Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/247

 :: of Oudenarde, inscribed to the Hon. Robert Harley,’ 1709, fol. In 1724 Welsted published a collection of his ‘Epistles, Odes, &c., written on several Subjects,’ and included in the volume his translation of Longinus, and a dissertation concerning the perfection of the English language, &c. This volume was dedicated to the Duke of Newcastle. In 1787 John Nichols published a careful edition of all Welsted's works with a memoir and notes.
 * 1) ‘A Poem to the memory of the incomparable Mr. ’ [q. v.], 1710, fol.
 * 2) ‘The Works of Dionysius Longinus on the Sublime … translated from the Greek; with some Remarks on the English Poets,’ 1712, 8vo.
 * 3) ‘A Prophecy,’ addressed to Steele; partly preserved in Boyer's ‘Political State’ for 1714, p. 306.
 * 4) ‘An Epistle to Mr. Steele, on the Accession of King George,’ 1714, fol.
 * 5) ‘The Triumvirate, or a Letter in Verse from Palæmon to Celia from Bath,’ 1717, fol.; a satire on ‘Three Hours after Marriage,’ by Gay, Arbuthnot, and Pope.
 * 6) ‘The Free-thinker,’ 1718–1721, by Ambrose Philips, &c., contained several poems by Welsted, and a specimen of a translation of Tibullus.
 * 7) ‘An Epistle to the Duke of Chandos,’ 1720, fol.
 * 8) ‘A Prologue to the Town, occasioned by the revival of a play of Shakspear,’ 1721, fol.
 * 9) ‘An Epistle to Earl Cadogan,’ 1722, fol.
 * 10) . ‘An Epistle to the late Dr. Garth, occasioned by the Duke of Marlborough's death,’ 1722.
 * 11) Prologue and epilogue to Steele's ‘Conscious Lovers,’ 1722.
 * 12) ‘Oikographia, a Poem … to the Duke of Dorset,’ 1725, fol.
 * 13) ‘An Ode to the Right Hon. Lieut.-General Wade, on his disarming the Highlands,’ 1726.
 * 14) Epilogue to Southerne's ‘Money the Mistress,’ 1726.
 * 15) ‘A Hymn to the Creator, written by a gentleman on the occasion of the death of his only daughter,’ 1726.
 * 16) ‘The Dissembled Wanton; or, My Son, get Money: a comedy,’ 1727, 8vo; this play was acted at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1726.
 * 17) ‘A Discourse to the Right Hon. Sir Robert Walpole, to which is annexed proposals for translating the whole Works of Horace,’ 1727, 4to (prose).
 * 18) Epilogue to Mottley's ‘Widow Bewitched,’ 1730.
 * 19) ‘One Epistle to Mr. Pope,’ in conjunction with Moore Smythe, 1730.
 * 20) ‘Of False Taste: an Epistle to the Earl of Pembroke,’ 1732, 8vo.
 * 21) ‘Of Dulness and Scandal, occasioned by the character of Lord Timon in Mr. Pope's Epistle to the Earl of Burlington,’ 1732, 8vo.
 * 22) ‘The Scheme and Conduct of Providence, from the Creation to the Coming of Messiah’ (1736), 8vo.
 * 23) ‘The Summum Bonum, or Wisest Philosophy: an Epistle to a Friend,’ 1741.

Among Welsted's friends were Anthony Hammond, Theobald, Moore, and Cooke, the last of whom more than once compliments Welsted in his verses. Another literary friend was Steele, and Welsted seems to be referred to in the account of the Tale Club in the ‘Guardian,’ No. 108. In the report of the secret committee of 1742 it was stated that 500l. was paid to Welsted for special services in August 1715, and this is one of the things for which Pope reproaches him; but Welsted declared that he received the money for the use of his friend Steele; and a letter of Steele to his wife appears to corroborate this story (, Life of Steele, ii. 72–3). (1677–1720) [q. v.] says that Steele spoke of Welsted as a promising genius whom he patronised and encouraged.

Welsted is now best known through his quarrel with Pope. He was joint author of the libellous ‘One Epistle’ (1730), which charged Pope with occasioning a lady's death, a matter again referred to in Welsted's ‘Of Dulness and Scandal.’ In the ‘Dunciad’ (ii. 207–10, iii. 169–72) Pope accuses Welsted of squeezing money out of patrons by dedications, and says:

In the ‘Prologue to the Satires’ Pope attacks Welsted under the name of Pitholeon (ll. 49–54), and speaks of ‘Welsted's lie’ (l. 375). In the ‘Art of Sinking in Poetry’ Welsted is introduced as a didapper and as an eel, and his verse ridiculed. It must be admitted that Welsted's attacks on Pope and his friends could hardly have been more virulent than they are. Pope, with his ‘rancoured spirit and malignant will,’ was, he said,

Pope pretended to think that Welsted was author of ‘Oratory Transactions,’ published by ‘Orator’ Henley under the name of ‘Welstede.’

Bazabel Morrice, in an ‘Epistle to Mr. Welsted’ (1721), speaks of Welsted as a ‘prosperous man,’ whose ‘modish works’ suited the present taste, but who might be buried in oblivion when sense and learning obtained renown. He wrote only of love, says Morrice, in melting lays, or to seek a noble's grace and patronage. Campbell and Warton have found merit in some of Welsted's verses, and there is evidence that Thomson and Goldsmith had read them. The ‘Oikographia’ is not without interest.