poems from thofe of other men; and have accordingly made me their peculiar care. May it be permitted me to fay, that as your grandfather and father were cherished and adorned with honours by two fucceffive monarchs, fo I have been efteemed and patronized by the grandfather, the father, and the fon, defcended from one of the most ancient, moft confpicuous, and most deferving families in Europe.

It is true, that by delaying the payment of my last fine, when it was due by your Grace's acceffion to the titles and patrimonies of your houfe, I may feem, in rigour of law, to have made a forfeiture of my claim; yet my heart has always been devoted to your service; and fince you have been graciously pleased, by your permiffion of this addrefs, to accept the tender of my duty, it is not yet too late to lay these poems at your feet.

The world is fenfible that you worthily fucceed not only to the honours of your ancestors, but alfo to their virtues. The long chain of magnanimity, courage, eafinefs of accefs, and defire of doing good, even to the prejudice of your fortune, is fo far from being broken in your Grace, that the precious metal yet runs pure to the neweft link of it; which I will not call the last, because I hope and pray it may defcend to late pofterity; and your flourishing

youth, and that of your excellent Dutchefs, are happy omens of my wifh.

It is obferved by Livy and by others, that fome of the nobleft Roman families retained a refemblance of their ancestry, not only in their fhapes and features, but alfo in their manners, their qualities, and the diftinguishing characters of their minds. Some lines were noted for a ftern, rigid virtue, favage, haughty, parfimoni ous, and unpopular: others were more fweet and affable, made of a more pliant paste, humble, courteous, and obliging; ftudious of doing charitable offices, and diffufive of the goods which they enjoyed. The laft of thefe is the proper and indelible character of your Grace's family. God Almighty has endued you with a foftnefs, a beneficence, an attractive behaviour winning on the hearts of others; and fo fenfible of their misery, that the wounds of fortune feem not inflicted on them, but on yourself. You are fo ready to redrefs, that you almost prevent their wifhes, and always exceed their expectations; as if what was yours was not your own, and not given you to poffefs, but to bestow on wanting merit. But this is a topic which I muft caft in fhades, left I offend your modefty, which is fo far from being oftentatious of the good you do, that it blushes even to have it known; and therefore I must leave you to

the fatisfaction and teftimony of your own confcience, which, though it be a filent panegyric, is yet the beft.

You are fo eafy of accefs, that Poplicola was not more, whofe doors were opened on the outfide to fave the people even the common civility of asking entrance; where all were equally admitted; where nothing that was reasonable was denied; where misfortune was a powerful recommendation, and where I can scarce forbear faying that want itself was a powerful mediator, and was next to merit.

The hiftory of Peru affures us, that their Incas, above all their titles, efteemed that the higheft, which called them Lovers of the Poor; a name more glorious than the Felix, Pius, and Auguftus of the Roman Emperors; which were epithets of flattery, deferved by few of them, and not running in a blood like the perpetual gentlenefs and inherent goodness of the ORMOND Family.

Gold, as it is the pureft, fo it is the fofteft and moft ductile of all metals. Iron, which is the hardeft, gathers ruft, corrodes itfelf, and is therefore fubject to corruption: it was never intended for coins and medals, or to bear the faces and infcriptions of the great. Indeed it is fit for armour, to bear off infults, and preferve the wearer in the day of battle; but the

danger once repelled, it is laid afide by the brave, as a garment too rough for civil converfation: a neceffary guard in war, but too harsh and cumbersome in peace, and which keeps off the embraces of a more humane life.

For this reafon, my lord, though you have courage in an heroical degree, yet I ascribe it to you but as your fecond attribute: mercy, beneficence, and compaffion, claim precedence, as they are firft in the Divine Nature. An intrepid courage, which is inherent in your Grace, is at beft but a holiday kind of virtue, to be feldom exercifed, and never but in cafes of neceffity affability, mildnefs, tenderness, and a word, which I would fain bring back to its original fignification of virtue, I mean good. nature, are of daily ufe: they are the bread of mankind, and ftaff of life: neither fighs, nor tears, nor groans, nor curfes of the vanquished, follow acts of compaffion, and of charity; but a fincere pleasure and ferenity of mind, in him who performs an action of mercy, which cannot fuffer the misfortunes of another without redrefs, left they should bring a kind of contagion along with them, and pollute the happiness which he enjoys.

Yet fince the perverfe tempers of mankind, fince oppreffion on one fide, and ambition on the other, are fometimes the unavoidable occa

fions of war; that courage, that magnanimity, and refolution, which is born with you, cannot be too much commended. And here it grieves me that I am fcanted in the pleasure of dwelling on many of your ations; but αἰδέομαι Τρώας is an expreffion which Tully often uses, when he would do what he dares not, and fears the cenfure of the Romans.

I have fometimes been forced to amplify on others; but here, where the fubject is fo fruitful, that the harveft overcomes the reaper, I am fhortened by my chain, nd can only fee what is forbidden me to reach: fince it is not permitted me to commend you, according to the extent of my wishes, and much lefs is it in my power to make my commendations equal to your merits.

Yet in this frugality of your praises, there are fome things which I cannot omit, without detracting from your character. You have fo formed your own education, as enables you to pay the debt you owe your country, or, more properly speaking, both your countries; becaufe you were born, I may almost say, in purple, at the Castle of Dublin, when your grandfather was Lord-lieutenant, and have fince been bred in the Court of England.

If this addrefs had been in verfe, I might have called you, as Claudian calls Mercury,