Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 45.djvu/181

  to go about abusing him, which seems to have been needless; and, in his letters, Pope also insinuated, though he (Works, vi. 209) could hardly have expected to be taken seriously, that Philips had appropriated subscriptions for the ‘Iliad’ from members of the ‘Hanover Club’ (for Philips's denial that he had given any cause for Pope's personalities, see Illustr. of Lit. vii. 713). Philips was secretary to this club, formed at the end of Queen Anne's reign for securing the succession. After the accession of George I, he was made justice of the peace for Westminster, and in 1717 a commissioner for the lottery.

Philips started the ‘Freethinker’ in March 1718. It is one of the numerous imitations of the ‘Spectator,’ and the first number explains that the name is not to be taken as equivalent to ‘atheist,’ but in the proper sense. His chief colleagues were [q. v.], Richard West (afterwards Irish chancellor), and Gilbert Burnet, son of the bishop [see under ]. It ran through the next year, and was republished in three volumes (3rd edit. 1739). Philips published some ‘Epistles’ and a couple of plays (see below), which, being original, had little success. His friend Boulter was made archbishop of Armagh in August 1724, and in November took Philips with him to Ireland as secretary. Swift, in his correspondence with Pope, refers contemptuously to Philips's position as a dependant upon Boulter and to his ‘little flams on Miss Carteret’ (29 Sept. and 26 Nov. 1725). Philips represented the borough of Armagh in the Irish parliament; was made secretary to the lord chancellor in December 1726, and in August 1733 was appointed judge of the prerogative court. Boulter died in 1742, and in 1748 Philips, who had bought an annuity of 400l., returned to London. He is said to have collected his poems in a volume which was dedicated to the Duke of Newcastle. He also collected Boulter's correspondence, which, however, did not appear until 1769. Philips died at his house in Hanson Street of paralysis on 18 June 1749, ‘in his seventy-eighth year.’ A portrait by Ashton, engraved by T. Cooke, is mentioned by Bromley.

Mr. Gosse observes that Philips's ‘Epistle to the Earl of Dorset,’ declared by Goldsmith to be ‘incomparably fine,’ strikes us as ‘frigid and ephemeral;’ while the odes to children are charming from their simplicity and fancy (, English Poets, 1880, iii. 130). The ‘Epistle,’ however, is a very genuine description of nature, remarkable for its time. The title of ‘namby-pamby’ was first used by (d. 1743) [q. v.] in a parody mentioned by Swift in 1725. Three poems to the infant daughters of Lord Carteret, lord lieutenant, and of Daniel Pulteney, one of which begins ‘Dimply damsel, sweetly smiling,’ provoked this ridicule. Philips was apparently rather dandified in appearance and pompous in conversation. His ‘red stockings’ were ridiculed in Pope's ‘Macer’ (Works, iv. 467). Pope also satirises his slowness in composition. He appears, however, to have been an honourable man, respected by his friends, and of some real poetical sensibility. His works are: Several small poems to children, on the death of Lord Halifax, and the departure of Lord Carteret from Dublin were printed separately in 1725 and 1726. He is also said to have been editor of the ‘Collection of Old Ballads, corrected from the best and most ancient copies extant, with introductions historical and critical,’ 1726–38. His ‘Pastorals,’ with other poems, were published separately in 1710. He published his poems, with a dedication to the Duke of Newcastle, in 1748. They appeared again in 1765, and are in various collections of English poets.
 * 1) ‘Life of John Williams … [abridged from Hacket] with appendix giving a just account of his benefactions to St. John's College, Cambridge,’ 1700.
 * 2) ‘Pastorals’ in Tonson's ‘Miscellany’ (p. vi), 1709.
 * 3) ‘Persian Tales,’ from the French of P. De la Croix,’ 1709; also in 1722, 12mo.
 * 4) ‘The Distressed Mother,’ 1712.
 * 5) ‘Odes of Sappho’ in ‘Anacreon’ (translation of 1713; see also Spectator, Nos. 223, 229).
 * 6) Epistle to Charles, lord Halifax, ‘On the accession of George I,’ 1714.
 * 7) ‘Epistle to James Craggs,’ 1717.
 * 8) Papers in the ‘Freethinker,’ 1718–19, collected in three vols.
 * 9) ‘The Briton’ (tragedy), 1722.
 * 10) ‘Humfrey, duke of Gloucester’ (tragedy), 1723. This, the ‘Briton,’ and the ‘Distressed Mother’ were published together as ‘Three Tragedies’ in 1725.



PHILIPS, CHARLES (1708–1747), portrait-painter, son of Richard Philips (1681–1741), also a portrait-painter of some repute, was born in 1708, and at an early age formed a good connection among the nobility. He was noted for his small whole-lengths and conversation pieces, which are minutely and skilfully, if somewhat timidly, painted, and valuable on account of the truth and sin-