good or bad, and therefore nothing can be faid of them which may not be applied with equal propriety to a thousand more. It is indeed no great panegyrick, that there is inclosed in this tomb one who was born in one year, and died in another; yet many ufeful and amiable lives have been spent, which yet leave little materials for any other memorial. These are however not the proper fubjects of poetry; and whenever friendship, or any other motive, obliges a poet to write on fuch fubjects, he must be forgiven if he fometimes wanders in generalities, and utters the fame praises over different tombs. The fcantinefs of human praifes can fcarcely be made more apparent, than by remarking how often Pope has, in the few epitaphs which he compofed, found it neceffary to borrow from himself. The fourteen epitaphs, which he has written, comprife about an hundred and forty lines, in which there are more repetitions than will eafily be found in all the rest of his works. In the eight lines which make the character of Digby, there is fcarcely any thought, or word, which may not be found in the other epitaphs. The ninth line, which is far the ftrongest and most elegant, is borrowed from Dryden. The conclufion is the fame with that on Harcourt, but is here more elegant and better connected. VIII. On Sir GODFREY KNELLER. In Westminster-Abbey, 1723. Kneller, by Heaven, and not a mafter, taught, Whofe art was nature, and whofe pictures thought, Vor. XI. P Now Now for two ages, having fnatch'd from fate. Living, great Nature fear'd he might outvie Of this epitaph the firft couplet is good; the fecond not bad; the third is deformed with a broken metaphor, the word crowned not being applicable to the honours or the lays; and the fourth is not only borrowed from the epitaph on Raphael, but of a very harsh conftruction. IX. On General HENRY WITHERS. Here, Withers, reft! thou braveft, gentleft mind, For thee the hardy veteran drops a tear, And the gay courtier feels the figh fincere. Withers, adieu! yet not with thee remove The epitaph on Withers affords another inftance of common places, though fomewhat diverfified by mingled qualities and the peculiarity of a profeffion. The fecond couplet is abrupt, general, and unpleafing; exclamation seldom fucceeds in our language; and, I think, it may be obferved that the par particle O used at the beginning of a sentence, always offends. The third couplet is more happy, the value expreffed for him, by different forts of men, raises him to efteem; there is yet fomething of the common cant of fuperficial fatirifts, who fuppofe that the infincerity of a courtier deftroys all his fenfations, and that he is equally a diffembler to the living and the dead. At the third couplet I fhould wifh the epitaph to clofe, but that I fhould be unwilling to lofe the two next lines, which yet are dearly bought if they cannot be retained without the four that follow them. X. On Mr. ELIJAH FENTON. This modeft ftone, what few vain marbles can, A poet, bleft beyond the poet's fate, Whom Heaven kept facred from the Proud and Great ; Foe to loud praise, and friend to learned ease, Content with fcience in the vale of peace. Calmly he look'd on either life; and here Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear; The first couplet of this epitaph is borrowed from Crafhaw. The four next lines contain a species of praise peculiar, original, and juft. Here, therefore, the infcription fhould have ended, the latter part containing nothing but what is common to every man who is wife and good. The character of Fenton was fo amiable, that I cannot forbear to wifh for fome poet or biographer to display it more fully for the advantage of pofterity. If he did not ftand in the first rank of genius, he may claim a place in the second; and, whatever criticism may object to his writings, cenfure could find very little to blame in his life. XI. On Mr. GAY. In Westminster-Abbey, 1732. Of manners gentle, of affections mild; With native humour tempering virtuous rage, As Gay was the favourite of our author, this epitaph was probably written with an uncommon degree of attention; yet it is not more fuccefsfully executed than the reft, for it will not always happen that the fuccefs of a poet is proportionate to his labour. The fame obfervation may extend to all works of imagination, which are often influenced by caufes wholly out of the performer's power, by hints of which he he perceives not the origin, by fudden elevations of mind which he cannot produce in himself, and which fometimes rife when he expects them leaft. The two parts of the first line are only echoes of each other; gentle manners and mild affections, if they mean any thing, muft mean the fame. That Gay was a man in wit is a very frigid commendation; to have the wit of a man is not much for a poet. The wit of man, and the fimplicity of a child, make a poor and vulgar contrast, and raise no ideas of excellence, either intellectual or moral. In the next couplet rage is lefs properly introduced after the mention of mildness and gentleness, which are made the conftituents of his character; for a man fo mild and gentle, to temper his rage was not difficult. The next line is inharmonious in its found, and mean in its conception; the oppofition is obvious, and the word lafh ufed abfolutely, and without any modification, is grofs and improper. To be above temptation in poverty, and free from corruption among the Great, is indeed fuch a peculiarity as deferved notice. But to be a fafe companion is a praise merely negative, arifing not from poffeffion of virtue, but the abfence of vice, and that one of the most odious. As little can be added to his character, by afferting, that he was lamented in bis end. Every man that dies is, at leaft by the writer of his epitaph, fuppofed to be lamented, and therefore this general lamentation does no honour to Gay. |