WILLIAM, our greatest naval poet. Till now great uncertainty has prevailed in regard to the date of his birth, but in the parish records of the City of Edinburgh we find the following entry:—“11th February 1732.—William Falconer, wigmaker, and Agnes Shand had a son born named William.” His father, a barber in the Netherbow, was unsuccessful in life, became bankrupt, and had two children besides the poet, both of whom were deaf and dumb. The old man, in his latter days, kept a small grocer’s shop, but died in extreme poverty. The “young Arion” of the family was thus early inured to penury and distress. He received the scanty education required to qualify him for an inferior employment, and at an early age he was entered as an apprentice on board a merchant-vessel belonging to Leith. He afterwards served as a common sailor on board the ship of which Campbell, author of Lexiphanes, was purser, and attracted the notice of Mr Campbell by indications of talent. How long he continued in this humble capacity is not known; but by some friendly intervention he was appointed second mate of a vessel called the Britannia, employed in the Levant trade, which, however, was wrecked near Cape Colonna during her passage from Alexandria to Venice, and only three of the crew, including Falconer, were saved. This event suggested the idea of his poem, The Shipwreck, on which his reputation rests. But if Clarke be right in the opinion that he was the author of the fine naval song “Cease, rude Boreas,” an exception must be made in favour of that popular lyric. Falconer continued in the merchant service until the spring of 1762, when he recommended himself to the notice of Edmund Duke of York, by the dedication of The Shipwreck, and enlisted his royal highness amongst the number of his admirers and patrons. Desirous to place him in a situation where he could be befriended, the duke advised him to enter the navy; and before the end of summer he was rated as midshipman on board the Royal George. But as this ship was paid off at the peace of 1763, and as Falconer’s period of service had been far too short to enable him to obtain the commission of lieutenant, he was advised to exchange the military for the civil department of the navy; and, in the course of the same year, he received an appointment as purser of the Glory frigate, a situation which he held until that vessel was laid up in ordinary at Chatham. In 1764 he published a new edition of The Shipwreck, in 8vo, corrected and enlarged, most of the descriptive and episodical matter being introduced; and the following year appeared The Demagogue, a political satire, intended as a sort of antidote to the writings of Wilkes and Churchill, but much more remarkable for virulence than wit. His time, however, was chiefly occupied with the compilation of an Universal Marine Dictionary, a work much wanted, and which, when brought out in 1769, was received with general approbation. Before this period he appears to have left his retreat at Chatham for the metropolis; and Mr Murray, a bookseller, father of Byron’s publisher and friend, wished him to join him in business. Falconer however declined, having received an appointment to the pursership of the Aurora frigate, which had been commissioned to carry out to India Messieurs Vansittart, Scroifen, and Forde, as supervisors of the Company’s affairs; and he was also promised the office of private secretary to those functionaries. The Aurora sailed from England on the 30th September 1769, and after touching at the Cape of Good Hope was never more heard of; she was supposed to have foundered in the Mozambique Channel.

Besides the productions already mentioned, Falconer was the author of several pieces, the most considerable of which are an Ode on the Duke of York’s second departure from England as rear-admiral, and a Poem on the death of Frederick, Prince of Wales. His fame as a poet must, however, rest on The Shipwreck. There is a warmth in its colouring, and a reality in its descriptions, which, notwithstanding the didactic character of the poem, sustain its interest. Natural feeling, imagery, and truth are expressed in language which, if it never rises to a great elevation, seldom sinks below the dignity of the subject. Falconer does not aspire to produce a great effect by a few bold touches, or the rapid and masterly grouping of appalling or horrible circumstances. He labours in detail, bringing before us, without apparent effort, the events as they arise, and conducting us with an interest constantly increasing towards the catastrophe. He paints with minute fidelity as well as picturesque effect; but it is from the general result, rather than from any portion of the work considered separately, that the talents of the artist should be judged. Such a tremendous picture of shipwreck as that which Byron has, in wild sportiveness, thrown out in Don Juan, immeasurably transcends the powers of Falconer, and indeed stands alone in its terrible sublimity; but, on the other hand, the naval poet, by the careful elaboration of natural circumstances, and the general truth of his delineation, ultimately impresses the mind of the reader, if not with such vivid force, perhaps with even more enduring effect. Some of the classic invocations to the shores of Greece, and some descriptive passages, are a little tawdry, but the grand incidents of the poem dwell strongly on the recollection, and its impression is never forgotten. Nor are the technical expressions and directions a drawback to the general reader. They are explained in foot-notes, and give a truth and reality to the narrative; and they do not occur in the more impassioned scenes.