luntary homage of his peers. And indeed among all that class of eminent writers, generally not the most humble of the human race, there was not one found vain enough to dispute his title, and all on different occasions have born testimony to the superiority of his genius. Of which many instances may be produced, both in their works, and in the course of letters which passed between them.
Having raised himself to this high rank among men, merely by his personal merit, he took care to guard it with the same jealous attention, that a monarch shows to the preservation of his prerogative. The least slight shown him, or any unbecoming treatment of him, was not to be pardoned without a due submission from the person so offending. We have already seen that he refused to be reconciled to his friend lord Oxford, upon a quarrel of that nature, in which he considered as an insult, what was intended by the other as a favour, and threatened to cast him off, if he did not make a proper apology.
He broke off with lady Giffard, one of his oldest acquaintances in life, on a similar account, and de-
new character, which nobody is vain enough to pretend to imitate; but, &c. —
And the earl of Stafford, one of the proudest men of the age, addresses him in this manner:
SIR,
"To honour, and esteem, and admire you, is general to all that know or have heard of you; but to be pleased with your commands, and glad and diligent to obey them, is peculiar to your true friends; of which number I am very desirous to be reckoned."
