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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Among the many poems doubtfully attributed to John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, is a group of seven lyrics which challenges attention because it poses problems of authorship that have continued to baffle Rochester's editors and biographers. These lyrics are linked not only by rather evident stylistic similarities but, more importantly, by the fact that in various early texts all seven are said to be “by my Ld. R.” Their attribution to Rochester appears, indeed, to rest solely on the premise that he is this enigmatic “my Ld. R.,” a premise accepted both by contemporary observers and by twentieth-century scholars. Investigation of the available evidence reveals, however, that such an assumption is scarcely warranted. The poems in question, which I number for reference, include (1) “A Song” (“While in Divine Panthea's Charming Eyes”), (2) “A Song” (“Pity, Fair Sapho, one that dies”), (3) “A Psean, or Song of Triumph, on the Translation and Apotheosis of King Charles the Second” (“0 Muse, to whom the Glory does belong”), (4) “Out of Horace” (“While I was Monarch of your Heart”), (5) “Cornelius Gallus Imitated. A Lyrick” (“My Goddess, Lydia, Heav'nly Fair”), (6) “Apollo's Grief, For having Kill'd Hyacinth by Accident. In Imitation of Ovid” (“Sweet Hyacinth, my Life! my Joy”), and (7) “Song” (“Where is he gone whom I Adore”).
1 For helpful criticisms during the preparation of this paper I am grateful to Professors Maynard Mack and James M. Osborn of Yale Univ. Professor Osborn very kindly permitted me to consult his collection of 17th-century poetical manuscripts. I am indebted to Professors Arthur Mizener, of Cornell Univ., and Richard C. Boys, of the Univ. of Michigan, for assistance in locating various printed texts in miscellanies.
2 Collected Works of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (London, 1926), pp. 118–119, 137–138; The Poetical Works of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (London, 1933), pp. 127, 191–192; John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (Leipzig, 1927), pp. 64, 110, 150, 320, 330, 331, 452; The Court Wits of the Restoration (Princeton, 1948), p. 102.
3 Poems by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (London, 1953), p. 174.
4 AU 4 poems are printed with ascriptions to “My Ld. R.” in Examen Poeticum, 1693 (Case 172–3-a) and 1693 (Case 172–3-b) but are omitted from later editions of this miscellany. “A Song” (No. 2) is printed in the Gentleman's Journal for May 1692 (Day and Murrie 114) as “A Song set by Mr. J. Franck [Johann Wolfgang]: the Words by a Person of Honour.” “Case” numbers are taken from Arthur E. Case, A Bibliography of English Poetical Miscellanies, 1521–1750 (Oxford, 1935), and will hereafter be cited as “C” numbers; “Day and Murrie” numbers are taken from Cyrus L. Day and Eleanore B. Murrie, English Song-Books, 1651–1702 (Oxford, 1940).
5 The two genuine poems are “A Song. By the Earl of Rochester” (“Insulting Beauty, you mispend”), p. 381, and “Another Song In Imitation of Sir John Eaton's Songs. By the Late Earl of Rochester” (“Too late, alas! I must confess”), p. 424; both poems continue to be reprinted in later editions of Examen Poeticum. For the authorship and early texts of these two lyrics, see my note, “Two Rochester Songs,” N&Q, cci (1956), 338–339.
6 All 3 poems are printed with ascriptions to “my Ld. R.” in The Annual Miscellany, 1694 (C 172–4-a) and 1708 (C 172–4-b). “Cornelius Gallus Imitated” (No. 5) continues to be reprinted with the same ascription in 1716 (C 172–4-c) and 1727 (C 172–4-d).
7 According to advertisements in the London Gazette (Nos. 2889, 2890, 2986), Examen Poeticum was published on 24 July 1693, The Annual Miscellany on 26 June 1694. These advertisements are not mentioned by Hugh Macdonald, who refers only to the notices in the Gentleman's Journal (John Dryden: A Bibliography, Oxford, 1939, pp. 73, 75). For evidence suggesting that Examen Poeticum was not published until Aug. 1693, see Charles E. Ward, The Letters of John Dryden (Durham, N. C., 1942), pp. 56, 165–166.
8 1721, II, 656. The passage is reprinted in the Bliss edition, III (1817), 1232. It does not appear in the account of Rochester in the 1st edition, II (1692), 488–491. There is, of course, some question as to the extent to which Wood, who died in 1695, was responsible for the added information in the 2nd edition.
9 Curll's source for these 2 poems was probably the edition of 1706 (C 172–3-c), since he does not reprint the 4 poems which are ascribed to “My Ld. R.” in the 2 issues of the 1st edition, 1693 (C 172–3-a and 172–3-b).
10 “Out of Horace” is ascribed to Rochester in The Odes and Satires of Horace, 1715 (C 286) and to “my Lord Ratcliff” in 1715 (C 287), 1717 (C 287-b), 1721 (C 287-c), 1730 (C 287-d), and Dublin, 1730 (not in Case).
11 The poem appears without ascription in Tonson's Miscellany Poems, 1684 (C 172–1-a), 1692 (C 172–1-b), 1692 (C 172–1-c), 1702 (C 172–1-d), 1716 (C 172–1-e), and 1727 (C 172–1-f). From one of these editions it was reprinted in The Odes and Satires of Horace, 1715 (C 286), where it is headed “By the E____ of R____” and described more fully in the table of contents as “By the E. of Rochester.” In Tonson's The Odes and Satyrs of Horace, 1715 (C 287), however, the heading of the poem indicates that it was “Printed in the First Part of Miscellany Poems, Page 104,” and a footnote states that it was “Not written by the E____ of R____ ” This statement, carrying the authority of the original publisher of the poem, appears to rule out the possibility of Rochester's authorship. The poem continues to be reprinted in 1717 (C 287-b), 1721 (C 287-c), 1730 (C 287-d), and Dublin, 1730 (not in Case). A further text occurs without ascription in James Osborn's collection in a manuscript catalogued as Box xxii, No. 20. This text was, however, apparently copied from some edition of Miscellany Poems.
12 G. E. C., The Complete Peerage, ed. Vicary Gibbs, IV (London, 1916), 224–225. Radclyffe's Christian name is sometimes given incorrectly as “Francis.”
13 The quotations from the dedication to Examen Poeticum are taken from Essays of John Dryden, ed. W. P. Ker (Oxford, 1900), II, 1–14. James Osborn conjectures that Dryden's reading of his translations from Ovid took place at Radclyffe's town house rather than at his country estate (John Dryden: Some Biographical Facts and Problems, New York, 1940, p. 204). John Robert Moore, of Indiana University, has suggested to me that Dryden may have selected Radclyffe as a potential patron because Radclyffe, in addition to being a literary amateur, was a fellow Jacobite and Roman Catholic.
14 Both lampoons appear in Poems on Affairs of State (London, 1703), pp. 255 and 248, respectively (C 211–2-a). It is perhaps significant that Dryden, writing to Mrs. Steward on 23 Feb. 1699/1700, reported that “the Poem of The Confederates some think to be Mr. Walsh” (Ward, p. 133). Radclyffe may possibly be the “my Lord R.” whom William Walsh, writing on 25 July 1691, suspected of collaborating in a lampoon against him (Osborn, p. 214).
15 “Cornelius Gallus Imitated” (No. 5) is reprinted without ascription in The Hive (London, 1725) (C 331–3-a), 1729 (C 331–3-c), and 1732 (C 331–3-d); in The Tea-Table Miscellany (Dublin, 1729) (C 333-c), 1733 (C 333-i), 1734 (C 333-j), and 1750 (C 333–1); in The Vocal Miscellany (London, 1734) (C 388–1-b), 1738 (C 388–1-c), and 1738 (C 388–1-d); in The Cupid (London, 1736) (C 404) and 1739 (C 404-b); and in the Nightingale (London, 1738) (C 420). “Song” (No. 7) is reprinted without ascription in The Cupid, 1736 and 1739. Five of Radclyffe's 7 poems (Nos. 3–7) occur in Osborn MS. Box xxii, No. 20, 4 of them with ascriptions to “my Ld. R.” These manuscript texts were, however, apparently copied from Examen Poeticum and The Annual Miscellany.