epistolary writings; I must therefore insert a specimen of this his excellence:

"Ergo iterum versus? dices. O Vane! quid ergo

Morbum ejurasti toties, tibi qui insidet altis,
Non evellendus, vi vel ratione, medullis?
Numne poetarum (merito dices) ut amantum
Derisum ridere deum perjuria censes?

Parcius hæc, sodes, neve inclementibus urge
Infelicem hominem dictis; nam fata trahunt me
Magna reluctantem, et nequicquam in vincla minacem.
Helleborum sumpsi, fateor, pulcreque videbar
Purgatus morbi; sed Luna potentior herbis
Insanire iterum jubet, et sibi vendicat ægrum."

There is another epistle also, well worthy perusal, to his friend, Mat. Clifford, at the end of the same volume. Pope, in one of his imitations of Horace, has exhibited the real character of Cowley with delicacy and candour:

"Who now reads Cowley? If he pleases yet,

His moral pleases, not his pointed wit;

Forgot his epic, nay Pindaric art,

But still I love the language of his heart."

His prose works give us the most amiable idea both of his abilities and his heart. His Pindaric odes cannot be perused with common patience by a lover of antiquity. He that would see Pindar's manner truly imitated, may read Masters's noble and pathetic Ode on the Crucifixion; and he that wants to be convinced that these reflections on Cowley are not too severe, may read also his epigrammatic version of it:

«Η οὐχ ὁράας ὁλοπόρφυρον
Στίλβοντ ̓ οὐ φλογί

Σιδονίης ἁλὸς, ἀλ

λ' αἵματι σταζομένῳ

"Dost thou not see thy prince in purple clad all o'er,

Not purple brought from the Sidonian shore ;

But made at home with richer gore?"

“Ανοιγ' ἄνοιγε

Πύλας ὀπωπῶν

Καὶ πηγὰς βλεφάρων

Δύσαι, ψέκαζε, δεῦε γαῖαν.”

"Open, oh! open wide the fountains of thine eyes,
And let them call

Their stock of moisture forth where e'er it lies,

For this will ask it all.

"Twould all, alas! too little be,

Though thy salt tears came from a sea."

Cowley being early disgusted with the perplexities and vanities of a court life, had a strong desire to enjoy the milder pleasures of solitude and retirement; he therefore escaped from the tumults of London to a little house at Wandsworth; but finding that place too near the metropolis, he left it for Richmond, and at last settled at Chertsey. He seems to have thought that the swains of Surrey had the innocence of those of Sydney's Arcadia; but the perverseness and debauchery of his own workmen soon undeceived him, with whom, it is said, he was sometimes so provoked, as even to be betrayed into an oath. His income was about three hundred pounds a year. Towards the latter part of his life he shewed an aversion to the company of women, and would often leave the room if any happened to enter it whilst he was present, but still retained a sincere affection for Leonora. His death was occasioned by a singular accident; he paid a visit on foot with his friend Sprat to a gentleman in the neighbourhood of Chertsey, which they prolonged, and feasted too much, till midnight. On their return home they mistook their way, and were obliged to pass the whole night exposed under a hedge, where Cowley caught a severe cold, attended with a fever, that terminated in his death. All these particulars were communicated to me by Mr. Spence from his Anecdotes, who assured me he received them from Mr. Pope's own mouth.

IV.

COWLEY.

THE GARDEN.

FAIN would my Muse the flow'ry Treasures sing,
And humble glories of the youthful Spring;
Where op'ning Roses breathing sweets diffuse,
And soft Carnations show'r their balmy dews;
Where Lilies smile in virgin robes of white,
The thin Undress of superficial Light,
And vary'd Tulips shew so dazzling gay,
Blushing in bright diversities of day,
Each painted flow'ret in the lake below

5

Surveys its beauties, whence its beauties grow; 10
And pale Narcissus on the bank, in vain
Transformed, gazes on himself again.
Here aged trees Cathedral Walks compose,
And mount the Hill in venerable rows:

There the green Infants in their beds are laid, 15
The Garden's Hope, and its expected shade.
Here Orange-trees with blooms and pendants shine,
And vernal honours to their autumn join;
Exceed their promise in the ripen'd store,
Yet in the rising blossom promise more.
There in bright drops the crystal Fountains play;
By Laurels shielded from the piercing day :
Where Daphne, now a tree as once a maid,
Still from Apollo vindicates her shade,

20

Still turns her beauties from the invading beam, 25
Nor seeks in vain for succour to the Stream.
The stream at once preserves her virgin leaves,
At once a shelter from her boughs receives,
Where Summer's beauty midst of Winter stays,
And Winter's Coolness spite of Summer's rays.

30

WEEPING.

WHILE Celia's Tears make sorrow bright,
Proud Grief sits swelling in her eyes;
The Sun, next those the fairest light,

Thus from the Ocean first did rise: And thus through Mists we see the sun, Which else we durst not gaze upon.

5

These silver drops, like morning dew,

Foretell the fervour of the day:

So from one Cloud soft show'rs we view,

And blasting lightnings burst away.

The Stars that fall from Celia's eye,

Declare our Doom in drawing nigh.

The Baby in that sunny Sphere

So like a Phaëton appears,

That Heav'n, the threaten'd World to spare,
Thought fit to drown him in her tears:
Else might th' ambitious Nymph aspire,
To set, like him, Heav'n too on fire.

10

15

EXACTLY in the taste of Lopes de Vega, who, speaking of a shepherdess weeping near the sea-side, says, "The ocean advances to collect her tears, and enclosing them in shells, converts them into pearls."