"St James's, March 23. This evening the ceremony of the chriftening of the young prince [1] was performed in the great councilchamber, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. His Royal Highness was named OCTAVIUS. The fponfors were, the Duke of Brunswick, reprefented by the Earl of Hertford, Lord Chamberlain of the Household; the Duke of Mecklenburg-Swerin, represented by the Earl of Afhburnham, Groom of the Stole; and the Duchefs of Saxe-Weimar, repre fented by the Countefs of Egremont, Lady of the Bedchamber." Gaz. DEATHS. Of. 1778. At Madrafs, Mr James Lennox, feroad fon of William Lennox, of Woodbead, Efq; 07. In India, in the 25th year of his age, Mr Alexander Elliot, fon of the deceafed Sir Gilbert Elliot, Bt. In the East Indies, Capt. James Crawford, Commander of the 4th battalion of Seapoys, in the province of Bengal. Jan. 9. 1779. At Tobago, the Hon. Peter Campbell, Efq; Lieutenant Governor of that idland. His death was occafioned by a fall from his gallery whereby he had the misfortune to break his leg. 10. In Virginia, George Riddel, Efq; physician in York town, brother of Sir James Riddel, Bt. Feb. 9. At London, Edmund Butler, Vifcount Mountgarret, of the kingdom of Ireland. 16. At Stepney, Capt. Emanuel Johnston, aged 100 years and fome weeks. He was in the Guinea trade as an owner, and formerly commanded a Weft-Indiaman. March 2. At Valleyfield, Sir George Prekon, Bt. 4. At St Andrew's, Alexander Watson, Líq; provost of that city. 6. At Edinburgh, Dr John Rutherford, physcian in that city. 6. At Bath, Henry Howard, Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, K. G. Secretary of State for the Northern department. 6. At Jedburgh, Dr Thomas Scott, phy fician there. 7. At Edinburgh, Capt. Henry Descury, late of the 32d regiment of foot. 7. At Edinburgh, Mrs Barbara Mayne, relict of James Duncanfon, Efq; Collector of the Customs at Campbeltown. 8. At London, Sir John Mordaunt Cope, Br. 8. At the Hague, in the 71st year of his Earl of Portland, member of the affembly Charles Bentinck, third fon of the first age, of Nobles in the province of Over-Iffel, mafter of the mint, &c. 8. At Edinburgh, Mifs Gibfon, only daughter of Mr Gibson of Durie. 10. At Barking, upwards of 100 years old, Sarah Gunner, one of the people called Quakers. 11. At London, Mrs Clarke, aged ro2 years. 11. At Bannockburn-house, George Stewart youngest of Argaty, Efq; 11. At Dundee, in the 86th year of his age, William Morifon, Efq; of Naughton. 13. At London, Thomas Fonnereau, Efq; member for Aldborough in Suffolk. 23. At London, George Clive, Efq; banker, and member for Bishop's-Castle. 18. At Muffelburgh, Mrs Janet Robifon, widow of the Rev. Mr Carlyle of Prestonpans, in the 79th year of her age. 19. At Inveresk, John Patoun, Efq; 20. Lady Augusta Anne Kearny, fecond daughter of Henry late Duke of Chandos, half-fifter of the present Duke, and wife of Henry John Kearny, Efq; 20. At Inverleith, Capt. Rocheid, of the Royal North-British dragoons. 21. At Edinburgh, Mr Archibald Niblie, writer to the fignet. 22. At Auchinwilline, in Argylefhire, Neil Campbell of Auchinwilline, Efq; 28. At Paris, in the 81st year of his age, John Stewart, Earl of Traquair. His Lordfhip is fucceeded by his only fon Charles Lord Linton. PREFERMENTS. March 6. to prefent Mr James Wemyss, preacher of the gospel, to the church and parish of Burntifland, vacant by the death of Mr Robert Spears. 23. to grant the dignity of a Baronet of Great Britain unto Thomas Rumbold, of Woodhall in the county of Hertford, Efq; [Governor of Madrass), and to his heirs-male. -to confer the honour of the Moft Honourable Order of the Bath upon Hector Munro, Efq; Major-General of his Majesty's Forces in the Eaft Indies. [149.] 27. 27. to appoint the Hon. Richard Chetwynd, Efq; to be one of the Clerks of the Privy Council in Extraordinary. "Admiralty office, March 29. This day, in purfuance of the King's pleasure, the following flag-officers of his Majesty's fleet were promoted, viz. George Mackenzie, Efq; Matthew Barton, Efq; Sir Peter Parker, Kt, Hon. Samuel Barrington, Rear-Admirals of the Red, and Mariot Arbuthnot, Efq; Robert Roddam, Efq; George Darby, Efq; John Campbell, Efq; Rear Admirals of the White, -to be ViceAdmirals of the Blue. James Gambier, Efq; William Lloyd, Efq; Francis William Drake, Efq; Sir Edward Hughes, K. B. Hyde Parker, Efq; Rear-Admirals of the Blue,-to be Rear-Admirals of the Red. And the following Captains were alfo appointed Flag-Officers of his Majesty's fleet, viz. John Evans, Efq; Mark Milbanke, Efq; Nicholas Vincent, Efq; John Storr, Efq; Sir Edward Vernon, Kt,-to be Rear-Admirals of the White. Jofhua Rowley, Efq; Richard Edwards, Efq: Thomas Graves, Efq; Robert Digby, Efq; Sir John Lockhart-Rofs, Bt,-to be Rear-Admirals of the Blue." "Admiralty-office, March 19. The King has been pleafed to appoint John Elliot, Efq; the Hon Robert Boyle Walfingham, and William Hotham, Efq; to be Colonels of his Majefty's marine forces, in the room of Thomas Graves, Robert Digby, and Joshua Rowley, Efqs, appointed Flag Officers of his Majefty's fleet." War office, Feb. 6. 1779. 2d troop of horse-guards: Lt-Col. WilJiam John Spearman Wacey to be SecondLieutenant and Lieutenant-Colonel, vice William Egerton; Guidon and Maj. Richard Timms to be Cornet and Major, vice William John Spearman Wacey; Exempt and Capt. George Vaughan to be Guidon and Major, vice Richard Timms; Brig and Lieut. John Tempeft to be Exempt and Captain, vice George Vaughan; Sub.-Brig. and Corn. Walter Fletcher Gafon to be Brigadier and Lieutenant, vice John Tempeft; and Wynch, Gent. to be Sub-Brigadier and Cor. net, vice Walter Fletcher Gafon. PRICES of STOCK S. South-fea New Ann. 60 3 8ths a 1 4th 3 p. cent. Conf. 61 7 8ths a 62 MAGAZINE. SCOTS APRIL, 1779. CONTENTS. The MIRROR. On Offian's Poems 169. Col. STUART's behaviour with regard to Ld HISTORY 1777. Canada: Gen. Carleton ill Arountry-fellow's CROSS: An anecdote 190. POETRY. Modest merit relieved 215. Hammond's elegy to Mifs Dashwood ib. Congratulatory verses on the honourable acquittal of Adm. Keppel 216. Style and conduct ib. Extempore on Garrick ib. HISTORICAL AFFAIRS. Acts paffed 217. A packet ordered for Georgia ib. Snook, an English failor, brings a prize with feven Frenchmen into Guernsey 218. Mifs Reay murdered by Mr Hackman ib. His fpeech to the court 218. Scotland. A mutiny by which many lives were loft 219. A circular letter of the committee of correfpondence 220. Mr Cooper diffents from a fentence of the fy nod of Moray ib. T abftract ideas, and of all modern alluThe MIRROR, No 13. March 9. 1779. fions, render it difficult to affign any oHE antiquity of the poems ther æra for their production than the afcribed to Offian the fon of age of Fingal. In fhort, there are diffiFingal, has been the fubject culties on both fides; and if that remarkof much difpute. The re- able refinement of manners feem inconed magnanimity and generofity of the fiftent with our notions of an unimproved eroes, and the tenderness and delicacy age, the marks of antiquity with which fentiment with regard to women, fo the poems are ftamped make it very hard tonfpicuous in thefe poems, are circum- to fuppofe them a modern compofition. lances very difficult to reconcile with the It is not, however, my intention to exarude and uncultivated age in which the mine the merits of this controverty, poet is supposed to have lived. On the much lefs to hazard any judgement of ther hand, the intrinfic characters of my own: all I propofe is, to fuggeft one antiquity which the poems bear; that confideration on the fubject, which, as mple fate of fociety the poet paints; far as I can recollect, has hitherto efcahe narrow circle of objects and tranfac-ped the partifans of either fide. ons he describes; his concife, abrupt, The elegant author of the Critical Dif nd figurative ftyle; the abfence of all fertation on the poems of Offian [25. 205.], FOL, XLI. has very properly obviated the objections made to the uniformity of Offian's i magery, and the too frequent repetition of the fame comparifons. He has shown, that this objection proceeds from a carelefs and inattentive perufal of the poems: for although the range of the poet's objects was not wide, and confequently the fame object does often return; yet its appearance is changed; the image is new; it is prefented to the fancy in another attitude, and clothed with different circumstances to make it fuit the illuftration for which it is employed. In this, continues he, lies Offian's great art; and he illuftrates his remark by taking the inftances of the moon and of mist, two of the principal fubjects of the bard's images and allufions. I agree with this critic in his obfervations, though I think he has rather erred, in afcribing to art in Offian that wonder ful diverfification of the narrow circle of objects with which he was acquainted. It was not by any efforts of art or contrivance that Offian prefented the rude objects of Nature under fo many different afpects. He wrote from a full heart, from a rich and glowing imagination. He did not feek for, and invent images; he copied Nature, and painted objects as they ftruck and kindled his fancy. He had nothing within the range of his view but the great features of fimple Nature. The fun, the moon, the ftars, the defert heath, the winding ftream, the green hill with all its roes, and the rock with its robe of mist, were the objects amidst which Offian lived. Contemplating thefe, under every variety of appearance they could affume, no wonder that his warm and impaffioned genius found in them a field fruitful of the most lofty and fublime imagery. Thus the very circumftance of his having fuch a circumfcribed range of inanimate objects to attract his attention, and exercife his imagination, was the natural and neceffary caufe of Offian's being able to view, and to defcribe them, under fuch a variety of great and beautiful appearances. And may we not proceed farther, and affirm, that fo rich a diver. fification of the few appearances of fimple Nature, could hardly have occurred to the imagination of a poet living in any other than the rude and early age in which the fon of Fingal appeared. In refined and polished fociety, where the works of art abound, the endless va riety of objects that prefent themselves, diftract and diffipate the attention. The mind is perpetually hurried from one object to another, and no time is left to dwell upon the fublime and fimple ap pearances of Nature. A poet, in fuch an age, has a wide and diverfified circle of objects on which to exercife his ima gination. He has a large and diffused ftock of materials from which to draw i mages to embellifh his work; and h does not always refort for his imagery to the diversified appearance of the object of rude Nature: he does not avoid tho because his taste rejects them; but he u fes them feldom, because they feldo: recur to his imagination. To feize thefe images belongs only t the poet of an early and fimple age, wher the undivided attention has leifure 1 brood over the few, but fublime, obje which furround him. The fea and t heath, the rock and the torrent, ti clouds and meteors, the thunder a lightning, the fun, and moon, and ftar are, as it were, the companions wi which his imagination holds conver He perfonifies and addreffes them: Ev ry afpect they can affume is impreff upon his mind; he contemplates a traces them through all the endless rieties of feafons; and they are the pe petual fubjects of his images and all fions. He has, indeed, only a few o jects around him; but, for that v reafon, he forms a more intimate a quaintance with their every feature, a fhade, and attitude. From this circumftance it would feet that the poetical productions of widd diftant periods of fociety muft ever be ftrong marks of the age which gave the birth; and that it is not poffible for poetical genius of the one age to cou terfeit and imitate the productions of t other. To the poet of a fimple age, ti varied objects which prefent themfciv in cultivated fociety are unknown. T the poet of a refined age, the idea of mitating the productions of rude tim might, perhaps, occur; but the exec tion would certainly be difficult, perha impracticable. To catch fome few tran ient afpects of any of the great appea ances of Nature, may be within the rea of the genius of any age; but to perceiv and feel, and paint, all the fhades o few fimple objects, and to make the correfpond with a great diverfity fubjects, the poet muft dwell am the them, and have them ever present to his mind. The excellent critic whom I have already mentioned, has felected the inftan. ces of the moon and of mist, to fhew how much Offian has diverfified the appearance of the few objects with which he was encircled. 1 fhall now conclude this paper with felecting a third, that of the fun, which, I think, the bard has prefented in fuch a variety of aspects, as could have occurred to the imagination no other than the early and unimproed age in which Offian is fupposed to have lived. The vanquished Frothal, ftruck with the generous magnanimity of Fingal, addreffes him: "Terrible art thou, O King of Morven, in battles of the fpears! but, in peace, thou art like the fun when he looks through a filent fhower; the Bowers lift their fair heads before him, and the gales shake their ruftling wings." Of the generous open Cathmor, expofed to the dark and gloomy Cainbar, it is id, "His face was like the plain of the fan when it is bright: No darknefs traelled over his brow." Of Nathos: The foul of Nathos was generous and mild, like the hour of the fetting fun." young Connal, coming to feek the hoour of the fpear: "The youth was lively, as the firft beam of the fun."— 0! Fithil's fon," fays Cuchullin, with feet of wind, fly over the heath of Lena. Tell to Fingal, that Erin is enthralled, and bid the King of Morven haften. O! let him come like the fun in a form, when he fhines on the hills of grafs." Nikos, anxious for the fate of Darthala: "The foul of Nathos was fad, like the fun in the day of mift, when his face is watery and dim.” — Oscar, furrounded with foes, forefeeing the fall of his race, and yet at times gathering hope: At times, he was thoughtful and dark, like the fun when he carries a cloud on his face; but he looks afterward on the balls of Cona."-Before Bofmina fent to offer them the peace of heroes: "The tot of Erragon brightened in her pre. fence, as a rock before the fudden beams of the fun, when they iffue from a bro. ken cloud, divided by the roaring wind." -The remembrance of battles paft, and the return of peace, is compared to the fun returning after a ftorm:"Hear the battle of Lora: the found of its fteel is long fince paft; fo thunder on the dark ened hill roars, and is no more; the fun returns with his filent beams; the glittering rocks, and green heads of the mountains, fmile." Fingal in his ftrength darkening in the prefence of war: "His arm stretches to the foe like the beam of the fickly fun, when bis fide is crufted with darkness, and he rolls his difmall courfe throughout the fky."-A young hero exulting in his strength, and rufhing toward his foes, exclaims, My beating foul is high! My fame is bright before me like the ftreak of light on a cloud when the broad fun comes forth, red traveller of the fky!"-On another occafion, fays a hero, "I have met the battle in my youth. My arm could not lift the fpear when firft the danger rofe; but my foul brightened before the war as the green narrow vale, when the fun pours his ftreamy, beams, before he hides his head in a storm!" But it would exceed the proper bounds of this paper, were I to bring together all the paffages which might illuftrate my remarks. Without, therefore, quoting the beautiful address to the fun which finifhes the fecond book of Temora, or that at the beginning of Carichura, I shall conclude with laying before my readers that fublime paffage at the end of Carthos, where the aged bard, thrown into melancholy by the remembrance of that hero, thus pours himfelf forth: "I feel the fun, O! Malvina; leave me to my reft. The beam of heaven delights to thine on the grave of Carthon; I feel it warm around. O thou that rollett above, round as the shield of my fathers! whence are thy beams, O Sun! thy everlasting light? Thou comeft forth in thy awful beauty and the ftars hide themselves in the fky: The moon, cold and pale, finks in the Western wave; but thou thyself movest alone. Who can be a companion of thy courfe? The oaks of the mountain fall; the mountains themfelves decay with years; the ocean fhrinks, and grows again; the moon herfelf is loft in heaven; but thou art for ever the fame, rejoicing in the brightnefs of thy courfe. When the world is dark with tempefts; when thunder rolls, and lightning flies, thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds, and laughelt at the form. But to Offian thou lookeft in vain; for he beholds thy beams no more, whether thy yellow hair flows on the Eaftern clouds, or thou X tremble |