Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/122

 HISTORY OF BISHOP AUCKLAiO). 95 has left no work behind him directly professional, and, indeed, appeals to have beex^ too much ad- dicted to conviviality and elegant literature to pay much attention to science. He was a dis- tinguished member of the " Kitcat-Club," which was instituted in 1703, and which consisted of a number of noblemen and gentlemen of talent. Though he was deemed a latitudinarian as to religion, Pope says of him, in a letter, " His death was unaflFected enough to have made a saint or a philosopher famous. If ever there was a good Christian without knowing himself to be so, it was Dr. GartL" His death was, also, lamented in some excellent verses by Lord Lansdowne, a brother poet, though of a different party. Next in merit to the " Dispensary," is his "Claremont," a complimentary poem on the seat of the Duke of Newcastle — a most elaborate production. The " Dispensary" (says Chambers) is a mock heroic poem in six cantos. Some of the leading apothecaries of the day are, happily, ridiculed ; but the interest of the satire has passed away, and it did not contain enough of the life of poetry to preserve it. The following is from an address by Colocynthus,.a keen apothecary ; and is a fair specimen of the manner and versification of the poem : — Could'st thou propose that we, the friends of fates. Who fill churchyards, and who unpeople states, Who baffle Nature, and dispose of lives, Whilst Russel, as we please, or starves or thrives, Should e'er submit to their despotic will, Who, out of consultation, scarce can skill f The towering Alps shall sooner sink to vales. And leeches in our glasses swell to whales ; Or Norwich trade in instruments of steel. And Birmingham in stuffs and druggets deal ! Alleys at Wapping furnish us new modes. And Monmouth Street, Versailles, with riding-hoods ; The sick to the Hundreds in pale throngs repair, And change the Qravel-pits for Kentish air. Our properties must on our arms depend ; 'Tis next to conquer, bravely to defend. 'Tis to the vulgar, death too harsh appears ; The ill we feel is only in our fears. To die, is landing on some silent shore. Where billows never break, nor tempests roar ; Ere well we feel the friendly stroke, 'tis o'er. The wise, through thought, the insults of death defy ; The fools through blessed insensibility. 'Tis what the guilty fear, the pious crave ; Sought by the wretch, and vanquished by the brave. It eases lovers, sets the captive free ; And, though a tyrant, offers libeity. The minor poems of Dr. Garth consist of verses to Lady. Louisa Lenox ; to the Duchess of Bolton ; to the Earl of Darlington, with Ovid's Art of Love ; addresses to Lord Godolphin, and the Duke of Marlborough ; verses inscribed on the drinking-glasses of the " Kitcat Club ;" lines on Queen Anne's Statue. His occasional pieces are said to be sprightly and elegant ; and his last literary labour was to superintend a translation of " Ovid's Metamorphoses," to which he supplied a preface. In 1703, William Garth, father of Sir Samuel, states, in his will, that, " Whereas, he hath been at great charges in the education of his eldest son, Samuel Garth, at the University of Cambridge, and in his taking his degree there of Doctor of Physick ; and whereas, his son, William Garth, hath several times denyed great and good preferments offered to him, chusing rather to live and remain with me, though to his loss of time, &c., he hath, therefore, as part recompence, granted Digitized by Google