through the fnow, which Smith has ufed with great pomp, is ftolen from Cowley, however little worth the labour of conveyance.

He proceeded to take his degree of Mafter of Arts, July 8, 1696. Of the exercifes which he performed on that occafion, I have not heard any thing memorable.

As his years advanced, he advanced in reputation: for he continued to cultivate his mind, though he did not amend his irregularities, by which he gave fo much offence, that, April 24, 1700, the Dean and Chapter declared, "the place of Mr. Smith void, he "having been convicted of riotous mifbehaviour in the "houfe of Mr. Cole an apothecary; but it was re"ferred to the Dean when and upon what occafion "the fentence fhould be put in execution."

Thus tenderly was he treated: the governors of his college could hardly keep him, and yet wished that he would not force them to drive him away.

Some time afterwards he affumed an appearance of decency; in his own phrafe, he whitened himself, having a desire to obtain the censorship, an office of honour and fome profit in the college; but when the election came, the preference was given to Mr. Foulkes, his junior; the fame, I fuppofe, that joined with Freind in an edition of part of Demofthenes; the cenfor is a tutor, and it was not thought proper to truft the fuperintendance of others to a man who took fo little care of himself.

From this time Smith employed his malice and his wit against the Dean, Dr. Aldrich, whom he confidered as the opponent of his claim. Of his lampoon VOL. II.

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upon

upon him, I once heard a fingle line too grofs to be repeated.

But he was ftill a genius and a scholar, and Oxford was unwilling to lose him; he was endured, with all his pranks and his vices, two years longer; but on Dec. 20, 1705, at the inftance of all the canons, the fentence declared five years before was put in execution.

The execution was, I believe, filent and tender; for one of his friends, from whom I learned much of his life, appeared not to know it.

He was now driven to London, where he affociated himself with the Whigs, whether because they were in power, or because the Tories had expelled him, or because he was a Whig by principle, may perhaps be doubted. He was, however, careffed by men of great abilities, whatever were their party, and was fupported by the liberality of those who delighted in his converfation.

There was once a defign hinted at by Oldisworth, to have made him ufeful. One evening, as he was fitting with a friend at a tavern, he was called down by the waiter; and, having ftaid fome time below, came up thoughtful. After a paufe, faid he to his friend, "He that wanted me below was Addison, "whose business was to tell me that a Hiftory of the "Revolution was intended, and to propofe that Į "fhould undertake it. I faid, 'What fhall I do with "the character of lord Sunderland ?' and Addison im"mediately returned, When, Rag, were you drunk "laft?' and went away."

Captain Rag was a name which he got at Oxford by his negligence of drefs.

This story I heard from the late Mr. Clark of Lincoln's Inn, to whom it was told by the friend of Smith.

Such fcruples might debar him from fome profitable employments; but as they could not deprive him of any real esteem, they left him many friends; and no man was ever better introduced to the theatre than he, who, in that violent conflict of parties, had a Prologue and Epilogue from the firft wits on either fide.

But learning and nature will now and then take different courses. His play pleased the criticks, and the criticks only. It was, as Addison has recorded, hardly heard the third night. Smith had indeed trusted entirely to his merit, had enfured no band of applauders, nor ufed any artifice to force fuccefs, and found that naked excellence was not fufficient for its own fupport.

The play, however, was bought by Lintot, who advanced the price from fifty guineas, the current rate, to fixty; and Halifax, the general patron, accepted the dedication. Smith's indolence kept him from writing the dedication, till Lintot, after fruitless importunity, gave notice that he would publish the play without it. Now therefore it was written; and Halifax expected the author with his book, and had prepared to reward him with a place of three hundred pounds a year. Smith, by pride, or caprice, or indolence, or bashfulness, neglected to attend him, though doubtless warned and preffed by his friends, and at last miffed his reward by not going to folicit it.

Addison has, in the Spectator, mentioned the neglect of Smith's tragedy as difgraceful to the nation, and imputes it to the fondness for operas then prevailing. The authority of Addison is great; yet the

my

voice of the people, when to please the people is the purpose, deferves regard. In this question, I cannot but think the people in the right. The fable is thological, a ftory which we are accustomed to reject as falfe, and the manners are fo diftant from our own, that we know them not from fympathy, but by study: the ignorant do not understand the action; the learned reject it as a fchool-boy's tale; incredulus odi. What I cannot for a moment believe, I cannot for a moment behold with intereft or anxiety. The fentiments thus remote from life are removed yet further by the diction, which is too luxuriant and fplendid for dialogue, and envelopes the thoughts rather than dif plays them. It is a fcholar's play, fuch as may please the reader rather than the spectator; the work of a vigorous and elegant mind, accustomed to please itself with its own conceptions, but of little acquaintance with the course of life.

Dennis tells us, in one of his pieces, that he had once a defign to have written the tragedy of Phædra; but was convinced that the action was too mythological.

In 1709, a year after the exhibition of Phadra, died John Philips, the friend and fellow-collegian of Smith, who, on that occafion, wrote a poem, which justice must place among the best elegies which our language can fhew, an elegant mixture of fondness and admiration, of dignity and foftness. There are fome paffages too ludicrous; but every human performance has its faults.

This elegy it was the mode among his friends to purchase for a guinea; and, as his acquaintance was numerous, it was a very profitable poem.

Of

Of his Pindar, mentioned by Oldifworth, I have never otherwife heard. His Longinus he intended to accompany with fome illustrations, and had felected his inftances of the falfe Sublime from the works of Blackmore.

He refolved to try again the fortune of the Stage, with the story of Lady Jane Grey. It is not unlikely that his experience of the inefficacy and incredibility of a mythological tale, might determine him to choose an action from English History, at no great distance from our own times, which was to end in a real event, produced by the operation of known characters.

A fubject will not eafily occur that can give more opportunities of informing the understanding, for which Smith was unquestionably qualified, or for moving the paffions, in which I fufpect him to have had lefs power.

Having formed his plan, and collected materials, he declared that a few months would complete his defign; and, that he might purfue his work with lefs frequent avocations, he was, in June 1710, invited by Mr. George Ducket to his houfe at Gartham in Wiltfhire. Here he found fuch opportunities of indulgence as did not much forward his ftudies, and particularly some strong ale, too delicious to be refifted. He eat and drank till he found himself plethorick: and, then refolving to eafe himself by evacuation, he wrote to an apothecary in the neighbourhood a prefcription of a purge fo forcible, that the apothecary thought it his duty to delay it till he had given notice of its danger. Smith, not pleafed with the contradiction of a fhop. man, and boastful of his own knowledge, treated the notice

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