Page images
PDF
EPUB

HIS GRACE THE

DUKE of ORMOND.

Anno 1699.

MY LORD,

SOM

OME estates are held in England, by paying a fine at the change of every Lord: I have enjoyed the patronage of your family, from the time of your excellent grandfather to this prefent day. I have dedicated the tranflation of the lives of Plutarch to the first Duke; and have celebrated the memory of your heroic father. Though I am very fhort of the age of Neftor, yet I have lived to a third generation of your houfe; and by your Grace's favour am admitted ftill to hold from you by the fame tenure.

I am not vain enough to boast that I have deserved the value of fo illuftrious a line; but my fortune is the greater, that for three defcents they have been pleased to distinguish my 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 deserving families in Europe.

It is true, that by delaying the payment of my laft fine, when it was due by your Grace's acceffion to the titles and patrimonies of your house, I may feem, in rigour of law, to have made a forfeiture of my claim; yet my heart has always been devoted to your fervice: 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 volumes at your feet.

The world is fenfible that you worthily fucceed, not only to the honours of your ancestors,

ancestors, but also 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 newest link of it: which I will not call the laft, because I hope and pray, it may descend to late pofterity: and your flourishing youth, and that of your excellent Duchefs, are happy omens of my wish,

It is obferved by Livy and by others, that fome of the nobleft Roman families retained a resemblance of their ancestry, not only in their fhapes and features, but alfo in their manners, their qualities, and the diftinguishing characters of their minds; fome lines were noted for a stern, rigid virtue, favage, haughty, parfimonious, 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 last of these is the proper and indelible character of your Grace's family. God Al mighty has endued you with a foftness, a A 4 benefi

beneficence, an attractive behaviour winning on the hearts of others; and fo fenfible of their mifery, that the wounds of fortune seem not inflicted on them, but on yourself. You are so ready to redress, that you almost prevent their wishes, 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 must 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 muft 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 outside to fave the people even the common civility of afking entrance; where all were equally admitted; where nothing that was reasonable was denied; where misfortune was a powerful recommendation, and where (I can fcarce forbear saying) that want itself was a powerful mediator, and was next to merit.

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »