which of thofe two royal focieties fhould adopt him. But the electors of Trinity college as their own. having the preference of choice that year, they refolutely elected him; who yet, being invited at the fame time to Chrift-church, chofe to accept of a ftudentship there. Mr Smith's perfections, as well natural as acquired, feem to have been formed upon Horace's plan; who fays, in his Art of Poetry, Ego nec ftudium fine divite venâ, "Nec rude quid profit video ingenium: alterius fic "Altera pofcit opem res, & conjurat amice." He was endowed by Nature with all thofe excellent and neceffary qualifications which are previous to the accomplishment of a great man: His memory was large and tenacious, yet by a curious felicity chiefly fufceptible of the fineft impreffions it received from the best authors he read, which it always preferved in their primitive ftrength and amiable order. He had a quickness of apprehension, and vivacity of understanding, which easily took in and furmounted the most fubtle and knotty parts of mathematicks and metaphyficks. His wit was prompt and flowing, yet folid and piercing; his tafte delicate, his head clear, and his way of expreffing his thoughts perfpicuous and engaging. I fhall fay nothing of his perfon, which yet was fo well turned, that no neglect of himfelf in his drefs could render it disagreeable; infomuch that the fair fex, who obferved and esteemed him, at once commended and reproved him by the name of the handfome floven. An eager but generous and noble emulation grew up with him; which (as it were a rational fort of instinct) pushed him upon ftriving to excel in every art and fcience that could make him a credit to his college, and that college the ornament of the most learned and polite univerfity; and it was his happiness to have feveral contemporaries and fellow ftudents who exercifed and excited this virtue in themfelves and others, thereby becoming fo defervedly in favour with this age, and fo good a proof of its nice difcernment. His judgement, naturally good, foon ripened into an exquifite fineness and diftinguishing fagacity, which as it was active and bufy, fo it was vigorous and manly, keeping even paces with a rich and strong imagination, always upon the wing, and never tired with afpiring. Hence it was, that, though he writ as young as Cowley, he had no puerilities; and his earliest productions were fo far from having any thing in them mean and trifling, that, like the junior compofitions of Mr Stepney, they may make grey authors blush. There are many of his firft effays in oratory, in epigram, elegy, and epique, ftill handed about the univerfity in manufcript, which fhew a mafterly hand; and, though maimed and injured by frequent tranfcribing, make their way into our most celebrated mifcellanies, where they thine with uncommon luftre. Befides thofe verfes in the Oxford bocks, which he could not help fetting his name to, feveral of his compofitions came abroad under other names, which his own fingular modefty, and faithful filence, ftrove in vain to conceal. The Encænia and publick Collections of the Univerfity upon State Subjects were never in fuch efteem, either for elegy and congratulation, as when he contributed moft largely to them; and it was natural for thofe, who knew his peculiar way of writing, to to turn to his share in the work, as by far the most "Nil ego contulerim jucundo fanus Amico." As correct a writer as he was in his moft elaborate pieces, he read the works of others with candour, and reserved his greatest feverity for his own compofitions; being readier to cherish and advance, than damp or deprefs a rifing genius, and as patient of being excelled himself (if any could excel him) as induftrious to excel others. 'T'were to be wifhed he had confined himself to a particular profeffion, who was capable of furpaffing in any; but in this, his want of application was in a great meafure owing to his want of duc encouragement. He paffed through the exercifes of the college and univerfity with unufual applaufe; and though he often fuffered his friends to call him off from his retirements, and to lengthen out thofe jovial avo. VOL. II. cations, H cations, yet his return to his studies were fo much the more paffionate, and his intention upon thofe refined pleafures of reading and thinking so vehement (to which his facetious and unbended intervals bore no proportion), that the habit grew upon him, and the feries of meditation and reflection being kept up whole wecks together, he could better fort his ideas, and take in the fundry parts of a fcience at one view, without interruption or confufion. Some indeed of his acquaintance, who were pleafed to diftinguish between the wit and the fcholar, extolled him altogether on the account of thefe titles; but others, who knew him better, could not forbear doing him juftice as a prodigy in both kinds. He had fignalized himself, in the fchools, as a philofopher and polemick of extenfive knowledge and deep penetration; and went through all the courfes with a wife regard to the dignity and importance of each fcience. I remember him in the Divinity-fchool refponding and difputing with a perfpicuous energy, a ready exanefs, and commanding force of argument, when Dr. Jane worthily prefided in the chair; whofe condefcending and difinterested commendation of him gave him fuch a reputation as filenced the envious malice of his enemies, who durft not contradict the approbation of fo profound a master in theology. None of thofe felf-fufficient creatures, who have either trifled with philofophy, by attempting to ridicule it, or have encumbered it with novel terms, and burdenfome explanations, understood its real weight and purity half fo well as Mr. Smith. He was too difcerning to allow of the character of unprofitable, rugged, and abftrufe, which fome fure eificial fciolifts (fo very fmooth and polite as to admit of no impreffion), either out of an unthinking indolence, or an ill-grounded prejudice, had affixed to this fort of ftudies. He knew the thorny terms of philofophy served well to fence-in the true doctrines of religion; and looked upon fchool. divinity as upon a rough but well-wrought army, which might at once adorn and defend the Chriftian hero, and equip him for the combat. Mr. Smith had a long and perfect intimacy with all the Greek and Latin clafficks; with whom he had carefully compared whatever was worth perufing in the French, Spanish, and Italian, (to which languages he was no ftranger), and in all the celebrated writers of his own country. But then, according to the curious obfervation of the late Earl of Shaftesbury, he kept the poet in awe by regular criticism; and, as it were, married the two arts for their mutual fupport and improvement. There was not a tract of credit, upon that fubject, which he had not diligently examined, from Arif totle down to Hedelin and Boffu; fo that, having each rule conftantly before him, he could carry the art through every poem, and at once point out the graces and deformities. By this means he feemed to read with a design to correct as well as imitate. Being thus prepared, he could not but tafte every little delicacy that was fet before him; though. it was impoffible for him at the fame time to be fed and nourished with any thing but what was fubftantial and lafting. He confidered the ancients and moderns not as parties or rivals for fame, but as architects upon one and the fame plan, the Art of Poetry; according to which he judged, approved, and blamed, without flattery or detraction. If he did not always commend the compofitions of others, |