bitterest and most acrimonious spirit possible in the competition of letters. Amongst the writers to the Critical Review there was a suspicion that Grainger was connected in some way with the Monthly Review. This, combined with Smollett's jealousy of Grainger's talents, prompted the attack and neutralised its bitterness. Grainger, fired with indignation, wrote an open letter to Tobias Smollett, in which he successfully exposed the malice and misrepresentation of the critical article in his periodical. Grainger unwisely pursued his enemy beyond the point of honourable victory, for he was no match for Smollett in vituperation and vulgar abuse. The following is an example of Smollett's attack :"One of the owls belonging to the proprietor of the Monthly Review, which answers to the name of Grainger, hath suddenly broken from his mew, where he used to hoot in darkness and peace, and now screeches openly in the face of day. We shall take the first opportunity to chastise this troublesome owl and drive him back to his original obscurity." In his "Ode to Solitude," Grainger mentions the owl in the following random allusion :

"Where the owl, still hooting, sits."

:

The assumption is that this is the line that beguiled Smollett into the foregoing poor attempt at wit, which is too obvious to conceal the bitterness and scorn he cherished for his rival. By this time, however, the reading public had become disgusted with the vulgar and aggressive criticism in which Smollett and his myrmidons indulged towards almost every new aspirant in literature, and the censures of the Critical Review left the reputation of Grainger unhurt. Not only did the translations of Tibullus and Sulpicia secure general admiration in the author's own day, but anyone who takes the trouble to compare the translations of Eton, Otway, and Hammond with Grainger's will be influenced in Grainger's favour, though perhaps not in entire agreement with the estimate of his contemporary critics.

Book IV. of the Translations of Tibullus is composed of elegies assigned to Sulpicia and Cerinthus, of which the following lines may be given as a specimen :

The only poetical work by Sulpicia of which a correct critical judgment can approve is entitled Sulpicia Satira, comprising about seventy hexameters, believed to have been written, after the exile of the Philosophers by Domitian in 94 A.D. Moreover, it is supposed that both the third and fourth books of Tibullus are the works of inferior poets, and with which neither Tibullus nor Sulpicia had much to do. Almost immediately after the publication of Tibullus, Dr Grainger was induced to accept an appointment in the island of St. Christopher, where he married one of the daughters of the Governor, which alliance was of great advantage to him professionally. In 1763, after peace was proclaimed, Grainger returned to England, where he remained nearly two years, bringing with him a poem, designated "The Sugar Cane," written during his stay in the West Indies. The poem was read from the manuscript at the house of Sir Joshua Reynolds, where the title and various allusions in the poem were a source of much amusement to the wits there assembled. It was generally approved, however, and he was induced to publish it in a quarto volume in 1764. While in England, Grainger supplied Dr Percy with the ballad "Bryan and Pereene," which was published in the first volume of Reliques of English Poetry. The ballad was founded on a real incident which happened in the island of St. Christopher, and is of a most touching and romantic character.

In 1765 Grainger returned to St. Christopher, and resumed his medical practice, but only for a brief period. He died of fever at Basse-Terre two years afterwards, in the forty-third year of his age. By all who knew him he was highly esteemed, both as a man and an author. Dr Percy says of him, that "he was not only a man of genius and learning, but had many excellent virtues, being one of the most generous, friendly, and benevolent

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men he ever knew." His poetry has been rather over than underestimated, which, perhaps, might be accounted for by his fascinating personality. His "Ode on Solitude" is an imitation, and a successful one, of Milton's Allegro" and "Penseroso," and has generally been regarded as his ablest production. Finally, his works were edited and published by Dr Anderson. In addition to the pieces already alluded to, "Translations from Ovid," "Heroic Epistles," and a "Fragment of Capua: A Tragedy which he left in manuscript, were also included in Dr Anderson's edition.

Caleb Whitefoord, 1734-1810.

In Caleb Whitefoord, 1734-1810, we have a man who was more distinguished in his own day for his social qualities than his literary achievements, although, by a little more assiduous cultivation of his natural gifts he would assuredly have left a greater reputation. The Whitefoord Papers, edited by Professor Hewins, and pubished by the Clarendon Press in 1898, shows the wide range of Caleb Whitefoord's literary and artistic associations, comprising, as they did, such men as Dr Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Goldsmith, Garrick, Foote, Benjamin Franklin, and many other celebrities of the day. He was the only son of Colonel Charles Whitefoord of the Fifth Regiment of Foot, and was born at Edinburgh in 1734. At an early age he attended James Mundell's school, where, among his fellow-scholars, were the Earl of Buchan, Lord Balmuto, and Dr Andrew Hunter. In March, 1748, he matriculated at the University of Edinburgh, where he rapidly became distinguished for his knowledge of classical literature. The intention of Caleb's father was that his son should enter the Church, but as he showed a strong dislike to the clerical profession the idea was abandoned, and he was sent to London and placed in the counting-house of Archibald Stewart, a wine merchant in a large way of business. While in this situation his father died, leaving to Caleb and his sister the greater portion of his fortune. With the view of adding to his knowledge and experience of the world Caleb went to France, where he remained two years, after which he returned to England and invested the

greater portion of his money in the wine trade as partner with Thomas Brown. He became a society man, and man of the world. In spite of his natural talents for wit, learning, and the refined arts, Whitefoord had little or no ambition to employ them in the cause of literature. Indeed, had he not made the acquaintance of W. Woodfall, the popular journalist and publisher, he might never have exercised his pen for the instruction and amusement of the public, for which he was so eminently qualified. The numerous essays, poems, and epigrams Whitefoord wrote were published in the Public Advertiser, the St. James's Chronicle, and other periodicals, and were greatly appreciated by the reading public. From the moment his contributions left his pen, however, they gave him no further concern, and he was quite indifferent about the reputation they brought him. For anything he cared they would have been lost and forgotten had they not been searched out and collected by Almon and Debrett, who thought them worthy of a place in the "Foundling Hospital for Wit." Among the most interesting papers in the Whitefoord collection are "John Croft's Letters to Caleb Whitefoord" and "Anecdotes of Laurence Sterne," which he supplied to Croft. Valuable information here reposes which would form important material for a Life of that eccentric genius. Another important epistle is from Whitefoord to his partner, Thomas Brown, dated from Lisbon, where he arrived immediately after the great earthquake in August, 1756. The description he gives of the disaster to the city is graphic and interesting. "There are not three houses," he says, "left entire in the whole city of Lisbon, and the one from which I write stands like a lame beggar propt up on crutches." There is also an interesting letter to Caleb Whitefoord from the ill-starred Andrew Erskine, advocating the claims of George Thomson, the friend of Robert Burns, who was going to put in execution a plan of giving the public the Scottish melodies in a new and superior style to what had yet been done. In the course of this letter Erskine says "I have turned poet on the occasion, and have wrote seven love-songs for him; at fifty-two, I'm afraid, we write on these subjects more from recollection than our present feelings."

The numerous friends Whitefoord could reckon amongst people of nearly every intellectual degree and social status show how widely he was known and how much he was appreciated. By his wit and good-humoured satire he not only amused and instructed his readers, but he was instrumental in delivering the daily press from the dulness and insipidity with which it had been trammelled and oppressed. His satire partook so much of a sportive character that it offended no one, though in less judicious hands his power of satire might easily have become a dangerous weapon. Adam Smith said of him "that although the Junto of wits and authors hated one another heartily, they had all a sincere regard for Mr Whitefoord, who, by his conciliatory manners and happy adaptation of circumstances, kept his circle together in anity and good humour." Whitefoord was a popular member of the famous literary Club founded by Dr Johnson, and though he cannot be ranked among its ablest members, no one was held in higher esteem. From the time he first settled in London, he took a deep interest in the political questions of the day, becoming a convert to American Independence. He acted as secretary to Lord St. Helens, the Minister entrusted to negotiate treaties of peace with the United States. Several of the treaties drawn up at this juncture on American affairs are in the handwriting of Caleb Whitefoord. Withdrawing from all other business, he remained in Paris some thirteen months, where he acted as sole secretary to the Commission for the negotiation of the Preliminary Treaty of Peace, which was begun in 1782. Notwithstanding the importance of Whitefoord's diplomatic services, the Government suggested no reward, and it was not till after his case was brought to the notice of the King that he was rewarded with a small pension. Although the State was slow to recognise his talents and accomplishments, he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London for his literary and scientific acquirements, a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Society of Antiquaries, and the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. Outside the artists' profession he was unrivalled as a connoisseur of art, and he had a fine collection of specimens of distinguished artists to the number