So unaffected, so compos'd a mind;
So firm, yet soft; so strong, yet so refin'd;
Heav'n, as its purest gold, by tortures try'd;
The saint sustain'd it, but the woman died.

10

VII.

ON THE MONUMENT OF THE HON. ROBERT DIGBY, AND OF HIS SISTER MARY,'

ERECTED BY THEIR FATHER, THE LORD DIGBY, IN THE CHURCH OF
SHERBORNE IN DORSETSHIRE, 1727.2

Go! fair example of untainted youth,
Of modest wisdom, and pacific truth:
Compos'd in suff'rings, and in joy sedate,
Good without noise, without pretension great.
Just of thy word, in ev'ry thought sincere,
Who knew no wish but what the world might hear:
Of softest manners, unaffected mind,

Lover of peace, and friend of human kind:

Go live! for Heav'n's eternal year is thine,
Go, and exalt thy moral to divine.

And thou, blest maid! attendant on his doom,
Pensive hast follow'd to the silent tomb,

Steer'd the same course to the same quiet shore,

10

Not parted long, and now to part no more!
Go then, where only bliss sincere is known!

15

Go, where to love and to enjoy are one!

Yet take these tears, mortality's relief,
And till we share your joys, forgive our grief:
These little rites, a stone, a verse, receive;
'Tis all a father, all a friend can give!

This epitaph first appeared in
Lewis's Miscellany, 1730. It was
also published in the Grub Street
Journal, the same year.

20

2 This can scarcely have been the case, for Mary died of small-pox, on the 5th April, 1729.

VIII.

ON SIR GODFREY KNELLER,'

IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1723.

KNELLER, by Heav'n, and not a master, taught,
Whose art was Nature, and whose pictures Thought;
Now for two ages having snatch'd from fate
Whate'er was beauteous, or whate'er was great,
Lies crown'd with princes' honours, poets' lays,
Due to his merit, and brave thirst of praise.
Living, great Nature feared he might outvie
Her works; and dying, fears herself may die.'

IX.

ON GENERAL HENRY WITHERS,

IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1729.3

HERE, Withers, rest! thou bravest, gentlest mind,
Thy country's friend, but more of human kind.

1 First published in the quarto edition of Pope's Works, 1735: "I paid Sir Godfrey Kneller a visit but two days before he died; I think I never saw a scene of so much vanity in my life. He was lying in his bed and contemplating the plan he had made for his own monument. He said many gross things in relation to himself and the memory he should leave behind him. He said he should not like to lie among the rascals at Westminster; a memorial there would be sufficient; and he desired me to write an epitaph for it. I did so afterwards; and I think it is the

worst thing I ever wrote in my life." -Pope quoted by Spence, Anecdotes, p. 165.

2 The turn in Spenser's epitaph, said to be written by himself, is much the same:

"Anglia, te vivo, vixit plausitque poetis ; Nunc moritura timet, te moriente mori." -WAKEFIELD.

3 Lieutenant-General Withers, died in 1729, aged 78. The prose epitaph in the Abbey on his monument is merely an expansion of these lines. Withers is mentioned among Pope's intimate friends in Gay's Welcome.

Oh born to arms! O worth in youth approv'd!

O soft humanity, in age belov'd!

For thee the hardy vet'ran drops a tear,
And the gay courtier feels the sigh sincere.

Withers, adieu! yet not with thee remove
Thy martial spirit, or thy social love!
Amidst corruption, luxury, and rage,
Still leave some ancient virtues to our age:
Nor let us say (those English glories gone)
The last true Briton lies beneath this stone.

10

X.

ON MR. ELIJAH FENTON,'

AT EASTHAMSTEAD IN BERKS, 1730.2

THIS modest stone, what few vain marbles can,
May truly say, Here lies an honest man :'

A poet, blest beyond the poet's fate,

Whom Heav'n kept sacred from the proud and great :

Foe to loud praise, and friend to learned ease,

Content with science in the Vale of Peace.

Calmly he look'd on either life, and here

Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear;

From Nature's temp'rate feast rose satisfy'd,

Thank'd Heav'n that he had liv'd, and that he died. 10

1 First published in the quarto

edition of Pope's Works, 1735.

2 The seat of Lady Trumbull, to whose son he was tutor, and whose accounts he audited.

3 From Crashaw's Epitaph on Mr. Ashton :

"The modest front of this small floor,
Believe me, reader, can say more
Than many a braver marble can:
Here lies a truly honest man."

So in his letter to Broome of 29th August, 1730, he says of Fenton : "No man better bore ye approaches of his dissolution (as I am told), or with less ostentation yielded up his being. The great modesty which you know was natural to him, and the great contempt he had for all sorts of vanity and parade, never appeared more than in his last moments. He had a conscious satisfaction no doubt

5

XI.

ON MR. GAY,'

IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1732.

Or manners gentle, of affections mild;
In wit, a man; simplicity, a child :
With native humour temp'ring virtuous rage,
Form'd to delight at once and lash the age:
Above temptation, in a low estate,
And uncorrupted, ev'n among the great:
A safe companion, and an easy friend,
Unblam'd thro' life, lamented in thy end.
These are thy honours! not that here thy bust
Is mix'd with heroes, or with kings thy dust;
But that the worthy and the good shall say,
Striking their pensive' bosoms-Here lies Gay.'

in acting right, in feeling himself
honest, true and unpretending to
more than was his own. So he died,

as he had lived, with that secret, but sufficient, contentment." Fenton was born 20th May, 1683, and died 13th July, 1730.

1 First published in the quarto edition of Pope's Works, 1735. See Swift's criticisms on the first draft of the epitaph in his Letter to Pope dated 31st March, 1733.

2 Originally "their aching bosoms." See Swift's criticism in the Letter before referred to.

10

3 A copy of this epitaph with variations exists in MS. at Longleat: "A manly wit, a child's simplicity,

The morals blameless, and the temper
free:

Words ever pleasing, yet sincerely true,
Satyr still just, with Humour ever new.
Above temptation in a low estate;
And uncorrupted e'en amongst the great.
A safe companion, and an easy friend,
Beloved through life, lamented in thy

end:

These are thy Honours, not that here thy bust

Is mixed with heroes, or with kings thy dust;

But that the worthy and the good shall

say,

Striking their aching hearts-here lyos
Gay."

5

NATURE and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.

XIII.

ON DR. FRANCIS ATTERBURY,

BISHOP OF ROCHESTER,

WHO DIED IN EXILE AT PARIS, 1732 (HIS ONLY DAUGHTER HAVING EXPIRED IN HIS ARMS, IMMEDIATELY AFTER SHE ARRIVED IN FRANCE TO SEE HIM).2

DIALOGUE.

SHE.

YES, we have liv'd-one pang, and then we part!
May Heav'n, dear father! now have all thy heart.
Yet ah! how once we lov'd, remember still,
Till you are dust like me.

1 First published in quarto edition of Pope's Works, 1735.
2 First published in Warburton's edition, 1751.