Living, great Nature fear'd he might outvie • Her Works; and, dying fears herself may die.'

Of this Epitaph the firft Couplet is good, the fecond not bad, the third is deformed with a broken Metaphor, the Word crowned not being applicable to the Honours or the Lays, and the fourth wants grammatical Conftruction, the Word dying being no Subftantive.

IX.

On General HENRY WITHERS. In WeftminsterAbbey, 1729.

• Here, WITHERS, reft! thou braveft, gentleft

Mind,

Thy Country's Friend, but more of human Kind, • O! born to Árms! O! Worth in Youth approv❜d! O! foft Humanity in Age belov'd!

For thee the hardy Vet'ran drops a Tear,
And the gay Courtier feels the Sigh fincere.
WITHERS, adieu! yet not with thee remove
Thy martial Spirit, or thy focial Love!"
Amidst Corruption, Luxury, and Rage,
Still leave fome ancient Virtues to our Age:
Nor let us fay, (those English Glories gone)
The laft true Briton lies beneath this Stone.'

The Epitaph on Withers affords another Inftance of Common Places, though fomewhat diverfified, by mingled Qualities, and the Peculiarity of a Profeffion.

The fecond Couplet is abrupt, general, and unpleafing; Exclamation feldom fucceeds in our Language; and, I think it may be obferved, that the Particle O! ufed at the Beginning of a Sentence, always offends.

The third Couplet is more happy; the Value expressed for him, by different Sorts of Men, raifes

him to Efteem; there is yet fomething of the common Cant of fuperficial Satirifts, who suppose that the Infincerity of a Courtier deftroys all his Senfations, and that he is equally a Diffembler to the Living and the Dead.

At the third Couplet I fhould wish the Epitaph to clofe, but that I fhould be unwilling to lose the two next Lines, which yet are dearly bought if they cannot be retained without the four that follow them.

X.

On Mr. ELIJAH FENTON. At Easthamfted in

Berkshire, 1730.

This modeft Stone, what few vain Marbles can,, May truly fay, Here lies an honeft Man:

• A Poet, bleft beyond the Poet's Fate,

J

'Whom heav'n kept facred from the Proud and Great:

Foe to loud Praife, and Friend to learned Ease, Content with Science in the Vale of Peace. Calmly he look'd on either Life, and here Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear; From Nature's temp'rate Feaft rofe fatisfy'd, • Thank'd Heav'n that he had liv'd, and that he dy❜d.,

The firft Couplet of this Epitaph is borrowed, The four next Lines contain a Species of Praife peculiar, original, and juft. Here, therefore, the Infcription fhould have ended, the latter Part con taining nothing but what is common to every Man who is wife and good. The Character of Fenton was fo amiable, that I cannot forbear to wish for fome Poet or Biographer to difplay it more fully for the Advantage of Pofterity. If he did not stand in the first Rank of Genius he may claim a Place in the fecond; and, whatever Criticifm may object to his Writings, Cenfure could find very little to blame in his Life,

XI. On

XI.

On Mr. GAY. In Weftminfter-Abbey, 1732.
Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild;
In Wit, a Man; Simplicity, a Child:
With native Humour temp'ring virtuous Rage,
Form'd to delight at once and lafh the Age:
Above Temptation, in a low Estate,

And uncorrupted, even among the Great: A fafe Companion, and an eafy Friend, • Unblam'd thro' Life, lamented in thy End. Thefe are thy Honours! not that here thy Buft Is mix'd with Heroes, or with Kings thy Duft; But that the Worthy and the Good shall say, • Striking their penfive Bofoms-Here lies GAY?

As Gay was the Favourite of our Authour, this Epitaph was probably written with an uncommon Degree of Attention; yet it is not more happily executed than the reft, for it does not always happen' that the Success of a Poet is proportionate to his Labour. The fame Observation may be extended to all Works of Imagination, which are often influenced by Causes wholly out of the Performer's Power, by Hints of which he perceives not the Origin, by fudden Elevations of Mind which he cannot produce in himself, and which fometimes rife when he expects them leaft.

The two Parts of the firft Line are only Echoes of each other, gentle Manners and mild Affections, if they mean any Thing, muft mean the fame.

That Gay was a Man in Wit is a very frigid Commendation; to have the Wit of a Man is not much for a Poet. The Wit of Man, and the Simplicity of a Child, make a poor and vulgar Contraft, and raise no Ideas of Excellence, either Intellectual or Moral.

In the next Couplet Rage is lefs properly introduced after the Mention of Mildnefs and Gentleness,

which are made the Conftituents of his Character, for a Man fo mild and gentle to temper his Rage was not difficult.

The next Line is unharmonious in its Sound, and mean in its Conception, the Oppofition is obvious, and the Word lab ufed abfolutely, and without any Modification, is grofs and improper.

To be above Temptation in Poverty, and free from Corruption among the Great, is indeed fuch a Peculiarity as deferved Notice. But to be a fafe Companion is Praise merely negative, arising not from the Poffeffion of Virtue, but the Abfence of a Vice, and that one of the moft odious.

As little can be added to his Character, by afferting that he was lamented in his End. Every Man that dies is at least, by the Writer of his Epitaph, fuppofed to be lamented, and therefore this general Lamentation does no Honour to Gay.

The eight firft Lines have no Grammar, the Adjectives are without any Subftantive, and the Epithets without a Subject.

The Thought in the laft Line, that Gay is buried in the Bofoms of the Worthy and the Good, who are diftinguished only to lengthen the Line, is fo dark that few understand it; and fo harsh, when it is explained, that still fewer approve.

XII.

Intended for Sir ISAAC NEWTON. In WestminsterAbbey.

C ISAACUS NEWTONIUS:

Quem Immortalem

Teftantur, Tempus, Natura, Colum:
• Mortalem

Hoc marmor fatetur.

Nature, and Nature's Laws, lay hid in Night: Gon faid, Let Newton be! And all was Light.'

Of

Of this Epitaph, fhort as it is, the Faults feem not to be very few. Why Part fhould be Latin and Part English, it is not eafy to discover. In the Latin, the Oppofition of Immortalis and Mortalis, is a mere Sound, or a mere Quibble, he is not Immortal in any Sense contrary to that in which he is Mortal.

In the Verfes the Thought is obvious, and the Words Night and Light are too nearly allied.

XIII.

On EDMUND Duke of Buckingham, who died in the 19th Year of his Age, 1735.

If modeft Youth, with cool Reflection crown'd, And ev'ry opening Virtue blooming round, Could fave a Parent's jufteft Pride from Fate, Or add one Patriot to a finking State; r This weeping Marble had not afk'd thy Tear, Or fadly told, how many Hopes lie here! The living Virtue now had fhone approv'd, The Senate heard him, and his Country lov'd. Yet fofter Honours, and lefs noify Fame Attend the Shade of gentle Buckingham: In whom a Race, for Courage fam'd and Art, Ends in the milder Merit of the Heart; And Chiefs or Sages long to Britain giv'n, • Pays the last Tribute of a Saint to Heav'n.'

This Epitaph Mr. Warburton prefers to the reft, but I know not for what Reason. Το Crown with Reflection is furely a Mode of Speech approaching to Nonfenfe. Opening Virtues blooming round, is fomething like Fautology; the fix following Lines are Poor and Profaic. Art is in another Couplet ufed for Arts, that a Rhyme may be had to Heart. The fix laft Lines are the best, but not excellent.

The