more to say on it, and that he thought of communicating an Hiftory of Ecclefiaftical Architecture in England by himself to the Antiquarian Society, of which he had long been a member, without contributing to it any papers. Mr. Price farther fays, that amongst other papers; which came into his hands on Warton's death, was one written out fairly for the prefs, and with directions to the printer, containing a Hiftory of Saxon and Gothic Architecture; which he delivered over to Dr. Joseph Warton. Mr. John Warton however, who is in poffeffion of his father's and uncle's papers, has never met

with it.

Of this work the Author himfelf has more than once publicly fpoken. In the fecond Differtation, prefixed to his " Hiftory of English

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Poetry," published, as will be hereafter noticed, in 1774, he speaks of alterations introduced into the ftile of military and ecclefiaftical building in England by the Normans, and in a note refers for further illustration of the point "to a work now preparing for the press, in"titled, Obfervations Critical and Hiftorical, "on Caftles, Churches, Monafteries, and other "Monuments of Antiquity in various parts of

England.' To which will be prefixed the "Hiftory of Architecture in England." And again in the third volume, publifhed in 1781,

speaking of the art of painting on glass as practifed in England, "But with the careless hafte of a

lover, I am anticipating what I have to say "of it in my History of Gothic Architecture " in England."

Mr. John Warton has indeed in his uncle's writing fome copy-books, containing " Obfer"vations, critical and hiftorical, &c." agreeably to the title above recited. These " Obferva

"tions" appear to have been put together as opportunities offered in the fummer-excurfions: they do not seem to make a whole, but give independent accounts of the feveral buildings visited; and are no farther digefted or arranged than according to the alphabetical order of counties and places. These then, when completed, were to have been the body of the work: but the promised preface, containing a general and digested hiftory, it is to be feared, will not be found.

Thofe, who are beft acquainted with the fondness, with which Mr. Warton contemplated this fubject, and with that tafte and difcernment, which he eminently poffeffed, and of which he has given us fo tantalifing a fpecimen in the note on the Faerie Queene, will be most able to appreciate the lofs of the literary world in the deftruction of this MS. Had he not

completed the work, our regret on that account might have been in fome fort extenuated by confidering that in all probability his mind was employed in other interefting enquiries; that new light was thereby derived on the History of our Poetry, or that new treasures were added. to its ftore. But the lofs of a finished work, by fuch a man, and on such a subject, can hardly be enough regretted, for it can hardly ever be repaired.

It fometimes happened to Mr. Warton, as I fuppofe it may happen to moft other men of diftinguished talents, to project works, without beginning to perform them; and to begin, without completing them. From Bofwell's Life of Johnfon it appears that Warton in the year 1755 intended a tranflation of Apollonius Rhodius; and that in the preceding year he had a defign of publishing a volume of obfervations on the best of Spenfer's works. I have also been told that he once had thoughts of publishing a tranflation of Homer; but my informer could not fay whether it was to be an original work, or a republication of Pope's with notes: probably a verfion, in Latin hexameters, of the hymns, one of which is to be found amongst his Latin poems. He had however no great time for fuch occupations, as he was prevented from proceeding with his obfervations on Spenfer by taking pupils in College.

From the expreffions used by Johnson, in his letters to Warton at this time, there is reafon to fuppofe that this work was begun; and we have more caufe to regret that he was hindered in this, than in the others, as the acquaintance with the poets &c. of the middle ages, which he had just then displayed in his " Ob"servations on the Faerie Queene of Spenfer," might have been well applied to the illustration of the other beautiful, but (it is much to be lamented) neglected works of that delightful poet.

A paffage in a letter from Johnson to Warton, dated Dec. 21, 1754, is a striking proof of the ignorance concerning the earlier English poets, which at that time prevailed even amongst English scholars. "There is an old English "and Latin book of poems by Barclay, called The Ship of Fools,' at the end of which are a "number of EGLOGUES; fo he writes it from

Egloga, which are probably the first in our language. If you cannot find the book, I "will get Mr. Dodfley to fend it you." It is ftrange that Johnfon could imagine Warton to be unacquainted with fo common a book as this, if we confider the refearches, which his late publication on the Faerie Queene might have shown, that he had been making into early English literature: or that Johnson himself,

who was on the eve of fending his Dictionary into the world, fhould have been ftruck with the

apparent fingularity of the word " Eglogues;" which denomination is given to fome complimentary poems addreffed to William Browne, author of "Britannia's Paftorals," on the publication of his " Inner Temple Masque," towards the middle of the 17th century. The reference feems to have been made by way of affifting Warton in his “ Spenferian defign," probably of illuftrating the " Shepheard's Ca"lendar."

Had the letters of Mr. Warton, in anfwer to thofe of Dr. Johnson above alluded to, been preserved, they might have made us acquainted with fome interefting particulars relating to his studies at this time. But it is most probable that they fuffered confiderable interruption from the employment in which he was then engaged. Still thefe avocations did not prevent him from exerting himself in the fervice of his friend, or from filling, with credit to himself and benefit to the public, an office of diftinguished honour in the University. In 1757, on the resignation of Mr. Hawkins of Pembroke College, Mr. Warton was elected Profeffor of Poetry and having been previously active in procuring for Dr. Johnson the degree of A. M. by diploma, (a distinction which he was defirous of placing