Ad libros et ad hæc Mufarum dona vocares; [At neque dedecorant tua de fe judicia, atque Munera, qua multa dantis cum laude tulerunt, Dilecti tibi Virgilius Variufque poetæ ;] Nec magis expreffi vultus per ahenea figna, Quam per vatis opus mores animique virorum Clarorum apparent. nec fermones ego mallem Repentes NOTES. which he did. There was present Dr. Steward and another Civilian, unto whom he flings out fome queftion of that profeffion; and was fo full of words, that Dr. Steward afterwards told my Lord, That he did perceive by him, that, like a SMATTERER, he had ftudied fome two or three questions; whereof when he came in company he must be talking, to vindicate his fkill; but if he were put from thofe, he would fhew himself but a SIMPLE FELLOW. There was prefent alfo Dr. Richardfon, the King's profeffor of Divinity in Cambridge, and another Doctor in that Faculty, with whom he falleth in alfo, about fome of thofe questions, which are now controverted amongst the Minifters in Holland; and being matters wherein he was studied, he uttered all his skill concerning them. MY LORD OF ELY SITTING STILL AT THE SUPPER ALL THE WHILE, and WONDERING What a man he had there, who never being in the place or company before, could overwhelm them fo with talk for fo long a time. I write this unto you fo largely, that you may know the difpofition of the man: and HOW KINDLY HE USED MY LORD OF ELY FOR HIS GOOD ENTERTAINMENT." Memorials, vol. iii. p. 459. Winwood's Seriously, my Lord of Ely's cafe was to be pitied. But this will not happen every day: for as expofed as their Lordships may be to these kind of infults, happy is it, that the men are not always at hand, who can offer them. A second Grotius, for aught I know, may be as far off as a fecond Century of my Lords of Ely. -But it was enough that this fimple fellow was an Arminian and a Republican, to be despised by Abbot and his Master. For in the opinion of these great judges of merit, Religion and Society could The Hero William, and the Martyr Charles, 390 One knighted Blackmore, and one penfion'd Quarles; Which made old Ben and furly Dennis fwear, "No Lord's anointed, but a Ruffian Bear." Not with fuch majesty, fuch bold relief, The Forms auguft, of King, or conqu❜ring Chief, E'er fwell'd on marble; as in verse have shin'd (In polish'd verfe) the Manners and the Mind. NOTES. Oh! could not fubfift without PREDESTINATION and ARBITRARY POWER. However, this difcerning fpirit, it is certain, had not left L. when the grave Hiftorian Anthony Wood was fo hospitably entertained there. Who in the journal of his life under the year 1671, tells the following ftory: "I and John Echard, the Author of the Contempt of the Clergy, dined with Archbishop Sheldon. After dinner, when the Archbishop had withdrawn and felected. his company, I was called into the withdrawing-room, and Echard was left behind to go drink and fmoke with the Chaplains:" So well adjusted was this respect of perfons; Echard, the wittiest man of the age, was very fitly left to divert the Chaplains; and Anthony Wood, without all per-adventure the dulleft, was called in to en joy the converfation of his Grace. W. VER. 385. But Kings in Wit] They may, nevertheless, be very good Kings. It is not for his verses, any more than for his victories, that the late King of Pruffia will be celebrated by pofterity: but for foftening the rigours of a defpotic government, by a code of milder laws than his crouching people had known before; and for building many villages and farm-houses, to encourage agriculture, and repair the wastes and ravages of war. He must therefore be pardoned for an abfurd judgment, which he has paffed on Homer, whom he could not read in the Original, where he says; "Ses chants & l'action ont peu ou point de liafon les uns avec les autres, ce qui leur a mérité le nom de rapíodies." Preface to the Henriade. VER. 387. Penfion'd Quarles;] Who has lately been more favourably spoken of by fome ingenious critics; particularly by the author of Thirty Letters. ६. Repentes per humum, quam res componere geftas, vum *Carmen majeftas recipit tua; nec meus audet m n Quod quis deridet, quam quod probat et veneratur. Nil moror officium, quod me gravat: ac neque ficto In pejus vultu proponi cereus ufquam, Nec prave factis decorari verfibus opto: NOTES. VER. 397. How dearly bought !] A very bitter stroke of fatire! especially in the word, dearly. VER. 409. They fay I bite.] If any key had been wanting to the artful irony contained in this imitation, especially in the last fixteen lines, this one verse would have been fufficient to fix the Poet's intention. Neither Dr. Warburton nor Dr. Hurd take the leaft notice of any irony being intended in this imitation. To what motive fhall we afcribe this cautious filence? Oh! could I mount on the Mæonian wing, с 394 Your Arms, your Actions, your Repose to fing! i And Afia's Tyrants tremble at your Throne But * Verse, alas! your Majefty disdains; And I'm not us'd to Panegyric ftrains : 405 The Zeal of 'Fools offends at any time, But most of all, the Zeal of Fools in rhyme. Befides, a fate attends on all I write, That when I aim at praife, they fay "I bite. 410 n A vile Encomium doubly ridicules: There's nothing blackens like the ink of fools. If true, a woful likeness; and if lies, "Praise undeferv'd is fcandal in disguise:" Well he blush, who gives it, or receives; (Like Journals, Odes, and fuch forgotten things 415 |
