EXQUISITE. Now Johnson praises Goldsmith as one by whom scarcely any style of writing was left untouched, and no one touched, unadorned, &c.,-substantially the same idea. This is the order in which the epitaph is cut.

Herefordiæ conduntur ossa,

Hoc in delubro statuitur imago,
Britanniam omnem pervagatur fama
JOHANNIS PHILIPS;

Qui viris bonis doctisque juxta charus,
Immortale suum ingenium,
Eruditione multiplici excultum,
Miro animi candore,
Eximia morum simplicitate
Honestavit.

Litterarum amoniarum sitim
Quam Wintoniæ puer sentire cœperat,
Inter Ædis Christi alumnos jugiter explevit,
In illo Musarum domicilio

Præclaris æmulorum studiis excitatus,
Optimis scribendi magistris semper intentus,
Carmina sermone patrio composuit

A Græcis Latinisque fontibus feliciter deducta,
Atticis Romanisque auribus omnino digna;
Versuum quippe harmoniam
Rythmo didicerat.

Antiquo illo libero, multiformi,

Ad res ipsas apto prorsus et attemperato,
Non numeris in eundum ferè orbem redeuntibus,
Non clausularum similiter cadentium sono

Fas sit huic,

Auso licet a tua metrorum lege discedere,

O Poesis Anglicana, pater atque conditor, Chaucere,
Alterum tibi latus claudere,

Vatum certe cineres, tuos undique stipantium
Non dedecebit chorum.

Simon Harcourt miles,

Viri bene de se, de litteris meriti
Quoad viveret, fautor,

Post obitum pie memor,

Hoc illi saxum poni voluit.

J. Philips, Stephani, S. T. P. Archidiaconi
Salop. filius, natus est Bamptoniæ

In agro Oxon. Dec. 30, 1676,

Obiit Herefordiæ, Feb. 15, 1708.

Of the many reasons that have been assigned in favour of literary biography, no one appears more interesting than that principle of equity by which the author, who has made other men the subjects of immortality in his writings, puts in a just claim to be particularised for the same honours himself. Such was the motive by which Edmund Smith, the classical author of the tragedy of Phedrus and Hippolita,' was induced to begin a discourse upon the life and writings of Philips; and it is with similar feelings that, what he failed to finish, is here completed.

John, the son of Stephen Philips, Archdeacon of Salop, was born on the 30th of December, 1676, at Bampton, in Oxfordshire, of which place his father was also curate. After having begun his studies at Winchester school, where he was early dis tinguished by the assiduity of his application, and the superiority of his exercises, he went to Oxford, and put himself at Christ's Church College, under the care of Dr. Aldrich, a man whom he has gratefully commemorated in his poems. Long before this period, he is praised by his biographers for his intimate acquaintance with, and fine appreciation of the beauties of Homer, Virgil, and Milton, to the latter of whom he gave so decided a preference, that he already took his Paradise Lost both in style and manner for his model in verse. For years he made it his

delight to trace, by progressive steps, the art of Milton's peculiar excellence; and it is said, that there is not a passage in the latter bearing any resemblance to the Greek and Latin writers which he had not detected and exemplified. Such was the course of reading by which he obtained the distinctive appellation of the imitator of Milton; and though the reader may not be inclined, with the partiality of his early biographers, to admit him second in rank to his immortal prototype, still the judgment displayed in his admiration, and the time devoted to the cultivation of so powerful a style of verse, ought not to be passed over without a due share of praise.

In the University he became associated with the greatest wits, and most learned students, and soon ranked eminent amongst his cotemporaries. At that period social intimacy was intensely cultivated, both at Oxford and Cambridge; and the tavern, much oftener than the College Hall, was the parade for ready parts, and the theatre of fine acquirements. Of such an intercourse, Philips was particularly fond, and to the warm applause derived over a pipe and sober glass, was the measure of his ambition for the better part of his life confined. But it were unjust not to add, that he furnished a rare example of one who indulged in this kind of company, for the quick and free pleasures it provoked; and was never found either loose in his manners, or immoral in his conduct. By all who knew him, he has been commended as one modest in merit, and diffident in action; and always rather desirous to enjoy the talents of others, than display his own. A weak constitution, and a sickly life, unfitted him for the struggles of an active existence; and he lived poor and private, but yet contented. To such a man, it were indeed severe to deny the moderate indulgence of a pipe, a social friend, and a glass of ale. With his reputation thus confined to the circle of his personal acquaintances he composed the Splendid Shilling.' It was designed for the entertainment of his own coterie, but the novelty of the idea, and excellence of the execution, were highly attractive; the copies circulated beyond the University, and the poem soon after appeared in print, without his knowledge. The impression, however, was full of blunders; and, to make the act of piracy even more insolent, an assertion was introduced on the titlepage, that the poem was corrected for the press by the author.

This circumstance forced a genuine edition from him, which immediately struck the public regard. The project was certainly original: it is a classical burlesque, and the perverse application of the sounding phrase, and stately order of Milton, to the commonest évents, and most trivial thoughts, pleased, because it surpassed, and was grateful because uninvidious. As a specimen, the opening lines might suffice:

Sing, heavenly Muse,

Things unattempted yet in prose or rhime,
A shilling, breeches, and chimæras dire.
Happy the man, who void of care or strife,
In silken or in leathern purse retains
A splendid shilling! He nor hears with pain
New oysters cried, nor sighs for cheerful ale;
But with his friends, when nightly mists arise,
To Juniper's Magpie or Town Hall* repairs;
Where mindful of the nymph, whose wanton eye
Transfix'd his soul, and kindled amorous flames,
Chloe or Phillis; he each circling glass,
Wisheth her health and joy, and equal love.
Meanwhile he smokes and laughs at merry tale,
Or pun ambiguous, or conundrum quaint.
But I, whom griping penury surrounds, &c.

After a contrasted description of him, who, forlorn upon a garret, wants a shilling, he proceeds:

Thus, while my joyless-minutes tedious flow,
With looks demure, and silent pace a dun,
Horrible monster! hated by gods and men,
To my aerial citadel ascends.

With vocal heel, high thundering at my gate,
With hideous accent thrice he calls-I know
The voice ill boding, and the solemn sound,
What should I do, or whither turn? Amaz'd,
Confounded, to the dark recess I fly
Of coal-hole; straight my bristling hairs
Thro' sudden fear; a chilly sweat bedews

* Two celebrated ale-houses at Oxford in 1700.

My shuddering limbs, and wonderful to tell!
My tongue forgets her faculty of speech,
So horrible he seems! His faded brow
Entrench'd with many a frown, and comic beard,
And spreading band admir'd by modern saints,
Disastrous acts forebode. In his right hand
Long scrolls of paper solemnly he waves,
With characters and figures dire inscrib'd,
Grievous to mortal eyes-Ye Gods avert
Such plagues from righteous men! Behind him stalks
Another monster, not unlike himself,

Sullen of aspect, by the vulgar called

A Cutch-pole, whose polluted hands the Gods
With force incredible and magic charms
First have ended. If he his ample palm
Should haply on ill-fated shoulder lay
Of debtor, straight his body to the touch
Obsequious (as whilome knights were wont,)
To some enchanted castle is convey'd,

Where gates impregnable, and coercive chains,
In durance strict detain him.

The applause bestowed upon the 'Splendid Shilling' was so great, and the poetical character of the author consequently grew so high, that when, upon the victory of Blenheim, Lord Godolphin and the Earl of Halifax solicited Addison, as the organ of the Whigs, to celebrate the glory of the battle, in suitable verse, Viscount Bolingbroke, and Harley, Earl of Oxford, prevailed on Philips to sing the praises of the Tories upon the same subject. The honour of their selection, it is said, he endeavoured to shun, but the importunities of his friends were not to be overcorne; and his poem of Blenheim' made its appearance in 1705. Rivalship with Addison is a formidable test, by which no very decided honours are likely to be acquired; because the reputation of the author of 'Cato' is, upon general grounds, so deservedly high, that the world has not patience to enter upon a fair comparison of particular compositions. Another positive advantage, which, according to the taste of most readers, Addison's Campaign' holds over Philips's Blenheim,' is, that the former is composed in rhyme, while the latter is written in blank verse.

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