GAYS WEALTH AStD IMPROVIDENCE. 



185 



freedom by a character like that of I Mat ! Prior rose to be full ambassa- 



Mandeville. (Johnson.) 



Old Jacob Tonson did not like 

 Mr. Addison: he had a quarrel with 

 him, and, after his quitting the se- 

 cretaryship, used frequently to say 

 of him " One day or other you'll 

 see that man a bishop I'm siire he 

 looks that way ; and, indeed, I ever 

 thought him a priest in his heart." 

 -(Pope.) 



It was my fate to be much with 

 the wits ; my father was acquainted 

 with all of them. Addison was the 

 best company in the world. I never 

 knew anybody that had so much 

 wit as Congreve. (Lady Wortley 

 Montagu.) 



. PRIOR SINGING AND DANCINO 

 DIPLOMATISTS. 



Matthew Prior was made Secre- 

 tary of Embassy at the Hague ! I 

 believe it is dancing, rather than 

 singing, which distinguishes the 

 young English diplomatists of the 

 present day ; and have seen them 

 in various parts perform that part 

 of their duty very finely. In Prior's 

 time it appears a different accom- 

 plishment led to preferment. Could 

 you write a copy of Alcaics? that 

 was the question. Could you turn 

 out a neat epigram or two ? Could 

 you compose The Town and Coun- 

 try Mouse ? It is manifest that, by 

 the possession of tins faculty, the 

 most dillicult treaties, the laws of 

 foreign nations, and the interests of 

 our own, are easily understood. 

 Prior rose in the diplomatic service, 

 and said good things that proved 

 his sense and his spirit. When the 

 apartments at Versailles were shown 

 to him, with the victories of Louis 

 XIV. painted on the walls, and 

 Prior was asked whether the palace 

 of the king of England had any such 

 decorations, "The monuments of 

 my master's actions," Mat said, of 

 William, whom lie cordially rever- 

 ed, "are to be seen everywhere, ex- 

 cept in his own house." Bravo, 



dor at Paris, where he somehow waa 

 cheated out of his ambassadorial 

 plate; and in a heroic poem, ad- 

 dressed by him to her late lament- 

 ed. majesty Queen Anne, Mat makes 

 some magnificent allusions to these 

 dishes and spoons, of which Fate 

 had deprived him. All that he 

 wants, he says, is her Majesty's 



Eicture; without that he can't be 

 appy : 



" Thee, gracious Anne, the present I 



adore ; 

 Thee, Queen of Peace, if Time and 



Fate have power 

 Higher to raise the glories of thy 



reign, 



In words sublimer and a nobler strain. 

 May future bards the mighty theme 



rehearse. 

 Here. Stator Jove, and Phoebus, king 



of Verse, 

 The votive tablet I suspend." 



With that word the poem stops ab- 

 ruptly. The votive tablet is sus- 

 pended for ever, like Mahomet's 

 coffin. News came that the Queen 

 was dead. Stator Jove, and Phoe- 

 bus, king of verse, were left there, 

 hovering to this day over the vo- 

 tive tablet. The picture was never 

 got any more than the spoons and 

 dishes the inspiration ceased the 

 verses were not wanted the ambas- 

 sador was not wanted. Poor Mat 

 was readied from his embassy, suf- 

 fered disgrace along with his pa- 

 trons, lived under a sort of cloud 

 ever after, and disappeared in Es- 

 sex. When deprived of all his pen- 

 sions and emoluments, the hearty 

 and generous Oxford pensioned him. 

 They played for gallant stakes tho 

 bold men of those days and lived 

 and gave splendidly. (Thackeray's 

 English Humourists.) 

 GAY'S WEALTH AND IMPROVIDENCE. 

 Gay, says Pope, was quite a 

 natural man wholly without art 

 or design, and spoke just what he 

 thought, and as ho thought it. He 

 dangled for twenty years about :i 

 court, and at last was offered to be 



