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

Of this Epitaph the first 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 Construction, the Word dying being no Subftantive.

IX.

On General HENRY WITHERS. In WestminsterAbbey, 1729.

• Here, WITHERS, reft! thou braveft, gentlest

6

Mind,

Thy Country's Friend, but more of human Kind, O! born to Arms! 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! Amidft Corruption, Luxury, and Rage, Still leave some ancient Virtues to our Age: Nor let us fay, (thofe English Glories gone) • The last true Briton lies beneath this Stone.'

The Epitaph on Withers affords another Inftance of Common Places, though fomewhat diversified, 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 used at the Beginning of a Sentence, always offends.

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

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

At the third Couplet I should with the Epitaph to close, but that I fhould be unwilling to lofe 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.

A Eafthamfted 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,

'Whom heav'n kept facred from the Proud and Great; Foe to loud Praife, and Friend to learned Eafe, • 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 Fe ft 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 Praise peculiar, original, and juft. Here, therefore, the Infcription fhould have ended, the latter Part containing nothing but what is common to every Man who is wife and good. The Character of Fenton was so amiable, that I cannot forbear to with for fome Poet or Biographer to display it more fully for the Advantage of Pofterity. If he did not ftand in the first Rank of Genius he may claim a Place in the fecond; and, whatever Criticism may object to his Writings, Cenfure could find very little to blame in his Life.

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 Jafh the Age:
Above Temptation, in a low Estate,

• And uncorrupted, even among the Great:
A fafe Companion, and an easy Friend,
' Unblam'd thro' Life, lamented in thy End.
Thefe are thy Honours! not that here thy Bust
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 Succefs of a Poet is proportionate to his Labour. The fame Obfervation may be extended to all Works of Imagination, which are often influenced by Caufes 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 first 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 raife 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 lafh used absolutely, 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, arifing not from the Poffeffion of Virtue, but the Abfence of a Vice, and that one of the most 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 first 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 so harsh, when it is explained, that still fewer approve.

XII.

Intended for Sir ISAAC NEWTON. In WestminsterAbbey.

ISAACUS NEWTONIUS:

Quem Immortalem

Teftantur, Tempus, Natura, Cœlum:
• Mortalem

'Hoc marmor fatetur.

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

Of

Of this Epitaph, fhort as it is, the Faults feern not to be very few. Why Part fhould be Latin and Part English, it is not easy 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 modest 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;

This weeping Marble had not afk'd thy Tear,
Or fadly told, how many Hopes lie here!
The living Virtue now had thone 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 laft Tribute of a Saint to Heav'n.'

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

The