e distinguished
himself by his financial achievements in founding the Bank of England
and reforming the currency, and became a peer and a member of the great
Whig junto. At college he had been a chum of Prior, who joined him in a
literary squib directed against Dryden, and, as he rose, he employed
his friend in diplomacy. But the poetry by which Prior is known to us
was of a later growth, and was clearly not the cause but the consequence
of his preferment. At a later time, Halifax sent Addison abroad with the
intention of employing him in a similar way; and it is plain that
Addison was not--as the familiar but obviously distorted anecdote tells
us--preferred on account of his brilliant Gazette in rhyme, but really
in fulfilment of his patron's virtual pledge. Halifax has also the
credit of bestowing office upon Newton and patronising Congreve. As poet
and patron Halifax was carrying on a tradition. The aristocracy in
Charles's days had been under the impression that poetry, or at least
verse writing, was becoming an accomplishment for a nobleman. Pope's
'mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease,' Rochester and Buckingham, Dorset
and Sedley, and the like, managed some very clever, if not very exalted,
performances and were courted by the men of letters represented by
Butler, Dryden, and Otway. As, indeed, the patrons were themselves
hangers-on of a thoroughly corrupt court, seeking to rise by court
intrigues, their patronage was apt to be degrading and involved the
mean flattery of personal dependence. The change at the Revolution meant
that the court no longer overshadowed society. The court, that is, was
beginning to be superseded by the town. The new race of statesmen were
coming to depend upon parliamentary influence instead of court favour.
They were comparatively, therefore, shining by their own light. They
were able to dispose of public appointments; places on the various
commissions which had been founded as parliament took control of the
financial system--such as commissions for the wine-duties, for licensing
hackney coaches, excise duties, and so forth--besides some of the other
places which had formerly been the perquisites of the courtier. They
could reward personal dependants at the cost of the public; which was
convenient for both parties. Promising university students, like Prior
and Addison, might be brought out under the wing of the statesman, and
no doubt literary merit, especially in conjunction with the rig