tioned, decorated with the ftatues of great and good men, is no im. proper emblem. This work, which contains the lives of the most eminent perfons, who have flourished in Great Britain and Ireland, from the earliest ages, down to the prefent time, appears to me, as far as it has hitherto gone, to be executed with great Spirit, accuracy, and judgment; and deferves, in my opinion, to be encouraged by all, who have at heart the honour of their country, and that of their particular families and friends; and who can any ways affift the ingenious and laborious authors, to render as perfect as poffible, a defign fo apparently calculated to serve the public, by fetting in the trueft and fulleft light the characters of perfons already generally, though perhaps too indiftinctly known; and retrieving from obfcurity and oblivion, examples of private and retired merit, which, though lefs glaring and oftentatious than the former, are not, however, of a lefs extenfive or less beneficial influence. To thofe, who may happen not to have seen this repofitory of British glory, I cannot give a better idea of it, than in the following lines of Virgil:

Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera paffi ;
Quique facerdotes cafti, dum vita manebat;
Quique pii vates & Phabo digna locuti ;
Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes;
Quique fui memores alios fecere merendo.

Virg. Æn. L. 6.

The End of the FIRST CANTO.

PEN.

PENS HUR ST.

INSCRIBED TO

WILLIAM PERRY, Efq;

AND

The Honourable Mrs. ELIZABETH PERRY.

By the late Mr. F. COVENTRY.

ENIUS of Penfhurft old!

GE

Who faw'ft the birth of each immortal oak,

Here facred from the stroke;

And all thy tenants of yon turrets bold,

Infpir'ft to arts or arms;

a

Where Sidney his Arcadian landscape drew,

Genuine from thy Doric view;

And patriot Algernon unfhaken rose

Above infulting foes;

And Sacchariffa nurs'd her angel charms.

• Sir Philip Sidney.

Algernon Sidney.

O fuffer

O fuffer me with fober tread

To enter on thy holy fhade;
Bid fmoothly-gliding Medway stand,
And wave his fedgy treffes bland,
A ftranger let him kindly greet,

And

pour his urn beneath my feet. And fee where Perry opes his door

To land me on the focial floor;

Nor does the heirefs of these fhades deny
To bend her bright majestic eye,

Where Beauty fhines, and Friendship warm,

And Honour in a female form.

With them in aged groves to walk,
And lofe my thoughts in artless talk,
I fhun the voice of Party loud,

I fhun loofe Pleafure's idle crowd,
And monkish academic cell,
Where Science only feigns to dwell,
And court, where fpeckled Vanity
Apes her tricks in tawdry die,
And fhifts each hour her tinfel hue,
Still furbelow'd in follies new.
Here Nature no diftortion wears,

Old Truth retains his filver hairs,

And

And Chastity her matron ftep,
And purple Health her rofy lip.
Ah! on the virgin's gentle brow
How Innocence delights to glow!
Unlike the town-dame's haughty air,
The scornful eye and harlot's ftare;
But bending mild the bafhful front,
As modeft Fear is ever wont:
Shepherdeffes fuch of old,

Doric bards enamour'd told,

While the pleas'd Arcadian vale

Echo'd the enchanting tale.

But chief of Virtue's lovely train,

A penfive exile on the plain,

No longer active now to wield

Th' avenging fword, protecting fhield,
Here thoughtful-walking Liberty
Remembers Britons once were free.
With her would Nobles old converse,

And learn her dictates to rehearse,

Ere yet they grew refin'd to hate

The hofpitable rural feat,

The fpacious hall with tenants ftor'd,

Where Mirth and Plenty crown'd the board;

Ere

Ere yet their Lares they forfook,
And loft the genuine British look,
The conscious brow of inward merit,

The rough, unbending, martial spirit,

To clink the chain of Thraldom gay,

And court-idolatry to pay;

To live in city fmoaks obfcure,

Where morn ne'er wakes her breezes pure,
Where darkest midnight reigns at noon,
And fogs eternal blot the fun.

But come, the minutes flit away,
And eager Fancy longs to ftray:
Come, friendly Genius! lead me round.
Thy fylvan haunts and magic ground;
Point every spot of hill or dale,

And tell me, as we tread the vale,
"Here mighty Dudly once would rove,
"To plan his triumphs in the grove :
"There loofer Waller, ever gay,

"With Saccharifs in dalliance lay;

"And Philip, fide-long yonder fpring,..

"His lavish carols wont to fing."

Hark! I hear the echoes call,

Hark! the rushing waters fall;

Lead