Page:Poetical Works of John Oldham.djvu/18

8 usher at the free school of Croydon, in Surrey, was not very tempting. The stipend was trifling, and the labour monotonous and oppressive. But it possessed the greatest of all attractions for Oldham, because, inconsiderable as it was, it secured occupation and independence.

The duties of this employment, involving meaner responsibilities than those of tuition, left him little time for poetry; he made, notwithstanding, so profitable a use of his scanty leisure that he produced several pieces, some of which, obtaining circulation in MS., found their way into the literary coteries, and rendered their unknown author an object of curiosity to the town wits and critics. Oldham, shut up in his school-room, entirely unconscious of the sensation he had created in the great world of Fops'-alley and the coffee-houses, was one day surprised, in the midst of his tasks, by a visit from Rochester, Sedley, and Dorset, accompanied by other persons of celebrity, into whose hands his verses had fallen. Mr. Shepherd, the worthy master of the school, seeing Lord Rochester's card, and thinking it quite impossible that such a mark of distinction could be intended for his obscure assistant, took the whole credit of the compliment to himself, and, after carefully arranging his toilet, went to receive his visitors. The scene that followed might have been put into one of Shadwell's comedies. The old gentleman had prepared a speech for the occasion, expressing his high sense of the honour conferred upon him, and modestly deprecating his claims to so extraordinary a condescension; when Lord Dorset good-naturedly interposed, and informed him that the motive of the visit was to see his usher. By this time Mr. Shepherd had got into a little confusion in his speech, and was probably not unwilling to make his retreat, confessing, frankly enough, that he had neither the wit nor learning to qualify him for such fine company. How it fared with the poet when he was summoned to their presence is not related. But no immediate consequences followed the visit. It was Oldham’s first experience of courtiers and patronage, and his manner of receiving his visitors may not have been calculated to propitiate their favour.