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EPITAPH ON CLAUDE PHILIPS,

AN ITINERANT MUSICIAN.

PHILIPS! whose touch harmonious could remove
The pangs of guilty power, and hapless love,
Rest here, distrest by poverty no more,
Find here that calm thou gav'st so oft before;
Sleep undisturb'd within this peaceful shrine,
Till angels wake thee with a note like thine.

EPITAPHIUM

IN

THOMAM HANMER, BARONETTUM.

Honorabilis admodum THOMas Hanmer,
Baronettus,

Wilhelmi Hanmer armigeri è Peregrina Henrici

North

De Mildenhal in Com. Suffolciæ Baronetti sorore

et hærede.
Filius

Johannis Hanmer de Hanmer Baronetti
Hæres patruelis

Antiquo gentis suæ et titulo, et patrimonio successit
Duas uxores fortitus est;

* These lines are among Mrs Williams's Miscellanies; they are nevertheless recognized as Johnson's in a memorandum of his hand-writing, and were probably written at her request. Philips was a travelling fiddler up and down Wales, and was greatly celebrated for his performance.

Alteram Isabellam, honore à patre derivato de

Arlington comitissam

Deindè celcissimi principis ducis de Grafton viduam dotariam

Alteram Elizabetham Thomæ Folks de Barton in Com. Suff. armigeri.

Filiam et hæredem

Inter humanitates studia felicitèr enutritus Omnes liberalium artium disciplinas avidè arripuit, Quas morum suavitate haud leviter ornavit. Postquam excessit et ephebis

Continuo inter populares suos fama eminens Et comitatus sui legatus ad Parliamentum missus Ad ardua regni negotia per annos prope triginta Si accinxit

Cumq; apud illos amplissimorum virorum ordines
Solent nihil temerè effutire

Sed probe perpensa dissertè expromere
Orator gravis et pressus

Non minus integritatis quam eloquentiæ laude commendatus

Equè omnium utcunq; inter se alioqui dissidentium Aures atque animos attraxit

Annoque demum M.DCC.XIII. regnante Annâ Felicissima, florentissimæque memoriæ regina Ad prolocutoris cathedram

Communi senatûs universi voce designatus est: Quod munus

Cum nullo tempore non difficile

Tum illo certè negotiis

Et varus et lubricis et implicatis difficillimum
Cum dignitate sustinuit.

Honores alios, et omnia, quæ sibi in lucrum cederent,

munera

Sedulo detectravit

Ut rei totus inserviret publicæ,
Justi rectique tenax

Et fide in patriam incorrupta notus. Ubi omnibus, quæ virum civimque bonum decent officiis satis fecisset,

Paulatim se à publicis consiliis in otium recipiens Inter literarum amoenitates,

Inter ante-actæ vitæ haud insuaves recordationes,
Inter amicorum convictus et amplexus
Honorificè consenuit,

Et bonis omnibus, quibus charissimus vixit,
Desideratissimus obiit.

PARAPHRASE OF THE ABOVE EPITAPH,
BY DR JOHNSON.❤

;

THOU who survey'st these walls with curious eye,
Pause at his tomb where HANMER's ashes lie
His various worth through varied life attend,
And learn his virtues while thou mourn'st his end.
His force of genius burn'd in early youth,
With thirst of knowledge, and with love of truth;
His learning, join'd with each endearing art,
Charm'd ev'ry ear, and gain'd on ev'ry heart.

Thus early wise, th' endanger'd realm to aid, His country call'd him from the studious shade;

* This Paraphrase is inserted in Mrs Williams's Miscellanies. The Latin is there said to be written by Dr Freind. Of the person whose memory it celebrates, a copious account may be seen in the Appendix to the Supplement to the Biographia Britannica.

In life's first bloom his public toils began,
At once commenc'd the senator and man.
In business dext'rous, weighty in debate,
Thrice ten long years he labour'd for the State;
In ev'ry speech persuasive wisdom flow'd,
In ev'ry act refulgent virtue glow'd:

Suspended faction ceas'd from rage and strife,
To hear his eloquence, and praise his life.
Resistless merit fixed the Senate's choice,
Who hail'd him Speaker with united voice.
Illustrious age! how bright thy glories shone,
When HANMER filled the chair-and ANNE the
throne !

Then when dark arts obscur'd each fierce debate, When mutual frauds perplex'd the maze of state, The moderator firmly mild appear'd

Beheld with love-with veneration heard.

This task perform'd-he sought no gainful post,
Nor wish'd to glitter at his country's cost;
Strict on the right he fix'd his stedfast eye,
With temperate zeal and wise anxiety;
Nor e'er from virtue's paths was lur'd aside,
To pluck the flowers of pleasure, or of pride.
Her gifts despis'd, Corruption blush'd and fled,
And Fame pursu'd him where Conviction led.

Age call'd, at length, his active mind to rest,
With honour sated, and with cares opprest;
To letter'd ease retir'd and honest mirth,
To rural grandeur and domestic worth:
Delighted still to please mankind, or mend,
The patriot's fire yet sparkled in the friend.

Calm Conscience, then, his former life survey'd, And recollected toils endear'd the shade,

Till Nature call'd him to the genʼral doom,
And Virtue's sorrow dignified his tomb.

TO MISS HICKMAN,* playing on the Spinnet.

BRIGHT Stella, form'd for universal reign,
Too well you know to keep the slaves you gain;
When in your eyes resistless lightnings play,
Aw'd into love our conquer'd hearts obey,
And yield reluctant to despotic sway:
But when your music soothes the raging pain,
We bid propitious Heaven prolong your reign,
We bless the tyrant, and we hug the chain.

When old Timotheus struck the vocal string,
Ambition's fury fir'd the Grecian king:
Unbounded projects labʼring in his mind,
He pants for room in one poor world confin'd.
Thus wak'd to rage by music's dreadful power,
He bids the sword destroy, the flame devour.
Had Stella's gentle touches mov'd the lyre,
Soon had the monarch felt a nobler fire ;
No more delighted with destructive war,
Ambitious only now to please the fair;
Resign'd his thirst of empire to her charms,
And found a thousand worlds in Stella's arms.

These lines, which have been communicated by Dr Turton, son to Mrs Turton, the Lady to whom they are addressed by her maiden name of Hickman, must have been written at least as early as the year 1734, as that was the year of her marriage at how much earlier a period of Dr Johnson's life they may have been written, is not known.

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