JOHN HUGHES, son of a worthy citizen of London, by Anne, the daughter of Isaac Burges, Esq. a gentleman of an antient family and good estate in Wiltshire, was born at Marlborough in that county, Jan. 29, 1677. He was educated in London, and received the rudiments of learning in priváte schools. At an early period of life he applied with ardour in the pursuit of the sister-arts of poetry, drawing, and music, in each of which he made considerable progress; but rather followed these as agreeable amusements, being liable to frequent confinement from indisposition, and a continual valetudinary state of health. Mr. Hughes had for some time an employment in the office of Ordnance, and was Secretary to two or three commissions under the Great Seal, for purchasing lands for the better securing the docks and harbours of Portsmouth, Chatham, and Harwich. The Triumph of Peace was our Author's first Poem of any length which appeared in public. It was writ on occasion of the peace of Ryswick, and printed in 1637. A gentleman of Cambridge, in a letter to a friend of Mr. Hughes, 28th of February 1697-8, gives the following account of the reception that poem met with at Cambridge upon its publication. “I think I "" never heard a poem read with so much admiration "as The Triumph of Peace was by our best critics "here, nor a greater character given to a young poet "at his first appearing; no, not even to Mr. Con86 greve himself. So nobly elevated are his thoughts, "his numbers so harmonious, and his turns so fine and delicate, that we cry out with Tully on a like oc"casion, Nostræ spes altera Roma!" Much about this period Mr. Hughes wrote the tragedy of Amalasont, Queen of the Goths, which displays a fertile genius and a masterly invention; but as it was never designed by him for the press, nor revised and corrected in his riper age, the diction in general was too much neglected. The Court of Neptune was writ on King William's return from Holland, and was published in 1699. This poem he addressed to Mr. Montague, the general patron of the followers of the Muses. On this poem an ingenious gentleman, in a letter to Mr. Hughes, January 11, 1699, makes the following pertinent remarks: "I am pleased to find that you al"" ways make choice of worthy subjects for your "Muse, and take it as an omen of something greater "to follow. Virgil, in his Bucolics, preluded his "Eneid, and first sung the praises of Augustus in "eclogues, or copies of verses, before he attempted "an heroic poem. I am satisfied, by this specimen, "that you will never descend into the rank of those "little souls who make it their business only to please, "and have no other way to do that but by flattering "men in their vices and immoralities. I am sure vir 66 Itue is most for the interest of mankind, and those "poets have ever obtained the most honour in the "world who have made that the end and design of "their works. A wanton Sappho or Anacreon, among "the Ancients, never had the same praise as a Pindar or Alcæus; nor, in the judgment of Horace, did "they deserve it. In the opinion of all posterity a "lewd and debauched Ovid did justly submit to the "worth of a Virgil; and in future ages a Dryden will never be compared to a Milton. In all times, and " in all places of the world, the moral poets have been ever the greatest, and as much superior to others in "wit as in virtue: nor does this seem difficult to be "accounted for, since the dignity of their subjects "naturally raised their ideas, and gave a grandeur to "their sentiments."---The same year 1699 our Author produced a song on the Duke of Gloucester's birthday. 66 66 The House of Nassau, a Pindaric ode, was occasioned by the death of King William, and was published in 1702. This poem abounds with noble similies, sublime sentiments, and happy allusions to some of the most beautiful passages in Horace and Virgil. Here our Author's genius shines in its full lustre. In Pindaric and lyric poetry he had, perhaps, no superior, and few equals. Though he enjoyed all the fire of imagination and divine enthusiasm for which some |