A Pag 220 1 HOUSE OF COMMONS. 278 CONTENT S. Pag. 11 Receipt for Cleaning the Teeth 220 Burlefque of Horace's Otiwn Divos 271 Commissioner to the General Affem Sonnet, Mary Q. of Scoiland taking blyman Anecdote ' her leave of France 271 The Life of James Macpherson, Efq; 221 STATE PAPERS. by Mr Wickham concluded 272 226Note transmitted to Mr Wickham, Interesting Particulars of the Go by M. Barthelemi; 272 vernment and present State of Rullia, continued BRITISH PARLIAMENT 230 Literary History of the Present Pe Game Laws riod, concluded 235 273 On Coins State of the Nation 274 239|| Slave Abolition Bill Some Observations on the Structure 276 HOUSE OF LORDS. of our Globe, &c. 240 Topography and Natural History of Mr Burke's Penfion Scotland continued 242 IRISH PARLIAMENT. Observations on Grafting of Trees 247 Commons on the Fitheries 278 Minutes of Agriculture-Watering MONTHLY REGISTER. of Meadows 249 FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. The Bird-Catcher and Canary, an France à 279 affecting anecdote 251 Holland-Italy-Spain, &c. 280 The Decayed English Merchant and GAZETTë inteLLIGENCE, his Daughter, continued 255 Containing uitpatches from Capt. Shakespeare MSS Account of Vortigern Draper, Sir John Borlase War259 ren, Admiral Rainer, Gen. Stuart, REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS. Capt. Newcome, Sir Edward PelThe Whim, a Comedy, by Lady lew, and Sir R. Abercromby 281–4. Wallace 261 LONDON. 284-5 phyGcs 265 Incidental Occurrences New PUBLICATIONS 267-69 EDINBURGH. 28346 A Contented mind Report of the Weather, &c. 270 On the Death of the Rev. Dr Kippis 270 Fiars 287-8 The Pilgrim 270 LISTS-Marriages, Births, &c. 2889 258 284–5 286-7 ED IN BURGH: By ALLEN & West, No 16. Paternoster-row ; RECEIPT FOR CLEANSING THE TEETH. THE teeth being in this age so much attended to (and perhaps not too much) by both sexes, a few hints concerning the purification of them may not be unacceptable : Clean your teeth at night, because when eating, particles of meat are apt to cleave about the mouth, and enter the crevices of the teeth, änd which, thro' the natural heat of the mouth, will putrify if they be left in till the morning, of consequence these putrid particles will become harbours of animalculæ, which are the ruin of the teeth. Also the grossness which is collected in the day, will not be so easily erased in the morning as at night. Never use any powder (or at least very feldom), the composition of which being prejudicial in general to the teeth, as it rubs off the enamel, the preservation of which constitutes the goodness of the if any powder is to be used I uld recommend fine charcoal dust, or Peruvian bark; only use a dry brush, or else water that is milk-warm to wash your mouth with; for so great a transition as from họt foups to cold water, instead of bracing up the teeth, only tends to enervate and make them ache. B. teeth ; COMMISSIONER TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. ANECDOTE OF THE LATE LORD CHESTERFIELD HIS Majesty having been opposed in the cabinet, and disappointed in carrying some meafures which he was much set upon, retired to his private chamber in great dudgeon before all the business wa, finished. Among other things, a Commissioner to represent his Majesty in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland behoved to be named. The Cabinet Council overheard his Majesty beating and pockering the fire very violently, which he frequently did when in' a passion, and each declined going into his presence to get a Commissioner named. Knowing Lord Chesterfield's address and humour, they all pitched on his Lordship to get the business done, as it would not admit of delay. His Lordship accordingly went in, making his bows with “ please your Majesty?... The King continued pockering the fire with his back to the door, and took no notice of Lord Chesterfield. Upon advancing some steps, always addressing the King, he at last got out, “ Whom will your Majesty be pleased to name as Commissioner to represent your Majesty in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland ?” without turning round, he called out," the Devil.” Upon repeating the message again and again, he got the same answer, “the Devil" Then says Lord Chesterfield, will it please your Majesty to continue the writ of C mmission in the usual style ? Shall we call him “ your Majetty's Well beloved Cousin and Counsellor ?” This put his Majesty in good humour, and the business was done in the usual way. TH Each hoary fire intient tale ; HIS Gentleman was descended 'TWAS when the full ear'd harvest bow'd from one of the most ancient fami Bencath the merry reaper's hand; lies in the North of Scotland, being When here the plenteous iheaves were strew'd, coulin-german to the Chief of the clan And there the corns nod o'er the land; of the Macphersons, who deduce their When, on each side, the loaden'd ground, origin from the antient Carti of Ger- Breaching her ripen’d scents, the jovial season many. He was born at Ruthven in the crown'd. county of Inverness, in the latter end The villagers all on the green, of the year 1738, and received the first Th' arrival of their Lord attend; rudiments of his education at home, The blithfome shepherds hafte to join, from whence he was sent to the gram And whistling from the hills descend; mar school of Inverness, where his Nor orphan nor lone widow mourns ; ge E'en hopeless lovers lose their pains; nius became so conspicuous, that his To-day their banish'd Lord returns, relations, contrary to their original in Once more to bless his native plains. teotion, determined to breed him to a with gladdeo'd face learned profession. With this view, he Repeats fome was sent successively to the Universities How he with Tyrcis, at the chace, of Aberdeen and Edinburgh, in the last Hy'd o'er the hill and dale: Their hoary heads with rapture glow, of which he finished his studies. While each to each repeats While at the University, he exercised How well he kriew where to bestow, his poetical talents, which, however, Was to oppreflion Atilla foe; were not (if a few passages of Ollian are Still mixing with their praife' his youthful feats. excepted) of the first order. In the year 1758, he printed at Edinburgh a Then from the grass Melanthus roso, The arbitrator of the plains, 147 Poem in fix Cantos, intituled “ The And silent all stood fixt to hear Highlander," in 12mo. This perfor The Tityrus of Mernia's Twains : mance is a tissue of fuftian and absurdity, For with the Musc's fir his boloni glow'd, feeble, and in some parts ridiculous, and And easy from his lips' the numbers flow'd. shews little or no talent in the art of “ Now the with'd-for day is comė, versification. In a short time the Author Our Lord reviews his native home ; was sensible himself of its faults, and, it Now clear and Itrong ideas rife, And wrap my soul in extacies. is said, endeavoured to suppress it. We Methinks I see that ruddy morn, thall, therefore, not revive this alortive When, wuken'd by the hunter's horn, effort by any extract. About the same I rose ; and, by yon mountain's side, period he wrote the following Gide on Saw Tyrcis and Achates ride : the Arrival of the Earl Mariích While Aoating by yon craggy brow 'I he flowly fart'ring mist withdrew : Scotland, which is ciled an Attempt I law he touch cross yon pian, in the Manner of Pindar. Yon heuthy steep uw him gain; Vol, LVIII. Hla The The hunters still fly o'er the ground, “ The kings of th' carth, with open arms, Their shouts the distant hills resound; Th'illustrious Exiles hail : Dunnotyr's towers resound the peal Sce! warlıke Cyrus, great and wise, That echoes o'er the hill and dale : Demand and follow their advice, At length, what time the ploughman leads And all his breast unveil. Home from the field his weary steads, See ! pouring from the hills of snow, At yon old tree the roebuck fell: Nations of savages in arms; The huntsmen's jocund mingled fhouts his A defert lies where'er they go, downfall tell. Before them march pale Terror and Alarms. “ The memory of those happy days • The princes of the south prepare Still in my breast must transport raise ; Their thousand thousands for the war; Those happy days, when oft were seen Against thee, Cyrus, they combine ; The Brothers, marching o'er the green, The North and South their forces join, With dog and gut, wliile yet the night To crush thee in the duft : Was blended with the dawning light, But thou art safe ; Achates draws When first the sheep begin to bleat, His sword with thinc, and backs thy cause; And th' early kine rise from their dewy Yes, whou art doubly safe, thy cause is just. feat." “ With dread the Turks have oft beheld Thus as he spoke, cach youthful breast His sword wide waving o'er the field; Glows with wild extacies; As oft these fons of carnage fled In each eye rapture stands confest, O’er mountains of their kindred dead. Each thin he flies along the mead, When all the fury of the fight With wrath redoubled rag'd; When man to man with giant might, For all that's dear engag'd; The sage Melanthus now again When all was thunder, smoke, and fire; Stretch'd forth his hand, and thus resum'd when from their native rocks the frighted the strain. springs retire : “ Now my youthful heat returns, 'Twas then, through streams of smoke and My breast with youthful vigour burns : blood, Methinks I see that glorious day, Achates mounts the city wall; When, to hunt the fallow deer, Though wounded, like a god he stood, Three thousand march'd in grand array; Aod at his feet the foes fubmislive fall. Three thousand march'd with bow and Brave are the Goths, and fierce in fight, spear, Yet these he gave to rout and flight : Proud when they were of victory. He rush'd on like 'a storm; dispers’d and In Kenneth's wars, and Bruce's days, weak they ily. And when the Romans fled their dreadful Thus, from the Grampians old, wrath of yore. A torrent decp and strong, O’er every hill, o’er every dale, Down rushes on the fold, All by the winding banks of Tay, And sweeps the shepherd and the flock along. Resounds the hunter's chearful peal, “ When, through an aged wood, Their armour glitt'ring to the day." The thunder roars amain, Big with his joys of youth the old man His paths with oaks are strew'd, stood And ruin marks the plain : Dunnotyr's ruin's towers then caught his So, nany a German field can tell, eye-- How in his path the mighty heroes fell. He stopt and hung his head in pensive “ When with their num'rous dogs, the swains mood. Surprize the aged lion's den, And from his bosom burst th? unbidden Th' old warrior rushes to the charge, figh, And scorns the rage of dogs and men ; His whelps he guards on ev'ry fide; Then turning with a warrior look Safe they retreat. What though a mortal Shaking his hoary curls, the old nian spoke: dart “ Virtue, O Fortune ! scorns thy pow'r, Stands trembling in his brcaft, his dauntless heart Thou canst not bind her for an hour; Virtue shall ever shine; Glows with a victor's pride. And endless praise, her glorious dow'r, “ So the old lion, brave Achates sought; Shall bless her fons divinc. And miracles of prowess wrought; This war, With a few picquets bore the force rally admitted to be the Works of Mr Of eighty thousand : stopt their course, Macpherson himself. 'Till off his friends had march'd, and all was well. In 1762 he publiihed - Fingal, an Ev'n he himself could ne’er do more, Antient Epic Poem, in six books,” toFate had no greater deed in store gether with several other Poems, comWhen all his host was fafe, the godlike Hero posed by Ossian, the son of Fingal, transfell." lated from the Gaelic language, o 4to. Thus as he spoke, each hoary fire The subject of this Epic Poem is an inFights o'er his ancient wars ; vasion of Ireland by Swaran, King of Each youth burns with a hero's fire, Lochlin. Cuchullin, General of the And triumphs in his future scars ; O'er bloody fields each thinks he rides, Irish tribes during the minority of CorThe thunder of the battle guides; mac King of Ireland, upon intelligence Beneath his lifted arm, struck pale, of the invasion, assembled his forces near The foes for mercy cry; Tura, a castle on the coast of Ulster. And hears applauding legions hail «The Poem opens with the landing of Him with the shouts of victory. Swaran ; councils are held, baitles After this performance, we hear no fought, and Cuchullin is at last totally more of Mr Macpherson's metrical com- defeated. In the mean time Fingal, posicions. King of the Highlands of Scotland, It was intended that he should enter whose aid had been solicited before the into the service of the Church, but enemy landed, arrived, and expelled whether he ever took orders we are un- them from the country. certain. Mr Gray speaks of him as a which continued but six days, and as young Clergyman*, but David Hume many nights, is, including the episodes, probably more truly describes hịm as the story of the Poem. The scene, the " a modest sensible young man, not set- heath of Lena, near a mountain called tled in any living, but employed as a Cromleach in Ulster. This Poemn also private tutor in Mr Graham of Balgow- was received with equal applause as the an's family, a way of life which he is preceding Fragments. not fond of t.” This was in the year The next year he produced « Temo1760, when he surprised the world by ra,” an ancient Epic Poem, in eight the publication of “ Fragments of Anti- books : together with several other ent Poetry, collected in the Highlands Poems composed by Ollian, fon of Fin. of Scotland, and translated from the gal, 4to. · whicli, though well received, Gaelic or Erse language.” 8vo. These found the Public fomewhat less disposed Fragments, which were declared to be to bestow the fame measure of applause. genuine remains of ancient Scottish poe- Though thefe Poenis had been examintry, at their first appearance delighted ed by Dr Blair, and others, and their every reader ; and some very good authenticity afierted, there were not jedges, and amongst the rest Mr Gray, wanting some of equal reputation for were extremely warm in their praises. critical abilizięs, who either doubted of As other specimens were said to be re- declared their disbelief of the genuinecoverabl, a subscription was set on foot neis of them. By this time the Author to enable our Author to quit the family seems to have devested himself of that, he was then in, and undertake a mission modesty wbich Mr Hume had formerly into the Highlands, to secure them. commended, and treated bis antagonists He engaged in the undertaking, and in an arrogant manner, not calculated foon after produced the Works whose to remove any impresions they had reauthenticity has since occasioned so much ceived. con roversy, but which now secm gene “ Since the publication," says he, Mason's Life of Gray. o of the last collection of Oslian's Poems, many insinuations have been made, and Vol. LVIII. li doubts + Vol. 5. page 329. |