€ ANECDOTES OF THE LATE DR. SMITH. May II, 



couid notdifcover even a fpark of merit. At the fame 

 time, he mentioned Gray's odes, which Johnfon has 

 damned fo complet(j]y, and in my humble opinion with 

 fn muchjuftice, as the ftandard of lyric excellence. He 

 did not much admire the Gentle Shepherd. He prefer- 

 red the Pqflor Fido, of which he fpote with rapture, 

 and the Eciogues of Virgil. I pled as well as I could 

 for Allan Ramfay, becaufe I regard him as the fingle 

 unaffcfted poet whom we have had fince Buchanan. 



Proximus huic longo, fed proximus intervallo. 



Ke anfwered : " It is the duty of a poet to write 

 *'lik.e a gentleman. I diflike that liomcly ftile which 

 " fome think fit to call the language of nature and fim- 

 " plicity, and fo forth. In Percy's reliques too, a few 

 " tolerable pieces are buried under . a heap of rubbiili. 

 *' You have read perhaps Adam Bell Clym, of the Cleugh, 

 " and William of Cloudcllie." I anfwered yes. " Well 

 then." faid he, "do you.think that was worth printing." 

 He reflecled with fome harlhnefs on Dr- Goldfmith ; 

 and repeated a variety of anecdotes to iupport his cen- 

 fure. 



They amounted to prove that Goldfmith loved a wench 

 and a bottle ; and that a lie, when to ferve a fpecial 

 end, was not excluded from his fyftem of morality. 

 To commit thefe ftories to print, would be very much 

 in the modern tafle ; but fuch proceedings appear to me 

 as an abfolute difgrace to typography. 



He never fpoke but with ridicule and deteftation of 

 the reviews. He faid tliat it was not eafy to conceive 

 in what contempt they were held in London. I men- 

 tioned a ftory 1 had read of Mr. Burke having feduc- 

 ed anddiihonoured a young lady, under promife ot mar- 

 riage. " I imagine," faid he, " that you have got 

 tliat fine Itory out of fome of the magazines. If any 

 tiling can be lower than the Reviews, they are fo. 

 They once had the impudence to publifh a Ifory of a 

 gciitleman'i having debaucl.ed his own fitter; and upon 



