MR. MASON'S REPUTED ACT OF PI-. RACY, FROM THE LONDON MAGAZINE, INSERTED IN HIS MEMOIRS OF MR. GRAY, P. 402-3, 4•

Character of Mr. Gray.

MR.

R. GRAY, perhaps, was "the most learned man in Europe. "He was equally acquainted with "the elegant and profound parts of "fcience, and that not fuperfici66 ally, but thoroughly. He knew every branch of Hiftory, both na

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tr

"tural and civil; and had read all "the original hiftorians of England, "France, and Italy; and was a great antiquarian. Criticifm, metaphy"fics, morals, politics, made a principal part of his plan of study; voy66 ages and travels, of all forts, were

"his

"his favourite amusements: and he "had a fine tafte in painting, prints, "architecture, and gardening."With fuch a fund of knowledge, "his converfation must have been "equally inftructing and entertain

ing; but he was also a good man, " a well-bred man, a man of vir"tue and humanity. There is no "character without fome fpeck, "fome imperfection, and I think "the greatest defect in his was an "affectation in delicacy, or rather "effeminacy, and a visible fastidi"oufness, or contempt and difdain "of his inferiors in fcience. He "alfo had, in fome degree, that "weakness which disgusted Voltaire "fo much in Mr. Congreve: though "he feemed to value others, chiefly "according to the progress they "had made in knowledge; yet he "could not bear to be confidered "himself merely as a man of letters;

1

"ters; and though without birth, 44 or fortune, or ftation, his defire "was to be looked on as a private independant gentleman, who read "for his amufement. Perhaps it may be faid, What fignifies fo "much knowledge, when it pro"duced fo little? Is it worth tak

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ing fo much pains to leave no "memorial, but a few Poems ? "But let it be confidered, that Mr. "Gray was to others, at leaft, in"nocently employed; to himself, "certainly beneficially. His time "paffed agreeably; he was every "day making fome new acquifition "in fcience; his mind was en

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larged, his heart foftened, his "virtue ftrengthened; the world "and mankind were fhewn to him "without a mafk; and he was "taught to confider every thing as "trifling, and unworthy of the at"tention of a wife man, except the 66 pur

purfuit of knowledge, and the "practice of virtue, in that state "wherein God hath placed us." 354 Words.

MR. MURRAY'S REPUTED ACT OF PIRACY, FROM THAT PART OF MR. GRAY'S POEMS WHICH MR. MASON ARROGATES FOR HIS PROPERTY.

The Death of Hoel.

HAD I but the torrent's might,
With headlong rage and wild affright,
Upon Deira's fquadron's hurl'd,

To rush and sweep them from the world !
Too, too fecure in youthful pride
By them, my friend, my Hoel, died,
Great Cian's fon: of Madoc old
He afk'd no heaps of hoarded gold;
Alone in Nature's wealth array'd,
He afk'd, and had the lovely maid.
To Cattraeth's vale in glittering row
Twice two hundred warriors go;

Every

Every warrior's manly neck
Chains of regal honour deck,
Wreath'd in many a golden link;
From the golden cup they drink
Nectar, that the bees produce,
Or the grapes extatic juice.

Flush'd with mirth, and hope they burn:
But none from Cattraeth's vale return,
Save Aëron brave, and Conon strong,
(Bursting thro' the bloody throng)
And I the meaneft of them all,
That live to weep, and fing their fall.

On the Death of Richard Weft.

IN vain to me the fmiling mornings fhine, And redd'ning Phoebus lifts his golden fire; The birds in vain their amorous descant join; Orchearful fields refume their green attire: Thefe ears, alas! for other notes repine,

A different object do thefe eyes require. My lonely anguish melts no heart but mine; And in my breaft th' imperfect joys expire. Yet morning fmiles the bufy race to chear, And new-born pleasure brings to happier

men:

The fields to all their wonted tribute bear; To warm their little love the birds com

plain :

I fruitless mourn to him, that cannot hear, And weep the more, because I weep in vain.