dded an equal sum for the purchase of Downhall,
which Prior was to enjoy during life, and Harley after his decease.

He had now, what wits and philosophers have often wished, the power of
passing the day in contemplative tranquillity. But it seems that busy
men seldom live long in a state of quiet. It is not unlikely that his
health declined. He complains of deafness; "for," says he, "I took
little care of my ears while I was not sure if my head was my own."

Of any occurrences in his remaining life I have found no account. In a
letter to Swift, "I have," says he, "treated lady Harriot at Cambridge,
(a fellow of a college treat!) and spoke verses to her in a gown and
cap! What, the plenipotentiary, so far concerned in the damned peace at
Utrecht! the man that makes up half the volume of terse prose, that
makes up the report of the committee, speaking verses! Sic est, homo
sum."

He died at Wimpole, a seat of the earl of Oxford, on the 18th of
September, 1721, and was buried in Westminster; where, on a monument,
for which, as the "last piece of human vanity," he left five hundred
pounds, is engraven this epitaph:

Sui temporis historiam meditanti,
Paulatim obrepens febris
Operi simul et vitae filum abrupit,
Sept. 18, An. Dom. 1721. AEtat. 57.
H.S.E.
Vir eximius
Serenissimis
Regi GULIELMO, reginaeque MARIAE,
In congressione foederatorum
Hagae anno 1690 celebrata;
Deinde Magnae Britanniae legatis;
Tum iis,
Qui anno 1697 pacem RYSWICKI confecerunt;
Tum iis,
Qui apud Gallos annis proximis legationem obierunt;
Eodem etiam anno, 1697, in Hibernia
SECRETARIUS;
Nee non in utroque honorabili consessu
Eorum,
Qui anno 1700 ordinandis commercii negotiis,
Quique anno 1711 dirigendis portorii rebus,
Praesidebant,
COMMISSIONARIUS;
Postremo
Ab ANNA,
Felicissinae memoriae regina,
Ad LUDOVICUM XIV. Ga