He has feveral imitations of Cowley: Veftitur hinc tot fermo coloribus Te memores celebrare gaudent. I will not commend the figure which makes the orator pronounce colours, or give to colours memory and delight. I quote it, however, as an imitation of these lines; So many languages he had in ftore, That only Fame fhall fpeak of him in more. The fimile, by which an old man, retaining the fire of his youth, is compared to Etna flaming through the fnow, which Smith has ufed with great pomp, is ftolen from Cowley, however little worth the labour of conveyance. He proceeded to take his degree of Master of Arts July 8, 1696. Of the exercises which he performed on that occafion, I have not heard any thing memorable. As his years advanced, he advanced in reputation; for he continued to cultivate his mind; but he did not amend his irregularities, by which he gave fo much offence, that, April 24, 1700, the Dean and Chapter declared "the place of Mr. Smith void, he having "been convicted of riotous misbehaviour in "the houfe of Mr. Cole an apothecary; but "it was referred to the Dean when and upon "what occafion the fentence fhould be put in "execution." Thus Thus tenderly was he treated: the governors of his college could hardly keep him, and yet wished that he would not force them to drive him away. ards Some time afterwards he affumed an appearance of decency; in his own phrafe, he whitened himself, having a defire to obtain the cenforship, an office of honour and fome profit in the college; but when the election came, the preference was given to Mr. Foulkes, his junior; the fame, I fuppofe, that joined with Freind in an edition of part of Demofthenes; it not being thought proper to trust the superintendance of others to a man who took fo little care of himself. From this time Smith employed his malice and his wit against the Dean, Dr. Aldrich, whom he confidered as the opponent of his claim. Of his lampoon upon him, I once heard a single line too grofs to be repeated. But he was still a genius and a scholar, and Oxford was unwilling to lose him: he was endured, with all his pranks and his vices, two years longer; but on Dec. 20, 1705, at the inftance of all the canons, the fentence declared five years before was put in execution. The execution was, I believe, filent and tender; for one of his friends, from whom I learned much of his life, appeared not to know it. He was now driven to London, where he affociated himself with the Whigs, whether because they were in power, or because the Tories had expelled him, or because he was a Whig by principle, may perhaps be doubted. He was however however careffed by men of great abilities, whatever were their party, and was fupported by the liberality of thofe who delighted in his converfation. There was once a design hinted at by Oldisworth to have made him ufeful. One evening, as he was fitting with a friend at a tavern, he was called down by the waiter; and, having ftaid fome time below, came up thoughtful. After a pause, said he to his friend, "He that "wanted me below was Addison, whose bufi"nefs was to tell me that a History of the "Revolution was intended, and to propose " that I fhould undertake it. I faid, what "fhall I do with the character of lord Sunder"land? and Addifon immediately returned, "When Rag, were you drunk last? and went away." Captain Rag was a name which he got at Oxford by his negligence of dress. This story I heard from the late Mr. Clark of Lincoln's Inn, to whom it was told by the friend of Smith. Such fcruples might debar him from fome profitable emplyments; but as they could not deprive him of any real esteem, they left him many friends; and no man was ever better introduced to the theatre than he, who, in that violent conflict of parties, had a Prologue and Epilogue from the firft wits on either fide. But learning and nature will now and then take different courfes. His play pleased the criticks, and the criticks only. It was, as Addifon has recorded, hardly heard the third night. Smith had indeed trufted entirely to his merit; had enfured no band of applauders, nor used any artifice to force fuccefs, and found that naked excellence was not fufficient for its own support. gene The play, however, was bought by Lintot, who advanced the price from fifty guineas, the current rate, to fixty; and Halifax, the ral patron, accepted the dedication. Smith's indolence kept him from writing the dedication, till Lintot, after fruitless importunity, gave notice that he would publish the play without it. Now therefore it was written; and Halifax expected the author with his book, and had prepared to reward him with a place. of three hundred pounds a year. Smith by pride, or caprice, or indolence, or bashfulness, neglected to attend him, though doubtless warned and preffed by his friends, and at last miffed his reward by not going to folicit it. Addison has, in the Spectator, mentioned the neglect of Smith's tragedy as difgraceful to the nation, and imputes it to the fondness for operas then prevailing. The authority of Addifon is great; yet the voice of the people, when to please the people is the purpose, deserves regard. In this question, I cannot but think the people in the right. The fable is mythological, a ftory which we are accustomed to reject as false, and the manners are fo diftant from our own, that we know them not by fympathy but by ftudy: the ignorant do not understand the action, the learned reject it as a fchool-boy's tale; incredulus odi. What I cannot for a moment believe, I cannot for a moment behold with intereft or anxiety. The fentiments thus remote from life, are removed yet further by the diction, which is too luxuriant and fplendid for dialogue, and envelopes the thoughts rather than difplays them. It is a scholar's play, fuch as may please the reader rather than the spectator; the work of a vigorous and elegant mind, accustomed to please itself with its own conceptions, but of little acquaintance with the courfe of life. Dennis tells, in one of his pieces, that he had once a design to have written the tragedy of Phædra; but was convinced that the action was too mythological. In 1109, a year after the exhibition of Phædra, died John Philips, the friend and fellow-collegian of Smith, who, on that occafion, wrote a poem, which juftice must place among the best elegies which our language can fhew, an elegant mixture of fondness and admiration, of dignity and foftness. There are fome paffages too ludicrous; but every human performance has its faults. This elegy it was the mode among his friends to purchase for a guinea; and, as his acquaintance was numerous, it was a very profitable poem. Of his Pindar, mentioned by Oldifworth, I have never otherwife heard. His Longinus he intended to accompany with fome illuftrations, and had selected his inftances of the falfe Sublime from the works of Blackmore. He refolved to try again the fortune of the Stage, with the ftory of Lady Jane Grey. It is not unlikely that his experience of the inefficacy and incredibility of a mythological |