Then, with no fiery throbbing pain, EPITAPH ON CLAUDE PHILLIPS, AN ITINERANT MUSICIAN'. PHILLIPS! whose touch harmonious could remove EPITAPHIUMTM IN THOMAM HANMER, BARONETTUM. Honorabilis admodum THOMAS HANMER, Baronnettus, These lines are among Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies they are, nevertheless, recognised as Johnson's, in a memorandum of his handwriting, and were probably written at her request. This Phillips was a fiddler, who travelled up and down Wales, and was much celebrated for his skill. The above epitaph, according to Mr. Boswell, won the applause of lord Kames, prejudiced against Johnson as he was. It was published in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies, and was, at first, ascribed to Garrick, from its appearing with the signature G.Garrick, however, related, that they were composed, almost impromptu, by Johnson, on hearing some lines on the subject, by Dr. Wilkes, which he disapproved. See Boswell, i. 126, where is, likewise, preserved an epigram, by Johnson, on Colley Cibber and George the second, whose illiberal treatment of artists and learned men was a constant theme of his execration. As it has not yet been inserted among Johnson's works, we will present it to the readers of the present edition, in this note. Augustus still survives in Maro's strain, mAt Hanmer church, in Flintshire. ED. Wilhelmi Hanmer armigeri, e Peregrina Henrici North De Mildenhall, in Com. Suffolciæ, baronetti sorore et hærede, Johannis Hanmer de Hanmer baronetti Antiquo gentis suæ et titulo et patrimonio successit. Alteram Isabellam, honore a patre derivato, de Deinde celsissimi principis, ducis de Grafton, viduam dotariam: Alteram Elizabetham, Thomæ Foulkes de Barton, in Inter humanitatis studia feliciter enutritus, Omnes liberalium artium disciplinas avide arripuit, Quas morum suavitate haud leviter ornavit. Postquam excessit ex ephebis, Continuo inter populares suos fama eminens, Et comitatus sui legatus ad parliamentum missus, Ad ardua regni negotia, per annos prope triginta, se accinxit: Cumque, apud illos amplissimorum virorum ordines, Sed probe perpensa diserte expromere, Non minus integritatis quam eloquentiæ laude Æque omnium, utcunque inter se alioqui dissidentium, Annoque demum M.DCC.XIII. regnante Anna, Communi senatus universi voce, designatus est: Cum nullo tempore non difficile, Tum illo certe, negotiis Et variis, et lubricis, et implicatis, difficillimum, Honores alios, et omnia quæ sibi in lucrum cederent munera, Sedulo detrectavit, Ut rei totus inserviret publicæ; Et fide in patriam incorrupta notus. Paulatim se a publicis consiliis in otium recipiens, Inter ante-actæ vitæ haud insuaves recordationes, Et bonis omnibus, quibus charissimus vixit, Hic, juxta cineres avi, suos condi voluit, et curavit PARAPHRASE OF THE ABOVE EPITAPH. BY DR. JOHNSON". THOU, who survey'st these walls with curious eye, This paraphrase is inserted in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies. The Latin is there said to be written by Dr. Freind. Of the person whose memory it celebrates, a copious account may be seen in the appendix to the supplement to the Biographia Britannica. In life's first bloom his publick toils began, In bus'ness dext'rous, weighty in debate, Suspended faction ceas'd from rage and strife, Beheld with love-with veneration heard. This task perform'd-he sought no gainful post, Age call'd, at length, his active mind to rest, TO MISS HICKMANo, PLAYING ON THE SPINET. BRIGHT Stella, form'd for universal reign, PARAPHRASE OF PROVERBS, CHAP. VI. VERSES 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard.” TURN on the prudent ant thy heedful eyes, • These lines, which have been communicated by Dr. Turton, son to Mrs. Turton, the lady to whom they are addressed by her maiden name of Hickman, must have been written, at least, as early as 1734, as that was the year of her marriage at how much earlier a period of Dr. Johnson's life they might have been written, is not known. First printed in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies. |