HERE Whitefoord reclines, and deny it who can, Tho' he merrily liv'd, he is now a grave man : Rare compound of oddity, frolic and fun! Who relish'd a joke, and rejoic'd in a pun; Whose temper was generous, open, sincere; A stranger to flatt'ry, a stranger to fear; Who scatter'd around wit and humor at will; Whose daily bon mots half a column might fill! A Scotchman, from pride and from prejudice free; A scholar, yet surely no pedant was he. What pity, alas! that so lib'ral a mind Should so long be to news-paper essays confin'd! Ye news-paper witlings! ye pert scribbling folks! muse." Mr. W. was so notorious a punster, that Doctor Goldsmith used to say, it was impossible to keep him company without being infected with the itch of punning. + Mr. H. S. Woodfall, printer of the Public Advertiser. Mr. Whitefoord has frequently indulged the town with humorous pieces under those titles, in the Public Advertiser. LETTER, addressed To the Printer of the St. James's Chronicle, As Sir, S there is nothing I dislike so much as newspaper controversy, particularly upon trifles, permit me to be as concise as possible in informing a correspondent of yours, that I recommended Blainville's Travels, because I thought the book was a good one: and I think so still. I said, I was told by the bookseller that it was then first published; but in that, it seems, I was misinformed, and my reading was not extensive enough to set me right. Another correspondent of yours accuses me of having taken a ballad, I published some time ago, from one by the ingenious Mr. Percy. I do not think there is any great resemblance between the two pieces in question. If there be any, his ballad is taken from mine. I read it to Mr. Percy some years ago; and he (as we both considered these things as trifles at best) told me with his usual good humor, the next time I saw him, that he had taken my plan to form the fragments of Shakespeare into a ballad of his own. He then read me his little Cento, if I may so call it, and I highly approved it. Such petty anecdotes as these are scarce worth printing: and, were it not for the busy disposition of some of your correspondents, the public should never have known that he owes me the hint of his ballad, or that I am obliged to his friendship and learning for communications of a much more important nature. I am, Sir, Yours, &c. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. The Fryar of Orders Gray, "Reliq. of Anc, Poetry," Vol. I. p. 243. "TURN, gentle Hermit of the dale, "And guide my lonely way, "To where yon taper cheers the vale "For here forlorn and lost I tread, "Forbear, my son," the Hermit cries, "Here, to the houseless child of want, "My door is open still; "And tho' my portion is but scant, "Then turn to-night, and freely share "No flocks that range the valley free, "Taught by that Power that pities me, "I learn to pity them. "But from the mountain's grassy side, "A guiltless feast I bring; "A scrip with herbs and fruits supply'd, "And water from the spring. "Then, pilgrim, turn, thy cares forego; "All earth-born cares are wrong: "Man wants but little here below, "Nor wants that little long." C Soft as the dew from heaven descends, His gentle accents fell; The modest stranger lowly bends Far in a wilderness obscure A refuge to the neighb'ring poor, No stores beneath its humble thatch And now, when busy crowds retire And spread his vegetable store, Around in sympathetic mirth But nothing could a charm impart His rising cares the Hermit spy'd, "From better habitations spurn'd, "Reluctant dost thou rove: "Or grieve for friendship unreturn'd, "Or unregarded love? "Alas! the joys that fortune brings, "Are trifling and decay; "And those who prize the paltry things, "And what is friendship but a name, "And love is still an emptier sound, "For shame, fond youth, thy sorrows hush, Surpriz'd he sees new beauties rise, The bashful look, the rising breast, The lovely stranger stands confest "And, ah, forgive a stranger rude, "But let a maid thy pity share, "Whom love has taught to stray: "Who seeks for rest, but finds despair "Companion of her way. "My father liv'd beside the Tyne, "A wealthy lord was he; "And all his wealth was mark'd as mine, "He had but only me. |