At the time of the publication of the first volume of Pope's "Homer," he published the first Book of the Iliad, as tranflated by himself, in apparent oppofition to Pope's tranflation, with an elegant dedication, to the memory of Halifax.

To apologise for presenting his version to the public at such a juncture, this advertisement was prefixed: "I must inform the reader, that when I began this first book, I had fome thoughts of tranflating the whole Iliad; but I had the pleasure of being diverted from that defign, by finding the work was fallen into a much abler hand; I would not, therefore, be thought to have any other view in publishing this small specimen of Homer's Iliad, than to bespeak, if poflible, the favour of the public to a trauflation of Homer's Odyffey, wherein I have already made fome progrefs."

Addison declared that the verfions were both good, but that Tickell's was the best that ever was made; and with Addison, the wits, his adherents and followers, concurred in opinion.

Pope did not long think Addison an impartial judge; for he confidered him as the writer of Tickell's verfion, and appealed to the people as his proper judges," and if they are not inclined to condemn me," fays he, "I am in little care about the highfliers at Button's."

The reasons for his fufpicion have been tranfcribed by Dr. Johnson, from Spence's MS. Collec tions.

"There had been a coldness (faid Mr. Pope,) between Mr. Addison and me for fome time; and we had not been in company together for a good while, any where but at Button's Coffeehouse, where I used to see him almost every day. On his meeting me there one day in particular, he took me afide; and said he would be glad to dine with me at fuch a tavern, if I ftaid till thofe people were gone (Budgell and Philips). He went accordingly; and, after dinner, Mr. Addison faid, that he had wanted for fome time to talk with me; that his friend Tickell had formerly, whilst at Oxford, translated the firft Book of the Iliad; that he designed to print it; and had defired him to look it oyer; that he must therefore beg that I would not defire him to look over my first book; because, if he did, it would have the air of double dealing. I affured him, that I did not at all take it ill of Mr. Tickell, that he was going to publifh his tranflation; that he certainly had as much right to tranflate any author as myfelf; and that publishing both was entering on a fair ftage. I then added, that I would not defire him to look over my first book of the Iliad, because he had looked over Mr. Tickell's; but could wish to have the benefit of his obfervations on my second, which I had then finished, and which Mr. Tickell had not touched upon. Accordingly, I fent him the second book the next morning; and, Mr. Addison, a few days after, returned it, with very high commendations. Soon after, it was generally known that Mr. Tickell was publishing the first Book of the Iliad, I met Dr. Young in the street; and, upon our falling into that subject, the Doctor expressed a great deal of surprise at Tickell's having had fuch a translation so long by him. He faid, that it was inconceivable to him; and that there must be fome mistake in the matter; that each used to communicate to each other whatever verses they wrote, even to the least things; that Tickell could not be bufied in so long a work there, without his knowing fomething of the matter; and that he had never heard a single word on it, till on this occasion. This furprife of Dr. Young, together with what Steele has faid against Tickell, in relation to this affair, make it highly probable, that there was fome underhand dealing in that bufinefs; and indeed, Tickell himfelf, who is a very fair, worthy man, has fince, in a manner, as good as owned it to me. When it was introduced into

a conversation between Mr. Tickell and Mr. Pope, by a third person, Tickell did not deny it; which, confidering his honour and zeal for his departed friend, was the fame as owning it."

Upon these fufpicions, Pope, always in his " Art of Sinking," quotes this verfion as the work of Addison; though the circumstances of the publication, not only do not prove that Addison was the translator, but do not even render probable the charge of meanness and difingenuity alleged by Pope against him; the opinions of Young and Steele are no proof.

Addison had a very great affection for Tickell, and might have revised his verfion, and approved of the publication, to confer a pecuniary obligation on him, by promoting a subscription for his Ody. But, it is evident, that he had no intention to oppofe Pope; for, at the time of the appear ance of Tickell's verfion, oppofition to Pope could not do him any material injury. His fubfcription

was full, and his contract with his bookseller completely performed. Had Addison wished to obftru& Pope's tranflation, the time for effecting his purpose, would have been when the subscription was beginning. He might then have promoted a subscription for Tickell, which would have interfered with Pope's. The influence of Addison with the Whigs, was fully equal to that of Swift with the Tories. With thofe, who were of neither party, his recommendation would have had more weight than Swift's, because he was in greater estimation, for elegant literature in general, and particularly for claffical knowledge.

The circumftance of the time of publication, which provoked the irritable disposition of Pope, who fuppofed his character and interest so much concerned, is fufficiently explained by the advertisement above quoted. This advertisement was industriously suppressed, in Pope's publication on the subject. That Addifon had any intention of publishing a version of the Iliad, there is no evidence even probable. Had he been actuated by jealousy, envy, or malevolence, it is not probable he would have spoke fo highly of Pope's Iliad as he did in " The Freeholder."

"The tranflation of the first book of the Iliad," fays Mr. Nichols, "which has been afcribed to Tickell, was faid to be in reality the production of Addison, to prejudice that which Pope had undertaken; a notion certainly without foundation. Mr. Watts the printer, affured a friend of mine, that the tranflation of the first book of the Iliad was in Tickell's band-writing, but much corre&ed and interlined by Addifon.

To compare the two tranflations would be tedious; the fuperiority is univerfally allowed to Pope. Tickell has, perhaps, more of the fimple majefty of Homer; but his verfion is inferior to that of Pope, in force, animation, elegance, and harmony.

In 1717, when Addison was appointed Secretary of State, he made Tickell under-fecretary. When Addison's ill health obliged him to refign, he so effectually recommended Tickell to the patronage of Craggs, his fucceffor, that he was continued in place till that gentleman's death.

Addifon's appointment of Tickell to be his under-secretary, is faid to have been displeasing, on fome account, to Steele, who warmly oppofed it; and his opposition having been reported to Tickell, produced a coldnefs between them, which might be aggravated by the controversy between Addifon and Steele, on the Peerage bill.

His friendship with Addison seems to have continued without abatement; for when that great man died, he left him the charge of publishing his works, which, on his death-bed, he had dedicated to Craggs.

To the works of Addison, which appeared foon after his death, in 4 vols. 4to, he prefixed an account of his life, and an elegy on his death, addreffed to the Earl of Warwick, his fon-in-law, replete with genuine tenderness. It is the effusion of a refined mind, lamenting the death of a friend of the highest intellectual and moral excellence; whofe value it completely comprehended, and whofe lofs it poignantly felt.

In his life of Addifon he charged Steele with affuming the credit of Addifon's papers in the "Spectator," an imputation from which Steele vindicated himself in the dedication of "the Drummer," to Congreve.

It is a remarkable circumftance, that Craggs, to whom Addison had dedicated his works, died before they were published; and that Lord Warwick, to whom the verses on Addifon were dedicated, died likewife before their publication.

Tickell's intereft with the great did not expire with his friend. His merit enabled him to retain and improve the footing on which he had been placed by Addison. In 1725, he was appointed fecretary to the Lord Justices of Ireland, a place of great honour, trust, and emolument, in which he 'continued till his death, which happened at Bath, April 23, 1740, in the 54th year of his age.

He was married, and had children, the eldest of whom was the father of Richard Tickell, Efq. one of the Committioners of the Stamp-office, and author of "The Wreath of Fashion,” a poem ; "Anticipation of the Debates of the House of Commons," 1778; "The Carnival of Venice,” an opera; and other ingenious performances.

He died at Hampton Court, Nov. 4. 1793, univerfally beloved and lamented, leaving three chil dren by his wife, Mifs Linley, the fifter of the lovely Mrs. Sheridan, wife of the celebrated Richard Brindley Sheridan, Ffq who died in 1787.

6

His poems were printed in the second volume of " The Minor Poets," 1749, and have been frequently reprinted.

Tickell is faid to have been a man of most pleasing manners, and of unqueftioned honour and integrity. His conversation was gay and lively; he was a very agreeable companion, at least a temperate lover of wine and conviviality, and in domestic relations without cenfure. His writings dif cover a good understanding, an extensive knowledge of claffical literature, a refined taste, and a feeling heart.

As a poet, he is characterised by elegance of diction, correctness of judgment, tenderness of sentiment, opulence of allufion, and harmony of numbers.

His verfification exceeds Addifon's, and is inferior to few of the English pocts, except Dryden and Pope.

Most of his pieces, particularly the Prospect of Peace; the Royal Progrefs; the Letter to Avignon ; Oxford; Kensington Gardens; Epifle to a Lady before Marriage, and the Elegy on the death of Addison, are distinguished by a judicious combination of ornament and fimplicity; a happy mixture of fentiment and description, and a rare union of the beauties of style, and the elegancies of verfification, with the niceties of method, connection, and arrangement.

Of Tickell, it has been faid by Goldsmith, that through all his poetry, there is a flrain of Ballad-thinking to be found: The remark is just, and to that strain he is not a little indebted for the reception he has met with; whether he had it from reading, or from nature, cannot now be known, as no memoirs of his life are fatisfactory enough to inform us of his particular ftudies. His beautiful ballad of Colin and Lucy, probably affumed a tincture of tenderness and fimplicity, from his taste for our obfcurer writers; a tafte which his friend Addison undoubtedly poffeffed in a degree fuperior to any of his contemporaries, except Rowe, as appears by his elegant critique on Chevy Chace," and various scattered notices of a congenial nature in his periodical papers.

"In the few things that Tickell wrote," says Dr. Warton, “there appear to be a peculiar terfenefs and neatness. Highly elegant and polished are his Verfes on Addison's death."

« The Elegy on Addifon," says Dr. Johnson, “could owe none of its beauties to the affistance which might be fufpected to have strengthened or embellished his earlier compofitions; but neither he nor Addifon ever produced nobler lines than are contained in the third and fourth paragraphs; nor is a more fublime or more elegant funeral poem to be found in the whole compass of English literature. "Of his Royal Progrefs, it is just to say, that it is neither high nor low. Of his Kensington Gardens, the verfification is smooth and elegant, but the fiction unfkilfully compounded of Grecian deities and Gothic fairies. Neither fpecies of these exploded beings could have done much; and when they are Brought together, they only make each other contemptible.

"To Tickell, however, cannot be denied a high place among the minor poets; nor should it be forgotten that he was one of the contributors to the Spectator."

If by the term minor poet, the quantity of his poetry is meant, he is not improperly fo called; but if the quality is thereby understood, it is a difparagement. If he cannot be placed in the first rank of poets, he has at least an unexceptionable claim to the fecond.

Cc iiij

SUPPOSED AUTHOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
In courts licentious, and a fhameless stage,
How long the war shall wit with virtue wage?