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 disappointed 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 ifle!
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, fprinkled with human gore,
Taught mid thy maffy maze their myftic lore:
Or Danish chiefs, enrich'd with favage spoil,
To Victory's idol vaft, 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 Chriftchurch, in Oxford. This lady was one of Charles the Second's favourite mistreffes 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. A daughter, whom the King denied to be his.

This lady was, before he 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.

And, what their art had labour'd long in vain, By their misfortunes happily obtain :

15

So my much-envy'd mufe, by fiorms long toft, 5
Is thrown upon your hofpitable coast,
And finds more favour by her ill fuccefs,
Than fhe could hope for by her happiness.
Once Cato's virtue did the gods oppofe;
While they the victor, he the vanquish'd chose:
But you have done what Cato could not do, 11
To choose the vanquish'd, and restore him too.
Let others ftill triumph, and gain their cause
By their deferts, or by the world's applaufe;
Let merit crowns, and juftice laurels give,
But let me happy by your pity live.
True poets empty fame and praise despise,
Fame is the trumpet, but your fmile the prize.
You fit above, and fee vain men below
Contend for what you only can bestow:
But thofe great actions others do by chance,
Are, like your beauty, your inheritance :
So great a foul, fuch fweetnefs join'd in one,
Could only fpring from noble Grandifon.
You, like the stars, not by reflection bright, 25
Are born to your own heaven, and your own
light;

Ver. 9. Once Cato's virtue did the gods oppofe;

While they the victor, he the vanquish'd chofe:]
Victrix caufa deis placuit fed victa Catone.

JOHN WARTON.

20

Like them are good, but from a nobler cause, From your own knowledge, not from nature's laws.

30

Your power you never ufe, but for defence,
To guard your own, or other's innocence:
Your foes are fuch, as they, not you, have made,
And virtue may repel, though not invade.
Such courage did the ancient heroes fhow,
Who, when they might prevent, would wait the

blow:

40

With fuch affurance as they meant to fay, 35
We will o'ercome, but fcorn the fafeft way.
What further fear of danger can there be?
Beauty, which captives all things, fets me free.
Pofterity will judge by my fuccefs,
I had the Grecian poet's happiness,
Who, waving plots, found out a better way;
Some God defcended, and preferv'd the play.
When first the triumphs of your fex were fung
By thofe old poets, beauty was but young,
And few admir'd the native red and white, 45
Till poets drefs'd them up to charm the fight;
So beauty took on truft, and did engage
For fums of praises till fhe came to age.
But this long-growing debt to poetry
You justly, madam, have discharg'd to me, 50
When your applause and favour did infuse
New life to my condemn'd and dying muse.

THE blaft of common cenfure could I fear, Before your play my name fhould not appear;

Ver. 1. The blast of common] Every reader of tafte muft agree with Addison, from whofe opinions it is always hazardous to diffent, that none of our poets had a genius more strongly turned for tragedy than Lee. Notwithftanding his many rants and extravagancies, for which Dryden fkilfully and elegantly apologizes in ten admirable lines of this epiftle, from verse 45, yet are there many beautiful touches of nature and paffion in his Alexander, his Lucius J. Brutus, and Theodofius. So true was what he himself once replied to a puny objector: "It is not an eafy thing to write like a madman, but it is very easy to write like a fool." When Lord Rochester objected,

"That Lee makes temperate Scipio fret and rave,
And Annibal a whining amorous flave:"

It ought to be remembered, that this is a fault into which the
moft applauded tragedians have frequently fallen, and none
more fo than Corneille and Racine, though the latter was fo
correct a fcholar. Lee loft his life in a lamentable manner:
returning home at midnight, in one of his fits of intoxication,
he stumbled and fell down in the ftreet, and perished in a deep
fnow, 1692.
Dr. J. WARTON.