A DISSERTATIO ON THE EPÍTAPHS E WRITTEN BY POPE. AVERY Art is best taught by Example. Nothing contributes more to the Cultivation of Propriety than Remarks on the Works of tl.ofe who have moft excelled. I fhall therefore endeavour, at this Vifit, to entertain the young Students in Poetry, with an Examination of Pope's Epitaphs. To define an Epitaph is useless; every one knows that it is an Infcription on a Tomb. An Epitaph, therefore, implies no particular Character of Writing, but may be compofed in Verfe or Profe. It is indeed commonly Panegyrical; because we are feldom diftinguished with a Stone, but by our Friends; but it has no Rule to reftrain or modify it, except this, that it ought not to be longer than common Beholders may be expected to have Leisure and Patience to perufe. I. On CHARLES Earl of DORSET, in the Church of Wythyham in Suffex. DORSET, the Grace of Courts, the Mufes Pride, Patron of Arts, and Judge of Nature, dy'd. The The Scourge of Pride, tho' fanctify'd or great, Of Fops in Learning, and of Knaves in State; "Yet foft his Nature, tho' fevere his Lay, 'His Anger moral, and his Wifdom gay. Bleft Satyrift! who touch'd the Mean so 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 Eafe. Bleft Peer! his great Forefathers ev'ry Grace Reflecting, and reflected on his Race'; Where other Buckhurfts, other Dorfets fhine, 'And Patriots ftill, or Poets, deck the Line.' The first Diftich of this Epitaph contains a Kind of Information which few would want, that the Man, for whom the Tomb was erected, died. There are indeed fome Qualities worthy of Praise afcribed to the Dead, but none that were likely to exempt him from the Lot of Man, or incline us much to wonder that he should die. What is meant by Judge of Nature, is not eafy to fay. Nature is not the Object of human Judgment, for it is vain to judge where we cannot alter. If by Nature is meant, what is commonly called Nature by the Criticks, a juft Reprefentation of Things really exifting and Actions really performed, Nature cannot be properly. opposed to Art; Nature being, in this Senfe, only the best Effect of Art. The Scourge of Pride- Of this Couplet, the fecond Line is not, what is intended, an Illuftration of the former. Pride, in the Great, is indeed well enough connected with Knaves in State, though Knaves is a Word rather too ludicrous and light; but the mention of fanctified; Pride will not lead the Thoughts to Fops in Learning, but rather to fome Species of Tyranny or Oppreffion, fomething more gloomy and more formidable than Foppery. VOL. II. Yet Yet foft his Nature This is a high Compliment, but was not first beftowed on Dorfet by Pope. The next Verfe is extremely beautiful. Bleft Satyrift! In this Diftich is another Line of which Pope was not the Authour. I do not mean to blame these Imitations with much Harfhnefs; in long Performances they are scarcely to be avoided, and in flender they may be indulged, because the Train of the Compofition may naturally involve them, or the Scantinefs of the Subject allow little Choice. However, what is borrowed is not to be enjoyed as our own, and it is the Bufinefs of critical Juftice to give every Bird of the Mufes his proper Feather. Bleft Courtier !. Whether a Courtier can be properly commended for keeping his Eafe facred may perhaps be difputable. To pleafe King and Country, without facrificing Friendship to any Change of Times, was a very uncommon Inftance of Prudence or Felicity, and deserved to be kept feparate from fo poor a Commendation as Care of this Eafe. I with our Poets would attend a little more accurately to the Use of the Word facred, which furely fhould never be applied in a ferious Compofition, but where fome Reference may be made to a higher Being, or where fome Duty is exacted or implied. A man may keep his Friendship facred, because Promises of Friendship are very awful Ties; but methinks he cannot, but in a burlefque Senfe, be faid to keep his Eafe facred. Bleft Peer! The Bleffing afcribed to the Peer has no Connection with his Peerage; they might happen to any other Man, whofe Ancestors were remembered, or whofe Pofterity were likely to be regarded. I know not whether this Epitaph be worthy either of the Writer, or of the Man entombed. II. On Sir WILLIAM TRUMBUL, 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, Juft to his Prince, and to his Country true. 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 fome 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 fcattered 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 faid perhaps the best that could be faid. There are 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 fhort Compofitions, to close his Verse with the Word too; every Rhyme fhould be a Word of Emphafis, nor can this Rule be safely 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 described. 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 speak. Oh, let thy once-lov'd Friend infcribe thy Stone, And, with a Father's Sorrows, mix his own!' |