further at their hands, these worthies are putting statues up to him as if they thought his poetry would not be so lasting as their memorials, or as if they imagined this tardy recognition of his wondrous powers was an "amende honorable" for the neglect and contempt to which he was consigned while living. The sculptor who gains by their generosity, and the menials who may be employed to keep them clean, may thank them for erecting these monuments; but the majority of Burns's countrymen will not. His poetry lives in their hearts-will live as long as time itself shall last; and ages hence, Scotia will rejoice in the poetic glory of her honest and highly-gifted Ploughman, as universally as she does at the present moment. SIR WALTER SCOTT. IT is related of Sir Walter Scott, that, not long before his "Lay of the Last Minstrel" matle its appearance, while crossing the Frith of Forth in a ferry-boat, with a friend, they proposed to beguile the time, by writing a number of verses on a given subject; and at the end of an hour's poring and hard study, the product of Sir Walter's (then Mr. Scott) fertile brain, adding thereto the labours of his friend, was six lines. "It is plain," said Scott, to his fellowlabourer, then unconscious of his great powers, "that you and I need never think of getting our living by writing poetry." HENRY TEONGE. AMONG Our English Song-writers, we must not forget to notice the name of this jolly Divine, which, although of some antiquity, has never been inscribed upon the list until the commencement of the present year, when the publication of his "Diary" first made his pretensions known to the world. The character of our worthy Chaplain may easily be collected from this publication-the only memorial of him VOL. III. F which remains, and which is well worthy of the attentive perusal of those who delight to contemplate the manners of the "olden time," of which, especially as relates to “life at sea,” it presents a striking picture. Writing as he did, without any sort of disguise, he exhibits himself, not, indeed, as possessing any very constant sense of religious obligation, but, considering the laxity of the morals of the period in which he lived, and the society in which he moved, as affording a very respectable specimen of a sea-chaplain of that era. He enjoys his punch and his claret, and he revels in the most luxurious description of the good cheer by which he was occasionally surrounded; but he appears to have been constant in the observance of the offices of his calling. His mind appears to have been remarkably acute and vigorous. He diligently observes whatever is new and curious, and brings to the subject a considerable share of book-learning, sometimes, indeed, inaccurate and ill-digested, and frequently mixed up with a very singular portion of superstition, but altogether affording abundant evidence of his talents and acquirements. His poetical compositions are often very far above those of "the mob of gentlemen who write with ease;" and some of his ballads, making allowance for the bad taste of his age,-the Chlorises and the Amyntas, the Phyllises and the Amaryllises, are in some respects worthy of taking their place amongst the standard compositions of this description. In support of this observation, we need only adduce the following specimen, the beauty and feeling of which, our readers cannot fail justly to appreciate. 66 A SONNET, Composed October the First, over against the East Part of Candia. O! Ginnee was a bony lasse, Which maks the world to woonder How ever it should com to passe The driven snow, the rose so rare, Her merry lookes, her forhead high, Would set a saint on fyre. And for to give Ginnee her due, King Solomon, where ere he lay, Then will I search each place and roome From Dover-peere to Scanderoone, But I will finde my Ginny. And haveing Ginnee once againe, If shee'l dee her indeavour, The world shall never make us twaine- GOLDSMITH. THE frequency with which Islington is mentioned in Goldsmith's writings, has been considered worthy of remark. To this village, it appears, he was very partial; and there he spent much of his time; and there, at one period, he |