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VIII.

ON SIR GODFREY KNELLER,

IN WESTMINSTER-ABBEY, 1723.

KNELLER, by Heav'n and not a Master taught, Whose Art was Nature, and whose Pictures Thought;

Now for two Ages having snatch'd from fate
Whate'er was beauteous, or whate'er was great,
Lies crown'd with Princes' honours, Poets' lays, 5
Due to his Merit, and brave Thirst of praise.
Living, great Nature fear'd he might outvie
Her works; and, dying, fears herself
may die.

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 7. Imitated from the famous Epitaph on Raphael.

Raphael, timuit, quo sospite, vinci

Rerum magna parens, et moriente, mori."

NOTES.

P.

Ver. 7. Living, great Nature] Much better translated by Mr. W. Harrison, of New College, a favourite of Swift, communicated to me by Dr. Lowth:

"Here Raphael lies, by whose untimely end
Nature both lost a rival and a friend.”

Notwithstanding the partiality of Pope, this artist little deserved to be consulted by our poet, as he was, concerning the arrangements of the subjects represented on the shield of Achilles. These required a genius of a higher order. Mr. Flaxman, lately arrived from Italy, by a diligent study of the antique, and the force of his genius, has given designs from Homer far beyond any that have yet appeared.

IX.

ON GENERAL HENRY WITHERS,

IN WESTMINSTER-ABBEY, 1729.

HERE, WITHERS, rest! thou bravest, gentlest mind,
Thy Country's friend, but more of human kind.
Oh born to Arms! O Worth in Youth approv'd!
O soft Humanity, in Age belov'd!

For thee the hardy Vet'ran drops a tear,
And the gay Courtier feels the sigh sincere.

WITHERS, adieu! yet not with thee remove
Thy Martial spirit! or thy social love!
Amidst Corruption, Luxury, and Rage,
Still leave some ancient Virtues to our age:
Nor let us say (those English glories gone)
The last true Briton lies beneath this stone.

X.

ON MR. ELIJAH FENTON,

AT EASTHAMSTED IN BERKS, 1730,

THIS modest Stone, what few vain marbles May truly say, Here lies an honest Man :

A Poet, blest beyond the Poet's fate,

can,

Whom Heav'n kept sacred from the Proud and Great.
Foe to loud praise, 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 feast rose satisfied,

Thank'd Heav'n that he had liv'd, and that he died.

His integrity, his learning, and his genius, deserved this character; it is not in any respect over-wrought. His poems are not sufficiently read and admired. The Epistle to Southerne, the Ode to the Sun, the Fair Nun, and, above all, the Ode to Lord Gower, are excellent. Akenside frequently said to me, that he thought this Ode the best in our language, next to Alexander's Feast. "I envy Fenton," said Pope to Mr. Walter Harte, "his Horatian Epistle to Lambard." Parts of Mariamne are beautiful, and it ought to take its turn on the stage. Just before he died, Fenton was introduced into Mr. Craggs' family by Pope's recommendation.

Not only the second line, but almost the whole of this epitaph, is borrowed from Crashaw, an imitator of Marino, and a writer of whom Pope, and indeed Cowley, were fond.

XI.

ON MR. GAY.

IN WESTMINSTER-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 lash the age:
Above Temptation, in a low Estate,
And uncorrupted, ev'n among the Great :
A safe Companion, and an easy Friend,
Unblam'd through Life, lamented in thy End.
These are Thy Honours! not that here thy Bust
Is mix'd with Heroes, or with Kings thy dust;
But that the Worthy and the Good shall say,
Striking their pensive bosoms-Here lies GAY.

NOTES.

5

10

Ver. 1. Of Manners gentle,] "The eight first lines," says Johnson, "have no grammar; the adjectives are without any substantives, and the epithets without a subject."

It is somewhat singular that there should be an improper expression in Bishop Warburton's own epitaph. His genius and learning are called two talents, but learning is an acquirement.

Ver. 12. Here lies Gay.] i. e. in the hearts of the good and worthy. Mr. Pope told me his conceit in this line was not generally understood. For, by peculiar ill-luck, the formulary expression which makes the beauty, misleads the reader into a sense which takes it quite away. W.

The conceit in the last line is certainly very puerile, and a false thought borrowed from Crashaw :

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Entomb'd, not in this stone, but in my heart."

Crashaw, Poems, p. 94.

XII.

INTENDED FOR SIR ISAAC NEWTON,

IN WESTMINSTER-ABBEY.

ISAACUS NEWTONUS:

Quem Immortalem

Testantur Tempus, Natura, Cœlum :

Mortalem

Hoc marmor fatetur.

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

NOTES.

Ver. 1. Nature] The antithesis betwixt Mortalem and Immortalem is much unsuited to the subject; and the second English line, "God said," &c. borders a little on the profane. The magnificent Fiat of Moses will be always striking and admired, notwithstanding the cold objections of Le Clerc and Huet.

Ver. 2. Let Newton be!] He was born on the very day on which Galileo died. When Ramsay was one day complimenting him on his discoveries in philosophy, he answered, as I read it in Spence's Anecdotes, "Alas! I am only like a child picking up pebbles on the shore of the great ocean of truth."

and all was Light.] It had been better-and there was Light, -as more conformable to the reality of the fact, and to the allusion whereby it is celebrated. W.

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