Collins, the sublime and unhappy Collins, Dr. A endeavours, (and in our opinion with success,) to defend from the harshness and injustice of Dr. Johnson's reprehensions. He gives a minute account of the ode on the popular Superstition of the Highlands of Scotland, on which it is unnecessary for us now to enlarge, as we expatiated on the merits of that exquisite original poem in our 79th yol. pp. 532. 555. and detailed to our readers the manner in which it was rescued from oblivion, A monument has lately been erected in Chichester cathedral to the memory of this unfortunate genius; the design and workmanship of which are by that eminent sculptor Flaxman, and the inscription comes from the joint pens of Sargent and Hayley. We transcribe it, because we believe that it has not found its way into any periodical publication,

" Ye who the merits of the dead revere,
Who hold misfortune sacred, genius dear,
Regard this tomb where Collins' hapless name
Solicits kindness with a double claim.

Tho' nature gave him, and tho' science taught
The fire of fancy, and the reach of thought,
Severely doom'd to penury's extreme,
He pass'd, in madd'ning pain, life's fev'rish dream;
While rays of genius only serv'd to shew
The thick'ning horror, and exalt his woe.
Ye walls that echo'd to his frantic moan
Guard the due records of this grateful stone;
Strangers to him, enamoured of his lays,
This fond memorial to his talents raise,
For this the ashes of a bard require
Who touch'd the tenderest notes of Pity's lyre,
Who join'd pure faith to strong poetic powers,
Who in reviving reason's lucid hours
Sought on one book his troubled mind to rest,
And rightly deem'd the book of God the best."

Of Hamilton, of Bangour, in Ayrshire, the account is very short; he was the author, among other poems, of Contemplation, or the Triumph of Love, and of the Braes of Yarrow, which Professor Richardson of Glasgow calls " one of the finest ballads ever written," The Professor, also, in a Paper in the Lounger, describes the poems of Hamilton as displaying " regular design, just sentiments, fanciful invention, pleasing sensibility, elegant diction, and smooth versification. His genius was aided by taste, and his taste was improved by knowledge. He was not only well acquainted with the most elegant modern writers, but with those of antiquity." -His works are noticed in our 24th volume, p. 162.

This volume concludes with a Life of Walter Harte, the author of the History of Gustavus Adolphus, and tutor to Mr. Stanhope, Stanhope, Lord Chesterfield's natural son. He appears to have been an amiable man, but his poetry is of too moderate a cast to justify its being admitted into a collection of classical English poetry.'

We find in the Tenth Volume the poetical works of Young, Gray, R. West, Lyttleton, Moore, Boyce, Thomson, Cawthorne, Churchill, Falconer, Lloyd, Cunningham, Green, Cooper, Goldsmith, P. Whitehead, Brown, Grainger, Smotlett, and Armstrong.

We transcribe the following anecdote of Dr. Young; which, though not new to us, may be so to many of our readers.

- Walking in his garden at Welwyn in company with twe ladies, (one of whom was Lady Elizabeth Lee, to whom he was afterwards married,) a servant came to tell him a gentleman wished to speak with him; "Tell him," says Young, "I am too happily engaged to change my situation." The ladies insisted upon it that he should go, as his visitor was a man of rank, his patron, and his friend; and, as persuasion had no effect, one took him by the right arm, and the other by the left, and led him to the garden-gate, when, finding resistance was vain, he bowed, laid his hand upon his heart, and in that expressive manner for which he was so remarkable, spoke the following lines:

"Thus Adam look'd, when from the garden driven,
And thus disputed orders sent from heaven,
Like him I go, and yet to go am loth;
Like him I go, for angels drove us both.
Hard was his fate, but mine still more unkind,
His Eve went with him, but mine stays behind."

We deem Dr. A. unfortunate in his criticisms on this truly original writer; more particularly when he says, speaking of the Universal Passion, that its character is debility-it wants point and terseness.'-Surely no censure was ever more unmerited than this; it is unnecessary on such a point to refer to the opinions of Dr. Blair and Dr. Johnson, both excellent judges of poetical merit, and who have decided in favour of Young; the general, we believe we may add, the unanimous voice of the public has long ago determined the question. Dr. A. is not often original in his remarks: but as he has, with very few exceptions, adopted the right opinion, we were the more surprised at this departure "from the common sense of mankind."

The particulars related of Edward Moore, the author of the Gamester, are interesting and amusing; and the few anecdotes here introduced of Henry Brooke, who contributed considerable assistance to the Fables for the Ladies, gave us much pleasure. That a man of such distinguished and various genius and talents as Brooke, so conspicuous also for his intimacy with the eminent

nent for rank and abilities, should have met with no biographer to relate the transactions of a chequered and calamitous life, is a matter both of surprise and regret.-His productions might with greater propriety have been received into this collection, than many which have found an admission:-but no censure on this account belongs to Dr. Anderson, who advised the measure, but whose opinion was rejected.

Of Samuel Boyce, a man gifted with high poetical powers, (as he sufficiently proved by his poem on the Deity, which was praised by Pope and Fielding,) but at the same time profligate in his morals, selfish in his character, and extremely indiscreet and irregular in his conduct, the account is acknowleged to be taken from Cibber's Lives. For the remarks on the works of Thomson and Cawthorne introduced into this collection, Dr. Anderson is not a little indebted to articles in our 18th and 45th volumes; and we again without hesitation remind him of the obligation which neither his gratitude nor his justice has led him to avow. The same observation applies with equal force to the criticism on Falconer's Shipwreck, for a similar account of which poem we may refer to the 27th volume of our work, p. 197. This disingenuous mode of proceeding, on the part of the present editor, brings to our recollection the very different conduct of Dr. Kippis in a similar undertaking. His edition of the Biographia Britannica was, from the very nature of the work, obliged to be, in a great measure, a compilation: but he rarely availed himself of the labours of others, either in his notes or in his text, without referring to the sources from which he drew; satisfied with the praise of diligence, where a claim to originality could not be established.

In the Life of Goldsmith, Dr. A. attributes to that author the History of England, in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son, which work has been at different times attributed to Lord Chesterfield and to Lord Lyttleton.--In the same Life, we observe an erroneous statement of the Doctor having published the Life of Bolingbroke, prefixed to a new edition of the Patriot King; it is true that he wrote the life of that nobleman, but he prefixed it to the Dissertation on Parties, which was printed for T. Davies in 1771, and again in the year 1775 with Goldsmith's name affixed to it; it is also inserted in the large edition of Bolingbroke's Works, edited by Mallet, which appeared in the year 1777.

The remaining Lives contained in this volume present us with little that is new, or worthy of particular notice; though from this observation we must except the account of Smollett, to which we shall direct our attention when we examine the two editions of his works that have lately appeared, the one with a Life by Dr. Moore, and the other by Dr. Anderson; the same, we understand, with that which is inserted in this collection.

The Eleventh Volume contains the poetical works of Wilkie, Dodsley, Smart, Langhorne, Bruce, Chatterton, Græme, Glover, Shaw, Lovibond, Penrose, Mickle, Jago, Scott, Johnson, W. Whitehead, Jenyns, Logan, Warton, Cotton, and Blacklock. -Of Wilkie, whom some enthusiastic admirers have distinguished by the high appellation of the "Scottish Homer," the account is full of interest and amusement. Dr. A. endeavours (but we think that his efforts will prove ineffectual) to draw back the public attention to the merits of the Epigoniad, on which he enlarges in terms of exaggerated praise. This poem has had its trial, and has been found guilty of dulness and want of interest; we see nothing in this verdict that savours of injustice, and the event of a second trial, we apprehend, would be the same. In page 22 of the Life, we observe a paragraph which our readers may find verbatim in our seventeenth volume, p. 228.

From the Life of Robert Dodsley, which gives a fair and impartial view of the merits of that ingenious author and very amiable man, we shall make an extract:

• His character was very amiable and respectable. As a tradesman, he preserved the greatest integrity; as a writer, the most becoming humility. Mindful of the early encouragement which his own talents met with, he was ever ready to give the same opportunity of advancement to those of others; and on many occasions he was not only the publisher, but the patron of genius. There was no circumstance by which he was more distinguished, than by the grateful re membrance which he retained, and always expressed towards the me mory of those to whom he owed the obligation of being first taken notice of in life. Modest, sensible, and humane; he retained the virtues which first brought him into notice, after he had obtained wealth sufficient to satisfy every wish which could arise from the possession of it. He was a generous friend, an encourager of men of genius, and acquired the esteem and respect of all who were acquainted with him. It was his happiness to pass the greatest part of his life in intimacy with men of the brightest abilities, whose names will be revered by posterity; by most of whom he was loved as much for the virtues of his heart, as he was admired on account of his writings.

• As an author, he is entitled to considerable praise. His works are recommended by an ease and elegance, which are sometimes more pleasing than a more laboured and ornamented manner of writing. His prose is familiar, and yet chaste. His Essay on Fable will be a durable monument of his ingenuity. In his dramas he has always kept in view the one great principle, delectando puriterque monendo, some general moral is constantly conveyed in each of his plans, and particular instructions are displayed in the particular strokes of satire. The dialogue, at the same time, is easy, the plots simple, and the catastrophe catastrophe interesting and pathetic. In verse, his compositions suf ficiently show what genius alone, unassisted by learning, is capable of executing. His subjects are well chosen and entertaining; the diction is chaste and elegant; the sentiments, if not sublime, are manly and pleasing; and the numbers, if not exquisitely polished, are easy and flowing.

Of his poetical productions, his Agriculture, a Georgic in thrée cantos, is the most considerable. The subject is such as must be grateful and entertaining to every Briton; and though, in the execu tion, there are imperfections impossible to be overlooked by a critical eye, yet there are a number of beauties in it deserving of applause; and those who may have reason to condemn the poet, will find ample cause to commend the patriot. Indeed, to write a truly excellent Georgic, is one of the greatest efforts of the human mind. Perfectly to succeed in this species of poetry, requires a Virgil's genius, judg ment, exquisiteness of taste, and power of harmony. The general economy of this Georgic is judicious: it contains several exalted sentiments; and the descriptions are often delicate and well expressed. But, at the same time, the diction is frequently too prosaic, many of the epithets are inadequate, and in some places, sufficient attention is not paid to the powers of the versification.

In the first canto, after having generally proposed his intention, addressed it to the Prince of Wales, and invoked the Genius of Britain, he proceeds to consider husbandry as the source of wealth and plenty; and therefore recommends it to landlords not to oppress the farmer, and to the farmer that he should be frugal, temperate, and industrious. After giving an account of the instruments of husbandry, he describes a country statute, and introduces the episode of Patty, the fair milk-maid. The next objects offered to view are the farmers poultry, kine, hogs, &c. with their enemies, the kite, the fox, the badger, and such other animals as prey upon the produce of the farm, or impede the industrious labours of the husbandman; and we are shown how the cultivation of the former, and the destruction of the latter contribute alternately to provide him with business or amusement: whence we are led to contemplate the happiness of a rural life; to which succeeds an address to the great to engage them in the study of agriculture. An allegorical explanation of nature's operations on the vegetable world, with a philosophical system, built on the experimental foundation laid by Dr. Hales, concludes the canto. The address to the Genius of Britain is pleasing, and the description of the Fair Milk-maid is exquisitely beautiful.

• The second canto begins with instructions for meliorating soils, according to their diversity, whether they consist of sand, loam, or clay. Mr. Tull's principles and practice are particularly taken notice of, and those of the Middlesex gardeners. Directions are also given for various manures, and other methods are pointed out for the improvement and enclosure of lands; the respective uses of the several: forest trees are distinguished; the advantages arising from plantations pointed out; and rules are presented for their successful cultivation. To these succeed some observations on gardening, wherein the taste for strait lines, regular platforms, and clipt trees, imported from Holland

at