E. of Roscommon's and Mr. Duke's poems, the same care will be taken to do these gentlemen justice, as to prevent any other person from hereafter injuring the memory of his Lordship.

It will be to little purpose, the Author presumes, to offer any reasons why the following poems appear in public, for it is ten to one whether he gives the true, and if he does, it is much greater odds whether the gentle reader is so courteous as to believe him. He could tell the world, according to the laudable custom of Prefaces, that it was through the irresistible importunity of friends, or some other excuse of ancient renown, that he ventured them to the press; but he thought it much better to leave every man to guess for himself, and then he would be sure to satisfy himself; for, let what will be pretended, people are grown so very apt to fancy they are always in the right, that unless it hit their humour, it is immediately condemned for a sham and hypocrisy.

In short, that which wants an excuse for being in print, ought not to have been printed at all: but whether the ensuing Poems deserve to stand in that class the world must have leave to determine. What faults the true judgment of the gentleman may find out, it is to be hoped his candour and good humour will easily pardon; but those which the peevishness and ill nature of the critic may discover, must expect to be unmercifully used; though, methinks, it is a very preposterous pleasure to scratch other persons till the blood comes, and then laugh at and ridicule them.

Some persons, perhaps, may wonder how things of this nature dare come into the world without the protection of some great name, as they call it, and a fulsome epistle dedicatory to his Grace, or Right Honourable: for if a poem struts out under my Lord's patronage, the author imagines it is no less than scandalum magnatum to dislike it, especicially if he thinks fit to tell the world that this same lord is a person of wonderful wit and understanding, a notable judge of poetry, and a very considerable poet himself. But if a poem have no intrinsic excellencies and real beauties, the greatest name in the world will never induce a man of sense to approve it; and if it has them, Tom Piper's is as good as my Lord Duke's; the only difference is, Tom claps half an ounce of snuff into the poet's hand, and his Grace twenty guineas: for, indeed, there lies the strength of a great name, and the greatest protection an author can receive from it.

To please every one would be a new thing, and to write so as to please no body would be as new; for even Quarles and Wythers have their admirers. The Author is not so fond of fame to desire it from the injudicious many, nor of so mortified a temper not to wish it from the discerning few. It is not the multitude of applauses but the good sense of the applauders, which establishes a valuable reputation; and if a Rymer or a Congreve say it is well, he will not be at all solicitous how great the majority may be to the contrary.

MISCELLANIES.

THE CHOICE.

IF Heav'n the grateful liberty would give,
That I might chuse my method how to live,
And all those hours propitious Fate should lend
In blissful ease and satisfaction spend :

Near some fair town I'd have a private seat, 5
Built uniform; not little, nor too great;
Better if on a rising ground it stood,

On this side fields, on that a neighb'ring wood:
It should within no other things contain
But what are useful, necessary, plain :

Methinks 'tis nauseous, and I'd ne'er endure
The needless pomp of gaudy furniture.
A little garden, grateful to the eye,
And a cool rivulet run murm'ring by,
On whose delicious banks a stately row
Of shady limes or sycamores should grow;
At th' end of which a silent study plac'd,
Should be with all the noblest authors grac'd.
Horace and Virgil, in whose mighty lines
Immortal wit and solid learning shines;
Sharp Juvenal, and am'rous Ovid too,
Who all the turns of love's soft passion knew;
He that with judgment reads his charming lines,
In which strong art with stronger natúre joins,

B

ΤΟ

15

20

Must grant his fancy does the best excel,
His thoughts so tender, and express'd so well;
With all those Moderns, men of steady sense,
Esteem'd for learning and for eloquence.
In some of these, as Fancy should advise,
I'd always take my morning exercise ; ·
For sure no minutes bring us more content
Than those in pleasing useful studies spent.

I'd have a clear and competent estate,
That I might live genteelly, but not great;
As much as I could moderately spend ;
A little more, sometimes t'oblige a friend:
Nor should the sons of Poverty repine

25

30

35

Too much at Fortune, they should taste of mine; And all that objects of true pity were

41

45

Should be reliev'd with what my wants could spare:
For that our Maker has too largely giv'n
Should be return'd in gratitude to Heav'n.
A frugal plenty should my table spread,
With healthy, not luxurious, dishes fed;
Enough to satisfy, and something more,
To feed the stranger and the neighb'ring poor.
Strong meat indulges vice, and pamp'ring food
Creates diseases, and inflames the blood:
But what's sufficient to make nature strong,
And the bright lamp of life continue long,
I'd freely take; and, as I did possess,
The bounteous Author of my plenty bless.

I'd have a little vault, but always stor'd
With the best wines each vintage could afford.

5.