onginus, which he executed
in a very masterly manner. He proposed a large addition to this work,
of notes and observations of his own, with an intire system of the
art of poetry in three books, under the title of Thoughts, Action,
and Figure; in this work he proposed to reform the art of Rhetoric, by
reducing that confused heap of Terms, with which a long succession
of Pedants had incumbered the world, to a very narrow compass;
comprehending all that was useful and ornamental in poetry under each
head, and chapter. He intended to make remarks upon all the ancients
and moderns, the Greek, Latin, English, French, Spanish, and Italian
poets, and to anamadvert upon their several beauties and defects.

Mr. Smith died in the year 1710, in the 42d of his age, at the seat of
George Ducket esq; called Hartham, in Wiltshire; and was buried in the
parish church there. We shall give the character of this celebrated
poet in the words of Mr. Oldisworth:--"He had a quickness of
apprehension and vivacity of understanding, which easily took in, and
surmounted, the most knotty parts of mathematics and metaphysics.
His wit was prompt and flowing, yet solid and piercing; his taste
delicate, his head clear, and his manner of expressing his thoughts
perspicuous, and engaging; an eager, but generous, emulation grew
up in him, which push'd him upon striving to excel in every art and
science, that could make him a credit to his college: and it was his
happiness to have several cotemporaries, and fellow students, who
exercised and excited this virtue in themselves and others: his
judgment naturally good, soon ripened into an exquisite fineness, and
distinguishing sagacity, which as it was active and busy, so it
was vigorous and manly, keeping even pace with a rich and strong
imagination, always on the wing, and never tired with aspiring; there
are many of his first essays in oratory, in epigram, elegy and epic,
still handed about the university in manuscript, which shew a masterly
hand, and though maimed and injured by frequent transcribing, make
their way into our most celebrated miscellanies, where they mine with
uncommon lustre. As his parts were extraordinary, so he well knew how
to improve them; and not only to polish the diamond, but enchase it in
the most solid and durable metal.

"Though he was an academic the greatest part of his life, yet he
contracted no sourness of temper, no tincture of pedantry, no itch of
disputation, or obstina