Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 12.djvu/88

good health: to enjoy but one and a half of these three, is hard. I have heard of Prior's death^[1], and of his epitaph^[2]; and have seen a strange book, writ by a grave and eloquent doctor^[3], about the duke of Buckinghamshire. People, who talk much in that moment, can have, as I believe, but one of these two principles, fear, or vanity. It is therefore much better to hold one's tongue. I am sorry, that the first of these persons, our old acquaintance Matt. lived so poor as you represent him. I thought that a certain lord^[4], whose marriage with a certain heiress was the ultimate end of a certain administration, had put him above want. Prior might justly enough have addressed himself to his young patron, as our

1. He died Sept. 18, 1721.
2. In the following triplet, written by himself.
   

   "To me 'tis given to die; to you 'tis given
   To live. Alas! one moment sets us even;
   Mark how impartial is the will of Heaven!"

   Bishop Atterbury, in a letter to Mr. Pope, dated Sept. 27, 1721, says, "I had not strength enough to attend Mr. Prior to his grave, else I would have done it, to have showed his friends, that I had forgot and forgiven what he wrote on me. He was buried as he desired, at the feet of Spenser. I will take care to make good, in every respect, what I said to him when living, particularly as to the triplet he wrote for his own epitaph; which, while we were on good terms, I promised him should never appear on his tomb while I was dean of Westminster." See Bp. Atterbury's Epistolary Correspondence, 1799, vol. II, p. 117.

3. Richard Fiddes, D. D., published in 1721, in octavo, A Letter in Answer to one from a Freethinker; occasioned by the late Duke of Buckinghamshire's Epitaph; wherein certain Passages in it, that have been thought exceptionable, are vindicated; and the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality asserted, &c. This was followed by A Second Letter, published the same year.
4. Edward, lord Harley, who married in October 1713, the lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles, only daughter and heir of John, duke of Newcastle.

friend