Jam primum terram validis circumfpice clauftris
Sufpenfam totam, decus admirabile mundi
Terrafque tractufque maris, campofque liquentes
Aeris & vafti laqueata palatia cœli-
Omnibus UMBRA prior.

The positive sense is generally preserved, with great kill, through the whole poem; though fometimes, in a fubordinate fenfe, the negative nothing is injudiciously mingled. Pafferat confounds the two fenfes.

Another of his moft vigorous pieces is his Lampoon on Sir Car Scroop, who, in a poem called The Praise of Satire, had fome lines like these * :

He who can pufsh into a midnight fray
His brave companion, and then run away,
Leaving him to be murder'd in the street,
Then put it off with fome buffoon conceit;
Him, thus difhonour'd, for a wit you own,
And court him as top fidler of the town.

This was meant of Rochester, whofe buffoon conceit was, I fuppofe, a faying often mentioned, that every Man would be a Coward if he durft; and drew from him thofe furious verfes; to which Scroop made in reply an epigram, ending with these lines:

Thou canst hurt no man's fame with thy ill word;
Thy pen is full as harmless as thy fword.

Of the fatire against Man, Rochester can only claim what remains when all Boileau's part is taken away.

In all his works there is sprightliness and vigour, and every where may be found tokens of a mind which study might have carried to excellence. What more can be expected from a life fpent in oftentatious contempt of regularity, and ended before the abilities of many other men began to be difplayed?

* I quote from memory. Orig. Edit.

Poema

Poema Cl. V. JOANNIS PASSERATII,

Regii in Academia Parifienfi Profefforis,

Ad ornatiffimum virum ERRICUM MEMMIUM,

Janus adeft, feftæ pofcunt fua dona Kalendæ,
Munus abeft fcitis quod poffim offerre Kalendis.
Siccine Caftalius nobis exaruit humor?

Ufque adeò ingenii noftri eft exhaufta facultas,
Immunem ut videat redeuntis janitor anni?
Quod nufquam eft, potius nova per veftigia quæram.
Ecce autem partes dum fefe verfat in omnes
Invenit mea Mufa NIHIL, ne despice munus.
Nam NIHIL eft gemmis, NIHIL eft pretiofius auro.
Huc animum, huc igitur vultus adverte benignos;
Res nova narratur quæ nulli audita priorum,
Aufonii & Graii dixerunt cætera vates,

Aufonie indi&tum NIHIL eft Græcæque Camona.
E coelo quacunque Ceres fua profpicit arva,
Aut genitor liquidis orbem comple&titur ulnis
Oceanus, NIHIL interitus & originis expers.
Immortale NIHIL, NIHIL omni parte beatum.
Quod fi hinc majeftas & vis divina probatur,
Num quid honore deûm, num quid dignabimur aris?
Confpectu lucis NIHIL eft jucundius almæ,
Vere NIHIL, NIHIL irriguo formofius horto,
Floridius pratis, Zephyri clementius aura;
In bello fanctum NIHIL eft, Martifque tumultu:
Juftum in pace NIHIL, NIHIL eft in foedere tutum.
Felix cui NIHIL eft, (fuerant hæc vota Tibullo)
Non timet infidias fures, incendia temnit
Sollicitas fequitur nullo fub judice lites.
Ille ipfe invictis qui fubjicit omnia fatis
Zenonis fapiens, NIHIL admiratur & optat.
Socraticique g egis fuit ifta fcientia quondam,
Scire NIHIL, ftudio cui nunc incumbitur uni.
Nec quicquam in ludo mavult didiciffe juventus,

Ad magnas quia ducit opes, & culmen honorum.
Nofce NIHIL, nofces fertur quod Pythagorea
Grano hærere fabe, cui vox adjuncta negantis.
Multi Mercurio freti duce vifcera terræ
Pura liquefaciunt fimul, & patrimonia mifcent,
Arcano inftantes operi, & carbonibus atris,
Qui tandem exhaufti damnis, fractique labore,
Inveniunt atque inventum NIHIL ufque requirunt,
Hoc dimetiri non ulla decempeda poffit:

Nec numeret Libycæ numerum qui callet arenæ :
Et Phoebo ignotum NIHIL eft, NIHIL altius aftris,
Túque, tibi licet eximium fit mentis acumen,
Omnem in naturam penetrans, & in abdita rerum,
Pace tua, Memmi, NIHIL ignorare vidêris.
Sole tamen NIHIL eft, & puro clarius igne.
Tange NIHIL, dicefque NIHIL fine corpore tangi.
Cerne NIHIL, cerni dices NIHIL absque colore.
Surdum audit loquitúrque NIHIL fine voce, volátque
Abfque ope pennarum, & graditur fine cruribus ullis.
Abfque loco motuque NIHIL per inane vagatur.
Humano generi utilius NIHIL arte medendi.
Ne rhombos igitur, neu Theffala murmura tentet
Įdalia vacuum traje&us arundine pectus,
Neu legat Idæo Dictæum in vertice gramen.
Vulneribus fævi NIHIL auxiliatur amoris.

Vexerit & quemvis trans moeftas portitor undas,
Ad fuperos imo NIHIL hunc revocabit ab orco.
Inferni NIHIL inflectit præcordia regis,
Parcarúmque colos, & inexorabile penfum.
Obruta Phlegræis campis Titania pubes
Fulmineo fenfit NIHIL effe potentius ictu :
Porrigitur magni NIHIL extra monia mundi:
Diíque NIHIL metuunt. Quid longo carmine plura
Commemorem? virtute NIHIL præftantius ipfa,
Splendidius NIHIL eft; NIHIL eft Joye denique majus.
Sed tempus finem argutis imponere nugis:

Ne tibi fi multa laudem mea carminą chartą,

De NIHILO NIHILI pariant faftidią versus.

**The particulars of fo immoral a life as that of the Earl of Rochester, were it not for his penitence at the clofe of it, had per haps better have been fuffered to fink into oblivion than recorded. Nevertheless, it is faid that his manners were elegant, and that they are truly reprefented in the perfon of Dorimant, a character in Sir George Etherege's comedy of the Man of Mode, drawn with exqui fite art and from the life. Biogr. Brit. 1843, in not.

ROS

ROSCOM MO N.

W

WENTWORTH DILLON, Earl of Rof-. common, was the fon of James Dillon and Elizabeth Wentworth, fifter to the earl of Strafford. He was born in Ireland, during the lieutenancy of Strafford, who, being both his uncle and his godfather, gave him his own furname. His father, the third earl, of Rofcommon, had been converted by Ufher to the proteftant religion; and when the popifh rebellion broke out, Strafford thinking the family in great danger from the fury of the Irifh, fent for his godfon, and placed him at his own feat in Yorkshire, where he was inftru&ted in Latin; which he learned fo as to write it with purity and elegance, though he was never able to retain the rules of grammar.

Such is the account given by Mr. Fenton, from whofe notes on Waller most of this account must be borrowed, though I know not whether all that he relates is certain. The inftructor whom he affigns to Rofcommon is one Dr. Hall, by whom he cannot mean the famous Hall, then an old man and a bifhop.

When