LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Class S5M MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF DR. DARWIN, CHIEFLY DURING HIS RESIDENCE AT LICHFIELD, WITH ANECDOTES OF HIS FRIENDS, AND CRITICISMS ON HIS WRITINGS. BY ANNA SEWARD. LONDON : PRINTED TOR J. JOHNSON, ST. FAUI/S CHURCH-YARD, BY T. BKNSLEV, BOLT COURT. 1804. EHERftL TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE EARL OF CARLISLE. " \ " MY LORD, WHERE hereditary honor s,fplendid for- tune, and perfonal graces, have fecured, from thefirft dawn of youth, the external refpefl and gratifying attention of the world, it isfeldom found that their poffejfor has emuloiifly and feduloujly diftilled the fweetnefs from the dajjic fountains. There is no flattery in ob- ferving, that of thoje rare inflances your Lord- Jhip is confpicuoiifly one. Such energetic in- du/iry involves a fuperior claim to ejtimation than where it has appeared the only means by which native talent and laudable ambition could have pierced the mifts of obfcurity. You, Sir, have nobly chofen to adorn your rank, hiftead of indolently leaning upon ifs inherent diftinffion, or even fatisfying yourfelf a 2, with IV DEDICATION. with the acquirement of fenatorial eloquence. Profeffedly a difciple of the Mufes, and on public proof an highly -favored difciple, you miift be inter ejied in the life and character of one of the mo ft eminent of your poetic contem^ poraries* ftence, my Lord, do I prefume to lay thefe Memoirs of Dr. Darwin at your feet. From all I hear of Lord Carlijles virtues, as from all 1 know of his genius, it is one of my frft ivifhes for this Tittle Tra5t, that it may inte- refl and amufe a tranfient hour of his leifure, and obtain that approbation from him which mujl reward biographic integrity, while literary reputation brightens in hisfmik. I have the honor to be, with the mojl per- fett refpecJ and efleem, My Lord 9 , . Your Lor djhip" s faithful and obedient fervant, AXNA SEWARD. PREFACE. IN publifhing thefe Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Dr. Darwin, I am con- fcious of their defects ; that they do not form a regular detail of biographical cir- cumftances, even in that moiety of his pro- feffional exiftence formed by his reiidence at Lichfield ; while of that which pafled at Derby I am qualified to prefent no more than a merely general view. My work confifls of the following par- ticulars : the perfon, the mind, the temper of Dr. Darwin ; his powers as a Phyfician, Philofopher, and Poet; the peculiar traits of his manners ; his excellencies and faults ; the Petrarchan attachment of his middle life, more happy in it's refult than was that of the Bard of Vauclufe*; the beautiful poetic testimonies of it's fervor, while yet a 3 it VI PREFACE. it remained hopelefs ; an inveftigation of the conftituent excellencies and defects of his magnificent poem, the Botanic Garden ; remarks upon his philofophic profe writ- ings; the characters and talents of thofe who formed the circle of his friends while he refided inLichfield; and the very fingular "and interefting hiftory of one of them, ' well-known in the lettered world, whofe domeftic hiftory, remarkable as it is, has been unaccountably omitted by the gentle- man who wrote his life. Dr. Darwin's Letters make no part of thefe Memoirs. Pofleffing few of them myfelf, and thofe perfectly inconfequential, no effort has here been made to obtain them from others. He lived not, like Pope and Swift, Gray arid Johnfon, in exclufive devotion to abftracT; literature. During fuch hours of repofe, compared to his bufy and hurried life, he might have found leifure to pour his imagination and Jiis know- ledge PREFACE. Vll ledge on the epiftolary page ; but his epif- tles, though profeffionally numerous, were Ihort from neceffity, and by choice com- preffed. He has often faid that he had not the talent of elegant letter-writing. Like all other diftinguiihed acquirements, it can only obtain excellence from frequent and diffufe practice, unreftrained by the interfering preffure of extrinfic confider- ations. It was alfo his frequent remark, that literary fame invariably fuffers by the pub- lication of every thing which is below the level of that celebrity which it has already gained. Letters, through whofe progress either wit fcatters it's fcintillations, criti- cifm it's inftruftion, knowledge it's trea- fures, or fancy it's glow, are not beneath the dignity of the moft eminent reputation ; but fince coercive circumflances in a great meafure precluded thofe efFufions to the letters of Darwin, , there would be no a 4 kind- Vlll PREFACE. kindnefs to his memory in obtruding them upon the public ; none to the public in fwel- ling out books with materials of no intrinfic value. It is only zeal without judgment, and the enthufiafm of partiality, which can take pleafure in reading a great man's letters, which might have been thofe of any toler- ably educated mind, on which genius had never fhone. Biography of recently departed Eminence is apt to want characleriftic truth, fince it is generally written either by a near relation, Who writes to fhare the fame of the deceafed, So high in merit, and to him fo dear ! Such dwell on praifes which they think they fhare *j or by an highly obliged friend, whom gratitude and affection render blindly par- tial, and who is influenced by a defire of gratifying, with a defcription of all-excel- ing endowment and angelic excellence, * Young's Night Thoughts. the PREFACE. IX the furviving family of the author he com- memorates ; or by an editor who believes it highly conducive to his profits on the writings he publishes, or republifhes, to claim for their author the unquali- fied admiration and reverence of man- kind. All thefe clafles of biographers do for the perfon whom they commemorate, what our generally wife Queen Elizabeth had the weaknefs to requeft her painters would do for her portrait on the canvafs ; *. they draw a picture without fhades. But though people of credulous and effervefcent zeal may be gratified by feeing a writer, whofe works have charmed them, thus inverted with unrivalled genius and fuper-human virtue, the judicious few, whofe approbation is genuine honor, are aware of this truth, aflerted by Mrs. Bar- bauld in her beautiful, her ineftimable Eflay againft Inconfiftency in our Expec- tations. " Nature is much too frugal to " heap X PREFACE. " heap together all manner of finning " qualities in one glaring mafs *." Every man has his errors, and the errors of pub- lic characters are too well known not to expofe unfounded eulogium to the diftafte of all who prefer truth to enthuflafm. They are confcious that the mind, as well as the perfon, of a celebrated character, ought to be drawn with difpaffionate fidelity, or not attempted ; that though juft biographic record will touch the fail- ings of the good and the eminent with tendernels, it ought not to fpread over them the veil of fuppreffion. A portrait painter might as well omit each appropriate diftinction of feature, countenance, and form, becaufe it may not be elegant, and, like the Limner in Gay's Fables, finifh his pictures from cafts of the Venus and Apollo, as the hiftorian conceal the faults, foibles, and weakneffes of the individual whom he delineates. * Aikin's and Barbauld's Eflays. it PREFACE. XL It is this fidelity of reprefentation which makes Mrs. Piozzi's Memoirs of Dr. John- fon, and Mr. Bofwell's Tour, and his Life of that wonderful being, fo valuable to thofe who wifli not for an idol to worfhip, inftead of a great man to contemplate, as nature, paffion, and habit, compounded his character. If thofe biographers had invefted their deceafed friend with excellence, which no fbmbre i rri tability had ever overfhadowed ; with juftice and candor, which no literary jealoufy, no party prejudice, no bigot zeal had ever warped ; the public might have been led, through boundlefs veneration of one, into injuftice towards many. The world might have been induced to Relieve that all whofe merit he has depreciated, whofe talents he has undervalued, through the courfe of his Lives of the Poets, had deferred the fate they met on thofe pages. Then, to the injury of our national tafte, and to the literary and moral character of the great Englifh Claffics, more univerfat con- XII PREFACE. confidence had been placed in the ibphi- tries of thofe volumes, which feem to have put on the whole armor of truth by the force of their eloquence and the wit of their fatire. A paragraph which appeared in feveral of the late newfpapers, and which con- tained a ridiculouily falfe print, political for poetical, mentioned that thefe expeded Memoirs were undertaken at the requeft of the late Dr. Darwin's family. A miftaken rumour; though they certainly had their rife in the exprefled defire of Dr. Robert Darwin of Shrewfbury, that I would fup- ply him with fuch anecdotes of his father's earlier life, as my intimacy with him, dur- ing that period, had enabled me to obtain, and which might affift in forming a bio- graphic fketch, to be prefixed to his writ- ings at fome future time. In purpofed obedience thefe records were begun, but they became too extended to form only materials for another perfon's compofition ; and- PREFACE. Xlll and too impartial to pafs with propriety through the filial channel, though fervently juft to the excellencies of the commemo- rated. Of thofe years in which the talents and focial virtues of this extraordinary man ihed their luftre over the city which I inhabit, no hiftorian remains, who, with vicinity of habitation, and domeftic intercourfe with Dr. Darwin, took equal intereft with my- felf in all that marked, by traits of him, that period of twenty -three years, and which engaged my attention from my very earlieft youth. Some few of his con- temporaries in this town yet remain ; but not one who could be induced to publifli what their obfervation may have traced, and their memory treafured. His fbmetime pupil, and late years friend, the ingenious Mr. Bilsborrow, is writing, or has written, his Life ; but fince Dr. Darwin conftantly ihrunk with re- ferved pride from all that candor would deem XIV PREFACE. deem confidential converfatioru and which the world is fo apt to ridicule as vain ego- tifin ; fince it is underftood that he has not left biographic documents; fmce Mr. Bilf- borrow was fcarcely in exiftence when his illuftrious friend firft changed his fphere of aftion ; he muft find himfelf as much a ftranger to the particulars of his Lichfield refidence, as I am of thofe which were moft prominent in the equal number of years he pafled at Derby, Between us,, all will probably be known that can now with accuracy be traced of Dr. Darwin. To the beft of my power I have pre- fumed to be the recorder of vanifhed Ge- nius, beneath the ever-prefent confcioufnefs that biography and criticifm have their facred duties, alike to the deceafed, and to the public ; precluding, on one hand, un- juft depreciation, on the other, over-valu- ing partiality. MEMOIRS THE LIFE AND WRITINGS DOCTOR DARWIN. CHAP. I. DOCTOR ERASMUS DARWIN was the fon of a private gentleman, near Newark, in Nottinghamfliire. He came to Lichfield to pradlife phyfic in the autumn of the year 1756, at the age of twenty-four; bringing high recommendations from the univerfity of Edinburgh, in which he had ftudied, and from that of Cambridge, to which he belonged. He was fomewhat above the middle fize, his form athletic, and inclined to cor- pulence ; his limbs too heavy for exact pro- as portion. MEMOIRS OF portion. The traces of afevere fmall-pox; features, and countenance, which, when they were not animated by focial pleafure, were rather faturnine than fprightly ; a ftoop in the fhoulders, ^nd the then pro- feffional appendage, a large full-bottomed wig, gave, at that early period of life, an appearance of nearly twice the years he bore. Florid health, and the earnest of good humour, a funny fmile, on entering a room, and on first accofting his friends, rendered, in his youth, that exterior agree- able, to which beauty and iymmetry had not been propitious. He flammered extremely; but whatever he faid, whether gravely or in jest, was always well worth waiting for, though the inevitable impreffion it made might not always be pleafant to individual felf-love. Confcious of great native elevation above the general ftandard of intellect, he became, early in life, fore upon oppofition, whether in DR. DARWIN. in argument or condu<t, and always re- venged it by farcafm of very keen edge. Nor was he lefs impatient of the Tallies of cgotifm and vanity, even when they were in fo flight a degree, that ftricl: politenefs would rather tolerate than ridicule them. Dr. Darwin feldom failed to prelent their caricature in jocofe but wounding irony. If thefe ingredients of colloquial defpotifm were difcernible in unworn exiftence, they increafed as it advanced, fed by an ever- growing reputation within and without the pale of medicine. Extreme was his fcepticifm to human truth. From that caufe he often difre- garded the accounts his patients gave of themfelves, and rather chofe to colled: his information by indirect inquiry and by crofs-examining them, than from their vo- luntary teflimony. That diftruft and that habit were probably favourable to his ikill in difcovering the origin of diieafes, and B 3 thence 4 MEMOIRS OF thence to his preeminent fuccefs in ef- fefting their cure ; but they imprefled his mind and tinctured his converfation with an apparent want of confidence in man- kind, which was apt to wound the ingenu- ous and confiding fpirit, whether feeking his medical affiftance, or his counfel as a friend. Perhaps this pronenefs to fufpicion mingled too much of art in his wisdom. From the time at which Dr. Darwin firfl came to Lichfield, he avowed a con- viction of the pernicious- effecls of all vi- nous fluid on the youthful and healthy con- ilitution ; an abfolute horror of fpirits of all forts, and however diluted. His own example, with very fe\v exceptions, fup- ported his exhortations. From ftrong malt liquor he totally abftained, and if he drank a glafs or two of Englifh wine, he mixed it with water. Acid fruits, with fugar, and all fort of creams, and butter, were his luxuries; but he always ate plentifully of animal . DARWIN. animal food. This liberal alimentary re- gimen he prefcribed to people of every age, where unvitiated appetite rendered them capable of following it ; even to in- fants. He defpifed the prejudice, which deems foreign wines more wholcfome than the wines of the country. If you muft drink wine, faid he, let it be home-made. It is well known, that Dr. Darwin's influ- ence and example have fobered the county of Derby ; that intemperance in fermented fluid of every fpecies is almoft unknown amongft it's gentlemen. Profeffional generofity diftingui fried Dr. Darwin's medical practice. While refident in Lichfield, to the prieft and lay-vicars of it's cathedral, and their families, he always cheerfully gave his advice, but never took fees from any of them. Diligently, alfo, did he attend to the health of the poor in that city, and afterwards at Derby, and fup- plied their neceffities by food, and all sort B 3 of 6 MEMOlftS OF of charitable affiftance. In each of thofe towns, his was the cheerful board of almoft open-houfed hofpitality, without extrava* gance or parade; deeming ever the firft unjuft, the latter unmanly. Generofity, \vit, and fcience, were his houfehold gods. To thofe many rich prefents, which Na- ture beftowed on the mind of Dr. Darwin, fhe added the feducing, and often dangerous gift of a highly poetic imagination ; but he remembered how fatal that gift profeffion- ally became to the young phyficians, Aken- fide and Armftrong. Concerning them, the public could not be perfuaded, that fo much excellence in an ornamental fcience was compatible with intenfe application to a feverer ftudy ; with fuch application as it held neceflary to a refponfibility, towards which it might look for the fource of difeafe, 6n which it might lean for the ftruggle with mortality. Thus, through the firfl twenty- three years of his pradlice as a phyfician, Dr. Dar- DR. DARWIN. i Dr. Darwin, with the wifdom .ofUlyfles, bound himfelf to the medical maft, that he might not follow thofe delufive fyrens, the mufes, or be confldered as their avowed votary. Occafional little pieces, however, Hole at feldom occurring periods from his pen ; though he cautioufly precluded their paffing the prefs, before his latent genius for poetry became unveiled to the public eye in it's copious and dazzling fplendour. Moft of thefe minute gems have ftolen into newfpapers and magazines, fince the im- pregnable rock, on which his medicinal and philofophical reputation were placed, induced him to contend for that fpecies of fame, which mould entwine the Parnaffian laurel with the balm of Pharmacy: After this fketch of Dr. Darwin's cha- racter and manners,4et us return to the dawn of his profeffional eftablilhment. A few weeks after his arrival at Lichfield, in the latter end of the year 1756", the intuitive B 4 difcern- MEMOIRS OF difcernment, the ikill, fpirit, and decifion, which marked the long courfe of his fuccefs- ful practice, were firft called into a&ion, and brilliantly opened his career of fame. The late Mr. Inge of Thorpe, in Stafford- fliire, a young gentleman of family, for- tune, and confequence, lay fick of a danger- ous fever. The juftly celebrated Dr. Wilks of Willenhal, who had many years poflefTed, in wide extent, the bufinefs and confidence of the Lichfield neighbourhood, attended Mr. Inge, and had unfuccefsfully combated his difeafe. At length he pronounced it hopelefs ; that fpeedy death mufl enfue, and took his leave. It was then that a fond mother, wild with terror for the life of an only fon, as drowning wretches catch at twigs, fent to Lichfield for the young, and yet inexperienced phyfician, of recent arrival there. By a reverfe and entirely novel courfe of treatment, Dr. Darwin gave his dying, patient back to exiftence, to health, DR. DARWIN. health, profperity, and all that high repu- tation, which Mr. Inge afterwards ppffcfled as a public magiftrate. The far-fpreading report of this judici- oufly daring and fortunate exertion brought Dr. Darwin into immediate and extend ve employment, and foon eclipfed the hopes of an ingenious rival, who redgned the conteft; nor, afterwards, did any other competitor bring his certainly ineffectual lamp into that fphere, in which fo bright a luminary flione. Equal fuccefs, as in the cafe of Mr. Inge, continued to refult from the powers of Dr. Darwin's genius, his frequent and intenfe meditation, and the avidity with which he, through life, devoted his leifure to fcien- tide acquirement, and the investigation of difeafe. Ignorance and timidity, fuperfti- tion, prejudice, and envy, feduloufly ftrovc to attach to his practice the terms, rafh, experimental, theoretic ; not conddering, that without "OF THE A1XMOIRS OF without experimental theory, the reftoring fcience could have made no progrefs ; that neither time, nor all it's accumulation of premature death, could have enlarged the circle, in which the merely practical phyii- cian condemns himfelf to walk. Strength of mind, fortitude unappalled, and the per- petual fuccefs which attended this great man's deviations from the beaten track, enabled him to fliake thofe mifts from his reputation, as the lion shakes to air the dewdrops on his mane. In 1757, he married Mils Howard, of the Ciofe of Lichfield, a blooming and lovely young lady of eighteen. A mind, which had native ftrength; an awakened tafle for the works of imagination; in- genuous fweetnefs ; delicacy animated by iprightlinefs, and fuftained by fortitude, made her a capable, as well as fafcinating v companion, even to a man of talents fo il- luftrious. To her he could, with confi- dence. DR. DARWIN. H dence, commit the important talk of ren- dering his children's minds a foil fit to receive, and bring to fruit, the ftamina of wifdom and fcience. Mrs. Darwin's own mind, by nature fb well endowed, ftrengthened and expanded in the friendfhip, converfation, and confi- dence of fo beloved, fo revered a preceptor. But alas ! upon her early youth, and a too delicate conftitution, the frequency of her maternal fituation, during the firft five years of her marriage, had probably a bane- ful effecl:. The potent {kill, and affiduous cares of him, before whom difeafc daily vanifhed from the frame of others, could not expel it radically from that of her ho loved. It was however kept at bay thirteen years. Upon the diftinguifhed happinefs of thoic years, ihe fpoke with fervour to two inti- mate female friends in the laft week of her , which clofed at the latter end of the 12 MEMOIHS OF the fummer 1770. " Do not weep for my " impending fate/' faid the dying angel, with a fmile of unaffected cheerfulnefs. " In the fhort term of my life, a great " deal of happinefs has been comprifed. " The maladies of my frame were peculiar ; " the pains in my head and ftomach, which " no medicine could eradicate, were fpaf- *' modic and violent ; and required ftronger " meafures to render them fupportable " while they lafted, than my conftitution " could fuftain without injury. The pe- " riods of exemption from thofe pains were " frequently of feveral days duration, and " in my intermiffions I felt no indication " of malady. Pain taught me the value of " eafe, and I enjoyed it with a glow of " fpirit, feldom, perhaps, felt by the habi- *' tually healthy. While Dr. Darwin com- " bated and afluaged my difeafe from time " to time, his indulgence to all my wiflaes, " his active defire to fee me amufed and happy, DR. DARWIN. 13 '" happy, proved inceflant. His Koufe, as '" you know, has ever been the relbrt of " people of fcicnce and merit. If, from " my hufband's great and extenfive prac- " tice, I had much lefs of his fociety than " I wiftied, yet the converfation of his " friends, and of my own, was ever ready i( to enliven the hours of his abfence. As " occalional malady made me doubly enjoy " health, fo did thofe frequent abfences " give a zcft, even to delight, when I could " be indulged with his company. My 6C three boys have ever been docile, and " afFeftionate. Children as they are, I (< could truft them with important fecrets, " fo facred do they hold every promife they c< make. They fcorn deceit, and falfehood " of every kind, and have lefs lelfiflinefs "'than generally belongs to childhood. - " Married to any other man, I do not fup- " pofe I could have lived a third part of "" thofe years, which I have pafled with . Dar- 14 MEMOIRS Of " Dr. Darwin ; he has prolonged my day*, " and he has bleffed them." Thus died this fuperior woman, in the bloom of life, fmcerely regretted by all, who knew how to value her excellence, and paf* JtonateJy regretted by the felecled few, whom Ihe honoured with her perfonal and confi- dential friendfhip. The year after his mar- riage, Dr. Darwin purchafed an old half timbered houfe in the cathedral vicarage, adding a handfome new front, with Ve- netian windows, and commodious apart- ments. This front looked towards Beacon ftreet, but had no ftreet annoyance, being feparated from it by a narrow, deep, dingle, which, when the Doclor purchafed the pre- jnifes, was overgrown with tangled briars and knot-grafs. In ancient days it was the receptacle of that water, which moated the Clofe in a fe mi circle, the other half being defended by the Minfter pool. A fortu- nate opening, between the oppofite houfes .and DR. DARWIN. 15 and this which has been described, gives it a profpect, fufficiently extenfive, of pleafant and umbrageous fields. Acrofs the dell, between his houfe and the ftreet, Dr. Dar- win flung a broad bridge of fhallow fteps with chinefe paling, defcending from his hall-dooi* to the pavement. The tangled and hollow bottom he cleared into lawny fmoothnefs, and made a terrace on the bank, which ftretched in a line, level with the floor of his apartments, planting the deep declivity with lilacs and rofe-bulhes; while he fcreened his terrace from the gaze of paffengers, and the fummer fun, By all that higher grew, " Of firm and fragrant leaf. Then fwiftly rofe " Acanthus, and each odorous, bufhy fhrub, " To fence the verdant wall." The laft gentleman who purchafed this lioufe and it's gardens, has deftroyed the verdure and plantations of that dell, for the i purpofe MEMOIRS purpofe of making a circular coach-road from the ftreet to the hall- door ; a facrifice of beauty to convenience, and one of many proofs, that alteration and improvement are not always fynonimous terms. To this ru$ m wbe, of Darwinian creation, reforted, from it's early rifing, a knot of philofophic friends, infrequent vifitation. The Rev. Mr. Michell, many years deceafed. He was fkilled in aftronomic fcience, modeft and wife. The ingenious Mr. Kier, of Weft Bromich, then Captain Kier. Mr. Boulton, known and re- fpec~ted wherever mechanic philofophy is underftood. Mr. Watt, the celebrated im- prover of the fteam engine. And, above all others in Dr. Darwin's perfonal regard, the accomplifhed Dr. Small, of Birmingham, who bore the blufhing honours of his talents and virtues to an untimely grave. About the year 1705, came to Lich- field, from the neighbourhood of Reading, .the young and gay philofopher, Mr. Edge- worth, .DR. DARWIN. 17 worth, a man of fortune, and recently mar- ried to a Mifs Ellars of Oxfordfhire. The fame of Dr. Darwin's various talents allured Mr. E. to the city they graced. Then fcarcely two and twenty, and with an ex- terior yet more juvenile, he had mathe- matic fcience, mechanic ingenuity, and a competent portion of claffical learning, with the pofleffion of the modern languages. His addrefs was gracefully fpirited, and his converfation eloquent. t^e danced, he fenced, and winged his arrows with more than philofophic Ikill ; yet did not the con- fcioufnefs of thefe lighter endowments abate his ardour in the purfuit of knowledge. After having eftabUfhed a friendfliip and correfpondence with Dr. Darwin, Mr. Edge- worth did not return to Lichfield till the fummer of the year 1770. With him, at that period, came the late Mr. Day, of Bear-hill, in Berkfhire. Thefe young men had been fellow-ftudents in the university c of IS MEMOIRS OP of Oxford. Mr. Day was alfo attra&ed bj the fame celebrated abilities, which, five years before, had drawn his friend into their fphere. He was then twenty-four^ in pofleffion of a clear eftate, about twelve hundred pounds per annum. Mr. Day looked the philofbpher. Pow- der and fine clothes were, at that time, the appendages of gentlemen. Mr. Day w r ore not either. He was tall and ftooped in the fhouldcrs, full made, but not corpu- lent ; and in his meditative and melan- choly air a degree of awkwardnefs and dignity were blended. We found his fea- tures interesting and agreeable amidft the traces of a fevere fmall-pox. There was a fort of weight upon the lids of his large hazle eyes ; yet when he declaimed, -" Of good and evil, " Paflion, and apathy, and glory, and fhame,'-' very expreffive were the energies gleaming from DR. DARWI1T. from them beneath the ihade of fable hair, which, Adam-like, curled about his brows. Lefs graceful, lefs amufing, lefs brilliant than Mr. E., but more highly imagina- tive, more claffical, and a deeper reafoner ; ftricT: integrity, energetic friendfhip, open- handed bounty, fedulous and diffufive cha- rity, greatly overbalanced, on the fide of virtue, the tincture of mifanthropic gloom and proud contempt of common-life fo- ciety, that marked the peculiar character, which fliall unfold itfelf on thefe pages. In fucceeding years, Mr. Day publifhed two noble poems, The Dying Negro, and The Devoted Legions ; alib Sandford and Mer- ton, which by wife parents is put into every youthful hand. Mr. Day dedicated the third edition o The Dying Negro to Roufleau. That de- dication has every force and every grace of eloquence. The fentiments are ftrongly characleriftic of their writer, except in the c 2, philippic 20 MEMOIRS OP philippic againft American refiftance ; juft commenced when the addrefs to Roufleau was compofed. Generous indignation of the flave trade, praclifed without remorfe in the fouthern colonies of North America, induced Mr. Day to refufe them all credit for the patriotic virtue of that refiftance to new and unconstitutional claims, which threatened their liberties. In the courie of the year 17/0, Mr. Day flood for a full-length picture to Mr. Wright of Derby. A ftrong likenefs and a dignified portrait were the refult. Drawn as in the open air, the furrounding fky is tempeftuous, lurid, and dark. He ftands leaning his left arm againft a column in- fcribed to Hambden. Mr. Day looks up- ward, as enthufiaftically meditating on the Contents of a book, held in his dropped right hand. The open leaf is the oration of that virtuous patriot in the fenate, againft the grant of Ihip-money, demanded by King Charles DR, DARWItf. 21 Charles the firft. A flafli of lightning plays in Mr. Day's hair, and illuminates the con- tents of the volume. The poetic fancy, ancfwhat were then the politics of the ori- ginal, appear in the choice of fubjecl: and attitude. Dr. Darwin fat to Mr. Wright about the fame period. That was a limply contemplative portrait, of the mod perfecl refemblance. During the fummer and autumn of that year, was found, in Dr. Darwin's cir- cle, as Mr. Day's viiitor, the late Mr. William Seward of London ; yet, though a young man whofe talents were confider- ably above the common level, he was rather a fatellite than a planet in that little fphere. He afterwards became known to the literary world as one of Dr. John- fbn's habitual companions, and, in the year 1 795> ne publifhcd Anecdotes of Diftin- guiihed Perfons ; a compilation of more induflry in the collection, than grace in c 3 the 22 MEMOIRS O? the drefs. Mr. W. Seward has not dil- played in thofe volumes, the happy art of animating narration. Common occur- rences, even in the lives of eminent people, weary attention, unlefs they are told with elegance and fpirit. From the ardently fought fociety of men of genius, this gen- tleman acquired a ftriking degree of wit and ingenious allufion in converfation, though it was too uniformly, and too cauftically, of the farcaftic fpecies ; but every fort of fire feems to have evaporated from the language of Mr. W. Seward in paffing through his pen. Mr. Day and Mr. Edgeworth took the houfe now inhabited by Mr. Morefby, in the little green valley of Stow, that Hope* from the eaft end of the cathedral, and forms, with it's old grey tower on the banks of it's lake, fo lovely a landfcape. That houfe was Mr. Day's bachelor man- fion through the year 17/0; that of Mr. Edge- DR. DARWIN. 23 Edgeworth, and his wife and family, in the enfuing year. All of this city and it's vicinity, who comprehended and tafted thofe powers of mind which take the higher range of intellect, were delighted to mingle in fuch affociation. In February 1775, died Dr. Small, nor were fo much talent and merit fuffered to pafs away " Without the meed of fome melodious tears." They were given in a fhort elegy, by his moil valued friend, Dr. Darwin ; which slegy is engraven on a vafe in Mr. Boul- ton's garden, facred to the memory of the ingenious deceaied. Ye Gay, and Young, who thoughtlefs of your doom, Shun the difgufiful man lions of the dead, Where Melancholy broods o'er many a tomb, Mouldering beneath the yew's uiiwholcioiue iliade> C 4 If 24 MEMOIRS OP If chance ye enter thefe fequefter'd groves, And day's bright funfhine, for a while, forego, O leave to Folly's cheek, the laughs and loves, And give one hour to philofophic woe ! Here, while no titled duft, no fainted bone, No lover, weeping over beauty's bier, No warrior, frowning in hiftoric ftone, Extorts your praifes, or requefts your tear, Cold Contemplation leans her aching head, And as on hurran woe her broad eye turns, Waves her meek hand, and lighs for fcience dead, For fcience, virtue, and for Small me mourns ! Epitaph on Dr. Small of Birmingham, by Mr. Day. Beyond the rage of Time, or Fortune's power, .Remain, cold ftone ! remain, and mark the hour When all the nobleft gifts that Heaven e'er gave Were deftined to a dark, untimely grave. O taught on reafon's boldeft wing to rife, And catch each glimmer of the opening ikies ! O gentle bofom ! O unfpotted mind ! O friend to truth, to virtue, and mankind, Thy lov'd remains we truft to this pale (hrine, Secure to meet no fecond lofs like thine ! In DR. DARWIN. 25 In Mr. Day's epitaph there is fome pa- thos, and more poetry ; but it is far from being faultlefs. Perhaps it may be it's lean: error, that the name of the bewailed is omitted, which Dr. Johnibn has well ob- ferved, ought always to be involved in the verfes. It muft, however, be confefled, that, in this cafe, the noun perfbnal was not calculated to appear with grace in verfe ; but that confideration, though it doubtlels caufed, will not juftify, the omiffion. In Dr. Darwin's Elegy, it is placed out of all poiTibility of ludicrous equivoque, and fo accents the laft line, as to produce no mean or inharmonious found. The com- mendation, alfb, is, in the elegy, of much more dignified modefty. Praife may be allowed to glow even upon a tomb/ione, but fhould never be hyperbolic. The epitaph is too exclamatory ; and to aflert that no fecond lofs, fo deplorable, can be fuftained, is infinitely too much for one, who, how> cver 26 MEMOIRS OP ever endowed and adorned, left the world at large no written teftimony of that im- puted fuperiority. It is finely observed by the charming Prior, " That the diftinguifh'd part of men, By pencil, compafs, fword, or pen, Should, in life's vifit leave their name, In characters, which may proclaim That they, with ardour, flrove to raife At once their art, and country's praife; And, in the working, took great care That all was full, and round, and fair." The circumftances of Mr. Day's difpo- lition, habits, and deiliny were fo peculiar, as to juftify digreffion from the principal fub- jedlof thefe pages. Their authorwould deem it inexcufable to introduce any thing fabu- lous ; to embellifh truth by the ilighteft co- louring of fi cYion, even by exaggerating fingu- larity, or heightening what is extraordinary ; but when realities are of a nature to intereft $ind to amufe in a collateral branch of the memoir, R. DARWIN. 27 memoir, the reader will not be difpleafed to turn from it's principal perfonage, dif- tinguifhed rather by wonderful endowment than by uncommon occurrences, while the picture of his friend's more eventful ftory pafles before their eyes. Mr. Day's father died during his infancy, and left him an eftate of twelve hundred pounds per annum. Soon after his mother married a gentleman of the name of Phi- lips. The author of this narrative has often heard Mr. Day defer ibe him as one of thofe common characters, w r ho feek to fupply their inherent want of confequence, by a bufy teizing interference in circum- ftances, with which they have .no real concern. Mrs. Philips, jointured with three hun- dred pounds a year out of her fon's eftate, was left his fole guardian, or united with another perfon in the trust, whom ilie in- fluenced. Herfelf, influenced by fuch a hufband, ^S MEMOIRS OP hufband, often rendered uncomfortable the domeftic fituation of a high-fpirited youth of genius. We may well fuppofe he impatiently brooked the preceptive im- pertinence, and troublefome authority of a man whom he defpifed, and who had no claim upon his obedience, though he con- fidered it as a duty to pay fome outward refpect to the hufband.of his mother. She frequently repined at the narrow- nefs of her jointure, and ftill oftener exprefled folicitude left Mr. Philips, who had no fortune of his own, fhould lole in the decline of life, by lofing her, all comfortable fubfiftence. It was Mr. Day's firft aft, on coming of age, and into pof- feffion of his eftate, to augment his mother's jointure to four hundred, and to fettle it upon Mr. Philips during his life. This bounty, to a man who had needlefsly mortified and embittered fo many years of his own infancy and youth, evinced a very elevated DR. DARWIN. 39 elevated mind. That fnind had alfo been wounded by the caprice of a young lady, who " claimed the triumph of a lettered " heart/' without knowing how to value and retain her prize. Before the proofs of her ficklenefs became indifputable, he wrote the following beautiful elegy j Yet once again, in yonder myrtle bowers, Whence rofe-lipp'd zephyrs, hovering, Ihed perfume, I weave the painted radiance of the flowers, And prefs coy Nature in her days of bloom. Shall {he, benignant, to the wondering eyes Of the lone hermit all her charms unfold ? Or, gemm'd with dew, bid her gay florets rife To grace the ruftic matter of the fold ? Shall thefe poflefs her bright, her fragant ftore, Thefe fnatch the wreath, by plaftic Nature wove, Nor wanton fummer yield one garland more To grace the bofom of the nymph I love? For me mall come j with her each fitter grace, With her the kindred powers of harmony, The deep recetfes of the grove mall trace, And hang with flowers each confecrated tree* BJithc 3O MEMOIRS OP Blithe Fancy too (hall fpread her glittering plumes, She loves the white cliffs of Britannia's iile, She loves the fpot where infant Genius blooms, She loves the fpot, where Peace and Freedom frnile. Unlefs her aid the mimic queen beftow, In vain freili garlands the low vales adorn j In vain with brighter tints the florets glow, Or dewdrops fparkle on the brow of morn. Opes not one bloflbm to the fpicy gale, Throws not one elm it's mofs-wrcath'd branches wi.det, Wanders no rill through the luxuriant vale, Or, glifVning, ruflies down the mountain fide, But thither, with the morning's earlieft ray, Fancy has wing'd her ever-mazy flight, To hymn wild carols to returning day, And catch the faireft beams of orient light. Proud of the theft me mounts her lucid car, Her car the rainbow's painted arch fuppliesj Her fwift wing'd fteeds unnumber'd loves prepare, And countlefs zephyrs waft her through the ikies. There, while her bright wheels paufe in cloudlefs air. She waves the magic fceptre of command, And all her flattering vifions, wild as fair, Start into life beneath the potent wand. Here, OR.. DARWIN. 31 Here, proudly nodding o'er the vale below, High rocks of pearl reflect the morning ray, Whence gufhimg ftreams of azure ne&ar flow, And tinge the trickling herbage on their way. Thefe, cull'd from every mountain, every plain, Perennial flowers the ambient air perfume, Far off Hern Boreas holds his drear domain, Nor chains the ftreams, nor blights the facred bloom. Through all the year, in copfe and tangled dale, Lone Philomel her fong to Venus pours, What time pale Evening fpreads the dewy ve'rl, What time the red Morn bluflies on the iliores. Illufive vifions ! O, not here, not here, Does Spring eternal hold her placid reign, Already Boreas chills the altering year, And blafts the purple daughters of the plain. So fade my promis'd joys t fair fcenes of bliis, Ideal fcenes, too long believ'd in vain, Plung'd down and fwallow'd deep in Time's abyls !-^- So veering Chance, and rnthlefs fates ordain. Thee, Laura, thee, by fount, or mazy ftream, Or thicket rude, unpreft'd by human feet, I figh, unheeded, to the moon's pale beam ; Thee, Laura, thee, the echoing hiils repeat, Oleag 32 MEMOIRS Of Oh! long of billows wild, and winds the fport, Seize, feize the fafe afylum that remains ! Here Truth, Love, Freedom, Innocence refort, And offer long oblivion to thy pains. When panting, gafping, breathlefs, on the ftrand The fhipwreek'd mariner reclines his breaft, Say, ihall he fcorn the hofpitable hand, That points to fafety, liberty, and reft ? But tJlouy too fooii forgetful of pafl woe, Again would'ft tempt the winds, and treacherous fea ; Ah ! ihall the raging blafl forget to blow, Shall every wintry ftorm be hufli'd for thee ? Not fo'! I dread the elemental war, Too foon, too foon the calm, deceitful, flies ; \ hear the blaft come whittling from afar, I fee the tempeft gathering in the Ikies. Yet let the tempeft roar ! love fcorns all harms, I plunge amid the ftorm, refolved to fave j This hour, at leaft, I clafp thee in my arms, The next let ruin join us in the grave. The above verfes imply fome perfidy, or difappointment experienced by the lady to whom DR. DARWIN. 33 whom they are addrefled. She probably accepted Mr. Day's addrefles in refent- ment, and afterwards found ihe had not a heart to give him. This is no un- common cafe ; and it is furely better to recede, even at the church-porch, than to plight at it's altar the vow of unexifting love, which no effort of the will can im- plant in the bofom. It has been obferved, that marriage is often the grave of love, but fcarcely ever it's cradle ; and what hope of happinefs, what hope of a bleffing on nuptials, which commence with perjury! Even at that period, " when youth, elate and gay, fteps into life," Mr. Day was a rigid moralift, who proudly impofed on himfelf cold abftinence, even from the moft innocent pleafures ; nor would he allow an aftion to be virtuous, which was performed upon any hope of reward, here, or hereafter. This feverity of principle, more abftrat and Ipecious, than natural D or 34 MEMOIRS OF or ufeful, rendered Mr. Day fceptical to- wards revealed religion, though by no means a confirmed deift. Moft unlike Doctor Johnfon in thofe doubts, he re- fembled him in want of fympathy with fuch miferies as fpring from refinement and the fofter affections ; refembled him alfo, in true compaffion for the fufferings of cold and hunger. To the power of re- lieving them he nobly facrificed all the parade of life, and all the pleafures of luxury. For that mafs of human charac- ter w 7 hich conftitutes polifhed fociety, he avowed a fovereign contempt; above all things he expreffed averfion to the modern plans of female education, attributing to their influence the fickleness which had ftting him. He thought it, however, his duty to marry ; nurfed fy Hematic ideas of the force of philofophic tuition to produce future virtue, and loved to mould the in- fant and youthful mind. Ever DR. DARWIN. 35 Ever defpicable in Mr. Day's eftimation were the diftindlions of birth, and the ad- vantages of wealth ; and he had learnt to look back with refentment to the allure- ments of the Graces. He refolved, if pof- fible, that his wife ihould have a tafte for literature and fcience, for moral and pa- triotic philofophy. So might flie be his companion in that retirement, to which he had deftined himfelf; and affift him in forming the minds of his children to ftub- born virtue and high exertion. He refolved alfo, that flie ihould be fimple as a moun- tain girl, in her drefs, her diet, and her manners ; fearlefs and intrepid as the Spar- tan wives and Roman heroines. There was no finding fuch a creature ready made ; philofophical romance could not hope it. He muft mould fome infant into the being his fancy had imaged. With the late Mr. Bicknel, then a bar- rifter, in confiderable pradice, and of D 2, taintlefs 36 MEMOIRS OF taintlefs reputation, and fevcral years older than himfelf, Mr. Day lived on terms of intimate friendfhip. Credentials were pro- cured of Mr. Day's moral probity, and with them, on his coming of age, thefe two friends journied to Shrewfbury, to explore the hofpital in that town for foundling girls. From the little train, Mr. Day, in 'the prefence of Mr. Bickncl, fele&ed two of twelve years each ; both beautiful ; one fair, with flaxen locks, and light eyes; her he called Lucretia. The other, a clear, auburn brunette, with darker eyes, more glowing bloom, and chemut treiTes, he named Sabrina. Thefe girls were obtained on written conditions, for the performance of which Mr. Bicknel was guarantee. They were to this effecl: ; that Mr. Day fhould, within the twelvemonth after taking them, refign one into the protection of fome reputable tradefwoman, giving one hundred pounds I to DR. DARWIN. 37 to bind her apprentice ; maintaining her, if {he behaved well, till (he married, or began bufmefs for herfelf. Upon either of thefe events, he promifed to advance four hun- dred more. He avowed his intention of educating the girl he mould retain, with & view to making her his future wife ; .folemnly engaged never to violate her innocence; and if he fhould renounce his plan, to maintain her decently in fome creditable family till (he married, when he promifed five hundred pounds as her wedding portion. Mr. Day went inftantly into France with thefe girls ; not taking an Engliili fervant, that they might receive no ideas, except thofe which himfelf might choofe to im- part. They teized and perplexed him ; they quarrelled, and fought inceflantly; they ilckened of the fmall-pox ; they chained "him to. their bed-fide by crying, and D 3 fcream- 38 MEMOIRS OF fcreaming if they were ever left a moment with any perfon who could not fpeak to them in Engli/h. He was obliged to fit up with them many nights ; to per tor m for them the loweft offices of affiftance. They loft no beauty by their difeafe. Soon after they had recovered, croiling the Rhone with his wards in a tempeftuous day, the boat overfet. Being an excellent fwimmer he faved them both, though with difficulty and danger to himfelf. Mr. Day came back to England in eight months, heartily glad to feparate the little fquabblers. Sabrina was become the fa*- vourite. He placed the fair Lucretia with a chamber milliner. She behaved well, and became the wife of a refpe&able linen-draper in London. On his return to his native country, he entrufted Sabrina to the care of Mr. Bicknel's mother, with whom fhe refided fome months in a country village, while he fettled his affairs at DR. DARWIN. 39 at his own rnanfion-houfe, from which he promifed not to remove his mother. It has been faid before, that the fame of Dr. Darwin's talents allured Mr. Day to Lichfield. Thither he led, in the fpring of the year i//o, the beauteous Sabrina, then thirteen years old, and taking a twelve month's pofleffion of the pleafant manfion in Stowe Valley, refumed his pre- parations for implanting in her young mind the character iftic virtues of Arria, Portia, and Cornelia. His experiments had not the fucccfs he wiflied and expected. Her fpirit could not be armed againft the dread of pain, and the appearance of danger. When he dropped melted foal- ing- wax upon her arms flie did not endure it heroically, nor when he fired piftols at her petticoats, which me believed to be charged with balls, could me help ftarting afide, or fupprefs her fcreams. When he tried her fidelity in fecret- D 4 keep- 40 MEMOIRS or keeping, by telling her of well-invented dangers to himfelf, in which greater dan- ger would refult from it's being difcovered that he was aware of them, he once or twice detected her having imparted them, to the fervants, and to her play- fellows. She betrayed an averfenefs to the ftudy of books, and of the rudiments of fci- ence, which gave little promife of abi- lity, that fhould, .one day, be refponfible for the education of youths, who were to emulate the Gracchi. Mr. Day perfifted in thefe experiments, and fuftained their continual difappoint- ment during a year's refidence in the vici- nity of Lichfield. The difficulty feemed to lie in giving her motive to exertion, felf-de- nial, and heroifm. It w r as againft his plan to draw it from the ufual fources, pecuniary reward, luxury, ambition, or vanity. His watchful cares had precluded all knowledge of the value of money, the reputation of beauty. DR. DARWIN. 41 beauty, and it's concomitant defire of orna- mented drefs. The only inducement, there- fore, which this lovely artlcfs'girl cousd have to combat and fubdue the natural prefe- rence, in youth ib bloflbming, of eafc to pain, of vacant fport to the labour of think- ing, was the defire of pleafing her protestor, though me knew not how, or why he be- came fuch. In that defire, fear had greatly the afcendant of affection, and fear is a cold and indolent feeling. Thus, after a feries of fruitlefs trials, Mr. Day renounced all hope of moulding Sabrina into the being his imagination had formed ; and ceafing to behold her as his future wife, he placed her at a boarding - fchool in Sutton-Coldfield, Warwickfhire. His truft in the power of education fal- tered ; his averfion to modern elegance fubfided. From the time he firft lived in the Vale of Stowe, he had daily converfed \vith the beautiful Mils Honora Sneyd of Lichfield. 42 MEMOIRS OF Lichfield. Without having received a Spartan education, me united a difmtereft- ed defire to pleafe, fortitude of fpirit, na- tive ftrength of intellect, literary and fcien- tific tafte, to unfwerving truth, and to all the graces. She was the very Honora Sneyd, for whom the gallant and unfortu- nate Major Andre's inextinguifhable paf- fion is on poetic, as his military fame and haplefs deftiny are on patriot, record. Pa- rental authority having diffolved the juve- nile engagements of this diftinguiihed youth and maid, Mr. Day offered to Honora his philofophic hand. She admired his talents; ihe revered his virtues ; me tried to fchool her heart into fofter fentiments in his favour. She did not fucceed in that attempt, and in- genuoufly told him fo. Her fifter, Mifs Eli- zabeth Sneyd, one year younger than her- felf, was very pretty, very fprightly, very artlefs, and very engaging, though count- lefs degrees inferior to the endowed and adorned DR. DA&WiIN. 43 adorned Honora. To her the yet love- lucklefs fage transferred the heart, which Honora had with iighs refigned. Eliza- beth told Mr. Day me could have loved him, if he had acquired the manners of the world, inftead of thofe auftere flngu- larities of air, habit, and addrefs. He began to impute to them the fickle- nefs of his firft love; the involuntary icinefe of the charming Honora, as well as that for which her fifter accounted. He told Elizabeth, that, for her fake, he would' renounce his prejudices to external refine- ments, and try to acquire them. He would go to Paris for a year, and commit himfelf to dancing and fencing matters. He did fo ; flood daily an hour or two in frames, to fcrew back his flioulders, and point his feet; he prafHfed the military gait, the fafhionable bow, minuets, and cotillions ; but it was too late ; habits, fo long fixed, could no more than partially be over- 44 MEMOIRS OV overcome. The endeavour, made at in- tervals, and by vt/tblc effort, was more really ungraceful than the natural ftoop, and unfafhionable air. The ftudied bow on entrance, the fuddcnly recollected af- fumptlon of attitude, prompted the riiible inftead of the admiring fenfation ; neither was the fhowy drefs, in which he came "back to his fair one, a jot more becoming. Poor Elizabeth reproached her, reluctant but infuppreffive ingratitude, upon which all this labour, thefc facrifices had been wafted. She confefled, that Thomas Day, blackguard, as he ufed jeftingly to ftyle himfelf, lefs difpleafed her eye than Tho- mas Day, Jine gent /eman. Thus again difappointed, he refumcd his accuftomed plainnefs of garb, and neglect of his perfon, and went again upon the continent for another year, with pur- fuits of higher aim, more congenial to his talents and former principles. Returning to DR. DARWIN. to England in the year 1773, he faw, that fpring, Mifs Honora Sneyd united to his friend Mr. Edgeworth, who was become a widower; and, in the year 1780, he learned that his fecond love of that name, Mifs Elizabeth Sneyd, was alfo, after the death of Honora married to Mr. Edge- worth. I; was fmgular that Mr. Day fliould thus, in the courfe of feven years, find himfelf doubly rivalled by his moft intimate friend ; but his own previously renounced purfuit of thofe beautiful young women, left him without either caufe or fenfations of refentment on their account. From the year 1773 this hitherto love- renounced philofopher refided chiefly in London, and amid the fmall and felecl: circle which he frequented there, often met the pretty and elegant Mifs Eflher Mills of Derby fhi re, who, with modern acquirements, and amongft modiili luxuries, fuited $6 MKMOIR.S or fuited to her large fortune, had cultivated her underftanding by books, and her vir- tues by benevolence. The again unpoliih- cd ftoic had every charm in her eyes, " She favv Othello's vifage in his mind." But, from indignant recollection of hopes fo repeatedly baffled, Mr. Day looked with diftruft on female attention of however flattering femblance ; nor was it till after years of her modeft, yet tender devotion to his talents and merit, that he deigned to afk Mifs Mills, if me could, for his fake, refign all that the world calls pleafures ; all it's luxuries, all it's oftentation. . If, with him, (he could refolve to employ, after the ordinary comforts of life were fupplied, the furplus of her affluent for- tune in clothing the naked, and feeding the hungry ; retire with him into the country, and fhun, through remaining exift- t>R. DARWIN. 47 cxiftence, the iiife&ums taint of human fociety. Mr. Day's conftitutional fault, like poor Cowper's, fcemed that of looking with fevere and difgufted eyes upon thofe venial errours in his fpecies, which are mutually tolerated bv mankind. This ftain of mi- / fanthropy was extremely deepened by his commerce with the world, rcftrained as that commerce had ever been. Satiric, jealous, and difcerning, it was not eafy to deceive him ; yet, in a few inftances, he was deceived by the appearance of virtues congenial to his own: " For neither man, nor angel can difcern " Hypocrify, the only evil that walks " Invifible, except to God alone." To propofals fo formidable, fo furc to be rejefted by a heart lefs than infinitely attached, Mifs Mills gladly aflcnted-; but fomething more remained. Mr. Day in- fifted, 4? MEMOIRS O| fitted, that her whole fortune fliould be fettled upon herfelf, totally out of his pre- ient or future control ; that if flie grew tired of a fyftem of life fo likely to weary p, w r oman of the world, flie might return to that world any hour fhe chofe, fully empowered to rcfume it's habits, and it's ,pleafures. They married, and retired into the country about the year 1780, according to the beft recollection of the author of thefe memoirs. No carriage ; no appointed fer- vant about Mrs. Day's own perfbn ; no luxury of any fort. Mufic, in which fhe was a diftinguifhed proficient, was deemed trivial. She banifhed her harpfichord and mufic-books. Frequent experiments upon her temper, and her attachment, were made by him, whom flie lived but to obey and love. Over thefe flic often wept, but never repined. No wife, bound in the ilrideft fetters, as to the incapacity of claiming DR. DARWIN* 49 claiming feparate maintenance, ever made more abfolute facrifices to the moft im- perious hufband, than did this lady, whofe independence had been fecured, and of whom nothing was demanded as a duty. Thus Mr. Day found, at laft, amid the very clafs he dreaded, that of fafhionable women, a heart whofe paffion for him fupplied all the requifites of his high-toned expectations. Some eight or ten years after his mar- riage, the life of this fmgular being be- came, in its meridian, a victim to one of his uncommon fyftems. He thought highly of the gratitude, generofity, and fenfibility of horfes ; and that whenever they were difobedient, unruly, or vicious, it was owing to previous ill ufage from men. He had reared, fed, and tamed a favourite foal. When it was time it Ihould become ferviceable, difdaining to employ a horfebreaker, he would ufc it E to 50 MEMOIRS OF to the bit and the burthen himfelf. He was not a good horfeman. The animal difliking his new fituation, heeded not the fbothing voice to which he had been accuftomed. He plunged, threw his maf- ter, and then, with his heels, ftruck him on the head an inftantJy fatal blow. 1C was faid that Mrs. Day never afterwards faw the fun ; that fhe lay in bed, into the curtains of which no light was admitted during the day, and only rofe to ftray alone through her garden, when night gave her fbrrows congenial gloom. She furvived this adored hufband two years, and then died, broken-hearted, for his lofs. Ere the principal fubjecT: of this biogra- phic traft is refumed, the reader will not be forry to learn the future defliny of Sabrina. She remained at fchool three years ; gained the efteem of her inftru&refs; grew feminine, elegant, and amiable. This young woman proved one of many inftances tfiat DR. DARWIN, 51 that thofe modes of education, which have been fanclioned by long experience, are feldom abandoned to advantage by inge- nious fyftem-mongers. When Sabrina left fchool, Mr. Day al- lowed her fifty pounds annually. She boarded fome years near Birmingham, and afterwards at Newport, in Shropfhire. Wherever me refided, wherever me paid vifits, fhe fecured to herfelf friends. Beau- tiful and admired, me paffed the dangerous interval between fixteen and twenty-five, without one reflection upon her conduct, one ftain upon her difcretion. Often the gueft of Dr. Darwin, and other of her friends in Lichfield, efteem and affection formed the tribute to her virtues. Mr. Day correfponded with her parentally, but feldom faw her, and never without wit- nefles. Two years after his marriage, and in her twenty-fixth year, his friend, Mr. Bicknel, propofed himfelf ; that very Mr. E Si Bick- 2 MEMOIRS OF Bicknel, who went with Mr. Day to the Foundling Hofpital at Shrevvfbury, and by whofe furctymip for his upright intentions the governors of that chanty permitted Mr. Day to take from thence that beau- teous girl, and the young Lucretia. Mr. Bicknel, high in pradice as a bar- rifter, was generally thought an advan- tageous match for Sabrina. More from prudential, than impaffioned impulfe, did flic accept his addrefles, yet became one of the moft affectionate, as well as the beft of wives. When Mr. Day's confent was afked by 'his protegee, he gave it in thefc ungracious words : " I do not refufe my confent to your marrying Mr. Bicknel ; but remember you have not afked my advice" He gave her the promifed dower, five hundred pounds. Mr. Bicknel, without patrimonial for- tune, and living up to his profeffional in- come, did not fave money. His beloved wife DR. DARWIN. 53 wife brought him two boys. When the eldeft was about five years -old., their father was feized with a paralytic ftroke, which, in a few weeks, became fatal. His charm- ing widow had no means of independent fupport for herfelf and infants. Mr. Day faid he would' allow her thirty pounds annually, to affift the efforts which he expected Ihe would make for the main- tenance of herfelf and children. To have been more bounteous nmjl furely have been in his heart, but it was not in his yftem. Through the benevolent exertions of Mr. Harding, Solicitor General to the Queen, the fum of eight hundred pounck was raifed among the gentlemen of the bar for Mrs. Bicknel and her fons ; the intereft to be the mothers during her life, and the principal, at her deceafe, to be divided between her. children. That excellent woman has lived many years, and yet lives with the good Dr. E 3 Burney 54 MEMOIRS OF Burney of Greenwich, as his houfekeeper, and affiftant in the cares of his academy. She is treated by him, and his friends, with every mark of efteem and refpecl due to a gentlewoman, and one whofe virtues entitle her to univerfal approbation. Her name was not in Mr. Day's will, but Mrs. Day continued the allowance he had made her, and "bequeathed its continuance from her own fortune during Mrs. Bicknel's Kfe, Mr. and Mrs. Day left no child. Mr. Edgeworth, having alfo loft his third wife, Elizabeth, is now the huf- band of a fourth, a daughter of the re- verend Dr. Beaufort of Ireland. He had four children by his firft ; a fon, who of late years died in America ; Mifs Edge- worth, the celebrated writer of Stories for Children, and Moral Tales for Young Peo- ple, &c. ; Mifs Anna, married to the ingeni- ous Dr. Beddoes of Briftol ; and Mifs Em- meline, married to Mr. King, furgeon of the fame DR. DARWIN. 55 fame place, Honora left him an infant girl and boy, when Ihe died in the year 1780, The former inherited her mother's name, her beauty, and her malady, and died of confumption at fixteen. The ami- able fon yet lives, with fine talents, but infirm health. By his third wife, Eliza* beth, he has fcveral children ; and by the prefent, two or three. From Mr. Edge- worth's large family elaborate fyftems of in- fantile education have proceeded : of them the author of thefe memoirs cannot fpeak, as flie has never feen them. Other com- pofitions, which are faid to be humorous brilliant, a. re from the fame fource, , E 4 CHAP. MEMOIRS OF DR. DARWIN. $7 CHAPTER II. IT is now perhaps more than time to re- fume the recollected circumftances of Dr. Darwin's life. After Dr. Small and Mr. Michell va- nilhed from the earth, and Mr. Day and Mr. Edgeworth, in the year 1772, left the Darwinian fphere, the prefent fir Brooke Boothby became an occafional inhabitant of Lichfield ; fought, on every poffibility, the converfation of Dr. Darwin, and ob- tained his lafting friendfhip. Sir Brooke had not lefs poetic fancy than Mr. Day, and even more external elegance than Mr. Edgeworth pofleffed when he won Honora's heart; elegance, which time, its general 5? MEMOIRS OF general foe, has to this hour but little tar- nifhed in the frame of fir Brooke Boothby. A votary to botanic fcience, a deep rea- foner, and a clear-Jighted politician, is fir Brooke Boothby, as his convincing refu- tation of that fplendid, dazzling, and mif- leading fophiftry, Burke on the French Revolution, has proved. Ever to be la- mented is it, that national pride, and jea- loufy, made our efficient fenate, and a large majority of people in thefe kingdoms, un,- able to difcern the fallacy which fir Brooke's anfwer unveiled. Fallacy, which has even- tually overthrown the balance of power in Europe ; built up, by the ftrong cement of oppofition, the Republic's menacing and commanding tower, and wafted in combat with the phantom, Jacobirufm, the nerves and finews of defence againft the time when real danger may aflault Great Britain,, About the, period at whicli fir Brooke firft fought Dr. Darwin ; fought him, alib, Mr. Mun- DR. DARWIN. 59 Mr. Munday of Marketon, whofe exertions, as a public magiftrate, have through life been moft benignly fedulous and wife; with whom, ' The fair-ey'd Virtues in retirement dwell 3* and whofe ' Need wood Fore ft' is one of the moft beautiful local poems that has been written. Its landfcapes vivid and appro- priate ; its epifodes fweet and interefting ; its machinery well fancied and original ; its numbers fpirited, correct, and harmonious ; while an infufion of fwxet and gentle mo- rality pervades the whole, and renders it dear to the heart as to the eye and ear. Great is the lofs to poetic literature, that, of this delightful compofition, only a few co- pies were privately printed, for prefents to the authors friends and acquaintance ; that he cannot overcome his reluctance to ex- pofe it to the danger of illiberal criticifm from fome of the felf- elected cenfors in every periodical publication. The public J imagines, 60 MEMOIRS OF imagines, that, on each fubjeft difcufled in a review and magazine, it obtains the joint opinion of a fet of learned men, employed to appreciate the value of publications. - That in every fuch work many writers are engaged is true ; yet is it no lefs true that in each feparate tracl the opinion is merely individual on every various theme. One perfon is appointed to review the medical, another the chirurgical, another the cle- rical, another the hiftorical, another the philofophical articles, another the ethics in profe, and another the poetry ; and each criticifes Jingly, and unafftfled^ in his ap- pointed range. The moft diftinguiihed of Dr. Darwin's fcientific friends, who vifited him from a diftance when he lived in Lichfield, have now been enumerated. He once thought inoculation for the meafles might, as in the fmall-pox, mate- rially foften the difeafe ; and, after the pa^ triotic example of lady Mary Wortley Mon^ tague, DR. DARWIN. 6l tague, he made the trial in his own family, upon his youngeft fon, Robert, now Dr. Darwin of Shrewfbury, and upon an infant daughter, who died within her firft year* Each had, in -confequence, the difeafe fo feverely, as to repel, in their father's mind, all future defire of repeating the experi- ment. In the year 1768, Dr. Darwin met with an accident of irretrievable injury in the human frame. His propeniity to mechanics had unfortunately led him to conftrucl: a very fmgular carriage. It was a platform, with a feat fixed upon a very high pair of wheels, and fupported in the front, upon the back of the horfe, by means of a kind of probofcis, which, forming an arch, reached over the hind quarters of the horfe; and pafled through a ring, placed on an upright piece of iron, which worked in a focket, fixed in the faddle. The horfe could thus move from one fide of the road to the other, quartering, as it is called, at the will of the driver, whofe conftant attention was necef- fairly 6i MEMOIRS OP farily employed to regulate a piece of ma- chinery contrived, but not well contrived, for that purpofe. From this whimfical car- riage the Doclor was feveral times thrown, and the laft time he ufed it, had the mif- fortune, from a fimilar accident, to break the patella of his right knee, which caufed, as it always muft caufe, an incurable weak- riefs in the fradured part, and a lamenefs^ not very difcernible indeed, when walking on even ground. It is remarkable, that this uncommon accident happened to three of the inha- bitants of Lichfield in the courfe of one year ; firft, to the author of thefe me- moirs in the prime of her jouth ; next, to Dr. Darwin ; and, laftly, to the late Mr. Levett, a gentleman of wealth and confe- quence in the town. No fuch misfortune was previously remembered in that city, nor has it once recurred through all the years which have fmce elapfed. Dr. Darwin was happy in the talents, do- cility, fcR. DARWIN. 63 cllity, and obedience, of his three fons. An high degree of ftammering retarded and embarraffed his utterance. The eldeft boy, Charles, had contra&ed the propenfity. With that wifdom, which marked the Dodlor's obfervations on the habits of life } with that deciiion of conduct, which al- ways inftantly followed the conviction of his mind, he fent Charles abroad ; at once to break the force of habit, formed on the contagion of daily example, and from a belief, that in the pronunciation of a fo- reign language, hefitation would be le'fs likely to recur, than in fpeaking thofe words and fentences, in which he had been accuftomed to hefitate. About his twelfth year he was committed to the care of the fcientific, the learned, the modeft, and worthy Mr. Dickinfon, now reftor of Bli- mel, in Shroplhire. That the purpofe of the experiment might not be fruftrated, Dr. Darwin im- prefled that good jnan's mind with the ne- ceffity 64 MEMOIRS OF ceffity of not permitting his pupil to con- verfe in Englifh ; nor ever to hear it uttere3 after he could at all comprehend the French language. Charles Darwin re- turned to England, after a two year's refi- dence on the continent, completely cured of ftammering ; with which he was not afterwards troubled ; but his utterance was, from that time, fomewhat thick and hurried. Since thefe memoirs commenced, an odd anecdote of Dr. Darwin's early refi- dence at Lichfield was narrated to a friend of the author by a gentleman, who was of the party in which it happened. Mr. Sneyd, then of Bifhton, and a few more gentlemen of Staffordshire, prevailed upon the Doctor to join them in an expedition by water, from Burton to Nottingham, and on to Newark. They had cold provi- fion on board, and plenty of wine. It was midfummer ; the ~day ardent and fukry. The noontide meal had been made, and the DR. DARWIN. 6j( the glafs gone gayly round. It was one of thofe few inftances, in which the medical votary of the Naiads tranfgrefled his ge- neral and Uriel fobriety. If not abfolutely intoxicated, his fpirits were in a high Hate of vinous exhilaration. On the boat ap- proaching Nottingham, within the diftance of a few fields, he furprifed his companions by ftepping, without any previous notice, from the boat into the middle of the river, and fwimming to fhore. They faw him get upon the bank, and walk coolly over the meadows toward the town : they called to him in vain, he did not once turn his head. Anxious left he mould take a dangerous cold by remaining in his wet clothes, and uncertain whether or not he intended to defert the party, they rowed inftantly to the town, at which they had not defigned to have touched, and went in fearch of their river-god. In paffing through the market-place F they 66 MEMOIRS OF they faw him {landing upon a tub, encir- cled by a crowd of people, and refuting the entreaties of an apothecary of the place, one of his old acquaintance, who was importuning hi in to go to his houfe, and accept of other raiments till his own could be dried. The party, on preftmg through the crowd, were furprifed to hear him fpeaking without any degree of his ufual ftammer. " Have I not told you, my friend, that " I had drank a confiderable quantity of " wine before I committed myfelf to the " river. You know my general fobriety ; " and, as a profeffional man, you ought " to know, that the unufual exiftence of " Internal ftimulus, would, in its effects < c upon the iyftem, counteract the external " cold and moifture." Then, perceiving his companions near him, he nodded, fmiled, and w r aved his hand, as enjoining them filence, thus, with- out heiitation, addreffing the populace. " Yc DR. DARWIN. 67 " Ye men of Nottingham, liften to me. " You are ingenious and induftrious me- tf chanics. By your induftry life's comforts <c are procured for yourfelves and families. " If you lofe your health, the power of " being induftrious will forfake you. That " you know ; but you may not know, that " to breathe frefh and changed air con- " ftantly, is not lefs neceflary to preferve " health, than fobriety itfelf. Air becomes " unwholefome in a few hours if the win- " dows are Ihut. Open thofe of your " fleeping-rooms whenever you quit them " to go to your workfhops. Keep the <e windows of your workfhops open when- cc ever the weather is not infupportably " cold, I have no mterejl in giving you " this advice. Remember what I, your " countryman, and a phyfician, tell -you. " If you would not bring infection and " difeafe upon yourfelves, and to your <( wives and little ones, change the air you F 2, " breathe, 68 MEMOIRS OF " breathe, change it many times in a day, " by opening your windows." So faying, he ftept down from the tub, and returning with his party to their boat, they purfued their voyage. Dr. Johnfon was feveral times at Lich- field, on vifits to Mrs. Lucy Porter his daughter-in-law, while Dr. Darwin was one of its inhabitants. They had one or two interviews, but never afterwards fought each other. Mutual and ftrong diflike fubfifted between them. It is curious that in Dr. Johnfon's various let- ters to Mrs. Thrale, now Mrs. Piozzi, publiftied by that lady after his death, many of them, at different periods, dated from Lddvpeld, the name of Darwin cannot be found ; nor indeed, that of any of the ingenious and lettered people who lived there ; while of its mere common-life characters there is frequent mention, with many hints of Lichfield's intellectual bar- rennefs, DR. DARWIN. 69 rennefs, while it could boaft a Darwin, and other men of claffical learning, poetic talents, and liberal information. Of that number was the Rev. Thomas Seward Canon-Refidentiary of its Cathedral ; known to the lettered world as critical editor of Beaumont and Fletcher's Plays, in concert with Mr. Simpfon. Their edi- tion came out in the year 1750. By peo- ple of literary tafte and judgment, it is allowed to be the beft commentary on thofe dramatic poets which has appeared ; and that from the lucid ability of Mr. SewarcTs readings and notes. Strange, that dramas, fo entirely of the Shakefperian fchool, in the bufmefs and intereft of their plots ; in the ftrength and variety of their characters ; and which, in their fentiments and language, poflefs fo much of Shake- fpeare's fire, fliould be coldly and ftupidly negle&ed in the prefent day, which has not yet forgotten to proclaim the Bard of Avon to be, what he furely is, the firft F 3 poet 7O MEMOIRS OF poet the world has produced. Shakefpeare has had few more fpirited eulogifts than Mr. Seward, in the following lines, written about the year 1740, and publilhed, toge- ther with other little poems of his, in Dodfley's Mifcellany. / Great Homer's birth feven rival cities claim, Too mighty fuch monopoly of fame ! Yet not to birth alone did Homer owe His wond'rous worth, what Egypt could beftow, With all the fchools of Greece, and Aria join'd, Enlarg'd th' immenfe expansion of his mind. Nor yet unrivall'd the Meonian ftrain, The Britifli Eagle and the Mantuan Swan Tower equal heights ; but happier, Stratford, thou With uncontefted laurels deck thy brow ! Thy Bard was thine unfchool'd, and from thee brought More than all Egypt, Greece, or Afia taught 5 Not Homer's felf fuch peerlefs honours won, The Greek has rivals, but thy Shakefpeare none ! In the later editions of Dodfley's Mif- cellany, the word fuoan, in the fourth couplet, DR. DARWIN. 71 couplet, is moft abfurdly changed tojwain, becaufe it chimed more completely to the foregoing rhyme, Jlra'm, at the expenfe of every thing like fenfe and accuracy in the appofite terms ; at the expenfe of making a bird and a man fly equal heights ere balloons were dreamed of. Mr. Seward was often heard to laugh at this inftancs of editorial prefumption and ftupidity*. Another of the Lichfield literati, over- looked by the arrogant Johnfon, was the Reverend Arch-Deacon Vyfe, the amiable the excellent father of the prefent inge- nious Dr. Vyfe of Lambeth, and his gal- lant brother General Vyfe. Mr. Vyfe was not only a man of learning, but of Prioric talents in the metrical impromptu. Gentle reader, behold an inftance ! and if thou hateft not rhyme, as does many an ungentle reader, " worfe than toad or afp," thou wilt not think it intrufive. * This gentleman was father of the writer of thefe memoirs. F 4 Mrs* 72, MEMOIRS OF Mrs. Vyfe, herfelf a beautiful woman, had a fair friend whofe name was Char lotte Lynes. At a convivial meeting of Lichfield gentlemen, moft of whom could make agreeable verfes, it was propofed that every perfon in company fhould give a ballad or epigram on the lady whofe health he drank. Mr. Vyfe toafted Mifs Lynes, and, taking out his pencil, wrote the following ftanzas extempore.. Shall Pope ling his flames With quality dames, And ducheffes toaft when he dines -, Shall Swift verfes compofe On the Girl at the Rofe, "While unfung is my fair Charlotte Lynes ? O ! were Ph rebus my friend, Or would Bacchus but lend The fpirit that flows from his vines, The lafs of the mill, Molly Mogg, and Lepell, Should be dowdies to fair Charlotte Lynes* Any porter may ferve, For a copy, to carve AD DR. DARWIN. 73 An Alcides^ with mufcular chines j But a Venus to draw, Bright as fun ever faw, Let him copy my fair Charlotte Lynes*, In the midft of gay lights, And foreign delights, For his country the banifh'd man pines j Thus, from her when away, Though my glances may ftray, Yet my heart is with fair Charlotte Lynes. It is Atropus' fport, With her flieers to cut fhort The thread, which dame Lachefis twines j But forbear, you curft jade, Or cut mine, not the thread That was {pun for my fair Charlotte Lynes ! For quadrille when the fair Cards and counters prepare They caft out the tens, eights, and nines, And in love 'tis my fear The like fate I (hall (hare, Difcarded by fair Charlotte Lynes. With hearts full of rapture Our good dean and chapter Count MEMOIRS OF Count over, and finger their fines j But- Id give their eilate, Were it ten times as great, For one kifs of my fair Charlotte Lynes. The young pair, fpr a crown, On the book laid him down, The facrift obfequiouily joins, Were I bilhop I fwear I'd refign him my chair, To unite me with fair Charlotte Lynes. For my fijrft night I'd go To thofe regions of fnow, Where the fun, for fix months, never fliines, And O ! there mould complain He too foon came again To difturb me with fair Charlotte Lynes ! Thefe verfes were much read, admired, and copied. Mr. Vyfe thought his fair Charlotte growing too vain in confequence, and once, when flie was complimented on the fubjedt in a large company, he fai4 fmilingly, Charlotte DR. DARWIN. 75 " Charlotte the power of fong can tell, " For 'twas the ballad made the belle." The late Reverend William Robinfon wasalfo a choice fpirit amongft thofe Lich- fieldians, whofe talents illuminated the little city at that period. Too indolent for authorifm, he was, by wit and learning, fully empowered to have Ihone in that iphere. More of him hereafter. Thefe were the men whofe intellectual exiftence pafled unnoticed by Dr. Johnfon in his depreciating eftimate of Lichfield talents. But Johnfon liked only worfhippers. Arch-deacon Vyfe, Mr. Seward, and Mr. Robinfon, paid all the refpecT: and atten- tion to Dr. Johnfon, on thefe his vifits to their town, due to his great abilities, his high reputation, and to whatever was eftimable in his mixed character ; but they w T ere not in the herd that " paged his heels," and funk, in fervile filence, under the force of his dogmas, when their hearts and 76 MEMOIRS OF and their judgments bore contrary tefti- mony. Certainly, however, it was an arduous hazard to the feelings of the company to oppofe, in the flighteft degree, Dr. John- fon's opinions. His Heritor lungs ; that combination of wit, humour, and elo- quence, which " could make the worfe ap- pear the letter reafon ;" that farcaftic con- tempt of his antagonift, never fupprefied or even foftened by the due reftraints of good- breeding, were fufficient to clofe the lips, in his prefence, of men,, who could have met him in fair argument, on any ground, literary or political, moral or characleriftic. Where Dr. Johnfon was, Dr. Darwin had no chance of being heard, though at leaft his equal in genius, his fuperior in fcience ; nor indeed, from his impeded utterance, in the company of any overbearing de- claimer ; and he was too intellectually great to be an humble liftener to Johnfon, therefore he fliunned him, on having ex- 3 perienced DR, pARWIN. 77 perienced what manner of man he was. The furly dictator felt the mortification, and revenged it, by offering to avow his difdain of powers too diftinguifhed to be an object of genuine fcorn. Dr. Darwin, in his turn, was not much more juft to Dr. Johnfon's genius. He uniformly fpoke of him in terms, which, had they been deferved, w r ould have jufti- fied Churchill's " immane Pompofo,"' as an appellation of fcorn ; fince, if his perfbn was huge, and his manners pompous and violent, fo were his talents vaft and power- ful, in a degree from which only prejudice and refentment could withhold refpecT:. Though Dr. Darwin's hefitation in fpeak- ing precluded his flow of colloquial elo- quence, it did not impede, or at all leflen, the force of that concifer quality, wit. Of fa- tiric wit he poffeffed a very peculiar fpecies. It was neither the dead-doing broadfide of Dr. Johnfon's fatire, nor the aurora borealis of Gray, whofe arch, yet coy and quiet faftidi- MEMOIRS OP faftidioufnefs of tafte and feeling, as re- corded by Mafon, glanced bright and cold through his converfation, while it feerned difficult to define its nature ; and while its effects were rather perceived than felt, ex- citing furprife more than mirth, and never awakening the pained fenfe of being the objecT: of its ridicule. That unique in humorous verfe, the Long Story, is a com- plete and beautiful fpecimen of Gray's Singular vein. Darwinian wit is not more eafy to be defined ; tnjlances will beft convey an idea of its character to thofe who never con- verfed with its pofleffor. To give fuch as are recollected at this moment, it will be neceflary to recall Mr. Robinfon, already mentioned as a choice fpirit of Lichfield. His perpetual ftream of frolic raillery was of a fpecies fo fingular, as to have exclu- fively obtained, wherever he was known, the title of retfor, " The Reftor," as if there were no other. The odd excurfions of BR. DARWIN. of his fancy were enriched by an exhauftlefs ftore of claffic, hiftoric, and theological learning, grotefquely applied to the paffing fubje&s of converfation, and that with unrivalled eafe and happinefs. . It is to be regretted that no records remain of talents fo uncommon, except in the fading traces of contemporary recolle&ion, which time and mortality obliterate fo foon. fre- quently, during his youth and middle life, in the fafhionable circles of Bath, London, and the fitmmer public places, the whimfical fallies of the Redor's fportive imagination, which were never coarfe or low, commonplace or ill-natured, had confiderable publicity and eclat. They were like the lambent lightning of a calm fummer evening, brilliant, but not dan- gerous. The fweetnefs of his temper was the fecurity of every man's felf-love; and, while his humorous gayety " fet the table " in a roar," the company laughed at their cafe. But SO MEMOIRS OF But then good-nature was the only curb his wit could endure. Without the flighteft taint of infidelity, Robinfon could not re- fift the temptation of lancing it even at the moft ferious objects and themes. One evening, when he and Dr. Darwin were in company together, the Reclor had, as ufual, thrown the bridle upon the neck of his fancy, and it was fcampering over the church-yard, and into the chancel, when the Doftor exclaimed" Excellent ! " Mr. Robinfon is not only a clever fellow, " but a d d clever fellow." Soon after the fubjeft of common fwearing was introduced, Mr. R. made a mock eulogium upon its power to animate dullnefs, and to feafon wit. Dr. Darwin obferved, " Chrift fays, Swear not at all. " St. Paul, tells us we may fwear occa- " Jlonally. Mr. Robinfon advifes us to " fwear mceffantly. Let us compromife " between thefe counfellors, and fwear " by non-en-ti-ties. I will fwear by my im-pu- DR. DARWIN. 8l " im-pu-dence, and Mr. Robinfon by his " mo-deft-y." That gentleman, whofe wit, where it met no equal refiftance, kept an untired and fparkling courfe, could feldom reco- ver its track when the jeft and the laugh were with his adverfary. So often was it thus when Dr. Darwin and he met, that Mr. R. rather fhunned than fought the rencounter. It was curious, that he, who met indulgence from his clerical and pious brethren for thofe frolic emanations, wont to play upon the themes his heart revered, fhould fo often find himfelf reproved, with cutting raillery, for the practice, by one not famous for holding religious fubjecls in veneration. Dr. Darwin was converfmg with a bro- ther Botanift, concerning the plant Kalmia, then a juft imported ftranger in our green- houfes and gardens. A lady', who was prefent, concluding he had feen it, which in facl; he had not, afked the Doftor what G were " <52 MEMOIRS or were the colours of the plant. He replied, " Madam, the Kalmia has precifely the colours of a feraph's wing." So fancifully did he cxprefs his w r ant 6f confcioufnefs refpe&ing the appearance of a flower whofe name and rarenefs were all he knew of the matter. Dr. Darwin had a large company at tea. His fervant announced a ftranger lady and gentleman. The female was a conspicuous figure, ruddy, corpulent, and tall. She held by the arm a little, meek-looking, pale, effeminate man, who, from his clofe ad- herence to the fide of the lady, feemed to confider himfelf as under her prote&ion. " Dr. Darwin, I feet you not as a phy- " fician, but as a Belle Efprit. I make " this hufband of mine," and me looked down \vith a fideglance upon the ani* mal, " treat me every fummer with a tour " through one of the Britifli counties, " to explore whatever it contains worth " the attention >of ingenious people. On " arriving DR.^DARWIN. ** arriving at the feveral inns in our route, " I always fearch out the man of the ie vicinity moft diftinguilhed for his genius " and tafte, and introduce myfelf, that he " may direct, as the objects of our exartii- " nation, whatever is curious in nature, " art, or fcience. Lichfield will be our " headquarters during feveral days. Come, " Dodlor, whither muft we go, what muft " we investigate to-morrow, and the next " day, and the next ? here are my tablets " and pencil." " You arrive, riiadarri, at a fortunate " juncture. To-morrow you will have an " opportunity of furveying an annual ex- " hibition perfectly worth your attention. " To-mofroW, madam, you will go to " Tutbury bull-running." The fatiric laugh with which he ftam- mered out the laft word, more keenly- pointed this fly, yet broad rebuke to the vanity and arrogance of her fpeech. She G 2 had 84 MEMOIRS OF had been up amongft the boughs, and little expected they would break under her fo fuddenly, and with fo little mercy. Her large features fvvelled, and her eyes flaflied with anger " I was recommended " to a man of genius, and I find him in- " folent and ill-bred." Then, gathering up her meek and alarmed hufband, whom me had loofed when me firft fpoke, under the fhadow of her broad arm and moulder, me ftrutted out of the room. After the departure of this curious cou- ple, his guefts told their hoft he had been very unmerciful. I chofe, replied he, to avenge the caufe of the little man, whofe nothingnefs was fo oftentatioufly difplayed by his lady-wife. Her vanity has had a fmart emetic. If it abates the fymptoms, flie wall have reafon to thank her phyfician who administered without hope of a fee. CHAP. DR. DARWIN. 8$ CHAPTER III. ABOUT the year 1771, commenced that great work, the Zoonomia, firft publiflied in 1794; the gathered wifdom of three- and-twenty years. Ingenious, beyond all precedent, in its conjectures, and embrac- ing, with giant-grafp, almoft every branch of philofophic fcience ; difcovering their bearings upon each other, and thofc fubtle, and, till then, concealed links by which they are united ; and with their feparate, conjunctive and collective influence upon human organization ; their fometimes pro- bable, and at others demonstrative, power, under judicious application, of reftoring that regularity to the mechanifm of animal life, G 3 which 86 MEMOIRS OF which is comprehended under the terrr^ health. It cannot be denied that in the purfuit of a new and favorite fyftem, Dr. Dar- win has, in fome inftances, imperioufly re- jected the adverfe fads which oppofed his theory. His chapter on InftincT:, highly ingenious as it is, affords proof of his hy- pothetical devotion. He there denies, at leaft by ftrong implication, the exiftence of that faculty fo termed, and which God has given to his inferior family, in lieu of the rational. But this wonderfully ingenious philofopher feeks in vain to melt down in his fyftem of imitation amongft brutes, the eternal boundaries which feparate inftincl; and reafon. God, who has exempted the orders of brutal life from refponfibility for their ac- tions in this terreftrial fphere, gave them inftinft, incapable of error, but alfo, be- yond a certain very limited degree, incapa- ble DR. DARWIN. 87 ble of improvement ; incapable of all that are termed the artificial paffions. God, who made man accountable, and earthly life his {late of trial, gave him the nobler faculty of reafon, liable to err, but, in countlefs degrees, more connected with volition ; and, according to its differ- ent degrees of native ftrength, almoft inter- minably capable of improvement. InftincT: cannot be that lower degree of reafon which empowers the animal to ob- ferve, and, by will and choice, to imitate the actions, and acquire the arts of his ipe- cies ; iince, were it fo, imitation would not be confined to his own particular genus, but extend to the actions, the cuftoms, and the arts of other animals ; as men obferve, and emulate, the aftions, cuftoms, and arts of the natives of other countries. Thus, improvement would have advanced amongft brutes, in proportion as it has ad- vanced in mankind. That it has not ad- G 4 vance4 88 MEMOIRS OF vanced in brutal life, through countlefs generations, we have the teftimony of all records to afcertain. Therefore is it, that the inftinffrvc faculty muft be a totally different power to the rational, in as much as it has a perfection unknown to reafon, and as it has an incapacity of progreffion which counteracts that limited perfection, and renders it a thoufand fold inferior to the expanding, afpiring, and ftrengthening power of human intelligence. Between the feparate nature of thofe faculties, infur- mountable and everlafting are the barriers. Philofophy cannot throw them down ; but in the attempt, as in many another, Vaulting AMBITION doth o'erleap itfelf, And falls where it would mount." If the Creator had indeed given to brutal life that degree of reafon, which Dr. Darwin allots to it, when he aiTerts, that DR. DARWIN. 89 that its various orders aft from imitation. which muft be voluntary, rather than from tmpuJfe, which is re/iftlefs, the refulting mif- chief of diforder and confufion amongft thofe claffes had outweighed the aggre- gate good of improvement; It is reafon- lefs, will-lefs inftinct, limited but unde- viating, which alone could have preferved, as they were in the beginning, are now, and ever fliall be, the numberlefs divrfions and fubdivifions of all merely animal life. As attraction is the planetary curb of the folar fyftem, confining all orbs to their proper fpheres, fo is inftincl: the re- ftraint, by which brutes are withheld from incroaching upon the allotted ranges and privileges of their fellow-brutes ; from lof- ing their diftincl natures in imitation, blending and endlefs. If imitation were the fource of brutal acquirements, whence the undeviating famenefs of thofe acquire- ments ? whence their never extended limit $ Wherefore, 90 MEMOIRS OF Wherefore, fmce the ear of the feathered warbler is open to the immenfe variety of ftrains, poured from the throat of birds of other plume, whence its invariable choice of the family fong ? And, when the female fees fuch numbers of different nefts build- ing around her for the reception of the cal- low brood, whence her inflexible attach- ment to thefamify neft ? Dr. Darwin read his chapter on InftincT: to a lady, who was in the habit of breeding canary-birds. She obferved that the pair, which he then faw building their neft in her cage, were ai male and female, who had been hatched, and reared in that very cage, and were not in exiftence when the mofly cradle was fabricated, in which they firft faw light. She afked him how, upon Jiis principle of imitation, he could account for the neft he then faw building, being conftrufted, even to the precife dif- pofal of every hair and fhred of wool, upon the DR. DARWIN. 91 the model of that, in which the pair were born, and on which every other canary- bird's neft is conftrufted, where the proper materials are furnifhed. That of the pye- finch, added fhe, is of much comparer form, warmer, and more comfortable. Pull one of them to pieces for its materials; place another before thefe canary-birds, as p, pattern, and fee if they will make the flighteft effort to imitate their model ! No, the refult of their labors will, upon in- ilinftive, hereditary impulfe, be exaftly the flovenly little manlion of their race ; the fame with that which their parents built before themfelves were hatched. The Do&or could not do away the force of that fingle fact, with which his fyftem w r as in- compatible ; yet he maintained that fyftem with philofophic fturdinefs, though expe- rience brought confutation from <f thou- fand fources. Mr. Fellowes, the eminent champion in our MEMOIRSOF our day, of true and perfect Chriftianity, againft the gloomy mifreprefentations of the Calvinifts, has not lefs truely than ingeniouily obferved, that " Dr. Darwin's " underftanding had fome of the properties " of the rnicrofcope ; that he looked with " fingularly curious and prying eyes, into " the economy of plants and the habits " of animals, and laid open the labyrinth " of nature in fome of her moft elabo- " rate proceffes and moil fubtle combina- " tions ; that he was acquainted with " more links in the chain of fecond caufcs " than had probably been known to any " individual, who went before him ; but " that he dwelt fo much, and fo exclusively " on fecond caufes, that he too generally " feems to have forgotten that there is a firft." Certainly Dr. Darwin's diftinguifhed power of difclofing the arcana of nature, enabled him to explore, and detect, the fallacy DR. DARWIN. 93 fallacy of many received and long-efta- blifhed opinions \ but the proud confciouf- nefs that his fcientific wand fo often pof- fefled the power attributed by Milton to Ithuriel's fpear, betrayed him, at times, into fyftematic error. Convinced, by deep thought and philofophic experience, that mankind received fo many prejudices for truths, he looked too jealoufly at all its moft revered and facred axioms. Beneath the force of that jealoufy he denied the power of inftincT:, and folved it into imi- tation. To have admitted, on the tefti- mony of all impartial obfervation, all fair experiment, the unbkndmg natures of in- ftincT: and reafon, muft have involved that refponfibility of man to his Creator for his aftions in this his flate of trial, which Dr. Darwin confidered as a gloomy un- founded fuperftition. Unqueftionably, if reafon, like inftinft, were incapable of warp from the power of volition, man could 94 MEMOIRS OF could have no vice which might juflly render hirri amenable to punifliment in a future ftate ; neither could he have any virtue for wh'ofe cultivation he might hope eternal reward. But^ fmce his ra- tional faculty is choice, not impul/e, capable, at wilt, of refinement or degradation ; whether it mall be his pole-ftar to virtue and piety, or his ignis-fafeuus to vice and ir religion, it inevitably follows that man is accountable to God for his conduct ; that there is a future and retributory flate. If this brilliant and dazzling philofopher had not clofed the lynx's eye of his under- ftanding on that clear emanation from the fburce of intellectual as well as of planetary light, he had indeed been great and illu- minated above the fons of men. Then had he difdained to have mingled that art in his wifdom, which was fometimes found in his common-life actions, and of which he not unfrequently boafted. that DR. DARWIN. 95 That noble fimplicity which difdains the varnifh of difingenuous defign in prin- ciple and in conducl, in converfation 'and in writing, was the defideratum of Dr. Darwin's ftrong and comprehenfive mind* It's abfence rendered his fyftems, which w r ere fb often luminous, at times impene- trably dark by paradox. It's abfence ren- dered his poetic tafte fomewhat mere- tricious from his rage for ornament ; chilled his heart againft the ardor of devotion, and chained his mighty powers within the limits of fecond caufes, though formed to foar to INFINITE. If r however, the do&rines of the Zoo* nomia are not always infallible, it is a work which muft fpread the fame of it's author over lands and feas, to whatever clime the fun of fcience has irradiated and warmed. The Zoonomia is an exhauftlefs repofitory of interefting fads, of curious experiments in natural productions, and in medical $6 MEMOIRS OF medical effe&s ; a vaft and complicated fcheme of difquiiition, incalculably im- portant to the health and comforts of mankind, fo far as they relate to objecls merely terreftr\al\ throwing novel, ufeful, and beautiful light on the fecrets of phy- fiology, botanical, chemical, and aero- logical. The world may coniider the publication of the Zoonomia as a new era of pathologic fcience ; the fource of important advance in the power of difclofmg, abating, and expelling difeafe. Every young profeflbr of medicine, if God has given him com- prehenfion, affiduity, and energy, fhould devote his nights and days to ftudying this great work. It will teach him more than the pages of Galen and Hippocrates ; than fchools and univerfities know to impart. Thofe inftruclions which, through the channel of it's pages, flow to the world, enabled Dr. Robert Darwin of Shrewsbury to DR. DARWIN. 97 to attain inftant eminence as a phyfician in that county, at his firft outfetting, and in the bloom of fcarcely ripened youth ; to continue a courfe of praclice, which has been the bleffing of Shroplhire ; it's iphere expanding with his growing fame. That fon, who joins to a large portion of his father's fcience and fkill, all the in- genuous kindnefs of his mother's heart. That fon, whofe rifing abilities and their early eclat, recompenfed to Dr. Darwin a fevere deprivation in the death of his eldeft and darling fon, Charles, of whom this memoir has already fpbken. He was fnatched from the world in the prime of his youth, and with the higheft. charafter at the univerfity of Edinburgh, by a pu- trid fever, fuppofed to have been caught from diflecling, with a flightly wounded finger, a corpfe in a ftate of dangerouily advanced putrefaction. When fociety be- came deprived of his luxuriantly bloffom- H ing MEMOIRS ing talents, Mr. Charles Darwin had re- cently received an honorary medal from the Society of Arts and Sciences, for having difcovered a criterion by which pics may be diftinguifhed from mucus. A few years before Dr. Darwin left Lichfield as a refidence he commenced a botanical fociety in that city. It confifled of himfelf, Sir Brooke Boothby, then Mr. Booth by, and a Proftor in the Cathedral jurifdi<Sion, whofe name was Jackfon. Sprung from the loweft poffible origin, and wholly uneducated, that man .had, by the force of literary ambition and unwearied induftry, obtained admittance into the courts of the fpiritual la\v, a profitable {hare of their emoluments, and had made * a -tolerable proficience in the Latin and French languages. His life, which dofed at fixty, was probably fhortened by late acquired habits of ebriety. He pafled through it's courfe a would-be philofopher, a turgid flR. DARWIN. 99 ' a turgid and iblemn coxcomb, whofe morals were not the beft, and who .was vain of lancing his pointlefs fneers at Re- vealed Religion. Jackfon admired Sir Brooke Boothby, and worshipped and aped Dr. Darwin. He became a ufeful drudge to each in their joint work, the tranflation of the Linnean lyftem of vegetation into Englifh from the Latin. His illuftrious coadjutors exacted of him fidelity to thcjcnfe of their author, and they corre<Sed Jackfon's inelegant Englifh, weeding it of it's pompous coarfenefs. The Dodlor was probably difappointed that no recruits flocked to his botanical ftandard at Lichfield. The young men of the genteel claffes in that city devoted themfelves to profeffions with which natural hiftory had no infeparable con- nexion. However ufeful, entertaining, and creditable might be it's ftudies, they felt little defire to deck the board of fef- H 2, fion, 1-00 MEMOIRS OT fion, the pulpit, or the enfigns of war, with the Linnean wreaths and the che- mical cryftallnes. Thus the original tri- umvirate received no augmentation, yet the title was maintained. Various obfer- vations, figned Lichfield Botanical Society, were fent to the periodical publications, and it was amufing to hear fcientific travellers, on their tranfit over Lichfield, inquiring after the ftate of the botanical fociety there. About the year 17/9, at the houfe of his friend, Mr. Sneyd of Belmont, whofe feat in the wild and hilly part of Stafford- Ihire Moorlands is eminent for its boldly romantic features, Dr. Darwin wrote an addrefs to its owner, from the Naiad of that fcene. Her rivulet originally took its courfe along the deep bottom of cradling woods, luxuriantly clothing the fleeply- floping mountains, which a rough glen, and this it's brook, divided. Mr. Sneyd DR. DARWIN. IOI Mr. Sneyd caufed the rough and tangled glen to be cleared and hollowed into one entire balm, which the brook immediately filled with the pureft and mod tranfparent water. Only a very narrow, marginal path is left on each fide, between the water and thofe high woody mountains which ihut the liquid fcene from every other earthly objecl. This lake covers more than five acres, yet is not more than feventy yards acrofs at the broadeft part. The length is, therefore, confiderable. It gradually nar- rows on it's flow, till fuddenly, and with loud noife, it is precipitated down a crag- gy, darkling, and nearly perpendicular fall of forty feet. The ftream then takes its natural channel, lofing itfelf in the fombre and pathlefs woods which ftretch far on- ward. While we walk on the brink of this li- quid concave ; while we liften to the roar, with which the tumbling torrent pafles H 3 away; 1CZ MEMOIRS Ot away ; while we look up, on each fide, to the umbrageous eminences, which leave us only themfelves, the water, and the iky, we are imprefled with a fenfe of fo- lemn feclufion, and might fancy ourfelves in the folitudes of Tinian or Juan-Fer- nandes. The trees and flirubs which, from fuch great elevation, impend over the flood, give it their own green tint without leflening its tranfparency. Glafly fmooth, this lake has not a wave till within a few yards of its precipitance. But it is time to introduce Dr. Darwin's verfes, already mentioned. They were written before the exiftence of the Lake, and while the brook, which formed it, had the filence imputed to it by the poet. Addrefs of a Water Nymph, at Belmont, to the Owner of that place. i O I Friend to Peace and Virtue, ever flows For thee roy filent and unfnllied ftream, Pure DR. DARWIN. 1OJ Pure and untainted as thy blamelefs life! Let no gay converfe lead thy Heps a ft ray To mix my chafte wave with immodeft wine, Nor with the poifonous cup, which Chemia's hand Deals, fell enchantrefs, to the fons of folly ! So (ball young Health thy daily walks attend, Weave for thy hoary brow the vernal flower Of cheer fulnefs, and with his nervous arm Arreft th' inexorable fcythe of Time. The exhortation was not difobeyed ; the benedi&ion was not fruitlefs. Mr. Sneyd ftill lives to exhilarate the fpirits of his friends, and to be the bleffing of his neigh- bourhood. The duties of a public magi- ilrate, exerted with energy, and tempered with kindnefs; the hofpitality of his fo- cial manfion ; his purfuit of natural hi (lo- ry, and tafte for the arts, are unleflened by time, and no corporal infirmity allays their enjoyment. After a lapfe of feventy years he pafles feveral hours every day, in ail feafons when the weather is dry, in the open air, forming for his fcenes new plans H 4 of IO4 MEMOIRS OF of cultivation and ornament* Look at Mr. Sneyd, ye young men of fortune, and reflect upon the robuft and happy confe- quence of youthful fobriety, of religion, morality, and a cultivated mind ! " The age ofjuc/i is as a lufty winter, " Frofty, but kindly, In the fpring of the year 1778 the chil- dren of Colonel and Mrs. Pole of Radburn, in Derbyfhire, had been injured by a dan- gerous quantity of the cicuta, injudicioufly adminiftered to them in the hooping- cough, by a phyfician of the neighbour- hood. Mrs. Pole brought them to the lioufe of Dr. Darwin, in Lichfield, re- maining with them there a few weeks, till, by his art, the poifon was expelled from their conftitutions, and their health re* ftored. Mrs. Pole was then in the full bloom of her youth and beauty. Agreeable fea- tures i DR. DARWIN. IOC i tures ; the glow of health ; a fafcinating fmile ; a fine form, tall and graceful ; play- ful fprightlinefs of manners ; a benevolent heart, and maternal affe&ion, in all its un- wearied cares and touching tendernefs, contributed to infpire Dr. Darwin's admi- ration, and to fecure his efteem. Soon af- ter Ihe left Lichfield, with her renovated little ones, their reftorer fent to his friend, Mr. Bolton of Birmingham, the following directions for making a tea-vafe, defigned as a prefent from the Doftor to Mrs, Pole. Friend Bolton, take thefe ingots fine From rich Potoli's fparkling mine 5 With your nice art a tea-vafe mould, Your art, more valu'd than the gold. With orient pearl, in letters white, Around it, To the Faireft," write ; And, where proud Radburn's turrets rife, To bright Eliza fend the prize, I'll have no bending ferpents kifs The foaming wave, and feem to hifs j No IO6 MEMOIRS OF No fpraxvling dragons gape with he, And fnort out fleam, and vomit fire $ No Naiads weep; no fphinxcs dare; No tail hung dolphins fwim in air. Let leaves of myrtle round the rim, With rofe-buds twirling, fhade the brira j Each fide let woodbine ftalks defcend, And form the branches as they bend j "While oh the foot a Cnpid ftands And twines the wreath with both his hands, Perch'd on the riling lid above^ O place a lovelorn, turtle dove, With hanging wing, and ruffled plume. With gafping beak, and eye of gloom. Laft, let the fwelling bofles fhine With filver, white, and burnifh'd fine, Bright as the fount, whofe banks befidc NarcirTus gaz'd, and lov'd, and died. Vafe, when Eliza deigns to pour, With fnowy hand, thy boiling mower ; And fweetly talks, and fmiles, and fips The fragrant fleam, with ruby lips, More charms thy polifh'd orb fhall fhew Than Titian's glowing pencil drew ; More than his chifel foft unfurl'd, Whofe heav'n-wrought flatue charms the world. s Soon DR. DARWIN. IO7 Soon after the compofition of thefe gallant verfes to Mrs. Pole, circumstances arofe \\hich gave rife to the following ode, not lefs beautiful, though much lefs gay. Fly, gentle deeds ! o'er yon unfriendly towers Malignant tfars, with baleful influence reign j Cold Beauty's frown infers the cheerlefs hours, And Avarice dwells in Love's polluted fane ! Dim, diflant towers ! whofe ample roof protects All that my beating bofom holds fo dear, Far fhining lake I whofe lilver wave reflects Of Nature's faireft forms, the form moft fair j Groves, where at noon the ileeping Beauty lies ; Lawns, where at eve her graceful footfieps rove; For ye full oft have heard my fecret figbs, And caught unfeen, the tear of hopelefs lovej Farewell ! a long farewell ! your (hades among No more thefe. eyes fhall diink Eliza's charms 5 No more thefe ears the mulic of her tongue ! O ! doom'd for ever to another's arms ! Fly, 1OS MEMOIRS OF Fly, gentle fteeds ! my bleeding heart convey Where brighter fcenes and milder planets ftrine ; Where Joy's white pinion glitters in the ray, And Love fits fmiling on his cryftal flirine ! About the fummer 1778 the Countefs of Northeik refted at one of the inns in Lichfield, on her way to Scotland by the ihorteft poffible ftages. She had been a year in England, for the benefit of her health, wafting rapidly by hemorrhage. Ineffec- tually had the moft eminent phyficians of London and Bath endeavoured to check the progrefs of her difeafe. Her youngeft daughter, Lady Marianne Carnegie, then an amiable girl of thirteen, now alas no more, and their friend, Mrs. Scott, were the com- panions of Lady North efk's journey. Her ladyfhip told the miftrefs of the inn that fhe was going home to die, the phyficians baving confeffed that art could do no rnore int DR. DARWIK. in her cafe. The perfon replied, " 1 wifh, " Madam, that you would fend for our " Doftor, he is fo famous." Lady Nor- thefk confented. When Dr. Darwin came, he obferved that he could do little on tranfient obferva- tion, where the difeafe was fo obftinate, and of fuch long continuance ; prefled her to remove with her daughter and friend to his houfe, and that they would remain his guefts during a fortnight. The invitation was accepted. He requefted the author of thefe memoirs frequently to viilt his new patient, contribute to amufe her, and abate the inevitable injury of perpetual felf- attention. Mifs Seward felt herfelf extremely inte- refted in this lady, and anxious to fee thofe fufferings relieved which were fo patiently fuftained. Lady Northeflc lay on a couch^ through the day, in Dr. Darwin's parlour, drawing with difficulty that breath, which feemed , MEMdlRS OF fcemed often on the point of final evapora- tion. She was thin, even to transparency ; her cheeks fuffufed at times with a flufh. beautiful, though heftic. Her eyes remark- ably lucid and full of intelligence. If the languor of difeafe frequently ovcrfhadowed them, they were always relumined by every obfervation to which flie liftened, on lettered excellence, on the powers of fcience, or the ingenuity of art. Her lan- guage, in the high Scotch accent, had every happinefs of perfpicuity, and always expreiled rectitude of heart and fufcep- tibility of tafte. Whenever her great and friendly phy- fician perceived his patient's attention engaged by the converfation of the reft of the circle, he fat considering her in medi- tative filence, with looks that expreffed, " You lhall not die thus prematurely, if " my efforts can prevent it." One evening, after a long and intenfc reverie, DR. DARWIN. Ill reverie, he faid, " Lady Northefk, an art " was pradtifed in former years, which " the medical world has very long difufed; " that of injecting blood into the veins by " a fyringe, and thus repairing the waftc " of difeafes like yours. Human blood, <e and that of calves and fheep, were " ufed promifcuoufly. Superftition at- " tached impiety to the practice. It was (( put a ftop to in England by a bull of " excommunication from forne of our " Popifh Princes, againft the practitioners <( of fanguinary inje&ion. That it had " been pra&ifed with fuccefs, we may, " from this interdiclion, fairly conclude ; " elfe reftraint upon its continuance muit " have been fuperfluous. We have a very " ingenious watch-maker here, whom I " think I could inftrucl: to form a proper " inftrument for the purpofe, if you chofe " to fubmit to the experiment." She replied cheerfully, " that ihe had not " the 112 MEMOIRS OF " the leaft obje&ion, if he thought it " eligible/' Mifs Seward then faid " If the trial " fhould be determined upon, perhaps " Lady Northefk would prefer a fupply *' from an healthy human fubjecT:, rather " than from an animal. My health is t perfect, neither am I confcious of any " lurking di&afe, hereditary or accidental. " I have no dread of the lancet, and will " gladly fpare, from time to time, fuch a " portion from my veins to Lady Northefk, " as Dr. Darwin fhall think proper to " inje<a." He feemed much pleafed with the propofal, and his amiable patient exprefled gratitude far above the juft claim of the circumftance. Dr. Darwin faid he would confult his pillow upon it. The next day, when Mifs S. called upon Lady N. the Do6tor took her pre- vioufly into his ftudy, telling her, that he had DR. DARWIN had rcfigned all thoughts of trying the experiment upon Lady Northefk; that it had occurred to him as a laft refource, to fave an excellent woman, whofe diibr- der, he feared, was beyond the reach of medicine; " but," added he, " the con- " ftruction of a proper machine is fo nice <f an affair, the leaft failure in its power " of acting fo hazardous, the chan.ce at " laft from the experiment, fo precarious, " that I do not choofe to ftake my reputa- " tion upon the rifque. If fhe die, the " world will fay I killed Lady Northefk, '* though the London and Bath phyficians " have pronounced her cafe hopelefs, and " fent her home to expire. They have "given her a great deal too much medicine. " I ftiall give her very little. Their fyftem ". of nutritious food, their gravy jellies, and <( ftrong wines, I have already changed for " milk, vegetables, and fruit. No wines ever; " no meat, no. ftrong broth, at prefent. If X " this 114 MEMOIRS Off " this alteration of diet prove unavailing, " her family and friends muft lofe her." It was not unavailing; ihe gathered ftrength under the change from day to day. The difeafe abated, and in three weeks time Hie purfued her journey to Scotland, a convalefcent, full of hope for herfelf; of grateful veneration towards her phyiician, whofe refcuing {kill had faved her from the grave ; and full, alfo, of over- rating thankfulnefs to Mifs S. for the offer Ihe had made. With her, Lady Northeik regularly correfponded from that time till her fuddenand deplorable death. All Lady N.'s letters fpoke of completely recovered k health and ftrength. She fent Mifs Seward a prefent of fome beautiful Scotch pebbles for a necklace, picked up by her own hands, in her Lord's park, and poliihed at Edinburgh. Lady Northeik might have lived to old age, the bleffing of her family and friends. Alas 5 DR. DARWIN. Alas ! the time had paffed "by in which Mifs Seward was accuftomed to expeft a letter from her friend ! Inquiry taught her that Lady Northelk had perifhed by the dreadfully-frequent accident of having fet fire to her clothes. Lady Marianne Carnegie wrote to Mifs S. the year after, and continued to honor her with feveral letters while her Ladyfhip lived with her father at Ethic Houfe, on the ocean's edge. It was there that ihe de- dicated many of her youthful years to the pious endeavour of mitigating Lord Northeik's deep anguifh for the lofs of his Lady, which had induced him inflexibly to renounce all fociety, except with his own family. That might be faid of Ethic Houfe which Dr. Johnfon faid of the Ifle of Raafay, in the Hebrides. " Without " were the dark rocks, the roaring winds, " and tumultuous deep ;" but, alas fof Lady Marianne ! it could not alfo be faid, 12, as II 6 MEMOIRS Of- as of Raafay, that " within were the " focial comforts, the voice of gaiety, the " dance, and the fong." Yet did me fup- port, with uncomplaining patience, in the flower of her youth, this deep folitudc ; this monotony of natural objects, in which little variety could be found, beyond the change of fmiling and frowning feas, the hufhed and the bellowing waters. In the autumn of this year Mrs. Pole of Radburn was taken ill ; her difbrder a vio- lent fever. Dr, Darwin was called in, and perhaps never, fmce the death of Mrs. Dar- win, prefcribed with fuch deep anxiety. Not being requefted to continue in the houfe through the enfuing night, which he apprehended might prove critical, he paffed the remaining hours till day-dawn beneath a tree oppofite her apartment, watching the paffing and repaffing lights in the chamber. During the period in which a life he fo paffionately valued was 3 in E>R, DARWIN. Iiy in danger, he paraphrafed Petrarch's cele- brated fonnet, narrating a dream, whofe prophecy was accomplifhed by the death of Laura. It took place the night on which the vrfion arofe amid his flumber. Dr. Darwin extended the thoughts of that fonnet into the following elegy. Dread Dream, that, hovering in the midnight air, Clafp'd, with thy dufky wing, my aching head, While, to Imagination's ftartled ear, Toll'd the ilow bell, for bright Eliza dead. Stretch'd on her fable bier, the grave betide, A fnow-white fhroud her breathlefs bofom bound, O'er her wan brow the mimic lace was tied, And Loves, and Virtues, hung their garlands round. From thofe cold lips did fofteft accents flow ? Round that pale mouth did fwecteft dimples play ? On this dull cheek the rofe of beauty blow, And thofe dim eyes difTufe celeHial day ? Did this cold hand unafldng want relieve, Or wake the lyre to every rapturous found ? How fad, for other's woe, this breaft would heave ! How light iliis heart, for other's tranfport, bound ! i 3 Beats Il8 MEMOIRS OF Beats not the bell again ? Heav'ns I do I wake? Why heave my fighs, why gum my tears anew ? Unreal forms my trembling doubts miftake, And 'frantic Sorrow fears the vilion true. Dream ! to Eliza bend thy airy flight, Go, tell my charmer all my tender fears, How Love's fond woes alarm the filent night, And fteep my pillow in unpitied tears. The fecond verfe of this charming elegy affords an inflance of Dr. Darwin's too ex- cluiive devotion to diftincl picture in poe- try ; that it fometimes betrayed him into bringing objects fo precifely to the eye, as to lofe in fuch precifion their power of link- ing forcibly upon the heart. The pathos in that fecond verfe is injured by the words, t( mimic lace" which allude to the perforated borders of the fhroud. The expreffion is too minute for the folemnity of the fubjecl. Certainly it cannot be natural for a fhocked and agitated mind to obferve, or to de- fcribe with fuch petty accuracy. Befides the DR. DARWIN. IJ9 the alluiion is not fufficiently obvious. The reader paufes to confider what the poet means by " mimic lace" Such paufes deaden fenfation, and break the courfe of attention. A friend of the Doclor's pleaded ftrongly that the line might run thus, " On her wan brow thtJJiadoivy crape was tied j" but the alteration was rejected. Inatten- tion to the rules of grammar in the firft v.erfe, was alfo pointed out to him at the ' fame time. The dream is addrefled, " Dread dream, that clafped my aching head," but nothing is faid to it ; and therefore the fenfe is left unfinished, while the elegy proceeds to give a picture of the lifelefs beauty. The fame friend fuggefted a change, which would have remedied the defeft, thus, " Dread iv;.$ the dream, that, in the midnight air, " Clafp'd, with it's dulky wing, my aching head, While to, &c." I 4 Hence, 120 MEMOIRS Of Hence, not only the gramm^tic error would have been dene away, but the grating found, produced by the near alliteration of the harfh dr, in " <fread ^/rearn," re- moved, by placing thofe words at a greater diftance from each other. This alteration was, for the fame reafon, rejected. The Doftor would not fpare the word hovering) which he faid ftrengthened the piAure ; but furely the image ought not to be elaborately precife, by which a dream is transformed into an animal, with black wings. Soon after Mrs. Pole's recovery from her dangerous illnefs, Dr. Darwin wrote the following little poem. ODE TO THE RIVER DERWENTy Written in a romantic Falley near its source. Derwcnt, what fcenes thy wandering waves behold, As burfting from thine hundred fprings they ftray, And down thefe vales, in founding torrents roll'd, Seek to the fhining Eaft their mazy Way ! Here DR. DARWIN. 121 Here duiky alders, leaning from the cliff, Dip their long arms, and wave their branches wide j There, as the loofe rocks thwart my bounding (kiff, White moonbeams tremble on the foaming tide. Pafs on, ye waves, where, drefs'd in lavifli pride, 'Mid rofeate bowers, the gorgeous Chatfworth beams, Spreads her fmooth lawns along your willowy fide, And eyes her gilded turrets in your ftreams. Pafs on, ye waves, where Nature's rudefl child, Frowning incumbent o'er the darkeu'd floods, Rock rear'd on rock, mountain on mountain pil'd, Old Matlock fits, and (hakes his crefl of woods. But when fair Derby's ftately towers you view, "Where his bright meads your fparkling currents drmk> O ! fhould Eliza prefs the morning (Jew, And bend her graceful footfteps to your brink, Uncurl your eddies, all your gales confine, And, as your fcaly nations gaze around, Bid your gay nymphs pourtray, with pencil fine, Her radiant form upon your filver ground/ With playful malice, from her kindling cheek Steal the warm blufli, and tinge your paffing ilream -, Mock the fweet traniient dimples, as (he fpeaks, And, as (he turns her eye, reflect the beam ! Aud 122 MEMOIRS OP And tell her, Dcrwent, as you murmur by, How in thefe wilds with hopelefs love I burn, Teach your lone vales and echoing caves to figh, And mix my briny forrows with your urn ? This elegiac ode is rich in poetic beauty. The epithet willowy, in the third ftanza, appeared queftionable, till it was recollected that it is the weeping willow that was meant, with which art has adorned the Derwent in his courfe through the lawns of Chatfworth. The common fpecies of that tree has no fpontaneous growth on the edge of rivers which alternately rum and flow through their rocky channel in moun- tainous countries. Common willows bor- der the heavy, iluggim ftreams of flat and fwampy fituations. Dwarf- alders, nut- * trees, and other bufhes of more ftinted height, and darker verdure, fringe the banks of the Derwent, the Wie, and the JL/arkin, on their paflage through the Peak- fcenery, DR. DARWIN. 123 fcenery, and form a more rich and beauti- ful curtain than the taller, the ftraggling, and pale-hued willow. Matlock is not juftly called Nature's rudeft child. If his rocks were without clothing, he might properly be fo called. Rude gives an idea of barrenneis, and Mat- lock is luxuriantly umbraged ; much more luxuriantly than Dove- Dale ; while every traveller through Derbyshire muft recollect, how rich and fmiling the Matlock-fcenery, compared to the favage magnificence of Eyam-Dale, commonly, though not pro- perly, called Middleton-Dale. There, indeed, we fee rocks piled on rocks, unfoliaged and frowning. They form a wall, of vaft height, on either fide the white limeftone bottom of that deep and narrow valley, with the little fparkling rill which fpeeds through it. In feveral reaches of the curves, made by this Salvatorial Dale, it is from the 134 MEMOIRS OP temperature of the air alone that the feafons can be afcertained ; fmce there are no trees, to mark by their foliage the reign of fylvan beauty; no grafs, to denote it by its lively hue. Nothing but the grey, the barren, and lonely rock?, with, perhaps, a few ftraggling Scotch firs waving on the tops of the cliffs above ; and their dufky fprays neither winter ftrips nor fpring enlivens. This dale is, indeed, " Peak's rudeft " child." Of late years, injury has been done to the towery and fantaftic forms of many of the rocks, from their having been broken in pieces by gunpowder ex- plofion, for the fake of mending the turn- pike roads. The mills, for fmelting the lead-ore in this dale, blot the fummer noon, and increafe its fultrinefs by thofe volumes of black fmoke which pour out from their chimnies ; but in the night they have a grand effecl:, from the flare of DR. DARWIN. I2j of the pointed flames, which ftream amid the fmoke, and appear like fo many fmall volcanos. Mr. Longfton, of Eyam, has adorned a part of this fcene by a hanging garden and imitative fort. The fteep, winding paths of the garden are planted with wild ihrubs, natives of the fteril foil, and which root their fibres in the failures of the rocks. The effecl, in defcending thofe paths from the cliffs above, is very ftrik- ing. They command the ftupendous depths of the vale below and a confider- able portion of its curve. About the year 1777, Dr. Darwin pur- chafed a little, wild, umbrageous valley, a mile from Lichfield, amongft the only rocks which neighbour that city fo nearly. It was irriguous from various fprings, and fwampy from their plenitude. A mofly fountain, of the pureft and col deft water imaginable, had, near a century back, in- duced 125 MEMOIRS OF duced the inhabitants of Lichfield tb build a cold bath in the bofom of the vale. That, till the doftor took it into his pof- feffion, was the only mark of human int\uftry which could be found in the tangled and fequeftered fcene. One of its native features had long excited the attention of the curious ; a rock, which, in the central depth of the glen, drops perpetually, about three times in a minute. Aquatic plants border its top and branch from its fnTures. No length of fummer drought abates, no rains increafe its humidity, mr froft congeals its droppings. The Doftor cultivated this fpot, " And Paradife was open'd in the wild." In fome parts he widened the brook into fmall lakes, that mirrored the valley ; in others, he taught it to wind between fhrubby margins. Not only with trees of various DR. DARWIN. 127 various growth did he adorn the borders of the fountain, the brook, and the lakes, but with various claffies of plants, uniting the Linnean fcience with the charm of landfcape. For the Naiad of the fountain, he wrote the following infcription. SPEECH OF A WATER NYMPH. Jf the meek flower of .bafhful dye, Attract not thy incurious eye j Jf the foft, murmuring rill to reft Encharm not thy tumultuous bread, Go, where Ambition lures the vain, Or Avarice barters peace for gain ! V Dr. Darwin reftrained his friend Mifs Seward's fteps to this her always favourite fcene till it had aflumed its new beau- ties from cultivation. He purpofed ac- companying her on her firft vifit to his botanic garden, but a medical fummons into the country deprived her of that pleasure. 128 MEMOIRS OP pleafure. She took her tablets and pen- cil, and, feated on a flower-bank, In the midft of that luxuriant retreat, wrote the following lines, while the fun was gilding the glen, and w r hile birds, of every plume, poured their fong from the boughs. O, come not here, ye Proud; whofe breafts infold Th' infatiate wifli of glory, or of gold ; O come not ye, whofe branded foreheads wear Th' eternal frown of envy, or of care ; For you no Dryad decks her fragrant bowers 1 , For you her fparkling urn no Naiad pours ; Unmark'd by you light Graces fkim the green, And hovering Cupids aim their (hafts unfeen. But, thou ! whofe mind the well-attemper'd rajr Of Tafte, and Virtue, lights with purer day ; Whofe finer fenfe each foft vibration owns, Mate and unfeeling to difcorded tones j Like the fair flower that fpreads its -lucid form To meet the fun, but fliuts it to the fiorm ; For thee my borders nurfe the glowing wreath, My fountains murmur, and my zephyrs breathe - f My painted birds their vivid plumes unfold, And infect armies wave their wings of gold. And DR. DARWIN. And if with thee fome haplefs maid fhould ftray, Difaftrous love companion of her way, O lead her timid ftep to yonder glade, Whofe weeping rock incumbent alders made ! There, as meek Evening wakes the temperate breeze, And moonbeams glimmer through the trembling trees, The rills, that gurgle round, mall footh her ear, The weeping rock fliall number tear for tearj And as fad Philomel, alike forlorn, Sings to the night, reclining on her thorn, While, at fweet intervals, each falling note Sighs in the gale, and whifpers round the grot, The fifter-woe fhail calm her aching breaft, And fofteft lumbers fleal her cares to reft. Thus fpoke the * Genius as he ftept along-, And bade thefe lawns to Peace and Truth belong j Down the fteep flopes he led, with modeft {kill, t The grafly pathway and the vagrant rill ; Stretch'd o'er the marfliy vale the willowy mound, Where mines the lake amid the cultur'd ground 3 Rais'd the yo*mg woodland, fmooth'd the wavy green, And gave to Beauty all the quiet fcene. O! may no ruder ftep thefe bowers prophane, No midnight waflailers deface the plain; * By the Genius of the place is meant it* firft cultivator, Dr. Darwin , K And MEMOIRS OF And when the tempefts of the wintry day Blow golden Autumn's varied leaves away, Winds of the North, reftrain your icy gales, Nor chill the boibrn of thefe HALLOWED VALES ! * When Mifs Seward gave this little poem to Dr. Darwin, he feemed pleafed with it, and faid, " I fliall fend it to the. " periodical publications ; but it ought to " form the exordium of a great work. " The Linnean Syftem is unexplored poetic "ground, and an happy fubjeft for the " mufe. It affords fine fcope for poetic " landfcape ; it fuggefls metamorphofes " of the Ovidian kind, though reverfed. *' Ovid made men and women into flowers, " plants, and trees. You fhould make * Thefe verfes, in their original ftate, as infcribed here, will be found in Mr. Shaw's Hiftory of Staffordfhire, published in 17Q8, near four years before the death of Dr. Darwin ; fee Artiele Lichfield y page 347. Their author chofe to affert her claim to them in the Doftor's lifetime, fmce they had appeared in the periodical Publications many years before the Botanic Garden puffed. the prefs,-and had borne her fignature. " flowers, t>R. DARWIN. J3I ff flowers^ plants, and trees, into men and " women. I," continued he, " will write " the notes, which muft be fcientific ; and <( you mall write the verfe." Mifs S. obferved, that, befides her want of botanic knowledge, the plan was not ftridly proper for a female pen ; that me felt how eminently it was adapted to the efflorefcence of his own fancy. He objected the profeffional danger of coming forward an acknowledged poet. It \vas pleaded, that on his firft com- mencing medical profeffor, there might have been no danger ; but that, beneath the unbounded confidence his experienced fkill in medicine had obtained from the public, all rifque of injury by reputation flowing in upon him from a new fource was precluded ; efpecially fince the fubjecl; of the poetry, and ftill more trie notes, would be connected with pathology. Dr. Darwin took his friend's advice, K 2, and MEMOIRS OF and very foon began his great poetic work ; but previoufly, a few weeks after they were compofed, fent the vcrfes Mift S. wrote in his Botanic Garden, to the Gentleman's Magazine, and in her name, From thence they were copied in the Annual Regifter ; but, without confulting her, he had fubftituted for the laft fix lines, eight of his own. He afterwards, and again without the knowledge of their author, made them the exordium to the firft part of his poem, publifhed, for cer- tain reafons, fbme years after the fecond part had appeared. No acknowledgment \vas made that thofe verfes were the work of another pen. Such acknowledg- ment ought to have been made, efpecially fmce they pafled the prefs in the name of their real author. They are fomewhat Altered in the exordium to Dr. Darwin's: Poem, and eighteen lines of his own are interwoven with them. In BR.DARWItf In September 1780, a playful corre- fpondence pafled between Dr. Darwin and Mifs Seward, in the name of their refpeo tive cats. The fubjecl: was ludicrous as it was fingular, but the mock-heroic refult pleafed very generally, as the permiffion of taking copies had been folicitcd and obtained by feveral of their acquaintance. Some literary friends of the writer of thefe pages, remembering the bagatelles with pleafure, perfuaded her to infert them. She is apprehenfive that they may be confidered as below the dignity which a biographic Iketch of deceafed Eminence ought perhaps to preferve ; yet, as in this whimfically gay effufion, Dr. Darwin ap- pears in a new light of comic wit and fportive ingenuity, ihe ventures to comply with their requeft. From 134 MEMOIRS OP From the Perfian Snow, at Dr. Dar- win's, to Mils Po Felina, at the Palace, Lichfteld. Lichfiekl Vicarage, Sept. /, 1760. Dear Mifs Pufley, As I fat, the other day, bafking my- felf in the Dean's Walk, I faw you, in your ftately palace, wafliing your beau- tiful round face, and elegantly bonded cars, with your velvet paws, and wh ilk ing about, with graceful fmuofity, your mean- dering tail. That treacherous hedgehog, Cupid, concealed himfelf behind your tabby beauties, and darting one of his too well aimed quills, pierced, O cruel imp ! my fluttering heart. Ever fince that fatal hour have I watched, day and night, in my balcony, hoping that the ftillnefs of the ftarlight evenings DR DARWIN. 135 evenings might induce you to take the air on the leads of the palace. Many ferenades have I fung under your win- L dows ; and, when you failed to appear, with the found of my voice made the vicarage re-echo through all its winding lanes and dirty alleys. All heard me but my cruel Fair-one ; me, wrapped in fur, fat purring with contented infenfibility, or flept with untroubled dreams. Though I cannot boaft thofe delicate varieties of melody with which you fbme- times ravim the ear of night, and flay the liftening ftars ; though you fleep hourly on the lap of the favourite of the mufes, and arc patted by thofe fingers which hold the pen of fcicnce ; and every day, with her permiffion, dip your white whiikers in delicious cream; yet am I not deftitute of all advantages of birth, education, and beauty. Derived from Periian kings, my fnowy fur yet retains K 4 the 136 MEMOIRS O* the whitenefs and fplendor of their ermine. This morning, as I fat upon the Doctor's tea-table, and faw my reflected features in the flop-baim, my long white whifkers, ivory teeth, and topaz eyes, I felt an agreeable prefentiment of my fuit; and certainly the flop-baiin did not flatter me, which fhews the azure flowers upon its borders lefs beauteous than they are. You know not, dear Mifs Pufley Po, the value of the addrefs you neglecl. New milk have I, in flowing abundance, and mice pent up in twenty garrets, for your food and amufement. Permit me, this afternoon, to lay at your divine feet the head of an enormous Norway Rat, which has even now ftained my paws with its gore. If you will do me the honor to fmg the following fong, which I have taken the liberty to write, as expreffing the fentiments I wifh you to enter- DR. DAHWIN. 137 entertain, I will bring a band of catgut and catcall, to accompany you in chorus. Air : fpirituofi. Cats I fcorn, who, fleek and fat, Shiver at a Norway rat ; Bough and hardy, bold and free, Be the cat that's made for me ! He, whofe nervous paw can take My lady's lapdog by the neck ; With furious hifs attack the hen, And fnatch a chicken from the pen. If the treacherous fwain (hould prove ^Rebellious to my tender love, My fcorn the vengeful paw fhall dart, Shall tear his fur, and pierce his heart. Chorus. Qu-ow wow, quail, wawl, moon. Deign, moft adorable charmer, to pur your affent to this my requeft, and believe me to be with the profoundeft refpecl, your true admirer. Snow 7 *. * The cat, to whom the above letter was addrefled, jhad been broken of her prcpenfity to kill birds, and lived feveral MEMOIRS OF Anfwer. Palace, Lichfield, Sept. 8, 1780. I am but too fenfible of the charms of Mr. Snow ; but while I admire the fpotlefs whitenefs of his ermine, and the tyger- ftrength of his commanding form, I figh in fecret, that he, who fucked the milk of benevolence and philofophy, fhould yet retain the extreme of that fiercenefs, too juftly imputed to the Grimalkin race. Our hereditary violence is perhaps com- mendable when we exert it againft the foes of our protectors, but deferves much blame when it annoys their friends. The happincfs of a refined education feveral years without molefting a dove, a tame lark, and a redbreaft, all which ufed to fly about the room where the cat was daily admitted. The dove frequently fat on : puffey's backhand the little birds would .peck fearlefsly from the plate in which (he was eating. was DR. DARWIN. 139 was mine ; yet, dear Mr. Snow., my ad- vantages in that refpeci were not equal to what yours might have been: but, while you give unbounded indulgence to your carnivorous defircs, I have fo far fubdued mine, that the lark pours his mattin fong, the canarybird warbles wild and loud, and the robin pipes his farewell fong to the fetting fun, unmolefted in my prefence ; nay, the plump and tempting dove has repofed fecurely upon my foft back, and bent her gloffy neck in grace- ful curves as ilie walked around me. But let me haften to tell thee how my feniibilities in thy favor were, lalt month, unfortunately reprefled. Once, in the noon of one of its moft beautiful nights, I was invited abroad by the ferenity of the amorous hour, fecretly ftimulated by the hope of meeting my admired Perfian. With filent fteps I paced around the dimly-gleaming leads of the palace. I had acquired I4O MEMOIRS OF acquired a taftc for fcenic beauty and poetic imagery, by liftening to ingenious obfervations upon their nature from the lips of thy own lord, as I lay purring at the feet of my miftrefs, I admired the lovely fcene, and breathed my fighs for thee to the liftening moon. She threw the long fliadows of the ma- jeftic cathedral upon the filvered lawn, I beheld the pearly meadows of Stow Valley, and the lake in its bofom, which, reflect- ing the lunar rays, feemed a fheet of diamonds. The trees of the Dean's \Valk, "which the hand of Dulnefs had been re- ftrained from torturing into trim and dcteftable regularity, met each other in a thoufand various and beautiful forms. Their liberated boughs danced on the midnight gale, and the edges of their leaves \vere whitened by the moonbeams. I defcended to the lawn, that I might throw the beauties of the valley into perfpeftivc DR. DARWIN* perfpeclive through the graceful arches, formed by their meeting branches. Sud- denly my ear was ftartled, not by the voice of my lover, but by the loud and diflbnant noife of the war-fong, which lix black grimalkins were railing in honor of. the numerous victories obtained by the Perfian, Snow ; compared with which, they acknowledged thofe of Englifh cats rud little brilliance, eclipfed, like the un- important victories of the Howes, by the puiffant Clinton and Arbuthnot, and the ftill more puiffant Cornwallis. It fung that thou didll owe thy matchlefs might to thy lineal defcent from the invincible Alexander, as he derived his more than mortal valour from his mother Olympia's illicit commerce with Jupiter. They fung that, amid the renowned fiege of Perfepolis, while Iloxana and Statira were contending for the honour of his atten- tions, the conqueror of the . world deigned I to MEMOIRS OF to beftow them upon a large white female cat, thy grandmother, warlike Mr. Snow, in the ten thoufandth and ninety-ninth afcent. Thus far their triumphant din was mufic to my ear ; and even when it fung that lakes of milk ran curdling into whey, within the ebon concave of their pan- ch'eons, w T ith terror at thine approach ; that mice fquealed from all the neighbour- ing garrets ; and that whole armies of Norway rats, crying out amain, " the * f devil take the hindmoft," ran violently info the minfter-pool, at the firft gleam of thy white mail through the flirubs of Mr. Howard's garden. But O ! when they fung, or rather yelled, of larks warbling on funbeams, fafcinated fuddenly by the glare of thine eyes, and falling into thy remorfelefs talons ; of robins, w f arbling foft and folitary upon the leaflefs branch, till the pale cheek of winter dimpled into joy ; of hundreds of thofe bright DR. DARWIN, 143 bright breafted fongfters, torn from their barren fprays by thy pitilefs fangs ! Alas ! my heart died within me at the idea of fb prepofterous a union ! Marry you, Mr. Snow, I am afraid I cannot ; fince, though the laws of our community might not oppofe our connec- tion, yet thofe of principle, of delicacy, of duty to my miftrefs, do very powerfully oppofe it. As to prefiding at your concert, if you extremely wifh it, I may perhaps grant your requeft ; but then you muft allow me to nhg a fong of my own compofition, applicable to our prefent fituation, and fet to mufic by my fifter Sophy at Mr. Brown's the organift's, thus,. Air : affettuofo. He, whom Puffy Po detains A captive in her filken chains, Muft curb the furious thirft of prey, Nor rend the warbler from his fpray ! Nor 144- MEMOIRS dF 1 Nor let his wild, ungenerous rage An unprotected foe engage. O, mould cat of Darwin prove Foe to pity, foe to love ! Cat, that liftens day by day, To mercy's mild and honied lay, Too furely would the dire difgrace More deeply brand our future race, The fligma fix, where'er they range, That cats can ne'er their nature change. Should I confent with thee to wed, Thefe fanguine crimes upon thy head, And ere the wifh'd reform I fee, Adieu to lapping Se ward's tea ! Adieu to purring gentle praife Charrml as me quotes thy mailer's lays '. Could I, alas ! our kittens bring Where fweet her plumy favorites fing, Would not the watchful nymph efpy Their father's fiercenefs in their eye, And drive us far and wide away, In cold and lonely barn to ftray ? Where the dark owl, with hideous fcream, Shall mock our yells for forfeit cream, As on ftarv'd mice we fwearing dine, And grumble that our lives are nine, Chorus : largo. Waal, woee, trone, moan, mall, oil, moule. The DR. DARWIN. 145 The ftill too much admired Mr. Snow will have the goodnefs to pardon the freedom of thefe expostulations, and ex- cufe their imperfections . The morning, O Snow ! had been devoted to this my correfpondence with thee, but I was in- terrupted in that employment by the vifit of two females of our fpecies, who fed my ill-ftarred paffion by praifing thy wit and endowments, exemplified by thy ele- gant letter, to which the delicacy of my fentiments obliges me to fend fo inauf- picious a reply. I am, dear Mr. Snow, Your ever obliged, Po Felina. MEMOIRS OF DR. DARWIN. 147 CHAPTER IV, DURING the courfe of the year 1780, died ' Colonel Pole. Dr. Darwin, more fortunate than Petrarch, whofe deftiny his own had refembled in poetic endow- ment and hopelefs love, then faw his adored Laura free, and himfelf at liberty to court her favor, whofe coldnefs his mufe had recorded ; to " drink fofter effu- " fion from thofe eyes," which duty and difcretion had rendered repulfive. He foon, however, faw her furrounded by rivals, whofe time of life had nearer parity with her own, yet in its fummer bloom, while his age nearly approached its hair century ; whofe fortunes were affluent and L 2, patri- MEMOIRS OF patrimonial ; while his were profeffional ; who were jocund bachelors, while he had ^children for whom he muft provide. Colonel Pole had numbered twice the years of his fair wife. His temper was faid to have been peeviih and fufpicious, yet not beneath thofe circumftances had her kind and cheerful attentions to him grown cold or remifs. He left her a jointure of fix hundred pounds per annum ; a fon to inherit his eftate, and two female children amply portioned. Mrs. Pole, it has already been remarked, had much vivacity and fportive humor, with very engaging frank nefs of temper and manners. Early in her widowhood Ihe was rallied in a large company upon Dr. Darwin's paflion for her, and was afked what Ihe would do with her captive philofopher. " He is not very fond of " churches, I believe, and if he would go ** there for my fake, I Ihall fcarcely fol- " low DR. DARWIN. 149 " low him. He is too old for me." " Nay, madam, what are fifteen years on " the right fide ?" She replied, with an arch fmile, " I have had fb much of that " right fide !"" "tfhe confeffion was thought inaufpicious to tife Dodor's hopes ; but it did not prove 1> ; the triumph of intellect was completed. Without that native perception and awSk^ned tafte for literary excellence, - / which 9 the firft charming Mrs. Darwin poflefled, this lady became tenderly fen- fible of the flattering difference between the attachment of a man of genius, and wide celebrity, and that of young fox-hunting efquires; dafliing militaries, and pedantic gownfmen ; for fhe was faid to have fpe- cimens of all thefe clafles in her train. They could fpeak their own paffion, but could not immortalize her charms. How- ever benevolent, friendly, and fweet-tem- pered, fhe was not perhaps exadly the woman to, have exclairjied with Akenfide, L 3 " Mind, 150 MEMOIRS or " Mind, mind alone, bear witnefs earth and heaven ! " The living fountain in itlelf contains t( Of beauteous and fublime ! Yet did her choice fupport his axiom when fhe took Dr. Darwin for her huf- band. Darwin, never handfome, or per- fonally graceful, with extremely impeded utterance ; with hard features on a rough furface ; older much in appearance than in reality ; lame and clumfy ! and this, when half the wealthy youth of Derby- fhire were faid to have difputed the prize with him. But it was not without fome ffipula- tions, apparently hazardous to his pecuniary intereft, that Mrs. Pole was perfuaded to defcend from her Laura-eminence to wife- hood, and probably to filence for ever, in the repofe of pofleffion, thofe tender ftrains, which romantic love and defpair, and afterwards the ftimulating reftleflhefs of doubtful hope, had occafionally awakened. During DR. DARWIN. 151 During that viiit to Dr. Darwin, in which Mrs. Pole had brought her fick children to be healed by his {kill, {he had taken a diflike to. Lichfield, and decidedly faid, nothing could induce her to live there, His addreffes did not fubdue that refolve. After fo long and profperous a refidence, to quit that city, central in the Mercian diftrict, from whence his fame had dif- fufed itfelf through the circling counties, feemed a great facrifice ; but the phi- lofbpher w r as too much in love to hefi- tate one moment. He married Mrs. Pole in 1781, and removed dire<5lly to Derby. His reputation and the unlimited con- fidence of the public followed him thither, and would have followed him to the me- tropolis, or to any provincial town, to which he might have chofen to remove. Why he conftantiy, from time to time, withftood felicitations from countlefs fami- lies of rank and opulence, to remove to L 4 London, MEMOJRS OF London, was never exadlly underftood by the writer of thefe memoirs. She knows that the moft brilliant profpects of fuccefs in the capital were opened to him, from various quarters, early on his refidence at Lichfield, and that his attention to them was perpetually requefted by eminent people. Undoubtedly thofe profpeds acquired added ftrength and luftre each year beneath the ever-widening fpread of his fame. Confcious of his full habit of body, he probably thought that the eftablifhed cuftom of imbibing changed and pure air by almoft daily journies into the country, eflential to his health ; per- haps to the duration of his life. In allu- fion to that perpetual travelling, a gentle- man once humoroufly directed a letter " Dr. Darwin upon the road." When himfelf wrote to Dr. Franklin, compli- menting him on having united philofophy to modern fcience, he directed his letter merely DR. DARWIN. 153 merely thus, " Dr. Franklin, America ;" and faid, he felt inclined to make a ftill more flattering fiiperfcription. " Dr. " Franklin, the World." His letter reached the fage, who firft difarmed the lightning of its fatal power, for the anfwer to it arrived, and was fliown in the Dar- winian circles ; in which had been quef- tioned the likelihood of Dr. Franklin ever receiving a letter of fuch general fuper- fcription as the whole weftern empire. Its fafe arrival was amongft the triumphs of genius combined with exertion, " they <( make the world their country." From the time of Dr. Darwin's marriage and removal to Derby, his limited bio- grapher can only trace the outline of his remaining exiftence ; remark the dawn and expanfion of his poetic fame, and comment upon the claims which fecure its immortality. The lefs does fhe regret this limitation, as Mr. Dewhuift Bilfbury, his MEMOIRS OF his pupil in infancy, his confidential friend, and frequent companion through ripened youth, is now writing at large, the life of Dr. Darwin, who once more became an happy hufband, with a fccond family of children, fpringing fail around him. To thole children the Mifs Poles, as them- felves grew up to womanhood, w r ere very jneritorioufly attentive and attached. The eldeft Mifs Pole married Mr. Bromley, and is faid to be happy in her choice of a worthy and amiable man. The fecond Mifs Pole gave her lovely felf to Mr. John Gifborne, younger brother to the cele- brated moralift and poet of that name. Mr. John Gifborne's philofophic ener- gies, poetic genius, extenfive benevolence, ingenuous modefty, and true piety, render him a pattern for all young men of fortune, and an honor to human nature. In the year 1797* he publifhed a fpirited and ele- gant local poem, entitled, " The Vales of Weaver." 1>R. DARWIN. 155 Weaver." It is evidently of the Darwinian fchool, though in a fhorter meafure, and has genius to fupport the peculiar manner of poetic writing which it emulates and has caught. In this poem we meet appro- priate and vivid landfcape. Some of the epithets are perhaps exceptionable, and too free ufe is made of the word glory in feve- ral inftances, particularly in its application to moon-light. Pope's faulty, though ad- mired fimile, in the laft paflage of the 8th book of the Iliad, has milled fucceeding poets ; inducing them to lavifh upon the lunar effufions thofe terms of fuperlative fplendor which they fliould referve for the fun in his ftrength. The Bard of Twick- enham, fo generally difcriminating, is in- difcriminate when he ftyles the moon " refulgent lamp of night/' and its white and modcft beams " a flood of " glory." Scholars fay, he found no ex- ample in the original paflage for this fun- defraud- lj;5 MEMOIRS OF defrauding magnificence. We do not find it for the moon in Cowper's more literal tranflation of the Homeric land- fcape, two fins againft truth pardoned, and the fcene, as penciled by Cowper, is beautiful ; thus : As when around the clear, bright moon, the ftars Shine in full fplendor, and the winds are huuYd, The groves, the mountain tops, the headland heights, Stand all apparent j not a vapor ftreaks The boundlefs blue, but aether, open'd wide, - All glitters, and the fhepherd's heart is cheer'd. Surely the original does not fandlion an image which nature never prefents, fince, when the moon is clear and bright, the ftars do not fpangle the firmament plen- teoufly, or fplendidly. A few ftars, and never more than a few, fometimes glimmer through her flood of fnowy and abforbing light. At any rate, fplendor is a falfe term. When the night is cloudlefs, and the moon abfent, the ftellar hoft glows and DR, DARWIN. 157 and fparkles very brightly ; but it's refulting mafs df light by no means amounts to fplendor. Nature hallows, and poetry confecrates all the moon-light fcenery in Milton. It is never more charming than in the fol- lowing inflance. Now glow'd the firmament With living faphirs. Hefperus, that led The ftarry hoft, rode brightest, till the moon, Rifing in clouded majefty, o'er all Apparent queen, unveil'd her peerlefs light, And o'er the dark her lilver mantle threw. Since Pope and Cowper, as translators of Homer, have been brought into a degree of comparifon on thefe pages, the writer of them cannot refift the avowal of her opinion, that, on tke whole, and confidered merely as poems, great fuperiority is with Pope, as to perfpicuity, elegance, and in- tereft ; the grace of picture, and the har- mony ?53 MEMOIRS OF mony of numbers. In a few ftriking paf- fages Cowper may be the nobler, but his mufe is for ever vifibly and awkwardly ftruggling for literality, where he fliould have remembered the painter's adage, " It " is better to fin againft truth than * ( beauty," fo long as the fenfe is not per- verted, and nature is not outraged by in- appropriate epithets, which muft always injure the diftinftnefs of imagery and landfcape. If, in the preceding inftance, Cowper's moon-light is chafter than Pope's, fee how much more grandly the rhyme tranflation, gives the remaining lines of that clofing paffage. So numerous feemM thofe fires, the bank between Of Zanthus, blazing, and the fleet of Greece, la profpecl all of Troy; a thoufand fires Each watch'd by fifty warriors, feated near. The ileeds befide the chariot Hood, their corn Chewing, and waiting till the golden-thron'4 Aurora ihould reftore the light of day. COWPER'S HOMER, Firfl Edition, Nothing DR. DARWIN. Nothing can be more confufed and un-* happy than the language of this paflage. It is left doubtful whether it is the fires that are blazing, or the river that by re- flection blazes ; and, " the bank between," is ftrange language for " between the banks." Chewing feems below the dig- nity of heroic verfe, and the compound epithet golden-thron'd, fine in itfelf, is ruined as to effecl, by clofing the line when its fubftantive begins the next, Obferve how exempt from all thefe faults is Pope's tranflation of the fame paragraph, So many flames before proud Ilion blaze, And lighten glimmering Zanthus with their rays. The long reflection of the diftant fires Gleam on the walls, and tremble on the fpires. A thoufand piles the dufky horrors gild, And fhoot a (hady luftre o'er the field. Full fifty guards each flaming pile attend, Whofe umber'd arms, by fits, thick flafhes fend. Loud neigh the courfers o'er their heaps of corn, ardent warriors wait the rifing morn. Poetry MEMOIRS or Poetry has no pidure more exquifitc than we meet in the fecond, third, and fourth lines ; but an infinite number, equally vivid and beautiful, rife to the reader's eye, as it explores the pages of Doc~lor Darwin's Botanic Garden. While the powers of metrical landfcape- painting are the theme, not unwelcome to thofe who feel its inchantment, will be inftances which muft prove that they are poflefled by Mr. John Gifborne in a degree which would difgrace the national tafte if they fliould be fuffered to pafs away with- out their fame. " The Vales of Weaver" is this young man's firft publication. Be- neath thanklefs neglecl the efflorefcence of a rich imagination will probably fink blighted, like the opening flowers of the fpring before an eaftern mildew, no more to rife in future compofitions to the view of that public which had eftimated fo coldly the value of the firft. We DR, DARWIN. l6l We have read various defcriptions of a winter's night, and it's enfuing' morning ; but the following fketch is not borrowed from any of them. We feel that it was drawn beneath a lively remembrance of real impreffion made on the author's mind by the cireumftances themfelves ; therefore, it will not fail to touch the vibrating chords of recollefted fenfation in every reader of fenfibility. Book-made defcriptions are trite and vapid ; but nature is inexhauftible in her varieties, and will always prefent to the eye of genius either new images, or fuch combination of images as muft render them new ; and they will rife on his page in the morning freflinefs of originality. Thefe facred arcana me referves for the poet, and leaves the mere verfifier to his dull thefts. VALES OF WEAVER. O Wootton ! oft I love to hear Thy wintry whirlwinds, loud and clear ; With dreadful pleafure bid them fill My liftening ear, my bofom chill. M As MEMOIRS OF sr As the fonorons North aflails Weaver's bleak wilds, and leaflefs vales, With awful majefty of might He burfts the billowy clouds of night j Booms* the refounding glens among, And roaring rolls his fnows along. In clouds againft my groaning fafti Broad, feathery flakes inceflant dafh, Or wheel below, and mingling form The frolic pageants of the ftorm. Hark ! with what aggravated roar Echo repeats her midnight lore; Rends her dark folitudes and caves, And bellowing {hakes the mighty graves f < Couch'd on her feat the timid hare Liftens each boifterous fweep of air ; Or peeps, yon blafted furze between, And eyes the fnow- bewildered fcene; Jnftant retraces her fhuddering head, And neftles clofer in her bed. All fad and ruffled, in the grove The fieldfare wakes from dreams of love ; Hears the loud north and fieety fnow, And views the drifted brakes below ; * A word admirably expreffing the noife of winds, and applied to it kerc for the firft time in poetry. *} Th numerous tumuli on Weaver and the adjacent hills. Swift DR. DARWIN. 163 Swift to her wing returns her beak, And mivers as the tempefts break. Up ftarts the village-dog aloof, And howls beneath his rifted roof ; Looks from his den, and blinking hears The driving tumult at his ears ! Inftant withdraws his fearful breaft, Shrinks from the ftorm, and deals to reft. So* {brinks the pining fold, and fleeps Beneath the valley's vaulted deeps 5 Or crops the fefcue's dewy blade, And treads unfeen the milky glade ; Forms by it's breath fair opening bovvers, Tranfparent domes, and pearly (bowers. Thus night rolls on till orient dawn Unbars the purple gates of morn, Unfolds each vale and fnow-clad grove, Mute founts and gloffy banks above. * So flirinks the pining fold,'] It often happens that fheep in this and in the Peak country, are immerfed many feet deep in fnow for feveral days before they are difcovered. The perpetual fleam from their noftrils keeps the fnow, immediately over their heads, in a dif- folving ftate, and hence a tunnel is conftantly forming through the heaps above. This tunnel greatly facilitates their difcovery, and fup- plies them with abundance of frefh air. The warmth of thefe animals foon diffolves the furrounding fnow, and at length the drift is fo com- pletely vaulted, that they are able to ftretch their limbs, and fearch for fubfiftence. It is afierted that fheep have been frequently found alive after having been entombed -in the fnow during a fortnight. M 2 Thin 164 MEMOIRS OP Thin ftreaky clouds,, convex'd by ftorms, Slowly expand their tiffued forms 5 Long bars of grey and erimfon bright Divert the golden threads of light j Till glory's nafcent curve difplays One fplendid orb, a world of rays ! Then lightens heaven's etherial bound, And all the fpangled country glows around. Now that we have obferved what power this author poffefles to bring back to our recolle&ion a ftormy night .in winter, fuc- ceeded by a ruddy dawn, blazing upon it's frofted landscape, let us turn to his mifty morning, in the fame feafon, gradually clearing up into a mild and funny day. When Winter's icy hand Whitens Britannia's fhivering land, Then flow the billowy vapors glide, And roll their lazy oceans wide. Oft have I mark'd from Mathfield's brow, Her mift-embofom'd realms below, While, here and there, a foaring tree Waded amid the vapory fea, And Alh bourn's fpire to diftant fight Tower'd, like a maft, in dubious light. If, DR. DAIOVIN. 165 If, through the paly gloom, the fun With ftruggling beams his journey won, Soon as he rais'd his crimfon eye With tranfport flafli'd th' illumin'd iky ; The vane, rekindling at his blaze, Shot, like a meteor, through the ha?,e j The trees in liquid luftre flovv'd, And all the dim tranfparencc glow'd, The ruftic, on his fields below, Shoves from his lot the melting fnowj Salutes the welcome change, and feems To tafte of life's diviner ftreams; Breathes with delight the temperate air, And views, with half-clos'd eyes, the boundlefs glare. What a pretty fummer fcene rifes in the following verfes from the fame poem ! Wide fpread An elm uprears his reverend head ; * A Lapland fcene, which fucceeds to the laft line, is omitted, not from its want of poetic beauty ? but merely to (horten the quotation. M3 His 1 66 MEMOIRS OP His front the whifpering breeze receives, The blue iky trembles through it's leaves j A cottage group beneath his fhade, Their locks with flowers and rufhes braid j And, gurgling round dark beds of fedge, A brook juft fhows it's filver edge. But now, turning from The Vales of Weaver, let us feek the Botanic Garden. The commencement of that poem in 1779 has been previoully mentioned, with the circumftance which gave it birth. It con- fifts of two parts ; the firil contains the Economy of Vegetation, the fecond the Loves of the Plants. Each is enriched by a number of philofophical notes. They ftate a great variety of theories and experi- ments in botany, chemiftry, electricity, mechanics, and in the various fpecies of air, falubrious, noxious, and deadly. The difcoveries of the modern profeflbrs in all thofe fciences, are frequently mentioned with praiie highly gratifying to them. In thefc DR. DARWIN. 167 thefe notes explanations are found of every perfonified plant, it's generic hiftory, it's local fituation, and the nature of the foil and climate to which it is indigenous; it's botanic and its common name. The verfe corrected, polimed, and mo- dulated with the moft fedulous attention ; the notes involving fuch great diverfity of matter relating to natural hiftory ; and the competition going forward in the Ihort re- cefles of profeffional attendance, but chiefly in his chaife, as he travelled from one place to another, the Botanic Garden could not be the work of one, two, or three years ; it was ten from its primal lines to its firft publication. The immenfe price which the bookfeller gave for this work, was doubtlefs owing to confiderations which' infpired his trutt in it's popularity. Bo- tany was, at that time, and ftill continues a very fafhionableftudy. Not only philoib- phers, but fine ladies and gentlemen, fought M 4 to l6S MEMOIRS QF to explore it's arcana. This poem, there- fore, involved two claffes of readers by whom it would probably be purchafed. Every fkilful Botanift, every mere Tyro in the fcience, would wifh to poflefs it for the fake of the notes, though infenfible, perhaps, as the verieft ruftic, to the charms of poetry ; while every reader, awakened to them, muft be ambitious to fee fuch a conftellation of poetic ftars in his library ; all that gave immortality to Ovid's fame, without the flighteft imitation of his man- ner, the leaft debt to his ideas; fince, though Dr. Darwin often retells that poet's ftories, it is always ^vith new imagery and heightened intereft. Certainly it was by an inverfion of all cuftom that Dr. Darwin published the fe- cond part of his poem firft. The reafon given for fo extraordinary a manoeuvre in that advertifement which led the younger fitter before the elder on the field of pub- lic DR. DARWIN. 169 lie exhibition, is this, that the appearance of the firft part had been deferred till ano- ther year, for the purpofe of repeating fome experiments in vegetation. The Doclor was accufto'med to remark, that whenever a ftrange ftep had been taken, if any way obnoxious to cenlure, the alleged reafon was fcarcely ever the real motive, His own fingular management in this in- ftance, and the way in which he accounted for it, proved a cafe in point. He was confcious that the fecond part of his work would be more level than the firft to the comprehenfion, more congenial to the tafte of the fuperficial reader, from it's being much lefs abftrad: and metaphyfic, while it pofleffed more than fufficient poetic matter to entertain and charm the enlight- ened and judicious few. They, however, he well knew, when his firft part mould appear, would feel it's fuperiority to the earlier pub- lication, it's grander conceptions, it's more fplendid 170 MEMOIRS OF fplendid imagery, though lefs calculated to amufe and to be underflood by common readers. Thofe of that laft number who had purchafed the firft part would not like to poflefs the poem incomplete, and there- fore would purchafe the fecond. The ob- fervations of this paragraph refer to the poetry of the work, and to the two claffes of readers who would value it chiefly on that account. The notes to each part muft render them equally valuable t6 the votaries of botany, and other modern fciences. It is with juft and delicate criticifm that Mr. Fellowes again obferves of Dr. Dar- win's poetry : " In perfpicuity, which is " one of the firft excellences in poetic as " well as profe compofition, this author " has perhaps few equals. He is clear, " even when defcribing the moil intricate " operations of nature, or the moil com- " plex works of art ; and there is a lucid tranf-- DR. DARWIN " tranfparency in his ftyle through which " we fee objects in their exact figure an4 " proportion ; but Dr. Darwin's poetry " wants fenfation ; .that fort of excellence " which, while it enables us to fee dif- " tinctly the objects defcribed, makes us " feel them acting on our nerves." A little reflection is, perhaps, neceflary precifely to underftand this criticifm, dif- tinguifliing between vivid poetry which does not excite fenfation, and vivid poetry which does excite it. Inftances will beft elucidate the diftinction. See the tw r o following defcriptions of a wintery even^ ing, late in autumn. BOTANIC GARDEN, Then o'er the cultur'd lawns and dreary wafte, Retiring Autumn flings her howling blaft, Bends in tumultuous waves the ftruggling woods, And ihowers her leafy honors on the floods, , In withering heaps colle&s the flowery fpoil, And each chill infeft fleeps beneath the foil. Quoted 172 MEMOIRS OF Quoted from a fonnet of Mr. C. Lloyd's published with Mr. Colridge's poems. Di final November ! me it fooths to view, At parting day, the fcanty foliage fall From the wet fruit-tree, or the grey Hone wall, Whofe cold films gliften with unwholefome dew; To watch the fweepy mifts from the dank earth Enfold the neighbouring copfe, while, as they pafs, The filent rain-drop bends the long, rank grafs, Which wraps fome bloflbm's immatured birth $ And, through my cot's lone lattice, glimmering grey, Thy damp chill evenings have a charm for me, Difmal November ! The pi&ure is equally juft and ftriking in both the above quotations ; but the firft, though more dignified, does not thrill our nerves, and the fecond does. We admire in the former the power and grace of the poet ; in the latter we forget the poet and his art, and only yearn to fee images re- flefted in his mirror, which we have annu- ally, and many times fliuddered to furvey in real life. When DR. DAKWIN. 173 When Dr. Darwin defcribes the glow- worm, fuppofing it's light to be phofphoric, he thus exhorts his allegoric perfonages* the nymphs of fire, meaning the ele&rical powers. Warm, on her morTy couch, the radiant worm, Guard from cold dews her love-illumin'd form,' From leaf to leaf condud the virgin light, Star of the earth, and diamond of the night ! Nothing can be more poetic, more bril- liant than this pi&ure; yet, when Shake- fpear fays, i " The glow-worm fliows the morning to be near, " And 'gins to pale his ineffectual fire," we feel fenfation which the more refplen- dent pidture of this infeft had failed to in- fpire, notwithftanding the pleafure it had given us, the admiration it had excited. Probably the reafon why Dr. Darwin's poetry, 174 MEMOIRS OF poetry, while it delights the imagination, leaves the nerves at reft, may be, that he feldom mixes with the picturefque the (as it is termed in criticifm) moral epithet, .meaning that quality of the thing men- tioned, which pertains more to the mind, or heart, than to the eye, and which, in- ftead of picture, excites fenfation. Shake- fpear gives no diftincT: picture of the glow- worm, lince the only epithet he ufes for it is not defcriptive of its appropriate luftre, which has a tint fpecified in the enfuing quotation. " From the bloom that fpreads " Refplendent in the lucid morn of May, tr To the green light the little glow-worm fheds '* On mofly banks, when midnight glooms prevail, " And Silence broods o'er all the (helter'd dale." If Dr. Darwin alfo omits to mention the particular hue of this infect, when it is luminous, he conveys that hue to the imagi- DR. DARWIN, 175 imagination when he fays, " Star of the <( earth," fince the largeft and brighteft ftars have the fame mafter-tint. Offian fays, " Night is dull and dark, no ftar " with its green, trembling beams -I" But Shakefpear's moral epithet, ineffec- tual, does better than paint it's object. It excites a fort of tender pity for the little infecl, mining without either warmth or ufeful light, in the dark and lonely hours. j BOTANIC GARDEN. Anr? now the riling moon, with luftre pale, O'er heaven's dark arch unfurls her milky veil, This pi<5iure is charming: yet when Milton paints the fame object thus, " Now reigns, " Full orb'd, the moon, and with more pleafant Jight, " Shadowy, fets off the face of things/- the charm is on the nerves, as well as on the MEMOIRS OP the eye. The moral epithet pkafant, excites fenfation, while the pifturefque epithet, Jhadowy, has all the truth, the grace, and power of the pencil. It is that charm on the nerves to which Mr. Fellowes fo well applies the word, fenfation. It feems a new term in criticifm, and is ufe- ful to exprefs what pathos would exprefs too ftrongly, and therefore with lefs accu- racy. Pathos is the power of affecling the heart ; by fenfation is meant that of acling upon the nerves. Beneath their torpor, the heart, ,or the paffions, cannot be affected ; but the nerves may be awakened to lively, or penfive plea- fure, by compofition which, not exciting any pofitive paffion, may not act upon the heart in a degree to juftify the application of the word, pathetic ; and for this gentler, fubtler, and more evanefcent influence, which almoft imperceptibly touches the paffions DR. >AR\YIN. . 1/7 paffions without agitating them, Mr. F.'s term is happy. Dr. Darwin's excellence confifts in de- lighting the eye, the tafte, and the fancy, by the ftrength, diftinclnefs, elegance, and perfect originality of his pictures ; and in delighting the ear by the rich cadence of his numbers ; but the paffions are generally afleep, and feldom are the nerves thrilled by his imagery, impreffive and beauteous as it is, or by his landfcapes, with all their vividnefs. , It may, however, be juftly pleaded for his great work, that it's ingenious and novel plan did not involve any claim upon the affections. We are prefented with an highly imaginative and fplendidly defcrip- tive poem, whofe fucceffive pi&ures alter- nately poffefs the fublimity of Michael Angelo, the correclnefs and elegance of Raphael, with the glow of Titian ; whofe landfcapes have, at times, the ftrength of N Salvator, MEMOIRS OF Salvator, and at others the foftnefs of Claude; whofe numbers are of ftately grace, and artful harmony ; while its allu- fions to ancient and modern hiftory and fable, and its inteffperiion of recent and extraordinary anecdotes, render it extremely entertaining. Adapting the paft and re- cent difcoveries in natural and fcientific philosophy to the purpofes of heroic verfe, the Botanic Garden forms a new clafs in poetry, and by fo doing, gives to the Britifh Parnaflus a wider extent than it poflcfled in Greece, or in ancient, or modern Rome. Nor is it only that this compofltion takes unbeaten ground, and forms an additional order in the fanes of the Mufes, it forms that new order fo brilliantly, that though it may have many imitators, it will proba- bly never have an equal in it's particular clafs ; neither would it's ftyle apply happily to fubjecls lefs intrinfically pidurefque. The fpecies t>R. DARWIN. 179 fpcies of praife here given to this work is all that it's author defired to excite. We have no right to complain of any writer, or to cenfure him for not pofleffing thofe powers at which he did not aim, and which are not neceffarily connected with his plan. To the fubj eft Dr. Darwin chofe, his talents were eminently calculated. Nei- ther Pope nor Gray would have executed it fo well; nor would Darwin have written fo fine an Eflay on Man, fo inwerefting a Churchyard, or fo lovely an Ode on the profpecl: of the fchool at which he was educated, had that fchool been Eaton. He would not have fucceeded fo trantcend- ently on themes, which demanded cither pathos, or that fort of tender and delicate feeling in the poet, which excites in the reader fympathetic fenfation ; or yet in the facred morality of ethic poetry, which however it may admit, or require that N 3 fancy l8o MEMOIRS OP fancy adorn it with fome rare, and lovely flowers, " allows to ornament but a fecond " place, and always renders it iubordinate " to intrinfic worth and juft defign." To whomfocver he might have been practically inferior on themes he has left unattempted, he is furely not inferior to Ovid ; and if poetic tafte is not much degenerated, or fliall not hereafter degenerate, the Botanic Garden will live as long as the Metamor- phofes. That in his poetic ftyle Dr. Darwin is a mannerift cannot be denied; but fo was Milton, in the Paradife Loft ; fo was Young, in the Night Thoughts ; fo was Akenfide, in the Pleafures of Imagination. The Dar- winian peculiarity is in part formed by the very frequent ufe of the imperative mood, generally beginning the couplet either with that, or with the verb aclive, or the noun perfonal. Hence, the accent lies oftener on the firft fyllable of each couplet in his i verfe DR. DARWIN. l8i verfe than in that of any other rhymift ; and it is, in confequence, peculiarly fpirited and energetic. Dr. Darwin's ftyle is alfb distinguished by the liberal ufe of the fpon- dee, viz. * two monofyllables, equally ac- cented, following each other inftantly in fome part of the line. Spondees, judicioufly ufed, vary and in* creafe the general harmony in every fpecies of verfe, whether blank or rhyme. They preferve the numbers from too lufcious fweetnefs, from cloying famenefs, from feeble elegance, and that, by contracting the fmoothnefs of the daclyls, and the rich melodies of the iambic accents. So difcords refblving into concords, infpirit the ftrains of muiical composition. But it is poffible to make too frequent ufe of the fpondee in poetry, as of the difcord in mufic. Dr. Darwin's ear preferved him * This explanation is for the ladies. N 3 from l8a MEMOIRS OF from that exuberance; but Mr. Bowles, one of the fineft poets of this day, often renders his verification, which is, at times, moft exquifitely fweet, harfh, by the too fre~ quently-recurring fpondee. From that gentleman's verfe a couple of inftances may be felecled, to fhow, in one, that harmony may be improved by a fpar^ ing ufe of that accent, and injured in the other, by ufmg it too freely. MR. BOWLES' HOPE. But lufty Enterprife, with looks of glee, - Approach'd the drooping youth, as he would fay> Come to the wild ivoods and the hills with me, And throw thy fullen myrtle wreath away ! BOWLES* ELEGIAC STANZAS, Haft thou * not vifited that pleafant place, Where in this hard world I have happieft been, A.nd fhall I tremble at thy lifted mace, That hath fiercd all on which tifefeenid to lean ? * Death. The DR. DARWIN. 183 The recurrence of two equally accented words three times in the ftanza, and twice in the laft line, incumbers the verification, while the fmgle ufe of the fpondee in the preceding four lines, from Hope, gives it grace and beauty. Dr. Darwin, in the following paflage, has ufed it frequently, without producing any fuch dead weight upon the verfe. The quotation is from the charge of the Botanic Queen to the Nymphs of Fire, a poetic alleg6ry for the influence of the fluid matter of heat in for- warding the germination and growth of plants. Pervade, pellucid forms, their cold retreat ! Ray, from bright orbs, your viewlefs floods of heat ! From earth's deep ivaftes electric torrents pour, Or fhed from heav'n the fcintillating ihower! Pierce the dull root ', relax its fibre trains, Thaw the thick blood that lingers in its veins ! Melt with 'warm breath, the fragrant gums that bind Tk' expanding foliage in its fcaly rind 1 N 4 And I4 MEMOIRS OP And as in air the laughing leaflets play. And turn their fhining boforas to the ray, Nymphs, TN\\hfweeifmile, each opening flower invite, And on its damaik eyelids pour the light ! On reflection, it fhould feem that it is the fituation of thefe twin accents in the line, which prevents their frequent recur- rence from producing harfhnefs. It will be obferved in the laft quotation, that all the many fporidees are preceded by two lyllables ; and that it is only when they are preceded by an odd fyllable, either one or three, that they increafe the harmony by their fparing, and injure it by their frequent appearance. One fyllable only goes before the fpondee in this line from the Botanic Garden. The wanjlars glimmering through the filver train. Three iyllables in this verfe from the fame poem. Where now the South-feat heaves its wafle of froft. Again, DR. DARWIN. Again, LoudJJtrieks the lone thrujli from his leaflet's thorn. And, in that laft inftance, the fpondee re- curring twice in one line, harihnefs is the refult. Once ufed only, and the harihnefs had been avoided; thus, And Ihrieks the lone thrufo from the leaflefs thorn. The following is a couplet where the fpondee fucceeding to three monofyllables has an exquisite effect of found echoing fenib. BOTANIC GARDEN. With paler luftre where Aquarius burns, And Ihowers thejtil/fnoiv from his hoary urns. We find another ftriking peculiarity in Dr, Darwin's ftyle, that of invariably pre- fenting l86 MEMOIRS OF fenting a clafs by an imperfonified indivi- dual ; thus, Where, nurs'd in night, incumbent Tempeft (hrouds The feeds of thunder in circumfluent clouds. Again, Where, with chill frown, enormous Alps alarms A thoufand realms horizon'd in his arms. Again, Sailing in air, when dark Monfoon enmrouds His trophic mountains in a night of clouds. Similar inftances crowd the pages of the Botanic Garden. There is extreme fublimity in the whole of that paflage, which converts the monfoon winds into an individual monfter, That fhowers on Afric all his thoufand urns. Dr. Johnfon, Mr. Burke, and Dr. Parr, have the fame habit in their profe ; " Cri- " ticifm pronounces/' inftead of " Critics " pronounce/" R. DARWIN, 187 " pronounce." " Malignance will not " allow," inftead of " Malignant people " will not allow." " Good-nature refufes " to liften," inftead of " a good natured " man refufes to liften," and fo on. This manner of writing, whether in verfe or profe, fweeps from the polilhed marble of poetry and eloquence, a number of the flicks and ftraws of our language ; its articles, conjunctives, and p repetitions. Addifon's ferious Eflays are fo littered with them and with idioms, as to ren- der it ftrange that they fhould ftill be confidered as patterns of didadic oratory. No man of genius, however, adopts their diffufe and feeble ftyle, now that the ftrength, the grace, and harmony of profe - writing, on the dignified examples of our later eflayifts, fenators, and pleaders, give us better examples. Thefe obfervations relate folely to the grave compofitions of the celebrated Atticus. The quiet, eafy, elegant l88 MEMOIRS OF elegant gaiety of his comic papers in the Spectator, remains unrivalled. It has been already obferved in the courfe of this tract, that Dr. Darwin's mufe ranges through nature and art, through hiftory, fable, and recent anecdote, to vary, infpirit> and adorn this her luxuriant work. If fhe imperfonizes' too lavifhly ; if devoted to picture, fhe covers every inch of the walls of her manfion with landfcapes, allegoric groups, and with fmgle figures ; if no in- fterfticial fpace is left to increafe the effect of thefe fplendid forms of the imagination ; yet be it remembered, that it is always in the reader's power to draw each picture from the mafs, and to infulate it by his attention. It will recompenfe by its gran- deur, its beauty, or its terrific grace, the pains he may take to view it in every light, ere he proceeds to examine other objects in the work, which he will find of equal force and fkill in their formation. Dr. DR. DARWIN. 189 Dr. Darwin gives us, in this poem, claffic fables from Homer, Virgil, and Ovid, and fo gives them, places the perfbns of each little drama in fuch new and intereft- ing fituations and attitudes, that he muft indeed be a dull profe-man who lhall ex- claim undelighted, " This is an old ftory." CHAP. MEMOIRS OF DR. DARWIN. igt CHAPTER V. ANALYSIS of the firft part of the Botanic Garden. THE ECONOMY OF VEGETATION. After that landfcape of the fcene which forms the exordium, the Goddefs of Botany defcends in gorgeous gaiety. She comes ! the Goddefs ! thro* tke whifpering air, Bright as the morn., defcends her blulhing car 3 Each circling wheel a wreath of flowers entwines; And gemm'd with flowers the filken harnefs (nines j The golden bits with flowery ftuds are deck'd, And knots of flowers the crimfon reins connect. And now on earth the lilver axle rings, And the fhell finks upon it's flender fprings j Light from her airy feat the Goddefs bounds, And fteps celeftial prefs the panfied grounds. Spring MEMOIRS Spring welcomes her with fragrance and with fbng, and, to receive her commiffions, the four Elements attend. They are alle- gorifed as 'Gnomes, Water-Nymphs, Sylphs, and Nymphs of Fire. Her addrefs to each clafs, and the bufinefs fhe allots to them, form the four Cantos of this firft part of the poem. The Ladies of Ignition receive her pri- mal attention. The picture with which her addrefs commences, is of confummate brilliance and grace ; behold it, reader, and judge if this praife be too glowing ! Nymphs of primeval fire, your veftal train Hung with gold trelTes o'er the vafl inane ; Pierc'd with your filver Ihafts the throne of night, And charm'd young Nature's opening eyes with light, When Love Divine, with brooding wings unfurl'd, Call'd from the rude abyfs the living world. s The Darwinian creation, which enfues, charms us infinitely, even while we recoi- led DR. DARWIN. 193 lecl; its fimpler greatnefs on the page of Mofes, and on its fublime paraphrafe in the [ Paradife Loft. The creation in this poem is aftronomic, and involves the univerfe ; and as fuch is of excellence yet unequalled in its kind, and never to be excelled in the grandeur of its conceptions* Let there be light, proclaim'd th' Almighty Lord, A fionim'd Chaos heard the potent word j Through all his realms the kindling ether runs, And the mafs Harts into a million funs. Earths round each fun, with quick explofion, burll, And fecond planets iffue from the firft $ * JBend, as they journey, with projectile force, Jn bright ellipfis, their reluctant courfe ; Orbs wheel in orbs, round centres centres roll, And form, felf-balanc'd, one revolving whole; Onward they move, amid their bright abode, Space without bound, the bofom of their God. The word of the Creator, by an allufion to theeffeds of a fparkupongunpowder,fetting into inftant and universal blaze the ignited particles in Chaos, till they burft into count- o lefs 194 MEM O1HS OF lefs funs, is an idea fublirne in the firft degree. The fubfequent comments of the God- defs on the powers of the nymphs of fire, introduce lovely pictures of the lightning and the rainbow ; the exterior fky, the twilight, the meteor, and the aurora-bore- alis ; of the planets, the comet, and all the etherial blazes of the univerfe. She next exhibits them as fuperintend- ing the fubterranean and external volcanos. You, from deep cauldrons and unmeafur'd caves, Blow flaming airs, or pour vitrefcent waves) O'er fhining oceans ray volcanic light, Or hurl innocuous embers through the night. She compares them to Venus and her Nymphs, after they had dcfcended to the cave of Vulcan. The claffic fable forms a varied and lively little drama. The God- defs proceeds to remind her hand-maids of their employments ; fays, they lead their glittering DR DAK WIN. 195 glittering bands around the finking day, and when the fun retreats, confine, with folds of air, his lingering fires to the cold bofom of earth. O'er eve's pale forms diffufe phoiphoric light, And deck with lambent flames the (brine of night. Surely there cannot be a more beautiful defcription of a vernal twilight. The phof- phorefcent quality of the Bolognian ftone, Beccari's prifmatic fhells, and the harp of Memnon, which is recorded to have breathed fpontaneous chords when fhone upon by the rifmg fun, are all compared to the twilight glimmerings of the horizon ; fo alfo the luminous infecls, the glow- worm, the fire-flies of the tropics, the fa- bulous ignis fatuus, and the gymnotus elec- tricus, brought to England from Surinam in South America, about the year 1783 ; a fifh, whofe eleclric power is, on provo- cation, mortal to his enemy. He is com- o 2, pared t<j6 MEMOIRS op pared to the Olympic eagle, that bears the lightning in it's talons. Dr. Darwin considers the difcovery of the ufes of fire, as the earlieft and moft important of the artificial comforts. Hence, the Goddefs praifes her nymphs of that element, as the primal inftruclers of favage man. Its dangerous excellence is illuftrated by the fevere beauty of the fer- pent-haired Medufa, as it blazes on the fhield of Minerva. They are next addreffed as the patron- effes of chemiftry ; teaching the ufes of gunpowder, and infpiring Captain Savery with the invention of the fteam- engine. The unpoetical name renders this intro- duction of a real perfbn amidft allegoric beings, unhappy ; efpecially fince no dra- matic circumftance in his deftiny recom- penfes the infelicity. A defcription of that eminently-ufeful machine is given with the DR. DARWIN. 197 the accuracy of a mechanic philofopher, and the dignity of a great poet. A pro- phecy follows, that it's powers will, in fu* tare times, be applied to the purpofes of facilitating land and water carriage, and in navigating balloons. The wonderful effeds of this vaft ma- chine are fuppofed to referable the exploits of Hercules, and feveral of thofe exploits are very finely pictured. All the operations of electricity next pafs in review ; a lovely female receiving the fliock on a waxen elevation ; alfo a circle of young men and women electrified. Their refulting fenfations are described with perfecl truth and elegance*, and the effefts of this difcovery in paralytic cafes nre thus exquifitely mentioned, Palfy's .cold hands the fierce concuffion own, And Life clings trembling on her tottering throne. o 3 Such 198 MEMOIRS OF Such powers in this artful lightning are compared to thofe of the natural; its de- leterious excefs, to the fire of heaven that fcathes the oak ; its milder degree, to the fairy rings, which the poet believes to have been imprinted by the flalhes of the thun- der {term darting on the grafs and. circu- larly blighting it. The difaftrous fate of profeflbr Richman, at Peterfburgh, purfuing electric expert ment with fatal temerity, rifes to the eye, and makes the reader a fhuddering fpec- tator of its progrefs and refult. Dr. Franklin, with his preferving rods, is compared to the celebrated Florentine gem, Cupid fnatching the lightnings from Jupiter, which the poet confiders as a noble allegory, representing Divine Juftice difarmed by Divine Love. The poetic fcene, from the Gem, is one of the fweeteft little dramas of this poem ; fo fweet, there is DR. DARWINV is no refilling the temptation of here exhi- biting it to thofe to whom the work itfelf may not inftantly be acceffible. Thus when, on wanton wing, intrepid Love Snatch'd the rais'd lightning from the arm of Jove, Quick o'er his knee the triple bolt he bent, The clufter'd darts and forky arrows rent j Snapp'd, with illumin'd hands, each flaming ftiaft, His tingling fingers (hook, and ftamp'd, and langh'd. Bright o'er the floor the fcatter'd fragments blaz'd, And Gods, retreating, trembled as they gaz'd. Th' immortal Sire, indulgent to his child, Bow'd his ambrofial locks, and Heav'n relenting, fmil'd. Of the great fuperiority of poetic to actual piclure, this paflage is one of the countlefs proofs, perceived by every reader who has power to meet the ideas of the Bard. Suppofe the fubjecT: of this little fable to be engraven, or painted with the utmoft excellence, yet the exquifitely natu- ral action of the infant god fhaking his fingers, and laughing and ftamping, from that degree of pain experienced on flightly o 4 touching 2CO MEMOIRS OF / touching an ignited fubftance ; the feat- tering over the floor the broken darts and arrows of the lightning ; the alarmed dei- ties retreating, and the indulgent nod and increasing fmile of Jupiter, are all progref- five circumftances which genius may paint on the imagination, but not on the canvafs. The Goddefs next adverts to the influ- ence of her nymphs on animat circulation, from the theory of the phofphoric acid colouring and warming the blood, and hence becoming an indifpenfable ingredient in vital formation From the crovvn'd forehead to the proftrate weed c This theory is illuftrated by the noble fable of Eros, or Divine Love, ifluing from the great egg of night,, floating in chaos ; but furely the image of this celeftial love is too gay for the fublimity of its birth ; " gaudy wings, foft fmiles, golden curls, and DR. DARWIN, 2OI " and filver darts," might fuit the cyprian but not the hieroglyphic Cupid. - Higher far And with myfterious reverence we deen. Her Nymphs thus eulogized, The Goddefs paus'd, admir'd, with confclous pride, Th' effulgent legions marlhall'd by her fide, Forms ipher'd in fire, with trembling light array d, JEns- without weight^ and fubftance without ftade, It may be obferved of the two laft lines that the imagination, which could with fuch appropriate and novel beauty inveft its ideal perfonages, cannot be too highly appreciated, and we might as well difdain the fun for often dazzling us with excefs of fplendor, as to fuffer the occafional re- dundance of ornament in this extraordinary work, to make us cold and infenfible to it's original, bold, and, in their clafs, peerlefs excellences, \ The 232 MEMOIRS OF The ufe of words entirely Latin has been objected to this poem, as ens for life, in the laft verfe of the above quotation. Nieenefs of ear probably induced its tub- ftitution, and that from the proximity of the word light in the preceding line, which would have been of too iimilar found to life, had life been uied inftead cf it's Latin iynonifm, ens. The Botanic Queen now proceeds to appoint the nymphs of fire their taiks. She bids them awaken the weft wind, chafe his -wan cheeks, and wring the rain-drops from his hair; bids them blaze around the frofted rills, and ftagnant waters, and charm the Naiad from her filent cave, where me fits enfhrined in ice, clafping her empty urns. She is compared to Niobe. Our Poet feems to have forgotten him- felf in thus throwing the year back into the fkirts of winter ; fince, in opening this Canto, DR, DARWIN. 20J Canto, he had defer! bed the iprirg in all her glory, \vhen the Botanic " Queen de- fcended, and the imperfomzed elements received her. The nymphs are alfo commanded to affail the fiend of froft; to break his white towers and cryftal mail ; to drive him to Zembla, and chain him to the northern bear. A fimile enfues, in which the gram- pus, and the fcene of the whale fifhery, in all the ftrength of poetic colouring, meets the attention of the reader, Suppofed influence of the principle of internal heat in vegetation induces a com- mand to thefe its agents to pour electric torrents from the deep waftes of earth, which may pierce the root, relax the fibres, and thaw the fap of plants, flowers, and trees. The ailerted confequence of their obedience to this command produces a noble fketch of the umbrageous wilds of Canada, 204 M E A J O I R S O F Canada. Their operations are oddly com- pared to the effects 'of the fympathetie inks, and of a picture drawn in them ; and a receipt to make them is given in a note. The nymphs are now exhorted to quit the fummer-regions when the dog-ftar ihall prefide in them. It's often blighting influence on the fruits of the earth is illuf- trated by an alluiion to the fate of Semele. Then rifes an iceland fcene, and an aftro- nomic perfonification. Look at it, cour- teous reader, and if with eyes of Indiffer- ence, arraign the power of prejudice in thy mind, or fufpecl: thy want of tafte for the higher orders of poetry. There, in her azure coif, and ftarry flol^, Grey Twilight fits, and rules the {lumbering Polrj Bends the pale moon-bearrr round the fparkling co:Ui And ftrews with livid hands eternal froft. An agency of the ignited particles in creation, that of feparating the ice-iflands, fancifully induces a commahd from the Goddcf^ Dft. DARWIN. 2C Goddefs, that her nymphs Ihould float their broken mafles of ice to the torrid climates, It is adorned with the fcripture incident, Elijah, on mount Carmel, invoking ^fire from heaven, and the incident is given with all the Darwinian power. This Canto terminates with the obedi- ence of the nymphs, and a iimile for their departure. They ftart from the foil, and wing their duteous flight, While vaulted ikies, with ft reams of tranlient rays, Shine as they pals, and earth and ocean blaze. A comparative description of the fire- works exhibited in great cities for the re- turn of peace and liberty, after the cruel oppreffions of war, is of the moft accurate precifion ; but it is faulty as a iimile, from it's extreme inferiority to the imaginary objects which it is meant to illuftrate. The nymphs of fire, flying on their appointed errands., in every direction, illuminating, with 2O6 MEMOIRS Of with evanefcent flafhes, the whole horizon, the fea, and the land, is fo grand an idea, that the wheels, the dragons, the ferpents, the mock ftars, and funs, of that ever childifh exhibition, become ludicrous, as fucceeding to a picture of fuch gay fub- limity ; for fublimity is not always confined to fombre obje&s. Proofs that it is not, are found in the Paradife Loft. When Adam obferves to Eve, on the approach of the angel Michael, that the glorious fhape feerns another morning rifen oil mid- noon, the idea is no lefs fublime than it is gay. This apprehended injudicioufnefs of the fire- work fimile fuggefts the remark, that a few fuch erratic luxuriances of a pic- turefque fancy, together with the peculiar conftruclion of the Darwinian verfe, and it's lavifh perfonification, enabled an highly ingenious fatirift to burlefque the Loves of the Plants, by the Loves of the Triangles. Eminently fortunate for it's purpofe was the DR. DARVV IN. the thought of transforming cubes, and cones, and cylinders, and other technical terms of mathematic and mechanic fcience, into nymphs and fwains, enamoured of each other. The verfe of this ironical poem is not only Darwinian, but it is beautifully Darwinian. The very flightly allufive power of feveral of the fimilies in the Botanic Garden, is ridiculed with, in- finite fubtlenefs and wit ; while the little ftories in this hurlefque, fo comic in their fcantinefs of refemblance, are very elegantly told. That brilliant fatire amply refutes Lord Shaftefbury's fyftem, that ridicule is the teft of truth, and that it is impoffible to ridicule with eftecl what is intrinfically excellent. The warmeft admirers of Dr. Darwin's fplendid poem, and of the inge- nious theories and ftated experiments of the notes, muft yet be amufed with fuch grotefque imitation of each ; juft as they are 08 MEMOIRS OF are diverted with the burlefque, in the Critic, of the death of Hotfpur, and of Eve's beautiful proteft to Adam* Sweet is the breath of morn, &c. On the fubjecl of this fatire, Dr. Dar- win wanted prefence of mind. Inftead of pretending, as he did, never to have feen or heard of the Loves of the Triangles, when queftioned on the fubject, he mould volun* tarily have mentioned that fatire every where, and praifed it's wit and ingenuity, He ought to have triumphed in a juft con- fcioufnefs, that his poem could lofe none of it's charms with the few, whofe praife is fame, by the artful refemblance of this falfe Florimel ; fecure that it's mock graces, brilliant as they are, would foon melt away, like the Nymph of Snow in the Fairie Queen, while the genuine charms of his rnufe muil endure fo long as the Englifh language DR. DARWIN. 2O9 language lhall exift ; nay, fliouldthat perifh, Tranflation would preferve the Botanic Garden as one of ks gems ; if not in ori- ginal brightnefs, would at leaft retain all that hoft of beauties which do not depend upon the perhaps intransfufable felicities of verbal expreffion. The lavifh magnifi- cence of the imagery in this work, Genius alone, bold, original, creative, and fertile in the extreme, could have produced. It's profufion may cloy the faftidious, it's /pleridor may dazzle the poetically weak of fight ; but ftill it is the refult of that power, which Shakefpear chara&erifes when he fays, The Poet's eye, in a fine phrenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven, And as Imagination bodies forth The form of things unknown, the Poet's pen Turns them to lhape, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation, and a name. P SECOND 2IO MEMOIRS OF SECOND CANTO Opens with the charge of the Botanic Queen to her Gnomes, who are here re- ftored to that benevolent character allotted to them by Roficrufms, and which, to fuit his purpofe, Pope rendered malignant, in the Rape of the Lock. She addrefles them as miniftrant fpirits to fubterranean vege- tation, and fpectators of all the aftrono- mic and terraqueous wonders of creation ; of the Sun exploding our planet, the Earth, from his crater. Except to introduce an extremely fine defcription of the fun's figns in the zodiac, it would be difficult to guefs why the Gnomes fliould be fuppofed to have pur- fued the flying fphere, and encircled the year's flarry girdle. Thoie fliould feem employments better fuited to the allotted nature of the Nymphs of Ignition, or at Icaft of the Sylphs, than of thefe their fubter- DR. DARWIN. 211 iubterranean fitters. The epithet ardent, " your ardent troops," is a feldom-found inftance of inaccuracy in this poem, cor- rected and polifhed with fuch elaborate care ; eager, active, any thing rather than an adjective metaphorically taken from fire, the affigned element of the nymphs recently difmifled. Next rifes the golden age, and Earth is invefted with Edenic privileges and ex- emptions. We are told, in a note, that there is an ancient gem, reprefenting Venus rifing out of the fea, fupported by two Tritons ; that the allegory was originally an hieroglyphic pi&ure, before letters were invented, defcriptive of the formation of the earth from the ocean. The poet takes this opportunity of prefenting to his readers the moft beautiful portrait of Venus, firft emerging from her parent deep, that has been given by any Bard, ancient or modern ; and it's features are unborrowed as they p 2, are 212 MEMOIRS OF are peerles. She has about her the trace* of the humid element, from which flic rifes, and they increafe her general lovcli- nefs and grace ; wringing, with rofy fingers, her golden trefles, as they hang uncurled around her fair brows, while bright drops of water roll from her lifted arms, wander round her neck, ftand in pearls upon her polifhed fhoulders and back, and ftar with glittering brine her whole lucid form. Thus the Darwinian Venus, O'er the fmooth furge, on filver fandals flood, And look'd enchantment on the dazzled flood. The firft terreftrial volcano is next de- fcribed ; an earthquake of incalculable magnitude, producing continents and iflands on the before united and level earth, with feparating oceans rolling between them. The birth of the Moon is now reprefented as thrown from the Earth near the DR. DARWIN. 213 the fouth-pole, in confequence of this primal convulfion, by the explofion of water, or other vapors of greater power. The lunar birth is thus beautifully prefent- ed to the eye, When rofe the continents, and funk the main, And Earth's huge fphere, exploding, burft in twain, Gnomes, how you gaz'd, when from her wounded fide, Where now the South-fea rails its wafte of tide, Rofe, on fwift wheels, the Moon's refulgent car, Circling the folar orb, a lifter ftar -, Dimpled with vales, with fhining hills embofs'd, And roird round Earth her airlefs realms of froft. The difficulty of introducing theii charming images any other way than by reminding the Gnomes of what they are fuppofed to have feen, gives us, in this ad- drefs, the noun perfonal in apoftrophe, with a frequency which, far from being graceful, becomes almoft ludicrous ; as, " Gnomes, " how you gaz'd ! &c." " Gnomes, " how you fhriek'd !" " Gnomes p 3 <f how 214 MEMOIRS OF " how you trembled !" but infinite is the poetic fancy with which the hypo- thefis is maintained, of the earth being ftruck from the crater of the fun, and the moon from the firft terreftrial volcano. The Goddefs now reminds her fubter- ranean hand-maids of their affiftance in having formed into marble and other petri- fic fubftances, the diflblving fhells which covered the prominent parts of the earth, thrown up from her ocean in that firft convulfion, by fub- marine fires. Sculpture is here introduced, and poetic cafts of the famous ancient ftatues, the Hercules, An- tinous, Apollo, and Venus, rife from the page, Roubilliac, unqueftionably the firft ftatuary of the modern world, is praifed with enthufiafm ; and Mrs. Darner, the ingenious miftrefs of the chifel, with delight. To the Gnomes is next imputed the power of extra&ing the faline particles from DR. DARWIN. 215 from different kinds of earths; from prof- trate woods, and from morafles ; and this introduces the defcription of a town in the immenfe falt-mines of Poland. Witb his peculiar ingenuity, this Bard of Fancy ihows us the faline city ; and that, and the ftatue fuppofed to be Lot's wife, the river and temple, gleam and fparkle on the imagi- nation of every reader who has imagination. To thofe who have it not, the magnificent pageantries of this poem will pafs unreflecT;- ed, unimpreffive, And, like the bafelefs fabric of a vifion, Leave not a wreck behind. Perfonification is furely carried too far l^hen, in the next paffage, azotic gas is made the love of the virgin air, and fird transformed into a jealous rival, indignant of the treacherous courtfliip. The trio arc compared to Mars, Venus, and Vulcan, : and the Homeric tale, of the enmefhed- P 4 ' pair, 2l6 MEMOIRS OF pair, is told again. The mechanifm of the net; the ftruggles of the guilty goddefs to efcape; her impatient exhortations to her nymphs, to difunite the links of the iron net- work; her efforts to conceal her beau- ties from the furrounding deities, have all that truth to nature with which criticifm has juftly obferved, Shake/pear draws the manners of his imaginary beings. With much more of that appropriate verity has Darwin told this ftory than Homer, and not more voluptuoufly. This is the only paflage in the Botanic Garden which can juftly be taxed with voluptuoufnefs, and with Homer its author mares the cenfure. Homer, whofe morality has been fo loudly, but fo partially applauded, fince his deities are all either libertine or unjuft ; and of his heroes, only one is in himfelf a virtu- ous man, and he defends the caufe of his guilty brother, and does not once urge the reiteration of the ftolen wife to her in- jured DR. DARWIN. 217 jured hufband, an atonement not only in itfelf due, but which muft have raifed the fiege, faved the city, and fpared immenfe effufion of human blood. The ftory, if really founded on hiftoric circumftances, might not have authorifed the reftoration of Helen, but it was in the poet's power to have made Hector urge it. If the Homeric fable of Mars and Venus, in Vulcan's net, repeated by Darwin with new circumftances, more pifturefque, not more indelicate, forms one fomewhat li- centious paffage in the Botanic Garden, the Iliad contains feveral which are equally- voluptuous, even after Pope has chaftened them. As to the amours of the Plants and Flowers, it is a burlefque upon morality to make them refponfible at its tribunal. The floral harems do not form an imagi- nary but a real fyftem, which philofophy has difcovered, and with which poetry fports. The impurity is in the imagination of 2l8 MEMOIRS OF of the reader, not on the pages of the poet, when the Botanic Garden is considered on the whole, as an immodeft competition. From the net of Vulcan, and the lovers it entangles, the Poet leads us to his forge, after the mention of iron, as produced by the decompofition of vegetable bodies. To perceive the ftrength and truth of the Forge-picture, no power of imagination, on the part of the reader, is neceflary ; memory is iufficient. Who has not feen a blackfmith's mop, and heard its din ? Here it blazes and refounds on the page. The formation of magnetic bars enfues. Though the power of the magnet has been known and applied to ufe from very early times, yet the Poet imputes thefe artificial magnets to their laft improver, the per- fonal friend of his youth, Mr. Michel], mentioned early in thefe memoirs. Of Mr. Michell's procefs in this improvement Dr. Darwin has formed another poetic defcription, DR. DARWIN. 219 defcription, fo diftincT: that the operation may be performed from perufing it atten- tively. And now we meet an animated apof- trophe to Steel, praifmg its ufe in navigation, agriculture, and war. This applaufive addrefs is one of the grandeft in the poem, where fo many are grand. What has poetry more noble than thefe firft fix lines of that eulogium ? Hail adamantine Steel ! magnetic Lord, King of the prow, the ploughfhare, and the fword ! True to the pole, by thee the pilot guides His fteady courfe amid the ftruggling tides ! Braves, with broad fail, th' immeafurable fea, Cleaves the dark air, and afks no flar but thec! A defcription of Gems lucceeds to that apoftrophe, as a work of the Gnomes, by whom, from marine acids mixed with the fhells of marine animals, and of calcareous, and argillaceous earths, they are here flip- pofed 22&' MEMOIRS OF pofed to be, from time to time, produced. Thcfe natural transformations are com- paratively illuftrated by thofe of Ovidian fable ; and Proteus-gallantries are retold even more beautifully than Ovid has told them, particularly the flory of Europa. It is here, beyond all poffible tranfcendence, exquifite, and it clofes with a ipirited com- pliment to the natives of Europe. Returning to the fubjecT:, the Goddefs reminds her Gnomes of having feen the fubterranean volcanos forming the various fpecies of clay ; from the porcelain of China, and of ancient Etruria, to thofe ufed in the beautiful productions of its modern namefake, brought to fo much perfection by the late Mr. Wedgewood. The mechanifm of the porcelain of China, with its ungraceful forms and gaudy orna- ments, rifes on the page. The fuperiority, in the two laft circumftances, of our Eng- lifh Etruria, is aflerted, as producing " un- " copied t>R. DARWIN. 421 " copied beauty and ideal grace ;" and its mechanifm is alfo given, but in terms fo technical as to fpoil the harmony of the verfe in that paflage. Satire has caught hold of the feldom harfhnefs, triumphantly difplaying it in the Loves of the Triangles* Mr. Wedgewood is addrefled as at once the friend of Art and Virtue. His me- dallion of the Negro-flave in chains, im- ploring mercy, is mentioned as reproach- ing our great national fin againft juftice and mercy, fo long refilling the admo- nitions of Benevolence and Piety, in tho fenate ; alfo another medallion of Hope, attended by Peace, and Art, and Labour, " It was made of clay from Botany Bay, " and many of them were fent thither, to " fliow the inhabitants what their materials " would do, and to encourage their in- *' duftry." The emblematic figures on the Portland Vafe, fo finely imitated in our new Etruria, next appear in all the charms of MEMOIRS OF of poetry, while the truth of their ingeni- ous conftruclion is fupported in the notes with wonderful learning and precifion, fo as to leave no doubt on the unprejudiced mind, that the Bard of Linneus has ex- plained their real defign. This addrefs to Mr. Wedge wood clofes with the aflerted immortality of his productions. Coal, Jet, and Amber, are next imperfon- ized, an individual for the fpecies. The latter is placed on his " electric throne," as a material, the natural properties of which were the fource of the difcoveries in el e <Sri city, and from which the name of that branch of modern fcience is derived, electron being the Greek word for amber. Led by its phofphoric light, Dr. Franklin comes forward in the. aft of difarming the lightning of its dire effects, by his electrical rods. His influence in procuring the free- dom of America is applauded with much poetic imagery. The Ihort-lived freedom of DR. DARWIN. . 223 of Ireland, in her acquirement of felf-legif- lation, is allegorized by " the warrior Li- " berty, helming his cqurfe to her fhores." Another bold figure of Liberty fucceeds, prefented as a giant form, flumbering with- in the iron cage and marble walls of the French Baftile, unconfcious of his chains, till, touched by the patriot flame, he rends his flimly bonds, lifts his coloffal form, and rears his hundred arms over his foes ; calls to the good and brave of every country, with voice that echoes like the thunder of heaven, to the polar extremities ; Gives to the winds his banner broad unfurl'd, And gathers in its fhade the living world ! This lublime fally of a tco-confidig imagination has made the poet and his work countlefs foes. They triumph ovef him on a refult fo contrary ; on the mortal wounds given by French crimes to real liberty. They forget, or choofe to forget, that MEMOIRS OF that this part of the poem (though pub- lifhed after the other) appeared in 1791, antecedent to the dire regicide, and to all thofe unprecedented fcenes of fanguinary cruelty inflicled on France by three of her republican tyrants, compared to whom the moft remorfelefs of her monarchs was mild and merciful. The Botanic Queen now reminds her Gnomes of the means they had ufed to produce metallic fubftances ; and, from the mention of filver and gold, me ftarts into a fpirited and noble exclamation over the cruelties committed by catholic fuperfti- tion, in the Eaft and Weft Indies ; and from them me turns, with equal indigna- tion, to the Slave Trade, that plague-fpot on the reputation of our national huma- nity ! that crying fin in the practice of our national religion! Greatly is it to the honor of our Englim poets, within the laft twenty years, that, w 7 ith very few exceptions, the 2 ' beft DR. DARWIN. 225 beft and moft highly-gifted of them have fought their way to fame beneath the ban- ners of Freedom and Mercy, whofe eternal nature no national or individual abufe, no hypocritical affumption, can change. Thefe inftances of unchriftian barbarity lead to the ftory of the cruel and impious Cambyfeson his march tofubdue Ethiopia, after having deftroyed the temples and de- vafted the country of Thebes, and mafTa- cred its inhabitants. The fate of that army is defcribed which he fent to plunder the temple of Jupiter, and which perifhed in the defert overwhelmed by fand. The Gnomes are confidered as minifters of that juft vengeance, and of the famine by which it was preceded ; and this, by withholding the dews, and blafting vegetation, and by fummoning the whirlwinds which caufe the fatal rife of the fand-tornados. The iucceffive horrors that overtook this army are depided W 7 ith the higheft intereft and Q grandeur, 226 MEMOIRS OF grandeur. They rife in climax till the final overwhelming is thus brought to the fhuddering imagination of the reader. awhile the living hill Heav'd with con vul five throes, and all was ftill ! language has nothing of more genuine fublimity. Turning from this dread tragedy, the Botanic Queen aflumes a livelier ftrain, and compares her little minifters to the planets in an orrery. That beautiful ma- chine is defcribed with it's fairy-mimicry of the ftellar evolutions. She exhorts her nymphs to the practice of feveral benevo- lent operations, guarding againft the mif- chiefs of elementary excefs. Hannibal's renowned march over the Alps, againft tyrannic Rome, and the fuppofed means by which Ke facilitated his progrefs, are held up to their imitation. To this fuc- ceeds an exhortation to feed the embryons, and DR. DARWIN. 227 and forward the parturition of trees, plants, and flowers. For thofe offices a medical fimile occurs, and afterwards a fcripture ftory is told, Peter releafed from prifon by an angel, and to that angel the illuftri- oufly benevolent Howard is compared. Imputed affiftance, on the. part of thefc fubterranean nymphs, in the chemical decompofition of animal and vegetable fubftances, introduces the ancient fable of the flaughtered, buried, and affurgent Adonis. His ftory is told with not lefs added poetic excellence than, with accef- fion of perfonal beauty, he is faid to have arifen from the dark manfions of Profer- pine, and to have returned to Venus. Dr. Darwin's reafons, given in the note to this paflage, for rejecting former interpretations of that allegory, are convincing ; and his fubftituted folution is not only highly in- genious, but deeply philofophic ; and good ienfe fanclions the conjecture. Q 2, This 22$ MEMOIRS OF This fable clofes the addrefs of the Goddefs to her Gnomes. Their elfin flight on their appointed errands, is defcribed with playful elegance, and compared to the fucceffive fhadows that pafs over a funny vale beneath the light clouds. With that comparifon the fecond Canto termi- nates. If the Gnomes make their exit with lefs poetic fplendor than their prede- ceflbrs, it muft be confidered that the Nymphs of Fire are perfonages of more mtrinfic dignity. THE THIRD CANTO Opens with a charge to the Water Nymphs, and we are told that the Goddefs gives it in tones fo fweet and fbnorous as to fliake the wrinkling fountains, curl the deep wells, rimple the lakes, and thrill the rivers* The three firft words felefted to exprefs the different kind of aclual vibration on the fountains, DR. DARWIN. 229 fountains, wells, and lakes, are inftances of that nice difcrimination which imparts fo much vitality to verfe, and gives back to the reader his faded recollection of the ob- jeCts of nature in their comparative dif- tinftions. Though he may have viewed them often with unexamining eyes, yet no fooner do they arife before him on the poetic page than he recognifes their truth with the thrill of delight ; for who that looks into the records of the Mufes, how- ever infenfible to the creations of Fancy, can view without pleafure the faithfully reflefled image of nature in the fubtle variety of her lineaments. Thick as the dews which deck the morning flowers* ' Or rain-drops twinkling in the fun-bright fhowers, Fair nymphs, emerging in pellucid bands, Rife, as me turns, and whiten all the lands. Their miftrefs tells them alfo, how much flue is confcious of their power and ufe, in the formation, fuftenance, and protection of Q3 MEMOIRS OF the vegetable world. In the exordium of this charge we meet a couplet rivalling in pifturefque beauty the lines in Collins' charming, though rhymelefs Ode to Even- ing, when he tells the grey-ftoled per- fonage, that, from his hut on the mountain fide, he loves to contemplate, in a fliowery twilight, The hamlets brown, and dim-difcover'd fpires, And hear their limple bells, and mark o'er all Her dewy fingers draw The gradual, dufky veil. The Botanic Queen fays to her aqueous mmiftry in thefe rival lines, Your lucid hands condenfe, with fingers chill, The blue mift hovering round the gelid hill. This charge has one harm line ; thus, And as below fhe braids her hyaline hair. The employment gentle, the attitude graceful, that harfhnefs of meafure which is BR. DARWIN. 231 is often fkilful when ufed to exprefs violent exertion, is here cenfurable. Thefe new vicegerents are praifed as feeding the harveft, filling the wide-ribbed arch with hurrying torrents, to affift the operation of the mill and the progrefs of the barge, and leading the refluent water to it's parent main. Thefe operations on the water induce a fimile for the progref- five and returning courfe of the blood. The purpureal tint it gives to the fair com- plexion of youthful beauty ; the warm glow to her hair, the laugh of health to her lip, and it's lightning to her eyes, form a lovely piclure in this fimile ; and it clofes with a medical obfervation in a fine poetic figure. Juft difcernment will not ceafe to ad- mire the facile fuccefs and artful grace with which this Poet fubdues the difficulty of rendering all forts of fcience fubfervient to the purpofes of high heroic verfe ; or to obferve how feldom even the moft Q 4 technical 232 MEMOIRS OF technical terms diminifh the harmony of his meafure, or the elegance of his imagery. Mighty fvvay is attributed to the aque- ous ladies over thofe realms of fcale and fhell, which are covered by the fea ; and they are coniidered as architects of the pearly palaces of the fifli. The modern experiment of fmoothing rough waves with oil, is coniidered as their fuggeftion ; alfo various fub- marine and benevolent in- fluences. To them the birth of rivers, from the Alpine fnows. The Danube, the Rhine, and the Tiber, are mentioned ; the laft as flowing through his degenerate realms with diminifhed waters. The fea- tures of that degeneracy are marked ; the race of patriots, heros, and legillators, long iince become fingers, dancers, and monks ; and the paffage concludes with this fublime picture of the prefent ftate of that long- yenowned river : Parts with chill ftream, the dim religious bower, Time- mouldered baftion, and difmantled tower 5 By an. DARWIN^ By alter'd fanes, and namelefs villas glides, And claflic domes, that tremble on his fides 5 Sighs o'er each broken urn and yawning tomb, And mourns the fall of Liberty and Rome. Rivers being the iubjecT:, the Nile and it's annual overflow, gives rile to grand allegoric imagery, and to nobly-imagined fcenes. That overflow is afcribed to the monfoon winds, which deluge Nubia and Abyflinia with rain. Sailing in air, when dark Monfoon enmrouds His tropic mountains in a night of clouds 5 Or, drawn by whirlwinds, from the Line returns, And fhowers on Afric all his thoufand urns j High o'er his head the beams of Sirius glow, And, dog of Nile, Anubis, barks below. Nymphs, you from cliff to cliff attendant guide, In headlong cataracts, the impetuous tide ; Or lead o'er waftes of Abyffmian fands The bright expanfe to Egypt's iliowerlefs lands. Her towns, her temples, and fultry plains are contrafted with a fublime description of Hecla and his burning mountain. It's column of boiling water is transformed into a ma- 2J4- MEMOIRS OP a malignant Sorcerefs, whofe baleful fpells had been broken by the power of thefe benevolent Naiads. The hypothecs, that warm falubrious fprings are produced by fteam arifing from water falling on fubterranean fires, and that this fteam is condenfed between the ftrata of incumbent mountains, and col- lected into fprings, occafions a fportive addrefs to Buxton. It is fucceeded by an elegant compliment to the Duchefs of Devonfhire, leading a train of Graces from Chatfworth to that tepid fountain. From the epithet fairy given to legions, we fhould fuppofe thefe Graces a part of the machinery of the Poet ; but, as the paflage proceeds, it defcribes beautiful young women bath- ing with fuch exquifite precifion, that the fcene of action coniidered, it becomes im- poffible to contemplate them as ideal per- fonages, efpecially as the laft couplet is utterly at war with aerial fubftance ; thus, Round DR. DARWIN. 235 Round each fair Nymph her dropping mantle clings, And Loves emerging (hake their fhowery wings. The Loves, which are indifputably ma- chinery, confufe the picture, if the Nymphs alfo are of that fpecies. The expreffion, fairy legions, is to be regretted ; it renders the lively and lovely defcription ame- nable to Dr. Johnfon's cenfure of a pafTage in one of our poets, " that it is metaphoric " in one point of view, and literal in (< another." The Duke of Devonlhire's public fpirit and architectural tafte, next become the theme, and they involve a charming pic- ture of the Crefcent, that gem of Grecian art in Britain ; and of the new plantations which furround it. Derbyfhire ftone has an amber tint, and hence the Buxton Qrefcent rifes a golden palace in the defert. The Goddefs next congratulates her Water Nymphs on having celebrated the odd 236 MEMOIRS OP odd nuptials of pure Air and inflammable Gas. We had heard of their courtihip earlier in the poem. That courtfhip, and this their marriage, forms one of the wild- eft extravagances of the work ; but the Homeric fable, which illuftrates the airy bride and groom, is charming in the firft degree. Juno, attired by Venus, to cap- tivate Jove. With the moft luxuriant fancy, and with new circumftances, this little drama rifes again on the Darwinian page. It will not lofe, but gain in a juft eftimation of poetic merit, by comparifon with the tranilations, by Cowper and Pope, of this celebrated part of the Greek Poet's machinery. Let them be compared, and firft Cowper's literal tranilation, firft edition. Firft, (he lav'd all o'er Her beauteous body with ambrofial lymph; Then polifh'd it with richeft oil divine, Of boundlefs fragrance. Oil, that in the courts Eternal only fhaken through the ikies Breath'4 DR. DARWIN. 237 Breath'd odours, and through all the diftant earth *. Her whole fair body with thefe fweets bedew'd, She pafs'd the comb through her ambrofial hair, And braided her light locks ftreaming profufe From her immortal brows ; with golden fluds She made her gorgeous mantle fail before j Etherial texture, labour of the hands Of Pallas, beautified with various arts, And brac'd it with a zone, fring'd all around An hundred fold j her pendants, triple gemm'd, Luminous, graceful in her ears me hung f- . And covering all her glories with a veil Sun-bright, new woven, bound to her fair feet Her fandals elegant. Thus full attir d In all her ornaments, me iflued forth, And beck'ning Venus from the other powejfll Of Heav'n apart, the Goddefs thus befpake. Pope's tranflation of the fame pafTage. Here firft me bathes, and round her body pours Soft oils of fragrance, and ambrofial mowers. The winds perfum'd, the balmy gale convey Through heav'n, through earth, and all th' aerial way, Spirit divine I whofe exhalation greets The fenfe of Gods with more than mortal fweets. Obfcure and very awkward expreffion. f Moil unpoetic. MEMOIRS OF Thus, while (he breath'd of heav'n, with decent pride Her artful hands the radiant treffes tied ; Part o'er her head in (Inning ringlets roll'd, Part o'er her (houlders wav'd like melted gold 5 Around her neck a heavenly mantle flow'd That rich with Pallas' labour'd colours glow'd ; Large clafps of gold the foldings gather'd round $ A golden zone her fwelling bofom hound ; Far-beaming pendants tremble in her car, Each gem illumin'd with a triple (tar; Then o'er her head (he cafts a veil more white Than new fall'n fnow, and dazzling as the light} Laft, her fair feet celeftial fan dais grace. Thus ifluing radiant, with majeftic pace, Forth from the dome th 1 imperial Goddefs moves, And calls the mother of the Smiles and Loves. Pope has mown better tafte in female drefs than his mafter. A zone with an hundred folds of fringe upon it, mud be a very heavy and inelegant ornament. The zone of plain gold, fubftituted by the rhyme tranflator, is grander and more graceful as well as more fimple. Darwin, who gives this fable after his own manner, tells us, that Venus not only lent DR. DARWIN. 239 lent the ceftus, but attired the Goddefs herfelf ; and paffing over the claffic cere- mony of the bath, and the operation of the oils, which perhaps he thought too Hotten- totifli, he defcribes more concifely, yet not lefs brilliantly, this magnificent labour of the toilette; thus, So, rob'd by Beauty's Queen, with fofter charms, Saturn! a woo'd the Thunderer to her arms j O'er her fair limbs a veil of light (he fpread, And bound a ftarry diadem on her head j Long braids of pearls her golden trefles grac'd, And the charm'd ceftus fparkled round her waift. The ceftus is here a vifible and brilliant ornament, inftead of being, as Homer af- terwards tells us, hid in Juno's bofbm. Pope, in a note to this paffage, obferves, that, by this difpofal, the Poet meant to convey an idea of the matron-like modefty of Juno, who conceals what is to render her engaging ; while Venus, wearing the ceftus in open fight, oftentatioufly difplays the means by which me captivates : but 7 this MEMOIRS OF this fort of lefler morality belonged not to the times in which Homer lived ; nei- ther is peculiar delicacy at all characleriftic of the Juno he has drawn. His more probable reafon for making her hide this ornamental fpell, was the danger that Jupi- ter, if he faw the borrowed zone, fo often feen on the perfon of his daughter, would know it, and, confcious of it's power to excite paffion, would have been aware of the defign of his wife, and either not al- lowed of the interview, or difarmed the- girdle of it's magic. Supreme wifdom muft have foiled difcavercd art. Neither of thefe fuppofitions occurred to Dr. Darwin, or perhaps his Juno alfo had hidden her gay talifman. Homer exprefsly fays, Juno did not take her chariot on this conjugal vifit; but Dar- win allots her that mode of conveyance, and the change enabled him to affign to the Emprefs of Heaven her due pomp and {lately DR DARWIN. 241 {lately retinue. Upon this imperial and celeftial equipage the modern poet has laviflied all the fplendorsof his imagination. Cupid is the charioteer, and Zephyr flies before, fhowcring rofes from his wings ; Naiads and Dryads, Fawns and Wood-Boys are in the train. The reader is empowered, by diftinctnefs of poetic dcfcription, to pur- fue the chariot with his eye, as it afcends . the fteeps of Ida, now loft in it's thick woods, now in full blaze, winding around it's rocks. But furely there is an error of judgment in making Cupid w r ing an arrow to the breaft of Jove, as the retinue approaches, fince that mode of awakening the paffions of Jupiter for his queen, renders the charm- ed ceftus a fuperfluous gift. And again, this gay car is reprefented as drawn by doves ; from- which it fhould feem that Venus had lent her equipage, as well as her girdle, on that occafion. R The 242 MEMOIRS OF The addrefs of the God to his Goddefi is incomparably more elegant in the verfe of Darwin than in the tranflation of Cow- per, or even of Pope. Thus fays Cowper, \vith all that cramp literality which hob- bles through his verfion. Soon he accofted her, and thus inquir'd : " Juno, what region feeking, haft thou left " Th' Olympian fummit, and haft here arriv'd " With neither fteeds nor chariot in thy train ?" POPE. Fix'd on her eyes he fed his eager look, Then prefs'd her hand, and thus tranfported fpoke : " Why comes my Goddefs from th' etherial Iky, " And not her fteeds, and flaming chariot nigh ?*" DARWIN. Pierc d on his throne, the darting Thund'rer turns. Melts with foft fighs, with kindling rapture burns j Clafps her fair hand, and eyes, in fond amaze, The bright Intruder with enamour'd gaze ; " And leaves my Goddefs, like a blooming bride, " The fanes of Argos, for the rocks of Ide j M Her gorgeous palaces, and amaranth bos^crs, " For clirT-top'd mountains, and aerial towers ?" 3 But 1>R. DARWIN. But to refume the Botanic Goddefs and her enumeration of the interefting employ- ments of her third clafs of Nymphs ; their difpofal of all thofe bright waters which make Britain irriguous, verdant, and fertile. We find this beautiful couplet in the courfe of the paflage : You, with nice ear, in tiptoe trains pervade Dim walks of morn *, or evening's filent (hade, She then places them on the fhore, liftening to it's paufmg murmurs, and to the fong of the Nereid, as on her playful fea-horfe fhe glides over the twilight- main. Another exquifite pidure arifes, profefledly from an antique gem. Great fkill is fhown in varying the attitude, appearance, and employments of this beautiful Sea-Nymph, on her voyage, from thofe of Europa, croffing the fea on her bull, in the preced- * What exquifite picture ! R 3- ing 244 MEMOIRS OF ing Canto. Her's is a day, and this is a night voyage. Europa draws up her feet beneath her robe, fearful of touching the water ; thcjecure Nereid drops them care- lefsly down. Europa clings timidly round the neck of her Taurus, and refts her cheek upon the curls of his forehead, while her mantle floats unheeded on the breeze. The Nereid has no apprehenfion ; flie and her fteed are both in their element. She gives him the rein, lifts her eyes to the evening ftar, and fmgs the birth of Venus. She reftrains her arching veil, with her hands, from floating on the gales of night, while the mantle of, Europa was abandoned to the day-breeze. The Nereid is without fear, and therefore attends to the prefer- vation of her drefs ; Europa is fomewhat frightened, and therefore pays no attention to hers. Thefe differences, however ap- parently, are not really trivial. The mere verfifier knows not how to create them. The DR. DARWIN. 24$ The Poet knows their importance; how much they will infpirit his portraits, and diftinguiih them from each other. In the progrefs of this epifode the Nereid loofes her veil (we may conclude the wind had fallen) and we meet the following defcrip- tion of a very graceful operation, that of a lovely female combing her lavifh treffes : O'er her fair brow her pearly comb unfurls Her beryl locks, and parts the waving curls ; Each tangled braid, with/glift'ning teeth unbinds, And with the floating treafure mulks the winds. This is not a repetition of the employ- ment of the new- born Venus, in the fecond Canto. She had recently /emerged, and therefore her hair muft neceffarily hang uncurled, and flie is in the attitude of wringing the water from her golden trefles; than which no pofition can be more fa- vourable to female fymmetry. Do&or Darwin's poem paints every attitude and employment which, in either R3 fex, 246 MEMOIRS OP fex, can be rendered elegant. No author ever had a mind more keenly awakened to grace in all its varieties, or could more exquifitely paint it. That perception, and that talent, the, in his clafs of compofition, peerlefs Richardfon poflefled in an equal degree. No profe- writer ever was, or perhaps ever will be, fb great a painter ; and to that power what a conftellation of other endowments contri- buted to immortalize the pages of ClarhTa and Grandifon ! Novels no longer, but Englifli Claffics, tranflated into every Eu- ropean language, and in all foreign countries confidered as fome of the nobleft efforts of Britifh Genius, , But the Darwinian Nereid has been left a, little before hey time; other eircum- fiances attend her, too poetic to remain unnoticed. Her fong " thrills the waves ;" and the lhadowy Forms of Night gleam on the margin of the fliore, " with pointed ears/ 1 DR. DARWIN. 247 " ears/' to denote the a<5l of liftening. Perhaps that chara&eriftic had been better omitted, fmce it belongs to brute, not to human animals, and is at war with the imaginary grace of thefe twilight forms. The Moon paufes, and the Stars ihoot from their fpheres to liften. That laft circum- ftance is evidently from Shakefpear's alle- gory in The Midfummer Night's Dream, alluding to the confpiracies formed in favor of the imprifoned Queen of Scotland, by the Duke of Norfolk, and other noblemen of the court of Elizabeth. This is the allegory : I faw a Mermaid on a Dolphin's back Uttering fuch dulcet and harmonious founds, That tlje rude fea grew civil at her fong, And certain ftars ihot madly from their fpheres, To hear the Sea-Maid's mufic. That he might guard againft the dif- pleafure of Elizabeth for this fally, it is immediately followed by as high an allego- ric compliment paid to herfelf. R 4 On 243 MEMOIRS OF On the Poet's difmiflal of the Nereid, the death of Mrs. French of Derby, is introduced as a fubjecl: of forrow to the Water- Nymphs of its riv^er. This picture of Milcena is very lovely, ftraying with her infants on the banks of the Derwent, and pondering, with fcientific eye, the infefls and plants on the fhores of that flream. There is a tender ftrain of morality in this pafTage ; but the annexed epitaph on Mrs. French, however beautiful as poetry, is by no means fit for it's originally purpofed fituation, a tombftone in the great church at Derby. The author of thefe memoirs is ignorant whether, or not, it is there in- fcribed. " Clouds of filver, and Beauty " pleading for her hufband's errors at the " throne of God/' may form a very poeti- cal, but it is a very heathenim refurre&ion. The mention of Brindley, the Father of commercial Canals, has propriety as well as happinefs. Similitude for their courfe, I to DR. DARWIN. 249 to the finuous track of a ferpent, pro- duces a fine piclure of a gliding animal of that fpecies, and it is fucceeded by thefe fupremely happy lines : So, with flrong arm, immortal Brindley leads His long canals, and parts the velvet meads $ Winding in lucid lines, the watery mafs Mines the firm rock, or loads the deep morafs ; With riling locks a thoufand hills alarms, Flings o'er a thoufand ftreams it's filver arms $ Feeds the long vale, the nodding woodland laves, And Plenty,, Arts, and Commerce, freight the waves. Nymphs, who erewhile on Brindley's early bier, On fnow-white bofoms (hower'd th' incefTant tear, Adorn his tomb! Oh, raife the marble bu ft, Proclaim his honors, and protect his duft ! With urns inverted, round the facred flirine Their ozier wreaths let weeping Naiads twine, While on the top mechanic Genius ftands, Counts the fleet waves, and balances the fands! There is a note to this paflage, which urges the duty of erecting a monument to Brindley in Lichfield Cathedral. Certainly it would be to the credit of thofe who fhould 250 M KM (MRS OF fhould iubfcribe to raife it, fince the county of Stafford has been fo materially benefited by his fuccefsful plans ; but in the above eulogium, Dr. Darwin has given him a more enduring memorial than ftone or marble could beftow. The mechanifm of the pump is next defcribed with curious ingenuity. Com- mon as is the machine, it is not unworthy of a place in this fplendid compofition, as being, after the finking of wells, the earlieft of thofc inventions, which, in fituations of exterior aridnefs, gave ready acceffion to water. This familiar object is illuftrated by a picture of Maternal Beauty adminif- tering fuftenance to her Infant. To that fucceeds an energetic reproof, and pathetic admonition to mothers in affluent life, whom indolence, or diflipation, feduces to the unnatural neglect of that delightful duty. For an infant flumbering on the maternal bofom which has nourished him, there DR. DARWIN. there is the following allegoric fimile, of no common elegance : Thus, charm'd to fweet repofe, when twilight hours Shed their foft influence on celeftial bowers, The cherub, Innocence, with fmile divine, Shuts his white wings, and fleeps on Beauty's flyine. The Ode to Morning, in Elfrida, con* tains a nearly refembling image ; thus : Away, ye Elves, away, Shrink at ambrofial morning's living ray ! That living ray, whofe power benign Unfolds this fcene of glory to our eye, Where, thron'd in artlefs majefty, The cherub Beauty fits on Nature's ruftic flirine. Probably to the involuntary plagiarism of forgotten impreffion, we owe this fifter- piflure on the page of Dr. Darwin, The ufe of water by the fire-engine next occurs. Poetry has nothing more fublime than this, the preceding pidure of a Town on Fire : From dome to dome when flames infuriate ciimb, ; Sweep the long tfreet. inveft the tower fublirne ; Gi!4 ?52 MEMOIB5- OF j Gild the tail vanes amid th' aftonifh'd night, And reddening heaven returns the fanguine light j While, with vaft ftrides and briflling hair, aloof Pale Danger glides along the falling roof; And giant Terror, howling in amaze, Moves his dark limbs acrofs the lurid blaze : Nymphs, you firft taught the gelid waves to rife,, Hurl'd in refplendent arches to the ikies j In iron cells cqndens'd the airy fpring, And imp'd the torrent with unfailing wing ; On the fierce flame the fliower impetuous falls, .And fudden darknefs fhrouds the fhatterd walls j Steam., fmoke, and dufl, in blended volumes roll, And Night and Silence repoffefs the pole. Dryden, in his Annus Mirabilis, has defcribed the great fire in London. Some very fine lines occur in that defcription, but it is prolix and feeble in comparifbri with the above. The melancholy circumftances of the Woodmafon family, and that of Lady Molefworth, each of whom fuffered dread- fully by fire, are next pourtrayed with much pathetic folemnity, and the Water- Nymphs DR. DARWIN. 253 Nymphs are reproached for not having .prevented thofe evils. After this mournful little drama, the Botanic Queen allots new tafks to thefe her hand-maids in the care of vegetation, and they are beautifully fpecified. To them fucceeds an highly interefting pic- ture of Sympathy in a female form, bend- ing over a rock to affift the fhip- wrecked mariners ; fhe is Ihown afterwards as fup- porting feeble Age on her arm, pouring balm into the wounds of Sorrow ; match- ing the dagger from Defpair ; lulling Envy to fieep, and while fhe repofes, .ftealing her envenomed arrows from her quiver. An animated eulogium on a benevolent young lady of Ireland, diverfifies thefe commif- fions; alfo three of Hercules' labors. A flooded country, is prefented in the deluged Etolia ; and the Water Fiend, who caufed the inundation, and whom Hercules fub- dues a fecond time, when affuming the form 254 MEMOIRS or form of a make, it attempts tb efcape from the hero. It is thus admirably pictured : Then to a fnake the finny Demon turn'd, His lengthen'd form, with fcales of filver burn'd ; Lafh'd, with refiftlefs fweep, his dragon-train, And (hot meandering o'er th' affrighted plain. Perhaps the defcription of the Fiend's next transformation into a Bull, is not eminently judicious ; the terms " filver " hoofs," and " flowery meadows," which might well have fuited the gentle bull of Europa, are too nice and gay to harmonize well with the enraged monfter, one of whofe horns was torn off by Hercules, Of the habits and manners of that formi- dable Brute, when incenfed, a very inferior Poet, lately deceafed, has given a more impreffive picture. We fometimes find one or two good paflages in the writings of ordinary verifiers. Sternhold's and Hop- kins' nonfenfical and vulgar tranflation of the Pfalms, contain eight lines which Pope profefled DR, DARWIN. 255 profefled to envy. Though Hurdis was chofen Profeflbr of Poetry in Oxford con- trary to Pope's precept, Let fuch teach others who themfelves excel* yet he has given a defcription of the only very terrific Engliih animal, which, when weeded of a long interrupting di- greffion in the middle of it, about a thun- der-ftorm, forms the moft natural portrait of a malicious Bull that can perhaps be found in any of our poets ; thus, Tis pleafure to approach, And, by the ftrong fence mielded, view fecure Thy terrors, Nature, in the favage Bull. Soon as he marks me, be the tyrant fierce, To earth defcends his head ; hard breathe his lungs Upon the dufiy fod. A fulky leer Gives double horror to the frowning curls That wrap his forehead j and ere long is heard, From the deep cavern of his lordly throat, The growl infufferable. * Tramples then * Hire comes in the impertinent thunder ftorm. The MEMOIRS OP The furly Brute, impatient of difdain, And fpurns the foil with irritated hoofj Himfelf inhaler of the dufty fod; Himfelf infulted by the pebbly mower, Which his vain fury raifes. Nothing fear'd, Let him, incens'd, from agitated lungs Blow his fhrill trump acute till echo ring, And, with a leer of malice, deal away, Affault and vengeance fwearing ere be long ! The laft com'mand of the Botanic God- defs to her Water- Nymphs, enforces their duties to plants and flowers ; to render the vales irriguous, and to feed with their rills the floral and herbaceous roots. To the courfe of this moift nutriment through the vegetable fibres, is compared that of the chyle through the human frame ; and to that, another fimile fucceeds. As the firft is fcientific, fb is the fecond pi<flurefque ; it is a Turkifli pilgrimage to Mecca, con- fifting of various caravans on their road over the fultry and fandy defert, and meet- ing with a pure rill, which, defcending from diflant rocks, had taken it's courfe through bR. DARWIN. 257 through the wafte plain. The parched Travellers alight, kneel on the brink in grateful joy, and, bending over it, afluage their third. This rill fomewhat fud~ denly becomes a lake, and reflects the eager and delighted multitude. With this little fcenethe com miffions to the Water-Nymphs Conclude, and their obedient flight is fcarcely lefs poetically featured than that of the Nymphs of Fire. The fimilies, which illuftrate the flight of the aqueous minifters, are the evolutions of the water- fpider, and the exercife of Ikaiting amongft the natives of northern climates. The laft is thus admirably defcribed : So where the North congeals his watry mafs, Piles high his fnows, and floors his feas with glafs, While many a month, unknown to warmer rays, Marks it's flow chronicle by lunar days ; Stout youths and ruddy maids, a fportive. train, Leave the white foil and rufti upon the main. From ifle to ifle the moon-bright fquadrons ftray, And win, in graceful curves, their eafy way ; s On MEMOIRS OP On ftep alternate borne, with balance nice Hang o'er the gliding fteel, and hifs along the ice. FOURTH AND LAST CANTO OF THE ECONOMY OF VEGETATION, Confifts of a charge to the Sylphs, as be- nevolent fpirits, to protecl the vegetable fubftances, after they had emerged to light and air ; to defend them from all the malig- nant operations of nature, and to cherifh and affift the influence they may receive from all her vital and benign powers. The deadly and falubrious winds ; the volcanic and peftilential airs ; the Tornado, dreadful to mariners, &c. ; every thing here has animal life and confcioufnefs. It was the author's plan, and he could not, at leaft in his own idea, depart from it with pro- priety. Hence, the Sylphs alfo are re- minded of having prefided at the nuptials of the pureft of the Airs with Light. The paffage which ulhers in this whimfical marriage, DR, DARWIN. marriage, is very beautiful, the expreffion, " fimpering lips," excepted ; but it was difficult to find variety of terms equally happy where the effect of pleafurable fen- fations on the countenance mufl fo often be defcribed. From thefe aerial nuptials vital fpirit is fuppofed to proceed, which pervades and animates all nature. The loves and marriage of Cupid and Piyche are prefented, poetically pictured from the well-known gems. This life-infufing air is contrafted with the Syroc of Italy, and the Simoon of the African defert. The laft is prefented as a Demon. Univerfal perfonification was the order of the Mufe in this work, not to be infringed ; elfe, when circumftances are in themfelves fub- lime (and moft things terrible in nature become fublime in poetry), they are more likely to be of diminimed than increafed force, by the addition of fabled endow- ment. A comparifon between the Simoon s 3 defcribed MEMOIRS OF defcribed literally by Southey, in his Joan of Arc, and figuratively by Darwin, will perhaps evince the truth of this obfer- vation. The Botanic Queen fays to her Sylphs, Arreft Simoon amid his wafle of fand, The poifon'd javlin balanced in his hand ! Fierce on blue ftreams he rides the tainted air, Points his keen eye, and waves his whirling hair j While, as he turns, the undulating foil Rolls it's red waves, and billowy deferts boil. This is a fine picture of the Demon ot Peftilence. The fpeed of his approach is marked by the ftrong current of air in which he pafled, and by the term whiffling annexed to his hair. The winds have hitherto, almoft exclufively, poffeffed that term. Here transferred to the lifted hair of the Demon, it increafes the terrific powder of his approach. But let the Simoon be viewed where it's terrible graces are native, and DR. DARWIN. 26l and no attempt made to heighten them by allegory. JOAN OF ARC, lOtll BOOK. Ominous fear Seizes the traveller o'er the tracklefs fands, Who marks the dread Simoon acrofs the wafte Sweep it's fwift peflilence. To earth he falls, < Nor dares give utterance to the inward prayer, Deeming the Genius of the defert breathes The purple blaft of Death. We are informed by travellers, that to inhale the leaft portion of this mephitic blafl is fatal. They therefore fall on their faces, and hold their breath till it has parfed over them. But the Darwinian perfonification of the Tornado fublimely heightens the hor- ror of that watry peft. It fucceeds that of the Simoon; and the Fog, invefted with animality, forms an immediate and ftrik- ing contraft to the preceding monfters. It is drawn with fuch fmgular felicity of s 3 imagi- 2,62 MEMOIRS OF imagination that there is no refilling 'the defire of quoting the paffage here : Sylphs, with light (hafts, you pierce the drowfy Fog, That lingering (lumbers on the fedge-wove bog, And with webb'd feet o'er midnight meadows creeps, Or flings his hairy limbs o'er ftagnant deeps. The benevolent little fpirits are then exhorted to combat Contagion, ftealing from charnel-vaults to bring death to the people. The plague, which in 1636 raged in Holland, is here introduced, with a beautiful ftory of faithful Love prevailing over the defire of felf-prefervation. A young maid is firft feized in a, till then, un- infected family. This admirable line de- notes the dread of it's other individuals to approach, affift, or comfort her, And ftarting Friendmip fhunn'd her as me pafs'd. Perceiving herfelf deferted, and fearing to fpread the infe&ion amongft thofe fhe loved, Ihe feeks the garden, determined to die DR. DARWIN. 263 die there. Her betrothed lover hears of her fituation, and purfues her thither; raifes a tent ; procures her food, covering, and medicines ; binds her fevered brows, and ftrews aromatic herbs and flowers upon her pillow. He efcapes the contagion himfelf, and reftores his beloved miftrefs to health. The Poet has very fweetly told this interefting tale ; a fmgle epithet is perhaps the only word it contains which could be altered to advantage. It is in the following line, And clafp'd the bright infection in his arms. The adjeclive bright is too gay for it's fituation ; fair, or kvd, would be more fubdued, and in better keeping with the mournful tendernefs of the narration. Lefs bold, fays the Poet, was Leander, eying, as he fwam, the love-lighted tower. Lefs bold alfo, Tobias, inftrucled by an angel to drive away the demon from the fatal bride. s 4 The 364 MEMOIRS OP The Sylphs are now applauded by their Queen for having inftrufted Torricelli and Boyle, concerning the properties of air, it's preflure and elafticity. The operations of the weather-glafs and air-pump are defcribed with philofophic accuracy and poetic elegance. Young Roffiere's dire .fate, precipitated from his flaming mont- golfier, comes forward here, and is pictured \vith great poetic ftrength ; nor is the il- luftration of that lamentable event, by the fable of Icarus, lefs happy in it's novel and mournful graces ; his faithlefs and fcattered plumage dancing on the wave ; the Mer- maids decking his watry tomb, ftrewing over his corfe the pearly fea-flowers, and {hiking, in the coral towers, the paufing bell, which echos through the caves of Ocean ! Surely it is not poffible to admire too fondly the beautiful and exhauftlefs varieties of this darling Bard of Fancy. Critics have aflerted, that the poetic mind DR. DARWIN. 265 mind has little effiorefcence after middle life ; that, however the judgment may ftrengthen, the vivid luxuriance of the imagination abates. Milton's Paradife Loft, Darwin's Botanic Garden, and Cowper's Talk, each began after life had many years declined from it's meridian, confute the dogma. Dr. Johnfon has combated it's fallacy, and with more truth obierved, that fo long as the understanding retains it's ftrength, the fancy, from time to time, acquires added vigor and new ftores of imagery. Nor does the extreme poetic inferiority of the Paradife Ptegained to the Paradife Loft, at all difprove the converfe proportion. We are to look for that in- feriority in the fo much more reftraining nature of the Jubje? t for poetry, above all others, improper. Poetry ! to whofe very exiftence, if it is to deferve it's name, an infinitely larger portion of inventive and * figurative ornament is neceffary than the hallowed 266 MEMOIRS OF hallowed fobriety of the New Teftament and it's myfteries, can admit without the moil revolting impropriety. It's choice, as the theme of an Epic Poem, was a radical error, which neceflarily involved thofe long trains of comparative profaicifm, over which we yawn, however fometimes awakened by noble paflages to recognife ftrength, which, though feldom put forth, we feel to be undiminifhed ; to difcern fome rays of light which, amidft their infrequency, we yet perceive to be unfaded. Frefh commendation is next given to the Sylphs for their infpirations in the mind of Dr. Prieftley, concerning his analyfis of the atmofphere. The paflage is moft poetic, although purely chemical. Air calcining the phlogiftic ores is termed the marriage of Ether with the Mine. Thefe nuptials are illuftrated by the retold ftory of Pluto and Proferpine. There is much propriety in this illuftration, fince Lord Bacon has explained DR. DARWIN, 267 explained that fable as an hieroglyphic allufion, to fignify " the combination, or " marriage of etherial fpirit with earthly " materials." A whimfical pofiibility is next fuppofed ; that Dr. Prieftley's difcoveries will here- after enable adventurers to travel beneath the ocean in large inverted fhips and div- ing balloons. A note to this paffage afferts, that the experiment was fuccefsfully made 'by a Frenchman in the reign of James the Firft, and it ftates the particulars. A fplen- did fub-marine voyage next occurs. It is to the warm tropic feas and lhadowy ice-ifles of the polar regions, and to be performed by Britannia. Her tears are to flow as Ihe pafles over the fad and vifible remains of fliip-wrecked lovers, mercantile and fcientific adventurers, particularly thofe of Day and Spalding, who each perilhed in their diving-bells. Here the deplored fate of 268 MEMOIRS OF of Captain Pierce, his family and fellow- voyagers, thus forms a tragic drama: Oft o'er thy lovely daughters, haplefs Pierce ! Her fighs mall breathe, her forrows dew their hearfe. With brow upturned to heav'n, " We will not part/' He cried, and clafp'd them to his aching heart. Dam'd in dread conflict on the rock,y grounds, Crafh the ihock'd marls, the daggering wreck rebounds ; Through gaping feams the rufhing deluge fwims ; Chills their pale bofoms, bathes their fhuddering limbs ; Climbs their white fhoulders, buoys their flreaming hair, And the laft fea-mriek bellows in the air. Each, with loud fobs, their tender (ire carefs'd, And gafping, ftrain'd him clofer to her breaft. Stretch'd on one bier they fleep beneath the brine, And their white bones with ivory arms entwine. The third, fourth, and fifth, couplets of the above quotation, are extremely fine pictures, and " found never echoed fenfe" with more folemn horror than " and the " laft fea-fhriek bellowed in the air." The defcription ought to have clofed with that line, and the next couplet fhould have im- mediately BR. DARWIN. 269 mediately folio wed the paternal exclamation. Beyond the utmoft power of the pencil do the fix grand verfes of this paflage image death by fhipwreck ; but the " white bones and " ivory arms"of the concluding line, are every way exceptionable. They difturb the awful impreffion made on the mind by the laft fea-fliriek. Aiming to be pathetic they are in reality ludicrous, the ivory arms of bones ! The bones of ivory arms we might underftand, though it would be affecled expre-ffion, but the converfe terms feem nonfenfe. One of the firft of our exifting poets, Mr. Crowe, public orator at Oxford, whofe compofitions, by their genuine ex- cellence, atone for their too limited quan- tity, has told this fad ftory with folemn and fimple beauty in his Lewefdon Hill, one of the nobleft local poems in our language. In his narration we find no- thing which can ftrictly be termed pidtu- refque, though the four introduttory lines are MEMOIRS OF are highly fo ; but we find a great deal of Milton's manner in the progrefs of the tale, written in view of the rocks on which the Halfewell {truck. LEWESDON HILL. See how the fun,, here clouded, afar off Pours down the golden radiance of his light Upon th' enridged fea, where the black fliip Sails on the phofpher-feaming waves. So fair, But falfely flattering, was yon furface calm, "When forth for India fail'd, in evil hour, That vefiel, whofe difaftrous fate, when told, Fill'd every breail with horror, and each eye With piteous tears, fo cruel was the lofs ! Methiiiks I fee her, by the wintry ftorm Shattcr'd and driven along paft yonder ifle ' She drove, her lateft hope by ftrength or art, To gain the port within it j or at worft, To fhun that harbourlefs and hollow coaft, From Portland eaftward to the Promontory, Where (till St. Albans high-built chapel Hands. But art nor ftrength avail her, on flie drives, In ftorm and darknefs, to that fatal coaft ! And there, mid rocks and high o'erhanging cliffs, Dafti'd piteoufly, with all her precious freight Was DR. DARWIN. 271 Was loft, by Neptune's wild and foamy jaws Swallow'd up quick ! The i ichlieft laden {hip Of fpicy Ternate, or that, annual fent To the Philippines o'er the fouthern main From Acapulco, carrying marTy gold, Were poor to this; freighted with hopeful youth And beauty, and high courage undifmay'd By mortal terrors j and paternal love, Strong and unconquerable, even in death. Alas ! they perifii'd all, all in ONE HOUR ! Refuming the principal fubjecT: of thefe ftridures, we find the harmonic difcoveries attributed to the aerial hand-maids. Their miftrefs fuppofes them to have breathed their grand and exquifite infpirations into the ear of Handel; to wake the tones on the fliell of Echo ; to melt in fweet chords upon the Eolian harp ; and on the lips of Cecilia to breathe the fong. Another lovely picture arifes here, from an ancient gem, Cupid on a Lion's back, playing on a lute. The Goddefs proceeds to confider her Nymphs MEMOIRS OF Nymphs of Air as Minifters of Divine Ven- geance on the Guilty, through the medium of tempefts, and the peftilential winds of the Eaft, as Samiel, Harmattan, &c. and the fcripture ftory of the fate of Senacherib is told. The ravage of death, produced by thofe peftilential gales, forms a fublime perfonification ; thus, Hark ! o'er the camp the venom'd teirrpeft fings ! Man falls on man j on buckler buckler rings ; Groan anfwers groan 5 to anguifh anguilh yields, And death's dread accents {hake the tented fields, High rears the Fiend his grinning jaws, and wide Spans the pale nations with coloflal ftride : Waves his broad falchion with uplifted hand, And his vaft ihadow darkens all the land ! Whether by coincidence or plagiarifm on the part of Dr. Darwin, is uncertain, but in Mr, Sergeant's noble prophetic Ode on the Woes of the Houfe of Stuart, com- mencing with fair unfortunate Mary's cala- mities, we find the laft fublime image, thus, i From DR, DARWIN. 273 From Orkney's flormy fteep The fpirit of ths ifles infuriate came ; Round him flam'd the ar&ic flame, His dark cloud lhadow'd the contentious deep ! This Ode was publiflied in 1788. The Economy of Vegetation in 1791. That poem proceeds with another ex- hortation to the etherial Cohorts to protecl the vernal children ; impart the talifman which guides the veering winds, and, by it's influence, enchain Boreas and Eurus, fo often fatal to early luxuriance, vegetable and animal. Thus mall they, (he beau- tifully fays, Rock th' uncurtain'd cradle of the year. The deftrudion and reproduction of the aoofphere, is allegorifed by a monfter of magnitude more immenfe than that of Satan, when, on the page of Milton, he {hides from hill to hill. This is a Came- lion beneath the northern conftellation. T We,. MEMOIRS OF We find much grandeur of fancy in this aerial giant. His groan is the thunder, his figh' the tempeft, as he fleers his courfe to the fouth, and fpreads his iliadowy limbs over the line, with froft and famine in his track. The Sylphs are adjured to direct his courfe .to benevolent purpofes ; to cool Arabian vales with his antarctic breathing ; and, in the following harmonious line, To fcatter rofes o'er Zelandic fnows. This allegory concludes unhappily, with a perfonal compliment to Mr. Kirwan, (i who has publiflied a valuable Treatife " on the/temperature of Climates." Thofe Compliments to ingenious profeffors would often find their more proper place in the notes, except where they form a fimile ; but, as in this inftance, a living man placed between the dragon wings of an imaginary and immeasurable moniler, is a ridiculous idea. DR. DARWIN. 275 idea. Often, through the courfe of this work, does fuch intermixture of adual and ideal beings difturb and interrupt, rather than agreeably diverfifjr, the courfe of the allegory. The foon-enfuing mention of the celebrated Herfchel, and his ftellar dif- coveries, is made in the form of a fimile, and is therefore unexceptionable ; and it p'affes on to the following charming apof- trophe to the Stars. Roll on, ye Stars ! exult in youthful prime, Mark, with bright curves, the printlefs fteps of Time! Near, and more near, your beamy cars approach, And lefiening orbs on lefiening orbs incroach. Flowers of the Iky ! ye too to age muft yield, Frail as your filken filters of the field j Star after {tar from heavn's high arch lhall rufh, Suns (ink on funs, on fyftems fyftems rufti^ Headlong, extin6t, to one dark centre fall, And Death, and Night, and Chaos cover all 5 Till o'er the wreck, emerging from the ftorm, Immortal nature lifts her changeful form; Mounts from the funeral pyre on wings of flame, And foars, and fhines, another and the fame. T 2 Returning MEMOIRS OF Returning to the vegetable embryons, of which the Goddefs, between her men- tion of Kirwan and Herfchel had fpoken, fhe thus beautifully fays : Lo ! n each feed, within it's tender rind, Life's golden threads, in endlefs circles wind j Maze within maze the lucid webs are roll'd, And, as they burfl, the living flames unfold. The whole paflage is equally fine, and clofes thus : Life buds, or breathes, from Indus to the Poles, t And the vail furface kindles as it rolls. We find the fame image applied to Light in the firft Canto, as it is here to Vitality. Speaking of Chaos the Poet fays : Through all his realms the kindling Ether runs; Yet, far from ceniuring the very infre- quent repetitions, which we may find through this great work, wonder and praife will DR. DARWIN. 277 will rife in the mind of every true lover of the poetic art, contemplating that ex- hauftlefs variety of ideas, imagery and expreffion, which light up the fubjeci with a thoufand torches, kindled at the orb of Genius. Skilful blendings of philosophic know- ledge with poetic fancy, now occur in the birth and growth of plants and flowers. They are compared to the kindling and expanfion of animal life in the Crocodile, burfting from it's egg on the fhores of the Nile. It is a grand picture, though of fomewhat forced introduction. The charge on it's progrefs contains inftruction to gardeners, though it is addrefled to the Sylphs, and adorned by the parable of Aaron's rod. The banilhment of noxious infects by their cares, is enforced by the example of the Cyprepedia, a flower curi- oufly refembling the large American Spider. Linneus aflerts, that it catches fmall birds T3 - as 2?8 MEMOIRS OF as well as infeSs, and has the venomous bite of a ferpent ; and a French naturalift narrates, that it catches the humming bird in it's ftrong nets. The circumftance is thus elegantly pifiured in the Botanic Queen's horticultural adjurations, So where the humming-bird, in Chili's bowers, On r rmuring pinions robs the pendent flowers j Seeks where fine pores their dulcet balms diftill, And fucks the treafure with probofcis bill, Fell Cyprepedia, &c. The difeafes of plants are next pointed out, and they are illuftrated by a curious facl in glafs-making. The pictures of various flowers next rife on the page, in botanic difcrimination, and in all the hues of poetry. The exotic wealth of the Royal Garden at Kew is celebrated ; and the con- fcious pride of it's river, on the occafion, is thus fweetly fancied : Delighted Thames through tropic umbrage glides, The flowers antartic bending o'er his fides ; Drinks the new tints, the fcents unknown inhales, And calls the Sons of Science to the vales, Poetic DR. DARWIN. Poetic homage is then paid to our King and Queen, to their virtues, their tafte for Botanic 'Science, and to the fair human Scions which themfelves have raifed. The Goddefs compliments her aerial Legions on attending the chariot of the Morning round the earth, on leading the gay Hours along the horizon ; on fhower- ing the light on every dun meridian, and on purfuing, from zone to zone, the per- ennial journey of the Spring. She commif- {ions them, on this their radiant tour, to bring her rich balms from the hallowed glades of Mecca, Arabian flowers, Italian fruits, and the tea-plants of China; alfo Each fpicy rind which fultry India boafts, Scenting the night-air round her breezy coafts ; Roots, whofe bold ftems in bleak Siberia blow, And gem with many a tint th' eternal fnowj Barks, whofe broad umbrage high in ether waves O'er Ande's fteeps, and hides his golden caves. Thus, with happy art, the Poet diverfifies T 4 and 280 MEMOIRS or and animates floral enumeration with gleams of every-regioned landfcape. The Sylphs are then commanded to raife an altar to Hygeia ; to call to it's rites the difperfed Sifterhood, the Water Nymphs, from their floating clouds, their waves and fountains; to ftamp with charmed foot, and convoke the Gnomes from their fub- terranean palaces ; and to beckon from their fpheres the veftal forms of fire ; that thus, in full congregation, they may win the Goddefs of Health with unwearied vows. The pidurefque attitudes of fupplU cation, which ihe dictates, are eminently beautiful ; and, with a patriotic apoftrophe to Hygeia, the Britifh Queen of Botany concludes her embafly. O wave, Hygeia, o'er Britannia's throne Thy ferpent-wand, and mark it for thy own ! Lead round her breezy coafts thy guardian trains, Her nodding forefts, and her waving plains ! Shed o'er her peopled realms thy beamy fmile, And with thy airy temple crown her ifle I The DR. DARWIN. 281 The Goddefs of Botany now afcends with as much elegance as fhe had defcend- ed, and with more magnificence. If the reader is fufceptible of poetic beauty ; if he can feel that what never can be feen in reality, may yet be painted naturally ; a ftricT: furvey of this poetical afcenfion will enable him to perceive, what indeed count^ lefs other inftances in this Poem evince, that it's Author moft eminently poffefled that rare talent. The Goddefs ceas'd, and calling from afar The wandering Zephyrs, joins them to her car 5 Mounts with light bound, and graceful as fhe bends, Whirls the long lalh, the flexile rein extends 5 On whifpering wheels the filver axle Hides, Climbs into air, and cleaves the cryftal tides $ Burft from it's pearly chains, her amber hair Streams o'er her ivory fhoulders, buoy'd in air; Swells her white veil, with ruby clafp confin'd Round her fair brow, and undulates behind 5 The leflening courfers rife in fpiral rings, Pierce the flow-failing clouds, and tfretch their Ihadowy wings. if MEMO1K.S OF If we could fee a light vehicle mount the horizon, it's wheels would whifper, it's axle ilide ; fo would it climb into air, fo divide the etherial currents, as a boat divides the waves of the river or the fea ; the courfers would rife in fpiral rings and pervade the clouds ; their wings would appear fhadowy till they melted into air. Thus concludes the Economy of Vegetation. CHAP. DR. DARWIN. 283 C H A P T E R VI. WE now come to yet more playful com- pofition in the fecond part of this Poem, as the floral fyftem is a lighter and lefs important theme than the elementary pro- perties, however generally gay the robes in which poetic imagination has drefled them both ; but let it never be forgotten that the fexual nature of plants has a demon- ftrated existence. The Preface to this fecond part is a compendium .of the Linnean fyftem. The Poem makes lively, yet very modeft claims for the fucceeding metamorphofes, amid whofe lighter graces we meet with paffages of intrinfic grandeur and fublimity. LOVES MEMOIRS OF LOVES OF THE PLANTS, In which the Poet ordains that the Mufe of Botany fhall fucceed to it's afcended Emprefs, as hiftorian of the fcene, and didlatrefs to it's dramatis perfonas. He introduces her by invoking, in his own per- fbn, the attentive filence of the winds, the waters, and the trees, and by requefting the infefts to paufe upon their wings. Eight different infecls are mentioned, and each forms a ftriking picture of it's whole fpe- cies, by the Poet having feized and exhi- bited it's mofl characleriftic feature. He next apoftrophifes the Mufe who " led the " Swedim Sage by her airy hand," intreating her to fay how tiny Graces dwell on every leaf, and how the Pleafures laugh in the bell of a bloflbm. The Ovidian metamorphofis of the flowers then commences. The floral ladies, and their harems, rife to the amufed eye 7 in ' DR. DARWIKT. 28$ in all the glow of poetic colouring. At- tentive to diverfify them by the varieties of landfcape, we generally find this Pqet producing contrafted fcenery by the intro- duction of flowers or plants which arc indigenous to climates ftrikingly the reverfe of each other. Much of that happy fldll has been difplayed in the Economy of Vegetation, and inftances may be feleded from this it's brilliant precurfor, After feveral plants and flowers have pafled be- fore us in the femblance of beautiful wo- men, with their trains of adoring lovers, we find the folio wing fketches of contrafted landfcape attached to the feiftory of the focial heath-plant, Anthoxa, or vernal grafs, and the lonely Ofmunda, which grows on moift rocks and in their caverns. Two gentle fhepherds, and their lifter wives, With thee, Anthoxa, lead ambrofial lives $ Where the wide heath it's purple bed extends, And fcatter'd furze it's golden luftre blends, Clos'd MEMOIRS OF Clos'd in a green recefs, unenvied lot! The blue fmoke rifes fromlheir tnrf-built cot> Bofom'd in fragrance bluih their infant train, Eye the warm fun, and drink the filver rain. Beauteous Oimunda feeks the n'lent del), The ivy canopy, the dripping cell. In the defcription of the Chondrilla and her five amicable lovers, we find, in their accordant iympathy \vith each other, a fuppofed refemblance to the unifon-ftrings of the Eolian harp ; and there is a fweet enumeration of the excellences of it's varied ftvre of tones and expreffion. To the picture of the Lychnis fucceeds that of Gloriofa Superba, with her fuc- ceffive train of lovers, the fecond number rifing to maturity when the firlt periili. This libertine lady of the groves introduces the. ftory of the celebrated female Volup- tuary, in the reign of Louis the Fourteenth, Ninon de L'EncIos, whofe beauty and graces are recorded to have been trium- i phant DR. DARWIN pliant over the power of Time. The ftory of that paffion, fo terrible in it's confe- <juences, with which me unintentionally infpired her natural fon by Lord Jerfey of England, is finely told in this part ; that fon, totally unconfcious of his birth and fatal nearnefs of blood to the charming Madam de L'Enclos ! In the firft edition of the Loves of the Plants this extraor- dinary woman received both perfonal and mental injuftice from the prelude to that {lory. She is there reprefented by the Poet, as wrinkled, grey, and paralytic ; circumftances incompatible with the poffi- bility of the attachment, and contrary to the rcprefentation of her biographers. Upon their teftimony we learn that Ninon retained a large portion of her perfonal beauty and graces to an almoft incredible period ; that it was confiderable enough to procure her young lovers at the age of eighty, 288 MEMOIRS OF eighty, whofe paffion for her, however inconceivable, could not be interefted, as file was not rich, and much too delicate in her fentiments to purchafe the attention of the other fex. When her fon, by Lord Jerfey, was a young officer about Court, known to her but unknown to himfelf, Madame de L'Enclos was fcarcely forty years old, a period at which a very captivating degree of beauty and grace is fometimes found in the female fex. Of their exiftence at a confiderably later pefiod, the Englifh fafhionable circles, at this hour, exhibit fome remarkable inftances, In the firft edition of this Poem what is here fatal fmiles was harlot fmiles, an epithet moft injurious to Madame de L'Enclos. Her attentions to her ion, however affectionate, muft have been purely maternal, though fo deplorable in their DR. DARWIN. their confequcnces. The declaration by which fhe repulfes his impious fait, entirely acquits her of the leaft defign to infpire him with paflion. Dr. Darwin was influenced by the author of this Memoir to refcue the form of Ninon from the unreal decre- pitude he had imputed to it, and her prin- ciples from fuch unnatural excels of de- pravity. If we may credit her hiftorians, Ninon was an exception to a maxim of the Duke de Rochefaucault, which has perhaps very few exceptions, viz. " Generally fpeaking, " the leaft fault of an unchafte woman is " her unchaftity." Confidering this remark as an axiom, the reafon probably is, that chaftity being the point of honor, as well as of virtue in women, it's violation has a ftrong tendency to engraft deceit and ma- lignity upon the fecret confcioufnefs of felf-abafement ; a confcioufnefs more fatal to the exifience of other good qualities U than 290 .MEMOIRS OF than voluptuoufnefs itfelf ; a confcioufnefs too likely to produce hatred and envy to- wards people of fpotlefs reputation, toge- ther with a defire to reduce others to their own unfortunate level. The great Moral- ift of the Old Teftarnent, fays, " There is " no wickednefs like the wickednefs of a " woman;" not becaufe the weaker fex are naturally more depraved, but from the improbability that a fallen female iliould ever, even upon the fincereft repentance, regain the efteem and confidence of fociety, while it pardons a male libertine the inftant he feems difpofed to forfake his vice, and too often during it's full career. But the fault of Madam de L'EncIos was fingle, and furrounded by folid virtues. Truth, fmcerity/ difinterefted friendfhip, economy, generofity, and ftrid pecuniary juftice, marked her commerce with the world, and fecured to her the friendfhip and countenance of the moft eminent people DR. DARWIN. 291 people of that epoch, both as to talents and character. The rigid and pious Madame de Main- tenon never ceafed to be her avowed and intimate friend, as appears from a moft interefting dialogue which pafled between them after Maintenon became the wife of Louis the Fourteenth. It will be found in the Memoirs of Madame de L'Enclos, which are elegantly tranflated from the French into our language, and were pub- liftied by Dodfley in 1761. It is a very brilliant and entertaining work. After the animation of the Silene, or Catch Fly, as an enchantrefs ; after that of the Amarylis, illuftrated by a beautiful pifture of a church vane in the fetting fun, the Ilex, or Holly, corries forward with her giant lovers, grafping their thoufand arrows. With this metamorphofis we find involved a lovely allufion to Needwood Foreft, the late pride and glory of Staffordmire, now u 3 facrificing, 292 MEMOIRS OF facrific'mg, with all it's proftrate honors, to a popular fcheme of apprehended utility. Mr. Wright's pictures are here introduced as a fimile ; but it muft be confefled that not the moft diftant firnilitude can be traced between them and the Ilex, or Holly, which, as enchanters and giants, guard the Foreft; but the poetic copy of thefe un- allulive landfcapes is tranfcendent. % The immenfe Kleinhovia, indigenous to the plains of Orixa, is prefented as an ama- zonian nymph ; and as the male parts or the tree are, in nature, fupported by the female, me is pourtrayed in Herculean beauty, bearing in her arms her puny lovers, trembling beneath the confcioufnefs of her fuperior ftrength. A grand picture of the Grecian Thaleftris, appropriate to the fubje&j thus illuftrates the transform- ation : So bright Thaleftris fhook her plumy creft, And bound in rigid mail her Dwelling breaft, PoistJ DR. DARWIN. 293 Pois'd her long lance amid the walks of war, And Beauty thunder'd from Bellona's car; Greece, arm'd in vain ; her captive heroes wove The chains of conqueft with the wreaths of love. The noble landfcape of the late and wintered period of Autumn, quoted in an early part of thefe Memoirs, introduces the perfonification of the Tulip. The bul- bous root of flowers is termed by Linneus the hybernacky or winter-lodge of the young plant. He fays, " Each bulb contains the " leaves and flowers in miniature, which " are to be expanded in the enfuing fpring." The fame embryon miniatures are found in the buds of the Hepatica, the Daphne- Mezereon, and at the bafe of Ofmunda- Lunaria. The Tulip, in poetic animation, is a beautiful Matron, flying from the chill and ilormy feafon to a lone cavern. She is then prefented as fitting in that retreat, and nurfmg her infant on her bofom till warmer days lhall come. A pretty allufi ye u 3 defcription MEMOIRS OP defcription of the Dor-moufe, and it's half-year's flumber, adorns that paflage. Colchicum Autumnale, or Autumnal* meadow- fweet, afcends amid the troubled air, with her attendant lovers. Thus emi- nent in beauty is the flellar fimile for that flower : So {nines, with filver guards, the Georgian flar, And drives, on Night's blue arch, his glittering car j Hangs o'er the billowy clouds his lucid form, Wades through the mill, and dances in the ftorm. The Helianthus, or Sun-flower, becomes a Dervife, and leads his devout trains to worfhip the rifmg orb of day. Since the head of that majeftic plant always, and by nutation, follows the courfe of the fun, it properly aflumes the name and habits of a Dervife or Bramin. With this and the three fucceeding metamorphofes, in them- felves full of beauty and grace, the Drofera, or Sun-dew, the Lonicera, or Honey-fuckle, the Alpine Draba, fweet traits of con- trafted DR. DARWIN. 295 trafted landfcape are blended ; with Heli- anthus, the warm unfhadowed lawns of morning ; with Drofera the moid, the rufh-enwoven and mofly fcenes in which me wantons; with Draba, the icy caves and volcanos of Tenerif, amid which flie builds her eyry, Afpiring Draba builds her eagle neft ; and we are told that, Her tall fliadow waves o'er the diflant land. When we learn, from the note on this paflage, that Draba is one of the Alpine graffes, we wonder that fo minute and dwarfifli a plant mould become fo vaftj, commanding, and imperial in her tranf- formation. The Poet next exercifes his Proteus art upon Vifcum, Mifletoe, which never grows upon the ground, but grafts itfelf upon the branches of trees. This aerial nymph is fhown as an angel of air, feeking amongft it's clouds her foaring lovers. u 4 When MEMOIRS C F WTien Zoftera, GrafTwrack, (which gr at the bottom of the ocean, aud, rifmg to it's top, covers many leagues with it's, leaves,) comes forth from beneath the wand of this potent magician, we meet one of the hap- pieft fallies of his fportive pen. She is fhown as Queen of the coral groves ; her palace in the fea, fupported on cryftal columns ; it's turrets roofed with lucid {hells, which dart their every-coloured rays afar into the deep; the fhadows on it's floor, philofophically defcribed from the rifing and breaking of the exterior billows ; the rrierrnaid-:tram enweaving orient pearls in her hair ; her fhooting up to the furface like a meteor ; afcending the ftrand, and fummoning, by a loud-ftruck fhell, her fea-born lovers to attend her progrefs ; creative imagination, the high and peculiar province of the genuine Poet, has few more beautiful creations than this marine pidure and fcene, That DR. DARWIN. 297 That curious plant of the polar regions, the Barometz, from it's exterior refemblance to a fheep or lamb, is, by poetic magic, transformed into that animal, and to it the Whale is compared ; furely on no other poffible relation, than as both the odd plant and the fea-monfter, are natives of the ardic regions. The Whale, however, makes a grand poetic picture : Since then, the thing itfelf is rich and rare, Exclaim not, f( How the d 1 came it there*!" Mimofa, Seniltive-plant, becomes a nymph of infinite delicacy. The objects aptly chofen to illuftrate the nervous fenfi- bility with which that plant recedes from the approaching hand, are thus defcribed, and furely with no common happinefs : So finks, or riles, with the changeful hour, The liquid filver in it's glaffy tower 5 So turns the needle to the pole it loves, With fine vibrations quivering as it moves, * Parody of Pope's lines on the Amber. The 298 MEMOIRS OP The Anemone and her modern-lite ob- jefts of comparifon, by no means form one of the gems of this poem, however har- monious the lines. A lady's calafh and a. landau are out of their place in high heroic numbers. The Anemone and her triviali- ties, are fublimely contrafted by the rock- born Lichen, both in fcenery and accom- plifliment. She has too much dignity from her furrounding landfcape to have, or to want an illuftrative fimile. Her habita- tion is on the top of Snowdon, nodding over the tumultuous river Conway ; the hour midnight ; the ftars and cold moon gilding the rifted rocks ; the whirlwind and dark thunder-florin rolling and burft- ing below the fummit of the mountain. From it's topmoft ftone the transformation of the Dipfaca conveys us to a valley glowing beneath the long prevalence of the dog-ftar, when the channel of every rill is dry, and the parched earth gapes. The perfoni- DR. DARWIN. 299 perfonification of the plant has every grace- ful charm of a languid, beauty. The Rubia, Madder, a plant ufed for the purpofe of making a crimfon dye, is com- pared to Medea bending over her caldron, in which youth was reftored by immerfion. It is an apt allufion to the faded beauty, who reftores her loft bloom by rouge. Vallifner, a curious aquatic plant of the Rhone, apoftrophifes, when, in her human form, the ftars and moon, filming at mid- night on the ihores of her watery home ; and the fea-wecd, Ulva, with her young family, guarded on the deep by Halcyons, ferves to introduce the famous Galatea in her Ihelly chariot, dsawn by Dolphins over the Ocean. She has more ftate and more fuperb at- tendants on her maritime progrefs, than Europa, in the fecond Canto of the Eco- nomy of Vegetation, or than the Nereid, in the third ; though in the piclure of Galatea MEMOIRS O-F Galatea there is perhaps a lefs degree ol originality. But, upon the transformation of the Tremella, Star-jelly, (a fungus often found in the ftate of tranfparent jelly, after it has been frozen in autumnal mornings,) the Poet has lavifhed fome of the fineft effu- fions of his fancy. It is furely the tranf- cendent paflage of this fecond part of Dr. Darwin's Poem. No eye has fcen, or ever can fee a beautiful Nymph frozen into an ice-ftatue ; but admit the poffibility, and every circumftance of the gradual petrifica- tion is no lefs natural than it is lovely ; nor can any degree of admiration be too high for the beauty and grace of the defcription, It is fuperior to the Ovidian Daphne. This Canto now prepares to clofe ; the Mufe of Botany perceives a tempeft ap- proaching, and fhe is led by Wood-Nymphs into their moft fequeftered bowers. They fufpend her lyre upon their laurel trees, and bind DR. DARWIN. 3OI bind her brow with myrtles. If flie had no other claim, the Tremella alone ought to give her wreath unperifhahle bloom. Symptoms of the impending fliower are given with that accuracy, with w 7 hich, on every occafion, this genuine Poet ob~ ferved the objects of nature, thus : 1 Now the light fwallow, with her airy brood, Skims the green meadow and the .dimpled flood. Loud flirieks the lone thrum on herleaflefs thorn; Th' alarmed beetle blows his bugle horn 5 Each pendant fpider weaves/ with fingers fine, Her ravdl'd clue, and climbs along the line ; Gay Gnomes, in glittering circles, Hand aloof Beneath a fpreading mufti.room's ample roof; Swift bees> returning, feek their waxen cells, And Sylphs hang quivering in the lily's bells 5 Through the ftill air defcend the genial (bowers, And pearly rain-drops deck the laughing flowers. An Interlude in profe fucceeds to this Canto. It is a fuppofed dialogue between the Poet and his Bookfeller, in which the former gives us his ideas of the conftitution of 302 MEMOIRS or of true Poetry. His firft fpeech, " I am " only a flower-painter, or occafionally " attempt a landfcape," is neither true, nor did Dr. Darwin defire that it fhould be confidered as veritable. In the courfe of this Interlude he will be found making much higher claims for himfelf, and too exclufively limiting poetry to the fphere of picturefque expreffion ; yet his criticifm on this line in Pope's Windfor Foreft is perfectly juft, And Kennet fwift, for filver Eels renown'd. Since, whenever objects are introduced in verfe, which, plainly mentioned, can excite no intereft, it is queflionlefs the Poet's duty to awaken interesting remem- brance of them by little piclurefque touches, fuch as we find in the Doctor's fuggefted change of that line, to And Kennet fwift, where filver graylings play. His ftriclure upon Burke's ftyle in profe, as . DR. DARWIN. 303 as much too ornamented, has furely little juftice. Eloquence can only be produced by a ftricl union of ftrength and ornament. The Corinthian pillar is not lefs ftable than the Doric ; not lefs firm on account of it's flowers. Dr. Darwin here feems to wifh that profe mould be precluded by it's plainnefs from Hiing into eloquence. He wifhed to keep profe too plain, and his warm- eil admirers will furely acknowledge that he infifts upon poetry being drefled with too elaborate magnificence. We find him in this Interlude s very ingenious on the fub- jecT: of allegoric figures,, alfo on that of dreams, and in his comparifon of them t@ the reveries which the true Poet excites in his intelligent readers; but he is greatly indeed miftaken when he reprefents tfye art of exciting fuch rapt and abftrafted fen- fations as folely confifting in pi<flurefque writing. Inftrudion, pathos, all the gran- deur and beauty of moral and religious fentiment, 304 METMOI1RS OF ientiment, are here turned over to the profe writer, as if they were not equally capable of giving fafcinating power to verfe, as well as to oratory. The follow- ing paffages are not piclurefque ; but no pi&ures ever prefented by the rrmfes, are more potent to imprefs, thrill, and capti- vate that mind which is alive to the magic influence of their art : Some fay, that, ever 'gainft the feafon comes At which our Savior's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning fingeth all night long; And then, they fay, no fpirit walks abroad; The nights are wholefome ; then no planets firike, No fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and fo gracious is the time! HAMLET. I fled, and cried out Death j Hell trembled at the hideous name, and figh'd Through all her caves, and back refounded Death MILTON, if prayers Could alter high decrees, I to heaven's throne Would fpeed before thee, aad be louder heard That DR. DARWIN. 305 That on my head all might be vifited. Thy frailty and infirmer fex forgiven, By me committed, and by me expos'd. MILTON. Remember March ! the ides of March remember ! Did not great Julius bleed for juftice' fake ? What villain touch' d his body, that did flab, And not for juftice ? What ! fhall one of us, That ft ruck the foremoft man in all the world But for fupporting robbers, fhall we now Contaminate our fingers with bafe bribes, And fell the mighty fpace of our large honors For as much tram as may be grafped thus ? I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, Than fuch a Roman. JULIUS CJESAR. Plac'd on this ifthmus of a middle ftate, A Being darkly wife and rudely great j With too much knowledge for the Sceptic fide, With too much weaknefs for the Stoic's pride, He hangs between, in doubt to act or reft, In doubt to deem himfelf a god or beaft 5 In doubt his mind or body to prefer, Born but to die, and reafoning but to err ; Sole judge of truth, in endlefs error hurl'd, The glory,, jeft, and riddle of the world. POPS, on the Conftru&ion of Man, x Not 306 MEMOIRS OF Not e'en a fpot unfought the hero gave, No ! till his foes had earn'd it, not a grave ! WESLEY, of King William the Third, Reflect, that leflen'd fame is ne'er regain'd, That virgin honor once is always ftain'd ! Timely advis'd the growing danger fliun, Better not do the deed than weep it done ! No penance can abfolve a guilty flame, Nor tears, that walh out fin, can wafh out fhame. HENRY AND EMMA. Methought I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more ! Macbeth doth murder fleep ! the innocent lleep \ Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd fleeve of care, The death of each day's grief, fore labour's bath, Balm of hurt minds, chief nourimer in life's feaft 1 Still it cried, Sleep no more, to all the houfe, 'Glamis hath murder'd lleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall fleep no more, Macbeth mall fleep no more! Who will call thefc paflages profaic ? Who are they that will not confefs them to be poetry, -and fuch poetry as requires no aid from picture to eftahliih it's claims ? Perhaps DR. DARWIN. 307 Perhaps Dr. Darwin would not have deem- ed them fufficiently adorned, fince all there is to the heart and nothing to the eye. To be coniiftent with the criticifm of this his Interlude, he muft have aflerted their de- ficiency, and thus have proved that, while his imagination was fo richly exuberant ; while fublimity, as well as beauty, attended the commanding march of his Mufe, there was a radical defect in his poetic lyftem, which would for ever have incapacitated him from being a firft-rate Epic or Dra- matic w 7 riter ; but as nature hovered over the cradle of Shakefpear, and gave him her golden keys, to unlock the gates of the Paffions, fo did Imagination over that of Dr. Darwin, and put into his grafp her magic wand, and fpread over his form her every-coloured robe. SECOND CANTO. Again the Goddefs (hikes the golden lyre, And tunes to wilder notes the warbling wire, x 2 With MEMOIRS OF With foft, fufpended Hep Attention moves, And Silence hovers o'er the liftening groves. The fecond line of the paflage is too alli- terative, and therefore palls upon the ear. Alliteration is an edge tool in the Poet's hand, improving or injuring his verfe, as it is judicioufly or injudicioufly ufed. Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Spenfer, Milton, and all the beft poets, have employed it to admirable cffeft ; and to admirable effecl has Dr. Dar- win frequently employed it, though not in this inftance. It often increafes, and fome- times entirely constitutes, that power which, by a metaphoric expreffion that literal terms would neither fo concifely nor fo well explain, is called pi&urefque found. To increafe the harmony of verfe, allitera- tion muft be \vith the vowels, the liquid letter /, or by the fonorous letters m and n, and even with them it's too frequent ufe in a poem, or too lavifli repetition in a fingle line or couplet, will injure what it is defigned 7 to DR DARWIN. 3O9 to improve, as in the above fecond line of this fecond Canto. Dryden, in his noble Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, has alli- terated with the hiffing f, in two lines, which he meant fhould be peculiarly mufical ; thus, Softly fweet in Lydian raeafures Soon he footh'd the foul to pleafures. A foreign ear would not endure the lines, which, however lively, are certainly not tender, not harmonious ; yet the^ and all the harfher confonants, are capable of producing, by fkilful application, that " echo of found to fenfe," which is fo eminently defirable in poetry. When Mil- ton obferves in the Paradife Loft, So talk'd the fpirited fly fnake, the line attains, folely by alliteration, the perfect hifs of the ferpent ; and Pope, in his Homer, by a mafterly intermixture of the vowels and the fonorous confonants x 3 with 310 MEMOIRS OP with his alliteration of the letter^ has nobly conveyed to our ear the peculiar noifc of the ocean- waves when they are loud on the beach ; thus, t Silent he wander'd by the founding main. The murmur of a calm fea has been well exprefled by the alliteration of the follow- ing line : Slow on the damp and fhelly (bore (lie flray'd. There is fomewhere a line, in which a poetafter, mentioning the violet, fays, Where blue it blooms with balmy breath. He thought he had hammered out an im- menfely fine verfe, though in facl it is to the ear no whit more agreeable than, Three blue beans in one blue bladder. The letters b and p make miferable alli- teration. Milton has ufed the harm letter r, to very fine efFecl in the following lines : Vex'd DR. DARWIN. 311 Vex'd Scylla, bathing in the fea that parts Calabria from the hoarfe Trinacrian ftiore. Dr. Beattie, in his charming Minftrel, has fo ufed alliteration as to produce two of the moft harmonious verfes in our language. Young Edwin, lighted by the evening ftar, Lingering and liftening, wander'd down the vale. This digreffion into general criticifm will not be thought irrelevant to the peculiar theme of tbefe pages, when it is confidered that, for the prefumption of cenfuring, even in one inftance, the eminently harmonious numbers of the Botanic Garden, it was requifite to juftify fuch cenfure by examin- ing the ufe or abufe of that habit of ftyle, which ftrengthens or enfeebles, adorns or mifbecomes the verfe, as the good or bad tafte of the writer fliall direft it's appli- cation. Churchill has ridiculed alliteration in a line of fingular felicity, for an unworthy x 4 purpofe, MEMOIRS OF purpofe, a fatirical paffage on the beautiful poetry of Mafon ; thus, . I, who never pray'd For apt alliteration's artful aid. But the ridicule intended for the fwect Swan of the Humber, falls equally on the elder claffics of Greece, Rome, and England. The firft transformation of this fecond Canto is the Carline Thiftle. We learn, from a note on the paffage, that it's feeds are furnifhed with a plume, by which they are borne through the air. Carlina, in human fhape, is reprefented as fabricating Dasdalion wings for herfelf and offspring, with moft ingeniously defcribed mechanifm, and with happier fuccefs than thofe of the renowned mechanic in ancient fable. And now fucceeds, in happy fimilitude, a balloon-voyage, exacT: and accurate to the circumftances of aerial journeying in the firft inftance, and fublime in the imagi- native DR. DARWIN. 313 native part, the aftronomic allufions : they are thus given : Rife, great Mongolfier! urge thy venturous fligh* High o'er the moon's pale, ice-reflected light ; High o'er the pearly ftar, whofe beamy horn Hangs in the eaft, gay harbinger of morn $ -Leave the red eye of Mars on rapid wing, Jove's iilver guards, and Saturn's dufky ringj Leave the fair beams, that, ifluing from afar, Play, with new lurtre, round the Georgian ftar; Shun, with ftrcng oars, the fun's attractive throne, The fparkling zodiac, and the milky zone, "Where headlong comets, with increafing force, Through other fyflems bend their blazing courfe \ For thee Caffiope her chair withdraws, For thee the Bear retrads his lhaggy paws. High o'er the north thy golden orb (hall roll, And blaze eternal round the wondering pole. So Argo, rifing from the fouthern main, Lights with new fiars the blue, etherial plain ; With favoring beams the mariner protects, And the bold courfe, which firft it fteer'd, dire&s. So beautifully does this high priefl of Fancy choofe to conftellate the firft ad- yenturous Aeronaut. In MEMO-IRS.OF In the animation of Linum Flax we are prefented with the exa6teft-poffible defcription of the machinery, and the art of weaving ; and in that of Goffipiam, Cotton Plant, the late Sir Richard Ark- wright's apparatus at Matlock, with the whole progrefs of it's operations, is brought distinctly before the eye, recalling them to thofe by whom they have been examined, and inftructing in their progrefs thofe who never beheld them. So, in the perfonification of Cyperus Papyrus, under the name of Papyra, ano- ther art, that of printing, pafles before us with equal precision. The leaves of this plant were firft ufed in Egypt for paper, and gave the name, which it retains to this day ; fo, leaf, or folium, for the fold of a book. We have here, in fweet verfifica- tion, the whole procefs of that ineftimable invention, which paints thoughts, founds, and numbers, in myilic and imperilhable characters ; DR. DARWIN. 315 characters; imperifhable, at leaft, during the reign of Time. Yes, it was the en- couragement given by that art to the fci- ences, which enabled this Bard to throw over them all his fplendid robe of defcrip- tive poefy. The venerable and celebrated Mrs. Delany, fometime deceafed, and her miraculous Hortus Siccus, are here intro- duced as a fimile to Papyra ; but defcrib- ing a totally different art from hers, even that of a mere artificial flower- maker, this fimile, which bears fb little refemblance to writing and printing, forms one of the moft cenfurable paflages in the whole poem. Mrs.Delany, in her reprefentation of plants and flowers, native and exotic, and w r hich fill ten immenfe folio volumes, ufed nei- ther the wax, mofs, or wire, attributed to her in this entirely falfe defcription of her art. She employed no material but paper, which flie herfelf, from her knowledge of chemiftry, was enabled to dye of all hues, and MEMOIRS OF and in every fhade of each ; no implement but her fcifibrs, not once her pencil ; yefc never did painting prefent a more exacl reprefentation of flowers of every colour, fize, and cultivation, from the fimple hedge ajid field-flower, to the moft complicated foliage that Horticulture has multiplied. This lady, once Mrs. Pendarvis, the friend and correfpondent of Swift, and in her later years honored by the friendfhip and frequent viilts at Windfor, of the King, Queen, and Princefles, began this her af- tonifhing felf-invented work at the age of feventy-four. The Poet here mifreprefents her as being affifted by her virgin train. She had no afliftant ; no hands, but her own, formed one leaf or flower of the ten vo- lumes. Her family were mortified by a defcription which they juftly thought de- graded her peculiar art; and remonftrated with Dr. Darwin on the occafion, exprefl*- ing a wifh that future editions might con- tain DR. DARWIN. 317 tain it's more juft pilure on his poetic page. He faid, the defcription in the note was accurate ; but that truth in this, as in many other inftances, being lefs favourable to poetry than ficlion, he did not chofe to alter the text. The Lepfana, the Nymphea alba, and the Calendula, whofe flowers, as do many other flowers, open and fhut at certain hours of the rifing and declining day, are transformed into elegant female watch- makers. Linneus calls the forty-fix flow- ers of this order, the Horologe, orWatch of Flora. This transformation involves an highly poetic defcription of the art that traces the march of Time. The progreffivc mechanifm which completes a watch, is traced with accuracy, and, in the men- tion of it's ornamental trophies, we meet iublime imagery; fuch as Time dafhing Superftition from it's baft, and the Hours leading their trains around the wreck ; but die 318 MEMOIRS Of the Moments are imperfonized with too much quaint prettinefs. The whole of this imagery is an imitation, as indeed the Author afterwards acknowledges, of the fol- lowing paffage in Young's Night Thoughts, Each Moment has it's fickle, emulous Of Time's enormous fey the, whofe ample fweep Strikes empires from the root; each Moment plies His little weapon in the narrower fphere Of fweet domeftic comfort, and cuts do&n Our faireft blooms of fublunary blifs. The Hours leading their trains around the wrecks their parent had made, and planting amidft them the growth of fci- ence and tafte, is an original and beautiful addition in Dr. Darwin's imitative paflage. The Moments are obnoxious to his own criticifm in the firft Interlude ; they be- come unpleafing from being too diftinftly defcribed, with their kifles and their baby hands. Perhaps the perfonified Moments are not lefs diftinclly pourtrayed in the above DR, BARWIN. 319 above paffage from the Night Thoughts ; but there, a penfive interesting morality cafts over them a foftening veil ; while their gayer appearance and employment on the Darwinian page, brings them into glaring, and perhaps almoft ludicrous view. That unpleailng change, which takes place in the Helleborus after impreg- nation, produces, in it's metamorphofis, a fair nymph, fuddenly fmitten by a loath- fome diftemper, which utterly deftroys her charms. An odd comparifon enfues, the fuppofed aclual transformation of Nebu- chadnezzar into a beaft ; whereas the" Scripture only fays, that he dwelt with the beafts of the field, and took their prone habits. His imputed change into their Jhape is ingenioufly, but fomewhat ludi- croufly painted ; and we are apt to fancy the Euphrates flandered in thefe lines, which finely defcribe a river of fluggim and fullied current : Lolls 32O MEMOIRS O? Lolls his red tongue, and from the reedy fide Of flow Euphrates laps the muddy tide. That harmonioufly-named river of the Eaft, has too long rolled through our ima- gination in beautiful and lucid currents, for us to like this reverfe picture of it's ftreams. One of our poets, probably Mil- ton, has fomewhere faid, . and by the verdant fide Of palmy Euphrates. At laft, fince the {Ituation of Babylon was certainly flat and marfhy, Dr. Darwin is probably corre<fl in this inftance, how- ever obftinately our /enfations may refufe to grant that one of the rivers which en- circled Paradife can deferve to be fo de- fcribed; but there, as it was nearer it's fource in the mountain Niphates, it would certainly be more pure ; befides, that it may be fuppofed to have become polluted by DR. DARWIN. 321 by it's progrefs through lefs hallowed earth* The laft line of the Nebuchadnezzar-tranf- formation is burlefque, by reafon of the epithet pendant ** Nor Flattery's felf can pierce his pendant ears. And the alliterating p makes the found of the line difpleafing as is the image it conveys. The Menifpernum, Indian-berry, which intoxicates fifh, being of the clafs two fe- males, twelve males, here affumes the form of two Sifter Nymphs, fcatteririg their inebriating berries on the waters* The Popifh legend of St. Anthony preach- ing' to the fiih, and converting them to Chriftianity, forms the whimfical and not very pleating illuftration. It's language violates the third commandment deplor- ably. The Papaver, Poppy, becomes a drowfy Enchantrefs of malignant operation ; but Y her OP her fomnifcrous palace is defcribed in thefe lovely numbers : Sopha'd on filk, amid her charm-built towers, Her meads of afphodel, and amaranth bowers, Where Sleep and Silence guard the foft abodes, In fullen apathy, Tapaver nods. Faint o'er her couch, in fcintillating ftreams, Fafs the light forms of Fancy and of Dreams. Her enchantments are poetically given from old Tales of the Genii, and fhe i? compared to Hermes driving the Ghofts to the ihores of Erebus ; and again his em- ployment to the drawings of Mifs Emma Crew, a compliment of very forced intro- duction. The Ciftus, a plant whofe tranfient, but plenteous Sowers expand in fucceffion on the firfl warmth of May, becomes a Nymph, who calls her train to choir the birth of that month. She is obeyed, and a very exquifite fong enfues, in which the altered meafure relieves the ear. Without any DR. DARWIN. 323 any perceivable chain of thought, the fud- den death of the fair Cifta, ferves to ufher in a fine piture of an hoar-froft landfcape, diflblving inftantaneoufly beneath a change of keen to foft wind, accompanied by the emerging fun. Cinchona, Peruvian bark tree, paffes before us as a Peruvian Maid, on her way to the altar, which, in Quito, me had raifed to the goddefs Hygeia, and of which Ihe is the adminiftrant prieftefs. Her progrefs thither, and her ceremonies at the ihrine, and her prayer to the Goddefs, are beauti- ful ; the perfonified Difeafes fublime, par- ticularly Ague. The accidental manner, in which, it is well known, the medicinal virtues of the bark were firft difcovered, is here conveyed to the reader with the hap- pieft ingenuity, as a dictate of Hygeia to her Prieftefs, in anfwer to the prayer. Cinchona is commanded to yield her fa- cred forefts to the axe, and to ftrew their f z bitter 24 MEMOIRS OP bitter foliage on the rivers. She obeys ; her lovers fell the trees, and impregnate the waters with the leaves, while pale infe&ed fquadrons kneel on the margin, and health and bloom return as they drink. All this forms a complete and charming little drama. It needed no illustration, but it has a very ferious one, that of Mofes in the Wilderncfs, ftriking the rock, " fo that " the waters flowed out." To the bark-metamorphofis fucceeds that of the Digitalis, Fox-glove, of whofc now experienced, though not infallible vir- tue, in dropfical cafes, Dr. Darwin claims the iirft difcovery. The bloated and cada- verous form of Dropfy appears, and his un- quenchable thirft is compared to that of Tantalus in thefe four admirable lines: So bends tormented Tantalus to drink, While frgm his lips the refluent waters (brink ; Again the riling ft ream his bofom laves, Aud thirft confumes him 'mid circumfluent waves. Hygeia DR, DARWIN. 325 Hygeia affumes the form of Digitalis; waves over the difeafed her ferpent- wreathed wand, " and charms the ihapelefs monfter '' into man." To her is compared the good Bifliop of Marfeilles, when the plague raged in that city; alfo the generous and aclive Mayor of London, when London was under firm- 3ar vifitation. From him the Poet fiides into a moft animated contemplation of the great Howard's virtue, and afferts that the rays of philan trophy Dart round the globe from Zembla to the Line 5 O'er each dark prifon plays the cheering light, As northern luftres o'er the vault of night j From realm to realm, by crofs or crefcent crown'd, Where'er mankind and mifery are found, O'er burning fancis, deep waves, or wilds of fnow, Thy Howard, journeying, feeks the houfe of woe; Down many a winding ftep to dungeons dank, Where anguifh wails, and galling fetters clank; To caves beftrew'd with many a mouldering bone, And cells, whole echoes only learn to groan j Where no kind bars a wbifpering friend diiclofe, Ko fun-beam enters, and no zephyr blows, He 326 MEMOIRS OF He treads inemulous of fame 6r wealth, Profufe of toil, and prodigal of health ; With foft perfuafive eloquence expands Power's rigid heart, and opes his clenching handsj Leads ftern-ey'd Juftice to the dark domains, If not to fever, to relax the chains j Or guides awaken'd Mercy through the gloom, And (hows the prifon fitter to the tomb ; Gives to her babes the felf-devoted wife, To her fond huiband, liberty and life ! The fpirits of the good, who bend from high, Wide o'er thefe earthly fcenes* their partial eye, When firft, array 'd in Virtues pure>ft robe, They faw her Howard traverfing the globe j Saw round his brow the fun-bright glory blaze In arrowy circles of unwearied rays, Miftook a mortal for an angel gueft, And alk'd what feraph-foot the earth imp reft. Onward he moves, Difeafe and Death retire, And murmuring Demons hate him, and admire. If praife for a fmgle verbal beauty may not degrade the exalted merit of the above quotation, the biographer would obferve that it's word inemulous has a fvveet effect, \ and that, flie believes, it is there in firft coinage. DR, DARWIN. 327 coinage. Unambitious, the word in com- mon ufe for that meaning, is comparatively hard and cumbrous in verfe. This citation conftitutes far the fublim- eft eulogy by which Poetry has immortal- ized the matchlefs Howard, Mr. Hayley's noble Ode alone excepted. That was the earlieft tribute to his high worth, and it is admirable in a degree which only Darwin has equalled, and which perhaps no Poet can excel. The Gnomes now fufpend the again iilent lyre on the ftrine of Hygeia ; the Sylphs flacken the firings, and catch the rain-drops on their fhadowy pinions, while a Naiad prepares the tea-urn. The lad Canto clofed with a Ihower. That it ihould rain alfo in the termination of this, is a famenefs which furprifes us from an imagination fo various. Then furclj there is too flrong a contrail between the folernn and dignified praife of Howard, imrnedi- y 4 ately 328 MEMOIRS OP ately preceding, and the light and frolic idea which places a Mufe, the recent Hif- torian of virtue fo truly great, at the tea- table ! It is out of keeping, as the painters fay. We meet ingenious and juft criticifm in the Interlude to this fecond Canto. Aware of the frequent want of evident refem- blance between his fubjeds and their fimi- lies, Dr. Darwin fhelters himfelf under the authority of Homer, which perhaps will not entirely fecure his practice from cen- fure ; fmce, if Homer's fimilies do not often touch the object with which they are com- pared, at all points, yet are they never fo utterly without connexion with it, as feveral which may be found in this poem. That a poetic fimile mould not be precife in it's refemblance is certain, at leaft that it is the more fublime, or more beautiful, for not quadrating exactly ; yet it ought to poffefs fuch a degree of affinity with the fubjea, R. DARWIN. 329 fubjcct, that when the theme and \Cs illuftration are viewed together, we may feel, though we cannot verbally demoii- ftrate the perfect juftnefs of the fimilitude. Thus, in general, are the families of Homer conftructed, and thus Milton's, feveral of which, in the Paradife Loft, are grander than moft of thofe in the Iliad and Odyfley. A deceafed modern Poet has given one of extreme beauty, which, from it's aptnefs without precifion, bears exactly that relation to the object it illuftrates which a poetic firnile ought to bear. There is no obvious connexion between our idea of youthful beauty, paled and fhadowed over by death, and a vernal day- fpring, which rifes cold and rainy : Her face was like an April morn Clad iu a wintry cloud: yet when Poetry connects them, we are immediately fenfible of their interefting affinity. 330 MEMOIRS OF affinity. Death itfelf cannot at firft conceal, however it may fhroud the traits of youth, and of what once was lovelinefs ; neither ean the dull iky and nipping wind prevent our perceiving the youth of the year, when April has put forth her frefh grafs and rerdant fprays. In the courfe of Dr. Darwin's fecond Interlude, there is fine difcrimination be- tween the tragic and the difguftingly hor- rid; and his cenfiire of the painters for their frequent choice of difagreeable fub- jefts for their pencil, fiich as torture and carnage, is perfectly juft. THIRD CANTO. From the penfive graces of this exor- dium refult extended ground of cenfure for the undignified fituation of the Mufe at the clofe of the fecond Canto ; /mce her modern Tea-table is here converted into a grafly throne, bedewed with tears, around which DR. DARWIN. 331 \vhich float the thin forms of Sorrows and Apprehenfions, of Sighs whifpering to the chords of her lyre, and Indignations, half unfheathing their fvvords. Thefe fame Indignations are new allegoric perfonages, and may be of dubious welcome. The Paffions, with fuoords by their fides, form imagery which is liable to give a ludicrous impreffion ; yet we fhould remember, that Milton puts a fword into the hand of the archangel, Michael, in the 6th book of the Paradife Loft, and Pope into that of a Ghoft in his Elegy to the Memory of an unfor- tunate Lady ; but Milton gives the weapon dignity by inverting it with flames, on the authority of Scripture, and Pope foftens off the literality by it's imputed indiftincT:- nefs, and by the epithet vtfionary. " VV'hy " dimly gleams the vifionary fword ?" Circea, Enchanter's Nightihade, is the firft transformation in this Canto. We learn from the note to the paflage, that it MEMOIRS OF it grows among the mouldering bones and decayed coffins of Sleaford Church, I^icolniliire, and that it was celebrated in the myfteries of witchcraft, and for the purpofe of raifmg the devil. As the Tremella is the moft beautiful, fo is Circea the fublimeft transformation of the four Cantos. Her marriage with the two Fiends ; it's portentous figns which precede the fatanic nuptials ; the fcream- ing bats, the owls, and the dog of midnight howling the epithalamium ; the burfting ground ; the afcending Demons ; their pro- grefs with the grim Bride to the violated temple ; thofe fhapelefs fpeclres, which, by glimpfes of the moon through the co- loured glafs, are feen to quiver on the walls, as Circea and her horrid bridegrooms pafs along the ailes, that difmally echo their fteps ; the unbleffed wine with which they pollute the chalice ; their hideous laugh which DR. DARWIN. which difturbs the filence of the choir ; and the impious mummery of the nuptial rites; all thefe circurnftances were conceived, and are expreffed with prodigious ftrength of fancy. The Laura- cerafus, twenty males, one female, appears next, as the Pythian prieft- efs * delivering her oracles. This is her grand portrait : A vaunt ye vulgar ! from her facred groves, With maniac tfep, the Pythian Laura moves 5 Full of the God her labouring bofom fighs, Foam on her lips, and fury in her eyes, Strong writhe her limbs j her wild difhevell'd hair Starts from her laurel wreath, and fwims in air, While twenty prietfs the gorgeous Ihrine furround, Cin&ur'd with ephods and with garlands crown'd, Contending holts, and trembling nations wait The firm immutable behefts of fate ; She fpeaks in thunder from her golden throne, With words unwill'd, and wifdom not her own. * The Pythian prieftefs is fuppbfed to have been made drunk with the infufion of laurel leaves, when fhe delivered her oracle*. The intoxicatior. or inspiration, is finely defcribed by Virgil. ? To MEMOIRS OF. To the Pythian Laura is compared the diftrefs of a beautiful nymph in flumber^ beneath the influence of the night- mare. It is a poetic picture after Fufeli. The fquab and grinning Fiend, as he fits on the bofbm of the fleeping Maid, and his moon- eyed mare, looking in through the bed- curtains, are pictures of ludicrous horror. They are drawn with rival ftrength by the Poet and Painter ; and are contracted by the lovely form of the agitated ilumberer ; but tliefocciffion of her convulfive appear- ances which the Poet brings to the eye, affords another inftance of the fuperior power of the pen to that of the pencil, when each are directed by the impulfe of true genius. The perfonification of the Indian fig- tree is made a vehicle of introduction for the fcenery of Dovedale and Ham, the cave of Thor, the Saxon God, and all the fan- guinary -fublimities of his dru^dical rites. The BR.. DARWltf. 33J The only connexion between the fubjc& and it's illuftration is, that " each branch " of the large fig-tree of India, emits a " flender, flexile, depending appendage " from it's fummit, like a cord, and which " roots into the earth, and rifes again ; " and the Hamps arid Manifold, rivers of " the Dovedale vicinity, in their courfe " over a romantic moor, fink fuddenly " into the earth, and rife again in Ham " gardens, after their fubterranean pafTage " of three miles." Impatiens, Touch-me-not, from the pe- culiar nature of the plant, and the elaftic motion by which it throws it's feeds to a great diftance, has, in it's transformation, fufficient affinity to the ftory of Medea, here introduced as it's fimile. Nowhere is that ftriking poetic legend fo finely told. The paffions of jealoufy and defpair, ex- cited by the mercenary ingratitude of Jafbn, are here painted in their ftrongeft colours, rifmg MEMOIRS OP rifmg in power and force, till the dire filiacide clofes the epifode. Thofe eleclrical properties of the Die- tamnus, Fraxinella, aflerted by Dr. Darwin as having witnefled them in the ftill fum- mer nights after long draught, induces him to transform her alfo into an enchantrefs, and the hour and feafon in which me cele- brates her magical rites, is thus fweetly fpecified : What time the Eve her gauze pellucid fprcads O'er the dim flowers, and veils the mifty meads, Slow o'er the twilight fands and leafy walks, In gloomy dignity, Di&amna ftalks. The deleterious tree, the Mancinelia : the Urtica, Englim nettle, and the Lobelia longiflora, a deadly plant of the Weft In- dies, form a continuation of Enchant reflcs. and their metamorphofe is attended by ftill darker traits of demonifm. As the firft and laft of thefe three vegetables have life-de- ftroying properties, and the Englim nettle only inflicts a ilight and tranfient pain, ih<: ought DR. DARWIN. 337 ought not to have appeared in fuch com- pany. Her comparative infignificance is that of a wafp between a cobracapella and a rattle-make. The ruins of Palmira are described as a fimile to the mifchiefs of the four preceding witches, but why or where- fore defies all poetic guefs; however, the fault of utter inconneclion is atoned by the grandeur of this fombre pi<flure. To that fucceeds the embrutality of the Upas Tree, now fuppofed to be of fabulous exiftence. It is preceded by a beautiful landfcape of the Ifle of Java, in the centre of which this dreadful tree was aflerted to have flood. The feas of glafs, the noble rocks, the ever-fummered gales, and the fylvan graces which zone that large ifland, form an exquifite contraft in this paflage, to the defolation round the Hydra Tree of Death, as it's author fublimely calls it. The Upas Tree becomes a terrific monfter under the wand of our potent magician. The z enormous 338 MEMOIRS OF enormous dragon is grand, with his un- numbered heads extending over ten fquarc leagues, and with many infant ferpents growing out of him, like thofe of Sin in the Paradiie Loft ; a dragon, that Looks o'er the clouds, and hiffes in the florin. Into a monfter the Upas muft be made. This Poet's fyftem of vegetable animality would not permit it to remain in that fo much more impreffive though quieter horror, with which it is defcribed in the Dutch furgeon's narrative. A lonely tree by the fide of a rivulet, in a barren and (tony valley, circled round by vail and Iterile mountains; no tree but itfelf! no hedge! no blade of grafs ! no wing of bird ! no- thing that breathes to difturb the dreadful iilence ! dead bodies fcattered about the wafte in every various ftage of putridity ; and the tree itfelf exhaling a viiible and poifonous vapor, inftantly fatal to every living DR. DARWIN. 239 living thing which breathes the air it taints within a diameter of fifteen miles! what furious dragon, even from the pen of Dr. Darwin, but lofes it's terrors before this ftill, this ghaftly defolation ! The profe narration, taken from the London Magazine, is inferted in the clofe of the additional notes to the Loves of the Plants. It has fuch an air of fimple ve- racity, that we do violence to our feelings when, on reflection, we refufe to give it credit. The gum of this tree is there afferted to be of high price, and ufed to envenom the Indian arrows; that it is procured by Criminals under fentence of death, who redeem their lives if they can bring from the Upas a box of it's gum ; an experiment of immenfe hazard, fince the poffibility of returning depends upon the perpetually veering winds blowing a fteady gale towards the tree as the delin- quent approaches it, in a progrefs of at z 2, leaft 340 MEMOIRS OF leaft fifteen miles. The feldomnefs with which that happens, and the frequency of the attempt, ftrew the circumjacent plains with the dead. Faith in this won- derful tale has melted away in fubfequent inquiry. Many have faid that Dr. Darwin certainly believed the > account. He cer- tainly writes as if he believed it ; yet that was but to ferve a poetic purpofe; credulity was not one of his propenfities. The Orchis Morio, the parent root of which fhrivels' up and dies as the young one increafes, is transformed into a fond mother, nurfing her infant at the expence of her own health and life. This ani- mation is fliort, and, compared to many of the others, has little intereft ; but it's two illuftrations have every intereft, and the fecond forms a very fweet and mournful epifode. The firft is a lovely picSure of a wounded deer, efcaping from her ambufhcd archer, and flying, with her fawn, to the w r oodlands, DR. DARWIN. 341 woodlands, over plains fpotted with her blood ; and, amid thick fhades, hanging over her young, and weeping her life away. Then, in fucceffive fimile, comes the thrice interefling ftory. An Officer's Wife with her infants, watching,- from a near hill, the battle of Minden, in which her hufband was engaged, is mortally wounded by a random fliot. We find this incident related with fo much pathos as almoft to diffipate the apprehenfion, that Dr. Dar- win's rage for the pi&urefcjue would, in a fubjecT: of genuine intereft for the human paffions, have proved deftruclive to his powers of awakening them. The mourn- ful truth of one line in this epifode ought to fink deep in every human heart, viz. The angel Pity fhuns the walks of War. Truly honourable is it to the Poets of this reign, that the beft of thecn have never ftimulated, but, on the contrary, have z 3 cndea- 342 MEMOIRS Of endeavoured to meliorate and abate that belligerent fpirit, always injurious to the true intereft of this country, and fruitful in the extreme of human mifery. A fpirit, by which Britain looks over the Atlantic, )p fhorn of her continental beams ; a fpirit, to whofe unwarned and perfifting violence in later years, the lives of the foldiery, and the comforts of millions of families, were lavilhed in defiance of the Gofpel, which preaches peace on earth, and good-will towards men. But to return to the epifode ; the lifp^ ing boy, on his father's approach. Speak low, he cries, and gives his little hand j Eliza fleeps upon the dew-cold fand j Poor weeping babe, with bloody fingers prefs'd, And tried, with pouting lips, the milklefs breaft. Alas ! we both with cold and hunger quake, Why do you weep ? Mamma will foon awake ! She'll wake no more ! the haplefs mourner faid ! Nothing can be more natural and more affecting than the ideas in this fpeech of the DR. DARWIN. v 343 the child, only that dew-cold and milkkfs are not infantine expreffions. The Cufcuta, Dodder, four males two females. It does not root itfelf in the earth, but afcends the vegetables in it's neighbourhood, and ultimately deflroys the plant on which it had grown to ma- turity. In this fyftem of animality it is reprefented as two treacherous coquets, fmiling to betray ; and, from the circum- ftance of the plant twining round the fhrub or tree, which it finally kills, the ungrateful beauties are compared to the ferpents, which ftrangled Lac-Toon and his fons. That ftory here forms a faithful poetic picture of the celebrated ftatue. In the transformation of the Vine into a Bacchanalian Female,the Doctor introduces, and enforces his juft and favorite fyftem, of confidering the free ufe of vinous fluid, in all it's ftages, as the fource of our mofl fatal chronic difeafes. They are very z 4 poetically 344 MEMOIRS OF poetically imperfonifed as they hover round the fedudive nymph, Vitis, while Chemia mingles poifon in her bowl. This, fell group is admirably illuftrated by an image of Prometheus chained to a rock, with a vulture devouring his liver. The many diforders of the liver, fo torturing and fo fatal, which ebriety caufes, are nobly allegorized in this fable of him, who is reprefented as being thus punilhed for hav- ing ftolen fire from heaven. Dr. Darwin's note to this paffages deferves to be engraven on every man's memory, fince it is the atteftation of a great Phyfician, founded on an extenfive - practice of nearly half a century. The Cyclamen, Shewbread or Sowbread, which, " when it's feeds are ripe, gradually " twifts it's ftalk fpirally downward, till it " touches the earth, and there inferts it's " offspring," is changed into a tender matron, refigning her departed infants to the DR. DARWIN. 345 the grave, and breathing a pious hope of their refurre&ion. The fimile on this oc- fion is perhaps the fublimeft paflage in the whole work ; it's real, and, in former ages, often exifting horrors, tranfcend in ftrength all Imagination has formed, or can form, with her train of fpedres, witches, and demons : So when the Plague, o'er London's gafping crowds. Shook her dank wing, and fteer'd her murky clouds j When o'er the friendlefs bier no rites were read, No dirge {low chanted, and no pall outfpread j While Death and Night pil'd up the naked throng, And Silence drove their ebon cars along, Six * lovely daughters, and their father, fwept To the throng'd grave, Cleone faw, and wept. Her tender mind, with meek religion fraught, Prank, all-refign'd, Affliction's bitter draught j * During the laft great plague in London, one pit, to receive the dead, was dug in the Charter Houfe, forty feet long, fixteen feet wide, and twenty feet deep, and in two weeks received 1114 bodies. During this dire calamity there were inftances of mothers carrying their own children to thofe public graves ; arid of people delirious, or in defpair for the lofs of friends, who threw themfelves alive into thefe pits. See Journal of the Plague in 1665, printed for E. Nutt, Royal Ex- change. Alive, 346 MEMOIRS OF Alive, and liftening to the whifper'd groan Of other's woes, unmindful of her own. One fmiling boy, her laft fweet hope, flic warms, Hufh'd on her bofom, cradled in her arms. Paughter of woe ! ere morn, in vain carefs'd, CJung the cold babe upon thy milklefs breaftj With feeble cries thy lafl fad aid requir'd, Stretch'd it's fliff limbs, and on thy lap expir'd ! Long, with wide eye-lids, on her child fhe gaz'd, And long to heav'n their tearlefs orbs (he rais'd ; Then, with quick foot and throbbing heart, Ihe found Where Chartreufe open'd deep his holy ground j Bore her laft treafure through the midnight gloom, And kneeling dropp'd it in the mighty tomb. " I follow next !" the frantic mourner faid, ,And living plung'd amid the fettering dead. It appears to the author of this memoir, that, in the above folemn, great, and im- preffive epifode, only two words, an epithet and it's fubftantive, " ebon cars," could be changed to advantage. Ebony has a gloffy and polifhed black, and is therefore of un- fuitable refemblance to that vehicle of hor- ror. Then amid the dreadful truths of the defcription, DR. DARWIN. 347 defcription, the dead cart fliould have been called by it's fimple name ; car, has g. fine triumphant found, which fomewhat dif- turbs the awful horror of the impreffion. Surely the vehicle without nominal alter- ation, and with a ftronger epithet prefixed, that fliould not fpecify it's complexion, would be better, While Death and Night pil'd up the naked throng. And Siknce drove their ghaftly carts along. From the banks of the Ontario we have the Caffia. It is one of thofe American fruits which are annually thrown on the coaft of Norway, in wonderful emigration. Dr. Darwin accounts for it by a fuppofed ex- iftence of under currents in the depth of the ocean, or from vortexes of water paff- ing from one country to another through caverns of the earth. The Caffia, ten males one female, is reprefented as a fair American matron, who, alarmed by the rifing 348 MEMOIRS OF rifing tempeft, trufts her children to the floods. The Scripture tradition of Mofes, committed to the Nile by his Hebrew mother, is here told with aptnefs to the fubjecT:, with piclurefque beauty, and with pathetic fweetnefs. This child, refcued from the flood, and rifing into an ambaf- fador of Heaven, a mighty Prophet, that wrefted the fcourge from the oppreffor's hand, and broke the iron bonds of his na- tion's flavery, nobly and religioufly clofes the paffage ; and in that clofe awfully con- trafts the tendernefs of the opening. From thence the Poet pafles into another fublime philippic on the plague-fpot in the moral and religious health of Britain, her cruel Slave Trade, and makes this ftriking appeal to our fenators : E'en now, e'en now,, on yonder weftern fhores, Weeps pale Defpair, and writhing Anguifh roars : E'en now in Afric's groves, with hideous yell, Fierce Slavery (talks, and flips the dogs of hell 5 Frona DR. DARWIN. 349 From vale to vale the gathering cries rebound, And fable nations tremble at the found ! Ye bands of fenators, whofe fuffrage fways Britannia's realms 5 whom either Ind obeys 5 Who right the injur'd, and reward the brave, Stretch your ffrong arm, for ye have power to fave ! Thron'd in the vaulted heart, his dread reforr, Inexorable Conscience holds his court ; With ftill fmall voice the plots of guilt alarms, Bears his malk'd brow, his lifted hands difarms ; But wrapp'd in night, with terrors all his own, He fpeaks in thunder when the deed is done. Hear him, ye fenates ! hear this truth fublime, He who allows opprefiion, mares the crime. No radiant pearl, which crefted Fortune wears, No gem, that fparkling hangs from Beauty's ears ; Not the bright liars which night's blue arch adorn ; Not riling funs that gild the vernal morn, Shine with fuch luftre as the tear, that breaks, For other's woe, down Virtue's manly cheeks. So admirably does this Bard drop the curtain of moral truth and humanity over the tuTues of his fancy, in this the grandeft of his fecond-part Cantos. The Mufe of Botany now retires with much MEMOIRS OF much more ferious grace from her choir than fhe had done in the preceding Cantos, and it becomes her well, from the more fombre nature of it's recent themes. Alike ingenious and juft are the critical obfervations with which this third Inter- lude commences ; they are on the relation between the arts of Poetry and Painting. In theprogreft of it's ftri&ures Dr. Darwin has not fucceeded fo well. When he would eftablifh affinity between the mea- fures of metrical and muiical competition, it was owing to his total want of know- ledge in muiical fcience that he is vifionary, abftrufe, and^ incomprehenfible. The in- itances he gives of fancied triple and com- mon time in our verfe, by no means fup- port his theory, after all the pains which can be taken to comprehend it by thofe who understand both the arts. His fuggefted poffibility of luminous harmony, accordant to that which is vocal, feems metaphyfical in DR. DARWIN. 351 in as wild extreme as the fuppofed analogy between the meafures of poetry, and the time of mufic, had been unfuccefsfully ma- thematical. A pleafing inftance of paternal eulogy occurs in this Interlude concerning the ingenious difcovery on the harmony of co- lours, by Dr. Darwin of Shrewfbury. The demonftrated exiftence of that harmony gives, as our Poet juftly obferves, Mufic and Painting undoubted right to borrow metaphors from each other; " Muficians, to fpeak of the brilliancy of founds, and the light and made of a concerto ; and Painters, of the harmony of colours and " the tone of a picture ;" but, when he feeks to extend in our fenforium thefe real affinities between the nature of colours and of mufical founds, into an equal re- lationlhip between the poetical and the mufical meafures, he becomes incompre- henfible to thofe who know the nature of each MEMOIRS OF each too well to believe it poffible that the mechanical divifions of mufical time have their correfponding rules in the formation of Englifh verfe, whether blank or in rhyme. Perhaps the fyftem may, as he afferts, extend to the poffibility of fetting pictures, as well as verbal expreffions, to mufic, but not, furely, as Dr. Darwin fup- pofes, with better effect than when mufic is adapted to the fentiments or the imagery of verfe. The love of novelty only could have induced fuch a preference. It is con- ceivable that a picture, whether hiftoric or fcenic, might be exhibited while fuch har- monic ftrains are played by a band, as fiiould well exprefs the paffions and feel- ings of the hiftoric group before us, or the particular character of the landfcape ; but as the picflure has only it's moment, fo muft the correfponding melody and har- mony of inftruments have only one {train ; no fucceffive and contrafted movements. Poetry Jt)R. DARWIN. Poetry and Mufic are both progreflive, Painting is ftationary, therefore the natural union is between the two firft ; and pic- tures can be worth nothing to the mufician in his imitative art, in companion with poetry, whofe paffions and fcenes are changeful, often contracted, and always proceeding. Again, the poetic Critic emerges into truth and day-light, when he compares the nature and privileges of the Greek and Latin languages with thofe of our own. Silent about the tones of each, where fu- periority is univerfally confefled to be with the two former, he proves that the confti- tution of the Englifh language is, from it's power of more varioufly compounding it's terms, and from it's greater facility in pro- ducing perfonifications, better calculated for poetry than the Greek and Latin. Ac- cordingly our poetry has more imagery than that of either of thofe languages. From this comparifon the author Hides into the 2, A fubjecl 354 MEMOIRS OF fubjecT: of plagiarifm from the Ancients, and from former Bards of this nation. He dif- tinguiflies well what is, and what is not amenable to that cenfure, and acknow- ledges the few paflages of borrowed ideas in the three preceding Cantos. He fays, " Where the fentiment and expreffion are " taken from other writers without due " acknowledgment, an author is guilty of " plagiarifm, but not on the teftimony of " fmgle words and cafual phrafes ;" and adds, " they are lawful game, wild by, " nature^ the property of all who can " capture them. Perhaps a few common " flowers of fpeech may be gathered as " we pafs over our neighbour's ground, " but we muft not plunder his cultivated " fruit." Dr. Darwin forgot that juft reftraint when he took, unacknowledged, forty-fix entire lines, the publifhed verfes of his friend, for the exordium of the firft part of his work. That extraordinary, and in DR. DARWIN. 355 in a Poet of fb much genius, unprecedent- ed inftance of plagiarifm excepted, not one great Poet of England is more original than Darwin. His defign, his ideas, his ftyle, his manner, are wholly his own. " Bright forms that glitter in the Mufe's ray, " With orient hues, v aborrow'd of the fun." FOURTH CANTO Opens with a fun-rife and a rain-bow, each of Homeric excellence. The Mufe of Botany gazes enchanted on the fcene, and fwells the fong of Paphos to fofter chords. Her Poet adds : Long ailes of oak return'd the lilver found, And amorous Echoes talk'd along the ground. This is almoft verbatim from Pope's line, And more than Echoes talk along the walls. - Plagiarifm is atoned when it improves upon it's original, and that is always to be 2 A 2, expe&ed 356 MEMOIRS OF expected from genius rich as Dr. Darwin's ; but in the prefent inftance we are difap- pointed. This generally fo very accurate defcriber, here indolently facrifices the verifimilitude of the circumftance, rather than change his rhymes. Echoes talk in the air and along walls^ but we never hear their voice at our feet. They are there in double inaccuracy, iincc if the oaken viftas returned the found, that found is echo ; fb we have firft a literal echo, and, immedi- ately after, a plurality of perfonified echoes creeping on all four, and telling their imi- tative tales where no " Nymph of the airy " cell," as Milton beautifully terms the echo, ever deigned even to whifper. Suppofe, Long ailes of oak the filver founds retain, And all their echoes breath'd the amorous ftrain. Dr. Darwin proceeds to recall his readers to the local fituation of his Mufe : Pleas'd DR. DARWIN. 357 Pleas' d Lichfield liften'd from her facred bowers, Bow'd her tall groves, and {hook her flately towers. The firft transformation of this Canto is the Cereus grandiflora, of Jamaica, twenty males one female. It flowers and becomes odoriferous during a few hours in the night, and then clofes to open no more. The Cerea becomes a Maid of Night, contem- plating it's " ftellar funs :" and fhe is compared to the Fairy Queen of Mr. Mundy's Poem, Need wood Foreft, in a lovely ftrain, defcriptive of the Elfin So- vereign/* Of fuch a pleating perfonage a fecond portrait is welcome. The reader may be gratified by comparing on this page the pictures of Titania from two Poets of whom StafFordfliire may be proud. NEEDWOOD FOREST. Hark the foft lute ! along the green Moves, with majeftic ftep ; the Queen. 2 A 3 Attendant 358 MEMOIRS OF Attendant Fays around her throng, And trace the dance, or raife the fong; Or touch die ftirill reed as they trip, With finger light and ruby lip. High on her brow fublime is borne One fcarlet woodbine's tremulous horn ; A gaudy bee-bird's ample plume Sheds o'er her neck it's wavy gloom ; With filvery goflamer entwin'd, Stream the luxuriant locks behind. Thin folds of tangled net- work break, In airy waves adown her neck j Warp'd in his loom, the fpider fpread The far diverging rays of thread. One rofe-leaf forms her crimfon veft, The loofe edge crofies o'er her breaft, And one tranflucent fold, which fell From a tall lily's ample bell, Forms, with fweet grace, her fnowy train, Flows, as fhe fteps, and fweeps the plain. Silence and Night enchanted gaze, And Hefper hides his vanquifh'd rays. BOTANIC GARDEN. Thus, when old Needwood's hoary fcenes the Night Paints with blue ihadow, and with milky light j Where Mundy pour'd, the liflening nymphs among, Loud to the echoing vales his parting fong, With DR. DARWIN. 359 With meafur'd flep the Fairy Sovereign treads, Shakes her high plume, and glitters o'er the meads $ Round each green holly leads her fportive train, And little footfteps mark the circled plain j Each haunted rill with filver voices rings, And Night's fweet bird in livelier accent, tings. The next floral animation, the Tropoe* olum Majus, Garden Nafturtion, eight males one female, is introduced by thefe lovely lines : Ere the bright Star which leads the morning Iky Hangs o'er the milky Eaft it's diamond eye, The chafte Tropceo leaves her fecret bed j A faint-like glory trembles round her head j alluding to the " eleftric flafhes, which " Mifs E. C. Linneus firft obferved about " this flower in a fummer morning, before " fun-rife." Aplenty and pompofilluf- tration is allotted to this flower ; firft the fire-fly of the tropics ; next the ignis-fatuus, which Dr. Darwin had deemed fabulous ; and laft the intrepid Youths of Judea, con- 2, A 4 demned 360 MEMOIRS OF demned by Nebuchadnezzar to the burn- ing fiery furnace. With fublime fimplicity has the Prophet Daniel told that ftory. Beneath every remembrance in favor of the infpired hif- torian, we are here imprefled and charmed anew by grandeur of imagery and piclure, fuited to the miraculous greatnefs of the fcene. We again behold the blazing de- luge, the fiery cavern, white with feven- fold heat ; the three Heroes in the midft : And now a fourth, with Seraph-beauty bright, Defcends 5 accofts them ; and outfhines the light, Fierce flames innocuous, as they ftep, retire, And flow they move amid a world of fire ! How beautiful is the latter part of the fecond line ! The Avena, Oat, three males two fe- males, becomes a pair of mufical nymphs, alluding to the oaten pipes of early times, perhaps the firft invented instrument of the harmonious DR. DARWIN. 361 harmonious fcience. The fifter 'Avenas fmg a lovely paftoral ballad, whofe Ihorter meafure again, as twice before, in the courfe of this poem, agreeably relieves the ear. Cannabis, Chinefe Hemp, is introduced by this fine appropriate landfcape, where China, O'er defert fands, deep gulphs, and hills sublime Extends her mafly wall from clime to clime; With bells and dragons crefts her Pagod -bowers, Her fil ken palaces, and porcelain towers 3 With long canals a thoufand nations laves, Plants all her wilds, and peoples all her waves j Slow treads fair Cannabis the breezy ftrand, The diftaff ftreams diflievell'd in her hand. The female form is always attractive from the poetic pencil of Darwin. Even the homely diftaff becomes elegant, as in the hand of a fair Nymph, it's flax is buoy- ant on the gales of morning. Cannabis proceeds in her fpinning, and the Graces hover around her wheel; yet to her is " ftern Clotho" compared, who weaves the 362 MEMOIRS OF the web of Human Deftiny, " the cradle " and the coffin binding it's ends;" but the Lady is here in her kindeft mood, aufpi- cious Fortune turning the giddy wheel ; But if fweet Love, with baby- fingers, twines, And wets, with dewy lips, the lengthening lines, Skein after Ikein celeftial tints unfold, And all the filken tiflue fliines with gold. Galanthus Nivalis, Snow-drop, fix males one female, is introduced as a delicate and fprightly lady, playing amidft a wintery fcene of filent floods, white hills, and glit- tering meadows. She chides the tardy Spring, and commands the Weft Wind to ftretch his folded pinions. She awakens the hoarfe Cuckow in his gloomy cavern, calls the wondering Dormoufe from his temporary grave ; bids the mute Redbreaft enliven the budding groves, and the plighted Ringdove coo. The Redbreaft, however, is not mute amid the hybernal filence of nat ire, he warbles on the hoary fpray. Bellis DR. DARWIN. 363 Bellis Prolifera, Hen and Chicken Daify, next becomes an affectionate matron, fur- rounded by" her happy infants. Their childiih. fports, with the infects of the ad- vanced Spring, and with the harebells and primrofes, form a domeftic fcene of tender and lively intereft. In the courfe of it a compound epithet for the Snail brings that reptile inilantly to the eye : Admire his eye-tipp'd horns and painted mail -, alfo, by the adverb, paufing, " the paufmg " butterfly," is that gay infect recalled to us on it's airy evolutions. Venus and her Loves making arrows for Cupid in Vul- can's forge, is given as a fimile to that fcene ; if fimile it may be called which fimilitude has none. However, the me- chanifm of bow and arrow-making is pre- fented with very amufmg precifion. Evidently to fupport a fplendid prelufive defcription of Matlock, and the theory of the 364 MEMOIRS OP the warmth of it's fountain proceeding from internal volcano, is the aquatic plant, the Fucus, introduced, which, we are told, foon appears in all bairns that contain water. The Fucus is reprefented as a beauteous youth, who bathes his fair fore- head in the flreaming fountain. The fcriptural Angel who fhook his plumes over the pool of Bethefda, illuftrates the Fucus, prefiding over the falubrious fprings of Matlock. This fimile has much pro- priety, fmce Dr. Prieftley informs us that great quantities of pure dephlogifticated air are given up in water at the points of the Fucus, particularly in the fun- " ihine, and that hence it contributes to " preferve the water in refervoirs from " becoming putrid." Trapa, four males one female, another aquatic plant, comes before us ; thus, Amphibious Nymph, from Nile's prolific bed Emerging Trapa, lifts her pearly head. Fair DR. DARWIN. 365 Fair glows her virgin cheek and modeft breaft, A panoply of fcales deforms the reft; Her quivering fins and panting gills fhe hides, But fpreads her filver arms upon the tides $ Slow as fhe fails, her ivory neck fhe laves, And makes her golden trefles o'er the waves. Charm'd round the Nymph, in circling gambols glide Four Nereid forms, or fhoot along the tide 5 Now, all as one, they rife with frolic fpring, And beat the wondering air on humid wing; Now all defcending plunge beneath the main, And lafh it's foam with undulating train ; Above, below, they wheel, retreat, advance, In air and ocean weave the mazy dance ; Bow their quick heads, and point their diamond eyes, And twinkle to the fun with ever changing dyes. By this picture we are reminded of the figure of Sin at the gates of hell. The one feeni'd woman to the waift, and fair, But ended foul in many a fcaly fold, Voluminous and vaft ! MILTON'S Paradife Loft. The enfuing transformation conveys us from the flat fliores of the Nile to the bafe of the Andes. The plant is the Ocymum Salinum, 366 MEMOIRS OF Salinum, Saline Bafil, two males two fe- males. She is complimented with chaftity as having but one lover. Her fituation prefents a fine landfcape, and her form is arrayed in every feminine and modeft at- traction. The fpray of ocean bathes her delicate limbs, uncurls her amber-hued trefles, and encrufts her perfon with faline films, through which, as from amidft a Ihrine of cryftal, her beauty beams. To this faline plant belongs a note extremely worth the attention of the reader, fince it contains an opinion of univerfal medical importance, from one of the moft difcern- ing phyficians which perhaps the world has produced. It relates to, by him, fup- pofed pernicious effect of too free indul- gence in that moft agreeable of all the arti- ficial taftes, the love of fait with our food. The transformation of the Ocymum Sa- linum brought to the Poet's memory the unfortunate wife of Lot, whofe ftory is here DR. DARWIN. 367 here told with great and pathetic beauty. Herfelf and hufband are compared to Or- pheus and Eurydice, to ^Eneas and Creufa. The ftory concludes with a fine verifi- cation of the fcriptural piciure of the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah. Perhaps it will be found fomewhat inferior to Mafon's paraphrafe of the defolation of Babylon. The reader will compare the paflages, and judge for himfelf. BOTANIC GARDEN. Oft the lone Pilgrim, that his road forfakes, 1 Marks the wide ruins and the fulphur'd lakes; On mouldering piles, amid afphaltic mud, Hears, the hoarfe Bittern where Gomorrah flood ; Recalls th' unhappy pair, with lifted eye, Leans on the cryftal tomb, and breathes the lilent "gh. MASON'S ODE ON THE FATE OF TYRANNY. Where yon proud City flood Now fpreads the ftagnant mud ; And there the Bittern in the fedge'fhall lurk, Moaning 368 MEMOIRS OF Moaning with fallen ftrain, While fweeping o'er the plain, Deftru6tion ends her work. Arum, of the clafs Gynandria, or mafcu- line ladies, becomes an Amazon, in the modern military garb, and it's appendages. Dejanira exchanging her diftaff for the lion-fpoils of her mighty lover, illuftrates the Haram in a beautiful poetic picture. The mule-flower, produced from the union of the Dianthus Superbus, Proud Pink, and the Caryophillus, Clove, produces, in the transformation of it's parent flowers, a whimfical but highly ingenious companion to the Periian fable of the amours of the Nightingale and the Rofe. With roman- tic, but exquifite fancy is this amour, and it's beautifully- monftered offspring, made out. That curious plant, the Chundali Borrum, whofe hiftory and ftrange habits are defcribed in a note to the paflage, is preceded by an African landfcape of fublime features, beneath the rage of the Summer Solftice, DR. DARWIN. 369 Solftice, and the poifonous breath of the Harmattan, the only gale that flits over the tawny hills. Gafping panthers arc rolling in the duft, and dying ferpents are writhing in foamy folds; the woods on Atlas, blafted by the heats, and the waters of the Gambia ilirinking in their channels ; Ocean rolling to land his ilck flioals, and Contagion (talking along the fhore. Amid the fultry wafte rifes the graceful nymph, Chunda, with her brow unturbaned, and with loofened zone. Her ten lovers are employed in mitigating for their fajr mif- trefs the ardors of the climate, with the umbrella and the fan. Of equal excellence, a Greenland picture contracts, in the utmoft poffible extreme, the preceding landfcape. A da) lefs horizon, {Ireaming with the milky light of the Aurora Borealis, and all the white moun- tains gleaming to the moon ; Bears {talk- ing ^flpwly over the printed fnows ; and vaft 2 B ribs MEMOIRS OF ribs of ice, burfting with the noife of loud- eft thunder. Then is fhown the vernal difiblution of this fcene, beneath the rifmg of the pale, frx-months day ; and the Muf- chus, Coral-Mofs, in the form of an Arcliic- regioned lover, awakens his Fair One, and defcribes the fymptoms of returning Spring. The lake and fea-plant, -5ga, Conferva ^Egagropila, is next introduced by thi* beautiful line, Night's tinfel beams on fmooth Locti-Lomond dance, Where the charms of poetic found are felt, tliat is one of the lines which, after perufaf, takes poffeffion of the memory, and lingers on the ear. We are tolcf, in a note, that this vegetable is found loofe in. many lakes-; that it is of a globular form, from the fize of a walnut to that of a melo-n ; does not adhere to any thing, but rolls from one part of the lake to the other. HCTQ it becomes a fair maid, fitting en the banks .of Loch- Lomond, DR. DARWIN. 371 Lomcfnd, expecting her lover to fwim to her from the centre of the water, and exploring, with anxious eyes, every paffing wave. Since a number of aquatic plants had been previouily humanized, it is pro- bable this is indebted for fuch diftin&ion to the inclination of the Poet to retell the celebrated ftory of Hero and Leander, after Ovid. As a fimile it is perfectly comparative to the dcfcribed fituation and folicitude of JEga. Dr. Darwin was confcious of ^is rarely-equalled talent in defcriptive ftory ; of his power to bring objects full and diftincl on the reader's eye, by attitudes, looks, and employments, pe- culiar to their fituation. Ovid fays, Hero hung her lamp in a tower which overlooked the Hellefpont, that her lover, as he fwam acrofs the flood, might Tee to fteer his courfe by it's light. The art of glafs-making, un- known in thofe times, the danger of the lamp being blown out muft have been 2 F 2, imminent. -MEMOIRS OF imminent. It is therefore natural that Hero fliould affiduoufly ftrive to guard it from the wind. Of that pi&urefquc cir- cumftance Ovid did not avail himfelf. Our modern Bard has been happier. So, on her fea-girt tower, fair Hero flood At parting day, and mark'd the dafliing flood, "While high in air, the glimmering roeks above, Shone the bright lamp, the pilct-ffor of love. With robe out-fpread, the waving flame behind, She kneels, and guards it from the rifing wind j Breathes to her Goddels * all her vows, and guide? Her bold Leander o'er the dufky tides ; Wrings his v/et hair, his briny bofom warms, And clafps her daring lover in her arms. The charm of appropriation, as evinced in the third couplet of the above paifage r exifb only with the genuine Poet. Merc tuneful verfifiers krjow nothing of it, they reft in general defcription, and general de~ fcription has been long fince exhaufled. * Hero \vr,s a Priefteft of V Genius I DR. DARVVIX. Genius knows this; he feizes the peculiar circumftance of the fituation ; pours all his ftrength and light tfjSon that, and leaves to. the reader to conceive the whole by that diftincl and luminous part ; but for which, the fcene would pafs unimpreffive over the mind of the examiner, and probably in no hour of recollection return to it again. The" Truffle, a well known fungus, which never appears above ground, now meets our attention as a fine lady, married to a Gnome, ftretched on beds of filvery a- beftos, beneath a grand fubterianean palace ; foothed by the mufic of the Eolian ftrings, which make love to tender Echoes in the circumjacent caves; while Cupids hover round and fliake celeftial day from their bright lamps. It mud be confeffed that the Emprefs of this proud palace has not the claim of birthright to her fplendor. This perfonification is fucceeded by that of Caprifica, Wild Fig, as a Nymph who 2, B 3 (lumbers 374 MEMOIRS OP flumbcrs away her life on a downy couch. She is betrothed to a Sylph. Her awak- ening is compared to that of the infect in a nut, and to a young linnet on the in- ftant of it's firft flight from the neft. Caprifica ftrikes a talifman, and her airy hufband flies to her on the wings of a gnat. This flight is painted with la vim play of fancy ; it's fwiftnefs is compared to that of the electric aura ; it's impatient con-- ftancy to that of the- polar needle. The Byflus of the northern fhores, which floats on their feas by day, and is found in their caverns, we fee ufliered to our notice by a "* fublime poetic picture of Fingall's Cave, of which Pennant's Tour to the Ht-brides contains an engraving. The male and fe- male of this vegetable become a Youth and Maid of thofe regions, purfuing their amo- rous voyage by night, in a boat with green fails, and lighted to their cave by the ftar 9f Venus. Conferva, DR. DARWIN. 375 Conferva Poiymorpha, found on the Englifh fliores, from the changeful appear- ance of the fubftance, is termed a Proteus Lover, and is reprefented after that fable. Beneath this fancy we fee him a Dolphin, a fpotted Pard, a Swan ; and traits of the manners of each of thofe animals give po- etic value to the transformations. Adonis, many males many females in the fame flower. Here is the final meta- morphofis of this great work ,,qf Imagina- tion. The multifarious florets in each in- dividual flower of that fpecies, are made to affume the human figure, and to become a band of libertine lovers, who plight their promifcuoushymencals. To them is com- pared that licentious inftitution, the Areoi of Otaheite, as recorded in Cook's Voyages. And now the Mufe of Botany difmiffes her minifters, and clofcs her inchantmcnts, thus : Here 37< MEMOIRS OF Here ceas'd the Goddefs. O'er the filent firings Applauding Zephyrs fvvept their fluttering wings ; Enraptur'd Sylphs arofe in murmuring crowds, To air-wove canopies and pillowy clouds ; Each Gnome, relu&ant fought his earthly cell, And each bright floret cloth'd her velvet bell. Then, on foft tiptoe, Night, approaching near, Hung o'er the tunelefs lyre his fable ear $ Gemm'd with bright ftars the ftill, etherial plain, And bade his nightingales repeat the drain. Thefe laff verfes drop the curtain, with ferene dignity, over a brilliant little world of Genius and it's creations. The paflage may not poffefs the fpirit and fublimity which attach to a number of others in this divifion. Probably the Poet remem- bered the plainnefs with which Homer, .Virgil, and Milton, clofed their Epics, and chofe to diffufe over his farewell lines an emulous fobriety. Perhaps the whole Canto, with all it's mafs of pidurefque ele- gance, has more famenefs, lefs grandeur, lefs fublimity, than any of it's predeceffors in either part of this magnificent Poem. 3 & DR. DARWIN. 3/7 It fcems to bear that fpecks and degree of inferiority to the three former Cantos, as the Loves of the Plants, confidered as an whole, bears to the fublimer firft part, the Economy of Vegetation ; where we find imperfonifed each various elementary pro- perty of Creation, as a race of miniftrant Beings, endowed with fcientific intelli- gence and benevolent powers. They rife before us, the Handmaids of Nature, or- dained to watch over all her operations and productions, on earth and beneath it ; in air and in ocean ; as Nature herfelf ap- pears in the femblarice of the Goddefs of Botany. Perhaps it would have been better if her proper and general name, Nature, had been afligned to her in the Economy of Vege- tation, and the botanic title been referved exclufively for the Mufe ia the Second Part, who records the transformations and the Jovs of the Plants *nd 'Flowers. In that cafe, MEMOIRS OF cafe, to her alfo would have been refigncd the floral car and it's gay defcent, and a vehicle of graver magnificence fupplied it's place to the " Mighty mother/' immortal Nature. Nymph, or Goddefs of Botany, implies empire only over the vegetable part of creation ; while, in the Economy of Vegetation, flie prefides over the aftrono- mic, eleftric, aerial, and mineralogic pro- perties. Into fo wide a field has the union of Philofophy with Poetry conducted this daring Bard. The light of his imagina- tion will fhine with increafing luftre in the eyes of future generations, fo long as dif- cerning Tafte fhall be the Veftal to watch and fuppiort it's fires. Nor let it once be thought that any error in Dr. Darwin's poetic fyftem ; any occafional deviation from perfection in the plan, arrangement, or execution of this his complicated work, ought to prevent it's facing confidered as one of the richeft ef- fufions PR. DARWIN. 379 fufions of the poetic mind, that has fhed luftre over Europe in the eighteenth cen- tury. , Human ability never did, and probably never will', produce an abfolutely perfect compofition. The author of this memoir has, from infancy, fedqlouily ftudied and compared the writings of the diftinguiflied Bards of her nation, together with the beft translations of thofe of Greece, Rome, and modern Italy. She has prefumed to def- cant upon what appeared to her the grace? and defecls of the Botanic Garden ; induced by a convicYion that the unbiaffed mixture of candid objection with due praife, better ferves the intereft of every fcience than blind unqualified encomium upon it's pro- feffors. Hence, rifing Genius may be guarded againft the betraying influence of enthufiaftic homage ; which, charmed by general excellence, melts down particular dcfecl in it's fhining rnafs. Sp doing, th incxperience4 MEMOIRS OF inexperienced and ardent fancy is full as liable to adopt the faults as to attain the merits of the author it emulates. By unprejudiced inveftigation, that fickly, partial, and faftidious tafte which confines it's attention and it's praife to a few chofen and darling writers, may be induced to reflect, that if, after a juft balance of beauty and defect, the firft outweighs the latter in immenfe degree, then attention, love, and applaufe is due to that work as an whole, in which fuch preponderance is found. Pofterity, if not always, yet generally acts upon that fair principle in the meafure of fame it allots, when the mifts of preju- dice, from caufes foreign to the intrinfic claims of an author, lhall difperfe. Thofc compofitions which, with a confiderable degree of genius, are yet level to the com- prehenfion of ordinary minds, immediately attain their full meafure of celebration ; but it is feldom that poetry of the higher orders Dtl. DARWIN. 381 orders is exempt from thofe mifts ; it muft ftruggle through them into full and uni- I Yerfal day. The flowly-accumulating fuffrages of thofe difeerning and generous readers who delight in fertile and daring Genius, will accumulate for the Botanic Garden, as they have for many other poems, whofe early appreciation was dubious ; whofe celebration, during the life of their authors, was far from being uncontroverted. When that time fhall come, the querulous and difdainful tones of peevifh prejudice w r ill not venture to affail the ear of an admiring Nation, proud of it's diftinguifhed Sons. Then, however imperfection may ftill be perceived in this as in all other works of bold imagination, it will be obferved without acrimony, and with grateful delight in it's plenteous atonement. No eminent Poet has fo many paffages which are every way exceptionable, as the moft 382 MEMOIRS OF raofl eminent Poet that this, or perhaps any other nation has produced from the morning of Time, our great, our glorious Shakcfpeare. CHAP. . BARAVltf. CHAPTER VI L BEFORE Dr. Darwin flood forth a candi- date for the Delphic laurels, he was extremely alive to the beauties of poetic literature, as it rofe and expanded around him. No perfon could be more ready to difcern and to praife it's graces ; but, from the com- mencement of the Botanic Garden, the jealous fpirit of authorifm darkened his candor. When, with avowed delight in the poetic powers of Cowper's Tafk, the writer of thefe ftridures, in converfation with Dr. Darwin and Sir Brooke Boothby, afked their opinion of that poem, each de- clared they could not read it through; each taxed it with egotifm, with profaicifm, with a rough and flovenly ftyle, and with utter MEMOIRS OP utter want of regular defign. Perhaps thofe cenfures, unbalanced by juft praife, ihould not, however, be imputed folely to unworthy jealoufy in either of thofe gentle- men ; certainly not to Sir Brooke, at any rate, who, with all his native brilliance of fancy, was never tenacious of the Mufes* favors. Both had always preferred rhyme to blank verfe, aflerting that it better fuit- ed the nature of our language. Dr. Dar- win had ever maintained a preference of Akenfide's blank verfe to Milton's ; declared that it was of higher polifh, of more claffic purity, and more dignified conftruclion. This preference may fairly allow us to place his blindnefs to the charms of the Talk to the fcore of tafie fomcwhat ener- vated by too much refinement, rather than to forenefs under rival reputation. A {till more fcrupulous attachment to claffic ele- gance attaches to the opinions of Sir Brooke, refpeding Poetry. It. was thence, .duubt- lefs, DR. DARWIN. 38$ lefs, that he became difgufted by the plan- lefs wanderings of Cowper's Mufe, in her principal work, and by the occafional roughnefs and profaicifm of it's ftyle. Another prejudice in the minds of each was likely to have operated in producing this injuftice to Cowper. Previous to the Tafk he had publifhed poems in rhyme, into which they had probably looked. In thofe poems, whatever flrength of thought may be found, the poetic effentials cer- tainly are not, inharmonious as is their verification ; barren as they are of landfcape and picture, metaphor and imagery. The author of the Tafk was morejuftto Darwin than he had been to that fpirited, that interefting, that often fublime, though not faultlefs compofition. About the year 1793, Mr. Cowper fent Dr. Darwin a lively and pleafing encomium in verfe upon the Botanic Garden. This agreeable eulogy juitly fays, no Poet who can refufe to 2 o beftovr MEMOIRS OF beftow a wreath on Darwin deferves to obtain one for himfelf. It was accom- panied by another poetic tribute from Mr. Hayley, of yet warmer praife and more brilliant grace. Mr. Polwhele alfb addreffed a fine ion- net to Dr. Darwin on his Botanic Garden, who, by inferting it in his work, proved that he thought highly of it's merit, and that he confidered fuch praife as genuine fame. The neglecT: of Mr. Polwhele's poetic writings is a difgrace to the prefent period of Englifh literature. Our botanic Poet had in general no tafte for Sonnets, and particularly difliked Mil- ton's. The characleriftic beauties of the le- gitimate fonnet, it's nervous condenfation of idea, the graceful undulation of it's varied paufe, which blends with the fweetnefs of rhyme the dignity of blank verfe, were all loft on Dr. Darwin, at leaft from the time in which he entertained the defign of be- coming DR. DARWIN. 387 coming a profeffed poet. Abforbed in the refolve of bringing the couplet-meafure to a degree of fonorous perfection, which fhould tranfcend the numbers of Dryden and Pope, he fought to confine poetic ex- cellence exclufively to that ftyle. " Defiring much the letter'd world might own * The countlefs forms of beauty only one." From the time at which Dr. Darwin left Lichfield to refide at Derby, on the irrefiftible injunction of Love, the author of thefe memoirs will not attempt to trace more than the outline of his deftiny, not poffeffing the means of giving it's interior parts with fufficient precifion. The pen which on thefe leaves has pur- fued him through his afcending day to it's meridian, may yet remark that Dr. Dar- win's reputation as a poet firft emanated from Derby, though his delphic inspirations commenced at Lichfield ; that as a phy- fician his renown ftill increafed as time * c 3 rolled MEMOIRS OF rolled on, and his mortal life declined from it's noon. Patients reforted to him, more and more, from every part of the kingdom, and often from the Continent. All ranks, all orders of fociety, all religions leaned upon his power to ameliorate difeafe, and to prolong exiftence. The rigid and fternly pious, who had attempted to re- nounce his aid from a fuppofition that no bleffing would attend the prefcriptions of a fceptic, facrificed, after a time, their fuper- flitious fcruples to their involuntary con- fcioufnefs of his mighty {kill. Wealth muft have flowed in rapidly beneath employment of unprecedented extent, at leaft in any country practitioner ; and from the large fums for which he fold the copy-right of his writings, poetic and philofophic. The fweet temper and bene- volence of that long adored wife, for whofe fake he had changed his fphere of action ; the numerous young family which rofe and DR DARWIN. 389 and bloomed around him, rendered the Lares of his hearth not lefs aufpicious to Darwin than he had found the gifts of Fortune and the voice of Renown. His fon Erafmus, by the former wife, had fettled at Derby nearly as foon as himfelf went thither, and in the profeffion of the law obtained confiderable practice, with fair reputation. The talents and virtues of his youngeft fon, by the firft marriage, were making every promife of that profperity which has fmce been amply fulfilled. The Zoonomia, of fo much elder birth than the Botanic Garden, fuffered her poetic younger fifter to precede her on their entrance into the world of letters, and did not herfelf appear till the year 1794. Of the Zoonomia fufficient has been laid in the former part of this biography, con- fidering the writer's limited powers to fpeak of it's excellences and defects. About thirteen or fourteen years after 20 Dr, MEMOIRS OF Pr. Darwin's fecond marriage, the Mifs Parkers, his relations, opened a female boaiding-fchool at Alhbourn in Derbyfhirc. To the education of thofe ingenious and good young women he had paid fome general attention, and had feduloufly and warmly, by recommendation and by other means, exerted himfelf to ferve them. To promote the fuccefs of their undertak- ing he publiflied, on it's commencement, a fmall tract on Female Education. The precife time of it's appearance is not re- collected. The compofition was by no means worthy of Dr. Darwin's exalted abilities. It's fubject cannot be fuppofed to have employed much of his confider- ation. The fyftem of his whole life on thaf theme had been at war with all fort of re- ftraint on the time, the amufements, and the diet of children. Irony was the only corrective weapon he had ever ufed to his own. DR. DARWIN. 391 own. The docility of them all, and the talents and good qualities of his three eldeft fons, one, alas ! cut off in the dawn of manhood and of fame, and the happy profpects of the other two, had confirmed his difdain of incefiant attention to young people. He always faid, " If you would " not have your children arrogant, con- " ceited, and hypocritical, do not let them " perceive that you are continually watch- " ing and attending to them ; nor can you " keep that perpetual watch ^without their " perceiving it. Infpire them with a dil- " dain of meannefs, falfehood, and promife- " breaking ; but do not try to effecl this " jpurpofe by precept and declamation, but, " as occafion arifes, by exprefled contempt " of fuch^as commit thofe faults, whether " it be themfelves or others. Teach thera " benevolence and induitry by your own " example, for children are emulous to << acquire the habits of advanced life, and 304 " attach 393 MEMOIRS OP " attach to them an idea of dignity and " importance." Perhaps, if Dr. Darwin had to this incomplicate and fo eafily practicable fyf- tem, added the infpiration of religion by the fame means, viz. exprefled contempt for impiety, and daily example of grateful de- votion, it would better anfwer the end of making wife and good men and women, than all the laboured Treatifes on Educa- tion which have, of late years, been poured from the prefs ; Treatifes fo univerfally read, fo feldom, if ever, even in theflighteft degree, reduced to practice ! In truth they muft be found impracticable, inconfrftent as they are with the eftabliihed habits, of fociety. Obedience to their directions muft devote every prefent generation, at leaft the maternal part of every prefent generation, to preparing the future. Every mother muft be wholly abforbed in word- watching, and look -watching, and all this by 'hook Yet DR. DARWIN. 393 Yet was Dr. Darwin aware that thefc voluminous receipts to make human angels ; or to make practical philofophers of every boy and girl in the higher and middle clafles of life, were too popular for him, without facrificing the defign of his Tract, to bring againft them his own concifer plan ; which, if rational, does away the utility of them all. His little work could not ferve Mifs Parkers if it combated the educating metaphyficians and their unobey- ing admirers. Avoiding fuch combat, his Treatife would certainly call the attention of the neighbourhood to the feminary for which it was written. Some good rules for promoting the health of growing chil- dren will be found on it's pages, and they promifed unfeed attention from it's author to the difeafed in that fchool. On the whole, however, it is a meagre work, of little general intereft, thofe rules excepted, with an odd recommendation of certain novels 294- MEMO-IRS QP novels of no eminence, to the perufal of young people. That was one of thofe follies of the wife, which daily prefent them- felves to our furprifed attention. In the year 1791 a fplendid archery* meeting was held at Drakelow in Stafford* fhire, the feat of Sir Nigel Grefley. Mifs Sufan Sneyd *, of Belmont, was diftinguifti- ed by her fkill and fuccefs in the contefl of that day. Honoured by Dr. Darwin's celebration, her name and her unerring arrow, are on permanent record. The verfes he wrote on that occafion appeared in the Derby paper anonymoufly. There were people who pretended to be judges of verfe, and yet were in doubt concerning their author. Before Dr. Darwin acknowledged them, they were attributed to various verfi- fiers ; and when the writer of this Trad:, who faw the Darwinian ftamp on the lines at one glance, declared they muft be his, * Now Mrs. Bronghton. Jier DR. DARWIN. 395 her aflertion was repeatedly combated, as if the peculiar ftyle and manner of his mufe were not inftantly apparent. ON A TARGET AT DRAKELOW. "With fylvan bow, on Drakelow's fliadowy green, Arm'd like Diana, trod the Cyprian Queen. O'er her fair brow the beamy crefcent fhone, And ftarry fpangles glitter'd round her zone j Love's golden fhafts her fnow-white fhoulders prefs'd, And the fring'd ribbon crofs'd upon her breaft. With carelefs eye (he view'd the central ring, Stretch'd her white arms, and drew the iilken firing! Mute wonder gaz'd the brazen ftuds betwixtj Full in the bofs the flying arrow fix'd ! Admiring circles greet the yictor-fair, And fliouts of triumph rend the breezy air j Trent, with loud echoes thrills the flowery grounds, And Burton's towers return applauiive founds. /* The graceful Huntrefs eyes the gaudy grove, And bends again th* unerring bow of Love. Now guard your hearts, with playful malice cries, And wing'd with fmiles the fhining arrow flies j With random aim the dazzled crowd me wounds, The quiver'd heroes ftrow the velvet grounds j *"" Beau 396 MEMOIRS OP Beau after beau expiring, prints the plain, And Beauty triumphs o'er the archer train. Now, with light bound, fhe mounts her wreathed car, Rolls her blue eyes, and waves her golden hair. Fond youths bow homage as the wheels proceed, Sigh as they gaze, and call the goddefs, SNEYD ! There are beautiful lines in this little compofition, but it is not faultlefs. The fourth and fifth couplet form the moft ftriking and elegant picture which poetrj can exhibit of a graceful young woman employed in arrow-mooting. The epithet carelefs has the accuftomed felicity of this author, in giving character to his portraits ; fince it implies that perfect confcioufnefs of fkill which precludes all ftrain and effort of attitude, fo prejudicial to grace ! In thefe verfes Mifs Sneyd is defcribed as fending the arrow from the yew, as Dry den makes Cleopatra caft from her eyes the darts of Love, on her voyage down the Cydnus ; DR. DARWIN. 397 As if fecure of all Beholders' hearts, Neglecting Ihe might take them. The metaphoric fliooting which fuc- eceds to acclamations for the fair-one's vic- tory, had perhaps better have been omitted. " Beau after beau," founds equivocally to the ear, in a fcene thronged with bows and arrows ; befides, beau is in itfelf an effemi- nate and unchara&eriftic title for a number of young men in the uniform of Wood- men, and in manly fport with a weapon, dignified by it's- ancientry, and by which Britons of old not only flew the wild boar and the flag, but repelled their foes when warriors cried aloud in the battle, Draw, Archers, draw your arrows to the head! There is alfo fornewhat too much fplendor in the departure of the Conquerefs, for why Ihould her vehicle be wreathed? A filver arrow, and not a garland, is the coftume of archery reward. However, the final couplet is 398 MfiMOIRS OF is elegant; the eulogy clofing with the name of 'it's fubjed has an happy effeft. Soon after the death of that varioufly- charming Poet, Mafon, Dr. Darwin wrote an Epitaph which he defigned fhould be engraven on his monument. We may be certain, however, that it has not there been infcribed. As an infcription for an urn in a garden or grove, alter a few of the lines for that purpofe, and the verfes are excellent, though, from being utterly with- out religious hope or truft, they are impro- per for a tomb-ftone. FOR THE MONUMENT OF THE REV, W. MASON, BY DR. DARWIN. Thefe aweful manfions of the honor'd Dead Oft (hall the Mufe of Melancholy tread $ The wreck of Virtue and of Genius mourn, And point, with pallid hand, to Mafon's urn. Oft fhall fhe gather from his garden bowers * F;6titious foliage and ideal flowers -, * Alluding to the poem, Ecjglifli Garden. Weave DR, DARWIN. 3Q9 Weave the bright wreath, to worth departed juft, And hang unfading chaplets on his buft ; While pale Elfrida, bending o'er his bier, Breathes the Toft figh and flieds the graceful tear; And ftern Caraftacns, with brow deprefs'd, Clafps the cold marble to his mailed breaft. In Incid troops (hall choral Virgins throng, With voice alternate channt their Poet's fong, And, O ! in golden characters record Each firm, immutable, immortal word ! Thofc laft two lines from the final chorus of Elfrida, admirably clofe this tribute to the memory of him who (lands fecond to Gray as a lyric Poet; whofe Engliih Garden is one of the happieft efforts of didaftic verfe ; containing the pureft elements of horticul- tural tafte ; dignified by fentiments of free* dom and virtue ; rendered interefting by epifode, and given in thofe energetic and undulating meafures which render blank verfe excellent ; whofe unowned fatires, yet certainly his, the Heroic Epiftle to Sir William Chambers, and it's Poflfcript, art at MEMOIRS OF 1 - * at once original in their ftyle, harmonious in their numbers, and pointed in their ridi- cule ; whofe Tragedies are the only pathetic Tragedies which have been written in our language upon the fevere Greek model. The Samfon Agoniftes bears marks of a ftronger, but alfo of an heavier hand, and is unqueftionably lefs touching than the fweet Elfrida ; and the fublime Caraclacus. Since thefe pages were in the prefs, an Epitaph on General Wolfe firft met their author's eye in a collection of manufcript poetry ; and it bears Dr. Darwin's figna- ture. Perfectly in his manner, fhe cannot doubt it's authenticity ; elfe the names of deceafed people of eminence are fo often affixed to compositions they never framed, that we ought to look jealoufly at all which do not carry to the mind of the reader internal evidence of their imputed origin. But for fuch evidence the enfuing lines had found no place on thefe pages. ox BK. DARWIN. 401 ON THE DEATH OF GENERAL WOLFE. Thy trembling hills, Quebec, when Viftory trod, Shook her high plume, and wav'd her banner broad 5 Saw Wolfe advance j heard the dire din of War, And Gallia's genius fhrieking from afar, With fatal hade th' aftonifti'd Goddefs flew, To weave th' immortal chaplet for his brow. Cyprefs fhe gather'd with the facrA bays, And weav'd the afp of Death amorig' the fprays. They fly ! they fly ! th' expiring Hero cried, Hung his wreath'd head $ thank'd the kind Gods, and died. Will the reader again extend indulgence to the fpirit of authorifm, tenacious be- neath a fenfe of recent injury ? As in the courfe of this little work it's writer has claimed her own verfes from the fplendid poem fhe analyfed, fo will he now permit her to difclaim other verfes, that, by iingu- lar effrontery (her exiftence confidered) have been printed fince, with her name affixed. In the Spring 1803, fhe fent thefe memoirs to Mr. Johnibn for publication ; ihe now, January 1804, but firft dif- 2, D covered MEMOIRS OP covered an illegitimate Sonnet in one of the Gentleman's Magazines for Auguft or September laft, with her fignature at full length. It is addreffed to Mr. Dimond, of whofe poetic exiftence flie had never heard, and it praifes a poem of his which flie has never feeri. One line of the forged fonnet begins, " Bright Dimond," thus making a miferable pun from an unfortunate name ; and the writer's ear was defective enough to induce his alliterating with the harlh th thus, Young joys awake in many a /^rilling t/trong ; which laft words form completely the Gander's hifs. She finds alfo that thefe alternately-rhym- ing ftanzas, which call themfelves fonnet^ are interpolated, and given as her's, in the 6th Vol. of Public Characters, recently publiihed; fee page 554 of that Vol. They clofe anecdotes of her, that have been chiefly collected from previous traces in the monthly publications. All are of DR. DARWIN. 403 ;'" ^'.~-'i of much too partial defcription; and ftrangely indeed is the talent of finging agreeably attributed 1 to her, who, confcious of total want of voice, never attempted to fmg in her whole life. Amid thefe lateft anecdotes a ftanza is quoted from her " Ode to General Elliot on his return from " Gibraltar," and the quotation has two grofs mifprints, " mduflrious foldier" for //- htftrious foldier, and " honour to the lap of " peace," inftead of, honour on the lap of peace. When this fonnet- forgery was contrived, it's writer forgot that (he, whofe name was affixed to it, had, in her Preface to the Centenary oflegitimate Sonnets, which me publifhed in 1798, denied to three alter- nately rhyming ftanzas, clofing w r ith a couplet, all right to the name of that pe- culiar and ftricl: order of verfe. It was therefore moft unlikely that me Ihould hqr- felf affume it for fourteen lines, written on the feeble model which fhehad reprobated. 5 D 3 But 4.04 MEMOIRS OF But it is time to refume a more inte- refting fubjecT;. The clofe of the year 1/99 brought a fevere trial to the ftoical fortitude of Dr. Darwin. From the period of his fecond marriage all had been funfhine in his for- tune, his fame, and dorneftic connexions;, but then a ftorm defceadcd upon his peace \ unforefeen, fudden, dreadful ! His eldeft fon, Mr. Darwin, fo profpcroufly fituated, without one adequate caufe-for even, tran- fient affliction, became the vicYim of fecret and utter defpair. It had often been ob- lerved that any more than ordinary recur- rence of profelTional bufmefs perplexed and oppreffed him. A demand w r as made that lie lliould arrange and fettle fome compli- cated accounts, which a difpofition to pra- craftinate had too long delayed. A difpo- fition which is always, in a greater or left degree, punilhed by it's confequences. Though a remote,, it is the moil frequent caufe' DR. DARWIN. 405 caufe of fuicide, accumulating debts till their entanglement becomes inextricable, their weight too heavy to be borne. But in this cafe it had produced only an accu- mulation of bufmefs. From the neceffity of entering upon it Mr. Darwin had feemed to mrink with fo much dejeftion of fpirit as to induce his partner to intreat that he would leave the infpe&ion folcly to his management. He declined the propofal, faying, in a faint voice, that it was im* poffible. This was on a December evening, cold And ftorrny. The river Derwent, which ran at the bottom of his garden, was par- tially frozen. About feveii o'clock he ient his partner out of the way on bufmefs, real or pretended. Mr. Darwin was on the couch complaining of the head-ach. Soon after eight his partner returning found the parlour vacant. He went to Mr. D/s upftair apartment; vacant alfo: inquired 2 D 3 of 406 MEMOIRS OF of the fervants ; they had not ' feen their mafter fince this gentleman went out, an hour before. He waited a few minutes ex- peeling his friend's return from the garden. Not appearing, a degree of apprehenfion feized his mind. He ran thither, and in the walk which leads to the river, he found Mr. Darwin's hat and neckcloth. Alarm was immediately given, and boats were fent out. Dr. Darwin had been fummoned. He {laid a long time on the brink of the water, Apparently calm and collected, but doubt- lei's fuffering the moft torturing anxiety. The body could not be found till the next day. When the Doftor received informa- tion that it was f^und, he exclaimed in a low voice, " Poor infane coward !" and it is faid never afterv/ards mentioned the fubjecl. Mr. Darwin died in very good circum- fiances, leaving an untainted reputation for probity and benevolence ; beloved, re- fpecled, DR. DARWIN. 407 fpeded, and mourned by all who knew him. He never married ; had purchafed a pretty eftate near Derby, which, with all his other effecls, he left to his father. The accounts, whofe apprehended embarraff- ment had proved fatal to him, were fettled after his death to the fatisfa&ion of all parties. Though this unfortunate victim of caufe- lefs defpondency had a gentle, ingenuous, and affeclionate heart, he attained middle life without any known or luipecled attach- ment of the impaffioned kind. There feem- ed a want of energy in his character, and too extreme a delicacy of feeling on the occur- rence of every thing which was in the flighteft degree repulfive. He had never loved bufmefs, and his attention to it appear- ed a force upon his inclinations. While his profeffion was undetermined, he exprefled a wiih to go into the Church rather than the Law. That preference was repulfed 304 by 408 MEMOIRS Ol by paternal farpafms upon it's indolence and imputed effeminacy. From infancy to Ins laft day, Mr. Darwin had fhrunk, with pained fenfibility, from his father's irony. Probably from the lefs a dive, lefs fcientific difpofition of Erafmus, in comparifon with that of his brothers, Charles and Rqbert, Dr. Darwin had always appeared colder towards him than to his other children. Doubtlefs it w r as that inferior degree of attachment which made the leflbn of ftoi- cifm fomewhat more practicable on this trying, this dire occafion. It excited, how- ever, univerfal furprife to fee him walking along the ftreets of Derby the day after the funeral of his fon, with a ferene coun- tenance and his ufual cheerfulnefs of ad- drefs. This felf-command enabled him to take immediate pofleffion of the premifes bequeathed to him ; to lay plans for their improvement ; to take pleafure in defcrib- DR. DARWIN. 435 ing thofe plans to his acquaintance, and to determine to make it his future refidence; and all this without feeming to recoiled: to how fad an event he owed their pof- feffion ! The folly of fuffering our imagination to dwell on paft and irretrievable misfortunes, and of indulging fruitlefs grief, he often pointed out, and always cenfured. He re- lied much on felf-difcipline in that refpect, and difdained, from deference to what he termed the prejudices of mankind, to dif- play the outward femblance of unavailing forrow, fmce he thought it wifdom to combat it's reality. On occafions and fub- jecls which he coniidered trivial, he profiled to indulge human prejudice ; but whenever by mock affent, he extended that indulgence, a flight fatiric laugh and a gay difdain lurk-r ing in his eye, counteracted the aflumed Coincidence. OR circumftanees which touched 41 MEMOIRS OF touched him nearly, he acled fteadily upon his own principles. And there were fubjects out of himfelf on which he was always ferioufly and earneftly ingenuous. Politics was one. He hated war, and thought the motives few indeed, which could vindicate it's homicide, efpecially in this commercial and fea-de- fended country. That of forcing America into internal, unreprefented taxation, and of interfering, through jealoufy of her prin- ciples, with the internal government of France, he utterly difapproved. The event of both thofe contefts accomplifhed his prophecies, and juftified his diiapprobation. Early in the year, 1800, Dr. Darwin publifhed another large quarto volume, intitled, Phytologia, or the Philofophy of Agriculture and Gardening. The writer of thefe -pages does not prefume to fpeak her opinion of this production as a.n whole ; the DR. DARWIN. 4H the fubjecl: did not induce her to read it regularly. Incompetent therefore to declared opinion as her pemfal may have been, it has yet convinced her that in parts, at leaft, it is highly ingenious. Dr. Darwin's convic- tion that vegetables are remote links in the chain of fentient exiftence, often hinted in the notes to the Botanic Garden, is here avowed as a regular fyftem. The Phyto- logia infifts that plants have vital organiz- ation, fenfation, and even volition ; and a number of inftances are adduced, which feem firmly to fupport the theory. Cer- tainly thofe appear to fleep which clofc their petals at -fun-fet, and unfold them in the riiing day. Dr. Darwin tells us that plants poflefs low heat and cold blood, like winter-fleeping animals, and like them continue the defcending fcale of exiftence. From this theory of vegetable fenfation fome good may proceed, and no evil can flow, MEMOIRS OF flow. If the affluent improver of his pa- ternal or purchafed domain, lhall be im- preffed with it's belief, fuch impreffion rnuft augment his pleafure in attending to the fuftcnance, the growth, and comfort of his trees, his grain, his Ihrubs, and his flowers. He will fay to himfelf, " It is I ' who enable this little world of vegetation, " by my care, attention, and kindnefs, to " fmile upon the fun, and bait delighted v in it's rays." The labourer in the field and garden, aflured that the grain and the plants he is cultivating will not only nur- ture his fellow r creatures, but are themfelves eapable of receiving comfort or difcornfort while yet they grow on the earth, will thence feel an additional motive to become worthy of his hire. Every honeft heart is gratified by the idea of contributing to the common flock of happinefs. It is an idea which produces falf-refpecl in the mind^ which, DR. DARWIN. 413 which, when founded in benevolence, and not in haughtinefs, is the faireft and moft productive foil in which the virtues can grow, whether thofe virtues be lowly and plain in ignorance and poverty, or height- ened and refined by knowledge and af- fluence. Of this theory, however, Dr. Darwin is neither the fource, nor the firft who drew the fcattered hints of former philofophers concerning it, into a regular fyftem. The ingenious and excellent Dr. Percival, of Manchefter, preceded him in maintaining that fyftem from the prefs. Congeniality on it's fubjecl between a mild, a temperate, and religious fage, and a bold philofopher of the modern fchool, who pofleffed the eye of a lynx for nature's arcana, leave us little reafon to doubt that it is veritable. Why fliould we fuppofe the chain of ex- iftence broken at the laft, inert clafs of animals, 4*4 MEMOIRS OP animals, fmce it's continuity is perfectly confonant to the order of creation ? The chain that leads from infinite to man, From man to nothing. NIGHT THOUGHTS. The nourifhment of plants is next confidered with a view to their health and increafe ; and ingenious experiments are ftatcd. The decompofition of water is afferted to be one of the moil important difcoveries of modern fcience. Thence was demonftrated the immenfe proportion of oxygene or vital air, with which water is impregnated, in comparifon with air which is lefs pure. A plentiful fupply of water abiblutely neceffary to fertilize foil. The wifdom afferted, and the means pointed out, of giving artificial and falu- tary moifture to arid fituations. On the contrary, where the ground is naturally too wet and fvvampy, the neceffity of fub- terranean and fuperficial drains is enforced. Sudden * DARWIN Sudden and violent fhowers extremely detrimental, from their wafhing down the ditfufable and foluble parts of the foil into muddy rivers. It is obferved, that every fuch ihower conveys through thofe chan- nels into the fea, many thoufand pounds- worth of fertilizing matter, thus confider- ably diminilhing the food of terreflrial animals, however it may add to the fuf- tenance of the aqueous tribes. Great at- tention is neceffary to counteract the mif- chief of thefe impetuous and impelling rains, equally noxious to the dry foil and fituation, as to thofe which are irriguous. To fuch end we are informed that all hills fhould be ploughed horizontally, and not in afcending and defcending furrows ; alfb, that Hoping fields of pafture-land might be laid in tranfverfe ridges and deprefiions, Thus the water of thefe partial inundations would remain fome hours in the horizon- tal furrows of the ploughed hills, and in the 4x5 MEMOIRS OP the tranfverfe hollows of inclined plains, that are grafs-land. Thefe little detain- ing refervoiis muft be a great advantage in. parched iituations, while in thofe which are wet and fpongy, they might be opened into each other by the fpade fo as to pre- vent that lofs of foil which rnuft refuft from the downward rufh and fpee'dy pair- ing away of the temporary deluge. The great wafte in towns and cities, of fubftances capable of being converted into manure, is obferved and deplored ; and in that refpecl the better police of China held up to imitation. The author al- leges, that fimilar practice in Europe would at once promote the purity and confequent health of towns, and contri- bute to the economy and fertility of their furrqunding countries. He explains the means of accomplifuing purpofes fo de- fir able . Here let the biographic pen arreft it's courfc, DR. DARWIN. 417 courfe, nor attempt to follow this pene- trating and excurfive mind through the wide and complicated mazes of agricul- tural dhTertatioru Returning back to the verge of this vaft field of treafured obfer- vation and fcientific literature, the memo- rialift may be allowed to obferve what never-flumbering attention to the opera- tions of nature and the prefent Hate of cultivation; what unwearied refearch into the records of other philofophers, this book evinces ! A man of fuch immenfe profef- fional engagements as Dr. Darwin, cornpof- ing and publifhing this work only, had built his lettered reputation upon no narrow or unftable bafis. But when we confider it as' a brother-produclion to the Zoonomia, two large quartos, as bulimy, as fmall a type, and as crowded writing as the Phytologia ; when we confider alfo his fplendid poetic work, with it's hoft of philofophic notes ; there is furely no partiality to him, no want of 2, E candor MEMOIRS OP candor to others, in maintaining that it can only be from native littlenefs or ac- quired warp of mind, where the greatnefs and energy of Dr. Darwin's genius and knowledge are denied. Yet let it be re- membered, that it is poetic eminence, not pre-eminence, which has here been de- manded for his mufe. Superlative epi- thets have found no place in his eulogium on thefe pages ; for their author remem- bers and reveres the exalted claims of his poetic predeceffors and contemporaries of the eighteenth century. Incomparable, unrivalled, matchlefs, are terms of applaufe which can only be, with truth, applied to three men of genius in times paft or pre- fent ; to Shakeipear as a dramatic poet ; to Newton as a philosopher ; to Handel as a mufician ; not to Homer, not to Milton, fince they ftand abreaft with each other, and divide the epic palm. Perhaps, with- out trefpafs on literacy truth, Gray might alfo DR. DARWIN. 419 alfo be termed peerlefs, as a lyric poet, fince he equals Pindar in the dignity of his language, in the fublimity of his imagery, and in the interwoven morality, alternately aweful and tender ; and fmce he chofe fub- jecSs fo much more exalted than the Pin- daric themes, for thofe two great Odes which place him firil at the goal of the Lyric Mufe. Their meafures are magnifi- cent and harmonious to the utmoft power of the Englifh tongue. Pindar could not carry that excellence higher in the Greek language ; therefore if any fuperiority re- mains to the ancient claffic, refpecting his metre, it muft refult from the more fono- rous tones of the Greek, not from tran- fcendence of genius in it's great lyrift, compared with the Britifh poet. What- ever importance the faihion of that period might attach to Pindar's themes, however mythologic and hifloric allufion might give them auxiliar elevation, yet the foot-races 2 E 3 Of 420 MEMOIRS OF 'of children, though the fons of princes, and the chariot-races of youthful heroes, poffefs no eternity of attraclion compared to the fubjecl of Gray's Progrefs of Poefy, 'and of his Bard. For the firft, the phyll- cal and moral powers of the mufes; their univerfal influence, in different degrees, in every clime ; the three great feats of their "empire, Greece, Italy, and England, Dra- matic, Epic, and Lyric Poetry, fupported in Britain by Shakefpear, Milton, and Dry den. For the fecond, and ftlll greater Ode, the fanguinary crime againft the Mufes committed by an otherwife illuftrious mo- narch, the fuppofed confequences of that crime, a train of misfortunes to the remain- ing line of the Plantagenets ; it's re^al fons, Another and another gold-bound brow, paffing before us in the awful obfcurity, the " darknefs vifible" of poetic prophecy ; the acceffion ..DR. DARWIN. 421 ^icceffion of another royal houfe, in which the rival rofes were entwined ; the brilliant reign of it's virgin queen, who was to carry the profperity and the renown of a great nation to it's utmoft line ; the day of poefy, funk in eclipfe from the period of the maffacre, riling again with redoubled fplendor in that epoch ; the exultation of the Cambrian Bard who thus forefees the reftored glory of his art in the genius of 'him who fung the fairy region, and by that of the mighty mafter of the fock and buf- kin ; the continuance of that glory through future times by the Song of Eden, and the ilra'ms of fucceffive warblers ; the exulta- tion doling by the plunge of the injured Bard amid Conway's deep and tumultuous flood ! Can pedeftrian fpeed, and the dexte- rity of the whip and rein, by any effort of talent, be raifed to the intrinfic grandeur i of themes like thefe ? Ah ! when will our fchools and univerfities; exchange 3 E 3 claffical 4.22 MEMOIRS OP claffical partiality for patriotifm, and be- come juft to the exalted merits of the Englifh Poets ? To that fmcere and ardent patriotifm the author of thefe memoirs hopes will be remitted her tributary digref- fion to the fame of Gray. Sunday, the eighteenth of April, 1803, deprived Derby and it's vicinity, and the encircling counties, of Dr. Darwin ; the lettered world of his genius. During a few preceding years he had been fubjecl: to fudden and alarming diforders of the cheft, in which he always applied the lancet in- ftantly and freely ; he had repeatedly rifen in the night and bled himfelf. It was faid that he fufpeclcd angina pe^ons to be the caufe of thofe his fudden paroxyfms, and that it would produce fudden death. The converfation which he held with Mrs. Dar- win and her friend, the night before he died, gave colour to the report. In the preceding year he had a very dangerous DR. DARWIN, 423 illnefs. It originated from a fevere cold caught by obeying the fummons of a pa- tient in Derby, after he had himfelf taken ftrong medicine. His {kill, his courage, his exertion, ftruggled vehemently with his difeafe. Repeated and daring ufe of the lancet at length fubdued it, but, in all likelihood, irreparably weakened the fyftem. He never looked fo well after as before hisfeizure; increafed debility of ftep, and a certain wannefs of countenance, awak* ened thofe fears for him which great num^ bers felt who calculated upon his affiftance when hours of pain and danger might come. Jt was faid, that during his illnefs he reproved the fenfibility and tears of Mrs. Darwin A and bid her remember that fhe was the wife of a philofopher. . ' /. f f I The public papers and magazines record*- ed, with tolerable accuracy, the nature of his final feizure ; the converfation he held in the garden of his new refidence, the E 4 Priory, 424 MEMOIRS 5P Priory, with Mrs. Darwin and her female friend ; the idea which he communicated to them, that he was not likely to live to fee the effect of thofe improvements he had planned ; Mrs. Darwin affectionately combating that idea by observing, that he looked remarkably well that evening; his reply that he had generally found himfelf in his beft health a few days preceding his attacks; the fpirits and ftrength with "Which he arofe the next morning at fix to write letters; the large draught of cold butter-milk, which, according to his ufual cuftom, he had fwallowed. All thefe cir- cumftances early met the public eye ; and, in the imperfecT: fketches of his life which 'accompanied them, a ftrange habit was imputed to Dr. Darwin, which prefents Tttch an exterior of idiot-feeming indelicacy that the author of this tracl is tempted "to exprefs her intire difbelief of it's truth; Viz. that his' tongue was generally hanging out DR. DARWIN. cut of his mouth as he walked along. She has often, cf late years, met him in the ftreets of Lichfield, alone and rnufing, and never witnefled a cuftom fo indecent. From the early lofs of his teeth he looked much 'older than he was. That lofs ex- pofes the tongue to view while fpeaking, and Dr. Darwin's mouth certainly thus difclofed the ravages of time, but by no means in any offenfive degree. It was the general opinion that a glafi of brandy might have faved him for that time. It's effecls would have been more powerful from his utter difufe of fpirits; but fiich was the abhorrence in which he held them, that it is probable no intreatics could have induced him to have fwallowed a dram, though furely, on any fudden chill of the blood, it's effecT;, fo injurious on habitual application, might have proved restoring. . On that laft morning, he had written one 426 MEMOIRS OF one page of a very fprightly letter to Mr. Edgeworth, defcribing the Priory, and his purpofed alterations there, when the fatal fignal was given. He rang the bell, and ordered his fervant to s fend Mrs. Darwin to him. She came immediately, with his daughter, Mifs Emma Darwin. They law him Ihivering and pale. He defired them to fend diredlly to Derby for his furgeon, Mr. Hadley. They did fo ; but all was over before he could arrive. It was reported at Lichfield, that, per- ceiving himfelf growing rapidly worfe, he , faid to Mrs. Darwin, My dear, you muft " bleed me inftantly." " Alas, I dare " not, left; " " Emma, will you ? There " is no time to be loft." " Yes, my dear " father, if you will direct me." At that moment he funk into his chair, and ex- pired ! The body was opened, but it was faid the furgeons found no traces of peculiar difeafe j DR. DARWIN. 427 difeafe ; that the ftate of the vifcera indi- cated a much more protracted exiftence ; yet thus, in one hour, was extinguifhed that vital light which the preceding hour had fhone in flattering brightnefs, promif- Jng duration ; fuch is often the " cunning flattery of nature ;" that light, which, through half a century, had diffufed it's radiance and it's warmth fo widely ; that light, in which Penury had been cheered, in which Science had expanded ; to whofe orb Poetry had brought all her images; before whofe influence Difeafe had con- tinually retreated, and Death fo often turned afide his levelled dart ! Awful is the leflbn of fuch an extinc- tion ; trebly awful in it's fuddennefs. Let no one fay that it is not more awful than the iimilar defliny of ordinary human beings ; for the impreffion made by unex- pected, immediate, and everlafting abfence, will be diffufive, will be ftrong, in propor- tion 428 MEMOIRS Op tion-to the abilities and ufefulnefs of thofe >vho vanifh at once from fociety. We feel the folemn leflbn fink deep into our hearts \vhen minds, fo largely endowed- and adorned, evince, in their fate, the truths uttered by that fublime Poet *, who made the threats and the promifes of the Gofpel the theme of his midnight itrains ; and thus they admonifh, By nature's law, what muft be, may be nova -, There's no prerogative in human hours. In human hearts what bolder tboughtican rife Than man's prefnmption on to-morrow's dawn ? Where is to-morrow ? In another world ! For numbers this is certain, the reverfe Is fare to none ; and yet, on this perhaps, This peradventure, infamous for lies, As on a rock of adamant, we build; Though every dial warns us as we pafs, Portentous as the written wall, that turn'd, O'er midnight bowls, the proud Afiyrian pale! Another, and x the laft poetic work of Dr. Darwin, is now in the prefs. The * Dr. Young. Temple DR. DARWIN. 429 Temple of Nature. His memorialift, oil thefe pages, has not feen a line of the com- pofition. The curiofity of the ingenious muft be ardently excited to view the fetting -emanation of this brilliant day-ftar ; they muft hope that neither age, difeafe, nor 'the dread calamity he had endured, in December 1/99, flicd mift or cloud upon it's rays. Dr. Darwin died in 'his ilxty-ninth year. This TracT: is prefented to the Public beneath it's author's idea, that it may pro- bably difpleafe two clalTes of readers, fhould it attracl their notice; the.. dazzled idola- ters of the late Dr. Darwin, who will not allow that there were any fpots in his fun ; and that much larger clafs, w r ho, from party prejudice, religious zeal, or literary envy, or a combination 'of all thofe motives, are unjuft to his high claims; at leaft as a Philofopher and Poet. There is another clafs of readers, who, if thefe faithful re- cords fhall be honored by their perufal, will 430 MEMOIRS OF DR. DARWIN. will feel gratified to fee one diftinguiflied character of thefe times, neither varnifhed by partiality, nor darkened by prejudice. They muft be confcious that human beings, whatever may have been their talents, whatever their good qualities, are feldom found perfect, except on the pages of their eulogifts ; confcious alfo, that, while the intellectual powers of the wife and the renowned, excite admiration, their errors may not lefs ufefully be contemplated a* warnings, than their virtues as examples. LlCHFJELD, April 13, 18Q3. THE END. T. Bensley, Printer, Bolt Couit, Fleet Street. ERRATA, Page 19, 1. 5. after " reafoner," infert while." do, 1. l.read" refiftance, only juft," 1. 7- read" their refinance." 21, 1. 7, for That," read The refult." 31, 1. 5, for Thefe" read " There." 93, 1. 18, for " proficience" read " proficiency.'* 109, 1. 10. for that they would," read " to." 215,1. 17, for "love" read " lover." 233, 1. 2, from bottom, for " his" read " it's." 243 note, read, "what an." 3 ;oTo LEWISDON HILL add a Note. This poem was printed at the Clarendon Prefs Oxford, 1788, and fold by Prince and Cookeof that city, and Cadell, Rivington, and Faulder, London. 32fi, 1. 1. place a comma after trea<is." \VRITTEN BY DR DARWIN, AND SOLD BY J.JOHNSON, IN ST. PAUL'S 1. The BOTANIC GARDEN, with Philofophical Notes, in Two Parts. Part 1. The ECONOMY OF VEGETATION. 2. The LOVES OF THE PLANTS. In Two Volumes Svo. Embelliihed with Plates., 2 J s. Boards. 2. The TEMPLJE OF NATURE, or the Origin of Society, A Poem in Four Cantos, with Philofophical Notes and Plates. Quarto, ll. 5s* or on large paper, 1 1. i6s. in Boarc 3. ZOONOMIA, or the Laws of Organic Life. In Four Volumei Svo. Illuftrated with Plates, 36s. Boards on Fine Paper, 48s. 4. PHYTOLOG1A, or the Philofophy of Agriculture and Gardening, with the Theory of draining Morafles, and an improved Conftru&ion of the Drill Plough. Quarto, ll. Us. 6d. in Boards. 5. Plan for the Conduct of Female Education in Boarding Schools. Quarto, 5 s. 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