Socraticique gregis fuit ifta fcientia quondain,
Scire NIHIL, ftudio cui nunc incumbitur uni.
Nec quicquam in ludo mavult didiciffe juventus,
Ad magnas quia ducit opes, & culmen honorum.
Nofce NIHIL, nofces feitur quod Pythagorea
Grano hærere fabæ, 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 Phobo ignotum NIHIL eft, NIHIL altius aftris.
Túque, tibi licet eximium fit mentis acumen,
Omnem in naturam penetrans, et 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 abfque colore.
Surdum audit loquiturque 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
Idalia vacuum trajectus arundine pectus,
Neu legat Idæo Di&tæum in vertice gramen.
Vulneribus fævi NIHIL auxiliatur amoris.

Vexerit & quemvis trans moeftas portitor undas,
Ad fuperos imo NIHIL hunc revocabit ab orco..
Inferni NIHIL infle&tit præcordia regis,
Parcarúmque colos, & inexorabile penfum.
Obruta Phlegræis campis Titania pubes
Fulmineo fenfit NIHIL effe potentius ictu :
Porrigitur magni NIHIL extra moenia mundi:

VOL. I.

P

Diique

Diique NIHIL metuunt. Quid longo carmine plura
Commemorem? virtute NIHIL præftantius ipfa,
Splendidius NIHIL eft; NIHIL eft Jove denique majus.
Sed tempus finem argutis imponere nugis:

Ne tibi fi multa laudem mea carmina charta,
De NIHILO NIHILI pariant faftidia verfus.

ROS

ROSCOMMON.

WENTWORTH DILLON, earl of Rofcommon, 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 Usher to the Proteftant religion; and when the Popish rebellion broke out, Strafford thinking the family in great danger from the fury of the Irish, fent for his godfon, and placed him at his own feat in Yorkshire, where he was inftructed 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 moft 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 bishop.

When the ftorm broke out upon Strafford, his house was a fhelter no longer; and Dillon, by the advice of Ufher, was fent to Caen, where the Protestants had then an univerfity, and continued his ftudies under Bochart.

Young Dillon, who was fent to study under Bochart, and who is reprefented as having already made great proficiency in literature, could not be more than nine years old. Strafford went to govern Ireland in 1633, and was put to death eight years afterwards. That he was fent to Caen, is certain: that he was a great fcholar, may be doubted.

At Caen he is faid to have had fome preternatural intelligence of his father's death.

-66

"The lord Rofcommon, being a boy of ten years of age, at Caen in Normandy, one day was, as it were, madly extravagant in playing, leaping, getting over the tables, boards, &c. He was wont to be fober enough; they said, God grant this bodes no ill-luck to him! In the heat of this extravagant fit, he cries out, My father is "dead. A fortnight after, news came from Ireland "that his father was dead. This account I had "from Mr. Knolles, who was his governor, and then "with him,-since secretary to the earl of Strafford; "and I have heard his lordship's relations confirm "the fame." Aubrey's Mifcellany.

The prefent age is very little inclined to favour any accounts of this kind, nor will the name of Aubrey much recommend it to credit; it ought not, however, to be omitted, because better evidence of a fact cannot eafily be found than is here offered; and it must be by preferving fuch relations that we

may

may at laft judge how much they are to be regarded. If we ftay to examine this account, we fhall fee difficulties on both fides: here is the relation of a fact given by a man who had no intereft to deceive, and who could not be deceived himfelf; and here is, on the other hand, a miracle which produces no effect; the order of nature is interrupted to discover not a future but only a diftant event, the knowledge of which is of no use to him to whom it is revealed. Between these difficulties, what way shall be found? Is reafon or teftimony to be rejected? I believe, what Ofborne fays of an appearance of fanctity may be applied to such impulfes or anticipations as this: Do not wholly flight them, because they may be true; but do not easily trust them, because they may be falfe.

The state both of England and Ireland was at this time fuch, that he who was abfent from either country had very little temptation to return; and therefore Rofcommon, when he left Caen, travelled into Italy, and amused himself with its antiquities, and particularly with medals, in which he acquired uncommon skill.

At the Reftoration, with the other friends of monarchy, he came to England, was made captain of the band of pensioners, and learned so much of the diffoluteness of the court, that he addicted himself immoderately to gaming, by which he was engaged in frequent quarrels, and which undoubtedly brought upon him its ufual concomitants, extravagance and diftrefs.

After fome time, a dispute about part of his eftate forced him into Ireland, where he was made by the