XCI. Fir'd with th' idea of her future fame Who for their various merit erft renown'd, In this bright fane of glory shrines of honour found. On thefe that royal dame her ravifh'd eyes Thofe fculptur'd chiefs did fhew, and their great lives ex[plain". Great lives explain.] I cannot forbear taking occafion from these words to make my acknowledgments to the writers of Biographia Britannica, for the pleasure and profit I have lately received from perufing the two firft volumes of that useful and entertaining work, of which the monumental structure above-men D 4 tioned, tioned, decorated with the statues of great and good men, is no improper emblem. This work, which contains the lives of the moft eminent perfons, who have flourished in Great Britain and Ireland, from the earliest ages, down to the prefent time, appears to me, as far as it has hitherto gone, to be executed with great Spirit, accuracy, and judgment; and deferves, in my opinion, to be encouraged by all, who have at heart the honour of their country, and that of their particular families and friends; and who can any ways affift the ingenious and laborious authors, to render as perfect as poffible, a defign fo apparently calculated to serve the public, by fetting in the trueft and fulleft light the characters of perfons already generally, though perhaps too indiftin&tly known; and retrieving from obfcurity and oblivion, examples of private and retired merit, which, though lefs glaring and oftentatious than the former, are not, however, of a lefs extenfive or lefs beneficial influence. To thofe, who may happen not to have seen this repofitory of British glory, I cannot give a better idea of it, than in the following lines of Virgil: Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera paffi ; Virg. Æn. L. 6. The End of the FIRST CANTO. PEN. PENS HURS T. INSCRIBED TO WILLIAM PERRY, Efq; AND The Honourable Mrs. ELIZABETH PERRY. G By the late Mr. F. COVENTRY. ENIUS of Penfhurft old! Who faw'ft the birth of each immortal oak, Here facred from the ftroke And all thy tenants of yon Infpir'ft to arts or arms; turrets bold, Where Sidney his Arcadian landscape drew, Genuine from thy Doric view; And patriot Algernon unshaken rose Above infulting foes; And Sacchariffa nurs'd her angel charms. • Sir Philip Sidney. . Algernon Sidney. O fuffer O fuffer me with fober tread To enter on thy holy fhade; A ftranger let him kindly greet, And pour his urn beneath my feet. And fee where Perry opes his door To land me on the focial floor; Nor does the heiress of these shades deny To bend her bright majestic eye, Where Beauty fhines, and Friendship warm, And Honour in a female form. With them in aged groves to walk, I fhun the voice of Party loud, I fhun loose Pleasure's idle crowd, And fhifts each hour her tinfel hue, Old Truth retains his filver hairs, And And Chastity her matron step, Doric bards enamour'd told, ECA BIBL BOD But chief of Virtue's lovely train, A penfive exile on the plain, FIAN Th' avenging fword, protecting fhield, Ere yet they grew refin'd to hate The hofpitable rural seat, The spacious hall with tenants ftor'd, Where Mirth and Plenty crown'd the board; Ere |