Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/351



actor in ‘Lear’ he relented, and wished the note were out of his book (, Essays, p. 38, ed. 1808, quoted in Chalmers's ‘Life of Mickle’ and Boswell's ‘Johnson,’ ii. 182, ed. Birkbeck Hill).

Mickle gained 1,000l. by the ‘Lusiad,’ but was without regular employment. His friends failed to secure for him a literary pension, and he declined Bishop Lowth's suggestion of taking orders. In 1779 he issued a pamphlet in defence of the East India Company against Adam Smith. In May 1779 Commodore George Johnstone [q. v.] appointed him his secretary in the Romney man-of-war, sailing with a squadron to Portugal. Here Mickle was enthusiastically received. He was made a member of the Royal Academy of Portugal, under the presidency of Prince John, duke of Braganza, who presented him with his portrait. In Lisbon he wrote ‘Almada Hill, an epistle from Lisbon’—a fresh and interesting poem —which he published in 1781, after his return to England. He came back as purser of the Brilliant, and in London was appointed joint agent for disposal of the prizes gained by the squadron. The outcome for himself was a handsome competence for life. He paid off debts in Scotland, settled annuities on his sisters, and married (3 June 1781) Mary Tomkins, the farmer's daughter at Forest Hill, with whom he received a substantial addition to his fortune.

Settling at Wheatley, near Oxford, Mickle began to enjoy literary ease. He had in 1772 published an edition of Pearch's ‘Collection of Poems,’ including in it his own ‘Hengist and May’ and ‘Mary Queen of Scots.’ To Evans's ‘Old Ballads, historical and narrative, with some of Modern Date’ (1777-84), he now contributed his exquisite ballad ‘Cumnor Hall,’ the haunting beauty of which fascinated Scott (Introd. to Kenilworth). He was afterwards troubled by losses due to the failure and death of a banker associated with him in the management of the naval prizes, and he suffered not a little from a protracted chancery suit instituted to recover part of his wife's fortune. But in 1782 he discussed the question of American independence in an allegorical form, showing himself a capable master of travesty and persiflage. This was entitled ‘Prophecy of Queen Emma,’ and to it was prefixed a clever travesty of critical method in the ‘Hints towards the Vindication of the Authenticity of the Poems of Ossian and Rowley.’ His last composition was ‘Eskdale Braes,’ a song on his birthplace written at the suggestion of a friend. He died when visiting at Forest Hill, 28 Oct. 1788, and was buried in the churchyard of the parish. He left one son.

To Mickle has been attributed the Scottish song ‘There's na'e luck about the hoose,' which of itself is sufficient to establish a poetical reputation. Internal evidence is rather against the likelihood of his authorship and in favour of that of Jean Adams (1710-1765), but there is no definite external evidence, and the doubt on the subject cannot be resolved.

In 1794 a quarto edition of Mickle's poems was published by subscription for the benefit of his son, with life by John Ireland. In 1807 appeared a corrected and enlarged edition, to which Mickle's friend, John Sim, supplied a biography. Mickle's poems form vol. xvii. of Chalmers's ‘English Poets,’ 1810, and volume lxvi. of the ‘Chiswick Press Poets,’ 1822.

 MICKLETHWAITE, JOHN, M.D. (1612–1682), physician, son of Thomas Micklethwaite, rector of Cherry Burton, Yorkshire, was born in 1612 and baptised, 23 Aug., in the church of Bishop Burton, three miles from Beverley. He entered at the university of Leyden as a medical student 15 Dec. 1637 (, Leyden Students, p. 68), and took the degree of M.D. at Padua in 1638. He proceeded M.D. by incorporation at Oxford 14 April 1648. On 26 May 1643 he was appointed assistant physician at St. Bartholomew's Hospital to Dr. John Clarke, whose eldest daughter he married, and he was elected physician 13 May 1653. The Long parliament, 12 Feb. 1644, had recommended him for promotion, 'in the place of Dr. Harvey, who hath withdrawn himself from his charge and is retired to the party in arms against the Parliament.' He was elected a fellow of the College of Physicians 11 Nov. 1643, and delivered the Gulstonian lectures in 1644. He was elected censor seven times, was treasurer from 1667 to 1675, and president from 1676 to 1681. When Charles II in 1681 was taken ill at Windsor, he was sent for by order in council, and attained much repute by his treatment of the king, on whose recovery he was knighted. He was physician in ordinary to the king. He died of acute cystitis 29 July 1682, and was buried in the church of St. Botolph, Aldersgate, where his monument, with a long inscription, still remains. His death and achievements were celebrated in a  Rh