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Of Smith I can yet fay a little more. He was a man of such estimation among his companions, that the cafual cenfures or praifes which he dropped in conversation were confidered, like thofe of Scaliger, as worthy of prefervation.

He had great readiness and exactnefs of criticifm, and by a curfory glance over a new compofition would oxactly tell all its faults and beauties.

He was remarkable for the power of reading with great rapidity, and of retaining, with great fidelity, what he fo eafily collected.

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He therefore always knew what the prefent queftion required; and, when his friends expreffed their wonder at his acquifitions, made in a state of apparent negligence and drunkenness, he never discovered his hours of reading or method of ftudy, but involved himfelf in affected filence, and fed his own vanity with their admiration.

One practice he had, which was eafily observed: if any thought or image was prefented to his mind that he could ufe or improve, he did not fuffer it to be loft; but, amidft the jollity of a tavern, or in the warmth of converfation, very diligently committed it to paper.

Thus it was that he had gathered two quires of hints for his new tragedy; of which Rowe, when they were put into his hands, could make, as he fays, very little ufe, but which the collector confidered as a valuable ftock of materials.

When he came to London, his way of life connected him with the licentious and diffolute; and he affected the airs and gaiety of a man of pleafure; but his drefs was always deficient; fcholaftick

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cloudiness ftill hung about him; and his merriment was fure to produce the fcorn of his companions.

With all his careleffness, and all his vices, he was one of the murmurers at Fortune; and wondered why he was fuffered to be poor, when Addison was careffed and preferred; nor would a very little have contented him; for he estimated his wants at fix hundred pounds a year.

In his courfe of reading, it was particular that he had diligently perufed, and accurately remembered, the old romances of knight-errantry.

He had a high opinion of his own merit, and was fomething contemptuous in his treatment of those whom he confidered as not qualified to oppofe or contradict him. He had many frailties; yet it cannot but be fuppofed that he had great merit, who could obtain to the fame play a prologue from Addison, and an epilogue from Prior; and who could have at once the patronage of Halifax, and the praife of Oldisworth.

For the power of communicating these minute memorials, I am indebted to my conversation with Gilbert Walmsley, late registrar of the ecclefiaftical court of Lichfield, who was acquainted both with Smith and Ducket; and declared, that, if the tale concerning Clarendon were forged, he fhould fufpect Ducket of the falfehood; "for Rag was a man of great veracity."

Of Gilbert Walmsley, thus prefented to my mind, let me indulge myself in the remembrance. I knew him very early; he was one of the first friends that literature procured me, and I hope that

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at leaft my gratitude made me worthy of his notice.

He was of an advanced age, and I was only not a boy; yet he never received my notions with contempt. He was a Whig, with all the virulence and malevolence of his party; yet difference of opinion did not keep us apart. I honoured him, and he endured me.

He had mingled with the gay world, without exemption from its vices or its follies, but had never neglected the cultivation of his mind; his belief of Revelation was unfhaken; his learning preferved his principles; he grew first regular, and then pious.

His ftudies had been fo various, that I ani not able to name a man of equal knowledge. His acquaintance with books was great; and what he did not immediately know, he could at least tell where to find. Such was his amplitude of learning, and fuch his copioufnefs of communication, that it may be doubted whether a day now paffes in which I have not fome advantage from his friendship.

At this man's table I enjoyed many chearful and inftructive hours, with companions fuch as are not often found; with one who has lengthened, and one who has gladdened life; with Dr. James, whofe fkill in Phyfick will be long remembered, and with David Garrick, whom I hoped to have gratified with this character of our common friend: but what are the hopes of man! I am difappointed by that ftroke of death, which has eclipfed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the publick stock of harmlefs pleasure.

In the Library at Oxford is the following ludicrous Analyfis of Pocockius':

Ex AUTOGRAPHO.

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I mus

[Sent by the Author to Mr. Urry.] OPUSCULUM hoc, Halberdarie ampliffime, in Jucem proferre hactenus diftuli, judicii tui acumen fubveritus magis quam bipennis. Tandem aliquando oden hanc ad te mitto fublimem, teneram, flebilem, fuavem, qualem demum divinus (fi Mufis vacaret) fcripfiffet Gaftrellus: adeo fcilicet fublimem ut inter legendum dormire, adeo flebilem ut ridere velis. Cujus elegantiam ut melius infpicias, verfuum ordinem & materiam breviter referam. verfus de doubus præliis decantatis. 2dus & 3us de Lotharingio, cuniculis fubterraneis, faxis, ponto, hoftibus, & Afiâ. 4tus & 5tus de catenis, fubdibus, uncis, draconibus, tigribus & crocodilis. 6us, 7us, 8us, ,us,8us, 9us, de Gomorrhâ, de Babylone, Babele, & quodam domi fuæ peregrino. 10s, aliquid de quodam Pocockio. 11, 12us, de Syria, Solymâ. 13", 14us, de Hoseâ, & quercu, & de juvene quodam valde sene. 15", 16", de Ætnâ, & quomodo Ætna Pocockio fit valde fimilis. 17us, 18us, de tubâ, aftro, umbrâ, flammis, rotis, Pocockio non neglecto. Cætera de Chriftianis, Ottomanis, Babyloniis, Arabibus, & graviffimâ agrorum melancholiâ; de Cæfare Flacco*, Neftore, & miferando juvenis cujufdam florentiffimi fato, anno ætatis fuæ centefimo præmaturè abrepti. Quæ omnia cum accuratè expenderis, necesse est ut

Pro Fluoco, animo paulo attentiore, fcripfiffem Marone.

oden

oden hanc meam admirandâ planè varietate conftare fatearis. Subitò ad Batavos proficifcor, lauro ab illis donandus. Prius verò Pembrochienfes voco ad certamen Poeticum. Vale.

Illuftriffima tua deofculor crura.

E. SMITH.

DUKE.

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