sincerely disapproved of the infidel writings of several, whom, in the
course of his almost universal gay intercourse with men of eminence, he
treated with external civility, distinguished himself upon this
occasion. Mr. Pelham having died on the very day on which Lord
Bolingbroke's works came out, he wrote an elegant Ode on his death,
beginning

'Let others hail the rising sun,
I bow to that whose course is run;'

in which is the following stanza:

'The same sad morn, to Church and State
(So for our sins 'twas fix'd by fate,)
A double stroke was given;
Black as the whirlwinds of the North,
St. John's fell genius issued forth,
And Pelham fled to heaven[789].'

[Page 270: Thomas Warton. A.D. 1754.]

Johnson this year found an interval of leisure to make an excursion to
Oxford, for the purpose of consulting the libraries there. Of this, and
of many interesting circumstances concerning him, during a part of his
life when he conversed but little with the world, I am enabled to give a
particular account, by the liberal communications of the Reverend Mr.
Thomas Warton[790], who obligingly furnished me with several of our common
friend's letters, which he illustrated with notes. These I shall insert
in their proper places.