A prolific verse-writer of the day, much esteemed as a social wit. Steele, in the Guardian, tells us how much the age was indebted to him for his Pills to Purge Melancholy; and, coupling his name jocularly with that of Pindar, bespeaks the favour of a grateful public for a benefit-night, designed to make the old singer easy in his declining days. In the Miscellanies of Swift, Pope and Arbuthnot, there is a humorous poem (apparently by Swift) turning to ridicule a printer's error, by which an etc. was added to the author's name on the title-page of one of Durfey's plays. He stirred contempt more than anger; and Pope wrote a Prologue to his last play, in a mixed spirit of kindliness and ridicule.