[116] A banker or goldsmith, afterwards notorious for his share in the South Sea scheme, to which Company he was cashier. [117] Sir Robert Howard had been appointed auditor of the Exchequer in 1673, and held that office till his death. [118] The celebrated watchmaker, who was originally a jacksmith. MALONE. [119] They were at this time at Rome. [120] The Eclogues of Virgil had been published in the first Miscellany. Dryden probably corrected them with a pen in Lady Elizabeth’s copy of the printed book, and sent it to the bookseller, as what is technically called _copy_. [121] This person, in the last age, was frequently called “the learned tradesman.” “Sir Andrew Fountaine (says Swift, in his _Journal_, October 6, 1710,) came this morning, and caught me writing in bed. I went into the city with him, and we dined at the Chop-house, with Will Pate, _the learned woollen-draper_; then we sauntered at china shops and booksellers; went to the tavern, and drank two pints of white wine,” &c. Mr William Pate was educated at Trinity Hall in Cambridge, where he took the degree of B.C.L. He died in 1746, and was buried at Lee, in Kent. Mr Malone, who mentions these particulars, transcribes Mr Pate’s epitaph, the moral of which is:-- _Nervos atque artus esse sapientiœ, NON TEMERE CREDERE._ It would seem, from Dryden’s letter, that this learned tradesman understood the mercantile, as well as the literary use of the apothegm. [122] A Roman Catholic. [123] At Denham Court, in Buckinghamshire. Sir William Bowyer married a kinswoman of Lady Elizabeth Dryden; Frances, daughter of Charles, Lord Cranbourne, eldest son of William, the second Earl of Salisbury. MALONE. [124] This seems to imply a suspicion, though an odd one, that Jacob, being bent to convert Dryden to his own views of politics, intercepted his sons’ letters from Rome, as proceeding from an interest hostile to his views. (See p. 140.) His earnest wish was, that the Æneid should be inscribed to King William. [125] The translation of Virgil. [126] In MS. Harl. p. 35, in the Museum, are the following verses, occasioned by this circumstance: “To be published in the next edition of Dryden’s Virgil. “Old Jacob, by deep judgment swayed, To please the wise beholders, Has placed old Nassau’s book-nosed head On poor Æneas’ shoulders, “To make the parallel hold tack, Methinks there’s little lacking; One took his father pick-a-pack, And t’other sent his packing.” In a copy I have seen of this epigram, “poor” Æneas is improved into “young” Æneas.” [127] This Dryden never effected, nor was Howard’s play ever printed. [128] Probably the clergy of England. [129] This probably alludes to the proposition which appears to have been made to him, concerning the dedication of his Virgil to King William; for which a valuable pecuniary reward might have been expected. MALONE.