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X.

On Mr. ELIJAH FENTON,

At Easthamfted in Berks, 1730.

HIS modeft Stone, what few vain Marbles can,

TH

May truly fay, Here lies an honeft Man:

A Poet, bleft beyond the Poet's fate,

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

Foe to loud Praife, and Friend to learned Eafe,
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 feaft rofe fatisfy'd,

Thank'd Heav'n that he had liv'd, and that he dy'd,

XI.

On Mr. GA Y.

In Westminster-Abbey, 1732.

F Manners gentle, of Affections mild;

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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 Eftate,

And uncorrupted, ev'n among the Great:
A fafe Companion, and an eafy Friend,
Unblam'd thro' Life, lamented in thy End.

5

These are Thy Honours! not that here thy Buft Is mix'd with Heroes, or with Kings thy duft; 10 But that the Worthy and the Good fhall fay, Striking their penfive bofoms---Here lies GAY.

NOTES.

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 expreffion, which makes the beauty, misleads the reader into a fenfe which takes it quite away.

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XII.

Intended for Sir ISAAC NEWTON,

In Westminster-Abbey.

ISAACUS NEWTONUS:

Quem Immortalem
Teftantur Tempus, Natura, Cælum:
Mortalem

Hoc marmor fatetur.

Nature and Nature's Laws lay hid in Night :

GOD faid, Let Newton be! and all was Light.

NOTES.

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

XIII.

On Dr. FRANCIS ATTERBURY,

Bishop of Rochester.

Who died in Exile at Paris, 1732.

[His only Daughter having expired in his arms, immediately after the arrived in France to fee him.]

DIALOGUE.

SHE.

ES, we have liv'd---one pang, and then we part!

YES

May Heav'n, dear Father! now have all thy Heart. Yet ah! how once we lov'd, remember still,

Till

you are dust like me.

H E.

Dear Shade! I will:

Then mix this duft with thine---O spotless Ghost! O more than Fortune, Friends, or Country loft!

Is there on Earth one care, one wifh befide ?

Yes---SAVE MY COUNTRY, HEAV'N,

---He said, and dy'd.

NOTES.

Save my Cuntry, Heav'n] Alluding to the Bishop's frequent ufe and application of the expiring words of the famous Father PAUL, in his prayer for the ftate, ESTO PERPETUA. With how good a grace the Bifhop applied it at his trial, and is here made to refer to it in his laft moments, they will understand who know what conformity there was in the lives of the Prelate and the Monk. The character of our countryman is well known. And that of the Father may be told in very few words. He was profoundly fkilled in all divine and human learning: He employed his whole life in the fervice of the State, against the unjuft incroachments of the Church. He was modeft, humble, and forgiving, candid, patient, and juft; free from all prejudices of party, and all the projects of ambition; in a word, the happieft compound of Science, Wifdom, and Virtue.

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