So oft have tript in her fantaftic train,

With hearts as gay and faces half as fair :

For fhe was fair beyond your brighteft bloom, &c.

These verses breathe the genuine fpirit of that admirable and venerable Bard before mentioned; nor are the following unworthy of him:

That bell again! it tells us what fshe is :

On what he was no more the ftrain prolong:
Luxuriant Fancy paufe: an hour like this
Demands the tribute of a ferious fong.

It grieveth me that thefe verfes are tagged with rhyme, for verily they would have been much better without them; and fo likewife would this ftanza;

Say, are ye fure his mercy fhail extend

To you fo long a fpan? Alas, ye figh:
Make then, while yet you may, your God your
And learn with equal cafe to fleep or die.

friend,

I am inclined to believe that the Author wrote this Elegy originally in blank verfe, after the manner of the Night Thoughts, and then, for fome reafon or other, fitted it up with rhyme.

Our Bard, however, very foon taketh leave of the celebrated Lady whofe death is the fubject of this Elegy, and devoutly preacheth against the Sons of Pleafure and the Votaries of Ambition, among whom the royal Philofopher and Poet of the North is treated as he deferveth: fo that this Elegy may not be improperly termed the Lady C's funeral Sermon; and a good one, I ween, were it refolved into profe, and headed with a fuitable text.'

Thus far the learned Scriblerus, from whofe profound ftrictures we prefume not in the least to diffent. Yet we hope we fhall not offend that venerable Mirrour of Criticism in beflowing a few thoughts upon the first Elegy, which he hath, in fome measure, overlooked; even though we fhould venture to praise it for that very fimplicity which he condemneth. Thus it begins:

Ere yet, ingenuous youth, thy fteps retire

From Cam's fmooth margin and the peaceful vale,
Where Science call'd thee to her ftudious quire,
And met thee mufing in her cloyfters pale;

O! let thy friend (and may he boast the name)
Breathe from his artless reed one parting lay;

A lay

A lay like this thy early virtues claim,

And this let voluntary friendship pay.

These verses are perfectly easy and unaffected. Nor lefs beautiful is the stanza where the Poet, after having enumerated the dangers to which the blooming virtues of his noble friend would be exposed, pathetically adds,

If mimic hues, by art or fashion spread,

Their genuine, fimple colouring fhould fupply,
O! with them may these laureat honours fade,
And with them, if it can, my friendship die.

In confequence of this thought, Mr. Mafon is led to cenfure that mifapplied or proftituted praise which Poets, either from motives of friendship or intereft, have frequently bestowed upon the Great. Among thefe, Pope is condemned (whether juftly or not, we leave our Readers to determine) for his encomiums on Lord Bolingbroke. The poetry in this paffage is elegant and animated.

Call we the fhade of Pope from that bleft bower
Where thron'd he fits with many a tuneful Sage;
Afk, if he ne'er bemoans that hapless hour,

When St John's name illumin'd glory's page?
Afk if the wretch, who dar'd his memory stain,
Afk if his country's, his religion's foe,
Deferv'd the meed that Marlbro' fail'd to gain,
The deathlefs meed he only could bestow?
The Bard will tell thee the mifguided praise
Clouds the celestial funshine of his breaft;
Ev'n now repentant of his erring lays,

He heaves a figh amid the realms of rest.
If Pope thro' friendship fail'd, indignant view,
Yet pity Dryden; hark, whene'er he fings,
How adulation drops her courtly dew

On titled Rhymers and inglorious Kings.

See, from the depths of his exhaustless mine,

His glittering ftores the tuneful Spendthrift throws;
Where fear or interest bids, behold they shine;
Now grace a Cromwell's, now a Charles's brows.
Born with too generous, or too mean a heart,
Dryden! in vain to thee thofe ftores were lent:

Alluding to this couplet of Mr. Pope's.

To Cato Virgil paid one boneft line,
O let my country's friends illumine mine.

Thy

Thy fweeteft numbers but a trifling art;
Thy ftrongeft diction idly eloquent.
The fimpleft lyre, if truth directs its lays,
Warbles a melody ne'er heard from thine :
Not to difguft with falfe or venal praise,

Was Parnell's modeft fame and may be mine.

The advice which the Author gives his friend upon his entrance into public life, is worthy both of the Poet and the Man.

Be ftill thyfelf; that open path of truth

Which led thee here, let manhood firm purfue;
Retain the fweet fimplicity of youth,

And all thy virtue dictates, dare to do.

Still fcorn, with confcious pride, the mask of art;
On Vice's front let fearful caution lour,

And teach the diffident difcreeter part

Of knaves that plot, and fools that fawn, for power.
So, round thy brow when age's honours fpread,
When Death's cold hand unftrings thy Mafon's lyre,
When the green turf lies lightly on his head,
Thy worth fhall fome fuperior Bard infpire:

He to the ampleft bounds of Time's domain,
On Rapture's plume fhall give thy name to fly;
For truit, with reverence truft this Sabine flrain:
The Mufe forbids the virtuous man to die.

It is our opinion, after all, that if the Author of Elfrida and Caractacus lofe no poetical fame by the publication of thefe Elegies, he ought not to be diffatisfied.

Dinum laude virum
Mufa vetat mori.

HORACE

Memorials and Letters relating to the Hiftory of Britain, in the

Reign of James the firft.

Published from the Original. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Glafgow, printed by Foulis.

IR David Dalrymple, the Editor of this little Collection S

of original Papers, informs us in his preface, that they are felected from the many volumes of Letters and Memorials depofited in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh: a bulky mafs, relating to the Hiftory of Britain, in the feventeenth century; and chiefly collected by one Balfour of Denmylne; who has rather evinced his affiduity in raking together a vaft heap of materials, than his judgment in felecting and arranging them.

A cur

A curfory perufal of thefe volumes induced the present Editor to believe, that from among them fome Letters and Memorials might be chofen, tending at once to display the genius of that age, and to throw new light upon feveral characters diftinguifhed in the hiftory of Britain during the reign of James the firft: and this purpose his Collection will undoubtedly answer in fome refpects, tho' perhaps the instances are not very important. James ftill appears the fame tyrannical vulgar Pedant, and his Favourite, Buckingham, the fame contemptible Wretch, that former accounts have long fince reprefented them, on the most unquestionable authorities. Here are a confiderable number of Letters from the latter, addreffed to the former, in the ufual low, familiar, and ridiculous ftyle of Dear Dad and Goffip; and ending with your Majesty's moft humble Slave and Dog, STINIE. What an unmanly, what a despicable, may we not add, what an unnatural intercourfe! Such language feems to belong only to Pathicks and their Catamites.

We always confidered James as the most beatly Monarch that ever difgraced the throne of thefe kingdoms; and this Collection affords a new and most remarkable inftance of the fhocking depravity of his tafte and manners;--if it be genuine which, we believe, no one who is acquainted with the Editor's character will doubt. The fact we have in view, is the following Letter, from the Earl of Pembroke to Sir Edward Zouch.

"Honeft Ned,

"I know you love your Master dearly, and his pleasures, "which makes me put you in truft with this business, myself ¢ not being able to stay in the town fo late.

"I pray you, therefore, as foon as it grows dark, fail not "to fend the clofe cart to Baffingborn, for the fpeckled Sew 66 ye faw the King take fuch liking unto this day; and let her "be privately brought to the man of the ward-robe, by the "fame token, that I chid him for letting the other beafts go "carelessly into the garden while it was day, and he will "prefently receive her into his charge. Some may think "this a jeft; but I affure you, it is a matter of trust and "confidence; and fo, affuring myfelf of your fecret and care"ful performance of it, I reft

"Your affectionate friend,

"PEMBROKE."

There is no date either of time or place, to this curious Epistle, and, bad as James's character may be, we heartily wifh, for the honour of human nature we wifh, that this ftory of the Speckled Sow may be clearly difproved, or brought to bear a more innocent conftruction than moft Readers will be apt to put upon it, if left to draw their own unaffisted conclufions, from fuch extraordinary premifes. If it be really true, that his Majesty had such a liking to the beaft, we think it great pity, that he was not married to her, and to no other wife; as that would have prevented the many heavy calamities which his unhappy pofterity have brought upon this country.

As to the rest of the original Letters, &c. contained in this small volume, most of them certainly deserve the notice of the public. There are feveral written by the celebrated Bacon, and other eminent perfonages of those days: but it will exercise the Reader's patience or fenfibility, to bear with the continued repetition of fuch prepofterous, fulfome, and flavish flattery as he will meet with in almost every Memorial, Letter, &c. addreffed to the British Solomon.-In truth, the English do not seem to have been the fame kind of people in James's time as both their forefathers and their pofterity were, nor to have been animated with the smallest spark of that glorious fpirit of freedom they have fince so nobly manifested, on those GREAT OCCASIONS, which it is hoped neither Britifh Subjects nor British Kings will ever forget.

Letters, Speeches, Charges, Advices, &c. of Francis Bacon, Lord Viscount St. Albans, Lord Chancellor of England; now first published by Thomas Birch, D. D. Chaplain to her Royal Highness the Princess Amelia, and Secretary to the Royal Society. 8vo. 4s. boards. Millar.

WE

E cannot fufficiently admire the indefatigable perfeverance manifefted by the worthy Editor of this work, who has been, for so many years paft, conftantly preffing close on the heels of TIME; and carefully raking together the fcattered twigs of Learning, and broken branches of Science, which the ruthlefs Tyrant has cut down, in his rude march through the extenfive and fertile provinces of Literature. It is true, that through his extreme affiduity, many an useless bramble, many a worthless weed, may have been collected

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among