All seated on the ground;
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.”
Nicholas Rowe, with no popular fervor of verse, won high favor in classic circles through an independent fortune and rare social gift. Pope’s friendship welcomed him to the circle of rare visits, while the élite of Queen Anne’s reign courted him with royal art. Few men of real genius ever have been so splendidly rewarded as he. Swift and Addison were only second in their admiration to Pope, who wrote this tender epitaph:
“Thy relics, Rowe, to this sad shrine we trust,
And near thy Shakspere place the honored bust;
Oh! next him skilled to draw the tender tear,
For never heart felt passion more sincere;
To nobler sentiment to fire the brave,
For never Briton more disdained a slave.