The Two Spies: Nathan Hale and John AndréLossing, Benson John
History
The Two Spies: Nathan Hale and John André
Lossing, Benson John
André, John, 1751-1780; Hale, Nathan, 1755-1776
Miss Seward's "Monody" was dedicated to Sir Henry Clinton. To it were
appended three letters written to her by young André immediately after
his betrothal to and personal separation from Honora Sneyd. These I
have appended to the "Monody," The printed copy of that poem, before
me, bears the autograph signature of Anna Seward at the end.
It was not long after Johnson's poetical epistle to the author of the
"Monody" appeared before an interruption of the goodly feeling between
him and his fair friend occurred. In 1782 Johnson's "Lives of the
British Poets" appeared, in which he severely criticised the poetry of
her cherished friend Thomas Hayley. Ever ready and prompt to defend
heroically those she had learned to esteem, she instantly took fire at
the attack, and she wrote letters to her friends which were far from
complimentary to Johnson. To Hayley she wrote:
"You have seen Dr. Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets.' They have excited
your generous indignation. A heart like Hayley's would shrink
astonished to perceive a mind so enriched with the power of genius
capable of such cool malignity. Yet the 'Gentleman's Magazine' praised
these unworthy efforts to blight the laurels of undoubted fame. Oh,
that the venom may fall where it ought!"
Animadversions by Miss Seward more severe than this found their way,
without her consent, into the public prints, and deeply offended Dr.
Johnson. The breach thus made was never healed. Miss Seward refused to
retract a word, but persisted in her utterances. Sometimes, even after
the death of Dr. Johnson, in 1784, they were spiced with attacks upon
his personal character. These attacks drew from Boswell a defense of
his dead friend, whom he almost adored, and in 1793 he and Miss Seward
carried on a spirited controversy in the "Gentleman's Magazine."
Miss Seward's writings in verse and prose were quite voluminous. The
latter, consisting of her literary correspondence from 1784 to 1807,
was published in six volumes in the latter year. Her poetical works,
with extracts from her literary correspondence, edited by Sir Walter
Scott, were published in three volumes in 1810. Next to her "Monody,"
in point of excellence and popularity, was her "Elegy on Captain James
Cook," the famous circumnavigator of the globe. Of this performance Sir
Walter Scott said, "It conveyed a high impression of the original power
of the author."
The literary fame of Anna Seward has not been enduring, and she, who
was a conspicuous figure in the world of letters in England during
the last quarter of the eighteenth century, is now almost forgotten.
Her known social relations to Major André, and her "Monody," have
perpetuated her memory in the minds of Americans. It is said that,
when she was fully informed of all the circumstances connected with
the death of André, she was satisfied that she had been unjust toward
Washington in her animadversions upon his character in her poem, and
expressed a regret that she had so misjudged him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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