Pigram undam volvunt, & sola papavera pascunt: Quorum lentus odor, lethæaque pocula somnos Suadent perpentus, circumfusæque tenebræ. Horrendo visu obstupui: quin Pegason ipsum Defecere animi; sensit dux, terque flagello Insonuit clarùm, terque alta voce morantem Increpuit: secat ille cito pede lævia campi Ætherei, terræque secundâ allabitur aurâ. Cantabr. in Comitiis prioribus, 1740-1. MATERIES GAUDET VI INERTIÆ. BY CHRISTOPHER SMART, M. A. VERVECUM in patria, quà latè Belgica squalent Arva inarata, palus horrenda voragine crebrâ Ante oculos jacet; haud illic impune viator, Fer tenebras iter instituat; tremit undique tellus Sub pedibus malefida, vapores undique densos Sudat humus, nebulisque amicitur tristibus herba. Huc fato infelix si quando agiteris iniquo, Et tutò in medium liceat penetrare, videbis Attonitus, nigrå de nube emergere templum, Templum ingens, immane, altum penetrale Stuporis. Plumbea stat turris, plumbum sinuatur in arcus, The woods, if woods there be, lie leafless, low Beneath bleak mountains of eternal snow. Dull animals inhabit this abode, The owl, mole, dormouse, tortoise, and the toad. Aghast I stood, the drowsy vapours lull You'll see, within the centre of the land, A leaden tower upheaves its heavy head, Their habitation here those monsters keep, How can the Muse recount the numerous crew No cure exhal'd from Zephyr's buxom breeze, Behold that portico! how vast, how wide! Tertia Microphile, proles furtiva parentis Divina! produxit enim commixta furenti Diva viro Physice-muscas & papiliones Lustrat inexpletùm, collumque & tempora rident Floribus, & fungis, totâque propagine veris. Rara oculis nugarum avidis animalia quærit Omne genus, seu serpit humi, seu ludit in undis, Seu volitans tremulis liquidum secat aëra pennis. O! ubi littoribus nostris felicior aura Polypon appulerit, quanto cava templa Stuporis Mugitu concussa trement, reboabit & ingens Quartam Materies peperit conjuncta Stupori, Nomen Atheia illi, monstrum cui lumenademptum, Atque aures; cui sensus abest, sed mille trisulca Ore micant linguæ, refugas quibus inficit auras. She from Old Matter, the great mother came, With these the monster, arrogant and vain, In vain-the mathematic mob restrains Whether along the lap of Earth they stray, And glow with warmer raptures than the rest? No longer shall the crocodile excel, Nor weaving worm, nor variegated shell; The polypus shall novelties inspire, The polypus, her only fond desire. Lo! by the wounds of her creating knife, The fourth dire shape from mother Matter Hanc stupor ipse parens odit, vicina nefandos rum, Et puro sublimè sonat grave fulmen olympo. Fonte ortus Lethæo, ipsus ad ostia templi, Ire soporifero tendit cum murmure rivus, Huc potum Stolidos Deus evocat agmine magno: Crebri adsunt, largisque sitim restinguere gaudeut [stupendo. Haustibus, atque iterant calices, certantque "Me, me etiam," clamo, occurrens ;-sed vellicat aurem Calliope, nocuasque vetat contingere lymphas Curs'd by her sire, her very words are wounds, A river, murmuring from Lethæan source, Me, let me taste the sacred stream," (I cry'd), With out-stretch'd arm-the Muse my boon deny'd, And sav'd me from the sense-intoxicating tide. Edita vix tandem est monstrum Folychasmia, Tanto digna parente, aviæque simillima Nocti. creata est. Nonne vides, ut præcipiti petit oppida cursu magno Extendunt nisu, patulis & faucibus biscunt. MECHANICAL SOLUTION OF THE PROPAGATION OF YAWNING. WHEN Pallas issued from the brain of Jove, Thou shalt conceive, and bring forth at thy jaws." At length was Polychasmia brought to light, Her eyes to open oft in vain she try'd, Behold! the motley multitude from far Who weigh out justice, and distribute right: Intereà legum caupones jurgia miscent, bum. Vos, Fanatica turba, nequit pia Musa tacere. Majoremne aliunde potest diducere rictuin? Ascendit gravis Orator, miserâque loquelâ Expromit thesin; in partes quam deinde minutas Distrahit, ut connectat, & explicat obscurando: Spargitur hue! pigris verborum somnus ab alis, Grex circùm gemit, & plausum declarat hiando. Nec vos, qui falsò matrem jactatis Hygeian, Patremque Hippocratem,taceam-Polychasmia, vestros Agnosco natos: tumidas sine pondere voces Ante alios summa es, Polychasmia, cura sophistæ : Ille Tui cæcas vires, causamque latentem Sedulus exquirit-quo scilicet impete fauces Invitæ disjungantur; quo vortice aquosæ Particulæ fluitent, comitesque ut fulminis imbres, Cum strepitu erumpant; ut deinde vaporet ocellos Materies subtilis; ut in cutis insinuet se Abstrusam in chordis simul elicis, altera, siquam Me quoque, mene tuum tetigisti, ingrata, poetam ? Hei mihi totus hio tibi jam stupefactus, in ipso Farnasso captus longè longèque remotas Prospecto Musas, sitioque, ut Tantalus alter, Castalias situs inter aquas, inhiantis ab ore Nectarei fugiunt latices-hos Popius urnâ Excipit undanti, & fontem sibe vendicat omnem. Haud aliter Socium esuriens Sizator edacem Dum videt, appositusque cibus frustratur hiantem, Dentibus infrendens nequicquam lumine torvo prema Devoret, & peritura immani ingurgitet ore: Tum demum jubet auferri; nudata capaci Ossa sonant, lugubre sonant catino. Silent they nod, and with laborious strain Ye too, Fanatics, never shall escape The quacks of physic next provoke my ire, Who falsely boast Hippocrates their sire: Goddess! thy sons I ken-verbose and loud, They feed with windy puffs the gaping crowd. With look important, critical, and vain, Each to his nose applies the gilded cane; Each as he nods, and ponders o'er the case, Gravely collects himself into his face, Explains his med'cines-which the rustic buys, Drinks the dire draught, and of the doctor dies; No pills, no potions can to life restore; Abracadabra, necromantic power! Can charm, and conjure up from death no more. The Sophs, great goddess, are thy darling care, Who hunt out questions intricately rare; In drowsy vapours, and the yawn goes round. But oh! ungrateful! to thy own true bard, Is this, O goddess! this my just reward? Thy drowsy dews upon my head distil, Just at the entrance of th' Aonian hill; Listless I yawn, unactive, and supine, And at vast distance view the sacred Nine: Wishful I view Castalia's streams, accurst, Like Tantalus, with unextinguish'd thirst; The waters fly my lips, my claim disownPope drinks them deeply, they are all his own. Thus the lank Sizar views, with gaze aghast, The harpy tutor at his noon's repast; In vain his teeth he grinds-oft checks a sigh, And darts a silent censure from his eye: Now he prepares, officious, to convey The lessening relics of the meal away— In vain, no morsel 'scapes the greedy jaw, All, all is gorg'd in magisterial maw; Till at the last observant of his word, The lamentable waiter clears the board, And inly-murmuring miserably groans, To see the empty dish, and hear the rattling bones. TO WILLIAM DIXON, ESQ. WHILE at your Loversal, secure retreat, Can my friend listen to this flowery lay, If aught these lines thy candid ear engage, THE PREFACE. of Angus. His father was Archibald, the sixth earl of Angus: he married Elizabeth, daughter to Robert Boyd, (who was chancellor and one of the governors of the kingdom of Scotland, A. D. 1468) by whom he had issue four sons, George, William, Gawin, and Archibald. The two eldest, with two hundred gentleman of the name of Douglas, were killed in the battle of Flodden. Our author was born the latter end of the year 1474, or the beginning of 1475. Great care was taken of his education,and he was early instructed in the liberal arts and sciences. When he had completed his studies in his own country, he went abroad, that he might farther improve himself by conversation with great and learned men, and observations on the laws and customs of other countries. Upon his return to Scotland, he was advanced to be provost of the collegiate church of St. Giles in Edinburgh, and rector of Heriot church, some few miles distant from it. In this station he continued several years, behaving himself as became his holy character, noble birth, and liberal education. After the battle of Flodden many ecclesiastical dignities became vacant; among which was the abbacy of Aberbrothock, one of the most considerable in the kingdom. The queen mother, who was then regent, and shortly after married to the earl of Angus, our author's nephew, presented him to it; and soon after to the archbishopric of St. Andrews. But he met with so great opposition in this affair, that neither the royal authority, nor the influence of his noble relations, nor his own unexceptionable merit, were able to procure him peaceable possession: for Andrew Forman (bishop of Murray, and archbishop of Bourges in France) by the interest he had in the court of Rome, and the duke of Albany, obtained a bull from the pope for that dignity, and was accord THE following poem of Gawin Douglas is prefixed to the XIIth book of his translation of Virgil's Æneis, and entitled, "Ane singular lernit Proloug of the discription of May;" and is now publish'd, as a proof, that the muses had visitedingly acknowledged as archbishop by most of the Great Britain, and the flowers of poetry began to bloom 250 years ago. It may also serve as an instance, that the lowland Scotch language and the English, at that time were nearly the same. Chaucer and Douglas may be look'd upon as the two bright stars that illumined England and Scotland, after a dark interval of dulness, a long night of ignorance and superstition, and foretold the return of day, and the revival of learning. This description of May is extremely picturesque and elegant, and esteemed to be one of the most splendid descriptions of that month that has appeared in print; which is all the apology I shall make for having given it a more modern dress. The old Scotch is printed exactly after the Edinburgh edition, which was published in the year 1710. SOME ACCOUNT OF GAWIN DOUG LAS. GAWIN DA CLAS, bishop of Dunkeld, was nobly descended, being a son of the illustrious family clergy of the see. Mr. Douglas, reflecting on the scandals which arose from such unworthy contests, and preferring the honour of a Christian, and peaceable disposition to his temporal interest and greatness, wholly laid aside his pretensions to that see. But the bishopric of Dunkeld becoming vacant, in January 1515, the queen advanced him to it; and afterwards, by the intercession of Henry III. king of England, obtained a bull in his favour from pope Leo X. Notwithstanding his right was founded on the royal and papal authority, yet he could not obtain consecration for a considerable time, because of a powerful competitor; for Andrew Stuart, prebendary of Craig, and brother to the earl of Athole, had got himself nominated bishop by such of the chapter as were present; and his title was supported by all the enemies of the queen and her husband the earl of Angus, particularly the duke of Albany, who returning to Scotland in May 1515, was declared regent. In the first session of parliament after the governor's arrival, Mr. Douglas was accused, on some groundless pretext or other, of acting contrary to the laws of the nation, was pronounced guilty, and committed to the castle of St. Andrews, and imprisoned upwards of a year, till the governor was reconciled to the queen and the |