JAMES CRAGGS, ESQ SEN

(Post Master General)

From a Picture by Zincke,

in the Marquis of Buckingham's Collection at Slowe.

Published by Cadell & Davies, Strand, and the other Proprietors May 1.1807.

If weak the pleasure that from these can spring, The fear to want them is as weak a thing:

Whether we dread, or whether we defire,
In either cafe, believe me, we admire;

Whether we joy or grieve, the fame the curfe,
Surpriz'd at better, or furpriz'd at worse.

Thus good or bad, to one extreme betray

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Th' unbalanc'd Mind, and snatch the Man away; 25
For Virtue's felf may too much zeal be had
The worst of Madmen is a Saint run mad.

'Go then, and if you can, admire the state
Of beaming diamonds, and reflected plate;
Procure a TASTE to double the furprize,
And gaze on "Parian Charms with learned eyes:
Be ftruck with bright Brocade, or Tyrian Dye,
Our Birth-day Nobles' fplendid Livery.

If not fo pleas'd, at Council-board rejoice,

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To fee their Judgments hang upon thy Voice;
From morn to night, at Senate, Rolls, and Hall,
Plead much, read more, dine late, or not at all.
But wherefore all this labour, all this ftrife?
For Fame, for Riches, for a noble Wife?
Shall One whom Nature, Learning, Birth, confpir'd
To form, not to admire, but be admir'd,

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Sigh, while his Chloe blind to Wit and Worth
Weds the rich Dulness of fome Son of earth?
Yet Time ennobles, or degrades each Line;
It brighten❜d CRAGGS's, and may darken thine: 45
And what is Fame? the Meaneft have their day,
The Greatest can but blaze, and pass away.

VOL. IV.

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Grac'd

Defodiet, condetque nitentia. 'cum bene notum
Porticus Agrippæ, et via te confpexerit Appî;

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Ire tamen reftat, Numa " quo devenit et Ancus.

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Si latus aut renes morbo tentantur acuto, Quære fugam morbi. * vis recte vivere? quis non?

NOTES.

Si

VER. 45. CRAGGS] In the Political State of Great Britain, publifhed 1721, is the following curious account of the fenior Craggs. "He was born in the Bishoprick of Durham, of people "of the meaneft rank; but being a hopeful youth, his relations "were refolved to do fomething extraordinary for him; when "his apprenticeship was expired, he took a short walk of about 66 200 miles up to London." &c.

VER. 48. Grac'd as thou art, with all the Pow'r of Words,] It is faid that Pope was Murray's inftructor in elocution.

VER. 49. Houfe of Lords:] In 1738, Murray was successful as counfel in appeals before the Houfe, for no lefs than eleven caufes. Life of Lord Mansfield.

VER. 52. Where MURRAY, &c.] The concurring teftimony of friends and enemies confirms the high panegyric here expreffed on Lord Mansfield, yet the intended parallel fails in its most material part. The Roman Conful has left unequivocal proofs of the fertile and comprehenfive genius attributed to him by his contemporaries; the British Chancellor will be known to posterity in the character of a wife and virtuous Hiftorian. This cannot be faid of the late Lord Chief Juftice, eminent, learned, and poffeffed of the higheft endowments, as he certainly was.

VER 52. TULLY, HYDE !] Equal to either, in the miniftry of his profeffion; and, where the parallel fails, as it docs in the reft of the character, fuperior to both. TULLY's brightest talents were frequently tarnifhed by Vanity and Fear; and HYDE's moft virtuous purpofes perverted and defeated by fuperftitious notions concerning the divine origin of Government, and the unlimited. obedience of the People. WARBURTON.

VER. 53. than HYDE!] Much beyond the Original; parti cularly on account of the very happy and artful use Pope has made of the neighbourhood of the Houfe of Parliament to Weft

minfter

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Grac'd as thou art, with all the Pow'r of Words, So known, fo honour'd, at the House of Lords: Confpicuous Scene! another yet is nigh,

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(More filent far,) where Kings and Poets lie; Where MURRAY (long enough his Country's pride) Shall be no more than TULLY, or than HYDE!

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Rack'd with Sciatics, martyr'd with the Stone,

Will any Mortal let himself alone?

See Ward by batter'd Beaus invited over,
And despʼrate Mifery lays hold on Dover.
The cafe is eafier in the Mind's difeafe;

There all Men may be cur'd, wheneʼer they please. Would ye be bleft? defpife low Joys, low Gains; Difdain whatever CORNBURY difdains;

Be virtuous, and be happy for your pains.

NOTES.

61

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But

minfter Abbey; and of the well-turned and unexpected compliment he has paid to his illuftrions friend. The character of Lord Chancellor Clarendon feems to grow every day brighter, the more it is fcrutinized, and his integrity and abilitics are more afcertained and acknowledged, even from the publication of private papers, never intended to fee the light. When Clarendon was going from Court, just after his profligate and ungrateful mafter had obliged him to refign the great feal, the Duchefs of Cleveland meanly and wantonly infulted him from a window in the palace. He looked up at her, and only faid, with a calm and contemptuous dignity, "Madam, if you live, you will grow WARTON.

old."

VER. 57. And defp'rate Mifery lays hold on Dover.] Warburton fays, "There is a prettiness in this expreffion, which depends on its contraft to that flippery medicine, by which this Quack rendered himself famous, namely Quickfilver !”

VER. 60. Would ye be bleft?] This amiable young nobleman wrote from Paris, 1752, a very preffing remonftrance to Mr.

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Mallet,