Tafte, is that Front towards the Gardens, which is not yet loaded with these Turrets, The two Sides of the Building are entirely spoil'd by two monftrous Bow-windows which stand juft in the Middle, inftead of Doors: And as if it were fatal, that fome trifling Littleness should every where deftroy the Grandeur, there are in the chief Front two Semi-circles of a lower Structure than the reft, that cut off the Angles, and look as if they were purposely defign'd to hide a loftier and nobler Piece of Building, the Top of which appears above them. In a Word, the Whole is a most expensive Abfurdity; and the Duke of Shrewsbury gave a true Character of it, when he faid, it was a great Quarry of Stones above Ground.

We paid a Vifit to the Spring where Rosamond bath'd herself, on a Hill where remains only a Piece of a Wall of the old Palace of Henry II. We toasted her Shade in cold Water, not without a Thought or two, fcarce fo cold as the Liquor we drank it in. I dare not tell you what they were, and fo haften to conclude,

Your, &c.

Notwithstanding these his mean Thoughts of thofe two great Perfonages, his ill Opinion did not fix on their beautiful Defcendants, as appears in the Epiftle he wrote to Mr. Jervas, with Frefnoy's Art of Painting, of which he speaks thus:

How finifh'd with illuftrious Toil appears

This fmall, well polifh'd Gem, the Work of Years!
Yet still how faint by Precept is exprest
The living Image in the Painter's Breaft?
Thence endless Streams of fair Ideas flow,
Strike in the Sketch, ot in the Picture glow;

Thence

Thence Beauty, waking all her Forms, fupplies
An Angel's Sweetnefs, or Bridgewater's Eyes.

Mufe! at that Name thy facred Sorrows fhed,
Thofe Tears eternal, that embalm the Dead:
Call round her Tomb each Object of Defire,
Each purer Frame inform'd with purer Fire:
Bid her be all that chears or foftens Life,
The tender Sifter, Daughter, Friend and Wife:
Bid her be all that makes Mankind adore ;
Then view this Marble, and be vain no more!
Yet ftill her Charms inbreathing Paint engage;
Her modeft Cheek shall warm a future Age.
Beauty, frail Flow'r that every Season fears,
Blooms in thy Colours for a Thousand Years.
Thus Churchill's Race fhall other Hearts furprize,
And other Beauties envy Wortley's Eyes,
Each pleafing Blount fhall endless Smiles bestow,
And foft Belinda's Blush for ever glow.

Which is a very fine Complement to the Dut chefs of Bridgewater, and at the fame Time literally

true.

To fpeak the Truth of Mr. Pope, he was not made for Courts; he had nothing infinuating nor fawning about him, neither could he flatter any Body: His Perfon was not fuch as is fought out to make a Figure, and his Conftitution would not have fupported the Fatigue of Attendance: His Religion excluded him from all Offices of Truft and Profit, and he rather wanted fomebody to humour him than to humour others; fo that he was calculated for the private Life he led. His Vein of Satire he never wanted, fubject Matter to fatisfy; could write plain Truth at any Time; liv'd where his Figure was of no Signification; had Attendance enough for all the Offices he wanted, and could afford to pay double

Taxes and live like a Gentleman. When he speaks of the Great, by the Great he generally defires to be understood the Court, to which his Difguft was augmented by the Disappointment Mr. Gay met with in his Expectations there :

Bleft be the Great! for those they take away,
And those they left me, for they left me GAY.

Of all Mr. Pope's Friends, this may be faid to have been one of the most dear; he affifted him in his Writings, he lov'd him for his Truth, Honour, Honefty, and Wit. A firmer Friendship we believe is not poffible to be contracted; difinterefted, both Parties equally warm, equally faithful, without Interruption or accidental Allay; never leffened by Distance, by no Difference of Humour, Principles, Temper, or Religion, about which it was agreed between them never to difcourfe; for Mr. Gay remembered the vain Effort of the Bishop of Rochester, and perceiv'd it rather fower'd than added to the Sweetnefs of their Converfation; fo Mr. Pope thought it against the suppos'd rifing Intereft of the other, and therefore was willing to keep filent on that Subject.

Mr. Gay was born at Barnstaple in Devonshire, in the Year 1688. Mr. Pope and he ('tis obfervable) were of the fame Age. The Time of the Gays or Le Gays fettling in that County, is to be seen in Rif don's Survey of Devonshire, Vol. 1, 8vo. Page 80,

viz.

That one "Gilbert le Gay gave Name to, and "fettled at a Place called Hampton-Gay, in Oxford"fhire; and by Match of a Daughter and Heir of "the Family of Curtoyfe, or Curtis, he became Proprietor of the Lordship of Goldworthy in Devonshire. This Lordfhip was the ancient Dwelling of the Name of Gay, for many Descents."

Mr.

Mr. Gay was the Son of a Gentleman, but the Estate of his Family was very much diminish'd and incumber'd, infomuch, that not having a Dependance on any Thing worth staying in the Country for, he was fent up to London; the Trade which he chose to be put Apprentice to, was a Mercer, but he grew fo fond of Reading and Study, that he frequently neglected to exert himself in putting off Silks and Velvets to the Ladies, and fuffer'd them (by reason of his wanting to finish the Sale in too few Words) to go to other Shops, where they might be kept longer in Play; this Way of Goffipping about among the Silk Mercers, is faid to be practis'd among young Ladies, often for Amusement, or to cure the Vapours, when in Reality they want to purchase nothing: Not being able to go thro' this Slavery, and doing what he did in the Shop with a Mind quite bent another Way, his Master seldom put him forward to ferve, but fome other, who had the Business more at Heart By Degrees Mr. Gay became entirely to abfent himself from the Shop, and at laft, by Agreement with his Master, to withdraw from it, and retire into the Country, and having made an Acquaintance with Mr. Pope, and contracted a Friendship with him and all his Friends; he wrote feveral small Poems very full of Wit, and much in Tafte, and having efpous'd the high Party, appear'd at Court, foon after his writing the Shepherd's Week, of which which we shall beg Leave, in a fit Place, (imagining it will be very grateful to moft Readers) to make Comparison with Mr. Pope, and other great Pastoral Writers.

He would fain have made the Tour of Europe with Mr. Pope; but, befides that he was unable to leave his Parents, his weak Body could not fupport the Fatigue, nor had he then Leifure enough, or ForVOL. II.

H

tune

1

tune equal to what fucha Voyage, as they must have liv'd at great Expence, would have requir'd; for difcourfing of these Things, their Resolution if they had gone, was to have pass'd the first Summer in Tufcany, and the whole Winter at Rome, where they would have found it Time little enough to fee only the choiceft Part of the Curiofities, and converse with the Learned; butas Mr. Pope could not accompany him, who was chiefly alfo to have born the Expence, thefe Thoughts were turn'd another Way.

Among many small Pieces of Mr. Gay's, Trivia, or, the Art of walking the Streets, has had a very great Number of Admirers; but particularly the Rife of the Patten, and its being made by Vulcan, for a Lincolnshire Girl, and the more witty, and more humourus Birth of the Shoe-boy, from nothing lefs than a Goddess: It deferves to be quoted.

LIKE mortal Man, great Jowe (grown fond of

Change)

Of old was wont the nether World to range
To feek Amours; the Vice the Monarch lov'd
Soon thro' the wide Etherial Court improv'd.
And ev❜n the proudeft Goddess now and then
Would lodge a Night among the Sons of Men;
To vulgar Deities defcends the Fashion,

Each, like her Betters, bad her Earthly Paffion.
Then Cloacina (Goddess of the Tide

*

Whofe fable Streams beneath the City glide)
Indulg'd the modifh Flame: the Town fhe rov'd,
A mortal Scavenger fhe faw, the lov'd;

The

* Cloacina was a Goddefs, whofe Image Tatius, ā King of the Sabines, found in the Common-fewer; and not knowing what Goddefs it was, he call'd it Cloacina,. from the Place in which it was found, and paid to it divine Honours. Lactant. 1. 20, Minuc. Fel. Of. p. 23.2.