the abundance whereof is fit only to stifle and extinguish virtues the most useful to society. "People of Britain, whence these continual alarms? these factions which tear you, these dark and splenetic humours which devour you? The treasures you accumulate, far from confirming your happiness, are to you a never-ceasing source of trouble. How is it, that, in the very bosom of liberty and abundance, we see you deep in reverie, unquiet, and more dissatisfied with your lot, than the meanest and most contemptible slaves? Learn the true cause of your anxieties and your fears. The love of gold never makes good citizens. Liberty cannot be firmly established, but upon equity; or bravely defended, but by virtue. Leave to despots the foolish and destructive glory of making conquests, and be content with enjoying the blessings of nature in peace. Cultivate then, Britons, reason and wisdom: employ yourselves in perfecting your government and your laws. Fear luxury, fatal to manners, fatal to liberty: dread fanaticism, political and religious. So shall your fortunate Isle become the model of nations, and your liberty shine propitious to all the people upon earth*.* CHARACTER OF MR. FOX, BY SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. MR. Fox united in a most remarkable degree, the seemingly repugnant characters of the mildest of men, and the most vehement of orators. In private life he was gentle, modest, placable, kind, of simple manners, and so averse from parade and dogmatism, as to be not only unostentatious, but even somewhat inactive in conversation. His superiority was never felt but in the instruction which he imparted, or in the attention which his generous preference usually directed to the more obscure members of the company. The simplicity of his manners was far from excluding that perfect urbanity and amenity which flowed still more from the mildness of his nature, than Une nation vénale, vicieuse, corrompue, peut-elle donc longteins conserver sa liberté ? &c. Systême Social. Part II. ch. 6. from familiar intercourse with the most polished society of Europe. His conversation, when it was not repressed by modesty or indolence, was delightful, The pleasantry perhaps of no man of wit had so unlaboured an appearance. It seemed rather to escape from his mind than to be produced by it. He had lived on the most intimate terms with all his contemporaries distinguished by wit, politeness, or philo sophy, or learning, or the talents of public life. In the course of thirty years he had known almost every man in Europe whose intercourse could strengthen, or enrich, or polish the mind. His own literature was various and elegant. In classical erudition, which by the custom of England is more peculiarly called learning, he was inferior to few professed scholars. Like all men of genius he delighted to take refuge in poetry, from the vulgarity and irritation of business. His own verses were easy and pleasing, and might have claimed no low place among those which the French call Vers de Societé. The poetical character of his mind was displayed in his extraordinary partiality for the poetry of the two most poetical nations, or at least languages of the West, those of the Greeks and of the Italians. He disliked political conversation, and never willingly took any part in it. To speak of him justly, as an Orator, would require a long essay. Every where natural, he carried into public something of that simple and negligent exterior which belonged to him in private. When he began to speak, a common observer might have thought him awkward; and even a consummate judge would only have been struck with the exquisite justness of his ideas, and the transparent simplicity of his manners. But no sooner had he spoken for some time, than he was changed into another being.-He forgot himself and every thing around him. He thought only of his subject. His genius warmed and kindled as he went on. He darted fire into his audience. Torrents of impetuous and irresistible eloquence swept along their feelings and conviction. He certainly possessed above all moderns that union of reason, simplicity, and vehemence, which formed the Prince of Orators, He was the most Demosthenean speaker since DEMOSTHENES. "I knew him," says Mr. BURKE, in a pamphlet written after their unhappy difference, "when he was nineteen; since which time he has risen, by slow degrees, to be the most brilliant and accomplished debater that the world ever saw." The quiet dignity of a mind roused only by great objects, the absence of petty bustle, the contempt of shew, the abhorrence of intrigue, the plainness and downrightness, and the thorough good nature which distinguished Mr. Fox, seemed to render him no very unfit representative of that old English national character, which if it ever changed, we should be sanguine indeed to expect to see succeeded by a better. The simplicity of his character inspired confidence, the ardour of his eloquence roused enthusiasın, and the gentleness of his manners invited friendship. "I admired," says Mr. GIBBON," the powers of a superior man, as they are blended, in his attractive character, with all the softness and simplicity of a child: no human being was ever more free from any taint of malignity, vanity, or falsehood."-From these qualities of his public and private character it probably arose, that no English Statesman ever preserved, during so long a period of adverse fortune, so many affectionate friends, and so many zealous adherents. The union of ardour in public sentiment, with mildness in social manners, was, in Mr. Fox, an hereditary quality. The same fascinating power over the attachment of all who came within his sphere, is said to have belonged to his father; and those who know the survivors of another generation, will feel that this delightful quality, is not yet extinct in the race. Perhaps nothing can more strongly prove the deep impression made by this part of Mr. Fox's character, than the words of Mr. BURKE, who, in January, 1797, six years after all intercourse between them had ceased, speaking to a person honoured with some degree of Mr. Fox's friendship, said, "To be sure he is a man made to be loved!" and these emphatical words were uttered with a fervour of inanner which left no doubt of their heart-felt sincerity. These few hasty and honest sentences are sketches in a temper too sober and serious for intentional exaggeration, and with too pious an affection for the memory of Mr. Fox to profane it by intermixture with the factious brawls and wrangles of the day. His political conduct belongs to history. The measures which he supported or opposed may divide the opinion of posterity, as they have divided those of the present age. But he will most certainly command the unanimous reverence of future generations, by his pure sentiments towards the commonwealth, by his zeal for the civil and religious rights of all men, by his liberal principles favourable to mild government, to the unfettered exercise of the human faculties, and the progressive civilization of mankind; by his ardent love for a country of which the well-being and greatness were indeed inseparable from his own glory, and by his profound reverence for that free constitution, which he was universally admitted to understand better than any other man of his age, both in an exactly legal, and in a comprehensively philosophical sense. CAROLAN, THE two following Songs are the composition of TURLOUGH O'CAROLAN, (translated into English verse by MISS BROOKE,) a man much and deservedly celebrated for his poetical talents, as well as for the incomparable sweetness of all his musical pieces, SONG FOR GRACEY NUGENT. Or Gracey's charms enraptur'd will I sing! How blest her sweet society to share! To mark the ringlets of her flowing hair; * Her gentle accents, -her complacent mien Supreme in charms, she looks she reigns a Queen! * Hair is a favourite object with all the Irish poets, and endless is the variety of their description:-" Soft misty curls."-" Thick branching tresses of bright redundance."-" Locks of fair waving beauty."—" Tresses flowing on the wind like the bright waving flame of an inverted torch." They even affect to inspire it with expression: as "Locks of gentle lustre."-" Tresses of tender beauty.""The Maid with the mildly flowing hair, &c. &c. That alabaster form-that graceful neck, Blest is the youth whom fav'ring fates ordain Sweet is the cheer her sprightly wit supplies! eyes ! Her's is the voice-tun'd by harmonious Love, Gay pleasures dance where'er her footsteps bend, Her pearly teeth, in beauteous order plac'd; Here break I off;-let sparkling goblets flow, A friend to whom I shewed this Song, observed, that I had omitted a very lively thought in the conclusion, which they had seen in MR. WALKER'S Memoirs. As that version has been much read and admired, it may perhaps be necessary, to vindicate my fidelity, as a transla tor, that I should here give a literal translation of the song, to shew that the thoughts have suffered very little, either of encrease or diminution from the poetry. |