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More prodigal of life? In ancient days

The Roman legions and great Cæfar found
Our fathers no mean foes; and Creffy plains,

Hæc genus acre virum, Marfos, pubemque Sabellam,
Affuetumque malo Ligurem, Volfcofque verutos
Extulit: hæc Decios, Marios, magnofque Camillos:
Scipiadas duros bello, et te, maxime Cæfar,
Qui nunc extremis Afiæ jam victor in oris
Imbellem avertis Romanis arcibus Indum.

587. More prodigal of life.]

PRODIGA GENS ANIME.

63

GEORG. ii. 167.

Sil. Ital. L. i. 225.

588. The Roman legions and great Cafar found

Our fathers no mean foes.]

The gallant refiftance, which our ancestors made against this first invader of their country, is well known. Indeed it appears that the Romans themselves did not look upon Cæfar's enterprize as a conqueft of Britain Propertius fpeaking of the Britons, calls them invictos Romano Marte; and Lucan makes Pompey defcribe Cæfar as being repulfed, and having fled from the Britons.

Territa quæfitis oftendit terga Britannis.

PHARSAL. ii. 568.

There is but little reafon to imagine that the Silures were really much concerned at first in oppofing the Romans, or that Cæfar knew much of them. They were, it is fuppofed, fome of the old unmixed British Celts; thofe that oppofed Cæfar were Belgic or Gothic tribes, who had fettled more lately here from the oppofite continent. The Silures were however the most warlike people of the Ifland. Tacitus describes them, validam et pugnacem Silurum gentem, "the ftout and warlike nation of the Si

"lures."

589. Crefy plains.]

The famous battle of Creffy was gained by Edward III. Auguft 26, 1346. At this distance of time it is impoffible to particularife thofe of our Poet's countrymen who had the honor to be engaged that day.We know that Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore, was among the nobles that attended immediately on the king. It is alfo recorded, that Bryan Harley, fon of Sir Robert Harley, by Margaret eldest daughter of Bryan de Brampton, diftinguished himself fo much in the wars with France under Edward III. that he received the honor of knighthood; and that Edward, the Black Prince, recommended him to his father to be chosen a Knight of the Garter, but he died before his election.- We may therefore fuppofe he was one of the attendants on the young Prince, in this his first engagement, and that he was intended to have been one of the first Knights of the Garter, as that Order was inftituted within a few years after this victory, and was at firft compofed chiefly of those who had diftinguished themselves upon that great occafion.

And

And Agincourt, deep-ting'd with blood, confess 590 What the Silures' vigor unwithstood

590.

Agincourt deep-ting'd with blood-]

'The memorable and bloody battle of Agincourt was gained by Henry V. on the 24th of October, 1415.

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591 What the Silures' vigor·

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Our poet might here well have paid a compliment to the Ancestor of a Herefordshire family; as Sir John de Cornewall, Knight of the Garter, afterwards created Lord Fanhope, had a principal command in the battle of Agincourt, and particularly fignalized himself by taking prisoner Louis de Bourbon, Count of Vendofme. From this Sir John de Cornewall (who was great grandson of Richard de Cornewall, a natural fon of Richard, fecond fon of King John, Earl of Poitiers and Cornewall, and King of the Romans) defcended the families of Cornewalls Barons of Burford in Shropshire, and thofe of Berrington and Moccas, in Herefordshire.Leuthall, who was Yeoman of the Robes to Henry IV, and who built Hampton Court in Herefordshire, was alfo at the battle of Agincourt, where, Leland in his ITINERARY fays," he tooke many prifoners, by "which prey he beganne the new building of Hampton Court."-The fame author mentions "" a family of Hackluits, at Eaton near Lemfter, "the ancestor of whom was at the battle of Agincourt, and had one St. "George a nobleman of France to his prifoner."

It may be observed that King Henry himself, who was named of Monmouth from the place of his birth, was a Silurian; as was David Gam, a native of Brecon, who commanded a large body of his countrymen at the battle of Agincourt, and, being fent by the King to reconnoitre the numbers of the enemy, made the memorable answer recorded by most of our Historians, that "there were enough to be killed, enough to run "away, and enough to be taken prifoners." In the heat of the battle, when the King's perfon was in danger, he charged the enemy fo furiously with his party, that they immediately gave ground; but he himself, together with his fon-in-law Roger Vaughan, and his kinfman Walter Llwyd of Brecon, were mortally wounded; in which condition, when they were without any hopes of recovery, the King, in recompence of their fervices, knighted them all three in the field, where they foon after died.

The following fpirited and eccentric fentiments, which Drayton, in his BATTLE OF AGINCOURT, has attributed to this Silurian hero, remind us of the language of Hotfpur, where, in Shakespear's HENRY IV., he talks of " plucking bright honor from the pale-fac'd moon," &c. &c. Not dare? quoth Gam, and angerly doth frown:

I tell thee, Woodhouse, fome in presence stand,

Dare
prop the fun if it were falling down,
Dare grafp the bolt from thunder in his hand,
And through a cannon leap into a town,

I tell

mily of Brugge, Bruges, of Brydges, were hirit fettled in Hereby the marriage of Sir Simon de Brugge with the heiress of the Solers; the offspring of which marriage was Sir John de Brugge, heriff of Herefordshire in the 16th of Edward II. and wrote f Brugge Solers, which name the parish of Solers ftill retains, v called Bridge Solers.

n de Brugge left a fon, Sir Baldwin de Brugge, who married andifon, by whom he had two fons, Sir Thomas de Brugge and de Brugge. Sir Thomas de Brugge married Alice, daughter of as Berkley of Coberley, or Cow-berkley, in Gloucefterfhire, by wife, daughter to Sir Thomas Chandos, and fifter of the famous rd Chandos. From this marriage defcended the family of Duke of Chandos.

s not appear that Sir Thomas de Brugge ferved in any of the France, and it is certain he was not one of the first Knights of ter. His brother, Sir John de Brugge, had a better right lebrated for his military exploits, as he ferved at the battle of rt. He fettled at Bridge Solers, was Sheriff of Herefordshire of Henry V. and the year following was chofen Member of Paror that county: from him defcended the family of Brydges of the ey, near Weobley in Herefordshire. -But the perfon our Poet here to celebrate, was, doubtlefs, John Lord Chandos, the most famous in the time of Edward III. the conftant attendant on that warlike n all his military enterprises, and one of the first Knights of the Philips, indeed, fhews himself to have been quite unacquainted e pedigree of this family, as John Lord Chandos was not a , nor the author of great Chandos' ftem; though he was the person, ter-marriage with whofe family the Brydges had a claim, and r of whom they were pleased, when advanced to a Peerage, to bear

of Chandos.

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Puiffant author of

great

Chandos' ftem,

High Chandos, that tranfmits paternal worth, 595
Prudence, and ancient prowefs, and renown,
T'his noble offspring. O thrice happy Peer!
That, bleft with hoary vigor, view'st thyself
Fresh blooming in thy generous fon; whose lips,
Flowing with nervous eloquence exact,

600

Charm the wife Senate, and attention win
In deepest councils. Ariconium pleas'd,
Him, as her chosen worthy, first falutes.
Him on th'Iberian, on the Gallic fhore,

Him hardy Britons blefs; his faithful hand 605

595. High Chandos.]

James, the eight Lord Chandos, was born in the year 1642. He married Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Sir Henry Bernard, Knight, and had by her twenty-two children. He died October 16, 1714.

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Him, as her chofen worthy, first falutes.
Him on the Iberian, on the Gallic fhore,

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Him hardy Britons bless, &c. &c. & c. ———---The Honorable James Brydges, eldest child of the above-mentioned James Lord Chandos, was born January 6th, 1673. During the life of his father, he ferved in feveral Parliaments for the city of Hereford. He was alfo Paymaster of the Forces, which office he is juftly celebrated by our Poet for discharging in that difinterested manner which peculiarly marked his character. On the acceffion of King George I. he was created Vifcount Wilton and Earl of Caernarvon, and April 30, 1719, was honored with the Titles of Marquis of Caernarvon and Duke of Chandos. He married Mary, the only furviving daughter of Sir Thomas Lake of Cannons, in the county of Middlefex, by whom he had several children; and died in 1744, at the magnificent palace built by himself at Cannons. The great expence with which he furnished his house and laid out his gardens, and his very fuperb and fumptuous manner of living, gained him the name of the magnificent Duke of Chandos. It alfo drew upon him the fatire of Mr. Pope, who, in his Poem on Tafte, firft published in the year 1731, exhibited him under the character of Timon, as an example of the falfe

tafle

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Conveys new courage from afar, nor more
The General's conduct, than his care avails.

Thee alfo, glorious branch of Cecil's line,
This country claims; with pride and joy to thee
Thy Alterennis calls. Yet fhe indures.

Patient thy abfence, fince thy prudent choice

67

610

taste of magnificence. The harmony of the verfification and general truth of the fatire did not however preserve the Poet from great and deferved cenfure; the Duke was perhaps too fond of pomp and fhew, but he was of a temper fo kind and beneficent, that he was univerfally beloved; and it was faid that Pope himself was under particular obligations to him. Gay, notwithstanding his attachment to Pope, in his Epiftle to Paul Methuen, Efq. pays a very handsome compliment to this nobleman, at the fame time noticing the inclination that prevailed to accufe him of oftentation.

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If Chandos with a liberal hand bestow,

Cenfure imputes it all to pomp and fhew:
When, if the motives right were understood,
His daily pleasure is in doing good.

608. Thee alfo, glorious branch of Cecil's line,

This country claims; with pride and joy to thee

Thy Alterennis calls.]

Genealogifts derive the family of Cecil from Robert Sitfilt, who, "by marriage," they tell us," had Alterennis, in that part of Herefordshire "called Ewyas Land, with other lands in Herefordfhire and Glocesterfhire." From this Robert Sitfilt, the family is clearly traced to Philip Sitfilt, who married Maud Vaughan, by whom he had two fons, Philip, who enjoyed the eftate at Alterennis in the parish of Walterfton, and David, grandfather to William Cecil Lord Burghley, the great Statefman and Treafurer to Queen Elizabeth, whofe fecond fon Sir Robert Cecil, the heir of his father's great offices and abilities, having been Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth and her fucceffor, was, in the 6th of James Í. created Earl of Salisbury, and made Lord High Treaturer. The young nobleman, to whom thefe complimentary verfes are addreffed, was James, the fifth Earl of Salisbury, the fellow-collegian and intimate acquaintance of our Poet, Soon after Philips's death, Lord Salisbury married the Lady Ann Tufton, daughter of the Earl of Thanet; in allufion to which marriage, Edmund Smith, the author of Phædra and Hippolitus, in his Verfes to the memory of his Friend, thus marks that nobleman's very fincere regard for our Poet :

And Cecil weeps in beauteous Tufton's arms.

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