18. Not thofe rude garments could obfcure, and hide, And milke her goates, and in their folds them place, Both cheese and butter could fhe make, and frame Her felfe to please the fhepherd and his dame. POM POMFRET. F Mr. JOHN POMFRET nothing is known but from a flight and confused account prefixed to his poems by a nameless friend; who relates, that he was the son of the Rev. Mr. Pomfret, rector of Luton in Bedfordfhire; that he was bred at Cambridge *; entered into orders, and was rector of Malden in Bedfordshire, and might have rifen in the Church; but that when he applied to Dr. Compton, bishop of London, for inftitution to a living of confiderable value, to which he had been prefented, * He was of Queen's College there, and, by the University regifter, appears, to have taken his Bachelor's degree in 1684, and his Master's in 1698. H. he he found a troublesome obftruction raised by a malicious interpretation of fome paffage in his Choice; from which it was inferred, that he confidered happiness as more likely to be found in the company of a mistress than of a wife. This reproach was easily obliterated: for it had happened to Pomfret as to all other men who plan fchemes of life; he had departed from his purpose, and was then married. The malice of his enemies had however a very fatal confequence: the delay constrained his attendance in London, where he caught the fmall-pox, and died in 1703, in the thirtyfixth year of his age. He published his poems in 1699; and has been always the favourite of that clafs of readers, who, without vanity or criticism, feck only their own amusement. His Choice exhibits a fyftem of life adapted to common notions, and equal to common expectations; fuch a ftate as affords plenty and tranquillity, without exclufion of intellectual pleafures. Perhaps no compofition in our language has been oftener perused than Pomfret's Choice. In his other poems there is an easy volubility; the pleasure of smooth metre is afforded to the ear, and the mind is not oppressed with ponderous or entangled with intricate sentiment. He pleases many, and he who pleases many must have some species of merit DORSET. DORSET. Ο F the Earl of Dorfet the character has been drawn fo largely and fo elegantly by Prior, to whom he was familiarly known, that nothing can be added by a casual hand; and, as its author is fo generally read, it would be ufelefs officiousness to transcribe it. CHARLES SACKVILLE was born January 24, 1637. Having been educated under a private tutor, he travelled into Italy, and returned a little before the Restoration. He was chofen into the first parliament that was called, for Eaft Grinstead in Suffex, and foon became a favourite of Charles the Second; but undertook no publick employment, being too cager of the riotous and licentious pleasures |