CHARACTERS. 



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attention of the writers of verse ; 

 yet has never been mentioned, till 

 very lately, in any critical work, 

 nor imitated in any poetical com- 

 position. " The Task" of Cowper, 

 an ingenious and truly original per- 

 formance, resen)bles it only in the 

 singular combination of pathetig de- 

 scription, comic humour, and serious 

 remonstrance. Its popularity, ho.v- 

 cver, must be allowed as an un- 

 questionable authority in its favour; 

 for,by the judgment of the common, 

 unprejudiced, unpedantic reader, 

 the merit of every poetical composi- 

 tion must be ultimately decided. 



iNlr. Pinkerton, the learned and 

 ingenious editor of the " ancient 

 " Scottish poems, &c." was the first 

 who celebrated the merits of Blair, 

 and subjected the Grave to the ex- 

 amination of criticism. 



" Iknow not," says Mr. Pin- 

 kerton, " that he wrote any thing 

 *' else ; but the Grave is worth a 

 " thousand common poems. The 

 '* language is such as Shakspeare 

 •' would have used ; yet he no 

 *' where imitates Shakspeare, or 

 <' uses any expression of his. It is 

 " frugal and chaste ; yet, upon oc- 

 *' casion, highly poetical, without 

 " any appearance of research. It 

 " is unquestionably the best piece 

 *' of blank verse we have, save 

 " those of Milton." 



Some Account of William Pearce, 

 and of his rejnurkable and praisc- 

 ziorthy Industry : in a LeKer to /he 

 Secretary of the Society for the 

 Encouragement of theArli and Ma- 

 nufactures, 



Sir, 



To apologize, when pleading in 

 the cause of humanity and industry .i 

 3 



would be an insult to the members 

 of a liberal institution ; I shall there- 

 fore only beg excuse for the st^'le 

 of my narration. 



. I yesterday toolc a walk of about 

 two miles fi om this station to satis- 

 fy myself respecting a remarkable 

 instance of persevering and indefa- 

 tigable industry, which I had heard 

 oi, and found as follows : — Twelve 

 acres of barren downs had beeii 

 taken from the common, seven or 

 eight of which were in a high state 

 of cultivation, and the remainder in 

 a very forward state of improve- 

 ment. In order to vary, as needful, 

 the different kinds of produce, this 

 space was divided into eight differ- 

 ent fields, which required seventeen 

 fences, the greater part of Avhich was 

 made with stone, and put together 

 in a masterly manner. But a great 

 part of this iiidustry is hid, f()r most 

 of the downs being swampy ground, 

 and some very shallow, in order to 

 remove the first inconvenience, the 

 different fields were obliged to be in- 

 tersected with various drains, which 

 empty themselves into the ditches 

 that have been obliged to be dug 

 round the margin of each field, both 

 for this purpose, and in order to 

 give greater height to the fences* 

 On each side of every bank ditches 

 are dug, and in the gateways bridges 

 are made, able to support a loaded 

 cart, that the water may freely run 

 off. The land produced, in 1803, 

 ten Cornish bushels of barley, nine 

 trusses of hay, two hogsheads of 

 oafs, and ten bushels of wheat, be- 

 sides pasture for cattle. This has 

 been the work of eighteen ji-ars 

 time, by one indefatigable man, 

 who began it in the fiftieth year of 

 his age. I have to add, that hb 

 dwelling-house and out-buildings, 

 including the turf-walls, of which 



flicy 



