CHURCHILL, Charles, a celebrated satirist, the son of Mr Charles Churchill, curate and lecturer of St John's, Westminster, was educated at Westminster school, and received some applause for his abilities from his tutors in that famous seminary. His capacity, however, was greater than his application, so that he acquired the character of a boy that could do good if he would. As the slightest accounts of persons so noted are agreeable, it may not be amiss to observe, that having one day got an exercise to make, and from idleness or attention having failed to bring it at the time appointed, his master thought proper to chastise him with some severity, and even reproached his stupidity: what the fear of stripes could not effect, the fear of shame soon produced, and he brought his exercise the next day, finished in such a manner, that he received the public thanks of all the masters. Still, however, his progress in the learned languages was but slow; nor is it to be wondered at, if we consider how difficult it was for a strong imagination, such as he was possessed of, to conform and walk tamely forward in the trammels of a school education; minds like his are ever starting aside after new pursuits; desirous of embracing a multiplicity of amusing objects; eager to come at an end, without the painful investigation of the means. In short, for want of proper skill in these languages, he was rejected from Oxford, whither his father had sent him; and probably this might have given occasion to the frequent invectives we find in his works against that most respectable university. Upon his return from thence, he again applied to his studies in Westminster school, where, at 17 years of age, he contracted an intimacy with a lady, to whom he was married, and their mutual regard for each other continued for several years. At the usual age of going into orders, Mr Churchill was ordained by the late bishop of London, and obtained a small curacy in Wales of 30l. a-year. Thither he carried his wife; they took a small house; and he passed through the duties of his station with assiduity and cheerfulness. Happy had it been for him had he continued there to enjoy the fruits of piety, peace, and simplicity of manners. He was beloved and esteemed by his parishioners; and though his sermons were rather above the level of his audience, they were commended and followed. But endeavouring to advance his fortune, by keeping a cyder cellar, it involved him in difficulties which obliged him to leave Wales and come to London. His father dying soon after, he stepped into the church in which he had officiated; and in order to improve his income, which scarcely produced 100l. a-year, he taught young ladies to read and write English at a boarding school, kept by Mrs Dennis, where he behaved with that decency and decorum which became his profession. His method of living, however, bearing no proportion to his income, he contracted several debts in the city; which being unable to pay, a jail, the terror of indi-
gent genius, seemed ready to complete his misfortunes; but from this state of wretchedness he was relieved by the benevolence of Mr Lloyd, father to the poet of that name. Meanwhile, Mr Lloyd, the son, wrote a poetical epistle called the Actor, which being read and approved by the public, gave the author a distinguished place among the writers of his age. This induced Mr Churchill to write the Rosciad. It first came out without the author's name; but the justness of the remarks, and the severity of the satire, soon excited public curiosity. Though he never disowned his having written that piece, and even openly gloried in it; yet the public, unwilling to give so much merit to one alone, ascribed it to a combination of wits; nor were Messrs Lloyd, Thornton, or Colman, left unnamed upon this occasion. This misplaced praise soon induced Mr Churchill to throw off the mask, and the second edition appeared with his name at full length. As the Rosciad was the first of this poet's performances, so many are of opinion that it is the best. In it we find a very close and minute discussion of the particular merit of each performer; their defects pointed out with candour, and their merits praised without adulation. This poem, however, seems to be one of those few works which are injured by succeeding editions; when he became popular, his judgment became intoxicated with applause; and we find, in the later editions, men blamed whose merit was incontestable, and others praised that were at that time in no degree of esteem with the judicious. His next performance was his Apology to the Critical Reviewers. This work is not without its peculiar merit; and as it was written against a set of critics whom the world was willing enough to blame, the public read it with their usual indulgence. In this performance he showed a particular happiness of throwing his thoughts, if we may so express it, into poetical paragraphs; so that the sentence swells to the break or conclusion, as we find in prose.
But while his writings amused the town, his actions disguised it. He now quitted his wife, with whom he had cohabited many years; and resigning his gown and all clerical functions, commenced a complete man of the town, got drunk, frequented stews; and, giddy with false praise, thought his talents a sufficient atonement for all his follies. In some measure to palliate the absurdities of his conduct, he now undertook a poem called Night, written upon a general subject indeed, but upon false principles; namely, that whatever our follies are, we should never attempt to conceal them. This, and Mr Churchill's other poems, being shown to Dr Johnson, and his opinion being asked, he allowed them but little merit; which being told to the author, he resolved to require this private opinion with a public one. In his next poem, therefore, of the Ghost, he has drawn this gentleman under the character of Pompofo; and those who disliked Dr Johnson allowed it to have merit. Dr Johnson's only reply to Churchill's abuse was, "that he thought him a shallow fellow in the beginning, and could say nothing worse of him still." The poems of Night and the Ghost had not the rapid sale the author expected; but his Prophecy of Famine soon made ample amends for the late paroxysm in his fame. In this piece, written in the spirit of the famous North Briton,
ton, he exerted his virulent pen against the whole Scottish nation, adopting the prejudices of the mob, and dignifying scurrility by the aid of a poetic imagination. It had a rapid and extensive sale, as prophesied by Mr Wilkes; who said before its publication that he was sure it must take, as it was at once personal, poetical, and political. After its appearance, it was asserted by his admirers, that Mr Churchill was a better poet than Pope. This exaggerated adulation, as it had before corrupted his morals, began now to impair his mind: several succeeding pieces were published, which, being written without effort, are read without pleasure. His Gotham, Independence, The Times, seem merely to have been written by a man who desired to avail himself of the avidity of the public curiosity in his favour, and are rather aimed at the pockets than the hearts of his readers. Mr Churchill died in 1764, of a military fever, with which he was seized at Boulogne in France, whither he had gone on a visit to Mr Wilkes. After his death his poems were collected and printed together in two volumes 8vo.