And thou Supreme! whose hand sustains this ball, THE MONKEY WHO SHAVED HIMSELF AND HIS FRIENDS. A FABLE. A MAN who own'd a barber's shop It chanced in shop, the dog and cat, The cat cry'd "waugh!" and off she ran. The dog runs howling round and bleeding. So by the glass, upon the table, Then with left hand holds smooth his jaw,— Around he flourishes and slashes, Who cannot write, yet handle pens, LEMUEL HOPKINS. DR LEMUEL HOPKINS was born at Waterbury, in Connecticut, June 19th, 1750. His father was a farmer in easy circumstances, and while he reared all his children to the labor of the field, took care to bestow upon them a good education. Dr Hopkins is said to have been determined to the study of physic when young, by observing the gradual decline of some of his connexions, who were sinking under a consumption. This inclination to medical pursuits was strengthened by the circumstance of a hereditary predisposition to the same disorder which existed in the family. His education, it seems, had not been classical, and having resolved upon the medical profession, he applied himself to Latin and other preliminary studies, and after proper qualification, placed himself under the care of a physician in Wallingford. He began regular practice in Litchfield, about the year 1776, and was for a short time in the American army as a volunteer. About 1784, he removed to Hartford. Here he passed the rest of his life, devoted to the labors of a physician, and man of letters. He fell a victim, we are told, to the exercise of an Humphreys had completed this fable with the exception of the last couplet, and made several attempts to give it that pointed finish which he desired, but could not succeed. He then went with it to the author of M'Fingal, and told him his difficulty. Trumbull took the piece and read it aloud; then looking upward with that keen glance for which his eye was remarkable, added without pausing "Drew razor swift as he could pull it, And cut from ear to ear his gullet." improper remedy in his own case, occasioned by his dread of a pulmonary complaint. He died on the 14th of April, 1801. Dr Hopkins was a physician of great skill and reputation. His memory was so retentive, that he would quote every writer he had read, whether medical or literary, with the same readiness that a clergyman quotes the Bible. In his labors for scientific purposes, he was indefatigable. The Medical Society of Connecticut is indebted to him as one of its founders. In his person he was tall, lean, stooping and long-limbed, with large features and light eyes, and this uncouth appearance, added to a great eccentricity of manner, rendered him at first sight a very striking spectacle. In his literary character he was eminent among the distinguished writers of the place where the most of his life was spent. Trumbull, Barlow, Humphreys, Dwight and others, were his associates, and the two first with Hopkins wrote the Anarchiad. He also had a hand in The Echo, The Political Greenhouse, and many satirical poems of that description, in which he had for his associates, Richard Alsop, Theodore Dwight, and a number of others. Besides these, there are a few short pieces which were written by him exclusively. . The Anarchiad was published in portions in the Connecticut Magazine, during the year 1786, and 1787. It is a political satire, referring to the state of the country at the period immediately preceding the adoption of the federal constitution. The American states were at that time loosely connected, each pursuing its own separate policy, without any regard for the plans of the other members of the confederacy, or the general welfare of the country. This led to embarrassments in the public affairs, which by the instrumentality of factious and violent persons, occasioned great disorders. Against the promoters of these political troubles, the Anarchiad is pointed. The poem is represented in the introduction as having been discovered in digging among the ancient aboriginal fortifications in the western country, and by the aid of vision and prophecy, it is made to bear on modern events. A strain of grave moral expostulation is mixed up Its with satirical touches in a very able manner. Dr Hopkins suggested the plan of the work, and has always borne the credit of having written the most striking passages. authorship being more closely connected with his name than any other, the extracts from the poem are given under the present head. "IN visions fair, the scenes of fate unroll, Thy hand unbars the unfathom'd gulph of fate, Bow low, ye heavens, and all ye lands draw near, Thrice happy race! how bless'd are discord's heirs! Bless'd while they know what anarchy is theirs ; Though plagued with debts, with rage of conquest curst, In rags and tender-acts he puts no trust; But in the public weal, his own forgets, Finds heaven for him who pays the nation's debts; Of nectar'd porter and ambrosial steaks. Not so, Columbia, shall thy sons be known, Grace on the brow, and knavery at the heart, Despise good works, and balance sins by prayer. Forswear the public debt, the public cause, Cheat heaven with forms, and earth with tender-laws, And half the business of confusion done. From hell's dark caverns, discord sounds alarms, And maddening mobs assume their rusty guns. O'er all the torpid limbs begins to creep; |