Lane by his Majesty's Servants, and dedicated to Sir Richard Steele. She has written several poems, and we fhall felect, as a fpecimen, an Epistle to the Countess of Bristol, which will fhew how much the poffeffed the power of delicate numbers; she has alfo in print a volume of Letters, the fecond edition of which was published in 1713. She died July 11, 1724.

To the Right HONOURABLE the COUNTESS of BRISTOL.

LON

ONG had my mind, unknowing how to foar,

In humble profe been train'd, nor aim'd at more:
Near the fam'd fifters never durft aspire

To found a verse, or touch the tuneful lyre.
'Till Bristol's charms diffolv'd the native cold;
Bad me furvey her eyes, and thence be bold.
Thee, lovely Briftol! thee! with pride I chufe,
The first, and only subject of my muse;
That durft tranfport me like the bird of Jove,
To face th' immortal fource of light above!
Such are thy kindred beams-

So bleffings, with a bounteous hand they give,
So they create, and make creation live.

When charming Felton, of a beauteous race, Adorn'd in blooming youth, with ev'ry grace; First saw the lovely Suffolk Swain her prize, The nobleft conqueft of the brightest eyes! How many wretched nymphs that union made, What cold despair the warmest hearts invade! What crouds of lovers, hopeless and undone, Deplore those charms which brought their ruin

on!

Rich in themselves---all excellence they find, Wit! beauty! wisdom! and a conftant mind!

No

No vain defires of change difturb their joy.
Such fweets, like blifs divine, can never cloy:
Fill'd with that fpirit which great fouls inflame,
Their wondrous offspring ftart to early fame.
In their young minds, immortal sparkles rife !
And all their mother flashes from their eyes!
From thence fuch scenes of beauty charm the
fight,

We know not where to fix the strong delight!
Hervey's foft features---next, Eliza bright!
Anna juft dawning, like Aurora's light!
With all the fmiling train of Cupids round,
Fond little loves, with flowing graces crown'd.

As fome fair flowers, who all their bloom dif
clofe,

The Spanish Jas'min, or the British Rose?
Arriv'd at full perfection, charm the sense,
Whilft the young bloffoms gradual fweets dispense.
The eldest born, with almost equal pride;
The next appears in fainter colours dy'd :
New op'ning buds, as lefs in debt to time,
Wait to perform the promife of their prime !
All bleft defcendants of the beauteous tree,
What now their parent is, themselves shall be.

Oh! could I paint the younger Hervey's

mind, Where wit and judgment, fire and taste refin'd To match his face, with equal art are join'd: Oh beft belov'd of Jove! to thee alone, What would enrich the whole, he gives to one!

In Titian's colours whilst Adonis glows,

See fairest Bristol more than Venus fhows;

This is not defigred as a parallel of the ftory, but the painting from a piece of litian's, at my loid Briftol's.

View well the valu'd piece, how nice each part;
Yet nature's hand furpaffes Titian's art!
Such had his Venus and Adonis been,

The ftandard beauty had from thence been feen!
Whofe arbitrary laws had fix'd the doom
To Hervey's form, and Briftol's ever bloom!

As once Kazeia, now Eliza warms

The kindred-fair bequeath'd her all her charms;
Such were her darts, fo piercing and fo ftrong,
Endow'd by Phoebus both, with tuneful fong:
But far from thee Eliza be her doom;

Snatch'd hence by death, in all her beauty's bloom.

a

Long may'ft thou live, adorning Bristol's name, With future heroes to augment his fame.

When haughty Niobe, with joy and pride,
Saw all her fhining offspring grace her fide;
She view'd their charms, exulting at each line,
And then oppos'd 'em to the race divine!
Enrag'd Latona urg'd the filver bow :

Immortal vengeance laid their beauties low.
No more a mother now.

mourn'd,

too much fhe

By grief inceffant into marble turn'd.

But lovely Bristol, with a pious mind,

Owns all her bleffings are from Heav'n affign'd. Her matchlefs Lord- -her beauteous numerous

race !

Her virtue, modefty, and ev'ry grace!
For thefe, devoutly, to the gods the bows,
And offers daily praife, and daily vows :
Phoebus, well-pleas'd, the facrifice regards;
And thus the grateful mother's zeal rewards :

A fifter of lord Bristol's, who was a lady of most extraor dinary beauty.

Beauty

Beauty and wit, to all of Bristol's line! But each in fome peculiar grace shall shine! • Or to excel in courts, and please the fair! Or Conqueft gain thro' all the wat'ry war!. • With harmony divine the ear to charm! Or fouls with more melodious numbers warm! By wond'rous memory fhall fome excel

In awful fenates, and in fpeaking well! • To hold Aftræa's fcales with equal hand, • And call back juftice to that happy land! To teach mankind how beft the gods to praise ! . To fix their minds in truth's unerring ways!

Thus all her honours, Briftol's fons fhall

wear,

Whilft each his country's good shall make his ⚫chiefeft care!'

HENRY

HENRY NEedler.

HIS Poet was born at Harley in

Surry, in

Tthe year 19go, and educated at a private fchool at Ryegate in the fame county *. He was removed from thence in 1705, and in 1708 accepted a fmall place in a public office; where he continued the remainder of his days.

About this time contracting a friendship with a gentleman of a like tafte, who furnished him with proper books, he applied himself at his intervals of leifure, to reading the claffics, and to the ftudy of logic, metaphyfics, and the mathematics, with which laft he was peculiarly delighted. And in a few years by the force of his own happy genius, and unwearied diligence, without the affiftance of any mafter, he acquired a confiderable knowledge of the most difficult branches of those ufeful and entertaining studies.

By fo close an application, he contracted a violent pain in his head, which notwithstanding the best advice, daily encreafed. This, and other unfortunate circumstances concurring, fo deeply affected him, who had befides in his conftitution a strong tincture of melancholy, that he was at laft brought under almost a total extinétion of reason. In this condition he fell into a fever; and as there were before scarce any hopes of him, it may be faid to have happily put an end to the deplorable bondage

See his Life prefixed to his works, by WilliamDuncomb Efq;

of