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PART II.

OVERTURE.-PASTORALE.

MAN SPEAKER.

But all my wants, before I spoke,

Were to my mistress known;

She still reliev'd, nor sought my praise, Contented with her own.

But every day her name I'll bless,

FAST by that shore where Thames' translucent My morning prayer, my evening song,

stream

Reflects new glories on his breast,"
Where, splendid as the youthful poet's dream,
He forms a scene beyond Elysium blest:
Where sculptur'd elegance and native grace
Unite to stamp the beauties of the place:
While, sweetly blending, still are seen
The wavy lawn, the sloping green:
While novelty, with cautious cunning,
Through every maze of fancy running,
From China borrows aid to deck the scene :
There sorrowing by the river's glassy bed,
Forlorn, a rural bard complain'd,
All whom AUGUSTA's bounty fed,
All whom her clemency sustain'd;
The good old sire, unconscious of decay,

The modest matron, clad in home-spun grey,
The military boy, the orphan'd maid,
The shatter'd veteran, now first dismay'd;
These sadly join beside the murmuring deep,
And as they view the towers of Kew,

Call on their mistress, now no more, and weep.

CHORUS. AFFETTUOSO, LARGO.

Ye shady walks, ye waving greens,
Ye nodding towers, ye fairy scenes,
Let all your echoes now deplore,

That she who form'd your beauties is no more.

MAN SPEAKER.

First of the train the patient rustic came,
Whose callous hand had form'd the scene,
Bending at once with sorrow and with age,
With many a tear, and many a sigh between,
"And where," he cried, "shall now my babes
have bread,

Or how shall age support its feeble fire?
No lord will take me now, my vigour fled,
Nor can my strength perform what they require:
Each grudging master keeps the labourer bare,
A sleek and idle race is all their care:
My noble mistress thought not so!
Her bounty, like the morning dew,
Unseen, tho' constant, used to flow,

I'll praise her while my life shall last, A life that cannot last me long.

SONG, BY A WOMAN.

Each day, each hour, her name I'll bless,
My morning and my evening song,
And when in death my vows shall cease,
My children shall the note prolong.

MAN SPEAKER.

The hardy veteran after struck the sight,
Scarr'd, mangl'd, maim'd in every part,
Lopp'd of his limbs in many a gallant fight,
In nought entire-except his heart:
Mute for a while, and sullenly distress'd,
At last the impetuous sorrow fir'd his breast.
Wild is the whirlwind rolling

O'er Afric's sandy plain,
And wild the tempest howling
Along the billow'd main:
But every danger felt before,
The raging deep, the whirlwind's roar,
Less dreadful struck me with dismay,
Than what I feel this fatal day.

Oh, let me fly a land that spurns the brave,
Oswego's dreary shores shall be my grave;
I'll seek that less inhospitable coast,
And lay my body where my limbs were lost.

SONG. BY A MAN.-BASSO SPIRITUOSO.
Old Edward's sons, unknown to yield,
Shall crowd from Cressy's laurell'd field,
To do thy memory right:
For thine and Britain's wrongs they feel,
Again they snatch the gleamy steel,
And wish the avenging fight.

WOMAN SPEAKER.

In innocence and youth complaining,
Next appear'd a lovely maid,
Affliction o'er each feature reigning,
Kindly came in beauty's aid;
Every grace that grief dispenses,

And as my strength decay'd, her bounty grew." Every glance that warms the soul,

WOMAN SPEAKER.

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In decent dress, and coarsely clean,
The pious matron next was seen,
Clasp'd in her hand a godly book was borne,
By use and daily meditation worn;
That decent dress, this holy guide,
AUGUSTA'S care had well supply'd.
And ah! she cries, all woe begone,
What now remains for me?

Oh! where shall weeping want repair
To ask for charity?

Too late in life for me to ask,
And shame prevents the deed,
And tardy, tardy are the times
To succour, should I need.

In sweet succession charms the senses, While pity harmoniz'd the whole. [say,) "The garland of beauty" ('tis thus she would "No more shall my crook or my temples adorn, I'll not wear a garland, AUGUSTA's away, I'll not wear a garland until she return: But alas! that return I never shall see : The echoes of Thames shall my sorrows proclaim, There promis'd a lover to come, but, oh me! 'Twas death,'twas the death of my mistress that

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THE

LIFE OF ARMSTRONG,

BY MR. CHALMERS.

THESE scanty materials are taken principally from Mr. Nichols's Life of Bowyer, and the Biographical Dictionary. To the former they were communicated, however sparingly, by the friends of Dr. Armstrong.

He was born in the parish of Castleton in Roxburghshire, where his father and brother were clergymen and having compleated his education at the university of Edinburgh, took his degree in physic, Feb. 4, 1732', with much reputation. His thesis De Tabe purulente was published as usual.

He appears to have courted the Muses while a student: his descriptive sketch in imitation of Shakespeare was one of his first attempts, and received the cordial approbation of Thomson, Mallet, and Young. Mallet, he informs us, intended to have published it, but altered his mind. His other imitations of Shakespeare were part of an unfinished tragedy written at a very early age. Much of his time, if we may judge from his writings, was devoted to the study of polite literature, and although he cannot be said to have entered deeply into any particular branch, he was more than a superficial connoisseur in painting, statuary, and music.

At what time he came to London is uncertain, but in 1735, he published an octavo pamphlet, without his name, entitled An Essay for abridging the Study of Physic: to which is added a Dialogue between Hygeia, Mercury, and Pluto, relating to the Practice of Physic, as it is managed by a certain illustrious Society. As also an Epistle from Usbeck the Persian, to Joshua Ward, esq. It is dedicated to the "Antacademic Philosophers, to the generous despisers of the schools, to the deservedly-celebrated Joshua Ward, John Moor, and the rest of the numerous sect of inspired physicians." The Essay, which has been lately reprinted in Dilly's Repository, is an humourous attack on quacks and quackery, with allusions to the neglect of medical education among the practising apothecaries:

1 Three days after he sent a copy of his thesis to sir Hans Sloane, accompanied by a handsome Latin letter, now in the British Museum. I find in the same repository a paper written by him in 1744 on the alcalescent disposition of animal fluids, which appears to have been read in the Royal Society, but not published. C.

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