of those who knew him, he determined to remain in Ireland. This resolution was owing to the influence of his wife, who apprehended that his political zeal, among his English friends, might lead him to some intemperate publication. Brooke, however, had too much of the politician to lose it by returning to his native soil. In the year of the rebellion, he addressed his "Farmer's Letters" to his countrymen, and they were supposed to have had a beneficial influence on their temper, at a critical period. He was also, to his honour, one of the earliest advocates for alleviating the penal laws against the catholics. Their pacific behaviour, in 1745, had certainly furnished him with a powerful argument in their behalf.

He wrote thirteen dramatic pieces, of which "Gustavus Vasa," and the " Earl of Essex," were the only two that ever reached the English stage. The rest were not heard of in England, till his collected works were published in 1778; but his novel, "The Fool of Quality," gave some popularity to his name. In Ireland, Lord Chesterfield gave him the appointment of a barrack-master, which he held till his death. The accounts of his private circumstances, in that kingdom, are given rather confusedly by his biographers; but it appears, upon the whole, that they were unfortunate. He supported an only brother in his house, with a family as numerous as his own; and ruined himself by his generosity. At last the loss of his wife, after an union of fifty years, the death of many of his children, and his other

misfortunes, overwhelmed his intellects. Of this imbecility there were indeed some manifestations, in the latest productions of his pen.

THE REPTILE AND INSECT WORLD.
FROM UNIVERSAL BEAUTY, BOOK V.

LIKE Nature's law no eloquence persuades,
The mute harangue our ev'ry sense invades ;
Th' apparent precepts of the Eternal Will
His ev'ry work, and ev'ry object fill;
Round with our eyes his revelation wheels,
Our ev'ry touch his demonstration feels.

And, O Supreme! whene'er we cease to know
Thee, the sole Source, whence sense and science flow!

Then must all faculty, all knowledge fail,

And more than monster o'er the man prevail.

Not thus he gave our optic's vital glance, Amid omniscient art, to search for chance, Blind to the charms of Nature's beauteous frame; Nor made our organ vocal, to blaspheme: Not thus he will'd the creatures of his nod, And made the mortal, to unmake his God; Breath'd on the globe, and brooded o'er the wave, And bid the wide obsequious world conceive: Spoke into being myriads, myriads rise, And with young transport gaze the novel skies; Glance from the surge, beneath the surface scud, Or cleave enormous the reluctant flood;

Or roll vermicular their wanton maze,

And the bright path with wild meanders glaze;
Frisk in the vale, or o'er the mountains bound,
Or in huge gambols shake the trembling ground;
Swarm in the beam; or spread the plumy sail-
The plume creates, and then directs the gale:
While active gaiety, and aspect bright,
In each expressive, sums up all delight.

The reptile first, how exquisitely form'd, With vital streams through ev'ry organ warm'd! External round the spiral muscle winds, And folding close th' interior texture binds; Secure of limbs or needless wing he steers, And all one locomotive act appears; His rings with one elastic membrane bound, The prior circlet moves th' obsequious round; The next, and next, its due obedience owes, And with successive undulation flows. The mediate glands, with unctuous juice replete, Their stores of lubricating guile secrete; Still opportune, with prompt emission flow, And slipping frustrate the deluded foe; When the stiff clod their little augers bore, And all the worm insinuates through the pore. Slow moving next, with grave majestic pace, Tenacious snails their silent progress trace; Through foreign fields secure from exile roam, And sojourn safe beneath their native home. Their domes self-wreath'd, each architect attend, With mansions lodge them, and with mail defend:

But chief, when each his gint'ry portal forms,
And mocks secluded from incumbent storms;
Till gates, unbarring with the vernal ray,
Give all the secret hermitage to day;

Then peeps the sage from his unfolding doors,
And cautious Heaven's ambiguous brow explores:
Towards the four winds four telescopes he bends,
And on his own astrology depends;

Assur'd he glides beneath the smiling calm,
Bathes in the dew, and sips the morning balm;
The peach this pamp'ring epicure devours,
And climbing on the topmost fruitage towers,
Such have we cull'd from nature's reptile scene,
Least accurate of all the wondrous train,
Who plung'd recluse in silent caverns sleep;
Or multipede, earth's leafy verdure creep;
Or on the pool's new mantling surface play,
And range a drop, as whales may range the sea:
Or ply the rivulet with supple oars,

And oft, amphibious, course the neighb'ring shores;
Or shelt'ring, quit the dank inclement sky,
And condescend to lodge where princes lie;
There tread the ceiling, an inverted floor,
And from its precipice depend secure :

Or who nor creep, nor fly, nor walk, nor swim,
But claim new motion with peculiar limb,
Successive spring with quick elastic bound,
And thus transported pass the refluent ground.
Or who all native vehicles despise,

And buoy'd upon their own inventions rise;

Shoot forth the twine, their light aerial guide,
And mounting o'er the distant zenith ride.
Or who a twofold apparatus share,
Natives of earth, and habitants of air;

Like warriors stride, oppress'd with shining mail,
But furl'd, beneath, their silken pennons veil :
Deceiv'd, our fellow reptile we admire,

His bright endorsement, and compact attire,
When lo! the latent springs of motion play,
And rising lids disclose the rich inlay ;
The tissu'd wing its folded membrane frees,
And with blithe quavers fans the gath'ring breeze;
Elate tow'rds Heav'n the beaut'ous wonder flies,
And leaves the mortal wrapp'd in deep surprise.
So when the guide led Tobit's youthful heir,
Elect, to win the seven times widow'd fair,
Th' angelic form, conceal'd in human guise,
Deceiv'd the search of his associate's eyes;
Till swift each charm bursts forth like issuing flame,
And circling rays confess his heavenly frame;
The zodiac round his waist divinely turns,
And waving radiance o'er his plumage burns:
In awful transports rapt, the youth admires,
While light from earth the dazzling shape aspires.
O think, if superficial scenes amaze,
And e'en the still familiar wonders please,
These but the sketch, the garb, the veil of things,
Whence all our depth of shallow science springs;
Think, should this curtain of Omniscience rise,
Think of the sight! and think of the surprise!