Lives of the Poets | Page 2

evil into good. Through all the generous and kindly narrative we may
see clearly that Savage was an impostor. There is the heart of Johnson
in the noble appeal against judgment of the self-righteous who have
never known the harder trials of the world, when he says of Savage,
"Those are no proper judges of his conduct, who have slumbered away

their time on the down of plenty; nor will any wise man easily presume
to say, 'Had I been in Savage's condition, I should have lived or written
better than Savage.'" But Johnson, who made large allowance for
temptations pressing on the poor, himself suffered and overcame the
hardest trials, firm always to his duty, true servant of God and friend of
man.
Richard Savage's whole public life was built upon a lie. His base nature
foiled any attempt made to befriend him; and the friends he lost, he
slandered; Richard Steele among them. Samuel Johnson was a friend
easy to make, and difficult to lose. There was no money to be got from
him, for he was altogether poor in everything but the large spirit of
human kindness. Savage drew largely on him for sympathy, and had it;
although Johnson was too clear-sighted to be much deceived except in
judgment upon the fraudulent claims which then gave rise to division
of opinion. The Life of Savage is a noble piece of truth, although it
rests on faith put in a fraud.
H. M.
ADDISON.
Joseph Addison was born on the 1st of May, 1672, at Milston, of which
his father, Lancelot Addison, was then rector, near
Ambrosebury, in
Wiltshire, and, appearing weak and unlikely to live, he was christened
the same day. After the usual domestic education, which from the
character of his father may be reasonably supposed to have given him
strong impressions of piety, he was committed to the care of Mr. Naish
at Ambrosebury, and afterwards of Mr. Taylor at Salisbury.
Not to name the school or the masters of men illustrious for literature,
is a kind of historical fraud, by which honest fame is injuriously
diminished: I would therefore trace him through the whole process of
his education. In 1683, in the beginning of his twelfth year, his father,
being made Dean of Lichfield, naturally carried his family to his new
residence, and, I believe, placed him for some time, probably not long,
under Mr. Shaw, then master of the school at Lichfield, father of the
late Dr. Peter Shaw. Of this interval his biographers have given no

account, and I know it only from a story of a BARRING-OUT, told me,
when I was a boy, by Andrew Corbet, of Shropshire, who had heard it
from Mr. Pigot, his uncle.
The practice of BARRING-OUT was a savage licence, practised in
many schools to the end of the last century, by which the boys, when
the periodical vacation drew near, growing petulant at the approach of
liberty, some days before the time of regular recess, took
possession
of the school, of which they barred the doors, and bade their master
defiance from the windows. It is not easy to suppose that on such
occasions the master would do more than laugh; yet, if tradition may be
credited, he often struggled hard to force or surprise the garrison. The
master, when Pigot was a schoolboy, was BARRED OUT at Lichfield;
and the whole operation, as he said, was planned and conducted by
Addison.
To judge better of the probability of this story, I have inquired when he
was sent to the Chartreux; but, as he was not one of those who enjoyed
the founder's benefaction, there is no account preserved of his
admission. At the school of the Chartreux, to which he was removed
either from that of Salisbury or Lichfield, he pursued his juvenile
studies under the care of Dr. Ellis, and contracted that intimacy with Sir
Richard Steele which their joint labours have so effectually recorded.
Of this memorable friendship the greater praise must be given to Steele.
It is not hard to love those from whom nothing can be feared; and
Addison never considered Steele as a rival; but Steele lived, as he
confesses, under an habitual subjection to the predominating genius of
Addison, whom he always mentioned with reverence, and treated with
obsequiousness.
Addison, who knew his own dignity, could not always forbear to show
it, by playing a little upon his admirer; but he was in no danger of retort;
his jests were endured without resistance or resentment. But the sneer
of jocularity was not the worst. Steele, whose imprudence of generosity,
or vanity of profusion, kept him always incurably necessitous, upon
some pressing exigence, in an evil hour, borrowed a hundred pounds of

his friend probably without much purpose of repayment; but Addison,
who