And thou, little guardian, alone stretch'd before him,
Unhonour'd the pilgrim from life should depart?

When a prince to the fate of a peasant has yielded,
The tap'stry waves dark in the dim-lighted hall,
With 'scutcheons of silver that often is shielded,
And the pages stand mute by the canopied pall;
Through the court, at dark midnight, the torches are
beaming,

In the proudly-arch'd chapel the banners are gleaming,
For adown the long aisle sacred music is streaming,
Lamenting a chief of the people should fall.

But meeter for thee, gentle lover of nature!

To lay down thy life like the meek mountain lamb, When, 'wilder'd, he drops from some rock high in

And draws his last breath by the side of his dam.
More noble thy death, by this desert lake lying,
The obsequies sung by the grey plover flying,
With one faithful friend but to witness thy dying

In the arms of Helvellyn and Catchedecam."

ADDISON.

ADDISON became a Commoner of Queen's College, Oxford, in which his father had studied, in Act Term, 1687, aged 15 years. He addicted himself with such diligence to classical learning, as soon to acquire an elegant Latin style. A copy of his verses in that language accidentally fell into the hands of Dr. Lancaster, at that time Dean of Magdalen College, who was so much pleased with them, that he procured their author a demy-ship.

It was at Magdalen College that Addison became acquainted with Sacheverell, who was exactly of his own age, and of a very promising genius. Their first poetical productions were inserted in the "Examen Poeticum," for 1693.

The chambers which Addison inhabited at Magdalen College, are pointed out to strangers; and part of the walk round the meadow belonging to that College, still bears his name. This is in good taste, and we trust it will retain this honouring distinction. for ages. That Addison should delight in meditating among the sweet scenery that surrounded his College might be conjectured, for the most sequestered and picturesque spots abound there.

VOL. II.

R

ROBERT TANNAHILL, the sweetest minstrel, with the exception of Burns, that ever attempted, with unlettered hand, to sweep the Scottish lyre, was born at Paisley, in Renfrewshire, on the 3d of June, 1774, of parents in the lower walks of life. His education extended only to reading, writing, and a little arithmetic ;-acquiring a knowledge of grammar, by his own efforts, at a later period of life. He was early apprenticed to the trade of weaving, at which he continued to gain a livelihood, till the time of his death. His life was not productive of any uncommon or romantic adventures. Of a modest and timid disposition, even approaching to bashfulness,

Along the cool, sequester'd vale of life,
He kept the noiseless tenor of his way."

During almost the whole of his uneventful

* The Portrait, prefixed to this Memoir, is taken from the only sketch of Tannahill known to exist; which has been declared, by those who were personally acquainted with the Poet, to be an admirable likeness. His brother,

i