schoolboy of one-and-twenty.

His relation, Dr. Montague, was then Master of the college in which
he was placed a Fellow-Commoner, and took him under his particular
care. Here he commenced an acquaintance with the great Newton,
which continued through his life, and was at last attested by a
legacy.

In 1685 his verses on the death of King Charles made such an
impression on the Earl of Dorset that he was invited to town, and
introduced by that universal patron to the other wits. In 1687 he
joined with Prior in "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse," a
burlesque of Dryden's "Hind and Panther." He signed the invitation
to the Prince of Orange, and sat in the Convention. He about the
same time married the Countess Dowager of Manchester, and intended
to have taken Orders; but, afterwards altering his purpose, he
purchased for 1,500 pounds the place of one of the clerks of the
Council.

After he had written his epistle on the victory of the Boyne, his
patron Dorset introduced him to King William with this expression,
"Sir, I have brought a MOUSE to wait on your Majesty." To which the
King is said to have replied, "You do well to put me in the way of
making a MAN of him;" and ordered him a pension of 500 pounds. This
story, however current, seems to have been made after the event.
The King's answer implies a greater acquaintance with our proverbial
and familiar diction than King William could possibly have attained.

In 1691, being member of the House of Commons, he argued warmly in
favour of a law to grant the assistance of counsel in trials for