Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/56

46 adds, was only a poet by accident; but we muſt take the liberty of differing from him in the laſt particular, for Mr. Prior ſeems to have received from the muſes, at his nativity, all the graces they could well bellow on their greateſt favourite.

We muſt not omit one inſtance in Mr. Prior’s conduct, which will appear very remarkable: he was choſen a member of that Parliament which impeached the Partition Treaty, to which he himſelf had been ſecretary; and though his ſhare in that tranſaction was conſequently very conſiderable, yet he joined in the impeachment upon an honeſt principle of conviction, that exceptionable meaſures attended it.

The lord Bolingbroke, who, notwithſtanding many exceptions made both to his conduct, and ſentiments in other inſtances, yet muſt be allowed to be an accompliſhed judge of fine talents, entertained the higheſt eſteem for Mr. Prior, on account of his ſhining abilities. This noble lord, in a letter dated September 10, 1712, addreſſed to Mr. Prior, while he was the Queen’s miniſter, and plenipotentiary at the court of France, pays him the following compliment; ‘For God’s ſake, Matt, hide the nakedneſs of thy country, and give the beſt turn thy fertile brain will furniſh thee with, to the blunders of thy countrymen, who are not much better politicians, than the French are poets.’ His lordſhip thus concludes his epiſtle; ‘It is near three o’ clock in the morning, I have been hard at work all day, and am not yet enough recovered to bear much fatigue; excuſe therefore the confuſedneſs of this ſcroll, which is only from Harry to Matt, and not from the ſecretary to the miniſter. Adieu, my pen is ready to drop out of my hand, it being now three o’clock in the