Her tender pupils for the various war, wage, As on the perilous march of life they fare With prudent lore fore-arming every age 'GainftPleafure'streacherous joys, and Pain's embattled rage. LXXXIX. Then shall my youthful fons, to Wisdom led Shall purge their minds from all impure allays. And swell th' ennobled heart with bleft benevolence. Then also shall this emblematick pile, By magick whilom fram'd to fympathize With all the fortunes of this changeful ifle, Still, as my fons in fame and virtue rise, Grow with their growth, and to th' applauding skies It's radiant crofs up-lift; the while, to grace The multiplying niches, fresh fupplies Of worthies fhall fucceed, with equal pace Aye following their fires in virtue's glorious race. XCI. Fir'd XCI. Fir'd with th' idea of her future fame Who for their various merit erst renown'd, On these that royal dame her ravish'd eyes Forth from the ground the length'ning structure rise She to the Fairy Youth with pleafure fain Thofefculptur'dchiefs did fhew, and their great lives explain.|| Great lives explain.] I cannot forbear taking occafion from these words to make my acknowledgments to the writers of Biographia Britannica, for the pleasure and profit I have lately received from perufing the two first volumes of that ufeful and entertaining work, of which the monumental ftructure above mentioned, decorated with the Aatues of great and and good men, is no improper emblem. This work, which contains the lives of the most eminent perfons, who have flourished in Great Britain and Ireland, from the earliest ages, down to the present time, appears to me, as far as it has hitherto gone, to be executed with great spirit, accuracy, and judgment; and deferves, in my opinion, to be encouraged by all, who have at heart the honour of their country, and that of their particular families and friends; and who can any ways affift the ingenious and laborious authors, to render as perfect as poffible, a defign fo apparently calculated to ferve the publick, by fetting in the trueft and fulleft light the characters of perfons already generally, though perhaps too indiftinctly known; and reviving from obfcurity and oblivion, examples of private and retired merit, which, though less glaring and oftentatious than the former, are not, however, of a less extenfive or less beneficial influence. To thofe, who may happen not to have seen this repofitory of British glory, I cannot give a better idea of it, than in the following lines of Virgil: Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera paffi; Virg. En. L. 6. The End of the FIRST CANTO. VOL. IV. D PEN PENSHURST INSCRIBED TO WILLIAM PERRY, Efq; AND The Honble Mrs. ELIZABETH PERRY. By the late Mr. F. COVENTRY. ENIUS of Penfhurft old! GE Who faw'ft the birth of each immortal oak, Here facred from the stroke; And all thy tenants of yon turrets bold, Infpir'ft to arts or arms; * Where Sidney his Arcadian landscape drew, Genuine from thy Doric view; And patriot + Algernon unshaken rofe Above infulting foes; And Sacchariffa nurs'd her angel charms: O fuffer Sir Philip Sidney. + Algernon Sidney. O fuffer me with fober tread Nor does the heiress of these shades deny Where Beauty fhines, and Friendship warm, With them in aged groves to walk, I fhun loofe Pleasure's idle croud, |