He died at Wimpole, a feat of the earl of Oxford, on the eighteenth of September 1721, and was buried in Weftminster; where on a monument, for which, as the last piece of human vanity, he left five hundred pounds, is engraven this epitaph: Sui Temporis Hiftoriam meditanti, Operi fimul & Vitæ filum abrupit, Sept. 18. An. Dom. 1721. Ætat. 57. H. S. E. Vir Eximius Sereniffimis Regi GULIELMO Reginæque MARIÆ In Congreffione Fœderatorum Hage anno 1690 celebrata, Deinde Magne Britanniæ Legatis Tum iis, Qui Qui anno 1697 Pacem RYSWICKI confecerunt, Tum iis, Qui apud Gallos annis proximis Legationem obierunt; Eodem etiam anno 1697 in Hiberniæ SECRETARIUS; Nec non in utroque Honorabili confeffu Eorum, Qui anno 1700 ordinandis Commercii negotiis Quique anno 1711 dirigendis Portorii rebus Præfidebant, COMMISSIONARIUS; Poftremò Ab ANNA Feliciffimæ memoriæ Reginâ Ad LUDOVICUM XIV. Galliæ Regem Miffus anno 1711. De Face ftabilienda, (Pace etiamnum durante Diuque ut boni jam omnes fperant duratura) Cum fumma poteftate Legatus. MAT. MATTHEUS PRIOR Armiger; Qui Hos omnes, quibus cumulatus eft, Titulos Humanitatis, Ingenii Eruditionis Laude Cui enim nafcenti faciles arriferant Mufæ. A Vatum Choro avelli nunquam potuit, Sed folebat fæpe rerum Civilium gravitatem Amoniorum Literarum Studiis condire: Et cum omne adeo Poetices genus Haud infeliciter tentaret, Tum in Fabellis concinne lepideque texendis Mirus Artifex Neminem habuit parem. Hæc liberalis animi oblectamenta; Quam nullo Illi labore conftiterint, Facile i perfpexere, quibus ufus.est Amici.; Apud quos Urbanitatum & Leporum plenus Cum ad rem, quæcunque forte inciderat, Apte variè copiofeque alluderet, Interea nihil quæfitum, nihil.vi expreffum Videbatur, Sed omnia ultro effluere, Et quafi jugi è fonte affatim exuberare Of Prior, eminent as he was, both by his abilities and ftation, very few memorials have been left by his contempora ries; the account therefore must now be deftitute of his private character and fa miliar practices. He lived at a time when the rage of party detected all which it was any man's intereft to hide; and as little ill is heard of Prior, it is certain that not much was known. He was not afraid of provoking cenfure; for when he forfook the Whigs, under whofe patronage he first entered the world, he became a Tory fo ardent and determinate, that he did not willingly confort with men of different opinions. He was one of the fixteen Tories who met weekly, and agreed to address each other by the title of Brother; and feems to have adhered, not only by concurrence of political defigns, but by pecu * Spence, C 2 liar |