to me, (who lay on the fame floor, in the next room to her,) to defire to speak to me; and when I came, fhe faid, not seemingly with much pain, but with such a shortness of breath that she was forced to breathe after every two or three words, "Mr. Evans, I have been waking- these three hours-and would fain—have the facrament." I wondered at her fending for me on that account, her husband and father being both near at hand; but 1 found afterwards it was her unwillingness, by a direct meffage from herself, too much to alarm either of them. However, being then not apprised of her reafon for it, I doubted a little of her being in her right fenfes, and faid, "Madam, would you now receive the facrament?" She faid, "Yes, I would-if poffible - presently." Of which the Bishop being immediately advised, as was Mr. Morice, and every thing prepared, he came, and administered to her, and to all prefent, the facrament; and afterwards, at her defire, continued repeating the prayers of the church, till fhe began to draw very near her end, and then he used and continued the recommendatory prayer only; fhe all the while holding her hands in a posture of prayer, and sometimes joining in a low voice with him.

"After this, her father being gone from the bed-fide, she called for him (as fhe had frequently done) and again faid to him, "Dear Papa-what a bleffing is it-that after-fuch a longtroublefome-journey-we have-the comfort-of this meeting!"

"And indeed, when I reflect on it, and confider the weak condition she was in upon the road, the many accidents that hap. pened to retard the voyage, and the last effort she made, when she was at the worst, towards finishing it, I cannot but think that that meeting feemed granted by Heaven to her continual fervent prayers for it.

About this time she called for her husband (who was always in near attendance upon her), and faid, "Dear Mr. Moricetake care of the children-I know you will.-Remember me-to the Dutchess of Buckingham."

"She also in a proper place recommended her fervants to Mr. Morice.

"She now found her feet cold, and ordered them to be rubbed, at the fame time calling for her broth; but when it came, not being able to swallow it, fhe turned herself on her left fide, and refted her head on her left hand, which the doubled, extending

her

FE

VOL. 11.

her right hand and arm over the bed-clothes; and in this pofture continued drawing her breath fhorter and shorter, but with the leaft emotion that poffibly could be, till fhe at last expired, a quarter before four o'clock on Tuesday morning, November 8, N. S."

Bp. Atterbury's Mifcellaneous Works by Nichols, vol. iii. p. 79-84.

XIV.

ON EDMUND DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

WHO DIED IN THE NINETEENTH YEAR OF HIS AGE, 1735.

F modest Youth, with cool Reflection crown'd,
And ev'ry op'ning Virtue blooming round,
Could fave a Parent's juftest Pride from fate,
Or add one Patriot to a finking state;
This weeping marble had not ask'd thy Tear,
Or fadly told, how many hopes lie here!
The living Virtue now had fhone approv'd,
The Senate heard him, and his Country lov'd.
Yet fofter Honours, and less noisy Fame
Attend the fhade of gentle BUCKINGHAM:
In whom a Race, for Courage fam'd and Art,
Ends in the milder Merit of the Heart;
And Chiefs or Sages long to Britain givʼn,
Pays the last Tribute of a Saint to Heav'n.

VER. 1. With cool Reflection crown'd,] To crown with reflection, is furely a mode of speech approaching to nonsense. Opening virtues, blooming round, is fomething like tautology; the fix following lines are poor and profaic. JOHNSON,

The Duchefs of Buckingham was in league with the Pretender and Atterbury's party. This will explain Pope's ufe of the word Patriot.

XV.

FOR ONE WHO WOULD NOT BE BURIED

IN WESTMINSTER-ABBEY*.

HEROES

and KINGS! your distance keep:
In peace let one poor Poet fleep,
Who never flatter'd Folks like you:
Let Horace blush, and Virgil too.

ANOTHER, ON THE SAME†.

UNDER
INDER this Marble, or under this Sill,

Or under this Turf, or e'en what they will;
Whatever an Heir, or a Friend in his stead,
Or any good creature fhall lay o'er my head,
Lies one who ne'er car'd, and still cares not a pin
What they faid, or may fay, of the mortal within:
But, who living and dying, ferene still and free,
Trufts in GoD, that as well as he was, he shall be.

NOTES.

Nothing ever illustrated more the "importance of a man to himself," which Pope ridiculed fo much in his Memoirs of P. P. than this Epitaph.

"6

Pope (as Dr. Johnfon obferves, with truth) " here attempts to be jocular upon one of the few things that make wife men "ferious; he confounds the living with the dead."

Poor as the thing itself is, he quotes the following lines, from which it appears to be borrowed:

Ludovici Areofti humantur offa

Sub hoc marmore, vel fub hoc humo, feu

Sub

Sub quicquid voluit benignus hæres
Sive hærede benignior comes, feu
Opportunius incidens Viator:
Nam fcire haud potuit futura, fed nec
Tanti erat vacuum fibi cadaver
Ut utnam cuperet parare vivens,
Vivens ifta tamen fibi paravit.
Quæ infcribi voluit fuo fepulchro
Olim fiquod haberetis fepulchrum.

I WILL add fome Mortuary Verfes from old Ben Jonfon, becaufe, from their dignified fimplicity, they form a contraft to the laboured elegance of Pope's, and are in themfelves as manly, as they are pathetic.

On Sir THOMAS ROE.

"I'll not offend thee with a vain tear more!
Glad-mention'd Roe, thou art but
gone before,
Whither the world muft follow: and I, now,
Breathe to expect my when, and make my how;
Which, if most gracious Heav'n grant like thine,
WHO WETS MY GRAVE CAN BE NO FRIEND OF MINE."