ion, a short poem, which was
criticised in the Examiner, and so successfully either defended or
excused by Mr. Addison that, for the sake of the vindication, it ought
to be preserved.

At the accession of the present family his merits were acknowledged and
rewarded. He was knighted with the sword of his hero, Marlborough; and
was made Physician-in-Ordinary to the King, and Physician-General to the
army. He then undertook an edition of Ovid's "Metamorphoses," translated
by several hands; which he recommended by a preface, written with more
ostentation than ability; his notions are half-formed, and his materials
immethodically confused. This was his last work. He died January 18th,
1717-18, and was buried at Harrow-on-the-Hill.

His personal character seems to have been social and liberal. He
communicated himself through a very wide extent of acquaintance; and
though firm in a party, at a time when firmness included virulence, yet
he imparted his kindness to those who were not supposed to favour his
principles. He was an early encourager of Pope, and was at once the
friend of Addison and of Granville. He is accused of voluptuousness and
irreligion; and Pope, who says that "if ever there was a good Christian,
without knowing himself to be so, it was Dr. Garth," seems not able to
deny what he is angry to hear and loth to confess.

Pope afterwards declared himself convinced that Garth died in the
communion of the Church of Rome, having been privately reconciled. It
is observed by Lowth that there is less distance than is thought between
scepticism and Popery; and that a mind wearied with perpetual doubt,
willingly seeks repose in the bosom of an infallible Church.

His poetry has been praised at least equally to its merit. In "The
Dispensary" there is a strain of smooth and free versification; but few
lines are eminently elegant. No passages fall below mediocrity, and few
rise much above it. The plan seems formed without just proportion to the
subject; the means and end have no necessary connection. Resnel, in his
preface to Pope's Essay, remarks that Garth exhibits no discrimination
of characters; and that what any one says might, with equal propriety,
have been said by another. The general design is, perhaps, open to
criticism; but the composition can seldom be charged with inaccuracy
or negligence. The author never slumbers in self-indulgence; his full
vigour is always exerted; scarcely a line is left unfinished; nor i