Owen Feltham was born about 1610, and but few particulars of his life have been preserved. He is supposed to have acted as secretary to the Earl of Thomond, with whom he resided many years. His celebrity rests upon his “Resolves,” of which the first part appeared in 1627. He published “A Brief Character of the Low Countries” in 1659, and is believed to have died about 1678. A life by James Cumming was published in 1806.

Resolves

  Of this book, the first part of which was published in 1627, the second not till after the middle of the century, it is not uncommon to meet with high praises in those modern writers who profess a faithful allegiance to our older literature. For myself, I can only say that Feltham appears not only a labored and artificial, but a shallow writer. Among his many faults, none strikes me more than a want of depth, which his pointed and sententious manner renders more ridiculous. There are certainly exceptions to this vacuity of original meaning in Feltham: it would be possible to fill a few pages with extracts not undeserving of being read, with thoughts just and judicious, though never deriving much lustre from his diction. He is one of the worst writers in point of style; with little vigor, he has less elegance; his English is impure to an excessive degree, and full of words unauthorized by any usage. Pedantry, and the novel phrases which Greek and Latin etymology was supposed to warrant, appear in most productions of this period; but Feltham attempted to bend the English idiom to his own affectations. The moral reflections of a serious and thoughtful mind are generally pleasing; and to this, perhaps, is partly owing the kind of popularity which the “Resolves” of Feltham have obtained; but they may be had more agreeably and profitably in other books.

  The style of Felltham is not always equal; but is generally strong, harmonious, and well adapted to the subjects of which he treats. He is prodigal of metaphor and quotation, and on that account has been accused of pedantry; but his figures are always beautifully illustrative of his subject, and his quotations generally appropriate. As to his sentiments, they are remarkable for their sound, good sense, as well as for their great purity of moral and religious principle.

  The thoughts are commonplace, the method bad, being the disjointed method of Bacon’s essays without the natural clearness; and there is a constant straining after imagery. Their popularity in Queen Anne’s reign is accounted for by their high moral tone, and their occasionally felicitous application of Baconian imagery to common themes, such as moderation in grief, evil-speaking, industry and meditation.

  Besides the “Resolves” he wrote some verse, of which the most notable piece is a reply to Ben Jonson’s famous ode to himself (“Come Leave the Loathed Stage”)—a reply which even such a sworn partisan as Gifford admits to be at least just if not very kind. Felltham seems also to have engaged in controversy with another Johnson, a Jesuit, on theological subjects. But save for the “Resolves” he would be totally forgotten. The estimate of their value will differ very much, as the liking for not very original discussion of ethical subjects and sound if not very subtle judgment on them overpowers or not in the reader a distaste for style that has no particular distinction, and ideas which, though often wholesome, are seldom other than obvious. Wordsworth’s well-known description of one of his own poems, as being “a chain of extremely valuable thoughts,” applies no doubt to the “Resolves,” which, except in elegance, rather resemble the better known of Cicero’s philosophical works. Moreover, though possessing no great elegance, they are not inelegant; though it is difficult to forget how differently Bacon and Browne treated not dissimilar subjects at much the same time.

  Feltham’s poems are few in number, but varied in style; some have considerable merit, and none are contemptible. His prose, after enjoying much popularity, was almost totally neglected till Cumming’s edition of 1806.