PRINTED BY MUNDELL AND SON, ROYAL BANK CLOSE,

Anne 1794.

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THE LIFE OF TICKELL.

Or Thomas Tickell, it is to be regretted, that the particulars which have been tranfmitted by his contemporaries, are infufficient to gratify the curiofity which his reputation must extite, and difproportionate to his rank in poetry and literature.

He was the fon of the Rev. Richard Tickell, who poffeffed a confiderable living in Cumberland; and was born at Bridekirk, near Carlisle, in 1686.

He was educated in his native country; and in April 1701, he became a member of Queen's College in Oxford.

In 1707, he expreffed his gratitude to the University, in a poem, intituled Oxford, addreffed to' Lord Viscount Lonsdale.

Which thus my thanks to much-lov'd Oxford pays,

In no ungrateful, though unartful lays.

In 1708, he took the degree of Mafler of Arts; and two years afterwards he was chofen Fellow. As he had not complied with the ftatutes which required him to be in orders before he could be chofen to a Fellowship, he obtained a difpenfation from the Crown.

At the university he acquired the character of excelling in claffical learning, and in academical exercises; and was distinguished for his ability in verfification.

He entered early into life, and became known to Addison and Steele, and other men of high character for talents and literature.

He is faid to have first gained the notice of Addison, by his verses in praise of Rafamond; in which he cenfures the Italian opera as a vehicle of melodious abfurdity, and compares his foftness to Corelli, and his ftrength to Virgil.

The opera firft Italian masters taught,

Enrich'd with fongs, but innocent of thought;
Britannia's learned theatre difdains

Melodious trifles, and enervate strains';

And blushes, on her injur'd stage to fee
Nonfenfe well tun'd, and fweet stupidity.

No charms are wanting to thy artful fong,'

Soft as Corelli, and as Virgil strong.

The cenfure of the Italian opera is well founded and ftrong; and the panegyric on Rofamond does not very much exaggerate its merits, except perhaps, in the conclufion.

To those verses, Dr. Johnson obferves, it would not have been just to deny regard, for they contain fome of the most elegant encomiaftic ftrains; and among the innumerable poems of the fame kind, it will be hard to find one with which they need to fear a comparison.

It may deserve obfervation, that when Pope wrote long afterwards in praise of Addifon, he has copied, at least has refembled, Tickell.

Let joy falute fair Rofamonda's fhade,
And wreaths of myrtle crown the lovely maid.

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While now perhaps with Dido's ghost she roves,
And hears and tells the ftory of their loves.

Alike they mourn, alike they blefs their fate,

Since love which made them wretched made them great.
Nor longer that relentlefs doom bemoan,

Which gain'd a Virgil, and an Addifon.Tickell.

When future ages with delight shall fee,
How Plato's, Bacon's, Newton's, looks agree;
Or in fair feries laurell'd bards be shown,

A Virgil there, and here an Addison.-Pope.

When Steele began the Spectator, with the affiftance of Addifon and the other wits, Tickell is believed to have contributed frequently to it; but his papers have not been afcertained. Thofe marked with the letter R, are all Steele's, as are many of thofe marked with T. It has been faid that the latter mark was fometimes used by Tickell. There are more papers marked with R and T, than with any other fignature; of these, it is probable, Tickell wrote many, as he was very much with Steele, as well as with Addison, and might be often folicited, as Steele was often in a hurry, to eke out the scanty materials which he had time to provide. He wrote a copy of Verfes to the suppofed author of the Spectator, inferted in No. 632, in which a high praife is bestowed on Steele's papers in the " Tatler," against sharpers, which produced moft beneficial effects.

From felon gamefters the raw fquire is free,
And Britain owes her reícued oaks to thee.

He was also a contributor to the Grardian. All the papers on Paftoral Poetry, except one by Pope, in his own praife, are written by Tickell.

When the Tory Ministry were negociating with France, before the conclufion of the peace of Utrecht, he published The Profpect of Peace, a poem, addressed to Dr. Robinfon, Bishop of Bristol, the Lord Privy-Seal, one of the negociators, the tendency of which was to reclaim the nation from the pride of conqueft, to the pleasures of tranquillity.

To the Whigs, who difapproved of the peace then negociating, the tendency of Tickell's poem could not be pleafing. Addifon, however, in the candor of liberal criticism, overlooking the politics, bestowed in the "Spectator" very great praise on the poetry.

It was read at that time with fo much eagerness, that fix editions were fold. The quick fale of a compofition on a temporary fubject is no teft of its intrinfic merit; the despicable bigotry of Sacheverell had a much more extensive sale, than Tickell's poem, which deferved a favourable reception, though Dr. Johnson "found it a piece to be approved rather than admired."

On the appearance of Cato, when fo many made offerings of verfes to the author, Tickell, who loved and venerated Addison as a father, contributed a copy of verses, fuperior, perhaps, to any written on the fubject, except the prologue by Pope, and the verfes by Jeffries.

Tickell had been a ftrenuous fupporter of the Hanover fucceffion, and other measures, resulting from principles of freedom; and on the acceflion and arrival of King George, he produced a poem, intituled the Royal Progrefs, which was inferted and praised in "the Spectator," No. 620. The pleafing emotions excited in a benevolent king, by the view of Lational industry and profperity, con、 ftitute the most beautiful and interefting parts of the poem.

When the friends of the reigning family were apprehenfive of defigns to its prejudice, he wrote An Epiftle from a Lady in England to 4 Gentleman at Avignon, against the Pretender and his abettors, which, Dr. Johnfon fays, "stands high among party poems; it expreffes contempt without coarsenefs, and fuperiority without infolence. It had the fuccefs which it deferved, being five times printed."

He was now patronised at Court; and when Addison went into Ireland as Secretary to Lord Sunderland, he took him thither, and employed him in public bafinefs.