The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland/Volume 4/The Revd. Dr. Thomas Yalden
The Revd. Dr. Thomas Yalden.
This Gentleman was born in the city of Exeter, and the youngeſt of ſix ſons of Mr. John Yalden of Suſſex. He received his education at a Grammar ſchool, belonging to Magdalen-College in Oxford. [1]In the year 1690 he was admitted a commoner of Magdalen-Hall, under Mr. John Pullen, who was eſteemed an excellent tutor, and a very great maſter of logic, and the following year he was choſen ſcholar of Magdalen-College. Here he became a fellow-pupil with the celebrated Mr. Addiſon and Dr. Henry Sacheverel, and early contracted a particular friendſhip with thoſe two gentlemen. This academical affection Mr. Addiſon preſerved not only abroad in his travels, but alſo on his advancement to conſiderable employments at home, and kept the ſame eaſy and free correſpondence to the very laſt, as when their fortunes were more on a level. This preſervation of affection is rendered more ſingular, by Mr. Yalden’s having eſpouſed a very oppoſite intereſt to that of Mr. Addiſon, for he adhered to the High-Church party, and was ſuſpected of an attachment to an exiled family, for which he afterwards was brought into very great trouble.
In the year 1700 he was admitted actual and perpetual fellow of Magdalen-College, and qualified himſelf the next year, by taking orders, as the founder’s ſtatutes require. After his admiſſion he received two public marks of favour from that ſociety: The firſt was a preſentation to a living in Warwickſhire, conſiſtent with his fellowſhip; and the other, his being elected moral philoſophy-reader, an office for life, endowed with a handſome ſtipend, and peculiar privileges.
In 1706 he was received into the family of his noble and kind patron the duke of Beaufort; with whom he was in very great favour, having in many inſtances experienced his bounty and generoſity. In the following year he compleated his academical degrees, by commencing doctor in divinity: He preſented to the ſociety their founder’s picture in full length, which now hangs up in the public-hall; and afterwards he delivered in to the preſident a voluntary reſignation of his fellowſhip, and moral philoſophy-lecture. He was afterwards preferred to be rector of Chalten in Cleanville, two adjoining towns and rectories in Hampſhire. He was elected by the preſident and governors of Bridewell, preacher of that hoſpital, upon the reſignation of Dr. Atterbury, afterwards lord biſhop of Rocheſter.
Having mentioned this prelate, it will be proper here to obſerve, that upon a ſuſpicion of Dr. Yalden’s being concerned with him, in a plot to reſtore the exiled family; and for which the biſhop was afterwards baniſhed, he was ſeized upon by authority, and committed to priſon. When he was examined before the council, concerning his correſpondence and intimacy with Mr. Kelley the biſhop’s ſecretary; he did not deny his knowledge of, and correſpondence with, him, but ſtill perſiſted in aſſerting, that no meaſures contrary to the conſtitution were ever canvaſſed between them.
There was found in his pocket book, a copy of verſes reflecting on the reigning family, and which might well bear the conſtruction of a libel; but when he was charged with them, he denied that he ever compoſed ſuch verſes, or that the hand-writing was his own, and aſſerted his innocence in every circumſtance relating to the plot. The verſes in all probability were put into his pocket-book, by the ſame perſon, who with ſo much dexterity placed a treaſonable paper in biſhop Atterbury’s cloſe-ſtool, and then pretending to be the diſcoverer of it, preferred it againſt his lordſhip, as an evidence of his diſaffection. The particulars of that memorable tryal are recorded in the Life of Atterbury, written by the authors of Biographia Britannica.—The heats raiſed by Atterbury’s tryal ſubſiding, thoſe who were ſuſpected of being concerned with him, as no evidence appeared ſtrong enough to convict them, were releaſed.
Dr. Yalden was ſtill favoured with the patronage of the generous duke of Beaufort, and his reſidence in that noble family recommended him to the acquaintance of many of the firſt quality and character in the kingdom, and as he was of a chearful temper, and of a pleaſing and inſtructive converſation, he retained their friendſhip and eſteem till his death, which happened the 16th of July, 1736, in the 66th year of his age.
His poetical works are chiefly theſe.
On the Conqueſt of Namure; A Pindaric Ode, inſcribed to his moſt ſacred and victorious majeſty, folio 1695.
The Temple of Fame; a Poem to the memory of the moſt illuſtrious Prince, William Duke of Glouceſter, folio 1700.
- On the late Queen’s Acceſſion to the Throne, a Poem.
- Æſop at Court, or State Fables.
- An Eſſay on the Character on Sir Willoughby Aſhton, a Poem. Fol. 1704.
- On the Mines of Sir Carbery Price, a Poem; occaſioned by the Mine- adventure Company.
- On the Death of Mr. John Partridge, Profeſſor in Leather, and Aſtrologer.
- Advice to a Lover.
- To Mr. Watſon, on his Ephemeris on the Cæleſtial Motions, preſented to Queen Anne.
- Againſt Immoderate Grief.
- The Force of Jealouſy.
- An Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, 1693, ſet to muſic by Dr. Purcel.
- A Hymn to the Morning in Praiſe of Light.
We ſhall extract the following ſtanza from this Hymn, as a ſpecimen of his poetry.
Parent of day! whoſe beauteous beams of light
Spring from the darkſome womb of night,
And midſt their native horrors ſhow
Like gems adorning of the negro’s brow.
Not Heaven’s fair bow can equal thee,
In all its gawdy drapery:
Thou firſt eſſay of light, and pledge of day!
Rival of ſhade! eternal ſpring! ſtill gay!
From thy bright unexhauſted womb
The beauteous race of days and ſeaſons come.
Thy beauty ages cannot wrong,
But ’ſpite of time, thou’rt ever young.
Thou art alone Heav’n’s modeſt virgin light.
Whoſe face a veil of bluſhes hide from human ſight.
At thy approach, nature erects her head;
The ſmiling univerſe is glad;
The drowſy earth and ſeas awake
And from thy beams new life and vigour take.
When thy more chearful rays appear,
Ev’n guilt and women ceaſe to fear;
Horror, deſpair, and all the ſons of night
Retire before thy beams, and take their haſty flight.
Thou riſeſt in the fragrant eaſt,
Like the fair Phœnix from her balmy neſt;
But yet thy fading glories ſoon decay,
Thine’s but a momentary ſtay;
Too ſoon thou’rt raviſh’d from our ſight,
Borne down the ſtream of day, and overwhelm’d with night.
Thy beams to thy own ruin haſte,
They’re fram’d too exquiſite to laſt:
Thine is a glorious, but a ſhort-liv’d ſtate;
Pity ſo fair a birth ſhould yield ſo ſoon to fate.
Beſides theſe pieces, this reverend gentleman has tranſlated the ſecond book of Ovid’s Art of Love, with ſeveral other occaſional poems and tranſlations publiſhed in the third and fourth volumes of Tonſon’s Miſcellanies.
The Medicine, a Tale in the ſecond Volume of the Tatlers, and Mr. Partridge’s Appeal to the Learned World, or a Further Account of the Manner of his Death, in Proſe, are likewiſe written by him.
- ↑ Jacob.