Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/102

92 of thoſe parts of Homer, tranſlated by our author, and the ſame paſſages by Pope and Tickell, in which compariſon the palm is very deſervedly yielded to Pope.

Our author wrote a Satire called Doris, celebrated by Sir Richard Steele, who was a warm friend to Mr. Congreve. He alſo wrote the Judgment of Paris, a Maſque; and the Opera of Semele; of theſe, the former was acted with great applauſe, and the latter is finely ſet to muſic by Mr. Eccles. The laſt of his Poetical Works, is his Art of Pleaſing, addreſſed to Sir Richard Temple, the late viſcount Cobham. He has written many Proſe Epiſtles, diſperſed in the works of other writers, and his Eſſay on Humour in Comedy, publiſhed in a Collection of Dennis’s Letters, is an entertaining, and correct piece of criticiſm: All his other Letters are written with a great deal of wit and ſpirit, a fine flow of language; and are ſo happily intermixt with a lively and inoffenſive raillery, that it is impoſſible not to be pleaſed with them at the firſt reading: we may be ſatisfied from the peruſal of them, that his converſation muſt have been very engaging, and therefore we need not wonder that he was careſſed by the greateſt men of his time, or that they courted his friendship by every act of kindneſs in their power.

It is ſaid of Mr. Congreve, that he was a particular favourite with the ladies, ſome of whom were of the firſt diſtinction. He indulged none of thoſe reveries, and affected abſences ſo peculiar to men of wit: He was ſprightly as well as elegant in his manner, and ſo much the favourite of Henrietta ducheſs of Marlborough, that even after his death, ſhe cauſed an image of him to be every day placed at her toilet-table, to which ſhe would talk as to the living Mr. Congreve, with all the freedom of the moſt polite and unreſerved converſation. Mrs.