320 CHARACTER OF G. BUCHANAN. Nov. pi 



*' their fathers 5 thofe whom downright beggary fweeps 

 *' before it } thofe difappointed in love, and againll 

 •< whom, for want of money, an infolent miitrefs boks 

 *' her door •, thofe become infamous by their erimes j 

 *' and thofe who dread their puniflimcnt. — Here alfo 

 •* there is a fafe refuge for boyt, robbed by the rapacity 

 *' of their guardians. From thele worthy tribes are 

 *' embodied the noble band of Francifeans. Theie are 

 " the fathers of whom this facred order is fo proud. 

 *' This is the generation that fteers the helm of the 

 *' world ; mifcreants whom I'age, madnefs, and terror, 

 " dulnefs, lazinefs, and guilt, ambition, poverty, and 

 «< defpair, difaftrcus love, a fulien father, an implacable 

 *' ftepmother, and a farcical pretence of godlinefs have 

 " confounded togethei'. 



^ " In former days a v.Tetch diftrafled by misfortunes 

 ** had recourfe to a halter, a precipice, a dagger, or a 

 " dofe of poifon ; or rulhed into a river, or leaped from 

 *' a bridge, or a high window, that he might avoid the 

 *' Ihocic of adverfity ; but now, when the pangs of con- 

 " fcience, or fear ot a fevere judge^ or infamy more 

 «' terrible than every other punilliment purfues a cri- 

 " niiaal, he binds a cord about his middle, and takes 

 <' refuge under the cowl of St. Francis. And, as if 

 " to Ihave the crown could ftifle the agonies of guilt, 

 " the razor fuddenly confecrates a fwarm of devotees, 

 <' transformed from thieves, parricides, blafphemers, 

 *< and catamites." 



This poem affords a fine counter-part to Dryden's 

 Hind and Panther j and how much more honourably 

 would he have been employed in turning it into Eng- 

 lifh vcrfe ? We cannot wonder tlrat Buchanan -was 

 perfecuted through life by the blood-hounds of fupcr- 

 itition, or that his memory has been loaded with a 

 whole library of reproaches, the mofh unjuft and hi cre- 

 dible. I Ihall difmifs this article by the infertion of 

 three lines, which may be read v.-ith pleafure, but can- 



