Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/84

74 ſome perſonal kindneſs lord Hallifax had for him, than to his merit as a writer. In raiſing Stepney, his lordſhip might act as the friend of the man, but not as a patron of the poet. Friendſhip, in many reſpects, participates of the nature of love; it begins, we know not how, it ſtrengthens by imperceptible degrees, and grows into an eſtabliſhed firmneſs. Such might be the regard lord Hallifax had for Stepney, but we may venture to aſſert, from his lordſhip’s exquiſite taſte in poetry, that he never could highly admire the pretty trifles which compoſe the works of this author; and which are printed amongſt the works of the Minor Poets, publiſhed ſome years ago by Mr. Tonſon in two volumes 12 mo.

Our author died at Chelſea in the year 1707, and was buried in Weſtminſter-Abbey, where a fine monument is erected over him, with the following inſcription upon the pedeſtal;


 * Literarum Scientiam,
 * Morum Suavitatem,
 * Rerum Uſum,

Virorum Ampliſſimorum Conſuetudinem,
 * Linguæ, Styli ac Vitæ Elegantiam,

Præclara Officia cum Britanniæ tum Europæ Præſtita,
 * Suâ ætate multum celebratus,

Apud Poſteros ſemper celebrandus;
 * Plurimas Legationes obiit

Ea Fide, Diligentiâ, & Felicitate,
 * Ut Auguſtiſſimorum Principum