As we have seen, he in vain sought his fate at the
hand of Jeffreys; but we must conclude that the offended constellations
took Neptune in partnership, for in due course the youth met with a
watery grave.
After abandoning the drama, Congreve appears to have come out in the
light of an independent gentleman. He was already sufficiently
introduced into literary society; Pope, Steele, Swift, and Addison were
not only his friends but his admirers, and we can well believe that
their admiration was considerable, when we find the one dedicating his
'Miscellany,' the other his translation of the 'Iliad,' to a man who was
qualified neither by rank nor fortune to play Maecenas.
At what time he was admitted to the Kit-kat I am not in a position to
state, but it must have been after 1715, and by that time he was a
middle-aged man, his fame was long since achieved; and whatever might be
thought of his works and his controversy with Collier, he was recognised
as one of the literary stars at a period when the great courted the
clever, and wit was a passport to any society. Congreve had plenty of
that, and probably at the Kit-kat was the life of the party when
Vanbrugh was away or Addison in a graver mood.
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