Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

EPITAPH S.

His faltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani Munere!

VIRG.

I.

On CHARLES Earl of Dorfet, In the Church of Withyam in Suffex.

DOR

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

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

Epitaphs.] Thefe little compofitions far exceed any thing we have of the fame kind from other hands; yet, if we except 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 Composition itself is delicate; and generally it was a task impofed on him; tho' he rarely complied with requefts of this nature, as we may fee by the small number of thefe poems, but where the fubject was worthy of his ¡en,

Yet foft his Nature, tho' severe his Lay,
His Anger moral, and his Wisdom gay.
Bleft Sat'rift! who touch'd the Mean fo true,
As fhow'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 shine,
And Patriots ftill, or Poets, deck the Line.

For random praise the Work would ne'er be done :
Each Mother afks it for ber booby Son:

Each Widow afks it for the beft of Men;

For bim fbe weeps, for him she weds again.

Yet when thefe elegiac movements came freely from the heart, he mourns in fuch strains as fhew he was equally a master of this kind of Compofition with every other he undertook, as the following lines in the Epifile 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 foftens life,
The tender fifter, 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 Eafthamfted in Berkshire, 1716.

A

Pleafing Form; a firm yet cautious Mind;
Sincere, tho prudent; conftant, yet refign'd:

Honour unchang'd, a Principle profest,
Fix'd to one fide, but mod'rate to the reft:
An honeft 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 fuperftition 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.

VOL. VI.

III.

On the Hon. SIMON HARCOURT.

Only Son of the Lord Chancellor HARCOURT; at the Church of StantonHarcourt in Oxfordshire, 1720.

[ocr errors]

O this fad fhrine, whoe'er thou art! draw near,

Here lies the Friend most lov'd, the Son most dear : Who ne'er knew Joy, but friendship might divide, Or gave his Father Grier 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 CRAGG S

REGI MAGNE BRITANNIE

A SECRETIS

ET CONSILIIS SANCTIORIBUS,

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

ANNOS, HEU PAUCOS, XXXV.

OB, FEB. XVI. MDCCXX.

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

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

« ZurückWeiter »