EPITAPH S.

His faltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani

Munere!

VIRG.

I.

On CHARLES Earl of Dorfet,

In the Church of Withyam in Suffex.

ORSET, the Grace of Courts, the Mufes'
Pride,

DOR

Patron of Arts, and Judge of Nature, dy'd. The scourge of Pride, tho' fanctify'd or great, Of Fops in Learning, and of Knaves in State:

NOTES.

Epitaphs.] Thefe little compofitions far exceed any thing we have of the fame kind from other hands; yet, if we ex cept the Epitaph on the young Duke of Buckingham, and perhaps one or two more, they are not of equal force with the rest of our Author's writings. The Nature of the compofition itself is delicate; and generally it was a task impofed on him; though he rarely complied with requests of this nature, but where the fubject was worthy of his pen; as we may fee by the fmall number of thefe poems.

Yet foft his Nature, tho' fevere his Lay,
His Anger moral, and his Wisdom gay.
Bleft Satirift! who touch'd the Mean fo true,
As show'd, Vice had his hate and pity too.
Bleft Courtier! who could King and Country please,
Yet facred keep his Friendships, and his Ease.
Bleft Peer! his great Forefathers ev'ry grace
Reflecting, and reflected in his Race;

Where other BUCKHURSTS, other DORSETS

fhine,

And Patriots ftill, or Poets, deck the Line.

NOTES.

For random praise the Work would ne'er be done:
Each Mother afks it for her booby Son:
Each Widow afks it for the beft of Men;

For him fhe weeps, for him fhe weds again.

Yet when these elegiac movements came freely from the heart, he mourns in such strains as fhew he was equally a master of this kind of Compofition with every other he undertook, as the following lines in the Epifle to Jervas may witness; which would have made the finest Epitaph in the world:

Call round her Tomb each object of defire,
Each purer frame inform'd with purer fire:
Bid her be all that chears or fiftens life,
The tender fifler, daughter, friend, and wife:
Bid her be all that makes mankind adore;
Then view this marble, and be vain no more!

II.

On Sir WILLIAM TRUMBAL,

One of the Principal Secretaries of State to King WILLIAM III. who having refigned his Place, died in his Retirement at Easthamfted, in Berkshire, 1716.

A

Pleafing Form; a firm, yet cautious Mind;

Sincere, tho' prudent; conftant, yet re-
fign'd:

Honour unchang'd, a Principle profest,
Fix'd to one fide, but mod'rate to the reft:
An honest Courtier, yet a Patriot too;
Juft to his Prince, and to his Country true:
Fill'd with the Senfe of Age, the Fire of Youth,
A Scorn of Wrangling, yet a Zeal for Truth;
A gen'rous Faith, from Superftition free;
A Love to Peace, and Hate of Tyranny;
Such this Man was; who now, from earth remov'd,
At length enjoys that Liberty he lov'd.

III.

On the Hon. SIMON HARCOurt,

Only Son of the Lord Chancellor HARCOURT; at the Church of Stanton-Harcourt in Oxfordshire, 1720.

O this fad Shrine, whoe'er thou art! draw

T°

near,

Here lies the Friend most lov'd, the Son moft dear: Who ne'er knew Joy, but Friendship might divide, Or gave his Father Grief but when he dy'd.

How vain is Reason, Eloquence how weak! If Pope must tell what HARCOURT cannot speak. Oh let thy once-lov'd Friend infcribe thy Stone, And, with a Father's forrows, mix his own!

IV.

On JAMES CRAGGS, Efq. In Westminster-Abbey.

JACOBUS CRAGGS

REGI MAGNE BRITANNIÆ A SECRETIS

ET CONSILIIS SANCTIORIBUS,

PRINCIPIS PARITER AC POPULI AMOR ET DELICIA: VIXIT TITULIS ET INVIDIA MAJOR

ANNOS, HEU PAUCOS, XXXV.

OB. FEB. XIV. MDCCXX.

Statesman, yet Friend to Truth! of Soul fincere,
In Action faithful, and in Honour clear!
Who broke no Promife, ferv'd no private End,
Who gain'd no Title, and who lost no Friend,
Ennobled by Himfelf, by All approv'd,

Prais'd, wept, and honour'd, by the Mufe he lov'd.