£4 ("^ t^^f lurit'ings of Buchanan. J''^- 1 8, 



Externa potius arma, quam domesticam 

 Vultferre turpitudincxn. 



«< O daughter more impudent than thy impudent 

 « mother, and thou bawd to thy daughter, ye have 

 ** thought, me to be a jest and a sport, ye threepenny 

 «* strumpets, ye detested leavings of the beggarly attend- 

 « ants of starving priests. 



*« Lest he fliould see, or support such whirlpools, 

 <* the daughter's hufband fled to the remotest Indies. 

 ** Neither the length of pafsage nor the well known 

 ** ferocity of the natives could fright him from his 

 ** purpose. There was no danger, there was no sa- 

 <* vage monster whom he was not willing rather to en- 

 ** counter, than to behold you, two riotous spendthrifts, 

 ** equally prodigal of calh and; character. He chuses 

 ** rather to bear foreign arms than domestic infamy." 



The rest of the poem, of which the above is about 

 a fourth part, is suitable to such a beginning. The 

 profefsor is, if pofsible, treated with still lefs cere- 

 mony. 



" He knows," says Buchanan, <' every science ex- 

 ** cept those which he pretends to teach ; he is an ex- 

 ** cellent cook, weaver, huckster, jockey, and usur- 

 *' er. No butcher in the public market ever excel- 

 ** led him at cheating with false weights." 



I have already far exceeded the limits intended for 

 this efsay, and fhall conclude by a few general remarks 

 on our author's stile. 



No poet ever required lefs aid from critical illustra- 

 tion. In Buchanan we very seldom meet with those 

 sudden transitions from one topic to anotlier, fo fre- 



