A survey of the life and writings of Prior may exemplify a sentence which he doubtless understood well, when he read Horace at his uncle's; "the vessel long retains the scent which it first receives." In his private relaxation he revived the tavern, and in his amorous pedantry he exhibited the college. But on higher occasions and nobler subjects, when habit was overpowered by the necessity of reflection, he wanted not wisdom as a statesman, nor elegance as a poet. ----- [Footnote 1: The difficulty of settling Prior's birthplace is great. In the register of his college he is called, at his admission by the president, Matthew Prior, of Winburn, in Middlesex; by himself, next day, Matthew Prior, of Dorsetshire, in which county, not in Middlesex, Winborn, or Winborne, as it stands in the Villare, is found. When he stood candidate for his fellowship, five years afterwards, he was registered again by himself as of Middlesex. The last record ought to be preferred, because it was made upon oath. It is observable, that, as a native of Winborne, he is styled filius Georgii Prior, generosi; not consistently with the common account of the meanness of his birth. Dr. J.] [Footnote 2: Samuel Prior kept the Rummer tavern near Charing-cross, in 1685. The annual feast of the nobility and gentry living in the parish of St. Martin in the Fields was held at his house, Oct. 14, that year. N.] [Footnote 3: He was admitted to his bachelor's degree in 1686; and to his master's, by mandate, in 1700. N.] [Footnote 4: Spence.] [Footnote 5: He received, in September, 1697, a present of two hundred guineas from the lords justices, for his trouble in bringing over the treaty of peace. N.] [Footnote 6: It should be the earl of Dorset.] [Footnote 7: Swift obtained many subscriptions for him in Ireland. II.] [Footnote: 8 Spence.] [Footnote: 9 Spence.] [Footnote 10: Spence; and see Gent. Mag. vol l vii. p. 1039.] [Footnote 11: Richardsoniana.] [Footnote 12: It is to be found in Poggii Facetiae. J.B.] [Footnote 13: The same thought is found in one of Owen's epigrams, lib. i. epig. 123. and in Poggii Facetiae. J.B.] [Footnote 14: Prior was not the first inventor of this stanza; for excepting the alexandrine close, it is to be found in Churchyard's Worthies of Wales. See his introduction for Brecknockshire. J.B.] CONGREVE. William Congreve descended from a family in Staffordshire, of so great antiquity that it claims a place among the few that extend their line beyond the Norman conquest; and was the son of William Congreve, second son of Richard Congreve, of Congreve and Stratton. He visited, once, at least, the residence of his ancestors; and, I believe, more places than one are still shown, in groves and gardens, where he is related to have written his Old Bachelor.