published in 4to. in 1754, was all that was accomplished by Mr Dodfley. It is probable that the reception and fale of the poem did not encourage him to complete his defign. Indeed, to write a truly excellent Georgic is one of the last efforts of the human mind. Perfectly to fucceed in this fpecies of poetry requires a Virgil's genius, judgment, exquifitenefs of taste, and power of harmony. With regard to Mr Dodfley's production, there are, amid its imperfections, a number of beauties in it deferving of applaufe. It contains feveral exalted fentiments, and the defcriptions are often delicate and well expreffed. But, at the fame time, the diction is frequently too profaic; many of the epithets are inadequate; and, in fome places, a fufficient attention is not paid to the harmony of the verfification. The following addrefs to the genius of Britain is pleafing: Genius of Britain! pure intelligence! O wake the breaft of her aspiring fon; In the year 1758, Mr Dodfley published Melpomene; or the Regions of Terror and Pity. An Ode.' This piece we regard as one of the happiest efforts of his mufe. It can not, indeed, be compared with the odes of a Dryden, an Akenfide, a Mafon, or a Gray; but it contains feveral ftriking and beautiful paffages. The two first stanzas will furnish Lounfavourable fpecimen of the poem. Queen of the human heart! at whofe command The fwelling tides of mighty paffion rife, From the gay fcenes of pride 6 own. It was in the year 1758 that Mr Dodley brought upon the ftage his principal dramatic production, which was Cleone,' a tragedy, acted at Covent-garden. This play was of fered first to Mr Garrick; but it was rejected by him with fome degree of feem because there was not a characcontempt; principally, as it should ter in it fufficiently adapted to the difplay of his own peculiar talents. Nevertheless, when it came to be reprefented on a rival theatre, he betrayed a jealoufy concerning it which added no honour to his reputation. To prevent its fuccefs, he himself appeared in a new part on the first night of its being acted. This fcheme had no effect; for the tragedy rofe above all oppofition, and had a long and crowded run; which, however, was not folely owing to its intrinfic merit, but was derived, in a great degree, if not principally, from the exquifite performance of Mrs Bellamy, who played the character which gives name to the piece. The prologue to Cleone' was written by Mr Melmoth, and the Epilogue by Mr Shenftone. An imperfect hint toward the fable of this tragedy was taken from the Legend of St Genevieve,' written originally in French, and tranflated into English, in the last century, by Sir William Lower. Mr Pope, in his very early youth, had attempted a tragedy on the fame fubject, which he afterward burnt; and he it was who who had advised Mr Dodfley to extend the plan to five acts: The circumftance of 'Siffroy's' giging his friend directions concerning his wife has fome degree of fimilarity to. Pofthumus' orders,' in Cym. beline. In the two laft acts, the au thor appears to the greatest advantage; Cleone's madness, in particular, over her murdered infant, being highly pathetic. This tragedy has fince been revived by Mrs Siddons; but fo ftrong were the feelings which her exquifite performance of the character of Cleone excited on the firft night of acting, that the houfe was thin on the second night, and the play was dropped. The minds of the audience were affected with such real diftrefs, that it overpowered the pleasure arifing from dramatic fiction and theatric representation." In 1760, Mr Dodfley published his last separate work, and which added greatly to his reputation: we mean his Select Fables of Efop and other Fabulifts. In three books.' This is indeed a claffical performance, both in regard to the elegant fimplicity of the style, and the propriety of fentiments and characters. The first book contains ancient, the fecond modern, and the third original, Fables. Under the last head, the ftories are wholly invented by the author and his friends; and the third part will not be found to be in the leaft inferior to the two first. There are two farther circumftances which give an advantage to the work over every former collection of the fame kind: firft, a' Life of Efop,' by Monf. Meziriac; a very learned and ingenious Frenchman; and which is the only life of Efop that is confiftent with common fenfe; that of Planudes being a ridiculous medley of abfurd traditions, or equally abfurd inventions. The second is an Effay on Fable; in which rules are delivered for this fpecies of compofition, drawn from nature; and by which thefe fmall and pleafing kind of productions, that were thought to have little other ftandard than the fancy, are brought under the jurifdiction of the judgment. The effay confiders the fable regularly; first, with relation to the moral; fecondly, the action and incidents; thirdly, the perfons, characters, and fentiments; and, laftly, the language. Our author, before he committed his Effay on Fable to the prefs, fubjected it to the revifal of his literary friends, and efpecially of Mr Shenftone. When that ingenious and amiable poet's works were published in 1763, Mr Dodley prefixed to them a fhort account of his life and writings. A fpecimen of Mr Dodfley's talent at smaller pieces of poetry may be seen at the close of the third volume of his Collection of Poems, by different eminent hands. By this collection, which was extended to fix volumes, 12mo. he performed a very acceptable fervice to the caufe of genius and tafte; as it has been the means of preferving feveral productions of merit, which might otherwife have funk into oblivion. Another plan, which was formed and executed by him, was 'A Collection of Plays by old Authors,' in twelve volumes, of the fame fize. This appeared in 1744, and was a valuable acquifition to the literary world; but it has been highly improved in the fecond edition, published by Mr Reed, in 1780. In the new edition, befide Mr Reed's excellent preface, fome plays, before inferted, are rejected; and others, of greater merit, are introduced in their room. That eminently useful schoolbook, The Preceptor,' ought not to be forgotten; the defign of which was framed by Mr Dodiley, and the execution of which was accomplished by feveral of the diftinguished writers of the age. In the courfe of his profeffion Mr Dodfley acquired a very handfome fortune, which enabled him to retire from from the active part of business. During the latter years of his life, he was much troubled with the gout, to which he at length fell a martyr, while he was upon a vifit to his friend Mr Spence at Durham. He was buried in the Abbey churchyard of that city, and the following infcription was engraved on his tomb-ftone: If you have any respect for uncommon industry and merit, in which are depofited the remains of Mr ROBERT DODSLEY, who, as an Author, raised himself much above what could have been expected from one in his rank of life, and without a learned education; and who, as a man, was fcarce exceeded by any in integrity of heart, and purity of manners and converfation. He left this life for a better, In the 6ift year of his age. As an author Mr Dodley is entitled to confiderable praife. His works are recommended by an eafe and elegance which are fometimes more pleafing than a more laboured and ornamented manner of compofition. In verfe, his numbers, if not fublime, are flowing; and his fubjects are well chofen and entertaining.His profe is familiar, and yet chaite; and in his dramatic pieces he has always kept in view the one great principle, delectando pariterque momendo. Some general moral is conftantly conveyed in each of his plans, and parti cular inftructions are difperfed in the particular ftrokes of fatire. The dialogue, at the fame time, is easy, the plots fimple, and the catastrophe interefting and pathetic. Mr Dodfley's Effay on Fable will be a durable monument of his ingenuity.With regard to his private character, he is equally entitled to applause.— As a tradefman, he preferved the greatest integrity; as a writer, the moft becoming humility. Mindful of the early encouragement which his own talents met with, he was ever ready to give the fame opportunity of advancement to thofe of others; and on many occafions he was not only the publisher but the patron of genius. There was no circumftance by which he was more diftinguished, than by the grateful remembrance which he retained, and always expreffed, toward the memory of thofe to whom he owed the obligation of being first taken notice of in life. Modeft, fenfible, and humane, he acquired the esteem and respect of all with whom he was acquainted; and it was his happiness to pass many years in intimacy with men of the brightest abilities, and whofe names will be revered by pofterity. In 1772, a fecond volume of Mr Dodfley's works was collected together and published, under the title of Mifcellanies.' The volume contains Cleone, Melpomene,' ' Agriculture, and the Economy of Human Life.' ANECDOTES OF HENRY JONES. HIS author ftands in the line of of that fame Tcelebrity from his talents rif ing above the obfcurity of his original, and the lowness of his education. Like Ben Jonfon he was bred a bricklayer, and like him he foon relinquished the drudgery of a mechanical profeffion for the fervice of the Mufes. Jonfon, however, having a great fuperiority of education, laid the bafis "Which left, like Egypt's kings, a lafting tomb :" whilft Jones, not having exertion enough to improve his education, nor conduct fufficient to render himself deferving of patronage or public countenance, ftunted the growth of his natural talents, and in the end fell a facrifice to his diffipations. Henry Henry Jones was born at Bewley, pear Drogheda, in the North of Ireland, about twenty-five miles from Dublin, in the year 1721. His family, in all probability, were in low circumstances, as he was bred a brick. layer. He, however, had a good English school education previous to his apprenticeship, and fhewed fuch a defire to improve that little, that in the courfe of learning his trade, he made himfelf acquainted with fome of our best authors, and with many tranflations from the Greek and Latin Poets. This course of study in time induced him to try his hand at verfification, and whilft he feemed to mix unnoticed in the common herd of mechanics, Jones at once furprifed the Corporation of Drogheda with a complimentary copy of verses, with fome hints towards the further improvement of their town, trade, &c. &c. These verses, which were never printed, and of which the author kept no copy, were reckoned fo good, that they were for fome time thought to be above the flight of a bricklayer; but Jones foon identified his claim to the Mufes by other productions, and particularly by fome lines occafioned by the death of Mr Pope, which, as one of the earliest productions of our author, we infert. ON MR POPE'S DEATH. To him, now number'd with th' immor- This verfe unfeign'd with flowing eyes be read. O thou! applauded by the wife and great, Nor worth or genius could poftpone thy fate; Too long an exile from the worlds of blifs, By envying Angels fnatch'd too foon from this, Thy ftrains feraphic fhall their Anthems raife, Give Heaven new harmony-and God new praise. Thefe poems fo recommended him to the favour of the Corporation of Drogheda, and other Gentlemen of the town, and in particular to Lord' Chief Juftice Singleton, who lived at Bewley, where Jones was born, that they paid him every kind of civility, and conftantly made him one of their convivial parties. In the latter part of life, Jones would have faftened upon this kind of patronage, and yielding to the pleasures of a Corporation table, would have thought his time happily filled; but youth is the season of spi rit and adventure, and an opportunity foon offered of calling out our young poet to greater fcenes, and more independent profpects, The Parliament Houfe in Dublin being about to be repaired at this time, a number of workmen in all branches were in much request, and Jones living but twenty-five miles from the capital, thought this would be a lucky opportunity to try his fortune. His line and rule were his imdiate pretenfions; but his Mufe was the miftrefs he fecretly relied on, With this hope he left Drogheda ar bout the beginning of the year 1745, much againit the inclination of his friends, but with that confidence in his own powers which, generally fpeaking, if properly founded, and diligently purfued, feldom misleads us. Had his prudence been equal to this refolution, it was the luckieft measure he poffibly could have adopted. He had an opportunity of living in the capital of his country upon better terms than in his own na tive place; he had the means of improving himself both in the line of his profeffion, and as a Poet; and above all, perhaps, he might then have the flattering hope (which afterwards came to be verified) of his Mufe reaching the ear of a Maecenas *, who had tafte and liberality to encourage *The late Earl of Chefterfield, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. courage and reward his labours. -The following circumftance foon brought him to this last point of fuccefs. Lord Chesterfield, who had been fome time before appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, juft land ed in Dublin. Jones thought this a good opportunity to come forward. He accordingly addreffed his Excellency in a copy of veries on his arrival; wherein he not only panegyrizes with fome force and delicacy, but towards the close thus artfully infinuates his own humble occupation. Nor you, great Sir, on these weak numbers frown, Which mourn a Swift, and fing thy juft And deafening IO's drown my teeble Yet if a moment from the toils of ftate, weight, Some little leifure to the Mute you lend; (Each leifure moment is the Mufe's friend.) Permit, my Lord, that my unpolish'd lays May hope for pardon, tho' they fail to pleale." Jones had the good fortune to have thefe lines prefented by his conftant friend through life, Lord Chief Juftice Singleton; and he had ftill the better fortune to fee his Poem take effect. Lord Chefterfield was pleafed with it, and inquiring into the o rigin and character of the author, fent for him, liberally rewarded him, and took him into his immediate protection. What pecuniary reward our author received is now uncertain; but whatever it was, "the bricklayer's frock went on no more." He com menced author at large, and foon after, by his Lordship's defire, followed him to England. On his arrival there, which was in the year 1748, he collected fome of the best of the poems he had writ ten at different times before his in troduction to Lord Chesterfield, and added others upon a variety of occa fional fubjects which he took fome pains to polish and refine. With thefe his Lordship feemed highly pleafed. He thought he faw fomething in this mechanic Mufe which in time might do credit to his patronage and the republic of letters; he therefore not only received him at his houfe with kindness and hofpitality, but recommended him to several Noblemen and Literati, by whofe affiftance he published his Poems by fubfcription, and was liberally reward ed. With the little poetical freight which Jones brought with him from sketch of a Tragedy entitled "The Ireland, he likewife brought the Earl of Effex." Having now leifure to correct it, and money fufficient to keep him from the drudgery of other pursuits, he fat down to this tragedy, and finished it about the latter end of the feafon of 1752. It was highly approved of by Lord Chefterfield, and warmly recommended by him to Colly Cibber, who not only introduced him to the Manager of CoventGarden Theatre, but continued his regards for him through life by a thoufand acts of friendship and humanity, and even made ftrong efforts by his intereft at Court to have fecured to him the fucceffion of the laurel after his death. It was rather remarkable, that or the very day that Jones fent the manufcript tragedy of "The Earl of Effex" to the Manager of CoventGarden Theatre, the late Dr P. Francis fent his tragedy of "Conftantine." This rather embarraffed the Manager which he should bring out first. Jones's friends (powerful in point of rank and numbers) pleaded the originality of his genius, and the preffure of his circumftances; but Francis difregarded thefe particulars, and infifted up on |