different climate, to a soil extremely dissimilar, in Lat. 55, N This, in course, was not likely to bring about the most beneficial results. However this was the general plan on which Mr. Clarke carried on his agricultural operations; and it must be confessed, howsoever injudicious this must have been in several respects, his crops were, at least, as good as those of his neighbours.

The School in which A. Clarke had his Classical Education, was situated in the skirt of a wood, on a gently rising eminence, behind which a hill thickly covered with bushes of different kinds and growth, rose to a considerable height. In front of this little building there was a great variety of prospect, both of hill and dale, where, in their seasons, all the operations of husbandry might be distinctly seen. The boys who could be trusted, were permitted in the fine weather, to go into the wood, to study their lessons. In this most advantageous situation, Adam read the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil, where he had almost every scene described in these poems, exhibited in real life, before his eyes. He has often said, if ever he enjoyed real intellectual happiness, it was in that place, and in that line of study. These living scenes were often finer and more impressive comments on the Roman poet, than all the laboured notes and illustrations of the Delphin Editors, and the Variorum Critics.

It was in this place, but at an earlier period than that noted above, that he composed a Satire on one of his school fellows, with whom he had fallen out, on no very sufficient grounds. The poem consisted of 175 verses; and was all composed one Saturday afternoon, after the breaking up of school, at a time in which he had not learned to write small hand, so as to be sufficiently intelligible; his brother therefore wrote them down from his mouth; some Fragments only remain, and they may be introduced here as a proof of what Dr. Johnson calls a precocity of genius in this way: and although they should not be deemed promissory of any poetic abilities, yet they are at least for a lad of eight or nine years of age, as good as the verses on Master Duck, attributed to the almost infancy of the above celebrated writer.

THE PARALLEL:-A POEM.

Or Verses on William W-k-n, of Portglenone, in the County of Antrim, describing the base extraction, high insignificance, and family connexions, of the said William W-k-n, alias Pigmy Will.

The Isle Egina as it's said,

Was once depeopled by a plague:
Nor male nor female then was spared
Save Eacus, who was its laird.
Great Jove to Eacus gave birth,

As good a wight as liv'd on earth;

And skill'd in magic as it's said,

He found out means to stop the plague.
(A) The ants they saw to their surprise,
The nation fall before their eyes;
And earnestly desired then,

That he would change them into men.
This was no sooner said than done,
For straight to conjuring he begun ;
Then feet and legs might there be seen,
And bodies moving on the green ;

With thighs, arms, shoulders, neck, and head,
Like ghosts arising from the dead.

Multa desunt.

When all this tiny race was fram'd,
There was one of them that was nam'd

Ninneus, he of stature small,

The merest dwarf among them all;
The little Næthius, Pluto's client,

Compared to him was like a giant ;-
Nor all the race of Fairies dire,
Nor Salamanders bred in fire,
Nor Oberon the fairy king,
Nor all the race of dwarfs living,
Nor one on earth compared him 'till,
Except the moth called Pigmy Will. (1)
But certes here, you'll think anon,
This is a rare comparison;

That such a lad as Ninneus was,
Should likened be to Will the dwarf.
But now, my muse, for to be brief
On Willy's acts turn o'er a leaf.
The Pigmy people did declare,
With race of Cranes a dreadful war;
And urg'd them with their winged might
To meet them on the field to fight.

The Cranes, not daunted at this news,
Ne'er doubting that they'd soon confuse
This reptile race, void dread or fear,
Unto the battle they drew near.

Our Pigmy with his little page, (2)
A fearful crane did soon engage:
She tore their face with beak and nail,
And dealt her blows as thick as hail.
In minutes three the page was kill'd;
And Will being well in running skill'd,
Took to his heels t' avoid disgrace,
And shun the rage of cranish race.
But fortune's smiles, that wait on th' brave,
Beam'd not, our hero fleet to save;
For soon, alas! he fell flat down.
The crane observing him in swoon,
Clutch'd and lift high up in the air,
Having fast hold of poor WILL's hair.

At this unhappy change of place,
Will made a haggard rueful face;
And earnestly desired to be
Rid of his potent enemy.

The crane fast sped, now high, now low,
With her poor caitiff screaming foe;
Till coming o'er Portnegro town, (3)
She loos'd her fangs, and let him down:
And he, poor wight, like old king Log,
Came plumb directly to a bog.

Quæcunque desunt.

When from Portnegro he came home,
His friends embrac'd him one by one;

But father said, "I'll thrash your back, sir, (4)
"Gin ye dinna mend your manners straight, sir!"

Cætera desunt.

Like all ancient compositions of famous and learned men, the above wonderful Poem stands in need of Notes and Illustrations.

(A) The transformation of the ants into men by Eacus, in the Island of Egina, is taken from OVID's Metam. Lib. VII., Fab. xxvi. and xxvii. And the story of the pigmies and the cranes, may be seen in Homer, Pliny, and Juvenal.

(1) Pigmy Will,—the school nick-name of the young man, William W-k-n.

(2) Little page,-a poor little serving lad, a sort of playmate of William's when he was at his father's house.

(3) Portnegro, the town of Portglenone, on the River Ban, near to which this family dwelt.

(4) I'll thrash your back,—a very common expression of William's

father.

But, it may be asked, how could young Clarke, at this age, get the information which enabled him to make the above classical allusions, for he had not yet read the authors to whom the verses refer? It may be answered, that he was now learning, and was particularly fond of classical history; and, having procured an old copy of Littleton's Dictionary, he made himself, at a very early age, entire master of all the proper names; so that there was neither person nor place in the classic world, of which he could not give a ready account. This made him of great consideration among his school-fellows; and most of them in all the forms, generally applied to him for information on the historical parts of their lessons.

His love of reading was intense and unconquerable. To gratify this passion, and a passion it was in him, he would undergo any privations, and submit to any kind of hardship. The pence that he and his brother got for being good boys, and doing extra work, &c., they carefully preserved, never laying them out on toys, sweetmeats, &c., as other children did; but

when their savings amounted to a sum for which they could purchase some interesting book, they laid it out in this way. At first they got penny and twopenny histories, afterwards sixpenny books, and so on, as their minds were improved and their pence increased.

Their's was a little library-but to them exceedingly precious; for their books were their companions, and in their company every vacant hour was employed. Before and after labour, were their chief times for reading; and to gain time, the necessary hours of repose were abridged. Childish history, tales, and romances, were the first subjects of their study. The following short list of their books I give as a curiosity; the names of several are, I suppose, no longer known :

The Reading made easy, and Dilworth's Spelling-Book.
The famous and delightful History of Tom Thumb.
Ditto of Jack the Giant Killer.

Ditto of Jack Horner.

Ditto of Rosewall and Lilly Ann.

Ditto of Guy Earl of Warwick.

Ditto of the Seven Wise Masters and Mistresses.

Ditto of the Nine Worthies of the World.

Ditto of Thomas Hickathrift.

Ditto of Captain James Hind.

Ditto of the Babes in the Wood.

Ditto of the Seven Champions of Christendom.

Ditto of Sir Francis Drake.

Ditto of the New World, i. e. America.

Ditto of Captain Falkner.

Ditto of Montelion, or the Knight of the Oracle.

Ditto of Robinson Crusoe.

Ditto of Valentine and Orson.

Ditto of Parismus and Parismenos.

The Tale of the Three Bonnets.

The Fairy Tales.

Peruvian Tales.
Tartarian Tales.

Arabian Nights' Entertainments.

The Destruction of Troy.

Robin Hood's Garland.

The History of Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudesly.

The Life of Sir William Wallace.

A Groat's worth of Wit for a Penny.

Chevy Chase.

The Cherry and the Sloe.

The Gentle Shepherd.

The Pilgrim's Progress.

Esop's Fables, by L'Estrange.

The Holy War.—Cum multis aliis, quæ nunc prescribere longum est.

Such were the humble materials which served as semina for a very large stock of bibliographical knowledge, and, as a

foundation, certainly very unpromising, of one of the most select and valuable private libraries in the kingdom.

"From small beginnings mighty fabrics rise."

According to the present mode of education, most of these articles would be proscribed, as calculated to vitiate the taste and give false impressions; especially books of enchantment, chivalry, &c. But is it not better to have a deeply rooted belief of the existence of an eternal world,—of God, angels and spirits, though mingled with such superstition as naturally cleaves to infant and inexperienced minds, and which maturer judgment, reflection, and experience, will easily correct,than to be brought up in a general ignorance of God and heaven, of angels, spirits, and spiritual influence; or in scepticism concerning the whole? There is a sort of Sadducean education now highly in vogue, that is laying the foundation of general irreligion and Deism. Although it may not quadrate with certain received maxims, it may be here safely asserted, that it was such reading as the above, that gave A. Clarke his literary taste, and bent his mind to literary, philosophical, and metaphysical pursuits. He himself has been known to observe, Had I never read those books, it is probable I should never have been a reader, or a scholar, of any kind: yea, I doubt much, whether I should ever have been a religious man. Books of enchantments, &c., led me to believe in a spiritual world, and that if there were a devil to hurt, there was a God to help, who never deserted the upright: and, when I came to read the Sacred Writings, I was confirmed by their authority in the belief I had received, and have reason to thank God, that I was not educated under the modern Sadducean system."

At this early age he read the Pilgrim's Progress, as he would read a book of Chivalry. CHRISTIAN was the great Hero, by whom the most appalling difficulties were surmounted, the most incredible labors performed, powerful enchantments dissolved, giants conquered, and devils quelled. It was not likely that he would see it as a spiritual allegory: and therefore it was no wonder that he could not comprehend how Christian and Hopeful could submit to live several days and nights in the dungeon of Doubting Castle, under the torture of Giant Despair, while the former "had a key in his bosom which could open every lock in that castle." When he read that part, and found that Christian actually had such a key, and did use it, and thus released both himself and his companion, he called him fifty fools for his pains; and has often since been led to express his surprise that both John Bunyan the author, and those who hold his creed, should not have been more aware of these great truths,-that no grace of God can