away by a long illness, that life went out without a struggle. Lord Rochester was eminent for the vigour of his colloquial wit, and remarkable for many wild pranks, and fallies of extravagance. The glare of his general character diffused itself upon his writings; the compofitions of a man whose name was heard so often, were certain of attention, and from many readers certain of applause. This blaze of reputation is not yet quite extinguished, and his poetry still retains fome fplendour beyond that which genius has bestowed. Wood and Burnet give us reafon to believe, that much was imputed to him which he did not write. I know not by whom the original collection was made, or by what authority its genuineness was afcertained. The first edition was published in the year of his death, with an air of concealment, profeffing in the title-page to be printed at Antwerp. Of fome of the pieces, however, there is no doubt. The Imitation of Horace's Satire, the Verfes to Lord Mulgrave, the Satire against Man, the Verfes upon Nothing, and perhaps fome others, are I believe genuine, and perhaps most of thofe which this collection exhibits. As he cannot be fuppofed to have found leifure for any courfe of continued study, his pieces are commonly fhort, fuch as one fit of refolution would produce. His fongs have no particular character: they tell, like other fongs, in fmooth and eafy language, of fcorn and kindnefs, difmiffion and desertion, absence and inconftancy, with the common common places of artificial courtship. They are commonly fmooth and easy; but have little nature, and little fentiment. His imitation of Horace on Lucilius is not inelegant or unhappy. In the reign of Charles the Second began that adaptation, which has fince been very frequent, of ancient poetry to present times, and perhaps few will be found where the parallelifm is better preserved than in this. The verfification is indeed fometimes careless, but it is fometimes vigorous and weighty. The strongest effort of his muse is his poem upon Nothing. He is not the first who has chofen this barren topic for the boast of his fertility. There is a poem called Nihil in Latin by Pafferat, a poet and critick of the fixteenth century in France; who, in his own epitaph, expreffes his zeal for good poetry thus: -Molliter offa quiefcent Sint modo carminibus non onerata malis. His works are not common, and therefore I fhall fubjoin his verses. In examining this performance, Nothing muft be confidered as having not only a negative but a kind of pofitive fignification; as, I need not fear thieves, I have nothing; and nothing is a very powerful protector. In the first part of the fentence it is taken negatively; in the second it is taken pofitively, as an agent. In one of Boileau's lines it was a question, whether he fhould use a rien faire, or a ne rien faire; and the firft was preferred, because it gave rien a fense in fome fort pofitive. Nothing can be a fubject only in its pofitive fenfe, and such a sense is given it in the first line: Nothing, Nothing, thou elder brother ev'n to shade. In this line, I know not whether he does not allude to a curious book de Umbra, by Wowerus, which, having told the qualities of Shade, concludes with a poem in which are these lines: Jam primum terram validis circumfpice clauftris Sufpenfam totam, decus admirabile mundi Terrafque tractufque maris, camposque liquentes. Aeris, & vafti laqueata palatia cœl- The pofitive fenfe is generally preferved, with great skill, through the whole poem; though fometimes, in a fubordinate fenfe, the negative nothing is injudiciously mingled. Pafferat confounds the two fenfes. Another of his moft vigorous pieces is his Lampoon on Sir Car Scroop, who, in a poem called The Praife of Satire, had fome lines like tthefe *: He who can push into a midnight fray His brave companion, and then run away, This was meant of Rochester, and drew from him thofe furious verses; to which Scroop made in reply an epigram, ending with these lines: Thou canst hurt no man's fame with thy ill word ; Thy pen is full as harmless as thy fword. Of the fatire against Man, Rochester can only claim what remains when all Boileau's part is taken away. In all his works there is sprightliness and vigour, and every where may be found token of a mind which study might have carried to excellence; and what more can be expected from a life spent in oftentatious contempt of regularity, and ended before the abilities of many other men began to be displayed? Poema CL. V. JOANNIS PASSERATII, Regij in Academia Parifienfi Profefforis. Ad ornatiffimum virum ERRICVM MEMMIVM. Janus adeft, feftæ pofcunt fua dona Kalendæ, Munus abeft feftis quod poffim offerre Kalendis. Siccine Caftalius nobis exaruit humor? Ufque adeò ingenii noftri eft exhausta facultas, Immunem ut videat redeuntis janitor anni? Quod nufqua eft potius nova per veftigia quæra. Ecce autem partes dum fefe verfat in omnes Invenit mea Mufa NIHIL, ne defpice munus. Nam NIHIL eft gemmis, NIHIL eft pretiofius auro. Huc animum,huc igitur vultus adverte benignos: Res nova narratur quæ nulli audita priorum, Aufonii & Graii dixerunt cætera vates, Aufoniæ indictum NIHIL eft Græcæque Ca mænæ. E cœlo quacunque Ceres fua profpicit arva, Aut genitor liquidis orbem complectitur ulnis Oceanus, NIHIL interitus & originis expers. Immortale NIHIL, NIHIL omni parte beatum. Quòd fi hinc majeftas & vis divina probatur, Num quid honore deûm num quid dignabimur, aris? Confpectu lucis NIHIL eft jucundius almæ, In bello fanctum NIHIL eft, Martifque tumultu: Juftum in pace NIHIL, NIHIL est in fœdere tutum. Felix cui NIHIL eft, (fuerant hæc vota Tibullo) norum. Nofce NIHIL, nofces fertur quod Pythagorea Grano hærere fabæ, cui vox adjuncta negantis. Multi Mercurio freti duce vifcera terræ Pura liquefaciunt fimul, & patrimonia mifcent, Arcano inftantes operi, & carbonibus atris, Qui tandem exhaufti damnis, fractique labore, Inveniunt atque inventum NIHIL, ufque requirunt. Hoc dimetiri non ulla decempeda poffit; Nec numeret Libycæ numerum qui callet arenæ : Et Phœbo ignotum NIHIL eft, NIHIL altius aftris. Túque, tibi licet eximium fit mentis acumen, Omnem in naturam penetrans, & in abdita re rum, Pace tua, Memmi, NIHIL ignorare vidêris. Cerne NIHIL, cerni dices NIHIL abfque colore. Surdum audit loquiturque NIHIL fine voce, volátque |