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fhew his intrepidity and diligence in executing the orders of his commander when called on. As he had no plans of operation to take up his thoughts, why not write a fong? There was neither indecency or immorality in it. I doubt not but, with that chearfulncfs of mind, he compofed himfcif to reft with as right feelings, and as proper an addrefs to his Maker, as any one of a more melancholy difpofition.

Most commanders, in the day of battle, aflume at least a brilliancy of countenance that may encourage their foldiers, and they are admired for it. To file at terror, has before this been allowed the mark of a he10. The dying Socrates difcourfed his friends with great compofure: he was a philofopher of a grave cait. Sir Thomas Moor, old enough to be my Lord's father, joked even on the fcaffold a strong inftance of his heroifin, and no contradiction to the rectitude of his mind. The verfes the Emperor Adrian made on his death-bed (call them a fong, if you will) have been admired and approved by feveral great men. Mr. Pope has not only given his opinion in their favour, but has alfo elegantly tranflated them, nay, thought them worthy an imitation, perhaps exceeding the original. If this behaviour of my Lord's is liable to different conftructions, let good nature and good manners incline us to - beftow the moft favourable thereon. After his fatigues at fea, during the remainder of the reign of Ch. II. he continued to live in honourable leifure: he was of the bed-chamber to the King, and poffeffed not only his mafier's favour, but in a great degree his familiarity, never leaving the court but when he was fent to that of France upon fome short commiffion, and embaflies of compliment, as if the King defigned to rival the French in the article of politencfs, who had long claimed a fuperiority in that accomplishment, by

fhewing them that one of the most finifhed gentlemen in Europe was his fubject, and that he understood his worth fo well, as not to fuffer him to be long out of his prefence. A mong other commiffions, he was fent in the year 1669 to compliment the French King, on his arrival at Dunkirk, in return for the compliment of that monarch by the Duchefs of Orleans, then in England.

Being poffeffed of the cflate of his uncle, in 1674 he was created Earl of Suffex, and Baron of Cranfield, by letters-patent, dated the 4th of April 1675, 27 Car. II. and in Auguft 1677 fucceeded his father as Earl of Dorfet, as alfo in the poft of Lord Lieutenant of the county of Suffex, having been joined in the commiffion with him in 1670; alfo the 20th February 1694, he was made Cuftos Rotulorum of that county.

Having buried his firft Lady, EIizabeth, daughter of Harvy Bagot, of Whitehall, in the county of Warwick, Efq; widow of Cha. Berkley, Earl of Falmouth, without any iffue by her, he married, in the year 1684, the Lady Mary, daughter of James Compton Earl of Northampton, famed for her beauty, and admirable endowments of mind, who was one of the ladies of the bed-chamber to Queen Mary, and left his lordship again a widower, Auguft 6, 1691, leaving iffue by him Lionel, now Duke of Dorfet, and a daughter, the Lady Mary, married in the year 1702 to Henry Somerfet, Duke of Beaufort, and dying in child-bed left no iffue.

The Earl of Dorfet appeared in court at the trial of the feven Bishops, accompanied with other noblemen, which had a good effect on the jury, and brought the judges to a better temper than they had ufually fhewn. He alfo engaged with thofe who were in the Prince of Orange's intereft, and carried on his part of that enterprife in London under the eye of

the

The court, with the fame courage and refolution as the Duke of Devonshire did in open arms at Nottingham. When Prince George of Denmark deferted King James, and join ed the Prince of Orange, the Princefs Anne was in violent apprehenfions of the King's difpleafure; and being defirous of withdrawing herfelf, Lord Dorfet was thought the propereft guide for her neceffary fight. She was fecretly brought to him by his Lady's uncle, the Bishop of London, who furnished the Princefs with every thing neceffary for her fight to the Prince of Orange, and attended her northward as far as Northampton, where he quickly brought a body of horse to ferve for her guard, and went from thence to Nottingham to confer with the Duke of Devonshire.

After the mifguided monarch had withdrawn himfelf, Lord Dorfet continued at London, and was one of thofe Peers that fat every day in the council chamber, and took upon them the government of the realm in this extremity, till fome other power hould be introduced. In the debates in parliament, immediately after this confufion, his Lordfhip voted for the vacancy of the throne: and that the Prince and Princess of Orange should be declared King and Queen of England, &c. When their Majefties had accepted the crown of thefe realms, his Lordship was the next day fworn one of the privy council, and declared Lord Chamberlain of the houfhold; a place, fays Prior, which he eminently adorned by the grace of his perfon, the fineness of his breeding, and the knowledge and practice of what was decent and magnificent. It appears by the hiftory of England, that he had the honour to ftand godfather with King William to a fon of the Prince and Princefs of Denmark, born at Hampton Court the 24th of July 1689, and chriftened the 27th, by the name of William; whom his

Majefly declared Duke of Gloucesterfhire. When the King had been earnestly intreated by the States of Holland, and the confederate princes in Germany, to meet at a general congrefs to be held at the Hague, in order to concert matters for the better fupport of the confederacy, and thereupon took fhipping the 16th of January 1692, his Lordship was among the peers who, to honour their King and country, waited on their Sovereign in that cold feafon; when they were two or three leagues off Goree, his Majely having by bad weather been four days at fea, was fo impatient to go afhore, that taking boat, and a thick fog rifing foon after, they were furrounded io clofely with ice as not to be able either to make the fhore or get back to the fhip. So that lying twenty-two hours, enduring the most bitter cold, and almoft defpairing of life, they could hardly ftand or fpek at their landing; and his Lordship was fo lame, that for fome time he did not recover. Yet on his return to England he neither complained of the accident or the expence.

On the fecond of February 1691, at a chapter of the moit noble order of the garter, he'd at Kenfington, his Lordship was elected one of the knights companions of this order, with his Highnefs John George, the fourth elector of Saxony, and

was installed at Windfor on the Fe

bruary following. He was conftituted four times one of the regents of the kingdom in his Majesty's abfence. About the years 1698, his health fenfibly declining, he left public bufinefs to thofe who more delighted in it, and appeared only fometimes at council, to thew his refpect to the commiffion which he bore; for he had already talled all the comfort that court favour could beflow. He had been high in office, refpe&ted by his fovereign, and the idol of the people; but now, when the evening of his life approached, he began to

B 2

look

look upon fuch enjoyments with lefs veneration, and thought proper to dedicate fome of his laft hours to quiet and meditation. Being oblig. ed to go to Bath for the recovery of his health, he there ended his life, on the 29th of Jan. 1705.6, and was buried at Witham on the 17th of February following.

Lord Dorfet was a great patron of men of letters and merit: Dr. Sprat, Bishop of Rocheller, celebrated for his polite writings, appealed to him when under a cloud for the part he acted in the reign of King James, and by his Lordship's interelt preferved himself. To him Mr. Dryden dedicated his tranflation of Juvenal, in which he is very lavish in his Lordship's praife, and expreffes his gratitude for the bounty he had experienced from him.

Mr. Prior (among others, who had owed their rife and fortune to my Lord Dorfet) makes this public acknowledgement, that he fcarce knew what life was fooner than he found

himfelf obliged to his favour, or had reafon to feel any forrow fo fenfible as that of his death. Mr. Prior then proceeds to enumerate the valuable life of his patron, in which the warmth of his gratitude appears in the molt elegant pangyric. I cannot imagine that Mr. Prior, with refpect to his Lordship's morals, has in the leaft violated, for he has fhewn the picture in various lights, and has hinted at his patron's errors, as well as his virtues. Among his errors, was that of indulging paffion, which carried him into tranfports, of which he was afhamed; and during thefe little exceffes, fays he, I have known his fervants get into his way, that they might make a merit of it immediately after, for he who had the good fortune to be chid, was fure of being rewarded for it.

His Lordship's poetical works have been published among the minor poets, 1749, and confiit chiefly of a

poem to Mr. Edward Howard, on his incomprehenfible poem called the British Princes, in which his Lordfhip is very fatirical upon that author.

Verics to Sir Thomas St. Serfe, on his printing his play called Taringo's Wiles, 1668.*

An epilogue to Moliere's Tartuf. An epilogue on the revival of Ben Johnfon's play, called Every Man in his Humour.

A fong writ at fea in the time of the Dutch war 1665, the night before an engagement.

Verfes addreffed to the Countess of Dorchefter.

A fatirical piece, entitled, A faithful Catalogue of our moft eminent Ninnies, written in the year 1683. And feveral fongs..

From thefe fpecimens Lord Dorfet has given us of his poetical talents, we are inclined to with that affairs of higher confequence had permitted him to have dedicated more time to the mufes. Though fome critics may alledge, that what he has given the public, is rather pretty than great; and that a few pieces of a light nature, do not entitle him to the character of a first rate poet : yet when we confider, that notwithflanding they were merely the amusements of his leifure hours, and most. ly the productions of his youth, they contain marks of a genius, and as fuch he is celebrated by Dryden, Prior, Congreve, and Pope.

Dorfet, the grace of courts, the mufes pride,
Patron of arts, and judge of nature, dy'd,
The fcourge of pride, of fanctity, of hate,
Of fops in learning, and of knaves in state;
Yet foft his nature, tho' fevere his lay,
His anger moral, and his wifdom gay;
Bieft fatyrift, who touch'd the mean fo true,
As fhew'd vice had his hate and pity too;
Bleft courtier, who could King and country
please,

Yet facred keep his friendship and his cafe ;
Reflecting and reflected in his rare,
Bleft peer, his great forefathers, every grace
Where other Buckhursts other Dorfets shine,
And patriots file, or poets deck the line.

OBJEC

OBJECTIONS against the STAGE confidered.

HE objections against the ftage from reafon may be reckoned

TH

far.

1. That it encourages pride.

2.

That it encourages revenge. 3. That it expofes the nobles and gentry.

4. That it ridicules the clergy. If all or any one of thefe objections were true, the theatres had long fince been fuppreffed by every ftate and policy; but as the ftage has been fupported by every wife government, the objections feem to vanifh before the fuperior authority of political inftitution.

The two first objections are too general to be true, and the two laft are too partial, too particular to be valid. We shall however confider them fuccinctly; and, first, that the stage encourages pride; a quality that, if true, would indifpofe men for obedience or civil fociety. Now the age is fo far from pride in the fub. ject, or tyranny and ambition in the prince, that the theatre on the contrary has ever been employed to deter men from it, by punishing the traitor, or humbling the great ones of the earth. This we fee from feveral of our own tragedies, as in a tyrant, Richard, a baughty Wolfey. And if by pride is meant vanity, or affectation, the child of vanity, it is the business of Comedy to ridicule it in the fops or the fools. But if by pride is meant, a well regulated pride, fuch as greatness of mind, called honour, we fhall concede the point, and allow that the ftage above all things ftirs up in the heart that fort of pride, commonly called honour, by demeaning every thing that is mean and low, and by applauding what is in itself truly great and noble, thus providing for the happinets of individuals and the profperity of the publick.

We think it needless to quote par

ticulars in fupport of this argument, fince the ftage is, like majefty, the fountain of honour.

To the fecond objection, that the ftage encourages revenge, we prefume to answer that the ftage keeps a man from revenging little injuries, by raifing his mind above them; and in the next place, if it sometimes exhibits characters revenging intolerable injuries, or punishing enormous crimes, yet at the fame time by fuch a difplay it deters men from committing fuch crimes, and confequently from giving provocation for fuch revenge; fo that in this light we may fet one against the other. Cicero, in his oration for Milo, affirms that Milo had ferved the commonwealth, by removing fuch a nufance as Clodius. Such traitors as Cataline and others fhould for the publick fafety be removed. Servilius Ahala ferved the commonwealth by removing Spurius Melius. And Scipio Nalica faved it from utter ruin by the death of Tiberius Gracchus. But as thefe may be confidered as fingular incidents, the tage feldom dictates, if at all, the fpirit of low revenge; and when it difplays fuch a quality, it generally exhibits it in low minds. or unworthy characters, by no means recommending it as a worthy paffion on the other hand, many characters are discovered as victims to the paffion of revenge, and falling in the act of thirsting after it, as in lago in the tragedy of Othello, and Zanga in that of the Revenge.

To the third objection, that the ftage expofes the nobility, or gentry, we concede that it does, when they deferve it, and this only under feigned characters. If the no. bles degrade their nobility by vice or folly, Comedy is ready, like all fatyr, to lafh them; and why fhould they, or any fet of men, be exempted from

being expofed on the ftage, more than off the ftage, by the prefs? If nobles will fell their country for penfions, places, or lucrative views, fatyr has it's ufe, the motto of which is, pungit, fed fanat, it pricks, but it heals, and this anfwer may ferve to the fourth objection. Avarice, intemperance, or enthufiafm, can never be applauded in any fet of men, much lefs in the clergy, who fhould be as good examples to the laity,

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A DIALOGUE between a GENTLEMAN and his Doc.

O. From public fpirit, mafter; a

Mafier. rah! you do not pre- difeafe common to all the barbers,

tend to low fpirits fure?

Othello. A little, Sir, at prefent. It is impoffible to think of this damned world without growing melancholy.

M. And, pray, what quarrel have you with the world, Mr. Othello? I can allow a philofopher, or a religious man, to complain of it, because I then conclude the world has been unfavourable to his intereft or ambition.

O. Will you give me leave to fpeak freely, mafter, and not be angry with me?

M. Do, my little fellow: I will not be angry.

O. Then my opinion is, that mankind has no right to complain of the world. If the world is bad, confider, dear Sir, who makes it fo?

M. Hum! There may be fomething in that infinuation.

O. I wonder you never complain of the world like others; you are not much indebted to its bounty.

M. True; but why fhould I complain? I cannot boaft of having done any thing to merit the world's fa

your.

O. Ha, ha, ha! Excufe me, Sir, you are a very fingular man.

M. Well; but will you be pleafed to inform me whence your melancholy arifes ?

taylors, &c. in Great Britain.

M. Indeed!

O. Indeed; for as to my private. circumitances, your bounty and affection make me as happy as any of my kind; and you will believe me, when I tell you, my heart overflows with love and gratitude to my be nefactor.

M. I know it; proceed.

O. I am mortified, Sir, when I think what my fpecies fuffers from the injuftice of mankind. As if it were not enough to be defpifed and kicked about by every unfeeling blockhead, glorying in the dignity of human nature; to be hanged by the neck in our old age by thofe ungrateful wretches we had ferved through life with care and fidelity; to be cut up alive by the damned merciless doctors in the bloom of youth as if all thefe, I fay, were not enough, we are every day loaded with a thoufand unmerited reproaches, and the imputation of vices of which we are entirely ig

norant.

M. I do not understand you.

O. Have you never obferved, that when one would exprefs an extraordinary degree of bafenefs with the greatest energy, he compliments his neighbours with the names of worthlefs dog, fad dog, wicked dog, &c.

as

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