Drama in Italy, and a new volume of Poems from Mr. Boyd, will likewise proceed from Mundell's press in the course of the summer, in an elegant style. "Grainger has been long standing still, waiting your arrival in England, and the aid of your promised commu nications. "A third edition of my account of Smollett is going to press immediately. The second edition of the Border Minstrelsy' will be out in a few days, with a third volume. "Colonel Johnes is printing his translation of Froissart, at Hafod, in a magnificent style, only 200 copies, and 25 fine for the amateurs, and 20 or 30 engravings. I send you a specimen. I hear from him very frequently, and he desires me to say to you that he is indeed ashamed for not having stated to you his progress.' He invites me warmly to Hafod, to see Don Quixote's library, &c. 6 "The daily sight of your portrait, the dearest ornament of my dining-room, the frequent perusal of the copy of the Reliques' you presented to me, and a desire to please me, have produced an admirable Ode from the pen of Miss Stewart. It does my venerable friend, and the fair writer, infinite honour. I have suggested some additional topics of illustration, and will send it to you as soon as it is finished. Lord Woodhouslie and your other friends here wish you would take Edinburgh in your way to Northamptonshire. Remember me kindly to Mrs. Percy. I am, my dear Lord, with truth, affection, and respect, your obedient servant, Ro. ANDERSON. "P.S. Dr. Trail set out for London about a month ago. He expects to meet you in England in the course of the summer. At the time of his departure we exchanged a note or two concerning Ritson's Preliminary Dissertation to his Metrical Romances, which contains a repetition of the gross and unmannerly abuse of the Editor of the Reliques.' My indignation against this wretched man was the greater, that I heard him, in this house, speak of Warton, and of you particularly, in a placable and penitential way, which gave one reason to think that he would make his amende honourable the first opportunity. Besides, you nobly made him an offer of your Romances. Mr. Brougham has reprimanded him. severely for the folly and wickedness of his attack. "I entreat your Lordship, the very first moment VOL. VII. I of leisure, to devote a welcome page of forgiveness and of information to me." "MY DEAR LORD, Heriot's Green, June 27, 1803. "In my last to your Lordship, I mentioned an Ode to the Editor of the Reliques,' by Miss Stewart, which I expected to have the pleasure of transmitting to you in a short time. In the mean time, I expressed the sincere hope I entertained of being favoured with a single line from your Lordship, to say whether the transmission would correspond with your intended journey to England. I now suspect that my letter may have arrived at Dromore House after your departure, and so may not yet have reached you. I hesitate, therefore, about sending the Ode by my friend Mrs. Bindon, going to Limerick, lest it should come too late, and so perform a circuitous journey to Northamptonshire. I have written by this opportu nity to Mr. Stott, requesting him to give me the information I want respecting your Lordship's motions. I herewith send you, at a venture, a few detached stanzas, as a specimen of the Ode, willingly transcribed by my youngest daughter, the author's most intimate friend. In the 37th stanza, Easton may be substituted for Welbye, if it was, as I think, at the time of the publication of the 'Reliques,' the place of your residence, near Lord Sussex. It was at first written "in yonder classic grove;" but I thought a local designation more appropriate. The other examples are chiefly "Northumberland betrayed by Douglas," " "Lady Bothwell's Lament," "Earl of Murray," "Merrow, gentle river," "The Battle of Otterburn," &c. The young author addressed sixteen quatrain stanzas to me, with the Ode, beginning Thro' the dim shadows of monastic night, And ending, * "Ah! while thou watchest her mysterious shrine, * Genius. 'No magic tints in these faint pictures shine, 'Yet, ere they die, methinks the sacred light That glows serene in Friendship's generous beam, "I write this note in unavoidable haste, but I expect very soon to have an opportunity of writing to your Lordship at greater length. Meanwhile, believe me to be, my dear Lord, ever your faithful and affectionate humble serRo. ANDERSon. "I beg to be remembered to Mrs. Percy with respectful regard." vant, "MY DEAR LORD, Heriot's Green, 16th Aug. 1803. "I could not easily express how much I felt gratified by your lordship's successive favours of the 20th and 23d of July, the first accompanied by some valuable letters relating to the Grainger family. Long intervals of epistolary silence will always create uneasiness in the party most anxious to secure the friendly intercourse which has been cultivated. I was, therefore, extremely solicitous to hear from your Lordship, but the proofs which your letters contain of the continuance of your friendly regard have taught me to rely on you with a confidence more worthy of you and more becoming myself. My own ill health, and the prevalence of the influenza, had, I own, increased my anxiety about you not a little, and the painful circumstances in which you wrote to me have verified, in an alarming degree, my fears. The thought of your being confined to a darkened room, deprived of the sight of one eye, and threatened with the loss-the dreadful lossof the other, gives me very sincere concern; for I know no man to whom such a privation would be a greater calamity. It would not merely be a heavy private affliction, but a serious public misfortune. I pray God the sight of your right eye may yet be preserved by the means you are using, by the advice, no doubt, of the most experienced practitioners in the United Kingdom. I offer you, my dear Lord, all that I can give, at this distance, the expression of my sympathy, heightened by the knowledge I have of your disposition and habits of life, and my affection for your person and veneration for your character. In the concern which I feel, on this occasion, all your friends here, and all who honour talents and virtue, deeply participate. From two letters now lying before me, one from the Earl of Buchan, dated Dryburgh Abbey, Aug. 5th, the other from Colonel Johnes, dated Hafod, Aug. 15th, I transcribe the following paragraphs, as testimonies, among others, of the esteem in which you are held by wise and good men, and of the interest they take in your personal comfort: : "I sympathize with you (writes the Earl) most sincerely on the melancholy tidings from Dromore House. The worthy, amiable Bishop Percy has been a real benefactor to English literature and a credit to his profession. Your pleasing residence last summer with the Bishop, and the manner in which that residence was employed, cannot fail of retaining a classical and heart-engaging place in your memory, and even in your life.' "Loss of sight (writes the Colonel) appears to me the greatest that can happen of ills; and Milton seems to have felt-'O loss of sight, of thee I most complain!" and to such a good and excellent man as Dr. Percy it must be very grievous. I hope he may, at least, retain one eye.' "This time last year I had the happiness of being under your roof. I lament that my lot is so cast that I have little prospect of seeing you again; but every circumstance of your friendly reception and instructive conversation is (as Lord Buchan truly remarks) indelibly impressed on my memory. A visit to such a man, like that of a pilgrim to a distant shrine, forms an era in the life of a private individual. Although it may have the appearance of personal vanity, I have satisfaction in reflecting that my visit to Dromore House, in connection with our literary correspondence, has contributed, however little, to recal you from your long retirement in Ireland to resume your station in the ranks of learning, and to receive renewed testimonies of public gratitude for your eminent services to English poetry." 66 Sept. 15, 1803. "I wrote, my dear Lord, the preceding pages about a month ago, as a part of a letter to your Lordship, and being suddenly called away to Roxburghshire, I laid it aside. Since my return, I intended you a letter, written more largely and distinctly for the sake of your eyes, but have had my hands pretty full, with correcting my Smollett, the fourth time, and my time much occupied by visitants. Dr. Trail has stimulated my indolence by calling this forenoon to apprise me of a private conveyance for my letter. So I take the opportunity to send you what is at hand, rather than what I might have written with more leisure, and solicit your indulgence. It is proper to mention, that I delayed writing to you at the time your letters came, that I might have an opportunity of announcing the transmission of Miss Stewart's Ode to Mr. Ercke. It is now finished; but a fair copy must be made for you, and my female amanuensis (for the Bishop) has been with her friends at Alnwick for some time, and only returned with her sister yesterday. She will proceed to transcribe without delay, and I will write to you by post, when the transcript is ready for transmission. Miss Stewart has addressed some beautiful stanzas to me with the Ode, a copy of which shall be sent with it. My young friend is greatly flattered by the favourable opinion you express of the specimen of her Ode to you. She has caught a portion of my affection for you, and composed her verses con amore. A present from you of a copy of the Reliques' would be esteemed by her the highest honour and the most acceptable acknowledgment you could bestow. A similar present to Miss Bannerman would likewise be highly valued. Mr. George Paton has already received a present from you of the Reliques,' through my hands. He sent you a copy of the Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, in testimony of gratitude and respect. He is not the editor of these books, but a Mr. Sibbald, a bookseller, lately dead. 6 "Your Lordship owes me nothing on the score of subscriptions, or on any other account. Such books as I am concerned in bringing forward are subject to my contribution for my friends. I have got, at length, your Letters to Lord Hailes, but Dr. Trail does not think this conveyance a proper one for a packet so precious. It is too large for Mr. Ercke. The Letters of Mrs. Grainger, Dr. Cuming, |