His

much instruction was to be had; and from that little he was called away, upon the first alarm of infection. Such indeed was his constant apprehension of the disease, that he lived for twenty years within twenty miles of London without visiting it more than once. About the age of seventeen, however, he betook himself to reading. His family, from their cast of opinions and society, were not likely to abound either in books or conversation relating to literature; but he happened to form an acquaintance and friendship with a neighbour of the name of Frogley, a master bricklayer, who, though an uneducated man, was an admirer of poetry, and by his intercourse with this friend he strengthened his literary propensity. His first poetical essays were transmitted to the Gentleman's Magazine.' In his thirtieth year he published four elegies, which were favourably received. poems, entitled, The Garden,' and 'Amwell,' and his volume of collected poetical pieces, appeared after considerable intervals; and his Critical Essays on the English Poets,' two years after his death. These, with his 'Remarks on the Poems of Rowley,' are all that can be called his literary productions. He published also two political tracts, in answer to Dr Johnson's 'Patriot,' and 'False Alarm.' His critical essays contain some judicious remarks on Denham and Dyer; but his verbal strictures on Collins and Goldsmith discover a miserable insensibility to the soul of those poets. His own verses are chiefly interesting where they breathe the pacific principles of the Quaker; while his personal character engages respect, from exhibiting a public spirit and liberal taste beyond the habits of his brethren. He was well informed in the laws of his country; and, though prevented by his tenets from becoming a magistrate, he made himself useful to the inhabitants of Amwell, by his offices of arbitration, and by promoting schemes of local improvement. He was constant in his attendance at turnpike meetings, navigation trusts, and commissions of land-tax. Ware and Hertford were indebted to him for the plan of opening a spacious road between those two towns. His treatises on the highway and parochial laws were the result of long and laudable attention to those subjects.

"His verses, and his amiable character, gained him by degrees a large circle of literary acquaintance, which included Dr. Johnson, Sir William Jones, Mrs. Montague, and many other distinguished individuals; and having submitted to inoculation, in his thirty-sixth year, he was from that period more frequently in London. In his retirement he was fond of gardening, and, in amusing himself with the improvement of his grounds, had excavated a grotto in the side of a hill, which his biographer, Mr. Hoole, writing in 1785, says was still shown as a curiosity in that part of the country. He was twice married. His first

putting his name to a joint security for £3000, at the request of his friend Fleetwood, the theatrical manager, who persuaded him that his signature was a mere matter of form. How he obtained his liberation we are not informed.

"In the year 1735 he married a Miss Anne Dyer, with whom he obtained ten thousand pounds. She was homely in her person, and very weak in intellect; but Whitehead, it appears, always treated her with respect and tenderness.

"He became, in the same year, a satirical rhymer against the ministry of Walpole; and having published his 'State Dunces,' a weak echo of the manner of the Dunciad,' he was patronised by the opposition, and particularly by Bubb Doddington. In 1739 he published the Manners,' a satire, in which Mr. Chalmers says that he attacks every thing venerable in the constitution. The poem is not worth disputing about; but it is certainly a mere personal lampoon, and no attack on the constitution. For this invective he was summoned to appear at the bar of the House of Lords, but concealed himself for a time, and the affair was dropped. The threat of prosecuting him, it was suspected, was meant as a hint to Pope, that those who satirised the great might bring themselves into danger; and Pope (it is pretended) became more cautious. There would seem, however, to be nothing very terrific in the example of a prosecution, that must have been dropped either from clemency or conscious weakness. The ministerial journals took another sort of revenge, by accusing him of irreligion; and the evidence, which they candidly and consistently brought to substantiate the charge, was the letter of a student from Cambridge, who had been himself expelled from the university for atheism.

"In 1744 he published another satire, entitled the Gymnasiad,' on the most renowned boxers of the day. It had at least the merit of being harmless.

"By the interest of Lord Despenser, he obtained a place under government, that of deputy treasurer of the chamber; and, retiring to a handsome cottage, which he purchased at Twickenham, he lived in comfort and hospitality, and suffered his small satire and politics to be equally forgotten. Churchill attacked him in a couplet :

May I (can worse disgrace on manhood fall ?)

Be born a Whitehead and baptised a Paul.' But though a libertine like Churchill, he seems not to have been the worse man of the two. Sir John Hawkins gives him the character of being good-hearted, even to simplicity; and says, that he was esteemed a Twickenham for his kind offices, and for composing quarrels among his neighbours."Campbell's "Specimens."

JOHN CUNNINGHAM.

"John Cunningham, born 1729, died 1773, the son of a wine-cooper in Dublin, was a respectable actor, and performed several years in Digges's company, Edinburgh. In his latter years he resided in Newcastle-on-Tyne, in the house of a 'generous printer,' whose hospitality for some time supported the poet. Cunningham's pieces are full of pastoral simplicity and lyrical melody. He aimed at nothing high and seldom failed."-Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit,"vol. ii. See Allibone's "Crit. Dict. Eng. Lit."; Campbell's "Specimens."

NATHANIEL COTTON.

"Nathaniel Cotton, born 1721, died 1788, wrote Visions in Verse,' for children, and a volume of poetical 'Miscellanies.' He followed the medical profession in St. Albans, and was distinguished for his skill in the treatment of cases of insanity. Cowper, his patient, bears evidence to his 'well-known humanity and sweetness of temper."-Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit.," vol. ii. p. 122. See Allibone's "Crit. Dict. Eng. Lit."; Grimshawe's "Life of Cowper"; Southey's "Life and Works of Cowper."

CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY.

"Christopher Anstey, born 1724, died 1805, was author of 'The New Bath Guide,' a light satirical and humorous poem, which appeared in 1766, and set an example in this description of composition, that has since been followed in numerous instances, and with great success. Smollett, in his 'Humphrey Clinker,' published five years later, may be almost said to have reduced the New Bath Guide' to prose. Many of the characters and situations are exactly the same as those of Anstey. This poem seldom rises above the tone of conversation, but is easy, sportive, and entertaining. The fashionable Fribbles of the day, the chat, scandal and amusements of those attending the wells, and the canting hypocrisy of some sectarians, are depicted, sometimes with indelicacy, but always with force and liveliness. Mr. Anstey was son of the Rev. Dr. Anstey, rector of Brinkeley, in Cambridgeshire, a gentleman who possessed a considerable landed property, which the poet afterwards inherited. He was educated at Eton school, and elected to King's College, Cambridge, and in both places he distinguished himself as a classical scholar. In consequence of his refusal to deliver certain declamations, Anstey quarrelled with the heads of the university, and was denied the usual degree. In the epilogue to the New Bath Guide,' he alludes to this circumstance

'Granta, sweet Granta, were studious of ease, Seven years did I sleep, and then lost my degrees.'

He then went into the army, and married Miss Calvert, sister to his friend John Calvert, Esq., of Allbury Hall, in Hertfordshire, through whose influence he was returned to parliament for the borough of Hertford. He was a frequent resident in the city of Bath, and a favourite in the fashionable and literary coteries of the place. In 1766 was published his celebrated poem, which instantly became popular. He wrote various other pieces—' A Poem on the Death of the Marquis of Tavistock (1767); An Election Ball, in Poetical Letters from Mr. Inkle at Bath to his Wife at Gloucester'; a 'Paraphrase of the Thirteenth Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians'; a satire entitled 'The Priest Dissected'; Speculation, or a Defence of Mankind' (1780); 'Liberality, or Memoirs of a Decayed Macaroni' (1788); The Farmer's Daughter, a Poetical Tale' (1795); and various other copies of occasional verses. Anstey also translated Gray's Elegy' into Latin verse, and addressed an elegant Latin Ode to Dr. Jenner. While the New Bath Guide' was the only thing in fashion,' and relished for its novel and original kind of humour, the other productions of Anstey were neglected by the public, and have never been revived. In the enjoyment of his paternal estate, the poet, however, was independent of the public support, and he took part in the sports of the field up to his eightieth year. While on a visit to his son-in-law, Mr. Bosanquet, at Harnage, Wiltshire, he was taken ill, and died on the 3rd of August, 1805.". -Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit.," vol. ii. See Allibone's "Crit. Dict. Eng. Lit."

6

MRS. THRALE.

"Mrs. Thrale, afterwards Mrs. Piozzi, born 1740, died 1822, whose maiden name was Esther Lynch Salusbury, a native of Bodville, in Carnarvonshire, married Mr. Henry Thrale, the opulent brewer, in whose house Dr. Johnson found so frequent a home. She was the authoress of The Three Warnings,' which is so good a piece of composition that Johnson has been supposed to have assisted in writing it. After the death of her husband, she mar ried Piozzi, an Italian music-master, and left England. She wrote several other works, but the one by which she is best known is Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson,' 1786. She spent the latter portion of her life at Clifton, where she died."-Shaw's "Hist. Eng. Lit."

THOMAS MOSS.

"Thomas Moss, who died in 1808, minister of Brierley Hill, and of Trentham, in Stafford

shire, published anonymously, in 1769, a collection of miscellaneous poems, forming a thin quarto, which he had printed at Wolverhampton. One piece was copied by Dodsley into his Annual Register,' and from thence has been transferred (different persons being assigned as the author) into almost every periodical and collection of fugitive verses. This poem is entitled The Beggar' (sometimes called The Beggar's Petition'), and contains much pathetic and natural sentiment finely expressed.". Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit.," vol. ii., p. 125.

JOHN WESLEY.

"John Wesley, born 1703, died 1791, a celebrated English divine, who, with Whitefield, founded Methodism. He was the son of Samuel Wesley the elder, and was educated at the Charterhouse, whence he removed to Christ Church College, Oxford; but in 1726 was chosen fellow of Lincoln College, where he became an eminent tutor. In 1730 he and his brother, with a few other students, formed themselves into a small society for the purpose of mutual edification in religious exercises. They devoted their leisure to visiting the prisons and the sick, took the communion once a week, and fasted upon two out of every seven days. An association thus rigidly occupied with religious duties excited considerable notice; and, among other names bestowed upon the members, that of Methodists was applied to them with such success as to subsequently become the distinctive appellation of all their followers. Deeming Oxford a sphere not large enough for his labours, Wesley, with some others, went to Georgia, in North America, in 1735, with a view of converting the Indians. After a stay there of nearly two years, he returned to England, commenced preaching to open-air meetings, and gathered many followers. The churches being shut against him, he built spacious meeting-houses in London, Bristol, and other places. For some time he was united to George Whitefield; but differences arising on account of the doctrine of election, which was zealously espoused and preached by the latter, they separated, and the Methodists were denominated according to their respective leaders. Wesley was indefatigable in his labours, and was almost continually engaged in travelling over England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. No man ever laboured more zealously or continuously in the cause which he had undertaken. Every moment of his life was devoted to the organization of the great sect of Methodists, and he preserved his influence over it to the last. He published hymns, sermons, political tracts, and controversial pieces against the Calvinists and Moravians; but the complete list of the writings of this extraordinary man is too

voluminous to be inserted. Two collected editions of his works have been published, the first in 32 vols., and the second in 16 vols. The best biographies of him are those of Coke and More, and Southey. His preaching was extemporaneous, but not vehement. He dwelt much upon practical religion, though he taught his followers to seek inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and to aspire to a state of sinless perfection."-Beeton's "Dict. Univ. Biog." See Southey's "Life of Wesley."

CHARLES WESLEY.

"Charles Wesley, born 1708, died 1788, an English divine, and younger brother of the preceding, was one of the first Methodists, and continued a constant preacher among them to his death. He wrote several hymns, and other pious pieces of great excellence."Beeton's "Dict. Univ. Biog." See Southey's "Life of Wesley."

AARON HILL.

"Aaron Hill was born in 1685, and died in the very minute of the earthquake of 1750, of the shock of which, though speechless, he appeared to be sensible. His life was active, benevolent, and useful: he was the general friend of unfortunate genius, and his schemes for public utility were frustrated only by the narrowness of his circumstances. Though his manners were unassuming, his personal dignity was such, that he made Pope fairly ashamed of the attempt to insult him, and obliged the satirist to apologise to him with a mean equivocation."-Campbell's Specimens. See Allibone's "Crit. Dict. Eng. Lit."

GILBERT WEST.

"Gilbert West, born 1706, died 1755. The translator of Pindar was the son of the Rev. Dr. West, who published an edition of the same classic at Oxford. His mother was sister to Sir Richard Temple, afterwards Lord Cobham. Though bred at Oxford with a view to the Church, he embraced the military life for some time, but left it for the employment of Lord Townshend, then secretary of state, with whom he accompanied the King to Hanover. Through this interest he was appointed clerk extraordinary to the Privy Council, a situation which however was not immediately profitable. He married soon after, and retired to Wickham, in Kent, where his residence was often visited by Pitt and Lord Lyttelton. There he wrote his 'Observations on the Resurrection,' for which the University of Oxford made him a Doctor of

Ross

"Alexander Ross, a schoolmaster in Lochlee, in Angus, when nearly seventy years of age, in 1768, published at Aberdeen, by the advice of Dr. Beattie, a volume entitled 'Helenore, or the Fortunate Shepherdess; a Pastoral Tale in the Scottish Dialect, to which are added a few Songs by the Author.' was a good descriptive poet, and some of his songs, as Woo'd, and Married, and a',' The Rock and the Wee Pickle Tow,' are still popular in Scotland. Being chiefly written in the Kincardineshire dialect (which differs in many expressions, and in pronunciation, from the Lowland Scotch of Burus), Ross is less known out of his native district than he ought to be. Beattie took a warm interest in the 'good-humoured, social, happy old man, who was independent on £20 a year; and to promote the sale of his volume, he addressed a letter and a poetical epistle in praise of it to the Aberdeen Journal. The epistle is remarkable as Beattie's only attempt in Aberdeenshire Scotch; one verse of it is equal to Burns:

'O bonny are our greensward hows, Where through the birks the burnie rows, And the bee bums, and the ox lows,

And saft winds rustle,

And shepherd lads on sunny knowes
Blaw the blythe whistle.'

Ross died in 1784, at the great age of eightysix."-Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit." vol. ii. pp. 125, 126.

LADY ANNE BARNARD.

"Lady Anne Barnard was authoress of 'Auld Robin Gray,' one of the most perfect, tender, and affecting of all our ballads or tales of humble life. About the year 1771, Lady Anne composed the ballad to an ancient air. It instantly became popular, but the lady kept the secret of its authorship for the long period of fifty years, when, in 1823, she acknowledged it in a letter to Sir Walter Scott, accompanying the disclosure with a full account of the circumstances under which it was written. the same time Lady Anne sent two continuations to the ballad, which, like all other continuations (Don Quixote, perhaps, excepted), are greatly inferior to the original. Indeed, the tale of sorrow is so complete in all its

At

parts, that no additions could be made without marring its simplicity or its pathos. Lady Anne was daughter of James Lindsay, fifth Earl of Balcarres; she was born 8th December, 1750, married in 1793 to Sir Andrew Barnard, librarian to George III., and died, without issue, on the 8th of May, 1825."-Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit.," vol. ii. p. 127. See Allibone's "Crit. Dict. Eng. Lit."

MRS. COCKBURN AND MISS JANE ELLIOT.

"Here we find two ladies amicably united in the composition of one of Scotland's finest songs, the Flowers of the Forest.' Miss Jane Elliot of Minto, sister of Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, wrote the first and the finest of the two versions. Mrs. Cockburn, the author of the second, was a remarkable person. Her maiden name was Alicia Rutherford, and she was the daughter of Mr. Rutherford of Fernilee, in Selkirkshire. She married Mr. Patrick Cockburn, a younger son of Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, Lord Justice-Clerk of Scotland. She became prominent in the literary circles of Edinburgh, and an intimate friend of David Hume, with whom she carried on a long and serious correspondence on religious subjects, in which it is understood the philosopher opened up his whole heart, but which is unfortunately lost. Mrs. Cockburn, who was born in 1714, lived to 1794, and saw and proclaimed the wonderful promise of Walter Scott. She wrote a great deal, but the Flowers of the Forest' is the only one of her effusions that has been published. A ludicrous story is told of her son, who was a dissipated youth, returning one night drunk, while a large party of savants was assembled in the house; and locking himself up in the room in which their coats and hats were deposited, nothing would rouse him; and the company had to depart in the best substitutes they could find for their ordinary habiliments, -Hume (characteristically) in a dreadnought, Monboddo in an old shabby hat, &c.-the echoes of the midnight Potterrow resounding to the laughter at their own odd figures. It is believed that Mrs. Cockburn's song was really occasioned by the bankruptcy of a number of gentlemen in Selkirkshire, although she chose to throw the new matter of lamentation into the old mould of song."-Gilfillan's "Less-known Brit. Poets," vol. iii. See Allibone's "Crit. Dict. Eng. Lit.

ROBERT CRAWFORD.

"Robert Crawford, author of 'The Bush aboon Traquair,' and the still finer lyric of 'Tweedside,' was the brother of Colonel Crawford of Achinames. He assisted Allan

Ramsay in his 'Tea-Table Miscellany,' and, according to information obtained by Burns, was drowned in coming from France in the year 1733. Crawford had genuine poetical fancy and expression. 'The true muse of native pastoral,' says Allan Cunningham, 'seeks not to adorn herself with unnatural ornaments; her spirit is in homely love and fireside joy; tender and simple, like the religion of the land, she utters nothing out of keeping with the character of her people, and the aspect of the soil; and of this spirit and of this feeling, Crawford is a large partaker.’ Chambers' " Cyc. Eng. Lit." vol. ii. p. 128. See Allibone's "Crit. Dict. Eng. Lit.'

SIR GILBERT ELLIOT.

"Sir Gilbert Elliot, author of what Sir Walter Scott calls the beautiful pastoral song,' beginning

He

He

'My sheep I neglected, I broke my sheep-hook,' was father of the first Earl of Minto, and was distinguished as a speaker in parliament. was, in 1763, treasurer of the navy, and afterwards keeper of the signet in Scotland. died in 1777. Mr. Tytler, of Woodhouselee, says, that Sir Gilbert Elliot, who had been taught the German flute in France, was the first who introduced that instrument into Scotland, about the year 1725."-Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit.," vol. ii. p. 129. See Allibone's "Crit. Dict. Eng. Lit."

ROBERT FERGUSSON.

"This unfortunate Scottish bard was born in Edinburgh on the 17th (some say the 5th) of October, 1751. His father, who had been an accountant to the British Linen Company's Bank, died early, leaving a widow and four children. Robert spent six years at the grammar schools of Edinburgh and Dundee, went for a short period to Edinburgh College, and then, having obtained a bursary, to St. Andrews, where he continued till his seventeenth year. He was at first designed for the ministry of the Scottish Church. He distinguished himself at college for his mathematical knowledge, and became a favourite of Dr. Wilkie, Professor of Natural Philosophy, on whose death he wrote an elegy. He early discovered a passion for poetry, and collected materials for a tragedy on the subject of Sir William Wallace, which he never finished. He once thought of studying medicine, but had neither patience nor funds for the needful preliminary studies. He went away to reside with a rich uncle, named John Forbes, in the north, near Aberdeen. This person, however, and poor Fergusson unfortunately quarelled;