Bp. PERCY to Dr. ANDERSON.

"DEAR SIR, Dromore House, Feb. 5, 1805. "That your obliging letter has remained so long unanswered, and your queries unresolved, you have, I trust, candidly attributed to no common cause. Since I received it I have been much indisposed, and been also involved in a business of a very perplexing and interesting nature, which demanded my whole attention.

"I shall now consider, and endeavour to answer your queries respecting the works of my friend Dr. Grainger. With regard to his letter to Mr. Burt, I think it very interesting, and upon the whole does him honour. I think out of his letter might be extracted many anecdotes and references to the history of himself and his family, as would assist you in completing the narrative of his life, especially such as are confirmed, you say, by his brother's relict.

"That his father was of Cumberland I have heard him mention, and that he had suffered for his attachment to the House of Stuart in the year 1715, though he might not think proper to mention this in his letter to Mr. Burt. His father may also have impaired his fortune in the manner he describes. The Doctor was his son by a second marriage. His elder brother, who became a parent to him, was by a former wife. This is all I remember concerning his family. For though united by the strictest bonds of friendship, my acquaintance with him did not commence till about three years before he went abroad. In this interval I only saw him occasionally when I visited London; and afterwards, when he returned to England in 1763, though he spent some weeks with me at my parsonage in the country, yet our conversation was generally on literary subjects, and seldom or never led to family or personal inquiries.

"The time of his death was confirmed by the captain of a ship, who brought me a very kind letter from him and a present of a pig fed with sugar-canes, but told me the writer had died just as he was leaving St. Kitt's. How afflicting this coincidence I need not describe. As to his age I know not where I collected that, but I must have certainly been misinformed, from the particulars you mention, and you must settle it as you can by the lights they afford you.

6

"In the Sugar Cane,' B. 111. 1. 514, to 'Pæon's Son,' you may add this note, Probably Dr. Armstrong the poet.'* I say probably, because I never heard him mention their intimacy, though it may have existed unknown to me. In B. III. line 31, 'O M *** ' certainly applied to Daniel Mathew,† Esq. his wife's uncle, to whom he dedicated his pamphlet on the West India Diseases, &c. In B. 111. 1. 377: This certainly refers to the poet laureat Whitehead, see his 'Ode to the Nymph of Bristol Spring,' &c. This I copy from a note written at the time in the margin of my edition of the 'Sugar Cane,' 1764.

6

"Boswell's ludicrous account of the Sugar Cane' deserves no attention, and need not be mentioned,§ as the passage was altered in the printed copy.

"I think Dr. Smollett accuses Grainger of having attacked him on the subject of his name, Tobias. But, to the best of my recollection, there was no foundation for this, and all that Grainger did was the printing his opponent's name at full length Tobias, who, till then, had always given his signature T. Smollet, and T. passed for the initial of Thomas. But Smollett adverted to the above circumstance in such angry terms as showed he was sore at the disclosure, which Grainger and his friends often laughed at. I wish I could recover Grainger's pamphlet, which, in the opinion of Dr. Johnson, did him honour, as it contains some judicious and valuable criticisms.

"Col. Johnes' queries concerning Froissart came too late, at least are so at present, for I understand his book is published; and indeed the failure of my sight had rendered me unable to investigate subjects of that kind, as the correspondence of names chiefly requires ocular inspection.

"You and your Hibernian friends have probably heard of the death of poor Cunningham, which took place on the 27th of December. A short history and character of him was published in our Belfast newspaper soon after, together with an excellent poem of little Tom Robinson. They will probably be seen in the Gent. Magazine,|| which has not yet reached us.

"Mrs. Percy joins in compliments with, dear Sir, you faithful and obedient servant, THO. DROMORE."

See p. 142. § See ibid.

+ See ibid.

See p. 145.

See ibid.

MEMOIR OF WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM.

"William Cunningham, the self-taught poet, while he was a poor weaver-boy, having received the first rudiments of education at one of the Bishop of Dromore's sundayschools, had, by reading such books as he could borrow, made so considerable a progress, that, in the autumn of 1800, he presented his Lordship with a copy of verses requesting the loan of books. The Bishop, struck with the marks of genius displayed in this poem, rescued him from the loom, and placed him at the diocesan school of Dromore, where his application was so diligent that, in about two years and a half, he had read the principal Latin and Greek Classics. Being thus qualified to superintend the education of youth, which had been the object of his wishes, he was received, early in 1804, as an assistant teacher in the academy of the Rev. Dr. Bruce, of Belfast, where he was distinguished for his diligence and skill in preparing the boys under his care to be examined before the last summer vacation. But, by this time, such strong symptoms of a consumption had appeared in his tall, thin, and slender frame, that he could not any more return to his charge, and his declining health confined him to the house of his poor mother, near the turnpike-gate between Hillsborough and Dromore, where he continued to experience the kindness of his former patron, and was most generously attended by Sir George Atkinson, an eminent physician in Hillsborough; but his case was beyond the reach of medical aid, and terminated fatally. He died at Magherabeg, near Dromore, in Ireland, Dec. 27, 1804, and was interred in Dromore churchyard on the 29th, having nearly completed his 24th year, being born March 19, 1781. Cunningham, though very unlike, in his bodily frame, to Dr. Goldsmith, who was short and not slender, so strongly resembled him in face, that, when he stood near the profile of the Doctor, his portrait seemed to have been drawn for him. His poetical compositions have often adorned the pages of the Gentleman's Magazine; and the reader is referred particularly to vol. LXXI. pp. 1030, 1125; LXXII. pp. 60, 157, &c."*

Gent. Mag. 1804, ii. p. 1251. In the Gent. Mag. for Jan. 1805 are some Verses on Mr. Cunningham's death, by Master T. Romney Robinson. VOL. VII.

Ꮮ

"MY DEAR LORD,

Heriot's Green, April 3, 1805. "I am now to make your Lordship my acknowledgments, which have been too long delayed, for your last obliging letter, and to renew the assurances of my true respect and affectionate attachment.

The apology which your Lordship had for suffering my last packet to Dromore House to remain so long unanswered, gave me great uneasiness for the state of your health. It came near my own feelings; for my health, during the winter, has been unusually infirm and fluctuating, so that I have hardly lived either for myself or my

friends.

"It was with some hesitation that I ventured to recall your Lordship's attention to the life of Grainger; but I am thankful for your opinion. The letter to Mr. Burt is valuable in respect of the facts it contains. In printing the new Index for The Sugar Cane,' I durst not hazard even the conjecture of Paeon's Son being Armstrong; for your Lordship well observes, there is not in the whole passage the slightest allusion to his poetical character. Your Lordship's suggestions respecting other particulars will be very useful. I am now to put Grainger off my hands. I find I must compress the narrative, for the publishers think it will make the first volume disproportionately large; but I shall give it fully in the general edition of the Lives of the Poets.

"I ought not certainly to have troubled your Lordship with Col. Johnes' queries concerning Froissart. As the distress was urgent, I hazarded my own conjectures, and procured explanations from Scott, who is strong in Border history, which have been printed in the fourth volume, with a handsome acknowledgment of our assistance.

"Mr. Laing is printing here a new edition of Macpherson's 'Ossian,' with notes, showing his imitations, by the addition of parallels from others and himself. He is to prefix a preface, in which he intends to introduce your Lordship's testimony concerning Macpherson's acknowledgment of the forgery to Sir John Elliott, with some others. I think it right that you should see the passage, and I have procured from Mr. Laing a copy of it, and likewise a copy of Sir John Macpherson's Letter to Dr. Blair, for your inspection. I shall send them by this post to Mr. Ercke, to be forwarded to you. It will be parti*See pp. 141, 144.

cularly obliging to Mr. Laing, if you could, with the earliest convenience, favour me with your opinion and instructions respecting the passage. To prevent any misrepresentation, I sincerely wish you would dictate a proper statement, in your own words. I remember, you once thought of doing it at Dromore House, but delayed it till it should be wanted. This seems a proper place for it. The edition is a very elegant one.

Armstrong leaves us next week, and will carry with him. the honour of A.M. and the esteem of us all. I will write by Armstrong at greater length. With due remembrances to Mrs. Percy, I ever am your affectionate servant,

، RO. ANDERSON.

"Dr. Trail called on me a few days ago. I heard of the death of poor Cunningham, and have sent little Robinson's elegy on his death, and the account of him, to be inserted in the fourth volume of the Poetical Register. "I will be sincerely gratified for the promised remarks on Johnson."

"MY DEAR LORD,

Heriot's Green, 9th April, 1805. "I am indebted to Dr. Trail for the present conveyance, which allows me merely to offer your Lordship my affectionate respects, and to request your acceptance of a copy of Dr. Ryan's pamphlet, which I procured to be reprinted here at the desire of Dr. Ledwich.

"I addressed a few hurried lines to your Lordship last week, and at the same time sent you a small packet through the hands of Mr. Ercke, which I hope you received.

“I very willingly complied with Mr. Laing's wishes relating to Macpherson, as I knew that your Lordship was not averse to give your testimony to the world, and I was satisfied that it could not appear in a more proper time and in a more proper place.

"A copy of the Northern Antiquities' has been put into my hands within these few days, for the purpose of receiving any corrections or additions that may be thought necessary. Will your Lordship have the goodness to send me a transcript of the MS. corrections and additions in your copy for the use of the new edition?

"I am ashamed to recur to the mention of my Life of Johnson, except to say that I trust, in some interval of leisure, you may be inclined to favour me with your cor