Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/146

136 He has ſucceeded to a miracle in the droll way of writing; and when he aſſumes a ſeverity, and writes ſeriouſly, his arguments and notions are far removed from imbecility.

As a poet, I cannot better delineate his character than in the words of Mr. Cooke, ‘There are few of his poems (ſays he) that have not ſomething very pleaſing in them, and ſome he muſt be allowed to have excelled in; moſt of them ſeem to be the effect of a lively genius, and manly ſenſe, but at the ſame time ſeem to want that correctneſs he was capable of making. His moſt finiſhed pieces are upon Milton’s Paradiſe Loſt, and upon Blood’s ſtealing the crown; the latter of which is very ſatirical.’

‘In his ſtate Poems, is contained much of the ſecret hiſtory of king Charles the IId, in which time they were all written. They were compoſed on various occaſions, and chiefly to expoſe a corrupt miniſtry, and the violence of thoſe who were for perſecuting all who differed from their in opinion. He has ſeveral Poems in Latin, ſome of which he tranſlated into Engliſh, and one in Greek. They have each their proper merit; he diſcovers a great facility in writing the Latin tongue.’ There