cember, 1732. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and a chaste monument still points out the spot where his ashes repose. The works of Gay have not retained the popularity that they once possessed. He has all the licentiousness of Prior, without his elegance. His fables are still, however, the best we possess; and though they have not the nationality, or rich humor and archness of those of La Fontaine, still the subjects of them are light and pleasing, and the versification, smooth and correct. In the Court of Death he aims at a higher order of poetry than in his fables generally, and marshals his 'diseases dire' with a strong and gloomy power. Black-Eyed Susan, and the ballad beginning ""Twas when the seas were roaring,' are full of characteristic tenderness and lyrical melody. THE COURT OF DEATH. Death, on a solemn night of state, Crowd the vast court. With hollow tone, All, at the word stretched forth their hand. 'I to the weekly bills appeal, Let those express my fervent zeal; On every slight occasion near, With violence I persevere.' Next Gout appears with limping pace, And every joint and sinew plies; A haggard spectre from the crew Stone urged his overgrowing force; I gain, like Fabius, by delay: Fatigue and weaken every foe 58 All spoke their claim, and hoped the wand. 'Merit was ever modest known. BLACK-EYED SUSAN. All in the downs the fleet was moored, Oh! where shall I my true love find? William, who high upon the yard Rocked with the billow to and fro, He sighed, and cast his eyes below: The cord slides swiftly through his glowing hands, So sweet the lark high poised in the air, O! Susan, Susan, lovely dear, My vows shall ever true remain; We only part to meet again. Change as ye list, ye winds! my heart shall be Believe not what the landsmen say, Who tempt with doubts thy constant mind; In every port a mistress find: Yes, yes, believe them when they tell thee so, If to fair India's coast we sail, Thy eyes are seen in diamonds bright, Thy breath is Afric's spicy gale, Thy skin is ivory so white. Thus every beauteous object that I view, Wakes in my soul some charm of lovely Sue. Though battle call me from thy arms, Let not my pretty Susan mourn; Though cannons roar, yet, safe from harms, Love turns aside the balls that round me fly, The boatswain gave the dreadful word, The sails their swelling bosom spread; No longer must she stay aboard; They kissed, she sighed, he hung his head. Her lessening boat unwilling rows to land, Adieu! she cries, and waved her lily hand. A BALLAD. 'T was when the seas were roaring A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclined. Wide o'er the foaming billows She cast a wistful look; Her head was crowned with willows, Twelve months are gone and over, The merchant robbed of pleasure, Sees tempest in despair; But what's the loss of treasure, Should you some coast be laid on, You'd find a richer maiden, But none that loves you so. How can they say that nature That lurk beneath the deep, All melancholy lying, Thus wailed she for her dear; His floating corpse she spied, She bowed her head, and died. Of the poetical writers of this period we have still to notice, though we shall be compelled to do so with great brevity, Garth, Blackmore, Green, the Countess of Winchelsea, and the distinguished Scottish poet, Allan Ramsay. SAMUEL GARTH was of a good family, in Yorkshire, but the period of his birth has not been preserved. From some school in his native county he was sent to Peterhouse College, Cambridge, where he continued to reside till 1691, when he took the degree of doctor of medicine. He immediately after removed to London, was admitted a fellow of the medical college of that city, and soon became so distinguished for his conversational powers and other accomplishments, as to obtain a very extensive practice. He was a kind and benevolent man, as well as a great admirer of his own profession; and in 1696, he published The Dispensary, a poem, to aid the college of physicians in a contest in which they were then engaged with the apothecaries. The latter had ventured to prescribe as well as compound medicines; and the physicians, to surpass them in popularity, advertised that they would give advice gratis to the poor, and established a dispensary of their own for the sale of cheap medicines.' Though a devoted whig, Garth was the benevolent patron of merit wherever found. He early fostered the genius of Pope, and when Dryden died, delivered a Latin funeral oration over his remains. With Addison, he was, politically and personally, on terms of the closest intimacy. When, in 1713, 'Cato' was brought upon the stage, he, at the author's solicitation, wrote the epilogue, which closes with the following fine lines: Oh, may once more the happy age appear, When words were artless, and the thoughts sincere; And constancy feel transport in his chains; And eyes shall utter what the lips conceal: Virtue again to its bright station climb, On the accession of the House of Hanover, Dr. Garth was knighted by George the First, but he did not long live to enjoy this honor, as his death occurred soon after, January the eighteenth, 1718. The 'Dispensary,' Sir Samuel Garth's principal poem, is a mock-heroic, in six cantos. Some of the leading apothecaries of the day are happily ridiculed; but the interest of the satire has passed away, and the work did not contain enough of the life of poetry to preserve it from oblivion. The following address, from a keen apothecary, is a fair specimen of the style and versification of the poem : Could'st thou propose that we, the friends of fates, And Monmouth Street, Versailles, with riding-hoods; And change the Gravel-pits for Kentish air, Our properties must on our arms depend; To die, is landing on some sllent shore, Ere well we feel the friendly stroke, 'tis o'er. The wise through thought the insults of death defy; The fools through blessed insensibility. 'Tis what the guilty fear, the pious crave; Sought by the wretch, and vanquished by the brave. RICHARD BLACKMORE was the son of an attorney, and was born at Corsham in Wiltshire, but in what year is unknown. Having been for some time instructed at a country school, he was sent, at the age of thirteen, to Westminster, and thence entered Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he remained till he took the degree of master of arts. He afterward travelled in Italy, and was made a doctor of medicine at the university of Padua. On his return to his native country he commenced the practice of his profession, and soon rose to eminence as a physician. He was knighted by King William, and made censor of the medical college of London. เ In 1695, Sir Richard published an epic poem entitled Prince Arthur, which he says he wrote amidst the duties of his profession, in coffeehouses, or in passing up and down the streets,' and which Dryden charged |