And gravely tells-attend each beauteous Miss!-
When first Madeira trembled to a kiss.

BOWLES! in thy memory, let this precept dwell,
Stick to thy Sonnets, man! at least they sell:
Or take the only path that open lies

For modern worthies who would hope to rise:
Fix on some well known name, and bit by bit,
Pare off the merits of his worth and wit;

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On each alike employ the critic's knife,

And where a comment fails prefix a life;
Hint certain failings, faults before unknown,
Revive forgotten lies, and add your own;
Let no disease, let no misfortune 'scape,
And print, if luckily deformed, his shape:
Thus shall the world, quite undeceiv'd at last,
Cleave to their present wits and quit their past;

vers, who performed the kiss above-mentioned, that startled the woods of Madeira.

Bards once rever'd no more with favour view,
But give their modern sonneteers their due; 260
Thus with the dead may living merit cope,

Thus BowLES may triumph o'er the shade of POPE.*

With broken lyre and cheek serenely pale, Lo! sad ALCAUS wanders down the vale!

Though fair they rose, and might have bloom'd at last, His hopes have perish'd by the northern blast: Nipp'd in the bud by Caledonian gales,

His blossoms wither, as the blast prevails!

O'er his lost works, let classic SHEFFIELD weep: May no rude hand disturb their early sleep!+ 270

* See Bowles's late edition of POPE's works, for which he received 300 pounds: thus Mr. B. has experienced, how much easier it is to profit by the reputation of another, than to elevate his own.

+ Poor MONTGOMERY! though praised by every English Review, has been bitterly reviled by the EDINBURGH. After

Yet, say! why should the Bard, at once, resign His claim to favour from the sacred Nine ?

Forever startled by the mingled howl

Of Northern wolves that still in darkness prowl;
A coward brood which mangle as they prey,
By hellish instinct, all that cross their way:
Aged or young, the living or the dead,
No mercy find, these harpies must be fed.
Why do the injured unresisting yield
The calm possession of their native field?

Why tamely thus before their fangs retreat,

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Nor hunt the bloodhounds back to ARTHUR'S seat?*

Health to immortal JEFFREY! once, in name, England could boast a judge almost the same:

Ly

all, the Bard of Sheffield is a man of considerable genius: his "Wanderer of Switzerland" is worth a thousand 66 rical Ballads," and at least fifty "Degraded Epics."

* ARTHUR'S seat; the hill which overhangs Edinburgh.

In soul so like, so merciful, yet just,
Some think that Satan has resign'd his trust,
And given the Spirit to the world again,

To sentence Letters, as he sentenc'd men.

With hand less mighty, but with heart as black,

With voice as willing to decree the rack;
Bred in the Courts betimes, though all that law

As yet hath taught him is to find a flaw.
Since well instructed in the patriot school
To rail at party, though a party tool,

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Who knows? if chance his patrons should restore Back to the sway they forfeited before,

His scribbling toils some recompence may meet, And raise this Daniel to the Judgment Seat. Let JEFFERIES' shade indulge the pious hope, And greeting thus, present him with a rope, "Heir to my virtues! man of equal mind! "Skill'd to condemn as to traduce mankind, "This cord receive! for thee reserv'd with care,

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"To wield in judgment, and at length to wear."

Health to great JEFFREY! Heaven preserve his life, To flourish on the fertile shores of Fife,

And guard it sacred in his future wars,

Since authors sometimes seek the field of Mars!
Can none remember that eventful day,

That ever glorious, almost fatal fray,

When LITTLE's leadless pistol met his eye,

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And Bow-street Myrmidoms stood laughing by ?*
Oh! day disastrous! on her firm set rock,
Dunedin's castle felt a secret shock;

Dark roll'd the sympathetic waves of Forth,
Low groan'd the startled whirlwinds of the North;

* In 1806, Messrs. JEFFREY and MOORE, met at ChalkFarm. The duel was prevented by the interference of the Magistracy; and, on examination, the balls of the pistols, like the courage of the combatants, were found to have evaporated. This incident gave occasion to much waggery in the daily prints.

D