ope in the translation of the _Odyssey_, of which enough has been said
elsewhere (p. 38). His name suggested the following epigram to Henley:

'Pope came off clean with Homer; but they say
_Broome_ went before and kindly swept the way.'

He entered holy orders, had two livings in Suffolk and one in Norfolk,
and married a wealthy widow. His verses are mechanically correct, but
are empty of poetry.

JOHN BYROM (1691-1763), the friend and disciple of William Law, the
author of the _Serious Call_, is best remembered for his system of
shorthand. In a characteristic, copious, and not very attractive
journal, he describes, for the consolation of his fellow mortals, how he
makes resolutions and breaks them. Byrom wrote rhyme with ease and on
subjects with which poetry has nothing to do. His most successful
achievement was a pastoral, _Colin and Phoebe_, which appeared in the
_Spectator_ (Vol. viii., No. 603). It was written in honour of the
daughter of Dr. Bentley, Master of Trinity, 'not,' it has been said,
'because he wished to win her affections, but because he desired to
secure her father's interest for the Fellowship for which he was a
candidate.' The plan was successful. The one verse of Byrom's that every
one has read is the happy epigram:

'God bless the King!--I mean the faith's defender--
God bless (no harm in blessing!) the Pretender!
But who Pretender is, or who is King--
God bless us all!--that's quite another thing.'

SAMUEL CLARKE (1675-1729), a man of large attainments in science and
divinity, was the favourite theologian of Queen Caroline, who admired
his latitudinarian views, and delighted in his conversation. His works,
edited by Bishop Hoadly, were published in 1738 in four folio volumes.
In 1704 he delivered the Boyle lectures on _The Being and Attributes of
God_, and in 1705 _On Natural and Revealed Religion_. His _Scripture
Doctrine of the Trinity_ (1712) was condemned by convocation. In defence
of Sir Isaac Newton, Clarke had a controversy with Leibnitz, and having
published the correspondence dedicated it to the Queen. His sermons, Mr.
Leslie Stephen says, are 'for the most part not sermons at all, but
lectures upon metaphysics.' In Addison's judgment Clarke was one of the
most accurate, learned, and judicious writers the age had produced.

ELIJAH FENTON (1683-1730) wrote poems and _Mariamne_ a tragedy, in
which, according to his friend Broome, 'great Sophocles revives and