now faid 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 fure of being rewarded for it. man. His table was one of the last, that gave us an example of the old houfe-keeping of an English nobleA freedom reigned at it, which made every one of his guefts think himself at home; and an abundance, which fhewed that the mafter's hofpitality extended to many more than those who had the honour to fit at the table with him. In his dealings with others; his care and exactness, that every man fhould 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 should arise from that obligation only, that he ufually did the greatest 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 less 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 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 affistance in private, in public he extenuated and pitied his error. The foundation indeed of these 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 restored to health, but supplied with what might enable them to resume their former callings, and make their future life happy. The prifoner has often been released, 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 those whofe circumstances were fuch as made them ashamed of their poverty, he knew how to bestow his munificence, without offending their modefty; and, under the notion of frequent prefents, gave them what amounted to a subfiftence. 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, Tibullus and Gallus, the noblemen that writ poetry; Auguftus and Mæcenas, the protectors of learning; Aristides, the good citizen; and Atticus, the wellbred friend: and bring them in, as examples of my lord Dorfet's wit, his judgement, his justice, and his civility. But for his charity, my Lord, we can fcarce find a parallel in history itself. Titus was not more the "deliciæ 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 pofterity 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 reafon to feel any forrow fo fenfibly as that of his death "Ille dies-quem femper acerbum "Semper honoratum (fic Dî voluiftis) habebo.” Eneas could not reflect upon the lofs of his own father with greater piety, my Lord, than I muft recall the memory of yours: and, when I think whose fon I am writing to, the leaft I promise myself, from your goodness, is an uninterrupted continuance of favour, and a friend a friendship 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 fincerest wishes that you may deferve them; that you may employ thofe 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, open, and noble, fuch as may tell the world whofe fon and whofe fucceffor you are. What I now offer to your Lordship is a collection of poetry, a kind of garland of good-will. If any verfes of my writing should appear in print under another name and patronage than that of an Earl of Dorset, people might suspect them not to be genuine. I have attained my present end, if these poems prove the diverfion of fome of your youthful hours, as they have been Occasionally 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 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 refpect, My Lord, Your Lordship's moft obedient, and most humble fervant, MAT. PRIOR. PREF A CE. THE greatest part of what I have written having been already published, either fingly or in fome of the Miscellanies, 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 publifher has given me the honour of fome things that did not belong to me; and has tranfcribed others fo imperfectly, that I hardly knew them to be mine. This has obliged me, in my own defence, to look back upon some 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 diftant times, and on very different occafions; and take them as they happen to come. Public panegyricks, amorous odes, ferious reflections, or idle tales, the product of his leisure hours, who |