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WILLIAM GIFFORD, ESQR

Engraved for the

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE,

Published Oct 1 1818 by Henry Colburn, Conduit Street

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MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS, tinglarne ke tamura

WILLIAM GIFFORD, ESQ.
(With a Portrait.)

As the gentleman whose portrait enriches our present number has given an interesting and unassuming account of himself in the Introduction to his version of Juvenal, we are relieved from the necessity of doing more than adapting the same to the ordinary form of biographis cal composition.

Mr. GIFFORD speaks with peculiar modesty of his family, though he observes that his great-grandfather possessed considerable property at Halsworth, a parish near Ashburton, whence it is inferred that he was a native of Devonshire. Of this there can be no doubt, for the name is of old standing in that county, and though spelt with a slight variation, the different branches of GIFFORD and GIFFARD certainly sprang from the same stock, as we could prove from pedigrees which have passed through our hands, as well as from the collections of Sir William Pole and other local historians.

The grandfather of Mr. Gifford was a very dissipated man, and his son was equally wild, running away from the grammar-school at Exeter, and entering on board a ship of war, from which being recovered, he was placed again at school, but eloped a second time, and became an associate with the noted Bampfylde Moore Carew, whose history is still fresh in remembrance through all the western counties. On leaving this extraordinary person, Edward Gifford articled himself to a plumber and glazier, which business he afterwards carried on at South Molton, in his native county, having succeeded to two small estates, and married the daughter of a carpenter at Ashburton. Being, however, of a restless disposition, and fond of company, he got into trouble, which drove him once more to sea, while his wife, then pregnant of our author, returned to Ashburton, where she was delivered in April, 1756.

The resources of the poor woman Were very scanty, consisting only of the rent of three or four small fields, which yet remained unsold. With these, however, she economized as well as she could, and when her child was old enough to go to school, he was sent to a woman of the name of Parret, from whom he learned to read in the spelling

book. In 1764, the father returned. from sea; but though he had been at the taking of the Havannal, he brought home with him very little of the prize money and wages which he had received. However, with that, and the sale of the small landed property which remained, he was enabled to set up business a second time as a glazier and house painter. The son, now about eight years old, was put to the freeschool, kept by Mr. Hugh Smerdon, where he learnt writing and common arithmetic. At the age of eleven he lost his father, and the widow, who was burthened with a second child about six or eight months old, was imprudent enough to keep on the business, trusting solely to a couple of journeymen, who wasted the property and embezzled her money. In less than a twelvemonth she also died of extreme grief, leaving two orphans entirely destitute..

The effects that remained were seized by an unfeeling creditor, who alleged claims, on the score of money advanced, which no one could dispute. The youngest child was sent to the almshouse, followed by his nurse out of pure affection, and the eldest was taken home by the person just mentioned, who happened to be his god-father. Respect for the opinion of the town, which was that he had fully repaid himself, by the sale of the property, induced him to send the youth again to school; but in less than three months he took him away to follow the plough. The boy, how ever, was too delicate for such laborious work, and he had besides an unconquer able aversion to it, which induced his oppressor to look out for some other employment. With this design he conducted him to Dartmouth, in the hope of sending him to Newfoundland; but the merchant to whom he applied for that purpose refused to take him, on account of his diminutive stature. The god-father now placed him as cabin boy with the master of a coasting sloop at Brixham, in which vessel he remained about twelve months, and was then unexpectedly fetched home by a messenger to Ashburton, where the people, commiserating his condition, interested themselves so warmly in his favour, that his god-father, fearing their resentment, thought it most prudent to

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Memoir of William Gifford, Esq.

recall the object of their pity from the state of wretchedness to which he was reduced. This was at Christmas; and after the holidays the youth was placed once more at school, where he made a very rapid progress in his learning, and was soon qualified to assist his master in teaching the other boys. He was now in his fifteenth year, and began to form the visionary hope of being able to set up as a schoolmaster himself, when the harsh controller of his will took the resolution of binding him to a shoemaker. This was a sore disappointment, but resistance was useless, and the indentures being duly executed, our author was condemned to the awl and the last for the space of seven long years. To increase his misfortune, his new master was a surly Presbyterian, full of the obstinacy of his sect, and a determined enemy to literature. With such a man it was not likely that the boy could add much to his little stock of knowledge; still, as he did not despair of one day succeeding Mr. Hugh Smerdon in the free-school, he secretly prosecuted his favourite study of arithmetic at every interval of leisure. These intervals were not frequent, and when the use he made of them was discovered, they became less so: the reason of which for some time he was at a loss to discover, but at length it appeared that the shoemaker destined his own son for the same situation.

Our apprentice at this time possessed but one book in the world, and this was a Treatise on Algebra, given to him by a young woman who had found it in a lodging-house. This he considered as a treasure, but it was a treasure locked up; for it supposed the reader to be already well acquainted with simple equation, and of that he had no knowledge. His master's son, however, had purchased Fenning's Introduction, and this book, which is extremely simple, young Gifford contrived to read without being discovered, which prepared him thoroughly for comprehending the Treatise he already possessed. But there were still other obstacles, for he had not a farthing to purchase pen, ink, and paper, to supply which he beat out pieces of leather, and wrought problems on them with a blunted awl. Hitherto he was a stranger to poetry, and scarcely knew it by name. His first attempt at versifying was occasioned by a whimsical circumstance. A country painter had engaged to paint a sign for an ale-house; but instead of giving the representation of a lion, he exhibited a dog. This produced much

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mirth, and one of Gifford's acquaintance
being instigated by it to write some dog-
grel rhymes, our author was stimulated
to try his skill in composition, and suc-
ceeded so well that his shopmates
pronounced his verses the best. An-
other occurrence, equally trivial, pro-
duced new verses, and these were
so much the subject of conversation,
that his master threatened to punish him
if he wrote any more, being apprehen-
sive lest the youthful bard should take
it into his head to berhyme some of his
customers. But the verses already com-
posed were in circulation, and the au-
thor was deemed a rising genius, who
deserved encouragement. Little collec-
tions were therefore made for him, and
the money thus acquired enabled him to
prosecute his studies, by supplying him
occasionally with paper and even mathe-
matical books. No sooner, however, did
his master hear the praises that were be
stowed upon his apprentice, than his
anger kindled,-the garret was searched,
the hoard of books removed, and all ap-
plication to study rigorously prohibited.
This severe stroke was followed by the
death of the schoolmaster, who was suc-
ceeded by a person of very inferior en-
dowments, and thus the fondest hope
which our author had cherished, and to
which he had still clung under all the per-
secution of his tyrant, was blasted. At
this period, Providence raised him a true
friend, by whose benevolence he was res-
cued from thraldom, and placed in cir-
cumstances which opened to him the
prospect of independence. This gene-
rous benefactor was Mr. William Cookes-
ley, a respectable surgeon of Ashburton,
whose curiosity being excited by the
productions of this untaught genius, he
inquired after the author, heard his sim-
ple tale, commiserated his case, and me-
ditated on the means of rendering him
substantial benefit. The plan which sug-
gested itself as the most advisable, was to
raise a sum by subscription for the pur-
chase of the time which the youth had
yet to serve, and to support him for a
few months while he attended the in-
structions of the Rev. Thomas Smerdon.
This design was carried into execution;
and six pounds being paid to the master
for the delivery of the indentures,
William Gifford breathed the air of
freedom, and bade an eternal adieu to
mechanical labour. At the expiration of
the prescribed period it was found that
his progress in learning exceeded the
most sanguine expectations of his pa
trons, who were easily persuaded to con-

1818.]

Memoir of William Gifford, Esq.

tinue their liberality for another year. Nor was their bounty thrown away upon an ungrateful soil, for at the end of two Tears and two months from the day of emancipation, the young man was pronounced fit for the University. The plan of keeping a writing-school, which ad been originally formed, was now abandoned; but how to procure matriculation at Oxford was a serious question. At length the generous zeal of Mr. Cookesley overcame this difficulty also, and by the kindness of Thomas Taylor, esq. the place of Bible reader of Exeter college was procured, which,with occasional assistance from his generous benefactors, would have enabled our student to support himself at the University till he should have taken a degree. During his attendance on Mr. Smerdon he had written several pieces of poetry as exercises, others voluntarily, and not a few at the desire of some esteemed friends. When, however, he became capable of reading Latin and Greek with facility, his tutor employed him, at his leisure hours, in translating from the classics. Among the rest Juvenal engaged his attention, and he translated the tenth satire for a holiday task; with which Mr. Smerdon was so well pleased, that he persuaded him to proceed with the same poet, which produced in succession the third, fourth, eighth, and twelfth Satires. On removing to college, his friend advised him to present the first of these to Dr. Stinton, the senior fellow, and afterwards rector of that house, with his letter of introduction from Mr. Taylor. He did so, and the worthy doctor gave him a very kind reception. Thus encouraged he took up the first and second Satires, when his steady friend, Mr. Cookesley, suggested the plan of going through the whole, and publishing the translation by subscription. This idea was adopted, and our author proceeded to finish three more Satires; while Mr. Cookesley opened a subscription at Ashburton for the publication, and the translator himself did the same at Oxford. The subscripa tion commenced at the former place on the 1st of January, 1781, by Mr. Cookesley, who undertook the management of the concern, and to revise the work; for though not equal to our author as a Latinist, he had more taste and judgment. What advantages might have been derived from these qualifications, there was unhappily no opportunity of ascertaining, as Mr. Cookesley expired suddenly in his chair, hoding an unopened letter of our author's in his hand, on the fifteenth of

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the same month. "Thus," observes. Mr. Gifford, I was not only deprived of a most faithful and affectionate friend, but of a zealous and ever active protector, on whom I confidently relied for support: the sums that were still necessary for me, he always collected and it was to be feared, that the assistance, which was not solicited with warmth, would insensibly cease to be afforded." In this exigency he found another friend in the Rev. Servington Savery, then a beneficed clergyman in Devonshire, and afterwards chaplain of St. Thomas's Hospital, who voluntarily became his patron, and watched over his interests with kindness and attention. The loss of Mr. Cookesley, however, had such an effect on the nerves of Mr. Gifford as to tally incapacitated him for the prosecution of the undertaking at that time, and therefore to relieve his mind he had recourse to other pursuits. He endeavoured to become more intimate with the classics, and to acquire some of the modern languages: by permission, also, or rather recommendation of the rector and fellows, he undertook the care of a few pupils, which removed much of the anxiety respecting the future means of support.

The lapse of many months having tranquillized his mind, he once more returned to the translation; but, as he says, he now discovered that his own inexperience and the partiality of a friend had engaged him in a work, for the due execution of which his literary attainments were by no means sufficient. With equal modesty and integrity, therefore, he laid aside the design for the present, taking care to return the subscription money to those persons who had already put down their names as the encouragers of the work. About this period he contracted an intimacy with a gentleman at Oxford, to whom he had been recommended by a Devonshire friend; and when that person removed to London a correspondence was kept up by letters, those of Mr.Gifford being addressed under cover to Earl Grosvenor. It happened one day, either from hurry or abstraction, that our author forgot to direct his letter which he put into the envelope, and thus it fell into the hands of the nobleman to whom it was addressed, and who was at first as much surprised as Queen Elizabeth was when she opened a packet from her ambassador, Dr. Dale, and found herself accosted with the tender familiarity of "My dearest wife!" Lord Grosvenor, however, soon discovered enough

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Memoir of William Gifford, Esq.

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in the epistle to excite his curiosity to know more of the writer. Accordingly on delivering the letter to the gentleman for whom it was designed, his lordship made some enquiries about his Oxford correspondent, and upon the answer which he received, had the goodness to desire that he might be brought to see him when he came to town. This being communicat ed to Mr. Gifford, he soon after visited London, and waited upon the earl, who asked him what friends he had, and what were his prospects in life; and when our author replied that he had neither one nor the other, the simple story made a deep impression upon his mind. At that time the earl said nothing, but when our author called to take leave, he was informed that his lordship charged himself with his present support and future establishment; adding, moreover, that until the latter could be effected to his wish, he should come and reside in the family. "These were not words of course," says Mr. Gifford; "they were more than fulfilled in every point. I did go and reside with him: and I experienced a warm and cordial reception, a kind and affectionate esteem, that has known neither diminution nor interruption, from that hour to this, a period of twenty years."

In his lordship's house he proceeded with Juvenal, vtill called upon to accompany Lord Belgrave, now Earl Grosvenor, to the continent. With this amiable nobleman he spent many years in two successive tours, and it is alike honourable to both parties that the friendship thus formed has never suffered the slightest abatement.

We have now to add a few words on the literary history of Mr. Gifford. His first publication was the BAVIAD, a Juvenalian poem, written in the purest spirit of satire, and designed for the noble purpose of putting down a corrupt species of poetry which had gained so much ground in this country as to be a libel upon public taste. In 1785 a few English residents at Florence, among whom were Mrs. Piozzi, Mrs. Cowley, Mr. Merry, and the late Sir William Parsons, began to write complimentary verses upon each other. These flimsy effusions of vanity multiplied; and a cargo being sent to England, some of the pieces made their appearance in a fashionable paper called THE WORLD. The first who opened the ball in this poetical theatre were Hannah Cowley and Robert Merry, under the signatures of ANNA MATILDA and DELLA CRUSCA. "There was a specious bril liancy in these exotics," says our author

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in his preface, which dazzled the native grubs, who had scarce ever ventured beyond a sheep and a crook, and a rosetree grove, with an ostentatious display of blue hills, and crashing torrents, and petrifying suns. From admiration to imitation is but a step. Honest Yenda tried his hand at a descriptive ode, and succeeded beyond his hopes; Anna Matilda followed; in a word,

Contagio labem

Hanc dedit in plures, sicut grex totus in agris

Unius scabie cadit, et porrigine porci. While the epidemic malady was spreading from fool to fool, Della Crusca came over, and announced himself by a sonnet to love. Anna Matilda answered it, and the two great luminaries of the age,' as Mr. Bell, the editor, called them, fell desperately in love with each other. From that period not a day passed without an amatory epistle, fraught with thunder, lightning, et quicquid habuit, telorum armamentaria cali. The fever turned to frenzy; Laura-Maria, Carlos, Orlando, Adelaide, and a thousand other" nameless names, caught the infection, and from one end of the kingdom to the other all was nonsense and Della Crusca."

Mr. Gifford says that he waited with patience for some able writer to correct this depravity of public taste, but as no one appeared, he determined to try his own powers, and thus originated the BAVIAD. This vigorous satire, which exceeds any thing that had been seen in the English language, since the days of Pope, was not published till 1794, but its success was flattering to the author, who, in the public approbation and his own consciousness of rectitude, found a strong entrenchment against the hostilities which were commenced by the numerous, though feeble tribe whose enmity he had provoked.

The MAVIAD, which may be considered as the second part of the BAVIAD, came out the year afterwards, and met with a reception equally satisfactory. His next performance was an Epistle to Peter Pindar, in which he castigated him with such severity, that the iras cible satirist, not contented with res torting in some scurrilous verses, enti tuled "A Lash for a Cobler," took an opportunity of attacking our author at a shop in Piccadilly, where Peter fell upon him with a stick most furiously, but was soon disarmed and pushed into the street. While Mr. Gifford was attracting general attention by these performances, he engaged with no less animation in the defence

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