than those of any Writer whose name is given, or who is simply anonymous. There is a mysterious authority in the plural, _We_, which no single name, whatever may be its reputation, can acquire; and, under the sanction of this imposing style, your strictures, your praises, and your dogmas, will command universal attention; and be received as the fruit of united talents, acting on one common principle--as the judgments of a tribunal who decide only on mature deliberation, and who protect the interests of Literature with unceasing vigilance.

Such being the high importance of that Office, and such its opportunities; I cannot bestow a few hours of leisure better than in furnishing you with some hints for the more easy and effectual discharge of it: hints which are, I confess, loosely thrown together; but which are the result of long experience, and of frequent reflection and comparison. And if anything should strike you, at first sight, as rather equivocal in point of morality, or deficient in liberality and feeling; I beg you will suppress all such scruples, and consider them as the offspring of a contracted education and narrow way of thinking, which a little intercourse with the World and sober reasoning will speedily overcome.

* * * * *

Now as in the conduct of life nothing is more to be desired than some Governing Principle of action, to which all other principles and motives must be made subservient; so in the Art of Reviewing I would lay down as a fundamental position, which you must never lose sight of, and which must be the mainspring of all your criticisms--_Write what will sell!_ To this Golden Rule every minor canon must be subordinate; and must be either immediately deducible from it, or at least be made consistent with it.

Be not staggered at the sound of a precept which, upon examination, will be found as honest and virtuous as it is discreet. I have already sketched out the great services which it is in your power to render mankind; but all your efforts will be unavailing if men did not read what you write. Your utility therefore, it is plain, depends upon your popularity; and popularity cannot be attained without humouring the taste and inclinations of men.

Be assured that, by a similar train of sound and judicious reasoning, the consciences of thousands in public life are daily quieted. It is better for the State that their Party should govern than any other. The good which they can effect by the exercise of power is infinitely greater than any which could arise from a rigid adherence to certain subordinate moral precepts; which therefore should be violated without scruple whenever they stand in the way of their leading purpose. He who sticks at these can never act a great part in the World, and is not fit to act it if he could. Such maxims may be very useful in ordinary affairs, and for the guidance of ordinary men: but when we mount into the sphere of public utility, we must adopt more enlarged principles; and not suffer ourselves to be cramped and fettered by petty notions of Right and Moral Duty.

* * * * *

When you have reconciled yourself to this liberal way of thinking; you will find many inferior advantages resulting from it, which at first did not enter into your consideration. In particular, it will greatly lighten your labours, to _follow_ the public taste, instead of taking upon you to _direct_ it. The task of Pleasing is at all times easier than that of Instructing: at least it does not stand in need of painful research and preparation; and may be effected in general by a little vivacity of manner, and a dexterous morigeration [_compliance, or obsequiousness_], as Lord BACON calls it, to the humours and frailties of men. Your responsibility too is thereby much lessened. Justice and Candour can only be required of you so far as they coincide with this Main Principle: and a little experience will convince you that these are not the happiest means of accomplishing your purpose.

It has been idly said, That a Reviewer acts in a judicial capacity, and that his conduct should be regulated by the same rules by which the Judge of a Civil Court is governed: that he should rid himself of every bias; be patient, cautious, sedate, and rigidly impartial: that he should not seek to shew off himself, and should check every disposition to enter into the case as a partizan.

Such is the language of superficial thinkers; but in reality there is no analogy between the two cases. A Judge is promoted to that office by the authority of the State; a Reviewer by his own. The former is independent of control, and may therefore freely follow the dictates of his own conscience: the latter depends for his very bread upon the breath of public opinion; the great law of self-preservation therefore points out to him a different line of action. Besides, as we have already observed, if he ceases to please, he is no longer read; and consequently is no longer useful. In a Court of Justice, too, the part of amusing the bystanders rests with the Counsel: in the case of criticism, if the Reviewer himself does not undertake it, who will?

Instead of vainly aspiring to the gravity of a Magistrate; I would advise him, when he sits down to write, to place himself in the imaginary situation of a cross-examining Pleader. He may comment, in a vain of agreeable irony, upon the profession, the manner of life, the look, dress, or even the name, of the witness he is examining: when he has raised a contemptuous opinion of him in the minds of the Court, he may proceed to draw answers from him capable of a ludicrous turn; and he may carve and garble these to his own liking.

This mode of proceeding you will find most practicable in Poetry, where the boldness of the image or the delicacy of thought (for which the Reader's mind was prepared in the original) will easily be made to appear extravagant, or affected, if judiciously singled out, and detached from the group to which it belongs. Again, since much depends upon the rhythm and the terseness of expression (both of which are sometimes destroyed by dropping a single word, or transposing a phrase), I have known much advantage arise from _not_ quoting in the form of a literal extract: but giving a brief summary in prose, of the contents of a poetical passage; and interlarding your own language, with occasional phrases of the Poem marked with inverted commas.

These, and a thousand other little expedients, by which the arts of Quizzing and Banter flourish, practice will soon teach you. If it should be necessary to transcribe a dull passage, not very fertile in topics of humour and raillery; you may introduce it as a "favourable specimen of the Author's manner."

* * * * *

Few people are aware of the powerful effects of what is philosophically termed Association. Without any positive violation of truth, the whole dignity of a passage may be undermined by contriving to raise some vulgar and ridiculous notions in the mind of the reader: and language teems with examples of words by which the same idea is expressed, with the difference only that one excites a feeling of respect, the other of contempt. Thus you may call a fit of melancholy, "the sulks"; resentment, "a pet"; a steed, "a nag"; a feast, "a junketing"; sorrow and affliction, "whining and blubbering". By transferring the terms peculiar to one state of society, to analogous situations and characters in another, the same object is attained. "A Drill Serjeant" or "a Cat and Nine Tails" in the Trojan War, "a Lesbos smack putting into the Piræus," "the Penny Post of Jerusalem," and other combinations of the like nature which, when you have a little indulged in that vein of thought, will readily suggest themselves, never fail to raise a smile, if not immediately at the expense of the Author, yet entirely destructive of that frame of mind which his Poem requires in order to be relished.

I have dwelt the longer on this branch of Literature, because you are chiefly to look here for materials of fun and irony.

* * * * *

Voyages and Travels indeed are no barren ground; and you must seldom let a Number of your _Review_ go abroad without an Article of this description. The charm of this species of writing, so universally felt, arises chiefly from its uniting Narrative with Information. The interest we take in the story can only be kept alive by minute incident and occasional detail; which puts us in possession of the traveller's feelings, his hopes, his fears, his disappointments, and his pleasures. At the same time the thirst for knowledge and love of novelty is gratified by continual information respecting the people and countries he visits.

If you wish therefore to run down the book, you have only to play off these two parts against each other. When the Writer's object is to satisfy the first inclination, you are to thank him for communicating to the World such valuable facts as, whether he lost his way in the night, or sprained his ankle, or had no appetite for his dinner. If he is busied about describing the Mineralogy, Natural History, Agriculture, Trade, etc. of a country: you may mention a hundred books from whence the same information may be obtained; and deprecate the practice of emptying old musty Folios into new Quartos, to gratify that sickly taste for a smattering about everything which distinguishes the present Age.

* * * * *

In Works of Science and recondite Learning, the task you have undertaken will not be so difficult as you may imagine. Tables of Contents and Indexes are blessed helps in the hands of a Reviewer; but, more than all, the Preface is the field from which his richest harvest is to be gathered.

In the Preface, the Author usually gives a summary of what has been written on the same subject before; he acknowledges the assistance he has received from different sources, and the reasons of his dissent from former Writers; he confesses that certain parts have been less attentively considered than others, and that information has come to his hands too late to be made use of; he points out many things in the composition of his Work which he thinks may provoke animadversion, and endeavours to defend or palliate his own practice.

Here then is a fund of wealth for the Reviewer, lying upon the very surface. If he knows anything of his business, he will turn all these materials against the Author: carefully suppressing the source of his information; and as if drawing from the stores of his own mind long ago laid up for this very purpose. If the Author's references are correct, a great point is gained; for by consulting a few passages of the original Works, it will be easy to discuss the subject with the air of having a previous knowledge of the whole.

Your chief vantage ground is, That you may fasten upon any position in the book you are reviewing, and treat it as principal and essential; when perhaps it is of little weight in the main argument: but, by allotting a large share of your criticism to it, the reader will naturally be led to give it a proportionate importance, and to consider the merit of the Treatise at issue upon that single question.

If anybody complains that the greater and more valuable parts remain unnoticed; your answer is, That it is impossible to pay attention to all; and that your duty is rather to prevent the propagation of error, than to lavish praises upon that which, if really excellent, will work its way in the World without your help.

Indeed, if the plan of your _Review_ admits of selection, you had better not meddle with Works of deep research and original speculation; such as have already attracted much notice, and cannot be treated superficially without fear of being found out. The time required for making yourself thoroughly master of the subject is so great, that you may depend upon it they will never pay for the reviewing. They are generally the fruit of long study, and of talents concentrated in the steady pursuit of one object: it is not likely therefore that you can throw much new light on a question of this nature, or even plausibly combat the Author's propositions; in the course of a few hours, which is all you can well afford to devote to them. And without accomplishing one or the other of these points; your _Review_ will gain no celebrity, and of course no good will be done.

* * * * *

Enough has been said to give you some insight into the facilities with which your new employment abounds. I will only mention one more, because of its extensive and almost universal application to all Branches of Literature; the topic, I mean, which by the old Rhetoricians was called ἐξ ἐναντίων, That is, when a Work excels in one quality; you may blame it for not having the opposite.

For instance, if the biographical sketch of a Literary Character is minute and full of anecdote; you may enlarge on the advantages of philosophical reflection, and the superior mind required to give a judicious analysis of the Opinions and Works of deceased Authors. On the contrary, if the latter method is pursued by the Biographer; you can, with equal ease, extol the lively colouring, and truth, and interest, of exact delineation and detail.

This topic, you will perceive, enters into Style as well as Matter; where many virtues might be named _which are incompatible_: and whichever the Author has preferred, it will be the signal for you to launch forth on the praises of its opposite; and continually to hold up that to your Reader as the model of excellence in this species of Writing.

* * * * *

You will perhaps wonder why all my instructions are pointed towards the Censure, and not the Praise, of Books; but many reasons might be given why it should be so. The chief are, that this part is both easier, and will sell better.

Let us hear the words of Mr BURKE on a subject not very dissimilar:

"In such cases," says he, "the Writer has a certain fire and alacrity inspired into him by a consciousness that (let it fare how it will with the subject) his ingenuity will be sure of applause: and this alacrity becomes much greater, if he acts upon the offensive; by the impetuosity that always accompanies an attack, and the unfortunate propensity which mankind have to finding and exaggerating faults." Pref., _Vindic. Nat. Soc._, p. 6.

* * * * *

You will perceive that I have on no occasion sanctioned the baser motives of private pique, envy, revenge, and love of detraction. At least I have not recommended harsh treatment upon any of these grounds. I have argued simply on the abstract moral principle which a Reviewer should ever have present to his mind: but if any of these motives insinuate themselves as secondary springs of action, I would not condemn them. They may come in aid of the grand Leading Principle, and powerfully second its operation.

* * * * *

But it is time to close these tedious precepts, and to furnish you with, what speaks plainer than any precept, a Specimen of the Art itself, in which several of them are embodied. It is hastily done: but it exemplifies well enough what I have said of the Poetical department; and exhibits most of those qualities which disappointed Authors are fond of railing at, under the names of Flippancy, Arrogance, Conceit, Misrepresentation, and Malevolence: reproaches which you will only regard as so many acknowledgments of success in your undertaking; and infallible tests of an established fame, and [a] rapidly increasing circulation.

_L'Allegro._ A Poem.

By JOHN MILTON.

No Printer's name.

IT has become a practice of late with a certain description of people, who have no visible means of subsistence, to string together a few trite images of rural scenery, interspersed with vulgarisms in dialect, and traits of vulgar manners; to dress up these materials in a Sing-Song jingle; and to offer them for sale as a Poem. According to the most approved recipes, something about the heathen gods and goddesses; and the schoolboy topics of Styx and Cerberus, and Elysium; are occasionally thrown in, and the composition is complete. The stock in trade of these Adventurers is in general scanty enough; and their Art therefore consists in disposing it to the best advantage. But if such be the aim of the Writer, it is the Critic's business to detect and defeat the imposture; to warn the public against the purchase of shop-worn goods and tinsel wares; to protect the fair trader, by exposing the tricks of needy Quacks and Mountebanks; and to chastise that forward and noisy importunity with which they present themselves to the public notice.

How far Mr. MILTON is amenable to this discipline, will best appear from a brief analysis of the Poem before us.

In the very opening he assumes a tone of authority which might better suit some veteran Bard than a raw candidate for the Delphic bays: for, before he proceeds to the regular process of Invocation, he clears the way, by driving from his presence (with sundry hard names; and bitter reproaches on her father, mother, and all the family) a venerable Personage, whose age at least and staid matron-like appearance, might have entitled her to more civil language.

Hence, loathèd Melancholy!
Of CERBERUS and blackest Midnight born,
In Stygian cave forlorn, &c.

There is no giving rules, however, in these matters, without a knowledge of the case. Perhaps the old lady had been frequently warned off before; and provoked this violence by continuing still to lurk about the Poet's dwelling. And, to say the truth, the Reader will have but too good reason to remark, before he gets through the Poem, that it is one thing to tell the Spirit of Dulness to depart; and another to get rid of her in reality. Like GLENDOWER's Spirits, any one may order them away; "but will they go, when you do order them?"

But let us suppose for a moment that the Parnassian decree is obeyed; and, according to the letter of the _Order_ (which is as precise and wordy as if Justice SHALLOW himself had drawn it) that the obnoxious female is sent back to the place of her birth,

'Mongst horrid shapes, shrieks, sights, _&c._

At which we beg our fair readers not to be alarmed; for we can assure them they are only words of course in all poetical Instruments of this nature, and mean no more than the "force and arms" and "instigation of the Devil" in a common Indictment.

* * * * *

This nuisance then being abated; we are left at liberty to contemplate a character of a different complexion, "buxom, blithe, and debonair": one who, although evidently a great favourite of the Poet's and therefore to be received with all due courtesy, is notwithstanding introduced under the suspicious description of an _alias_.

In heaven, ycleped EUPHROSYNE;
And by men, heart-easing Mirth.

Judging indeed from the light and easy deportment of this gay Nymph; one might guess there were good reasons for a change of name as she changed her residence.

* * * * *

But of all vices there is none we abhor more than that of slanderous insinuation. We shall therefore confine our moral strictures to the Nymph's mother; in whose defence the Poet has little to say himself. Here too, as in the case of the _name_, there is some doubt. For the uncertainty of descent on the Father's side having become trite to a proverb; the Author, scorning that beaten track, has left us to choose between two mothers for his favourite: and without much to guide our choice; for, whichever we fix upon, it is plain she was no better than she should be. As he seems however himself inclined to the latter of the two, we will even suppose it so to be.

Or whether (as some sager say)
The frolic _wind that breathes the Spring_,
ZEPHYR with AURORA playing,
_As he met her once a Maying_;
There on beds of violets blue,
And fresh-blown roses washed in dew, _&c._

Some dull people might imagine that _the wind_ was more like _the breath of Spring_; than _Spring, the breath of the wind_: but we are more disposed to question the Author's Ethics than his Physics; and accordingly cannot dismiss these May gambols without some observations.

In the first place, Mr. M. seems to have higher notions of the antiquity of the May Pole than we have been accustomed to attach to it. Or perhaps he sought to shelter the equivocal nature of this affair under that sanction. To us, however, who can hardly subscribe to the doctrine that "Vice loses half its evil by losing all its grossness"; neither the remoteness of time, nor the gaiety of the season, furnishes a sufficient palliation. "Violets blue" and "fresh-blown roses" are, to be sure, more agreeable objects of the Imagination than a gin shop in Wapping or a booth in Bartholomew Fair; but, in point of morality, these are distinctions without a difference: or it may be the cultivation of mind (which teaches us to reject and nauseate these latter objects) aggravates the case, if our improvement in taste be not accompanied by a proportionate improvement of morals.

If the Reader can reconcile himself to this latitude of principle, the anachronism will not long stand in his way. Much indeed may be said in favour of this union of ancient Mythology with modern notions and manners. It is a sort of chronological metaphor--an artificial analogy, by which ideas, widely remote and heterogeneous, are brought into contact; and the mind is delighted by this unexpected assemblage, as it is by the combinations of figurative language.

Thus in that elegant Interlude, which the pen of BEN JONSON has transmitted to us, of the loves of HERO and LEANDER:

Gentles, that no longer your expectations may wander,
Behold our chief actor, amorous LEANDER!
With a great deal of cloth, lapped about him like a scarf:
For he yet serves his father, a Dyer in Puddle Wharf:
Which place we'll make bold with, to call it our Abydus;
As the Bankside is our Sestos, and _let it not be denied us_.

And far be it from us to deny the use of so reasonable a liberty; especially if the request be backed (as it is in the case of Mr. M.) by the craving and imperious necessities of rhyme. What man who has ever bestrode Pegasus for an hour, will be insensible to such a claim?

_Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco._

* * * * *

We are next favoured with an enumeration of the Attendants of this "debonair" Nymph, in all the minuteness of a German _Dramatis Personæ_, or a Ropedancer's Handbill.

Haste thee, Nymph; and bring with thee
Jest and youthful Jollity,
Quips and cranks and wanton wiles,
Nods and becks and wreathed smiles,
Such as hang on HEBE's cheek
And love to live in dimple sleek;
Sport that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his sides.

The Author, to prove himself worthy of being admitted of the crew, skips and capers about upon "the light fantastic toe," that there is no following him. He scampers through all the Categories, in search of his imaginary beings, from Substance to Quality, and back again; from thence to Action, Passion, Habit, &c. with incredible celerity. Who, for instance, would have expected _cranks_, _nods_, _becks_, and _wreathèd smiles_ as part of a group in which Jest, Jollity, Sport, and Laughter figure away as full-formed entire Personages? The family likeness is certainly very strong in the two last; and if we had not been told, we should perhaps have thought the act of _deriding_ as appropriate to Laughter as to Sport.

But how are we to understand the stage directions?

_Come_, and trip it as you _go_.

Are the words used synonymously? Or is it meant that this airy gentry shall come in a Minuet step, and go off in a Jig? The phenomenon of a _tripping crank_ is indeed novel, and would doubtless attract numerous spectators.

But it is difficult to guess to whom, among this jolly company, the Poet addresses himself: for immediately after the Plural appellative _you_, he proceeds,

And in _thy_ right hand lead with _thee_
The mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty.

No sooner is this fair damsel introduced; but Mr M., with most unbecoming levity, falls in love with her: and makes a request of her companion which is rather greedy, that he may live with both of them.

To live with her, and live with thee.

Even the gay libertine who sang "How happy could I be with either!" did not go so far as this. But we have already had occasion to remark on the laxity of Mr M.'s amatory notions.

* * * * *