Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/97

Rh of theatrical government, was not only an unuſual, but an unprecedented favour. In 1693 the Old Batchelor was actcd before a numerous, and polite audience. The play was received with ſuch general applauſe, that Mr. Congreve was then conſidered as a prop to the declining ſtage, and a riſing genius in dramatic poetry. It was this play, and the ſingular ſucceſs which attended it upon the ſtage, that introduced our author to the acquaintance of the earl of Hallifax, who was then the profeſſed patron of men of wit; and who, being deſirous to raiſe a man of ſo promiſing a genius, above the neceſſity of too haſty productions, made him one of the commiſſioners for licenſing Hackney coaches. The earl beſtowed upon him ſoon after a place in the Pipe-Office, and gave him likewiſe a poſt in the Cuſtom-Houſe, to the value of 600 l. per annum.

In the following year Mr. Congreve brought upon the ſtage the Double Dealer, which met not with ſo good a reception as the former.

Mr. Congreve has informed us in the dedication of this play, to Charles Montague, eſq; that he was very aſſiduous to learn from the critics what objections could be found to it; but, ſays he, ‘I have heard nothing to provoke an anſwer. That which looks moſt like an objection, does not relate in particular to this play, but to all; or moſt that ever have been written, and that is ſoliloquy; therefore I will anſwer it, not only for my own ſake, but to ſave others the trouble to whom it may be hereafter objected. I grant, that for a man to talk to himſelf, appears abſurd, and unnatural, and indeed it is ſo in moſt caſes, but the circumſtances which may attend the occaſion, makes great alteration. It often happens to a man to have deſigns, which require him to himſelf, and in their nature cannot admit of a confident. Such for certain is