15

Had we still paid that homage to a name,
Which only God and nature juftly claim;
The western feas had been our utmost bound,
Where poets ftill might dream the fun was
drown'd:

And all the ftars that fhine in fouthern skies,
Had been admir'd by none but favage eyes, 20
Among the afferters of free reafon's claim,
Our nation's not the leaft in worth or fame.
The world to Bacon does not only owe
Its prefent knowledge, but its future too.
Gilbert fhall live, till loadstones cease to draw,
Or British fleets the boundlefs ocean awe.
And noble Boyle, not lefs in nature seen,
Than his great brother read in states and men.

26

Ver. 25. Gilbert fhull live,] Dr. William Gilbert was phyfician both to Queen Elizabeth and King James. In the year 1600, he published a very curious differtation on the magnet. Antiquarians are much divided in opinion concerning the æra of the first discovery of the load ftone. The Chinese boast of having difcovered it many centuries ago, but did not apply it to any ufeful purpofes. It is remarkable that Dante mentions it in the Inferno. But the Abbé Tirabofchi, in his excellent Hiftory of Italian Literature, vol. viii. p. 180, obferves, that the most ancient work, after the poem of Guyot de Provins, in which any mention is made of the loadstone in Europe, is in the Eaftern Hiftory of the Cardinal Jaques de Vitry, who died in 1224. It may be found in the 89th chapter of the Collection of Bongars. Adamas in India reperitur-ferrum occultâ quadâm naturâ ad fe trahit. Acus ferrea poftquam adamantem contigerit, ad ftellam feptentrionalem femper convertitur, unde valde neceffarius eft navigantibus in mari." We may observe, that this author attributes to the diamond the virtues of the loadstone. Dr. J. WARTON.

Ver. 27. And noble Boyle,] Every lover of fcience, religion, and virtue, will perpetually venerate the name of the Hon. Ros

The circling ftreams, once thought but pools,

of blood

30

(Whether life's fuel, or the body's food) From dark oblivion Harvey's name shall fave; While Ent keeps all the honour that he gave. Nor are you, learned friend, the least renown'd; Whofe fame, not circumfcrib'd with English ground,

35

Flies like the nimble journies of the light;
And is, like that, unfpent too in its flight.
Whatever truths have been, by art or chance,
Redeem'd from error, or from ignorance,
Thin in their authors, like rich veins of ore,
Your works unite, and still difcover more.
Such is the healing virtue of your pen,
To perfect cures on books, as well as men.
Nor is this work the leaft: you well may give
To men new vigour, who make ftones to live.

40

bert Boyle, feventh fon of Richard, Earl of Cork and Burlington, born in 1677, not only as being the founder of the Royal Society, for which he is here celebrated, but alfo for being the founder of a lecture, which has produced a series of difcourfes in defence of natural and revealed religion, which, for learning and argument, cannot be paralleled in any age or country. His brother, mentioned in the next line, Earl of Orrery, was a foldier and ftatefinan, and wrote eight tragedies in rhyme, now totally forgotten. Dr. J. WARTON.

Ver. 30. Whether life's fuel,] The merit of the very important difcovery of the circulation of the blood, has been denied to our illuftrious countryman, Dr. Harvey. It has been by fome afcribed to the famous Father Paul. Dr. Wotton gives it to Servetus, who was fo inhumanly burnt by Calvin. Sir George Ent, a celebrated phyfician, is the perfon mentioned, verfe 32, Dr. J. WARTON.

Through you, the Danes, their short dominion

loft,

45

A longer conqueft than the Saxons boast. Stonehenge, once thought a temple, you have found

A throne, where kings, our earthly gods, were crown'd;

Where by their wond'ring fubjects they were

feen,

Joy'd with their ftature, and their princely

mien.

Our fovereign here above the reft might ftand, And here be chofe again to rule the land.

50

Thefe ruins fhelter'd once his facred head, When he from Wor'fter's fatal battle fled; Watch'd by the genius of this royal place, 55 And mighty vifions of the Danish race.

Ver. 53. Thefe ruins fhelter'd once &c.] In the dedication, made by Dr. Charleton, of his book, concerning Stonehenge, to King Charles II. there is the following memorable paffage, which gave occafion to the fix concluding lines of this poem. " I have had the honour to hear from that oracle of truth and wifdom, your Majefty's own mouth: you were pleased to visit that monument, and, for many hours together, entertain yourself with the delightful view thereof, when after the defeat of your loyal army at Worcester, Almighty God, in infinite mercy to your three kingdoms, miraculously delivered you out of the bloody jaws of thofe minifters of fin and cruelty."

DERRICK.

Ver. 55. Watch'd by] In furveying this ftupendous work of the most remote antiquity, the mind is feized with that religious awe and fuperftition, moft adapted to awaken and excite poetical enthufiafm:

quædam divina voluptas

Percipit, atque horror!

Lucret.

His refuge then was for a temple shown:
But, he reftor'd, 'tis now become a throne.

From his mentioning the genius of the place, and the mighty vifions, one would have expected that our poet would have caught fire, and enlarged on fo promifing a fubject; but he has difappointed us, and given only a hint. Mr. Serjeant, in an elegant Ode on this fubject, has fhewn how fufceptible it was of true poetry; as has the author of the following Sonnet, which I cannot forbear to infert in this place.

SONNET.

Thou nobleft monument of Albion's isle!
Whether by Merlin's aid from Scythia's fhore,
To Amber's fatal plain Pendragon bore,
Huge frame of giant-hands, the mighty pile,
T'entomb his Britons flain by Hengift's guile:
Or Druid priests, sprinkled with human gore,
Taught mid thy maffy maze their myftic lore:
Or Danish chiefs, enrich'd with favage fpoil,
To Victory's idol vast, an unhewn shrine,
Rear'd the rude heap; or, in thy hallow'd round,
Repofe the kings of Brutus' genuine line;
Or here thofe kings in folemn ftate were crown'd.
Studious to trace thy wond'rous origine,
We mufe on many an antient tale renown'd.

Dr. J. WARTON.

EPISTLE THE THIRD,

TO THE

LADY CASTLEMAIN*,

UPON HER ENCOURAGING HIS

FIRST PLAY.

As feamen, fhipwreck'd on fome happy fhore,

Discover wealth in lands unknown before;

* Mr. Dryden's firft play, called the Wild Gallant, was exhibited with but indifferent fuccefs. The lady, whofe patronage he acknowledges in this epiftle, was Barbara, daughter of William Villiers Lord Grandifon, who was killed in the king's fervice at the battle of Edge-hill, in 1642, and buried in Christchurch, in Oxford. This lady was one of Charles the Second's favourite miftreffes for many years, and the bore him several children. 1. Charles Fitzroy, Duke of Southampton; 2. Henry Fitzroy, Earl of Eufton and Duke of Grafton; 3. George Fitzroy, Earl of Northumberland; 4. Charlotta, married to Sir Edward Henry Lee, of Ditchley, in Oxfordshire, afterwards Earl of Litchfield, and brother to Eleonora, Countess of Abingdon, on whom Dryden has written a beautiful elegy; 5. Ă daughter, whom the King denied to be his.

This lady was, before the was known to his Majefty, married to Roger Palmer, Efq. who was created Earl of Castlemain, by whom he had a daughter, whom the King adopted, and who married with Thomas Lord Dacres, Earl of Suffex.

The Countess of Caftlemain was afterwards created Dutchefs of Cleveland. DERRICK.