With double meanings, neat and handy, On faults of books, he ne'er set eyes on. Then, lest religion he should need, For these free times of gospel light, Alike his poignant wit displays Cries out 't is shame, past all abiding, The world should still be so priest-ridden; • STERNE'S Tristram Shandy was then in the highest vague, and in the zenith of its transitory reputa on. With mimic drollery of grimace, If any particles be found, Who, friendly to the coxcomb race, Did not religion and the priest CHARACTER OF McFINGAL.* WHEN Yankees, skill'd in martial rule, His high descent our heralds trace Which great MCPHERSON, with submission, We hope will add the next edition. His fathers flourish'd in the Highlands Of Scotia's fog-benighted island; From "McFingal." + LORD PERCY commanded the party that was first opposed by the Americans at Lexington. This allusion to the family renown of Chevy-Chace arose from the precipitate manner of his quitting the field of battle, and rə turning to Boston. Till rose a king with potent charm Rebellion from the northern regions, With BUTE and MANSFIELD swore allegiance, For these our squire, among the valiant'st, Nor less avail'd his optic sleight, * This prophecy, like some of the prayers of Homer's peroes, was but half accomplished. The Hanoverians, &c., Indeel came over, and much were they feasted with blood; but the hanging of the rebels and the dividing their estates remain unfulfilled This, however, cannot be the fault of the hero, but rather the British minister who left off the war before the work was completed. Feasted with blood his Scottish clan, Thus stored with intellectual riches, Trod down the troops they came to aid, The town, our hero's scene of action, A second vote in pieces tore. They met, made speeches full long-winded, And turn'd all Whig committees out. Still following, as the squire should please Sent troops to that ill-omen'd place To take your powder, stores, and arms, Think you, he wish'd you'd brave and beard him? Why, 'twas the very thing that scared him. Faith, you yourselves must take the blame in't; Take the first shot you sent them greeting, And fearful, if they stay'd for sport, The town, as though you'd starve them out; THE DECAYED COQUETTE.* NEW beauties push her from the stage; She trembles at the approach of age, And starts to view the alter'd face That wrinkles at her in her glass: So Satan, in the monk's tradition, Fear'd, when he met his apparition. At length her name each coxcomb cancels From standing lists of toasts and angels; And slighted where she shone before, A grace and goddess now no more, Despised by all, and doom'd to meet Her lovers at her rival's feet, She flies assemblies, shuns the ball, And cries out, vanity, on all; Affects to scorn the tinsel-shows Of glittering belles and gaudy beaux; Nor longer hopes to hide by dress The tracks of age upon her face. Now careless grown of airs polite, Her noonday nightcap meets the sight; Her hair uncomb'd collects together, With ornaments of many a feather; Her stays for easiness thrown by, Her rumpled handkerchief awry, A careless figure half undress'd, (The reader's wits may guess the rest;) All points of dress and neatness carried, As though she'd been a twelvemonth married She spends her breath, as years prevail, At this sad wicked world to rail, To slander all her sex impromptu, And wonder what the times will come to. From the "Progress of Dulness." TIMOTHY DWIGHT. [Born 1752. Died 1817.] TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D.D., LL. D., was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, on the fourteenth of May, 1752. His father was a merchant, of excellent character and liberal education; and his mother, a daughter of the great JONATHAN EDWARDS, was one of the noblest matrons of her time, distinguished not less for her maternal solicitude, ardent temperament, and patriotism, than for the intellectual qualities which made so illustrious the name of the New England metaphysician. She early perceived the indications of superior genius in her son; and we are told by his biographers that under her direction he became familiar with the rudiments of the Latin language before he was six years old, and at the same early period laid the foundation of his remarkable knowledge of history, geography, and the kindred departments of learning. When thirteen years old he entered Yale College. His previous unremitted attention to study had impaired his health, and he made little progress during the first two years of his residence at New Haven; but his subsequent intense and uninterrupted application enabled him to graduate in 1769, the first scholar in the institution. Immediately after obtaining the degree of bachelor of arts, he opened a grammar-school in New Haven, in which he continued two years, at the end of which time he was elected a tutor in his alma mater. Yale College was established in the year 1700 by several Congregational clergymen, and had, before the period at which DWIGHT returned to it, become generally unpopular, in consequence of the alleged illiberality of the trustees towards other denominations of Christians. At this time two of the tutors had resigned, leaving in office Mr. JOSEPH HOWE, a man of erudition and liberal sentiments, and DWIGHT and JOHN TRUMBULL were chosen in their places. The regeneration of the seminary now commenced; the study of belles lettres was successfully introduced; its character rapidly rose, and so popular did DWIGHT become with the students, that when, at the age of twenty-five, ne resigned his office, they drew up and almost unanimously signed a petition to the corporation that he might be elected to the presidency. He, however, interfered and prevented the formal presentation of the application, In 1771, DWIGHT commenced writing the "Conquest of Canaan," an "epic poem in eleven books," which he finished in 1774, before he was twentythree years of age. The subject probably was not the most fortunate that could have been chosen, but a poet with passion and a brilliant imagination, by attempting to paint the manners of the time and the natural characteristics of the oriental world, might have treated it more successfully. DWIGHT "endeavoured to represent such manners as are removed from the peculiarities of any age or country, and might belong to the amiable and virtuous of any period; elevated without design, refined without ceremony, elegant without fashion, and agreeable because they are ornamented with sincerity, dignity, and religion;" his poem therefore has no distinctive features, and with very slight changes would answer as well for any other land or period as for Judea at the time of its conquest by Joshua. Its versification is harmonious, but monotonous, and the work is free from all the extravagances of expression and sentiment which so frequently lessen the worth of poetry by youthful and inexperienced writers. Some of the passages which I have quoted from the "Conquest of Canaan" are doubtless equal to any American poetry produced at this period. In 1777, the classes in Yale College were separated on account of the war, and, in the month of May, DWIGHT repaired with a number of students to Weathersfield, in Connecticut, where he remained until the autumn, when, having been licensed to preach as a Congregational minister, he joined the army as a chaplain. In this office he won much regard by his professional industry and eloquence, and at the same time exerted considerable influence by writing patriotic songs, which became popular throughout New England. The death of his father, in 1778, induced him to resign his situation in the army, and return to Northamp ton, to assist his mother to support and educate her family. He remained there five years, labouring on a farm, preaching, and superintending a school, and was in that period twice elected a member of the Legislature of Massachusetts. Declining offers of political advancement, he was, in 1783, ordained a minister in the parish of Greenfield, in Connecticut, where he remained twelve years, discharging his pastoral duties in a manner that was perfectly satisfactory to his people, and taking charge of an academy, established by himself, which soon become the most popular school of the kind that had ever existed in America. The Conquest of Canaan," although finished ten years before, was not printed until the spring of 1785. It was followed by "Greenfield Hill," a descriptive, historical, and didactic poem, which was published in 1794. This work is divided into seven parts, entitled "The Prospect," "The Flourishing Village," "The Burning of Fairfield," "The Destruction of the Pequods," "The Clergyman's Advice to the Villagers," "The Farmer's Advice to the Villagers," and "The Vision, or Prospect of the Future Happiness of America." It contains some pleasing pictures of rural life. but added little to the author's reputation as r poet. The "Triumph of Infidelity," a satire, occasioned by the appearance of a defence of Universalism, was his next attempt in poetry. It was printed anonymously, and his fame would not have been less had its authorship been still a secret. On the death of Dr. STYLES, in 1795, DWIGHT was elected to the presidency of Yale College, which at this time was in a disordered condition, and suffering from pecuniary embarrassments. The reputation of the new president as a teacher soon brought around him a very large number of students; new professorships were established, the library and philosophical apparatus were extended, the course of study and system of government changed, and the college rapidly rose in the public favour. Besides acting as president, DWIGHT was the stated preacher, professor of theology, and teacher of the senior class, for nearly twenty-one years, during which time the reputation of the college was inferior to that of no other in America. Duty of Americans in the Present Crisis," 1798; "Discourse on the Character of Washington," 1800; "Discourse on some Events in the last Century," 1801; "Sermons," on the death of E. G. Marsh, 1804; on Duelling, 1805; at the Andover Theological Seminary, 1808; on the ordination of E. Pearson, 1808; on the death of Governor Trumbull, 1809; on Charity, 1810; at the ordination of N. W. Taylor, 1812; on two days of public fasting, 1812; and before the American Board of Foreign Missions, 1813; «Remarks on a Review of Inchiquin's Letters," 1815; "Observations on Language," and an "Essay on Light," 1816; and "Theology Explained and Defended," in a series of sermons, and Travels in New England and New York," in which is given an account of various spring and autumn vacation excursions, each in four volumes, published after his death. The merits of Dr. DWIGHT as a poet are eminently respectable, CowPER, who wrote a criticism of his "Conquest of Canaan" in "The An Dr. DWIGHT died at his residence in New Haven on the eleventh of January, 1817, in the sixty-fifthalytical Review," for 1789, says: "His numbers year of his age. The following catalogue of his works is probably complete: "America," a poem in the style of Pope's "Windsor Forest," 1772; « The History, Eloquence and Poetry of the Bible," 1772; The Conquest of Canaan," a poem, 1785; "An Election Sermon," 1791; «The Genuineness and Authenticity of the New Testament," 1793; "Greenfield Hill," a poem, 1794; "The Triumph of Infidelity," a satire, and two "Discourses on the Nature and Danger of Infidel Philosophy," 1797; «The imitate pretty closely those of POPE, and therefore cannot fail to be musical; but he is chiefly to be commended for the animation with which he writes, and which rather increases as he proceeds than suffers any abatement..... A strain of fine enthusiasm runs through the whole seventh book, and no man who has a soul impressible by a bright display of the grandest subjects that revelation furnishes, will read it without some emotion." AN INDIAN TEMPLE. THERE too, with awful rites, the hoary priest, Then o'er the circus danced the maddening throng Shrill sung the leaves; the ether sigh'd profound; 'hin, twilight forms, attired in changing sheen Soft-hovering round the fire in mystic play, western star. Then-so tradition sings-the train behind, There, on her lover's tomb in silence laid, [beam, |