II.

On Sir WILLIAM TRUMBUL, One of the Principal Secretaries of State to King WILLIAM III. wha 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 profeft, Fix'd to one Side, but mod'rate to the rest: '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 Superftition 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.

In this Epitaph, as in many others, there appears, at the first View, a Fault which I think scarcely any Beauty can compenfate. The Name is omitted. The End of an Epitaph is to convey fomne Account of the Dead, and to what Purpofe is any Thing told of him whofe Name is concealed? An Epitaph, and a Hiftory, of a namelefs Hero, are equally abfurd, fince the Virtues and Qualities fo recounted in either, are scattered at the Mercy of Fortune to be appropriated by Guefs. The Name, it is true, may be read upon the Stone, but what Obligation has it to the Poet, whofe Verfes wander over the Earth, and leave their Subject behind them, and who is forced, like an unfkilful Painter, to make his Purpofe known by adventitious Help?

This Epitaph is wholly without Elevation, and contains nothing ftriking or particular; but the Poet is not to be blamed for the Defects of his Subject. He said perhaps the beft that could be faid. There

are however fome Defects which were not made neceffary by the Character in which he was employed. There is no Oppofition between an honest Courtier and a Patriot, for an honeft Courtier cannot but be a Patriot.

It was unfuitable to the Nicety required in short Compofitions, to close his Verfe with the Word too; every Rhyme fhould be a Word of Emphafis, nor can this Rule be fafely neglected, except where the Length of the Poem makes flight Inaccuracies excufable, or allows Room for Beauties fufficient to overpower the Effects of petty Faults.

At the Beginning of the feventh Line the Word filled is weak and profaic, having no particular Adaptation to any of the Words that follow it.

The Thought in the laft Line is Impertinent, having no Connection with the foregoing Character, nor with the Condition of the Man defcribed. Had the Epitaph been written on the poor Confpirator who died lately in Prison, after a Confinement of more than forty Years, without any Crime proved against him, the Sentiment had been juft and pathetical; but why fhould Trumbul be congratulated upon his Liberty, who had never known Restraint?

III.

On the Hon. SIMON HARCOURT, only Son of the Lord Chancellor HARCOURT; at the Church of StantonHarcourt in Oxfordshire, 1720.

To this fad 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 dy'd.

How vain is Reason, Eloquence how weak! If Pope must tell what Harcourt cannot fpeak. Oh, let thy once-lov'd Friend infcribe thy Stone, " And, with a Father's Sorrows, mix his own!'

This Epitaph is principally remarkable for the artful Introduction of the Name, which is inferted with a peculiar Felicity, to which Chance must concur with Genius, which no Man can hope to attain twice, and which cannot be copied but with fervile Imitation.

I cannot but wifh that, of this Infcription, the two laft Lines had been omitted, as they take away from the Energy what they do not add to the Senfe.

IV.

On JAMES CRAGGS, Efq. in Westminster-Abbey.
JACOBUS CRAGGS,

REGI MAGNE BRITANNIA A SECRETIS
ET CONSILIIS SANCTIORIBUS,

PRINCIPIS PARITER AC POPULI AMOR ET
DELICIA:

VIXIT TITULIS ET INVIDIA MAJOR,
ANNOS HEU PAUCOS, XXXV.

Statefman, yet Friend to Truth! of Soul fincere, 'In Action faithful, and in Honour clear! Who broke no Promife, 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 Mufe he lov'd.'

The Lines on Craggs were not originally intended for an Epitaph; and therefore fome Faults are to be imputed to the Violence with which they are torn from the Poem that firft contained them. We may, however, obferve fome Defects. There is a Redundancy of Words in the firft Couplet: It is fuperfluous to tell of him, who was fincere, true, and faithful, that he was in honour clear.

There feems to be on Oppofition intended in the fourth Line, which is not very obvious: Where is

the Wonder, that he who gained no Title, fhould lofe no Friend?

It may be proper here to remark the Abfurdity of joining, in the fame Infcription, Latin and English, or Verfe and Profe. If either Language be preferable to the other, let that only be used: For no Reafon can be given why Part of the Information should be given in one longue, and Part in another, on a Tomb, more than in any other Place, on any other Occafion; and to tell all that can be conveniently. told in Verse, and then to call in the Help of Prose, has always the Appearance of a very artlefs Expedient, or of an Attempt unaccomplished. Such an Epitaph resembles the Converfation of a Foreigner, who tells Part of his Meaning by Words, and conveys Part by Signs.

V.

Intended for Mr. RowE. In Weftminster-Abbey.
Thy Reliques, Rowe, to this fair Urn we truft,
And facred, place by Dryden's awful; uft:
Beneath a rude and nameless Stone he lies,
To which thy Tomb fhall guide inquiring Eyes.
Peace to thy gentle Shade, and endless Reft;
Bleft in thy Genius, in thy Love too bleft!
• One grateful Woman to thy Fame supplies
What a whole Thanklefs Land to his denies.'

Of this Infcription the chief Fault is, that it belongs lefs to Rowe, for whom it was written, than to Dryden, who was buried near him; and indeed gives very little Information concerning either.

To with, Peace to thy Shade, is too mythological to be admitted into a Christian Temple: The ancient Worship has infected almost all our other Compofitions, and might therefore be contented to spare our Epitaphs. Let Fiction, at least, ceafe with Life, and let us be ferious over the Grave.

VI.

On Mrs. CORBET, who died of a Cancer in her Breaft.
Here refts a Woman, good without Pretence,
Bleft with plain Reason, and with fober Sense:
No Conquefts She, but o'er herself defir'd;
No Arts effay'd, but not to be admir'd.
'Paffion and Pride were to her Soul unknown,
'Convinc'd that Virtue only is our own.
So unaffected, fo compos'd a Mind,

So firm, yet foft, so strong, yet so refin❜d,
Heav'n, as its pureft Gold, by Tortures try'd,
The Saint fuftain'd it, but the Woman dy'd.

I have always confidered this as the moft valuable of all Pope's Epitaphs; the Subject of it is a Character not difcriminated by any thining or eminent Peculiarities; yet that which really makes, though not the Splendor, the Felicity of Life, and that which every wife Man will choose for his final and lafting Companion in the Languor of Age, in the Quiet of Privacy, when he departs weary and disgusted from the Oftentatious, the Volatile, and the Vain. Of fuch a Character, which the Dull overlook, and the Gay defpife, it was fit that the Value fhould be made known, and the Dignity established. Domestic Virtue, as it is exerted without great Occafions, or confpicuous Confequences, in an even unnoted Tenor, required the Genius of Pope to display it in such a Manner as might attract Regard, and enforce Reverence. Who can forbear to lament that this amiable Woman has no Name in the Verses?

If the particular Lines of this Infcription be examined, it will appear lefs faulty than the reft. There is fcarce one Line taken from Common Places, unless it be that in which only Virtue is faid to be our own. I once heard a Lady of great Beauty and Elegance object to the fourth Line, that it contained an unna

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