pear. Alfred, with the Edwards and Henrys, were not yet introduced at the commencement of the panegyric, nor Spenser and Chaucer at the end. The influence of Bacon, as "the great deliverer," lines 1542-1549, was not then conceived by the poet, nor the fine description of Hampden's influential example, "Bright at his call," &c. lines 1518-1520. Immediately after the panegyric on the Worthies of England there ap peared in 1727 the following filial tribute to Scotland: And should I northward turn my filial Beyond the Tweed, pure Parent-Stream! Eye, to where country of Wallace and Buchanan, lest he should incur the imputation of a too fond nationality. In the paragraph now commencing line 1579, the poet, in 1727, had immediately joined to the " beauty" of "Britannia's daughters," the charms of "elegance and taste." In 1730, and ever after, he also assigned to them those more valuable endow ments, "The feeling heart, simplicity of life," an imputation, the justice of which I should regret, if any of your male readers were able to dispute. Instead of the paragraphs now found lines 629-897, these appeared in 1727 and 1730 immediately following the paragraph now ending line 1618. It is remarkable that only one of the following lines, which I have distinguished by italics, was preserved in the later editions. "Thus far, transported by my Country's Love, Nobly digressive from my Theme, I've aim'd To sing her Praises, in ambitious Verse; While, slightly to recount, I simply meant, The various Summer-Horrors, which infest "Such are thy horrid Deserts, Barca, such, Zaara, thy hot, interminable Sands, Kingdoms that scorch below severer Continuous, rising often with the Blast, Suns. Till the Sun sees no more: and unknit Earth, Shook by the South into the darken'd Air, Falls, in new, hilly Kingdoms, o'er the Waste. ""Tis here, that Thirst has fixed his dry Domain, And walks his wide, malignant Round, in search Of Pilgrim lost; or, on the Merchant's Tomb, Triumphant, sits, who, for a single Cruise Of unavailing Water paid so dear : Nor could the Gold his hard Associate save." In the edition of the Seasons 1730, "In the desart of Araoan, are two tombs with inscriptions on them, importing that the persons there interred were a rich merchant and a poor carrier, who both died of thirst; and that the former had given to the latter ten thousand ducats for one cruise of Water.”— THOMSON, and, so far as I can discover, peculiar "Hence late expos'd (if distant fame A smother'd city from the sandy wave flocks, Amusing all, and incorrupted seen. Each object hardens gradual into stone, crowd The streets, in various attitudes sur- By sudden fate, and live on every face tor's art. Here leaning soft, the marble lovers stand, Delighted even in death; and each for each Feeling alone, with that expressive look, Which perfect NATURE only knows to give. And there the father agonizing bends Fond o'er his weeping wife, and infant train Aghast, and trembling, tho' they know not why. The stiffen'd vulgar stretch their arms to heaven, With horror staring; while in council Assembled full, the hoary-headed sires Sunk her proud turrets, resolute on death, Around the FORUM sat the grey divan robes Dress'd like the falling fathers of mankind; Amaz'd, and shivering, from the solemn sight The red barbarians shrunk, and deem'd them GODS." Dr. Shaw, in his Travels, (1757, I. Pt. iii. p. 163,) ascribes the first report of a petrified city in Africa to the Peregrinatio of Baumgarten, pubished in 1597, but whose travels commenced in 1507. I find the learned, ut according to a French biographer, The very credulous Jesuit Kircher, VOL. XVII. 3 Q taking up the wondrous tale, in a chapter of his Mundi Subterranei, entitled, Varia Rerum in Lapides conThere he versarum Observationes. introduces (Mund. Sub. 1665, II. 50), on the authority of a Vice-Chancellor of the Knights of Malta, his " Admirabilis Historia de Civitate Africæ in Saxum, unà cum Incolis et Animalibus conversa." This history of a petrified city is given to Kircher, on the authority of a captive Ethiopian, who, brought to Malta, in 1634, at ten years of age, was baptized, and at length became an Archdeacon. Some of your readers may be amused by a sight of the Jesuit's introductory paragraph: "Addam tantummodo hic coronidis loco formidabilem historiam, quæ nostris temporibus accidit in pago quodam Africæ Mediterraneæ, qui nostris temporibus totus admiranda quadam metamorphosi in saxum, unà cum hominibus, animalibus, arboribus, supellectile domestica, frumentis et cibis, conversus fuisse narratur; quoniam verò res gravissimorum et fide dignorum hominum testimonio vera comperta fuit, et quotquot ego istarum partium Arabes ea de re consului, ita rem sese habere, fassi sunt. Totius rei seriem prout Melita ad me eam descripsit Habelus Vice-Cancellarius, ordinis equitum Hierosolymit: hîc apponendam duxi." Thomson may have read Kircher, or met with the Peregrinatio of Baumgarten. Otherwise, I suppose, he was indebted for his petrified city to the following attempt to ascertain the extent of British credulity, as I find it preserved by Dr. Shaw, and in Gent. Mag. (XVII. 436). It was probably first published early in the 17th century, if not before. "Memorial of CASSEM AGA, the Tripoli Ambassador at the Court of Great Britain, concerning the petrified city in Africa, two days' journey south from Orguela, and seventeen days' journey from Tripoli, by caravan, to the south-east. "As one of my friends desired me to give him, in writing, an account of what I knew touching the petrified city, I told him what I had heard from different persons, and particularly from the mouth of one man of credit, who had been on the spot; that is to say, "That it was a very spacious city, of a round form, having great and small streets therein, furnished with shops, with a vast castle magnificently built; that he had seen there several sorts of trees, the most part olives and palms, all of stone, and of a blue or rather lead colour. "That he saw also figures of men in a posture of exercising their different employments; some holding in their hands staffs, others bread; every one doing something, even women suckling their children, all of stone. "That he went into the castle by three different gates, tho' there were many more, where he saw a man lying upon a bed, all of stone. "That there were guards at the gates, with pikes and javelins in their hands. In short, that he saw in this wonderful city, many sorts of animals, as camels, oxen, horses, asses, sheep and birds, all of stone, and of the colour above-mentioned." This marvellous tale appears to have excited no small portion of public attention, since such a judicious traveller as Dr. Shaw considered it deserving a serious investigation. For this purpose he applied to M. Le Maire, who, when Consul at Tripoli, forty years before, had minutely examined the story 'by order of the French Court." As the result, Dr. Shaw declares, that "the petrified city, with its walls, castles, streets, shops, cattle, inhabitants and their utensils, were all of them at first the mere fables and inventions of the Arabs, and afterwards propagated by such persons, who like the Tripoli Ambassador and his friend," (the above-mentioned man of credit,)" were credulous enough to believe them." Dr. Shaw returned to England in 1733, and first published his Travels in 1738. Thomson, probably on such sufficient authority, became dissatisfied with this report of "distant fame," and sang no more of the petrified city. The paragraph which now appears, lines 898-938, will be seen to be an enlargement, with considerable alterations, of the following: "Here the green Serpent gathers up his Train, In Orbs immense, then darting out anew, Progressive, rattles thro' the wither'd Brake; And lolling, frightful, guards the scanty Fount, If Fount there be or, of diminish'd Size, But mighty Mischief, on th' unguarded Swain By supreme Hunger smit, and Thirst iu The parapraphs on storms, lines 959-1051, are not in the editions 1727 and 1730. The paragraph describing the plague, lines 1052-1091, is now much enlarged. The following appear, in 1727, instead of the present lines 1070-1086. "Empty the Streets, with uncoath Verdure clad, And rang'd, at open Noon, by Beasts of Prey, And Birds of bloody Beak: while, all Night long, In spotted Troops, the recent Ghosts complain, Demanding but the covering Grave. Mean time, Lock'd is the deaf Door to Distress; even Friends, And Relatives, endear'd for many a Year, And sick, in Solitude, successive, die, In the edition, 1730, Thomson discarded" the recent ghosts," and substituted after " bloody beak," "The sullen door No visit knows, nor hears the wailing The paragraph, lines 1092-1102, They wore alive, and ruminating still, was improved from the following, in In Fancy's Eye; aud there, the frowning 1727 and 1730: "Much of the Force of foreign Summers still, Of growling Hills, that shoot the pillar'd Flame, Of Earthquake, and pale Famine, could I sing; But equal Scenes of Horror call Me Home." In 1727 and 1730, the lines 11081116, were in the following form: "Thence Nitre, Sulphur, Vitriol, on the Day Stream, and fermenting in yon baleful Cloud, Extensive o'er the World, a reddening Gloom! In dreadful Promptitude to spring, await The high Command." The description of the thunderstorm, lines 1144-1168, was originally in the following form, the last paragraph being omitted in 1730: "Down comes a Deluge of sonorous Hail, In the white, heavenly Magazines congeal'd; And often fatal to th' unsheltered Head Of man, or rougher Beast. The sluicy Rain, In one unbroken Flood, descends; and yet Th' unconquerable Lightning struggles thro', Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling Balls, And strikes the Shepherd, as He, shuddering, sits, Presaging Ruin, in the rocky Clift. Flame; Bull, And Ox half-rais'd. A little farther, burns The guiltless Cottage; and the haughty Dome Stoops to the Base. Th' uprooted Forrest flies Aloft in Air, or, flaming out, displays The savage Haunts by Day unpierc'd before. Scar'd is the Mountain's Brow; and, from the Cliff, Tumbles the smitten Rock. The Desart shakes, And gleams, and grumbles, through his deepest Dens. "Now swells the Triumph of the And this outrageous, elemental Fray, Who, of infuriate Malice, and confirm'd He thinks the Tempest weaves around his Head; Loudens the Roar to Him, and in his Eye The bluest Vengeance glares. Th' Oppressor, who, Unpitying, heard the Wailings of Dis tress, Precipitant, and entering just the Cave, The beautiful episode of Celadon and Amelia was originally very nearly as at present. The few variations are evident improvements. In 1727, immediately after the episode, were the following paragraphs, since omitted, except a very few words: |