established his health, that his friends began to hope he might last for many years; but (whether it were from a life too sedentary, or from his natural constitution, in which was one circumstance very remarkable that from his cradle, he never had a regular pulse) a long and painful relapse into an asthma anddr opsy, deprived the world of this great man, on the seventeenth of June 1719. He left behind him only one daughter, by the Countess of Warwick, to whom he was married in the year 1716,

Not many days before his death, he gave me directions to collect his writings, and at the same time committed to my care the letter addrest to Mr. Craggs (his successor as Secretary of State) wherein he bequeaths them to him as a token of friendship. Such a testimony from the first man of our age, in such a point of time, will be perhaps as great and lasting an honour to that gentleman, as any even he could acquire to himself; and yet is no more than than was due from an affection, that justly increased towards him, through the intimacy of several years. I cannot, without the utmost tenderness, reflect on the kind concern, with which Mr. Addison left me as a fort of incumbrance upon this valuable legacy. Nor must I deny myself the honour to acknowledge, that the goodness of that great man to me, like many other of his amiable qualities, seemed not fo much to be re-newed as continued in his fucceffor; who made me an example, that nothing could be indifferent to him, which came recommended by Mr. Addison.

Could any circumstance be more fevere to me, while I was executing these last commands of the Author, than to fee the perfon to whom his works were presented, cut off in the flower of his age, and carried from the high office wherein he had fucceeded Mr. Addison, to be laid next him in the fame grave! I might dwell upon such thoughts, as naturally rise from these minute resemblances

a 5

blances in the fortune of two persons, whose names probably will be seldom mentioned asunder, while either our language or story subsist, were I not afraid of making this preface too tedious; especially since I shall want all the patience of the reader for having enlarged it with the following verses.

To

To the RIGHT HONOURABLE the

EARL of WARWICK, &c..

I

F, dumb too long, the drooping muse hath stay'd,,

And left her debt to Addison unpaid;
Blame not her filence, Warwick, but bemoan,
And judge, oh judge, my bosom by your own..
What mourner ever felt poetic fires!
Slow comes the verse, that real woe inspires ::
Grief unaffected suits but ill with art,
Or flowing numbers with a bleeding heart.
Can I forgive the dismal night, that gave
My foul's best part for ever to the grave!
How filent did his old companions tread,
By mid-night lamps, the mansions of the dead,
Thro' breathing statues, then unheeded things,
Thro' rows of warriors, and thro' walks of kings!!
What awe did the flow folemn knell inspire;
The pealing organ, and the pausing choir;
The duties by the lawn-rob'd prelate paid;
And the last words, that dust to dust convey'd!

While speechless o'er thy closing grave we bend,
Accept these tears, thou dear departed friend,
Oh gone for-ever, take this long adieu;
And fleep in peace, next thy lov'd Montagu !
To strew fresh laurels let the task be mine,
A frequent pilgrim at thy facred shrine,
Mine with true sighs thy absence to bemoan,
And grave with faithful epitaphs thy stone.
If e'er from me thy lov'd memorial part,
May shame afflict this alienated heart;
Of thee forgetful if I form a song,
My lyre be broken and untun'd my tongue,
My grief be doubled from thy image free,
And mirth a torment unchastis'd by thee.

Oft let me range the gloomy iles alone
(Sad luxury! to vulgar minds unknown)
Along the walls where speaking marbles show
What worthies form the hallow'd mold below :
Proud names, who once the reins of empire held;
In arms who triumph'd, or in arts excell'd;
Chiefs, grac'd with scars, and prodigal of blood;
Stern patriots, who for facred freedom stood;
Just men, by whom impartial laws were given;
And saints, who taught, and led, the way to heav'n.
Ne'er to these chambers where the mighty rest,
Since their foundation, came a nobler guest,

Nor