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NICHOLAS ROWE.

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ROWE.

1673-1718.

Torn at Little Barford, in Bedfordshire Educated at Westminster Entered at the Middle Temple — His first Tragedy, 'The Ambitious Stepmother' His other Tragedies Made Poet Laureate Translates Lucan Buried in Westminster Abbey - Works and Character.

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NICHOLAS ROWE was born at Little Berkford [or Barford], in Bedfordshire, in 1673. His family had long possessed a considerable estate, with a good house, at Lamerton, in Devonshire. The ancestor from whom he descended in a direct line received the arms borne by his descendants for his bravery in the Holy War. His father, John Rowe, who was the first that quitted. his paternal acres to practise any art of profit, professed the law, and published Benlow's and Dallison's Reports in the reign of James the Second, when, in opposition to the notions, then diligently propagated, of dispensing power, he ventured to remark how low his authors rated the prerogative. He was made a serjeant, and died April 30, 1692. He was buried in the Temple church.

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Nicholas was first sent to a private school at Highgate; and, being afterwards removed to Westminster, was at twelve years3 chosen one of the King's scholars. His master was Busby, who suffered none of his scholars to let their powers lie useless; and his exercises in several languages are said to have been written

'His baptism is not recorded in the register of Little Barford.

2 John Rowe, of Lamerton in com. Devon, and Elizabeth daughter of Jasper Edwards, Esq., were married Sept. 25, anno dñi. 1673.—Register of Little Barford. If Elizabeth Edwards was Rowe's mother, his birth is placed at least a year too soon.

He was not elected till 1688.

with uncommon degrees of excellence, and yet to have cost him very little labour.

At sixteen he had, in his father's opinion, made advances in learning sufficient to qualify him for the study of law, and was entered a student of the Middle Temple, where for some time he read statutes and reports, with proficiency proportionate to the force of his mind, which was already such that he endeavoured to comprehend law, not as a series of precedents, or collection of positive precepts, but as a system of rational government, and impartial justice.

When he was nineteen, he was by the death of his father left more to his own direction, and probably from that time suffered law gradually to give way to poetry. At twenty-five he produced [1700] The Ambitious Stepmother,' which was received with so much favour, that he devoted himself from that time wholly to elegant literature.1

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His next tragedy (1702) was Tamerlane,' in which, under the name of Tamerlane, he intended to characterise King William, and Lewis the Fourteenth under Bajazet. The virtues of Tamerlane seem to have been arbitrarily assigned him by his poet, for I know not that history gives any other qualities than those which make a conqueror. The fashion, however, of the time was, to accumulate upon Lewis all that can raise horror and detestation; and whatever good was withheld from him, that it might not be thrown away, was bestowed upon King William.

This was the tragedy which Rowe valued most, and that which probably, by the help of political auxiliaries, excited most applause; but occasional poetry must often content itself with occasional praise. "Tamerlane' has for a long time been acted only once a year, on the night when King William landed.

We have had two new plays: a tragedy called 'The Ambitious Stepmother,' written by Mr. Rowe, of the Temple, and a very good one; another, &c.-CONGREVE to Keally, Jan. 28, 1700. (Berkeley's Literary Relics,' 8vo. 1789, p. 319.) 'The Ambitious Stepmother' was produced at Lincoln's-Inn-Fields Theatre, Betterton and Mrs. Barry having prominent parts in it. Downes, the prompter (Rosc. Angl.' 1708, p. 45), says that it was very well acted, and answered the company's expectations.

1673-1718.

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THE FAIR PENITENT.'

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Our quarrel with Lewis has been long over; and it now gratifies neither zeal nor malice to see him painted with aggravated features, like a Saracen upon a sign.3

The Fair Penitent,' his next production (1703), is one of the most pleasing tragedies on the stage, where it still keeps its turns of appearing, and probably will long keep them, for there is scarcely any work of any poet at once so interesting by the fable, and so delightful by the language. The story is domestic, and therefore easily received by the imagination, and assimilated to common life; the diction is exquisitely harmonious, and soft or sprightly as occasion requires.

The character of Lothario seems to have been expanded by Richardson into Lovelace; but he has excelled his original in the moral effect of the fiction. Lothario, with gaiety which cannot be hated, and bravery which cannot be despised, retains too much of the spectator's kindness. It was in the power of Richardson alone to teach us at once esteem and detestation, to make virtuous resentment overpower all the benevolence which wit, elegance, and courage naturally excite; and to lose at last the hero in the villain."

The fifth act is not equal to the former; the events of the drama are exhausted, and little remains but to talk of what is past. It has been observed, that the title of the play does not sufficiently correspond with the behaviour of Calista, who at last shows no evident signs of repentance, but may be reasonably suspected of feeling pain from detection rather than from guilt, and expresses more shame than sorrow, and more rage than shame."

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His next (1706) was Ulysses;' which, with the common fate of mythological stories, is now generally neglected. We

5 Betterton played Tamerlane, and the tragedy, first produced at Lincoln'sInn-Fields Theatre, became-what Downes says it became "a stock play." King William landed on the 5th Nov. 1688, and 'Tamerlane' was played at Drury Lane on the anniversary of his landing, as late as 1815.

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6 Johnson has omitted to observe that the plot of The Fair Penitent' is almost wholly borrowed from The Fatal Dowry' of Massinger. Rowe, it is said, meditated publishing an edition of Massinger.

7 Downes describes it as a very good play for three acts, "but failing in the two last, answered not the expectation of the actors" (p. 46).

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