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to refuse. Upon this occasion, Garrick's comedy of "The Guardian" was acted for the first time, in which he himself performed the principal character.

In 1763, he published A Song to David, written during his confinement; when he was denied the use of pen, ink, and paper, and was obliged to indent his lines with the end of a key upon the wainscot.

The same year he published two small quarto pamphlets, entitled, Poems, and Poems on Several Occasions; and, the year following, Hannah, an Oratorio, 4to; and an Ode to the Earl of Northumberland, on his being appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with some other pieces, 4to.

In 1765, he published A New Version of the Psalms, 4to, and a Poetical Translation of the Fables of Phædrus, 12mo, which were followed by The Parables, in familiar verse, 12mo, 1768.

In the course of a few years, his economy forsook him, and he was confined for debt in the King's Bench prison; the rules of which he afterwards obtained, by the kindness of his brother-in-law, Mr Thomas Carnan. He appears to have been in extreme distress, by a letter of his to the Rev. Mr Jackson, not long before his death. "Being upon the recovery from a fit of illness, and having nothing to eat, I beg you to lend me two or three shillings, which (God willing) I will return, with many thanks, in two or three days,"

At length, after suffering the accumulated miseries of poverty, disease, and insanity, he died of a disorder in his liver, on the 21st of May, 1771, in the 49th year of his age. He left behind him a widow and two daughters, who settled at Reading, in Berkshire; and by the kindness of Mr Newbery, and their own meritorious prudence, were enabled to retrieve their circumstances.

A collection of his Poems, consisting of his Prize Poems, Odes, Sonnets, and Fables, Latin and English Translations, together with many original Compositions, not included in the Quarto Edition, to which is prefixed an Account of his Life, &c. was printed at Reading, by Smart and Cowslade, in two volumes, 12mo. in 1791. Besides the Poetical Translations, which he published in his life-time, the pieces omitted in this edition of his works, are chiefly the Song to David, and some pieces in the small quarto pamphlets, which were written after his confinement, and bear, for the most part, melancholy proofs of the estrangement of his mind.

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It is not easy to account for the works of Smart not being included in the collection of the "Works of the English Poets," whose lives were written by Dr Johnson. choice of poets, for whose works he had agreed to write biographical prefaces, was not his own; and yet, as he condescended to ask a place for Pomfret, Yalden, Blackmore, and Watts, his friend Smart had an equal claim to his notice, from piety, and from genius; but, perhaps the copy-right of his scattered productions could not be easily settled. Even his best pieces, though admirable, have not often been honoured with a place in favourite Collections of Poems. He was too poor an author to bestow, and perhaps he had no ambition to share in the triumph of those who, for the most part, write pieces more for their own amusement, than for that of the public. His way of living, from hand to mouth, depending always on the product of his desultory pen, appropriated to no regular nor profitable purpose, and on the liberality of his friends, was not likely to procure for him that public respect from his contemporaries, which sweetens a man's life, however useless it may be to his works after his death.

The works of Smart, reprinted from the edition of 1791, with some additions, were included in the general edition of the "Works of the British Poets, with Prefaces Biographical and Critical," furnished by the present writer, printed at Edinburgh, in 14 volumes, 8vo. in 1795. The "Biographical and Critical Preface," with some corrections, has been transferred to this edition of his translation of The Works of Horace into English Prose.

The character of this unfortunate poet, compounded like that of all human beings, of good qualities and of defects, may be easily collected from this account of his life. Of his domestic manners, and petty habits, a few peculiarities remain to be mentioned.

Though he was a very diligent student while he was at Cambridge, he was also extremely fond of exercise, and of walking in particular; at which times it was his custom to pursue his meditations. A path worn by his constant treading on the pavement, under the cloisters of his college, was marked by his fellow students. Like Milton and Gray, he had his moments propitious to invention; and has been frequently known to rise suddenly from his bed, that he might fix by writing those delightful ideas which floated before his fancy in the visions of the night.

His piety was exemplary and fervent. In composing his religious poems, he was frequently so impressed with sentiments of devotion, as to write particular passages on his knees.

He was friendly, affectionate, and liberal to excess; so as often to give that to others, of which he was in the utmost want himself. He was also particularly engaging in con versation, when his first shyness was worn away, which he had in common with literary men; but in a very remarkable degree. Having undertaken to introduce his wife to Lord Darlington, he had no sooner mentioned her name to his Lordship, than he retreated suddenly, as if stricken with a panic, from the room, and from the house, leaving her to follow overwhelmed with confusion.

During the far greater part of his life, he was wholly inat tentive to economy; and by this negligence lost first his fortune, and then his credit. The civilities shown him by persons greatly his superiors in rank and character, either induced him to expect mines of wealth from the exertion of his talents, or encouraged him to think himself exempted from at tention to common obligations.

But his chief fault, from which most of his other faults proceeded, was his deviations from the rules of sobriety; of which the early use of cordials, in the infirm state of his childhood and his youth, might, perhaps, be one cause, and is the only extenuation.

As a poet, his genius has never been questioned by those who censured his carelessness, and commiserated the unhappy vacillation of his mind. He is sometimes not only greatly irregular, but irregularly great. His errors are those of a bold and daring spirit, which bravely hazards what a vulgar mind could never suggest. Shakespeare and Milton are sometimes wild and irregular; and it seems as if originality alone could try experiments. Accuracy is timid, and seeks for authority. Fowls of feeble wing sometimes quit-theground, though at liberty; while the eagle, unrestrained, soars into unknown regions.

His prize poems on the Divine Attributes, are written with the sublimest energies of religion, and the true enthusiasm of poetry; and if he had written nothing else, these compositions alone would have given him a very distinguished rank among the writers of verse. Their faults, though numerous, are amply compensated by their beauties. Some of their de fects may be fairly ascribed to redundance of genius, and im

patience of labour; others to fanaticism, generated, perhaps by the grandeur of the subject; on which he strained his faculties, in trying to penetrate "beyond the reach of human ken;" but he never could mount "to the height of his great argument." Dr Johnson, in speaking of sacred poetry, in his life of Waller, has admirably said, that "whatever is great, desirable, or tremendous, is comprised in the name of the Supreme Being. Omnipotence cannot be exalted; infinity cannot be amplified; perfection cannot be improved." Upon the whole, however, his prize poems are more accurate than the generality of his performances; which may be attributed to the deference he might feel for those persons who were to adjudge the prizes which he obtained.

Of his Odes it may be said in general, that they are spirited and poetical. It will be difficult to find any other quality equally applicable to compositions very different from each other; and in many of which opposite characters occasionally predominate. He has followed the example of Ho❤ race, rather than that of the Grecian models; and of him he is, for the most part, a judicious imitator. Some of the shorter pieces are beautiful, and nearly perfect; but instances of an improper association of the grave and the ludicrous sometimes occur: and he debases, by an impure admixture, what otherwise would have been gold of the standard value.

On the Hop-Garden much commendation cannot justly be conferred; and the praise which is withheld from the poetry, will not be very cheerfully lavished on the instructions. But the roughness and want of dignity in the blank verse, and the want of previous information on the art of which he treats, are to be ascribed, not to the want of genius, but to want of diligence and care; for he never had patience nor application sufficient to bring a long work to any degree of perfection.

His mock heroic poem, the Hilliad, may afford entertainment to those who care little about the hero of the poem, or the subject of the quarrel. Compositions of this class, as they gratify malignity, are usually read with avidity on their first appearance; but without uncommon merit, they quickly sink into oblivion. The spirit and loftiness of some of the lines, the happy imitation of the "Dunciad," and the wit and humour of the notes, deserve great praise; but the abuse is coarse, and the scurrility is a disgrace to the republic of letters.

His Judgment of Midas, a masque, or dramatic pastoral, is a classical and elegant performance. It is executed throughout in a masterly manner. It has none of those gla

ring inaccuracies which disgrace some of his other pieces. The description of Midas following Pan, is full of poetry, as well as spirit. The address of Timolus to the inanimate things about him, on the approach of the gods, has great dig nity and propriety, as well as beauty. The first stanza of the song to Pan has great softness and great elegance. But dramatic pastorals, even if the generally interesting topic of love be superadded, will not greatly entertain without their proper embellishments, acting and music.

His Fables, chiefly written for the Student, and the Old Wo man's Magazine, rank with the most agreeable metrical com positions of that kind in our language. His versification is less polished, and his apologues, in general, are perhaps less cor rect than those of Gay and Moore; but in originality, in wit, and in humour, the preference seems due to Smart. They unite the grace and ease of Prior with the humour of Swift; and to these is superadded a very considerable portion of poe tical spirit. The introductory lines of almost all the fables are singularly ingenious and happy; and in the course of each, the second line of most couplets generally presents us with an independent new idea. The best and most serious of these playful compositions, is, doubtless, Care and Genero sity. It is one of the most beautiful allegories that has ever been imagined. The Citizen and the Red Lion of Brentford, may be thought to transgress the limits of mythological probability; but a dialogue between a man and a painted board, may be forgiven for its humour. The Brocaded Gown and Linen Rag, contains liberal praises of his poetical contemporaries, Akenside, Collins, Gray, and Mason. The Pig is a very exact and beautiful translation of the same story in Phædrus. If in any instances the modern is surpassed by the most charming fabulist of antiquity, for which, perhaps, the Roman is not a little indebted to the superior force and conciseness of the language in which he wrote, in others the original is undoubtedly rivalled, if not excelled, and obtains at last a doubtful victory.

His Ballads, Epigrams, and lighter pieces, bear the stamp of originality, of wit, and of pleasantry. The Force of Innocence is an elegant application of the Integer Vita of Horace, to female virtue. Sweet William, The Lass with the Golden Locks, The Decision, Jenny Gray, Lovely Harriot, a crambo ballad, written on Miss Pratt, of Downham, in Norfolk, a lady whom he tenderly loved, are generally known and admired. The epigrams of The Physician and the

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