44° on Drummond of Hawthornden, » May 16.: 
Let us inquire for the venerable spot in which 
were placed the afhes of Hawthornden, and let these 
lines be sculptured’ on the belly of a lyre, that they 
may meet the eye of the traveller. _ Why fhould not 
this little speck of earth of ours, so near to Iceland, 
be' warmed with something that may supply the. 
want of better fkies ! 
Ben Johnson, too, ought to be characterised by asuit-- 
able inscription on his seat, that the offended dignity of* 
his name in Westminster abbey may be worthily re- 
trieved. Orare Ben Johnson! is an exclamation that ad- 
mits too much an application to him whocould only set 
the table in a roar, and too little to the superior merit 
of Ben Johnson. Hear what the great lord Clarens 
don says of him: ‘* Ben Johnson’s name can never 
be forgotten, having, by his very good learning, and’ 
the severity of bis nature and manners, reformed the 
Stage; and indeed the Englith poetry itself. His 
natural advantages were, judgement to order and go- 
vern fancy, rather than excefs of fancy,—his pro- 
ductions being slow, and upon deliberation, yet then 
abounding with great wit and: fancy ; and they will. 
‘live accordingly. And surely as he did exceedingly 
exalt the Englith language in: eloquence, propriety, , 
and masculine exprefsions; so he was the best judge 
of, and fittest to prescribe rules.to poetry and poets, | 
‘of any man who had lived with, or before him, or- 
since, if Mr Cowley had not made a fight beyond 
all men, with that modesty, however, as to ascribe 
much of this to the example and learning: of Ben 
Johnson.” His conversation was yery good, and with 
men of most note; and he had-for many years an. 
