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Yet take these Tears, Mortality's relief, And till we share your joys, forgive our grief: These little rites, a Stone, a Verse receive;

'Tis all a Father, all a Friend can give!

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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.

NOTES.

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

IMITATIONS.

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

Raphael, timuit, quo sospite, vinci

Rerum magna parens, et moriente, mori."

P.

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to be consulted by our Poet, as he was,

concerning the arrangement 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. Warton.

There are some very good pictures by Kneller, at Donhead Hall, near Shaftesbury, Wilts, the seat of his descendant John Kneller, Esq. particularly a St. Cecilia, and the Conversion of St. Paul; his natural daughter is painted in the character of Cecilia, which, in action and attitude, is very like that of the late Mrs. Sheridan, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. I should have imagined Sir Joshua must have seen it, or perhaps a copy of it. There is a painting by Sir Godfrey, at Donhead Hall, of Pope.

I take this opportunity of explaining a ridiculous anecdote, which Warton has admitted of Kneller's vanity. Walpole has related it in this manner: "Sir Godfrey," says Pope, " if God had consulted you, the world would have been made more perfect." "'Fore God," replies Kneller, "I think so." Now the real story is this: When Pope, with an affected and pert superiority, said, "If Sir Godfrey had been consulted, the world would have been made more perfect;" Kneller immediately turned the laugh upon Pope, by looking at his diminutive person, and saying, with a good humoured smile, "'Fore God, there are some little things in it, I think I COULD have mended." This is humourous and pleasant; whereas, as the wits have told the story themselves, Sir Godfrey's stupidity appears equal to his vanity. Bowles.

Pope had made Sir Godfrey, on his death-bed, a promise to write his Epitaph, which he seems to have performed with reluctance. He thought it "the worst thing he ever wrote in his life," Spence's Anec. 165. Singer's Ed.

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.

NOTES.

5

10

Here, Withers, rest!] In the early part of his life, Pope associated much with General Withers, and his friend Colonel Disney, commonly called, in Pope's correspondence, Duke Disney, who resided with the General at Greenwich. They are mentioned in Gay's Poem on Pope's supposed return from Greece, in the following

stanza:

Now pass we Gravesend with a friendly wind,

And Tilbury's white fort, and long Blackwall;
Greenwich, where dwells the friend of human kind,
More visited than either park or hall,
WITHERS the good, and (with him ever joined)
Facetious DISNEY, greet thee first of all.

I see his chimney smoke, and hear him say,
Duke! that's the room for POPE, and that for GAY.

X.

ON MR. ELIJAH FENTON,

AT EASTHAMSTED IN BERKS, 1730.

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

A Poet, blest beyond the Poet's fate,

Whom Heav'n kept sacred from the Proud and Great:

Foe to loud Praise, and Friend to learned Ease, 5 Content with Science in the Vale of Peace.

NOTES.

Ver. 9. From Nature's temp'rate feast, &c.]. Wakefield quotes Horace :

Inde fit, ut raro qui se vixisse beatum

Dicat, et exacto contentus tempore vitæ,
Cedat, uti, conviva satur, reperire queamus.

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. Warton.

Pope has left another character of Fenton, not inconsistent with the above. "Fenton is a right honest man. He is fat and indolent; a very good scholar; sits within, and does nothing but read, or compose."-Spence's Anec. p. 19. Singer's Ed.

Calmly he look'd on either Life, and here
Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear;
From Nature's temp'rate feast rose satisfy'd,
Thank'd Heav'n that he had liv'd, and that he dy'd.

XI.

ON MR. GAY,

IN WESTMINSTER-ABBEY, 1732.

Or Manners gentle, of Affections mild;
In Wit, a Man; Simplicity, a Child:

5

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; 10
But that the Worthy and the Good shall say,
Striking their pensive bosoms-Here lies GAY.

NOTES.

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."

Warton.

Ver. 2. In Wit, &c.] This seems derived from Dryden's Elegy on Mrs. Anne Killegrew;

"Her wit was more than man; her innocence a child."

Wakefield.

Ver. 3. virtuous Rage,] Silius Italicus, v. 652, has the same ex

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