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Earl of Rochester.

ing God had given him, most useful to his Country; andI am confident, had he lived, his riper Age would haveserved it, as much as his Youth had diverted it. Add tothis, the Generosity of his Temper, and the Affabilityof his good Sense; the Willingness he still shewed toraise the Oppressed, and the Pleasure he took to humblethe Proud ; the constant Readiness of his Parts, and thatgreat Presence of Mind, which never let him want a fitand pertinent Answer to the most sudden and unexpectedQuestion ; a Talent a- useful as it is rare. The admira-ble Skill he was Master of, to countermine the Plots ofhis Enemies, and break thro’ the Traps that were laidfor him , to work himself out of the Entanglement ofunlucky Accidents, and repair the Indiscretions of hisYouth, by the Quickness and Fineness of his Wit; thestrange Facility he had to talk to all Capacities in theirown Dialect, and make himself good Company to allKind of People at all Times ; so that if we would finda Soul to resemble that beautiful Portraiture of Manwith which Lucretius (according to his sublimeManner of Description) compliments his Friend Mem-Wius, when he fays, ThatVENu s, the Goddess of Beau-ty, and second Cause of all Things, had formed him toexcel (and that upon all Occasions) in every necessaryGrace and Virtue; I fay, if we would justify this charm-ing Picture, and clear it from Flattery, even to humanNature, we must set it by my Lord Rochester, Ofhim it may be truly said in the fullest Sense of the Words,

—— Quern tu, Dea, Tempore in omstt,

Omnibus omasum woluijli excellere rebus.

What last and most of all deserves Admiration inmy Lord, was his Poetry, which alone is Subjectenough for perpetual Panegyric. But the Character of

it