royal army, in the time of the civil war. Upon the decline of the king's fortune, he retired to London in a necessitous condition, and applied himself to writing books for his support. His works are chiefly poems, in which he appears to be the portical as well as the natural son of his father. He died of the plague in 1665. See a detail of his works in the "Athen. Oxon.” GEORGE WITHER published a poem of many hundred lines, upon the report of the restoration of the parliament by General Monk, in 1659. It is entitled, "Furor Poeticus, i. e. Propheticus, a Poetic Phrensie." It is dated from Hambleton, and he tells us that it was meditated. “In dorso pagi, recubans sub tegmine fagi.” I shall conclude all I have to say of this everlasting rhymer, with two lines of Dryden, which comprehend his whole character as a poet : "He faggotted his notions as they fell, And if they rhym'd and rattled, all was well.”* See the two preceding reigns. HUGO CROMPTON, Æt. 18. A. Hertochs sc. 12mo. HUGO CROMPTON, gen. small 8vo. Before his "Pierides," &c. 1658. This print represents him somewhat older than the former. HUGO CROMPTON, gen. W. Richardson. Hugh Crompton was a gentleman well educated, though but of small fortune. His necessities, as may be collected from his epistle to the reader, obliged him to turn author. He published a volume of poems, entitled, "Pierides, or, the Muses Mount," out of which Winstanley has given us a taste, as he calls it, of the briskness of * Some extracts from his works were published in small 8vo. not many years ago. The pious and very learned Dr. Lort, after having read them, observed, "that their perusal would teach him in future, not to trust to report for the character of an author." The works of Wither are, what we called at Eton, a good sharping book: and poets by profession will find many sentiments, and many lines ready made, upon almost any subject, political, moral, or religious.-LORD HAILES. his Muse; but I must confess I can discover no such matter in that specimen. He informs us, that he intended his "Muses" for waste paper, but that he afterward altered his mind in this particular. He speaks thus of his " Muses" "I, for want of a better labour in my ramble, gathered this sallad from Parnassus, and washt it in Helicon. But thou (reader) must find oil and vinegar, and sugar it with thy good conceit, if thou pleasest."-He left so much to be supplied by the reader that his work was, in a short time, generally neglected. Underneath JOHN TATHAM, poet; an anonymous head, over which two Cupids hold a crown of laurel. are these verses: "Here is no schisme, the judging eye may see JOHN TATHAM. W. Richardson. 66 "John Tatham," says Winstanley, was one whose muse began to bud with his youth, which produced early blossoms of not altogether contemptible poetry," of which he has given us “a taste” in the following lines. The author addresses himself in the person of Momus. “How now, presumptuous lad, think'st thou that we Of wit? Or does thy amorous thoughts beget a flame, Of poet? or is't common now-a-days Such slender wits, dare claim such things as bays." However strange it may seem, it is certain that he did “claim such things;" and, what is more strange, his claim was readily admitted. He has been erroneously called City Poet, and was deemed a worthy fore-runner of Settle. He undoubtedly wrote panegyrics upon two lord mayors,* in whose estimation they were as good rhymes, and probably pleased as much, as if they had been written by Waller himself. He was author of several plays, most of which were published before the restoration. * In the reign of Charles II. |