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Mr. Ogle to translate some of Chaucer's Tola into modern English, which he did, with great spirit, at the rate of three-pence per line for his trouble. Poor Boyse wore a blanket, because he was destitute of breeches; and was, at last, found famished to death, with a pen in his hand.
Falconer's* deaf and dumb sister, notwith- standing the success of his poem of the Shipwreck, was for some time the tenant of an hospibd.
Buchan'sj- Domestic Medicine, which has been one of the most popular works ever published, and yielded immense sums, was sold for £5; and Miss Bumey obtained only live guineas for her Evelina,
Savage was in continual distress, independent of on unnatural mother's persecution. He sold his beautiful poem of the Wanderer for £10.
Thomson's Winter was bought by Andrew Millar, the bookseller, through the intercession of Mallet, for a small sum.
Poor Chatterton^ one of the greatest geniuses of any age, and who is styled —
His ileeplM* bo^, that psrUh'd In hlB pride, destroyed himself through want, (though insanity would be the better term, since it was in the fiunily,) still left wherewithal, by the aid of frienos, to preserve his sister from want and poverty in her latter years.
Christopher Smart, the translator of Horace, and no mean poet, died in the rules of the king's
• WUllun Falconer «a« born in the conntf of Vtfe, in Scotland, of homble parent*, and bred to the aea. Tboagh he possessed few advantages from education, he bad good natural talents, which he cultivated with assiduity. In 1751 he published a poem on the iHBtk of the Prbtet of Walet I but his reputation rest* on the Skipwreek, a poem In three cantos, which is highly descriptive and pathetic. It originated in the circumstance of the author's being shipwrecked in a voyage from Alexandria to Venice, when only three of the crew escaped. Falconer also wrote an Ode to Ike Dukt of York, which obtained him the post of purser to the Royal George. He likewise compiled the Marme Diciiouani, 4to. t and published a poem against WUkes and ChureUll, under the title of the Demagogue. He sailed fhimEneland in irOV, in the Aurora, fortheKast ladies, but after her departure ftom the Cape of Good Hope the ship was never heard of.
t William Bnchan was born at Acram, Roxburghshire, in ITW, and educated at Edinburgh, with a view to the cbotch, which, lunrever, he quitted for the study of medi- cine. He settled at Ackworth, In Yorkshire, where he l>ecame physician to the foundlinK hospital there. In 1770 he published his popular book, entitled DomeaHe Medieine, or a TreatUe on tke Cure and Prevention of Biteaiet. He finally settled in London, where he died Feb. », 1805.
t Thomas Chatterton was born at Bristol, Nov. 10, I75S, and educated at a charity school, in that dty. At four- teen years of age, he was articled clerk to an attorney at Bristol, with whom he continued about three years 1 yet, though hi* education was confined, he diseovetvd an eariy turn towards poetry and English antiquitie*, and par- Ucalaily towards heraldry. In April, 1770, he left Bristol, disgusted with his profession, and the line of life in which be was placed, and went to London, in hopes of advanc- ing his fortune by his pen; he sunk at once from the sub- limity of liis views to an absolute dependence on the patronage of booksellers. The exertions of his genius brouf^ht in so little profit, that he was soon reduced to ex- treme indigence; so that at last, oppressed with poverty and disease, in a fit of despair, he put an end to liia exist- ence, August, 1770, with a dose of poison. Concerning the anthenticity of the poenu, under the name of Romtep, (that is, whether they are really written by a person of that name, or were only ,what they are generally considered to be, the forgeries of Chatterton) there long existed a mighty controversy; and the war among the critics ha* even now scarcely subsided.
bench. Poor Smart* when at Pembroke college, wore a path upon one of the paved walks.
Joseph Warton informs us, that when Gray published his exquisite Ode on Eton College, his first publication, little notice was taken of it.
Butler, the author of Hudibrat, according to Dennb,t was left to starve, and died in a garret; and Otway, perished through want in an obscure public-house on Tower hill.
Goldsmith disposed of his Vicar of WakefieU, for £60, partly from compassion and partly from deference to Johnson's judgment; but Air. John Newbery, the purchaser, had so little confidence in the value of his purchase that it remained in manuscript until the publication of the Traveller had established the fame of the author.
Tannahill,^ in whose hands the lyre of Scot- land retained its native, artless, sweet, and touch' ing notes; and whose songs are distinguished by elevation and tenderness of sentiment, richness of rural imagery, and simplicity of diction, put a period to his existence, principally, because Mr.
- Christnpher Smart, a poet and miscellaneous writer,
was born at Shtpbourae, April 13, 1711, and died at Lon- don, May IS, 1771. Mr. Smart was liberally patronized by Mr. John Newbery, the eminent bookseller, in St. Pml't church-yard.
t John Dennis was born in London in 1897, and became cdebrated ae a poet, dramatist, and critic. In 171s, be attacked Addison's Cato, which occasioned a whimsical pamphlet, called the NarraHve of Dr. John Norrit, con- cerning tke ttrange and deptoraole pkrenry of Mr. John Denmit. Be died Jan. 0, I7S4. The following epigram was written by Savage, and first published in Johnson's preface to the Uee$ of the Bngliik Poett.
Should Dennis publish you had stabb'd your brother, Lampoon'd your monarch, or debauch'd your mother; Say what revenge on Dennis can be had. Too dull fbr laughter, for reply too mad I On one so poor you cannot take the law; On one so old your sword you scorn to draw; Uncag'd then let the harmless monster rage. Secure in dulneaa, m ad nes s , want, and age.
t Robert Tannahill was born at Paisley, Junes, 1774) his father was a weaver, and both his parents were much . respected for their intelligence and worth; the subject of this slight sketdi was the fourth child of six sons and one daughter. After learning to read, write, and cast acconnta^ Tannahill was sent to the loom, and early began to dis- tinguish himself by writing verses. At thu time Paisley was in a very flourishing condition j and dancing partiea and rural excursions were fNquent among the young peo- ple of both sexes, and in these he olten Joined. He then formed many of those poetical attachments, which he afterwards celebrated in song. About I BOO, accompanied by a younger brother, he came to England. Robert ob- tuned work at Bolton, and the other at Preston, where they remained about two years, and then retired home. Tannahill's appearance was not indicative of superior endowment. He was small in stature, and his manners were so retiring, and his reliance on hlinseif so small, that wlthont the assurance of Mends, of which he fbund many, he probably would never have been induced to give to the world many of those pieces which are pronounced to be the very perfection of song writing. A mere ennmeratioB of some of their titles will be sufllcient to remind most readers of their excellence. The Braes o* Balquither; Gloomy Winter's now awa \ Blythe was the time when he feed wi* my tether; London's boimy Woods and Brees; Jessie the ilower o' Dnmblane; Och hey! Johnie lad; Clean Pease Straw; O, are you sleeping, Maggie; Low- land lassie, wilt thou go r The Harper of^MnU; The Wood of Craiglelee; The Braes o'Glenlfltori The Ijlss o' Arran- teenie, &c Stc— In his disposition he was tender and humane, and extremely attached to hia home, his kindred, and his frioid*. His life was simple and unvaried in its details, but even the nnevenlftil character of his existence renders more striking and more affecting its tragic cioae, being found drowned May 17, 1810, when he had only reached hia thiity-sixth year.
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