3. In addition to all this, the habit of dealing with large sums will make the government avaricious and profuse; and the system itself will infallibly generate the base vermin of spies and informers, and a still more pestilent race of political tools and retainers of the meanest and most odious description; while the prodigious patronage which the collecting of this splendid revenue will throw into the hands of government, will invest it with so vast an influence, and hold out such means and temptations to corruption, as all the virtue and public spirit, even of republicans, will be unable so resist. SIDNEY SMITH. REV. SIDNEY SMITH, who, for half a century, rendered himself conspicuous as a political writer and critic, was born at Woodford, in Essex, in the year 1769; received his education at Winchester College, and was then elected to New College, Oxford, in 1780. He was ordained to a curacy in Wiltshire; but soon after left for Edinburgh, where he was minister of the Episcopal church for five years. He was the projector of the "Edinburgh Review," and edited the first number before leaving for Loudon, where he became, in every sense of the word, "a popular preacher." Nor were his oral eloquence, wit, and learning confined to the pulpit alone; with equal success he displayed his abilities as a lecturer on the BELLES-LETTRES at the Royal Institution, his fame increasing with every fresh effort of his genius. His contributions to the "Edinburgh Review," and various other productions, have been collected, and have gone through several editions; and, more recently, his "Sketches of Moral Philosophy," or lectures upon that subject, delivered at the Royal Institution, have been published. He died Feb. 21, 1845, aged 76. 27. LOCHIEL'S WARNING. WIZARD. 1. LOCHIEL, Lochiel, beware' of the day When the Lowlands shall meet thee in battle array! 'Be wåre. In this, as in most exquisite poems, modified elements frequently occur; and when correctly uttered, produce a most happy effect. See notes to the "Table of Oral Elements," p. 17.-a Cul lò' den, a wide, moory ridge of Scotland, county of Inverness, in the parish of Croy, memorable for the total defeat of Prince Charles's army, on the 16th of April, 1746, by the royal troops under the Duke of Cumberland. Proud Cumberland prances,' insulting the slain, Oh weep! but thy tears can not number the dead; LOCHIEL. Go preach to the coward, thou death-telling seer! WIZARD. Ha! laugh'st thou, Lochiel, my vision to scorn! From his home in the dark-rolling clouds of the north! Whose banners arise on the battlements' height, 20 1 Prances (pråns' ez).- Hoof-beaten (hof-bè' tn).-There (thår).— De spåir'.- Mêr' ci less.- Laugh'st (låfst).-' Bird (bêrd).--"Beåring. —3 Blåst. —1o Cåst.—" Eyri (år'Î), a place where birds of prey build their nests; the nest of a bird of prey.-" Beacons (bè' knz), affords light as a beacon, or signal-fire, on an eminence. Heaven's fire is around thee to blast and to burn :' LOCHIEL. False wizard, avaunt! I have marshall'd my clan: Lochiel, Lochiel, beware of the day! For, dark and despairing, my sight I may scal, Now in darkness and billows he sweeps from my sight: But where is the iron-bound prisoner? Where? Say, mounts he the ocean-wave, banish'd, forlorn, Like a limb from his country cast bleeding and tōrn! - 1 Burn (běrn). — Return (re têrn'). — Where (whår).- A vâunt'.— 'Låst. Clay' mòre, a large, two-handed sword, formerly used by the Scottish Highlanders.-' Wrath (råth).- Påth. — Their (thår). Ah! no; for a darker departure is near; The war-drum is muffled, and black is the bier; Yon sight, that it freezes my spirit to tell! LOCHIEL. Down, soothless insulter! I trust not the tale! So black with dishonor, so foul with retreat! Though his perishing ranks should be strew'd in their gōre, Like ocean-weeds heap'd on the surf-beaten shōre, Lochiel, untainted by flight or by chains, While the kindling of life in his bosom remains, Shall victor exult, or in death be laid low, With his back to the field, and his feet to the foe! Look proudly to heaven from the death-bed of fame! THOMAS CAMPBELL. THOMAS CAMPBELL, the distinguished poet, a cadet of the respectable family of Campbell, of Kirnan, in Argyleshire, was born in Glasgow, on the 27th of July, 1777. Owing to the straitened circumstances of his father, young Campbell was obliged, while attending college, to have recourse to private teaching as a tutor. Notwithstanding this additional labor, he made rapid progress in his studies, and attained considerable distinction at the university of his native city He very early gave proofs of his aptitude for literary composition, especially in the department of poetry. At the age of twenty, he occasionally labored for the booksellers, while attending lectures at the university in Edinburgh. In 1799, his first extended poem, "The Pleasures of Hope," was published. Its success was instantaneous and without parallel. It is not too much to say, that it is, without an exception, the finest didactic poem in the English language. In 1809, he published "Gertrude of Wyoming," which holds the second place among his lengthier poems, and to which were attached the most celebrated of his grand and powerful lyrics. Though Campbell was too frequently timid, and noted more for beauties of expression than for high inventive power and vigorous execution, yet his lyrical pieces, particularly “The Battle of the Baltic," "Mariners of England," " Hohenlinden," and "Lochiel's Warning," which appear to have been struck off at a heat, prova conclusively that his concepti ms, when not 'Accursed (ak kerst').- Surf-beaten (sårf” bẻ' tn). too much subjected to elaboration, were glowing, bold, and powerful. In the latter part of the poet's life his circumstances were materially improved. In 1826, he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. He died on the 15th of July, 1844, at the age of sixty-seven, and his remains were solemnly interred in Westminster Abbey. 28. BIOGRAPHY OF JACOB HAYS. WHERE the subject of the present memoir was born, can be but of little consequence; who were his father and mother, of still less; and how he was bred and educated, of none at all. I shall therefore pass over this division of his existence in eloquent silence, and come at once to the period when he attained the ǎc'me' of constabulary3 power and dignity by being created high-constable of this city and its suburbs; and it may be remarked, in passing, that the honorable the corporation, during their long and unsatisfactory career, never made an appointment more creditable to themselves, more beneficial to the city, more honorab o the country at large, more imposing in the eye of foreig nations, more disagreeable to all rogues, nor more gratifying to honest men, than that of the gentleman whom we are biographizing, to the high office he now holds. 2. His acuteness and vigilance have become proverbial; and there is not a misdeed committed by any member of this community, but he is speedily admonished that he will "have old flays (as he is affectionately and familiarly termed) after him." Indeed, it is supposed by many that he is gifted with supernatural attributes, and can see things that are hid from mortal ken; or how, it is contended, is it possible that he should, as he does, "bring forth the secret'st man of blood?" That he can discover "undivulged crime"-that when a store has been robbed, he, without hesitation, can march directly to the house where the goods are concealed, and say, "These are they"—or, when a gentleman's pocket has been picked, that, from a crowd of unsavory miscreants he can, with unerring judgment, lay his hand upon one and exclaim, "You're wanted!"-or, how is it that he is gift - Memoir (mèm' war), a biography; a kind of familiar history.Ac' me, the height or top of a thing.- Con ståb' u la ry, relating to a constable, or police-officer. |