Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 4.djvu/224

220 ever criticism may object to his writings, censure could find very little to blame in his life.

As Gay was the favourite of our author, this epitaph was probably written with an uncommon degree of attention; yet it is not more successfully executed than the rest, for it will not always happen that the success of a poet is proportionate to his labour. The same observation may be extended to all Rh