Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/129

Rh an amicable coalition, as it is chiefly in form, rather than in articles of religion, in which they differ.

In the year 1715 he publiſhed an account of the ſtate of the Roman Catholic Religion throughout the World, tranſlated from an Italian manuſcript, with a dedication to the Pope, giving him a very particular account of the ſtate of religion amongſt the Proteſtants, and ſeveral other matters of importance, relating to Great-Britain; but this dedication is ſuppoſed to be written by another very eminent hand, more converſant in ſubjects of that nature than Sir Richard.

The ſame year our author publiſhed a Letter from the earl of Marr to the king, before his majeſty’s arrival in England; with ſome remarks on my lord’s ſubſequent conduct; and the year following a ſecond volume of the Engliſhman, and in 1718 an account of a Fiſh-Pool, which was a project of his for bringing fiſh to market alive, for which he obtained a patent.

In 1719 he publiſhed a pamphlet called the Spinſter, and a Letter to the Earl of Oxford, concerning the Bill of Peerage, which bill he oppoſed in the Houſe of Commons. Some time after, he wrote againſt the South-Sea-Scheme; his Criſis of poſterity; and another piece intitled, A Nation a Family; and on Saturday January the 2d, 1719–20, he began a paper called the Theatre, during the courſe of which his patent of governor of the Royal Company of Comedians, being ſuſpended by his majeſty, he publiſhed, The State of the Caſe.

In the year 1722, he brought his Conſcious Lovers on the ſtage, with prodigious ſucceſs. This is the laſt and moſt finiſhed of all Sir Richard’s Comedies, and ’tis doubtful if there is upon the ſtage, any more inſtructing; that tends to convey a finer moral, or is better conducted in its deſign. We have already obſerved, that it is impoſſible to witneſs the tender ſcenes of this Comedy without