be thought a favourer of literature, should thus insult a man of
acknowledged merit, or how Rowe, who was so keen a Whig that he did
not willingly converse with men of the opposite party, could ask
preferment from Oxford, it is not now possible to discover. Pope,
who told the story, did not say on what occasion the advice was
given; and, though he owned Rowe's disappointment, doubted whether
any injury was intended him, but thought it rather Lord Oxford's ODD
WAY.

It is likely that he lived on discontented through the rest of Queen
Anne's reign; but the time came at last when he found kinder
friends. At the accession of King George he was made Poet-Laureate-
-I am afraid, by the ejection of poor Nahum Tate, who (1716) died in
the Mint, where he was forced to seek shelter by extreme poverty.
He was made likewise one of the land-surveyors of the customs of the
Port of London. The Prince of Wales chose him Clerk of his Council;
and the Lord Chancellor Parker, as soon as he received the seals,
appointed him, unasked, Secretary of the Presentations. Such an
accumulation of employments undoubtedly produced a very considerable
revenue.

Having already translated some parts of Lucan's "Pharsalia," which
had been published in the Miscellanies, and doubtless received many
praises, he undertook a version of the whole work, which he lived to
finish, but not to publish. It seems to have been printed under the
care of Dr. Welwood, who prefixed the author's life, in which is
contained the following character:--

"As to his person, it was graceful and well made; his face regular,
and of a manly beauty. As his soul was well lodged, so its rational