HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [223 



In the year 1707 he published a collection of poems entitled 

 * Oxford and Cambridge Verses," but as the copies of this publi- 

 cation have long since disappeared, the poems written by himself, 

 which appeared in that volume, cannot be ascertained. This pub- 

 lication seems to have obtained some approbation among the wits 

 and critics of the age, for in the year 1710 Mr. St. John, after- 

 wards Lord Bolingbroke, took him under his patronage, in conse- 

 quence of which he broke up his establishment at Seven Oaks. 



The principal advantage derived by Fenton from the patronage 

 of Mr. St. John, was an introduction to Pope, then in the zenith 

 of his reputation. An intercourse with the bard of Twickenham 

 undoubtedly improved the poetical taste of Fenton, and roused 

 him from his habitual or constitutional indolence to the exertion 

 of his mental powers. In 1717 he published a volume of original 

 poems, containing an Ode to the Sun, a Paraphrase on Isaiah, and 

 several short pieces, of which it is no small commendation to say, 

 that they were favourably received by the public at a time when 

 the harmonious productions of Pope, and the humourous effusions 

 of Swift and Gay, had rendered criticism rather fastidious. 



In 1 720, Fenton was appointed private secretary to Mr. Craggs, 

 when that statesman was exalted to one of the most honourable 

 situations under government. Thus a fair opportunity for advance- 

 ment in public life presented itself to our poet, but the death of 

 his patron cut short these hopes, and he was again thrown into 

 the obscurity of retirement. He seems to have borne his disap- 

 pointment with great equanimity. 



On the death of Mr. Craggs, Pope did not, like too many men of 

 the world, neglect the man whom he had once patronized, but re- 

 commended Fenton to the patronage of Lady Trumbull, who ap- 

 pointed him tutor to her eldest son. Thus happy in an employ- 

 ment which did not preclude his favourite pursuit, our poet con- 

 tinued for several years to enjoy that learned ease so congenial to 

 his love of quiescence and seclusion. His chief poetical effort 

 while under the roof of Lady Trumbull, was the tragedy of Mari- 

 amne, which was performed at one of the London Theatres in 

 1723 with considerable approbation. When this tragedy was 

 shewn to Cibber, who was then not only Poet Laureate, but Mana- 

 ger of a Theatre, he rejected it as unfit for representation, and 

 with the petulance commonly arising from "the insolence of office/' 

 he advised the author to engage himself in some handicraft em- 

 ployraeut by which he might obtain that subsistence which he could 



