VIII. ON SIR GODFREY KNELLER,' IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1723. KNELLER, by Heav'n, and not a master, taught, IX. ON GENERAL HENRY WITHERS, IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1729.3 HERE, Withers, rest! thou bravest, gentlest mind, 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, Withers, adieu! yet not with thee remove 5 10 X. ON MR. ELIJAH FENTON,' AT EASTHAMSTEAD IN BERKS, 1730.2 THIS modest stone, what few vain marbles can, A poet, blest beyond the poet's fate, 3 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, 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 XI. ON MR. GAY,' IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1732. OF manners gentle, of affections mild; With native humour temp'ring virtuous rage, in acting right, in feeling himself 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. 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 Words ever pleasing, yet sincerely true, 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 lyes NATURE and Nature's laws lay hid in night: 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! 1 First published in quarto edition of Pope's Works, 1735. HE. Dear shade! I will: Then mix this dust with thine-O spotless ghost! He said, and died. 10 XIV. ON EDMUND DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM,' WHO DIED IN THE NINETEENTH YEAR OF HIS AGE, 1735. IF modest youth, with cool reflection crown'd, 1 Compare Moral Essay i. 265. 2 He died November, 1735, at Rome. This epitaph first appeared in Dodsley's edition of Pope's Works, 10 1738. The son of Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, and Pope's friend and enemy Katharine, the proud Duchess. See Moral Essay ii. 148. |