Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 3.djvu/25

Rh Hæc liberalis animi oblectamenta:

Quam nullo Illi labore constiterint,

Facile ii perspexere, quibus usus est Amici;

Apud quos Urbanitatum & Leporum plenus

Cum ad rem, quæcundue forte inciderat,

Aptè variè copiosèque alluderet,

Interea nihil quæsitum, nihil vi expressum

Videbatur,

Sed omnia ultro effluere,

Et quasi jugi è fonte affatim exuberare,

Ita suos tandem dubios reliquit,

Essetne in Scriptis, Poeta Elegantior,

An in Convictu, Comes Jucundior.

Of Prior, eminent as he was, both by his abilities and stations, very few memorials have been left by his contemporaries; the account therefore must now be destitute of his private character and familiar practices. He lived at a time when the rage of party detected all which it was any man's interest to hide; and as little ill is heard of Prior, it is certain that not much was known. He was not afraid of provoking censure; for when he forsook the Whigs, under whose patronage he first entered the world, he became a Tory so ardent and determinate, that he did not willingly consort with Rh