says Tickell. The look is one of melancholy scorn rather than of despair. Tickell falls foul of the artist:
Thy steady hands thy savage heart betray,
Near thy bad work the stunn'd spectators faint,
Nor see unmoved what thou unmoved could'st paint.
Bower, in fact, produced the most sympathetic portrait of the King. Tickell proceeds to curse Cromwell, bless the Restoration, and salute Queen Anne as a Stuart.
Not much Whiggery here! But when the Hanoverian dynasty and the Whigs came in, Tickell was strong on the winning side. His "Epistle from a Lady in England to a Gentleman at Avignon," from a Jacobite lady to a gentleman at James's Court, is very prettily written, and the following lines are true.
Then mourn not, hapless prince, thy kingdoms lost;
A crown, though late, thy sacred brows may boast;
Heaven seems, through us, thy empire to decree,
Those who win hearts have given their hearts to thee,
On his side "James reckons half the fair".
Say, will he come again?
Nay, Lady, never.
Say, will he never reign?
Ay, Lady, ever,
sings a modern poet, whose heart is true to George? However, Tickell's lady reflects that the Hanoverian sway is good for trade, and in the end prefers London to Avignon.
In 1717 Addison made Tickell his under-secretary—Tickell had always been his "understudy". In 1740 Tickell died, in the enjoyment of one of these lucrative places which rewarded the loyalty of literary Whigs.