now said he was fubject, I have known his fervants get into his way, that they might make a merit of it immediately after; for he, that had the good fortune to be chid, was sure of being rewarded for it.

man.

His table was one of the last, that gave us an exám-i ple of the old house-keeping of an English nobleA freedom reigned at it, which made every one of his guests think himself at home; and an abundance, which fhewed that the master's hofpitality extended to many more than thofe who had the honour to fit at the table with him.

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In his dealings with others; his care and exactness, that every man should have his due, was fuch, that you would think he had never feen a court: the politeness and civility, with which this juftice was adminiftered, would convince you he never had lived out of one.

He was fo ftrict an obferver of his word, that no confideration whatever could make him break it; yet fo cautious, left the merit of his act fhould arife from that obligation only, that he ufually did the greateft favours, without making any previous promife. So inviolable was he in his friendship, and fo kind to the character of thofe whom he had once honoured with a more intimate acquaintance, that nothing lefs than a demonftration of fome effential fault could make him break with them; and then too, his good-nature did not confent to it, without the greatest reluctance and difficulty. Let me give one inftance of this amongst many. When, as lord chamberlain, he was obliged to take the king's penfion from Mr. Dryden, who had

long

long before put himself out of a poffibility of receiving any favour from the court; my lord allowed him an i equivalent, out of his own eftate. However difpleased with the conduct of his old acquaintance, he relieved his neceffities; and, while he gave him his affiftance in private, in public he extenuated and pitied his error.

The foundation indeed of thefe excellent qualities, and the perfection of my lord Dorfet's character, was that unbounded charity which ran through the whole, tenour of his life, and fat as vifibly predominant over the other faculties of his foul, as fhe is faid to do in heaven above her fifter-virtues.

Crouds of poor daily thronged his gates, expecting thence their bread; and were still leffened by his fending the most proper objects of his bounty to apprenticefhips or hofpitals. The lazy and the fick, as he accidentally faw them, were removed from the street to the physician; and many of them not only reftored to health, but fupplied with what might enable them to resume their former callings, and make their future life happy. The prifoner has often been releafed, by my lord's paying the debt; and the condemned has been faved, by his interceffion with the fovereign, where he thought the letter of the law too rigid. To thofe whose circumftances were fuch as made them afhamed of their poverty, he knew how to beftow his munificence, without offending their modefty; and, under the notion of frequent prefents, gave them what amounted to a subLiftence. Many yet alive know this to be true; though

he

he told it to none, nor ever was more uneafy than when any one mentioned it to him.

We may find, among the Greeks and Latins, Tibulus and Gallus, the noblemen that writ poetry; Auguftus and Mæcenas, the protectors of learning; Ariftides, the good citizen; and Atticus, the wellbred friend: and bring them in, as examples of my lord Dorfet's wit, his judgement, his juftice, and his civility. But for his charity, my Lord, we can scarce find a parallel in hiftory itfelf. "

་་་

Titus was not more the "delicia humani generis," on this account, than my lord Dorfet was. And, without any exaggeration, that prince did not do more good in proportion out of the revenue of the Roman empire, than your father out of the income of a private estate. Let this, my Lord, remain to you and your posterity a poffeffion for ever; to be imitated; and, if poffible, to be excelled.

As to my own particular, I fcarce knew what life was, fooner than I found myself obliged to his favour; nor have had reason to feel any forrow fo fenfibly as that of his death→→→

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Ille dies-quem femper acerbum

Semper honoratum (fic Dî voluiftis) habebo."

Æneas could not reflect upon the loss of his own father with greater piety, my Lord, than I must recall the memory of yours and, when I think whose fon I am writing to, the least I promise myself, from your goodness, is an uninterrupted continuance of favour, and

5

a friend

afriendship for life. To which that I may with fome justice intitle myself, I fend your Lordship a dedication, not filled with a long detail of your praises, but with my fincereft wishes that you may deferve them, that you may employ those extraordinary parts and abilities, with which Heaven has bleffed you, to the honour of your family, the benefit of your friends, and the good of your country; that all your actions may be great, , and noble, fuch as may tell the world whofe fon and whofe fucceffor you are. :

open,

What I now offer to your Lordship is a collection of poetry, a kind of garland of good-will. If any [verses of my writing should appear in print under another name and patronage than that of an Earl of Dorfet, .people might fufpect them not to be genuine. I have sattained my prefent end, if thefe poems prove the diverfion of fome of your youthful hours, as they have been occafionally the amusement of fome of mine; and I humbly hope, that, as I may hereafter bind up my fuller fheaf, and lay fome pieces of a very different nature e(the product of my feverer ftudies) at your Lordship's feet, I fhall engage your more ferious reflection : happy, if in all my endeavours I may contribute to your delight, or to your inftruction.

I am, with all duty and respect,
My Lord,

Your Lordship's

moft obedient, and

moft humble fervant,

MAT. PRIOR.

PR REF

AC E.

THE greateft part of what I have written having

been already published, either fingly or in fome of the Mifcellanies, it would be too late for me to make any excufe for appearing in print. But a collection of poems has lately appeared under my name, though without my knowledge, in which the publisher has given me the honour of fome things that did not belong to me; and has transcribed others fo imperfectly, that I hardly knew them to be mine. This has obliged me, in my own defence, to look back upon fome of those lighter ftudies, which I ought long fince to have quitted; and to publish an indifferent collection of poems, for fear of being thought the author of a worse.

Thus I beg pardon of the publick for re-printing fome pieces, which, as they came fingly from their first impreffion, have (I fancy) lain long and quietly in Mr. Tonfon's fhop; and adding others to them, which were never before printed, and might have lain as quietly, and perhaps more fafely, in a corner of my own study.

The reader will, I hope, make allowance for their having been written at very distant times, and on very different occafions; and take them as they happen to come. Public panegyricks, amorous odes, serious reflections, or idle tales, the product of his leisure hours,

wha