Epic. Tragic. Comic. Lyric. Pastoral. "On the false taste of the moderns in poetry- Verse should be common sense refin'd, The thoughts all pure, compact and new: While* sips his matin news Suppose the rhyming fit comes on. What magic whips him from his chamber "The God of verse dwelt there."—I know it, Should fly his brains, and not his toes. In Greece, Parnassus was just by- While we should hiss the each modern Roscius If to the comic stage I run Need verse with lies my reader mock? all know, I went to see the pen, "In heav'n-born raptures" all the time? When Lubin in the month of May Beholds his Delia's auburn locks- Give him but one whole sheep alive, Who buy their mutton by the steak. "I stumbled upon this as I jogged in my palanquin hither from Patna, and have scribbled it down the instant of my arrival. Here I must wait (and I shall wait with much impatience) till I hear from you and from Palmer. I trust in your goodness not to let the matter die away and if you will condescend to broach the hint I before mentioned to the Minister, it cannot but succeed. Wilkins presents his antediluvian respects, and I have the honour to remain, with the most inviolable attachment, Hon'ble Sir, Your most faithful and devoted, humble servant, N. B. HALHED. "13th November. Addenda.-My letter having been too late for yesterday's dawk. "To spout alternate rhymes, is common In Italy, as sloth or Eunuchs. But when did sturdy British yeomen Alternate ought save ale and blue knocks ?* Who really" tunes a vocal shell ?" Can it be tun'd ?-set once about it In they must come by head and shoulders. And Sol descends to that of Thetis. Writes the whole Elegiac herd: A pundit in Bengal, or Molavee But you cant' furnish, for the soul of ye * Vide Pope's and Gray's Pastorals. "Cawnpore, 18th November, 1784. "HON'BLE SIR,-I arrived here at 1 P. M. at Mr. Magrath's bungalow, and scribble a copy of the enclosed while dinner is getting ready. In excuse for it I can only say, that I really intended to speak of the learning, the integrity, the virtue, the philosophy and the disinterestedness of Bramins. But that when I came to "sweep the sounding lyre," the devil of one of them could I find-and Mrs. Melpomene or whoever is the proper officer on these occasions obliged me to say what I have said. As a poet I might plead the privilege of fiction. But alas it is all sober fact! and therefore I cannot possibly have hit the sublime. I believe there might have been more of it, but the accursed dawk bearers have obliged me to walk so much (not being able even to drag the palanquin after me in some places,) that I was tempted to bestow all my iambics upon them. I have the honor to remain with the most undeviating respect, Hon'ble Sir, You very faithful and devoted, humble servant, Shall not stop to visit Col. Ironside. "Bath, 17th December, 1804. "MY DEAR HALHED,-Have you any objection to the publication of your lines written in the form of an epitaph on a common prostitute? I ask the question merely, but do not desire your answer to it as an assent to a request; nor if returned in the affirmative, shall I convey it as a favor. In truth, I wish it was printed in capitals, and affixed to every church-porch and market-place in the kingdom. I must add to the former, another question: should you object to your name being put to it, or to its only being known that you were the author of the poem? In truth, any man not absolutely torpid to the world's good will, which I will not believe, nor like to believe, that you are, might be proud to own it. It has been once already published, but carried by the vehicle to which it was committed into oblivion. A stray copy, therefore, may yet fall into worse hands than mine, or rather those to which I should transfer it. "I am here on a transient visit, and shall return home the day after to-morrow. "Pray present my respects, and add my affectionate regards to Mrs. Halhed; and receive from me the assurance of my warmest and most sincere attachment. "I left Mrs. Hastings well. Adieu, my friend. Yours ever, "Pall Mall, 20th December, 1804. "HONOURED SIR,-As Mr. Halhed's thumb is still too bad to hold a pen, he has made me his amanuensis to convey his best thanks for your kind letter this moment received, and as he cannot say nay to you, he is only particularly desirous that the poem alluded to, when printed, should appear nowhere but upon the church-doors according to your proposal, as it is then not likely to disturb the trade or tranquillity of the survivors of the lady in question, whose ill will, as he does not chose to encounter, he had rather not his name should be held up in reprobation amongst them. Seriously speaking, while he knows your partiality for the Author, he cannot but accuse you of over-rating the merit of the piece, or at least of an exaggerated opinion of its probable effects. So if you really wish it published, he will certainly submit with pleasure to your inclination on the subject, and in return he hopes you will gratify him by suppressing the five particular letters which form the word HALIED, leaving to your option the entire remain of the alphabet, to arrange into any sounds that may be most agreeable. And now, my dear Sir, I will resume the pen for myself, and only say, that his thumb is as sound as mine, but he says as the rage is for intercepting letters, and publishing private correspon dences, he is determined not to give the chance of any of his falling into such hands, and as long as he will but employ mine, to obey your wishes, I shall endeavour to be as correct a transcriber of his words as my liabilities will allow. The sentiments of his heart are so in union with mine, that I never need apply to him to assure you of the grateful attachment with which it glows; and with what ardour we not only at this season, but at all times, offer up our prayers to the Almighty to pour his choicest blessings on you. And we beg you will present our affectionate respects, and good wishes to Mrs. Hastings, whom we are happy to find you left in good health; and hope you will not have suffered from travelling in this piercing cold, but that you are both as well as we wish you, and that ere long we may have the satisfaction to assure you in person of the respect and attachment with which I subscribe myself, Honored Sir, Your grateful and affectionate LOUISE HALHED.” "Should you not have an original copy of the poem, command me to transcribe one for you out of my book, which contains all the verses of my good man I could save from the flames, to which he has committed a great number, and excuse this sad scrawl, for I can hardly hold my pen the cold pinches me so." From Mr. Halhed to Mrs. Hastings on receiving a Christmas Ham. "MY DEAREST MADAM,-Your very acceptable ham brought me a charming letter, and your very acceptable letter brought me a charming ham, like every thing else at Daylesford. I knew that all the delightful beings of the groves inhabited that blissful spot; that nymphs of every description were to be found there, in all their elysian perfection, and of course the sweetest Hamadryads; and where would be their merits, if they had no hams to dry? When I read those two beautiful lines the other day 'My next is a villa where grumblers reside, 'And gluttons and cowards in slovenly pride.' God forgive me, I immediately thought of the party at Stow (which 'Non cœnat nisi apro noster, Line, Coecilianus: There téte á téte we dine the winter through- Mr. "So if you will kill us with kindness, who is to pay the apothecary for our dying? for you know very well, we cannot die for nothing in London. "You see I write in excellent spirits, but it is because in stripping |