ds, when nightly mists arise
To Juniper's Magpie or Town Hall[4] repairs.
Meanwhile he smokes and laughs at merry tale,
Or pun ambiguous or conumdrum quaint;
But I, whom griping penury surrounds,
And hunger sure attendant upon want,
With scanty offals, and small acid tiff
(Wretched repast!) my meagre corps sustain:
Then solitary walk or doze at home
In garret vile, and with a warming puff.
Regale chilled fingers, or from tube as black
As winter chimney, or well polished jet
Exhale mundungus, ill-perfuming scent."

He goes on to relate how he is besieged by duns, and what a chasm there
is in his "galligaskins." He wrote very little altogether, but produced
a piece called "Blenheim," and a sort of Georgic entitled "Cyder."

Prior, like many other celebrated men, partly owed his advancement to an
accidental circumstance. He was brought up at his uncle's tavern "The
Rummer," situate at Charing Cross--then a kind of country suburb of the
city, and adjacent to the riverside mansions and ornamental gardens of
the nobility. To this convenient inn the neighbouring magnates were wont
to resort, and one day in accordance with the classic proclivities of
the times, a hot dispute, arose among them about the rendering of a
passage in Horace. One of those present said that as they could not
settle the question, they had better ask young Prior, who then was
attending Westminster School. He had made good use of his opportunities,
and answered the question so satisfactorily that Lord Dorset there and
then undertook to send him to Cambridge. He became a fellow of St.
John's, and Lord Dorset afterwards introduced him at Court, and obtained
for him the post of secretary of Legation at the Hague, in which office
he gave so much satisfaction to William III. that he made him one of his
gentlemen of the bed chamber. He became afterwards Secretary of the Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, Ambassador in France, and Under Secretary of
State.

During his two year's imprisonment by the Whigs on a charge of high
treason--from which he was liberated without a trial--he prepared a
collection of his works, for which he obtained a large sum of money. He
then retired from office, but died shortly afterwards in his
fifty-eighth year.

Prior is remarkable for his exquisite lightness and elegance of style,
well suited to the pretty classical affectations of the day. He delights
in cupids, nymphs, and flowers. In two or three places,