Coarse fare and carrion please thee full as well, And leave as keen a relish on the sense. Look, how the fair one weeps! the conscious tears Never to think of death and of ourselves For creatures of a day in gamesome mood Stand thick as dewdrops on the bells of To frolic on eternity's dread brink, Unapprehensive; when, for aught we know, The very first swoln surge shall sweep us Think we, or think we not, time hurries on That slides his hand under the miser's And carries off his prize. What is this world? Forewarned men of their death. 'Twas What, but a spacious burial-field unwalled, Strewed with death's spoils, the spoils of kindly done Into fantastic schemes, which the long And celebrated masters of the balance, livers Deep read in stratagems and wiles of Could scarce have leisure for. Fools that Now vain their treaty-skill! Death scorns Here the o'erloaded slave flings down his And jovial youth, of lightsome vacant burden heart, From his galled shoulders; and when the Whose every day was made of melody, Hears not the voice of mirth: the shrill cruel tyrant, With all his guards and tools of power about him, tongued shrew, Meek as the turtle-dove, forgets her chiding. Here are the wise, the generous, and the brave; Is meditating new unheard of hardships, Mocks his short arm, and quick as thought escapes Where tyrants vex not, and the weary The just, the good, the worthless, and profane, rest. Here the warm lover, leaving the cool The downright clown, and perfectly wellshade, bred; The tell-tale echo, and the babbling The fool, the churl, the scoundrel, and stream, the mean; Time out of mind the favourite seats of The supple statesman, and the patriot Here is the mother, with her sons and That belches molten stone and globes of daughters; fire, The barren wife; the long-demurring Involved in pitchy clouds of smoke and Here garrulous old age winds up his tale; Not here and there a country, but a world; THOMSON and MALLET, the first two Scottish poets of the modern school whose writings show no trace of their nationality, belong to each of the two distinct races that compose the Scottish people-Thomson being a pure Saxon, and Mallet a pure Celt. They were born within a few years of one another, became fast friends as students, commenced their literary career together, and remained fast friends during the rest of their lives. They were of very different dispositions and characters; Thomson being very much of an abstract, impracticable dreamer, who made no enemies, and Mallet a shrewd, versatile, and accomplished man of the world, whose success excited the envy of many of his contemporaries, and whose behaviour in several acts of his career exposed his memory to animadversions, from which there is nothing left to defend him beyond the fact that during his life he retained the friendship of eminent men, who must have known as much about the conduct for which he is censured by posterity, as Dr Johnson or Boswell, his chief detractors. Mallet's original surname, Malloch, has been derived from two Gaelic roots, one of which at least is a very improbable source, namely Mallaich, cursed, supposed to refer to the proscription of the Clan M'Gregor, whom the Mallochs are said to represent. That a clan which boasted of being the descendants of "Alpin who reigned in Dunstaffnage," should assume a surname that implied their disgrace, is not consistent with common-sense. The other, and more rational derivation, that from Malach, large - browed, or large-eyebrowed, which may be idiomatically rendered "The Grim," is not without precedent in Highland designations. That Mallet believed that the Mallochs were connected with the M'Gregors is implied in the fact that, when he used a crest, he adopted that of the M'Gregors, and gave one of his daughters that surname. Neither his parentage, nor his birthplace, have been traced with certainty his latest biographer, Dr Dinsdale, having abandoned the traditional belief that he was the son of James Malloch, an innkeeper in Crieff, adopts that of his being the son of James Malloch and Beatrix who occupied the farm of Dunruchan (Dun fraochan, Heathery Knowe), about four miles from Crieff. The session records of Crieff place it beyond doubt that a James Malloch and his wife Beatrix Clerk kept an inn at Crieff in 1704, and the strange coincidence of two James Mallochs, both of whose wives were named Beatrix, is sufficient to account for the confusion as to the identity of the poet's parents. To whichever of the two he belonged, he was educated at the parish school of Crieff, under Mr Ker, afterwards one of the masters of the High School, Edinburgh, and subsequently professor both in Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities. It is probably to his teacher, who continued his friend during life, that he owed his appointment, at the age of fifteen or sixteen, as janitor of the High School of Edinburgh. He is said to have studied in Aberdeen for some time, but this does not appear to have been the case; for though that University in 1726 conferred on him the degree of M.A., it was on account of a poem in imitation of Professor Ker's “Doniades." In 1720, he became tutor in the family of Mr Home of Dreghorn, near Edin burgh, on such terms as admitted of his attending the University at the same time. It was then that he made the acquaintance of Thomson, when the two became fast friends. Mallet was also a literary confidant of Allan Ramsay, who wrote some stanzas addressed to him on the occasion of his leaving Scotland, from which it appears that "William and Margaret" was known to Ramsay a year at least before it was published in England. On the recommendation of the University professors, Mallet was appointed tutor to the sons of the Duke of Montrose; and in this capacity he accompanied the family to London in 1723. In 1724, he sent "William and Margaret" as an anonymous contribution to the Plain Dealer, Aaron Hill's serial. From the introduction by the author of the Plain Dealer, and Ramsay's reference, it would appear as if it was first printed in one of those ephemeral " pennyworths,” in which Ramsay published a great many of his own pieces before adopting the more ambitious profession of bookseller and publisher, for which he abandoned wig-making. The fame of Mallet's ballad, and his own address, soon procured his introduction into the best literary society in London, and he became the intimate acquaintance of Pope, Young, and other literary magnates of the time. In 1726, he changed his name to Mallet, on the plea that Englishmen were unable to pronounce Malloch; and in 1727, he made the tour of Europe with his pupils. In 1728, he published the "Excursion," after the style of Thomson's "Winter," but with little resemb lance to his friend's verse beyond the manner. In 1742, he was made under-secretary to the Prince of Wales, and shortly after Elstob, a lady with a fortune of £10,000, and like himself said to be of very advanced religious opinions. His next literary effort was "Eury-wards he married his second wife, Lucy dice," a tragedy, which was performed at Drury Lane Theatre in 1731. A satire on Bently, entitled "Verbal Criticism," he dedicated to Pope, on whose recommendation he received the appointment of tutor and travelling companion to Mr Newsham, son of Mrs Knight of Gosfield. In this situation he remained for five years, during part of which he was abroad with his pupil. He also matriculated at Oxford, along with Mr Newsham, in 1734, and obtained the degree of M.A. About the same time he received the same honour from the University of Edinburgh. - son. His first marriage, of which so little is known, is supposed to have taken place at this time; for his wife, whose name was Susanna, died in January 1741, leaving him with a family of three daughters. In 1739, his tragedy of "Mustapha" was acted at Drury Lane; it was dedicated to the Prince of Wales, and the prologue was written by ThomHis next literary work was the masque of "Alfred," written in conjunction with Thomson, and performed before the Prince of Wales at Cliefden, in 1740. It was greatly altered by Mallet in 1751, after Thomson's death, and was represented at Drury Lane Theatre. In this piece first appeared the song of "Rule Britannia," whose composition is generally attributed to Thomson, though more than one of Mallet's biographers claim it for him. About this time he wrote a life of Lord Bacon, as a preface to an edition of Bacon's works. (8) On the death of the Duchess of Marlborough, in 1744, it was found that she left £1000 to Glover, the author of "Leonidas," and Mallet jointly, on condition of writing a memoir of her husband, the great duke. Glover declined in consequence of its being made a stipulation that the life, before being published, was to be submitted to the inspection of the Earl of Chesterfield. Mallet undertook the work alone, and had a pension allowed him by the second Earl of Marlborough; yet notwithstanding his having accepted the money, the life never made its appearance. In 1747, he published Amyntor and Theodora, a tale, in blank verse, of which the scene is laid in the island of St Kilda. Gibbon considered this to be Mallet's chief claim to poetic fame, but the result has not justified the historian's anticipations. On Pope's death in 1744, Lord Bolingbroke discovered what he considered a breach of faith on the part of the poet, and Mallet drew up a statement of the case against Pope in the form of an advertisement to an edition of Bolingbroke's "Patriot King," of which Pope was said to have surreptitiously printed an edition of 1500 copies. Bolingbroke died in 1751, and left Mallet the legacy of his writings, which in 1754 he published in five volumes. In 1755, his Masque of Britania was re 2 H |