It is eafy to perceive the advantage that may refult to the public from this immenfe collection. To have accefs to fuch a cabinet as this, is in effect, like making the tour of the world, and having for a tutor a catalogue of thirty-eight volumes in folio and eight in quarto, containing a fhort defcription of each curiofity, with a reference to the authors that treat of it more at large.

Sir Hans married, in 1695, Elizabeth, daughter of Alderman Langley, of London, who died in 1724, after fhe had brought him one fon, who died young, and three daughters, the youngest, of which died alfo in her infancy. Sarah, the eldeft, married George Stanley, Efq; of Poultons in the county of Hants; and Elizabeth, the fecond, married the Lord Cadogan, colonel of the fecond troop of horse guards, and governor of TilburyFort, &c.

**The judicious Author of this article will pardon us, if, for the fake of brevity, we have fometimes deviated from his mode of expreffion, and here and there omitted a fhort passage, of inferior import, for the fame reason.

To this houfe the two last-mentioned collections were removed, as alfo the Cottonian Library, with all the additions to it, and likewife that of Sir Arthur Edwards of Hanover fquare, bequeathed by his will in 1738.

The Prophecy of Famine. A Scots Paftoral. By C. Churchill. 2s. 6d. Kearly.

W

4to.

At the rate

'HAT a fcurri'ous age do we live in! we have proceeded in for fome time past, we shall foon degenerate into a nation of favages. Railing, abuse, and detraction, are become fashionable amufements; nay almost the fole employment of our Literati: what a debasement of Genius! what a degeneracy of Tafte!-In Politics, the revived Whig and Tory factions are as bitter in their enmity, as were the most implacable of their Predeceffors. In Divinity, the Freethinkers, the Methodists, and the orthodox Clergy are all together by the ears, dealing about their Anathemas like wild-fire. Even the Mufes too, those accomplish'd well-bred Ladies, are now become little better than fo many fcolding Billingfgates. As to the Lawyers, having always but too much bufinefs on their hands, in the way of their vocation, they have no leifure for any Squabbles but what they are paid for; fo that they, and the Phyficians, are, at prefent, the most placid and peaceable of all his Majesty's fubjects,

But

But what, in the name of common Senfe, of common Decency, hath occafioned the Literary civil war, lately proclaimed by the Britons on this, against the Britons on that fide of the Tweed?-We are confeffedly the aggreffors; the enmity is all our own but wherefore is it excited-where is the generofity, where the juftice, of attacking, unprovoked, a whole nation, peaceably united with us under one common Government? Is one part of the Iland to be infulted for being the weaker or the poorer divifion? as reasonably might the right hand revile the left, for being its inferior in strength and dexterity !-Is it that One man of that nation hath found favour in the eyes of his Prince, and thereby excited the envy and malice of those who, like the Turk, can bear no brother near the throne? were indeed a prepofterous, an absurd foundation for a national jealoufy and quarrel! Yet this, however, feems to be the fecret caufe of all the public outrage, daily, weekly, and occafionally, offered to our neighbours of North-Britain; this the fum-total of the crimes charged on poor Scotland :-except, indeed, one other offence, of which too fhe is equally guilty,the natural inclemency of her climate, and the comparative infertility of her foil!

Effugimus Scopulos Ithaca, Laërtia regna

This

Et terram aliricem Savi execramur ULYSSEI. But what in particular, could move the manly Genius of CHURCHILL to draw his mighty pen in this low and vulgar quarrel? taat pen which might be fo much more nobly employed! Why fhould He deign to mingle with the dirty crowd? why fully the luftre of his reputation by thus affociating with the mob? Hath Calumny alone fuch powerful charms for this potent Bard? Can he delight only in Detraction? Can he take pleafure in nothing but in giving pain to others? Is it only in finding or in making his neighbour miserable, that he can derive happiness to himself?.

Not to protract, however, the gratification of our Reader's curiofity, which muft, by this time, be fufficiently excited, we fhall now proceed to give fome fpecimens of the manner in which Mr. Churchill has again manifefted his contempt and hatred of the Scottish nation.

It is commonly thus, when a Stage-coach paffes through a village; one boy, more active than the reft, mounts in the rear, and rides off in triumph: while his clamorous companions, following haud paffibus equis, unite in the envious out-cry "Whip behind! Lick behind, Coachman! whip bebind!

his

See his GHOST, a poem; in which he wantonly stepped out of way, on purpose to have a ftroke at the Scots: like Daniel Burgefs, who used to declare he could not preach a fermon without having a swback at the Pope.

Stopping

Stopping a moment juft within the gate, in order to take a curfory view of what our Satirift has done in the opening of his Poem, we find him talking much of his Patron, John Wilkes, Efq; fomething of Lord B-; of Johnny Home; of the Laureat; of Dr. Hill; and not a little of himfelf. Then advancing a step or two farther, we come to the paftoral part of the work; in the beginning of which he introduces to our acquaintance two Highland youths, by the names of Sawney and Jockey.

-whofe birth beyond all question fprings
From great and glorious, tho' forgotten, kings,
Shepherds of Scottish lineage, born and bred
On the fame bleak and barren mountain's head,
By niggard nature doom'd on the fame rocks
To fpin out life, and farve themselves and flocks,
Fresh as the morning, which, enrob'd in mist,
The mountain top with ufual dulness kiss'd,
JOCKEY and SAWNEY to their labours rofe;
Soon clad 1 ween, where nature needs no cloaths,
Where, from their youth enur'd to winter skies,
Drefs and her vain refinements they defpife.

JOCKEY, whofe manly high-bon'd cheeks to crown
With freckles fpotted flam'd the golden down,
With mickle art could on the bagpipes play,
E'en from the rifing to the fetting day;
SAWNEY as long without remorfe could bawl
HOME's madrigals, and ditties from FINGAL.
Oft at his ftrains, all natural tho' rude,
The Highland Lafs forgot her want of food,
And, whilst the feratch'd her lover into rest,

Sunk pleas'd, tho' hungry, on her SAWNEY's breaft.

Thus much for the Inhabitants: now for the Country.

Far as the eye could reach, no tree was seen,
Earth, clad in ruffet, fcorn'd the lively green.
The plague of Locusts they secure defy,
For in three hours a grafhopper muft die.

No living thing, whate'er its food, feasts there,
But the Camelion, who can feast on air.
No birds, except as birds of paffage flew,
No bee was known to hum, no dove to coo.
No fheams as amber smooth, as amber clear,
Were feen to glide, or heard to warble here,
Rebellion's fpring, which thro' the country ran,
Furnish'd, with bitter draughts, the fteady clan.
No flow rs embalm'd the air, but one white rofe,
Which, on the tenth of June, by instinct blows,
By instinct blows at morn, and, when the fhades
Of drizly eve prevail, by inftin&t fades.

This keen defcription is followed by that of the Cave of FAMINE.

One, and but one poor folitary cave,
Too fparing of her favours, nature gave;
That one alone (hard tax on Scottish pride)
Shelter at once for man and beast supplied.
Their fnares without entangling briars fpread,
And thistles, arm'd againft th' invader's head,
Stood in close ranks all entrance to oppofe,
Thiftles now held more precious than the rofe.
All Creatures, which on nature's earliest plan,
Were form'd to loath, and to be loath'd by man,
Which ow'd their birth to naftiness and spite,
Deadly to touch, and hateful to the fight,
Creatures, which, when admitted in the ark,
Their Saviour shunn'd, and rankled in the dark,
Found place within; marking her noisome road
With poison's trail, bere crawl'd the bloated Toad;
There webs were spread of more than common fize,
And half-ftarv'd fpiders prey'd on half starv'd flies;
In quest of food, Efts ftrove in vain to crawl;
Slugs, pinch'd with hunger, fmear'd the flimy wall;
The cave around with hiffing ferpents rung;
On the damp roof unhealthy vapour hung,
And FAMINE, by her children always known
As proud as poor, bere fix'd her native throne.

Here, for the fullen fky was overcast,
And fummer fhrunk beneath a wintry blast,
A native blaft, which arm'd with hail and rain
Beat unrelenting on the naked fwain,

The Boys for fhelter made;

In this rude recess the dialogue between Sawney and Jockey takes place; which, as to the expreffion, is, no doubt, conceived in the true fimplicity of paftoral poetry; and especially the Scots paftoral, which is happily imitated but it is, at the fame time, as fevere a fatire on the country and its inhabitants, as either of the foregoing Descriptions. The converfation, however, is but of fhort continuance; being foon interrupted by the Goddess of the Cave; of whom a very striking picture is drawn and now comes the Prophecy.

The import of this prediction is, the speedy migration of the Caledonians, to the Land flowing with Milk and Honey: here the Poem becomes a Court-Satire; in which the Author fneers at the Peace, and reprefents the Administration as entirely under Scottish influence.

Already is this game of fate begun
Under the fanction of my Darling Son,

That

Jas

That Son, whose nature royal as his name,
Is deftin'd to redeem our race from fhame.
His boundless pow'r, beyond example great,

Shall make the rough way fmooth, the crooked straight,
Shall for our eafe the raging floods refrain,
And fink the mountain level to the plain.
DISCORD, whom in a cavern under ground
With maffy fetters our late Patriot bound,
Where her own flefh the furious Hag might tear,
And vent her curfes to the vacant air,

Where, that fhe never might be heard of more,
He planted Loyalty to guard the door,
For better purpose fhall Our Chief release,
Difguife her for a time, and call her PEACE.

The Goddess concludes with fortelling that the weak English,
Jured by the deceitful name of Peace, will help to carry on
the impofition upon themselves, and will, to win the love of
the Scots,

with honours grace

The old adherents of the Stuart race.

That is, the Tories or Jacobites (either name, according to the Goddefs, belonging indifferently to the fame perfon) fhall gain the afcendant at Court: which part of the prediction we hope, whatever becomes of the reft, will never be accomplished. But the most malignant ftroke in this Prophecy, is the intimation that his Majefty will not be altogether fafe, with refpect to any reliance he may place in Scottish fidelity: which is here reprefented equally to be trufted with the Punica Fides. In a word, the Writer has omitted nothing that might contribute to render the English jealous and diftruftful of their Northern Brethren: though it will probably be attended with no greater effect, than to convince his readers how rancoroufly he is prejudiced against a nation*, with whom he can hardly be thought fufficiently acquainted, to juftify the unchriftian, the ungentleman-like treatment they have met with, at his unfparing hand.

It is with real concern, with unfeigned regret, that we pass this public cenfure on the unadvised behaviour of a man whose abilities we admire, whofe profeffion we reverence: But every candid, every generous, every liberal mind, must condemn such

It may not be foreign to the fubject, to remark, in this place, that this defpifed, this vilified nation hath furnished (we have it from the best authority) not lefs than SIXTY-FIVE THOUSAND men, for the fervice of the Government, during the course of the war, from 1755, to 1762 and how thefe men have behaved, in defence of the common caufe, let the Enemies of Britain tell.