Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/218

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208
The Life of

read his works may determine for themſelves. Poets who write ſatire often ſtrain hard for ridiculous circumſtances, in order to expoſe their antagoniſts, and it will be no violence to truth to ſay, that in ſearch of ridicule, candour is frequently loſt.

In the year 1726 Mr. Welſted brought upon the ſtage a comedy called The Diſſembled Wanton, or My Son get Money. He met with the patronage of the duke of Newcaſtle, who was a great encourager of polite learning; and we find that our author had a very competent place in the Ordnance-Office.

His poetical works are chiefly theſe,

The Duke of Marlborough’s Arrival, a Poem; printed in fol. 1709, inſcribed to the Right Hon. the Earl of Dorſet and Middleſex.

A Poem to the Memory of Mr. Philips, inſcribed to Lord Bolingbroke, printed in fol. 1710.

A Diſcourſe to the Right Hon. Sir Robert Walpole; to which is annexed Propoſals for Tranſlating the whole Works of Horace, with a Specimen of the Performance, viz. Lib. Iſt. Ode 1, 3, 5 and 22, printed in 4 to. 1727.

An Ode to the Hon. Major General Wade, on Occaſion of his diſarming the Highlands, imitated from Horace.

To the Earl of Clare, on his being created Duke of Newcaſtle. An Ode on the Birth-Day of his Royal Highneſs the Prince of Wales. To the Princeſs, a Poem. Amintor and the Nightingale,

a Song