and Virtue to range in? All there is bright before them; and the flight the Muse takes thence, is heavenwards, Such characters, artfully and justly drawn, will excite the good and great to be patrons: and such patrons as you, Sir, will soon teach poets to draw such characters. "You are endowed with all the blessings of Nature and Fortune; and you are as liberal of the gifts of the latter to others, as she has been to you. So great is your estate, it would be unwieldy to have it more; and such good use is made of it, that envy does not wish it less. It is not consumed in vain and superfluous equipage; but laid out in maintaining the old, open, English hospitality. Desert, in want, is supplied; and honesty, in distress, is succoured and sustained; great, without titles; and good, above greatness: rich, rather to others than to yourself; and seeming only as your own steward. Your inclinations and endeavours are the general good of mankind; and none ever went from you dissatisfied; delighted in obliging others, and pleased to see them pleased with your bounty. Wishing the welfare of all men and speaking well of all men, is a sure way to meet an universal return of good will and good wishes. He doubly enjoys his fortune, who has it wished double by all that know him. Among the prayers of others, accept of the praises of the poet; humbly and heartily, though feebly, offered. I now begin to experience how much the mind. may be influenced by the body. My Muse is confined, at present, to a weak and sickly tenement; and the winter season will go near to overbear her, together with her household. There are storms and tempests, to beat her down; or frosts, to bind her up and kill her: and she has no friend on her side but youth, to bear her, through if that can sustain the attack, and hold out, till Spring comes to relieve me, one use I shall make of farther life shall be to shew how much I am, Londonderry, Sir, Your most devoted, humble servant, CHARLES HOPKINS'." [Nichols's Collection of Poems, vol. ii. p. 183. Mr. Nichols adds "His feelings were prophetic: he died, I believe, in the course of that winter." In the second volume of Nichols's Collection of Poems, he has preserved the following productions of our author, selected from his printed works, with a few gleanings from other publications. The Court Prospect. To Charles, Earl of Dorset. To Anthony Hammond, Esq. To C. C. Esq. To Mrs. Mohun, on her Recovery. To a Lady. To the same Lady. To Dr. Gibbons. To Mr. Congreve. To Mr. Yalden, in Oxon: from Londonderry, August 3, 1699. Song. Sanazarius on Venice. Cato's Character, from the Second Book of Lucan. The History of Love. Pastoral Elegy, on the death of Delia. Phoebus and Daphne, from Ovid. Jupiter and Europa, from do. Narcissus and Echo, from do. Scylla's Passion for Minos, from do. Ceyx and Halcyone, from Ovid. Tibullus, Book I. El. 1. Tibullus, Book II. El. 4. Tibullus, Book IV. El. 13. A Hymn, about an hour before his death, when in The greater part of these pieces, with some others, are found among the MISCELLANY POEMS, published by Dryden, in five volumes. His subjects are chiefly amatory, and they are treated with more purity and delicacy than are generally found among the poets of his tribe. He owed this, in all probability, to his education; and the example of a father, whose path he yet had not grace and courage wholly to pursue. His habits of life, however, and the warmth of his attachment to Dryden, Congreve, and the other wits of his day, occasionally betray him into those indecorums which are degrading to genius and disgraceful to all principle. His ART OF LOVE is one of the most chaste pieces written on this subject. To render it such was, indeed, his avowed design. He says, in the preface, "If any modest man attempts to translate Ovid DE ARTE AMANDI, he must both alter and omit if he would still be thought a modest man; and, when he has done so, the poem will be his, not Ovid's: if literally he translates him, and makes him chaste, let his next undertaking be to wash an Ethiopian." He touches the same subject afterwards in the following lines; " My Muse delights to glide in purest streams, Those swans, which draw my Venus, wing'd with flames, I sing of Virgins, and of Virgin-Love. } His Muse, like Icarus, unbounded flies, And, with wax'd plumes, soars, and insults the skies: Attempting flights, which she wants wings to bear." His precepts are drawn from nature, but they are displayed with art and elegance. Nature is, however, the best guide. Chaste and sincere affection will win its purpose, and will deserve what it wins; while an artful mimicry of its actings may but assist the villain in his designs. He intimates, at the end of the preface, his intention of following this piece with THE REMEDY OF LOVE; which, however, never appeared. Jacob's character of his poetry is just. His versification is gentlemanly and elegant, and his thoughts frequently pointed and vigorous. His description of Orpheus's descent into Hell will give a favourable idea of his style and manner; Already had he pass'd the Courts of Death, And charm'd with sacred verse the powers beneath. And the black roofs restor'd the wond'rous song. The springs, that fled from his deluded lip. } } Of his three Tragedies, PYRRHUS is written in blank verse, and the other two in rhime; to which last circumstance he attributed, as we have seen, the success of BOADICEA, and from which he expected the success of FRIENDSHIP IMPROVED. The versification of these two pieces is very smooth and flowing, particularly that of FRIENDSHIP IMPROVED. There is little of the moral or instructive in these tragedies. PYRRHUS is tame. BOADICEA is more interesting; but it is a bloody and vindictive piece. The author's characters are pagan, and their sentiments are pagan, and not seldom impious too. There is less, however, of this kind in his last tragedy, than in the other two. A patriotic sentiment in BoA DICEA deserves to be quoted. Cassibelaunus, the British Prince, says of Rome: "Let her make all the world besides her own, Nature has made us for ourselves alone. She fix'd our Isle, cast the wide seas around, Made the strong fence; and shall not hands be found } He seems to have received warnings of his approaching end, which it is to be feared were not well improved. Dryden printed a copy of verses addressed by our poet to Dr. Gibbons, under whose care he was recovered from a dangerous sickness. In these lines he gratefully apostrophizes his physician : "O Gibbons! I am rais'd: there's nought I see Find you content with thanks, and heaven with praise.”: His brother John also addressed Dr. Gibbons on a similar subject, but not in an equal strain of poetry. I have mentioned his intimacy with the chief wits of his time. He could not have fallen into worse hands. At his father's death he was about 25 years of age; and |