careless eafe; and particularly noticed for this circumftance, that they were generally much more perfect when written for other boys than for himself. As it is more than probable my copy is the only one extant, I fhall tranfcribe it, and leave you to determine whether it be worth preferving. AMICUS.

SMALL BEER.

Fever yet, Aönian maids,

IF

You blefs'd poor bard with timely aids;
Hafte now-and help, without fufpenfion,
Bring fpirit, numbers, rhyme, invention.
Here in fad plight your votary view;
I'm left-e'en as I bake to brew.
Spare, gentle critics, each default;
You'll find much water, little malt.
Biefs me! an ague fit, I fear;

O theme to kill a mufe! SMALL BEER!
Thy name, bafe draff, a verse degrades!
Drink of penurious, mufty maids;
Or drudging rogues, who fing, like parrots,
In clofets wedg'd, or fulfome garrets.
Weak, tastelefs, flatulent remains,
Squeez'd from impoverish'd husks and grains;
Fit fwill for Bedlam's refidentiaries,
Or Bridewell's chaftened penitentiaries.
Hard beverage of the ftarveling wit,
Thou very ratfbane to the cit;
Sad foberer in his midnight hours,
When wine th' infenfate brain o'erpowers.
Stale, thou'rt mere verjuice; gall, when mild;
At best, thou'rt but good water spoil'd!
Stay-fome, who own for truth my fatire,
May yet accufe her of ill-nature.
For once, if Sire Apollo will,
(In proof of genius, judgment, fkill)
I'll act the cafuift in my lays;
In one line lafh, in t'other praife.

SMALL BEER! cool, elegant regale,
Thou royal child of good King ALE;
In maffy tankard bright and stable
Oft brought up to the princely table;
To temperance, chastity, and quiet,
Sworn friend-fworn foe to feuds and riot;
Refcuer of captivated reason,
From rebel wine's outrageous treafon;
To the fick wretch debarr'd admiflion,
Through envy of the fly physician;
Though known the deadly fever's Яame,
By the parch'd patient crav'd, to tame.
Thee jolly tars in plenty fip,
Converted to ambrofial flip.
In poffet boil'd, or sugar-fops,
How dear to school-boy's liquorish chops!
By Boniface's cunning art,

Work'd up in bottles, fresh and fmart,
Thou'rt ferv'd, on holidays, in glaffes,
Choice fare to tippling youths and laffes.
Ah, me! I'm at a fad extreme!
Quite, quite exhausted, rhyme and theme!

Tir'd fancy lags, dull numbers droop!
My mufe and barrel, all aftoop,
Creep on their lees, run thick and flow;
Help, Phoebus! I'm a cup too low.

MEMOIRS OF

A CORNISH CURATE,

T

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

(Concluded from Page 29.)

O alleviate the grief occafioned by a beloved partner's lofs, my mother had requested the company of a young lady, named Olivia, the daughter of a neighbouring clergyman. She had often vifited in our family; and, being nearly of my age, was my conftant companion in every childish purfuit: but, as the impreffion on the breaft of infancy is evanefcent as the morning dew, or the bloom of the rofe, her remembrance had been almost effaced from my mind; and, during the time which we had recently spent together, I had not felt a fingle emotion in her favour, nor treated her with more attention, than the fair, the lovely, and the young, have always a right to expect from the manly and polished heart.

It being now the vernal feafon, I happened, one fine ferene evening, to rove, with a book in my hand, to a confiderable distance from home; till finding the fhades of night fuddenly furrounding me, I haftened to return. My nearest way was through tangled woods, and unfrequented paths, and to this I gave the preference; but before I had proceeded far, a female voice refounded from a neighbouring copfe. Shrieks, entreaties, and prayers, which became more languid as I approached, feemed to be poured out in vain, and the voice died away in broken murmurs. With all the expedition that humanity could infpire, I flew towards the place; but, judge my furprize and fenfations, when I beheld Olivia ftruggling in my brother's arms, and feemingly overcome by her exertions! At the fight of fuch an unwelcome intruder, my brother feemed confounded

Ι

founded with fhame: he inftantly forfook his lovely prize; and, with eyes darting indignation, quitted the spot without uttering a fingle word.

6

Wounded to the foul with his bafenefs, and melted by the piteous fituation of the lovely object who lay ftretched on the earth in a state of infenfibility, I was fcarcely mafter of myself. However, I foon fummoned a fufficient degree of reafon to attempt her revival; and I had the happiness to find that my exertions were not in vain. As the opened her fine blue eyes, and looked me full in the face, I felt an emotion which I had never before experienced. She ftarted back at the fight of fuch an unexpected deliverer; and, notwithftanding my utmost endeavours, relapfed into the fame melancholy ftate. At length I again found means to reftore her; when, bursting into a flood of tears, Eugenius,' fays fhe, may every bleffing attend your life! May Heaven fhower it's choiceft favours on your head! and may fome lovely and fortunate fair reward your virtue for preferving mine! My dearest Olivia!' exclaimed I, with all the enthusiasm of love, the hand of Heaven seems confpicuous in this deliverance; and, if I may prefume to express the wish that lies neareft my heart, the fame Power make me the may everlasting guardian of that virtue which I have been fo miraculously enabled to fave!'- My deliverer,' fweetly returned the ingenuous fair, is entitled to every acknowledgment I can make; conduct me to my father, and lodge under his fheltering roof the child who is at his difpofal. With this requifition I immediately complied; and as we agreed that it would be prudent to conceal the rude affault of my brother, which the malevolent world might have reprefented, as more fatal than it really was, we refolved to afcribe the latenefs of our arrival to the fineness of the evening and the charms of the feafon, which had

tempted us to linger beyond our intended time.

The apology was eafily admitted; and, as I was invited to stay, I eagerly embraced the offer, as well to pafs more time in the company of Olivia, as to recover fufficiently from my perturbation of mind before I met a guilty brother's eye.

Next morning I took leave of Olivia and her father; and, during my walk, felt a dejection of fpirits, and heaviness of heart, which could not have been exceeded if I had been the perpetrator of villainy, and not the protector of innocence. The mind feems often prophetic of it's own fate, and intuitively to foresee the ftorm that futurity is about to difclofe. I approached my brother with looks of indignation and pity; but, before I could utter a fingle word, unlocking his bureau, Receive,' fays he, your patrimony, and immediately quit the houfe! I difclaim for a brother the wretch who can fruftrate my wishes merely to gratify his own, and this under the more deteftable mafk of fentimental hypocrify! Stung to the foul, I replied, The Power who fees the rectitude of my views, and by my

means has defeated the villainy of yours, will abundantly provide for 'me! I renounce an alliance with your ignominy, with the fame pleáfure as you disclaim me for a bro‹ther: but let me caution you to beware, left your paffions precipi.

tate you into irretrievable ruin!" With these words I rushed into my mother's apartment; and, falling on my knees, befought her benediction, before the opportunity was for ever clofed. Too well acquainted with what had paffed, fhe bathed my face with her tears; and bewailing her hapless fituation, encouraged me to hope for a speedy reconciliation, bidding me rely on her unalterable love.

Alas! he lived but a very short time to realize her wishes; for, within three weeks, fhe fell a martyr to her grief, occafioned by the brutal infoP 2

lence

lence of my brother, in confequence of her partiality to me.

An outcast from my family, and equally difqualified by the delicacy of my feelings, and the narrowness of my circumstances, from elbowing my way in the world, I fcarcely knew which way to direct my fteps. Love, however, which can illumine the darkest hours of life, prompted my return to Olivia; that I might tell her how much my misfortune attached her to my heart. I revealed to the dear charmer my true fituation, and concluded by asking her advice refpecting my future conduct. She immediately referred me to her father's fuperior experience; and I accordingly communicated to him my fixed refolution of engaging in a cure, without affigning the most diftant reafon for quitting my brother's houfe. In confequence of this communication, I had in a few days the happiness to be informed, that an old gentleman, the rector of R-, a village about three miles diftant, was in immediate want of a clerical -affiftant.

To him I prefently applied, and without hefitation clofed with his offer of allowing me twenty pounds a year; but as this fum would barely find me in board, my patrimony began rapidly to decrease.

Olivia, I need fcarcely fay, in the mean time engaged all my thoughts. Our love was mutual and fincere; and intereft, that powerful incentive to modern contracts, was entirely overlooked by both, as her fortune was ftill inferior to my own. In a few months fhe confented to be irrevocably mine, and I then thought my felicity beyond the reach of fate. From this pleafing delufion, however, I had the misfortune foon to be awakened; for finding my income very inadequate to my expences, I began to fhudder at the thoughts of involving a beloved wife in want and mifery. Thefe gloomy prefages were too foon realized by the death of my aged patron; an event which wholly

3

deprived me of employment. This ftroke was followed by the birth of a fon; which, though it ought to have taught me economy, and ftimulated my exertions, only tended to lull my cares, and deaden my fenfe of want.

After vainly endeavouring to obtain another curacy, and being difappointed in my expectations of a fmall living by the machinations of my pow-abandoned brother, Olivia's father was attacked by a paralytic ftroke, which compelled him to refign the care of his cure to me. The whole amount of his living did not exceed fourscore pounds a year, and confequently little could be allowed for the maintenance of a curate. My Olivia was again pregnant; when I found that, exclufive of fome trifling articles of furniture and books, I had fcarcely 100l. left: and, to add to my diftrefs, a fecond paralytic ftroke, and foon after a third, deprived me of a valuable friend; whofe effects, when difpofed of, and his debts difcharged, produced only about threefcore pounds for his daughter's portion.

Being now deftitute of every friend, my brother remaining irreconcilably inveterate, and a native bashfulness of difpofition, for which the world is not always candid enough to make proper allowances, having prevented me from extending my connections, or fecuring many friends, I was in fuch a diftressful fituation, that my mind began to fink beneath it's burden, and to become v weary of ftruggling with it's fate.

The profpect, however, again brightened; and I obtained a very defirable curacy of thirty pounds a year, by the intereft of a young baronet, who had accidentally feen Olivia and her two infant children, and expreffed the warmest defire to ferve us. As a prefent proof of his friendship, he applied to the rector of his parish, of which he was himfelf patron, to accept my fervices in the room of a young man, whom an

unfortunate

unfortunate and ill-requited attachment had juft hurried to an untimely grave,

To D I immediately removed with my dearest Olivia, whofe kind folicitude for me was the only confolation of my life; and who, far from blaming me for that anxiety which continually clouded my afpect, kindly fympathized in my griefs, and endeavoured by the most endearing fondness to reconcile me to life. Sir Thomas S, by whose interpofition I had obtained my prefent eftablishment, likewife contributed all in his power to render my fituation eafy; continually loading the children with prefents, and offering me the loan of any fum I might have occafion for. Of this laft offer I too imprudently and fatally availed myfelf, by borrowing two hundred pounds. To corroborate our good opinion of his generofity, he bade me make myself perfectly eafy in my fituation; for, on the prefent incumbent's death, the living fhould inftantly be mine. I thanked him with an ardour that mocked the expreffions of form. But, alas! I had to deal with a man of the world; and found too foon that I had placed my dependence where I had nothing to hope, and poured forth my gratitude where my execrations only were due.

This unprincipled young man was our conftant vifitor, and encouraged our extravagance merely that he might have an opportunity of fupplying our wants. My Olivia was charmed with his condefcenfion; and as virtue cannot readily fufpect that artifice which it never practifed, she congratulated me-fhe congratulated herfelf and children-on the advantages we were likely to derive from a friendship which neither of us could fuppofe to be interefted. The contrary, however, foon appeared! Olivia, whofe beauty was rather improved than diminished, was invited to celebrate with me a Christmas festival at Sir Thomas's. A blameable politehefs to my fuppofed friend eafily induced me to drink more plentifully

of the wine with which his board. was profufely covered, than my conftitution would bear; and as I foon felt it's effects, I was conveyed to bed in a ftate of ebriety and ftupefaction. On Olivia he likewife had the fame fhameful defign; but, guarded by the laws of delicate propriety, fhe refifted his moft earneft folicitations. However, as he attached himself entirely to her, his parafites and dependants, who faw plainly that he had views upon her virtue, retired one after another, leaving Olivia and him alone together. Immediately on this he fhut the door; and befeeching her attention for a few minutes, to an affair which nearly concerned his happiness, he began to infult her with the most violent proteftations of love; and fwore that if fhe would not return his paffion, he should never see another happy hour; adding, that fhe might command his fortune and his life, and that what he had already conferred, was only a prelude to what he meant to do.

Awakened from her dream of happinefs, fhe fprung up; and, animated with that courage which indignant virtue will ever feel when it comes in contact with vice, she dared him again to wound her ears with his unhallowed vows; protefting that his conduct fhould be made known to an injured husband, who would make him feverely repent of his temerity. With all the infolence of conscious fuperiority, he then opened the door; and, with a fmile of contempt, informed her, that fince the refused his friendship, his fortune, and his love, fhe fhould feel the effects of his refentment. Thefe threats, it is evident, the base villain must have prepared to put in execution previous to his diabolical invitation; for, before I defcended next morning to breakfast, I was arrested at his fuit on my note for two hundred pounds, which I had preffed him to accept on his lending me that fum; and as it was not in my power to fatisfy one half of the demand, I was hurried away to prifon.

My

My profpects were now entirely blafted. Want, ignominy, and difgrace, prefented themfelves to my view, in their most hideous afpects; and I could have laid down my life without a figh, had not a faithful and affectionate wife, with two infant children, bound me to them with ties of indiffoluble regard. My confinement I was truly fenfible could only add to their mifery; yet the moft unfortunate cannot without reluctance let go thofe attachments which are fo firmly rooted in the foul, or bid farewel to mortality with a Roical apathy.

But, O God! my heart bleeds afresh at the recollection of the fcene I am now going to defcribe-My Olivia, unable to fupport her feparation from me, requefted leave to make my room her habitation. The fatal request was granted. For a few days I was furrounded by my wife and children; they cheared the prifon gloom-But, can I proceed! I was foon deprived of these comforts for ever! In three fhort weeks after my commitment, they were carried off by an epidemical fever; and thefe eyes, which never beheld the mifery of a franger without beftowing the alms of pity's tear, were doomed to behold a wife and two innocents prefs the fame untimely bier.

The pathos of language is too weak to exprefs my fenfations; I became delirious, and my own hands had nearly perpetrated a deed which my foul abhors-for now I had no more to lofe! And, gracious Heaven! if at that trying juncture I arraigned thy juftice, forgive me! for

me from obtaining my release, and feem to have fhut the gates of mercy on my fate. My only expectation of deliverance is by the hand of Death, for whofe fpeedy approach my prayers are continually offered up. When that happy period arrives, my foul fhall foar above it's enemies; and, leaving refentment entirely behind, fhall tafte that fruition for which my misfortunes here will give it the higher relish.

From my melancholy tale, which I have ardently defired to publish before it's authenticity could be difputed, let the fons of pleasure learn to reflect, while they roll in the abundance of riches, and enjoy the completion of every wish, that there are many wretches, like me, whom their licentioufnefs ruins, and whom their benevolence might fave! Let thofe whom the charms of fcience allure to afcend the fummit of fame, timely confider that learning is not always the path to preferment, and that filent merit may fink unnoticed to the grave! From my fate, too, the defects of our boafted eftablishment in church and state may be evidently traced; and the great be brought to allow, that fome regard ought to be paid to the virtuous and the modest in every fphere of life, and that the road to honours and emoluments fhould not always be through the gate of fuperior addrefs and unblushing affurance.

L PRISON, JULY 10, 1783,

W-F.

By degrees I fell into a fettled defpondency; and, fince I entered this miferable room, four years have rolled away their melancholy hours, in which I have hardly beheld the face of a friend, or been foothed by the voice of a relation. The machinations of my unnatural brother, who leagued with Sir Thomas on account of his cruelty to me, have prevented

I

MAGAZINE AND REVIEW.