In living medals fee her wars enroll'd,

And vanquish'd realms fupply recording gold *.

ADDISON, in the ninety-fixth paper of the Guardian, has given us a propofal, here alluded to, which he drew up and delivered to the Lord Treasurer: The paper ends thus: "It is propofed, 1. That the English farthings and halfpence be recoined upon the union of the two nations. 2. That they bear devices and infcriptions alluding to all the most remarkable parts of her Majesty's reign. 3. That there be a society established for the finding out of proper fubjects, infcriptions, and devices. 4. That no fubject, infcription, or device, be ftamped without the approbation of this fociety, nor, if it be thought proper, without the authority of privy-council. By this means, medals, that are at present only a dead treasure, or mere curiofities, will be of use in the ordinary commerce of life; and, at the fame time, perpetuate the glories of her Majesty's reign,

VOL. II.

* Ver. 53. P

reward

reward the labours of her greatest subjects, keep alive in the people a gratitude for public fervices, and excite the emulation of pofterity. To these generous purposes nothing can so much contribute as medals of this kind, which are of undoubted authority, of neceffary use and obfervation, not perishable by time, nor confined to any certain place; properties not to be found in books, ftatues, pictures, buildings, or any other monuments of illuftrious actions."

41. Then shall thy CRAGGS (and let me call him mine) On the caft ore, another POLLIO fhine *.

TICKELL †, in his preface to the works of Addifon, concludes a copy of highly elegant, polished and pathetic verses, addreffed to the Earl of Warwick, with the following fine lines:

These works divine, which, on his death-bed laid,
To thee, O Craggs, th' expiring fage convey'd,
Great, but ill-omen'd monument of fame,
Nor he furviv'd to give, nor thou to claim.

* Ver. 62.

In the few things that Tickell wrote, there appear to be a peculiar terfeness and neatness.

Swift after him thy focial spirit flies,

And close to his, how foon! thy coffin lies.
Bleft pair! whose union future bards fhall tell,
In future tongues; each other's boaft, farewell!
Farewell! whom join'd in fame, in friendship try'd,
No chance could fever, nor the grave divide.

42. Statesman, yet friend to truth of foul fincere,
In action faithful, and in honour clear;
Who broke no promise, serv'd no private end,
Who gain'd no title, and who loft no friend;
Ennobled by himself, by all approv'd,
And prais'd, unenvy'd, by the muse he lov'd t.

THESE nervous and finished lines were afterwards infcribed as an epitaph on this worthy man's monument in Westminster Abbey, with the alteration of two words in the last verfe; which there stands thus:

Prais'd, wept, and honour'd by the mufe he lov'd.

* Addison's works (fays Atterbury, Letter x. v. 8.) came to my hands yesterday, Oct. 15, 1721. I cannot but think it a very odd fet of incidents, that the book fhould be dedicated by a dead man to a dead man (Mr. Craggs) and even that the new patron (Lord Warwick) to whom Tickell chofe to infcribe his verfes, fhould be dead also before they were published. Had I been in the Editor's place, I should have been a little apprehenfive for myself, under a thought that every one who had any hand in that work, was to die before the publication of it.

+ Ver. 67.

IT was CRAGGS, who in the moft friendly and alluring manner offered our author a pension of three hundred pounds per annum; which if he had accepted, we should have been deprived of his best satires. Poets have a high fpirit of liberty and independence. They neither feek or expect rewards. MECENASES do not create geniuses. Neither SPENCER or MILTON, or DANTE or TASSO, or CORNEILLE were patronized by the governments under which they lived. And HORACE and VIRGIL and BOILEAU were formed, before they had an opportunity of flattering AUGUSTUS and LEWIS XIV.

THOUGH POPE enlifted under the banner of BOLINGBROKE, in what was called the country party, and in violent oppofition to the measures of WALPOLE, yet his clear and good sense enabled him to see the fol

Il n'aimoit point le Cour, (fays Fontenelle, fpeaking of his uncle Corneille) il y apportoit un vifage prefqu' inconnu, un grand nom qui ne s' attiroit que des louanges, & un merite qui n'etoit point le merite de ce pays-là. Tom. iii. p. 126.

lies and virulence of all parties; and it was his favourite maxim, that, however factious men thought proper to diftinguish themfelves by names, yet when they got into power they all acted much in the fame manner; faying,

I know how like Whig minifters to Tory.

And among his manufcripts were four very fenfible, though not very poetical, lines, which contain the most folid apology that can be made for a minifter of this country:

Our minifters like gladiators live;

'Tis half their bufinefs blows to ward, or give;
The good their virtue would effect, or sense,

Dies, between exigents and felf-defence.

Yet he appears fometimes to have forgotten

this candid reflection.

P 3

SECT.