LIFE OF SOMERVILE. WILLIAM SOMERVILE, defcended from an antient and honourable family, was born in 1692, at Edston, in Warwickshire, a feat inherited by his ancestors throughout a long feries of fucceffion. He mentions himself in his Ode to General Stan_ hope that he was born near Avon's winding fiream. And Ramfay, his contemporary and admirer, in an encomiaftic epiftl addreffed to him on reading feveral of his excellent poems, give a metrical, but inaccurate, account of his illuftrious lineage and that of his noble kinfman. "You both from one great lineage spring, From whom our Somer'le takes defcent. 8 Few interefting memorials refpecting the life of our author have defcended to pofterity. It has been well observed that a Poet while living is feldom an object sufficiently great to attract much attention; his real merits are known but to a few, and thefe are generally fparing in their praises. When his fame is increased by time, it is then too late to investigate the peculiarities of his difpofition and familiar practices: "the dews of the morning are past, and we vainly try to continue the chafe by the meridian splendour." Somervile was educated at Winchester school, and afterwards elected fellow of New College, Oxford. It does not appear that he exhibited any extraordinary proofs of genius or literature either at Winchester or Oxford. His poetical powers were firft displayed in an Ode to the Duke of Marlborough, when the minifters of Queen Anne removed him from all his places. And this production stands high amongst the diftinguished compofitions of that time. After the acceffion of George I. being warmly attached to the Hanoverian fucceffion, he addreffed an Ode to General Stanhope, one of his Majesty's Secretaries of ftate, in which he mingles the praises of Marlborough and Stanhope with encomi ums on Milton, Addifon, and other English Poets,, who have exerted their abilities in the fupport of the caufe of freedom. When Mr. Addifon purchafed an eftate in Warwickshire, his native country, Somervile embraced the opportunity of thewing his respect for his friend, and at the fame time doing honour to the birth place of the immortal Shakspeare, in the following lines: "Contending nations antient Homer claim, "Opprefs'd with grief, we view the oct's tomb. 1 His eulogium on Addison, as a writer inculcating moral and religious principles, is couched in thefe expreffive lines: "When panting virtue her laft efforts made, These productions obtained him a confiderable degree of poetical fame, and encouraged him to enter the lift with contemporary Bards, in his verfes to the author of the Efay on man, and an Epistle to Mr. Thomfon on the first Edition of his Seafons. In the country where he chiefly refided he was much refpected as an accomplished gentleman, an active and skilful fportfman, and an useful juftice of the peace-Rural diverfions did not wholly engrofs his attention, for he devoted great part of his time to the cultivation of elegant literature, which enabled him to embellish the fubjects he wrote on, with the ornamental flowers of rhetoric, as well as the pleafing harmony of verfification; and thereby fhew, that it is practicable to be at once a skilful sportsman, and a man of letters. His hofpitality exceeded the bounds of prudent economy, fo that he impaired his fortune, fubjected himself to many dif treffes, incurred the cenfure of his more provident neighbours; and was reduced to the neceflity of concluding a bargain with James Lord Somervile, for the reverfion of his eftate at his death. His connection with Lord Somervile, probably occafioned his poetical correfpondence with Ramfay, who was patronized by that nobleman. He was the intimate friend of Shentone, who was his neighbour, and speaking of him, fays, "I loved Mr. Somer vile, because he knew fo perfectly what belonged to the floccinauci-nihili-pilification of money.' In the latter part of his life he wrote his principal poem, The Chafe, which raised his reputation very high amongit sportsmen and men of letters, and by which he is best known. The Chafe was followed by a burlefque poem called robbinol, which he dedicated to Hogarth; and Field Sports, a poem on hawking, addreffed to Frederic Prince of Wales. "Mr. Somervile's poem upon hawking, called Field Sports," fays Shenstone in a letter to a friend was fent to Mr. Lyttleton, to be read to the Prince, to whom it is inícribed. It feems he is fond of hawking." Of the clofe of his life, those whom his poems have delighted, will read with pain the following account, copied from the letters of his friend Shentone, by whom he was too much resembled, as Dr. Johnson obferves; referring as we fuppofe to his want of economy. For a "Our old friend Somervile is dead! I did not imagine I could have been fo forry as I find myfelf upon this occafion.Sublatum quærimus. I can now excufe all his foiules, and impute them to age, and to diftrefs of circumstances; the last of thefe confiderations wrings my very foul to think on. man of high spirit, confcious of having (at least in one production) generally pleafed the world, to be plagued and threatened by wretches that are low in every fenfe; to be forced to drink himself into pains of body, in order to get rid of the pains of the mind, is a misery.” He died July 19, 1742, and was buried at Wotton, near Henley upon Arden. His eftate inherited from a long line of ancestors, devolved according to a deed of law to Lord Somervile, chargeable with a jointure of fix hundred pounds a year to his mother, who lived to the great age of ninety. His Chufe, Hobbinol, and Field Sports, have been frequently printed, and are inferted with his Occafional Poems, Tranflations, Fables, and Tales, in the collection of the "English Poets."1779 and 1790. It appears, from Lady Luxborough's Letters to Shentone, that he tranflated Alzire from Voltaire, which was then in manuscript in her poffeffion; together with feveral little poems and impromptus, which her Ladyfhip fays, " are, for the most part, too trivial or too local for the prefs. Somervile was highly refpected by his contemporaries for his great benevolence, and affability of difpofition. Shen |