the hammer of a mortal : and a bastard may be dropped by a human strumpet. On great occasions, and un small, the mind is repelled by useless and apparent falsehood.

Of his little poems the public judgment seems to be right; they are neither much esteemed nor totally despised. The story of the apparition is borrowed from one of the tales of Poggio. Those that please least are the pieces to which Gulliver gave occasion: for who can much delight in the echo of unnatural fic. tion?

'Dione' is a counterpart to Amynta' and Pastor Fido,' and other trifles of the same kind, easily imi. tated, and unworthy of imitation. What the Italians call comedies from a happy conclusion, Gay calls a tragedy from a mournful event: but the style of the Italians and of Gay is equally tragical. There is something in the poetical Arcadia so remote from known reality and speculative possibility, that we can never support its representation through a long work. A pas toral of a hundred lines may be endured; but who will hear of sheep and goats, and myrtle bowers, and purl. ing rivulets, through five acts? Such scenes please barbarians in the dawn of literature, and children in the dawn of life: but will be for the most part thrown away, as men grow wise, and nations grow learned.

DR. NATHANIEL COTTON,

AUTHOR of the Visions in Verse,' was born about the year 1707; but where, or of what family, is not known; his friends having given to the world few anecdotes which can throw light upon his history. He studied physic at Leyden, in Boerhaave's time; and probably took his degree at that university, which was then of the highest reputation. On his return to England he became, probably by accident, the assist. ant, and afterwards successor, of a Dr. Crawley, who kept a house for the reception of lunatics at Dunstable.

From this place Dr. Cotton removed to St. Alban's, where he formed a large establishment for his patients, which is still known by the name of The College.

His poems and prose essays were written during such intervals of leisure as his increasing business permitted. The Visions in Verse' were first published in 1751; and a complete collection of his works was published in two volumes, in 1791. He was twice married, and had children by both his wives. One of his sons became a director of the Hon. East India Company. He died at St. Alban's, Aug. 2, 1788. Cowper, the celebrated poet, was at one time his patient, and has borne a very honourable testimony to his tenderness and skill as a physician, as well as to his genius and piety. Cowper's biographer, Mr. Hayley, says that Dr. Cotton was a scholar and a poet, who added to many accomplishments a peculiar sweetness of manners, in very advanced life. Besides the charms of a style, easy, natural, and often ornamented, all his poems have the superior merit of being eminently calculated to promote just ideas of morality, and an accurate knowledge of life and manners.

EDWARD MOORE,

AUTHOR of Fables for the Female Sex,' was born at Abingdon in Berkshire, in the year 1712. He was originally intended for business, and lived for some time with a linen-draper, in London. He afterwards commenced a partnership in the linen trade with a friend in Ireland, which proved unsuccessful. From that time he appears to have devoted himself to lite. rary pursuits. His Fables for the Female Sex' were published in 1744. His next production, 'The Trial of Selim,' was an elegant panegyric on Sir George, afterwards Lord Lyttelton, couched under the mask of satire.

He then became a writer for the stage, and produced two comedies, The Foundling,' and ' Gil Blas;'

and a tragedy, 'The Gamester.' The success of his comedies was not great; but his Gamester,' which is still a stock-piece, is justly allowed to be one of the finest appeals to the passions that ever was made.

About the year 1753, when this tragedy was first acted, Lord Lyttelton encouraged the author to commence a periodical paper, in the manner of the Spectator, called 'The World,' and undertook to engage his noble and learned friends as occasional assistants. Moore accordingly agreed with Dodsley as the publisher, and had not written many numbers, when he received papers from the celebrated Earl of Chester. field, Richard Owen Cambridge, Esq., Horace Walpole, afterwards Earl of Orford, Soame Jenyns, the Earl of Cork, Earl of Bath, Sir David Dalrymple, afterwards Lord Hailes, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, and many other persons of wit and taste. 'The World' was said to be the bow of Ulysses, in which it was the fashion for men of rank and genius to try their strength;' and it excited the public attention in a great degree. Mr. Moore contributed above sixty papers, in which the lesser follies and foibles of common and fashionable life are ridiculed with poignant yet delicate satire.

He died of an inflammation on his lungs, the consequence of a fever improperly treated, Feb. 28, 1757. It is rather singular that this event took place just after correcting the last paper of the octavo edition of 'The World,' which contains a fictitious account of the author.

As a poet, his fame rests principally on his Fables for the Female Sex.' The sentiments are not only calculated to the best moral purposes, but are elegantly expressed in harmonious and flowing verse, certainly not inferior in this respect to that of his model, Gay. He appears to have been a very attentive observer of human life, and an acute discerner of those improprieties, which are slight in appearance, but have a considerable effect on domestic as well as individual happiness.

The Shepherd and the Philosopher.
REMOTE from cities liv'd a swain,
Unvex'd with all the cares of gain;
His head was silver'd o'er with age,
And long experience made him sage;
In summer's heat and winter's cold,
He fed his flock and penn'd the fold;
His hours in cheerful labour flew,
Nor envy nor ambition knew;
His wisdom and his honest fame
Through all the country rais'd his name.
A deep Philosopher (whose rules
Of moral life were drawn from schools)
The Shepherd's homely cottage sought,
And thus explor'd his reach of thought:

'Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consum'd the midnight oil? Hast thou old Greece and Rome survey'd, And the vast sense of Plato weigh'd? Hath Socrates thy soul refin'd,'

And hast thou fathom'd Tully's mind?
Or, like the wise Ulysses, thrown
By various fates on realms unknown,
Hast thou through many cities stray'd,
Their customs, laws, and manners weigh'd?'
The Shepherd modestly reply'd,

'I ne'er the paths of learning try'd;
Nor have I roam'd in foreign parts
To read mankind, their laws, and arts;
For man is practis'd in disguise,
He cheats the most discerning eyes';
Who by that search shall wiser grow,
When we ourselves can never know?
The little knowledge I have gain'd,
Was all from simple nature drain'd;
Hence my life's maxims took their rise;
Hence grew my settled hate to vice.

'The daily labours of the bee Awake my soul to industry:

B

Who can observe the careful ant,
And not provide for future want?
My dog, the trustiest of his kind,
With gratitude inflames my mind;
I mark his true, his faithful way,
And in my service copy Tray.
In constancy and nuptial love,
1 learn my duty from the dove.
The hen, who from the chilly air,
With pious wings protects her care;
And ev'ry fowl that flies at large,
Instructs me in a parent's charge.
'From nature, too, I take my rule,
To shun contempt and ridicule.
I never with important air
In conversation overbear.

Can grave and formal pass for wise,
When men the solemn owl despise ?
My tongue within my lips I rein;
For who talks much, must talk in vain:
We from the wordy torrent fly:
Who listens to the chatt'ring pie?

Nor would I, with felonious slight,

By stealth invade my neighbour's right.
Rapacious animals we hate:

Kites, hawks, and wolves deserve their fate.
Do not we just abhorrence find

Against the toad and serpent kind?

But envy, calumny, and spite,
Bear stronger venom in their bite.
Thus ev'ry object of creation
Can furnish hints to contemplation:
And from the most minute and mean,
A virtuous mind can morals glean.'

'Thy fame is just,' the sage replies,
Thy virtue proves thee truly wise.
Pride often guides the author's pen,
Books as affected are as men;
But he who studies Nature's laws,
From certain truth his maxims draws;
And those, without our schools, suffice
To make men moral, good, and wise.