rival's poem have been printed by Conington (Fraser's Mag. lxii. 260). In his ‘Art of Sinking in Poetry’ Pope afterwards quoted from Tickell passages to illustrate mistakes in expression.
When Addison was appointed secretary of state (1717) he chose Tickell as undersecretary, and in the same year Tickell published, in folio, a political pamphlet in verse, ‘An Epistle from a Lady in England to a Gentleman at Avignon,’ which passed through five editions. This was followed in 1718 by ‘An Ode occasioned by the Earl of Stanhope's Voyage to France,’ 8vo (lines which were ridiculed in ‘The Tickler Tickelled,’ 1718), and by ‘An Ode inscribed to the Earl of Sunderland at Windsor,’ 1720, fol. Addison a few days before his death, in June 1719, gave directions to Tickell to collect his works, and commended his friend to Craggs's patronage. Steele objected to Addison's essays in the ‘Tatler,’ &c., being separately printed, but Addison's ‘Works’ were published in due course, in four quarto volumes, on 3 Oct. 1721. Tickell's best poem, the well-known elegy ‘To the Earl of Warwick, on the Death of Mr. Addison,’ was given in the first volume. In December Steele reprinted ‘The Drummer,’ which was not included in Tickell's edition of Addison, and in a prefatory letter to Congreve replied to certain insinuations thrown out by Tickell in the life printed with Addison's ‘Works’ (Aitken, Life of Steele, ii. 216, 270–2).
In 1722 Tickell printed an epistle ‘To Sir Godfrey Kneller, at his Country Seat,’ fol., and one of his most ambitious works, ‘Kensington Gardens,’ 4to. In February 1723 Pope talked of writing to Lord Cowper, proposing to resign his newly formed design of a translation of the ‘Odyssey’ to Tickell, in deference to his judgment; but nothing came of this idea (Works, x. 198).
Soon afterwards Tickell migrated to Ireland, and resided at Glasnevin near Dublin. He was given the important post of secretary to the lords justices on 4 May 1724, when Lord Carteret, the new lord-lieutenant, testified to his ‘ability and integrity’ (Johnson, Lives of the Poets, ed. Cunningham, iii. 430). In 1724 and the following years there was much friendly intercourse between Swift and Tickell (Swift, Works, xix. 277–303). In 1733 Tickell printed, in folio, verses ‘On Queen Caroline's rebuilding the Lodgings of the Black Prince and Henry V at Queen's College, Oxford.’ Swift spoke in 1736 of Tickell's ‘real concern’ at hearing of Pope's illness (Pope, Works, vii. 336). Tickell died on 23 April 1740 at Bath, and was buried at Glasnevin, where he had a house. A tablet was erected in his memory in Glasnevin church. By his will (dated 9 April 1735, and proved on 24 July 1740) Tickell left his wife (described by her great-grandson as ‘a very clever and most excellent woman’) his executrix and guardian of his children. His library was sold after the widow's death, in 1792, in her ninety-second year.
Johnson writes of Tickell's personal character: ‘He is said to have been a man of gay conversation, at least a temperate lover of wine and company, and in his domestic relations without censure.’ Others, including Steele and Hearne, held a less favourable opinion (cf. Nichols, Lit. Illustr. i. 436). As a poet Tickell is hardly remembered now by anything except his admirable lines on Addison's death. A favourite with a past generation, the ballad of ‘Colin and Lucy,’ was translated into Latin by Vincent Bourne (Poemata, 1743, p. 145). Goldsmith and Gray spoke of it as one of the best ballads in the language. Gray's general estimate of Tickell, however, was by no means flattering; he wrote of him as ‘only a poor, short-winded imitator of Addison, who had himself not above three or four notes in poetry—sweet enough, indeed, but such as soon tire and satiate the ear with their frequent return.’ Tickell was certainly as good a versifier as Addison; but his chief claim to notice, as he himself felt, is that he was Addison's friend.
Tickell's poems are included in the collections of English poets edited by Johnson and others; pieces which were published in separate form have been already noticed. Some letters by him are in the British Museum (Addit. MSS. 28275 f. 495, 4291, 15936 f. 174; Egerton MSS. 2172 f. 168, 2174 f. 310), and in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ 1786, ii. 1041.
On 23 April 1726 Tickell married, at St. James's, Dublin, Clotilda, daughter and coheiress of Sir Maurice Eustace of Harristown, Kildare, nephew of Sir Maurice Eustace, lord chancellor of Ireland under Charles II. By her he had two sons—John (d. 1793), father of Richard Tickell [q. v.], and Thomas (d. 1777)—and two daughters: Margaret, who married Bladen Swiney; and Philippa.
There is a painting of Tickell at Queen's College, Oxford, presented by his grandson Major Thomas Tickell, which has been engraved by Clamp (1796) and others. A portrait by Vanderbank is in the possession of the family (Johnson, Lives, ed. Cunningham, iii. 430–1).
[Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, new ser. ii. 472; Addison's Works; Pope's Works; Swift's Works; Miss Aikin's Life of Addison;
