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III.

ON THE HON. SIMON HARCOURT,

Only Son of the Lord Chancellor HARCOURT; at the Church of Stanton-Harcourt

T

in Oxfordshire, 1720.

this sad shrine, 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 Grief but when he died1.

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

IV.

ON JAMES CRAGGS, ESQ.
In Westminster-Abbey 2.

JACOBUS CRAGGS

REGI MAGNE BRITANNIÆ A SECRETIS
ET CONSILIIS SANCTIORIBUS,

PRINCIPIS PARITER AC POPULI AMOR ÉT DELICIÆ:
VIXIT TITULIS ET INVIDIA MAJOR
ANNOS, HEU PAUCOS, XXXV.
OB. FEB. XVI. MDCCXX.

Statesman, yet Friend to Truth! of Soul sincere,
In Action faithful, and in Honour clear!

Who broke no Promise, serv'd no private End;
Who gain'd no Title, and who lost no Friend;
Ennobled by Himself, by All approv'd;

Prais'd, wept, and honour'd, by the Muse he lov'd3.

V.

INTENDED FOR MR ROWE,

In Westminster Abbey.

HY relics, ROWE, to this fair Urn we trust,

THY And sacred, place by DRYDEN's awful dust:

Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies,
To which thy Tomb shall guide enquiring eyes.

1 These were the very words used by Louis XIV., when his Queen died, 1683; though it is not to be imagined they were copied by Pope. Warton.

2 [As to Craggs, v. ante, p. 442. Horace Walpole sent to Sir Horace Mann a very illnatured epitaph on the same Craggs, whose father had been a footman: Here lies the last, who died before the first of his family.' (Jesse.) As Craggs's death alone arrested the enquiry into the charge of peculation brought against him in connexion with the South Sea frauds (his father committing suicide shortly afterwards) the praise in the third line of Pope's Epitaph is singularly bold.]

3 These verses were originally the conclusion of the Epistle to Mr Addison on his Dialogue on Medals, and were adopted as an Epitaph by an alteration in the last line, which in the Epistle stood

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'And prais'd unenvied by the Muse he lov'd.' Roscoe [cf. p. 264].

4 [As to Rowe, see note to Epil. to Jane Shore, p. 94.]

5 Beneath a rude] The Tomb of Mr Dryden was erected upon this hint by the Duke of Buckingham; to which was originally intended this Epitaph,

This SHEFFIELD rais'd. The sacred Dust below
Was DRYDEN once: The rest who does not

know?

which the Author since changed into the plain
inscription now upon it, being only the name of
that great Poet.

J. DRYDEN.
Naturs Aug. 9, 1631. Mortuus Maij 1, 1700.
JOANNES SHEFFIELD DUX BUCKINGHAMIENSIS
POSUIT.

P.

6 [The above epitaph was subsequently altered by Pope, the following lines being added:

H

VI.

ON MRS CORBET,

Who died of a Cancer in her Breast1.

ERE rests a Woman, good without pretence,

Blest with plain Reason, and with sober Sense:

No Conquests she, but o'er herself, desir'd,

No Arts essay'd, but not to be admir'd.

Passion and Pride were to her soul unknown,
Convinc'd that Virtue only is our own.
So unaffected, so compos'd a mind;

So firm, yet soft; so strong, yet so refin'd;
Heav'n, as its purest gold, by Tortures try'd;
The Saint sustain'd it, but the Woman died.

VII.

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10

ON THE MONUMENT OF THE HONOURABLE ROBERT DIGBY, AND OF HIS SISTER MARY,

Erected by their Father, the Lord DIGBY, in the Church of Sherborne

G

in Dorsetshire, 17273.

O! fair Example of untainted youth,

Of modest wisdom, and pacific truth:

Compos'd in suff'rings, and in joy sedate,

Good without noise, without pretensión great.

Just of thy Word, in ev'ry thought sincere,

Who knew no wish but what the world might hear:
Of softest manners, unaffected mind,

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Lover of peace, and friend of human kind:

Go live! for Heav'n's Eternal year is thine,

Go, and exalt thy Moral to Divine.

And thou, blest Maid! attendant on his doom,
Pensive hast follow'd to the silent tomb,
Steer'd the same course to the same quiet shore,
Not parted long, and now to part no more!
Go then, where only bliss sincere is known!
Go, where to love and to enjoy are one!
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!

Peace to thy gentle shade, and endless rest!
Blest in thy Genius, in thy Love too blest!
One grateful Woman to thy fame supplies
What a whole thankless land to his denies.'
But further alterations and additions were made
in the inscription, until it read as it now stands
on the monument in Westminster Abbey to
Rowe and his daughter.]

This epitaph is on a monument in St Mar-
garet's Church, Westminster, where the date of
Mrs Elizabeth Corbet's death is recorded as
March 1st, 1724.
Mr Hunter conceives that she

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VIII.

ON SIR GODFREY KNELLER,

In Westminster-Abbey, 17231.

NELLER, by Heav'n, and not a Master, taught,

K 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,
Due to his Merit, and brave Thirst of praise.
Living, great Nature fear'd he might outvie2
Her works; and dying, fears herself may die.

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ance.

IX.

ON GENERAL HENRY WITHERS,
In Westminster-Abbey, 17293.

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.

1 Pope had made Sir Godfrey Kneller, on his death-bed, a promise to write his epitaph, which he seems to have performed with reluctHe thought it 'the worst thing he ever wrote in his life.' (Spence.) Roscoe. [Sir Godfrey Kneller was born at Lübeck in 1648, and after being introduced by the Duke of Monmouth to King Charles II., filled the office of Statepainter under that monarch and his successors up to George I., in whose reign (in 1726) he died.] 2 Imitated from the famous Epitaph on Ra

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scended from a military stock, and bred in arms in Britain, Dunkirk, and Tangier. Through the whole course of the two last wars of England with France, he served in Ireland, in the Low Countries, and in Germany: was present in every battle and at every siege, and distinguished in all by an activity, a valour and a zeal which nature gave and honour improved. A love of glory and of his country animated and raised him above that spirit which the trade of war inspires-a desire of acquiring riches and honours by the miseries of mankind. His temper was humane, his benevolence universal, and among all those ancient virtues which he preserved in practice and in credit none was more remarkable than his hospitality. He died at the age of 78, on the 11th of November, 1729, to whom this monument is erected by his companion in the wars and his friend through life, HENRY DISNEY.'

Both Withers and Disney (who rests beside his comrade) are mentioned among Pope's friends by Gay, who alludes to the hospitality panegyrized in the above epitaph.]

X.

ON MR ELIJAH FENTON,

At Easthamstead in Berks, 17301.

HIS modest Stone, what few vain Marbles can2,
May muudly 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,
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 feast rose satisfy'd3,

Thank'd Heav'n that he had liv'd, and that he died.

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OF

XI.

ON MR GAY,

In Westminster-Abbey, 1732.

F Manners gentle, of Affections mild;
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 Estate,
And uncorrupted, ev'n among the Great:
A safe Companion, and an easy Friend,
Unblam'd thro' Life, lamented in thy End.
These are Thy Honours! not that here thy Bust
Is mix'd with Heroes, or with Kings thy dust;
But that the Worthy and the Good shall say,
Striking their pensive bosoms-Here lies GAY4.

[Elijah Fenton was born in 1683. Fenton, together with Broome, wrote part of the translation of the Odyssey in a style so similar to Pope's that most readers would fail to distinguish between the work of the latter and that of his coadjutors. A survey of Fenton's works shows a striking reproduction on his part of most of the species of poetry cultivated by Pope. Fenton has a pastoral (Florelio) to correspond to Pope's fourth and favourite Pastoral; a paraphrase of the 14th chapter of Isaiah to correspond to Pope's Messiah; an epistle from Sappho to Phaon, Epistles, Prologues, and Translations and Imitations of Horace. Fenton was a thorough master of versification, and excelled Pope in his command of a variety of metres. His Ode to Lord Gower

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(which Pope placed next in merit to Dryden's
St Cecilia) avoids the faults committed by Pope
in his own 'Pindaric' essay; and his blank
verse translation of the 11th book of the Odyssey
is dignified without heaviness. Fenton's tragedy
of Mariamne seems to have owed its success in
part to the judicious suggestions of the author of
Oroonoko.]

2 The modest front of this small floor
Believe me, reader, can say more
Than many a braver marble can:
Here lies a truly honest man.

Crashaw, Epitaph upon Mr Ashton. Johnson.
3 Cf. Hor. Sat. Lib. 1. 1. 117-119.
Wake-
field.

[There is a very striking coincidence between

XII.

INTENDED FOR SIR ISAAC NEWTON,
In Westminster-Abbey1.

ISAACUS NEWTONUS:
Quem Immortalem

Testantur Tempus, Natura, Cœlum:
Mortalem

Hoc marmor fatetur.

Nature and Nature's Laws lay hid in Night:
GOD said, Let Newton be! and all was Light2.

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 she arrived in France to see him3.)

YES

DIALOGUE.
SHE.

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

HE.

Dear Shade! I will:
Then mix this dust with thine-O spotless Ghost!
O more than Fortune, Friends, or Country lost!
Is there on Earth one care, one wish beside?
Yes-SAVE MY COUNTRY, HEAV'N,

these four lines and the following in the Epitaph recently published by Prof. H. Morley, and believed by him to be Milton's:

In this little bed my dust
Incurtained round I here entrust,
While my more pure and noble part
Lies entomb'd in every heart.'

This parallel passage at once explains the mean-
ing of Pope's last line, which he complained to
Warburton was not generally understood.']
1 [Died, 1727.]

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

3 [As to Atterbury, see Epil. to Satires, Dial. 11. v. 82.] Macaulay, in his essay on Francis

He said, and died".

Atterbury, in relating that after his death his body was brought to England and privately buried under the nave of Westminster Abbey, observes: That the epitaph with which Pope honoured the memory of his friend does not appear on the walls of the great national cemetery, is no subject of regret: for nothing worse was ever written by Colley Cibber.']

4 [Bowles has pointed out that many of our old epitaphs are written in dialogue.]

5 [Cf. Moral Essays, Ep. I. v. 265. Atterbury's letter to the Pretender, almost the last expressions of this most eloquent man' (Lord Stanhope), may be compared with Pope's poetic version, which was sarcastically annotated by Warburton, a safer kind of prelate.]

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