der the controul only of the minister, and at length of the proprietors of the parish. As it thus happened, that almsgiving continued to be considered as a meritorious thing in Scotland, while it fell into total disrepute in England, there did not exist the same imperious call for a compulsory poor law in the first as in the last. And though the clamours from disorderly persons in Scotland, who were strictly ex cluded from sharing in the poors funds, continued for some time to be so great as to induce precipitant ministers of state to make some raih laws on that head, yet, as the nation at large were at all times perfectly satisfied, that the real poor were abundantly cared for by their own voluntary contributions, under the prudent and economical management of the elders and kirk-sefsion, none of these laws ever received either their countenance or support and being conceived to be dictated by antichristian (the word then used instead of aristocratic at present) principles, they were despised, and suffered to fall into universal neglect.

Having thus, I hope, in a satisfactory manner, accounted for the origin of one system of poor-laws, that has gradually produced a species of despotisın that threatens to destroy in time the state in which it prevails, and develope the circumstances that gave rise to another system of management of the poor, necefsarily connected with the form of church-government adopted in this country, which has been productive of salutary consequences, that have not hitherto been much adverted to, I fhall here close the present lucubration. To explain, in a satisfactory

manner, the mode of providing for the poor that has been adopted in Scotland, and its singularly salutary tendency, will furnish a subject for another paper. After which shall be given a concise history of the laws that have been made, and remain on the statute book: by which their inefficacy and absurdity will be fully demonstrated; and it will be made evident, that not one of those laws which authorise an involuntary poors rate, are actually in force in this country, at the present moment.

READING MEMORANDUMS.

How long is the soul kept and nourished in ignorance of itself, and of its original, like a child of noble extraction, by some misfortune obliged to be concealed (and educated as their own) by poor peasants; who, believing himself to be of no higher birth, entertains no other than mean and low thoughts; and designs suitable to such condition! But so soon as his true parents are made known to him, he quickly banishes from his mind all that is base and ignoble; and animated by the knowledge of his true condition and towering expectations, he fhapes his thoughts and his conduct to the greatnefs of his origin, and the splendor of his destination.

As a contrast to the beautiful description of Edinburgh given in the Bee, .vol. xiii. No. 7. see the Appendix to the Scots Magazine for the year 1745, page 61, &c. and the description then given.

J. C. A.

EPISTLE TO MR AIKMAN THE PAINTER

BY WILLLIAM SOMERVILLE, ESQ.

[Not published in any collection of his works.]

Such (AIKMAN) once I was; but ah, how chang'd!
Since those blest days, when o'er the hills I rang'd;
When thro' the mazes of th'entangled wood,
The buzy puzz'ling spaniel I pursu'd;
The game he sprung soon felt the fatal lead;
Flutter'd in air, and at my feet fell dead.
This faithful record by thy pencil drawn,
Shews what I was in manhood's early dawn:
Just the design, and elegant the draught,
The col'ring bold, and all without a fault.
But (AIKMAN) be advis'd, and hear a friend:
On rural squires no more thy time mispend;
On nobler subjects all thy cares employ,
Paint the bright Hebe, or the Phrygian boy;
Or, rising from the waves, the Cyprian dame
May vindicate her own Appelles' fame.
But if thy nicer pencil fhall disdain
Shadows, and creatures of the poet's brain;
The real wonders of the Brunswick race,
May, with superior charms, thy canvass grace.
The lovely form that would too soon decay,
Admir'd, and lost, the pageant of the day::
Preserv'd by thee, through ages yet to come,
Shall reign triumphant in immortal bloom.
Time, the great master's friend, shall but refine,
With his improving hand, thy works divine.
This, (if the muse can judge) fhall be thy lot,
When I'm no more, forgetting, and forgot.

Now from my zenith I decline apace,

And pungent pains my trembling nerves unbrace;
Nor love can charm, nor wine, nor music please;
Lost to all joy, I am content 'with ease.
All the poor comfort that I now can spare,
Is the soft blefsing of an elbow chair.
Here undisturb'd I reign, and with a smile
Behold the civil broils that shake our isle ;
Bard against bard, fierce tilting on the plain,
And floods of ink profusely spilt in vain.
Pope, like Almanzor, a whole host defies,
Th' exploded chain-fhot from his Dunciad flies,
And pi 4 on heaps the mangled carnage lics.

Poets and critics a promiscuous crowd
Bellow like wounded Mars, and roar aloud;
The routed host precipitant retires,

With weaker fhouts, and with unequal fires.
The quibbling advertisement and pert joke,
But blaze a while, and vanish into smoke;
And weak remarks drop bort upon the ground;
Or, if they reach the foe, but slightly wound.
Thus have I seen, amid the shouting throng,
Bruin, with step majestic, stride along;
The curs at distance bark, or slily bite;
But if he stands erect and dares the fight,
Cowring they snarl, yet dread the gripe severe
And all their dropping tails confefs their fear.
Pardon me, Aikman, that my rambling lays
Desert my theme, and thy unfinish'd praise:
'Twas nature call'd, unknowing I obeyed;
Painting's my text, but poetry's my trade;
Both sister arts; and sure my devious muse,
Kind-hearted Dennis *, will for once excuse.
A fhort digression, to condemn were hard;
Or Heav'n have mercy on each modern bard.

POEM ON THE DEATH OF MR AIKMAN, THE PAINTER BY MR THOMSON.

O could I draw, my friend, thy genuine mind,
Just, as the living forms by thee design'd!
Of Raphael's figures none should fairer thine,
Nor Titian's colours longer last than mine,
A mind in wisdom old, in lenience young,
From fervent truth where every virtue sprung;
Where all was real, modest, plain, sincere;
Worth above show, and goodness unsevere.
View'd round and round, as lucid diamonds how
Still as you turn them, a revolving glow :
So did his mind reflect with secret ray,
In various virtues, Heav'ns eternal day.
Whether in high discourse it soar'd sublime,
And sprung impatient o'er the bounds of time;
Or wand'ring nature o'er with raptur'd eye,
Ador'd the hand that turn'd yon azure sky:
Whether to social life he bent his thought,
And the right poise that mingling pafsions sought

* Dennis the critic.

Gay converse blest, or in the thoughtful grove,
Bid the heart open every source of love :
In varying lights still set before our eyes,
The just, the good, the social, or the wise.
For such a death who can, who would, refuse
The Friend a tear, a verse the mourful Muse?
Yet pay we must acknowlegment to Heav'n,
Though snatch'd so soon, that AIKMAN e'er was giv'n
Grateful from Nature's banquet let us rise,
Nor meanly leave it with reluctant eyes:

A friend, when dead, is but remov❜d from ́ sight,
Sunk in the lustre of eternal light;

And when the parting storms of life are o'er,
May yet rejoin us on a happier fhore.

"As those we love decay, we die in part; String after string is sever'd from the heart, "Till loosen'd life at last-but breathing clay, "Without one pang is glad to fall away.

46

Unhappy he who latest feels the blow;

"Whose eyes have wept o'er every friend laid low!
"Dragg'd ling'ring on from partial death to death,
"And, dying, all he can resign is breath*."

FARTHER EXTRACTS FROM DR ANDERSON'S CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING IMPROVEMENTS IN INDIA.

Continued from Vol. 14 p. 40.

The Right Honb. Sir George Younge bart. to Dr Anderson Madras.

SIR,

I HAVE been favoured with your's of the 6th July brought by the Leopard, Captain Blanket, accompanied by the printed correspondence on the subject of Botany, It can be but little additional praise to you to pay my tribute of acknowledgement which is due to the indefatigable and useful exertions you have made, and the service you have thereby rendered to your country, on the subject of Botany, which I conceive to be a science by no means confined to the ideas of amusement or ingenuity, but to

The last eight lines are all that are given in the editions.