$40 =©Extraéts from the Port-folis of a Man of Letters. [Novi ly 
Give of fublime a proper dofe, 
And thew your poetry’s not profe. 
Now, to eccomplifh this, you m2y 
Turn half the lines the other way 5 
Reverfe them, make their heads their tails, 
For that’s a plan that never fails; 
By this you give them at.a ftart 
A grace beyond the reach of art, 
Beyond all reafon, profe or rhyme, 
Ancomprehenfibly fublime. — 
Ji may not be amifs to throw 
Tnto each twentieth line, or fo, 
Some ftiff old word quite out of date, 
To vive a dightity-and ftate ; 
Or elfe fome new one, piping hot, 
jut from the Greek or Latin got, 
Our heads to puzzle, and eblige us 
To think your learning moft prodigious. 
*Tis like your lines will not be full 
Of harmony, to make them dull; 
Should here and there a word however 
Read fmeocth by chance, if you be clever, 
Or, what is much the fame you know, 
Would have the world efteem you fo, 
You will not let them thus remain, — 
To fix upon your work a ft2in; 
But make them, if the words permit, 
As unharmonious as you’re fit, ; 
Left critic ears fhould be offended, 
And all their learned praife fulpended. 
Wow, Reader, if you with your name 
Recorded in the rolls of Fame, 
Engrave thefe precepts on your mind; 
And when the wife fcholaftics find 
_ That all your matchlefs verfes shew it, 
They’ll praife you for a glortous poet 5 
And charm’d beyond defcription, pore 
And fcan your numbers o’er and 0 er: 
And, haply, in their lucubrations, 
May grace your work with annotations 5 — 
‘To tell the world the mighty pieafure 
You give them by your ftyle and meafures 
And what a grandeur, what a fpirit, 
What a rare genius you inherit ! 
Glafgow, JOHN HENHAM. 
Auguft 15th, 1803. 
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH SONNET OF PEs 
TRARCH. LITERALLY TRANSLATEDs 
ENSIVE alone I walk the defert wilds, 
Pacing the earth with flow and fluggifh 
fieps, ‘ 
Avoiding watchfully all human haunts 5 
Intently vigilant, with fpeed to fhun 
The faucy ftare and prying eyes of man: 
For long of gay and cheerful thought bereft 
My form betrays the jnward fire that fade 
me 3 7 
And Fancy whifpers, that the hills and plains, 
Rivers and forefts, know, tho’ deep conceal’dy 
The vapid tenor of my weary life 5 
Yet no retreat, fo rugged or fo wild, 
In all my devious wand’rings do I find, 
Where Love does not inceffantly approach, 
Converfing fill with me, and I i ah 
S 
Extra&s from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. 
SIR KENELM DIGBY. 
FT HE famous Sir Kenelm Digby, hav- 
Ji ing read the writings of Deicartes, 
travelled into Holland for the dire& pur- 
pofe of a perfonal interview with that in- 
genious philofopher. Having fallen by 
chaace into kis company at Egmond, 
without Knowing eacn other, they con- 
veried for fome time together. Defcartes, 
who had read fome of Sir Keneim’s works, 
exclaimed on fome obfervation made by 
the latter, ‘* if I miftake not, Sir, you are 
the celcbrated Digby, whofe fiudies have 
done fo much honour to your “nation ;”’ 
<< And, if I miftake not, (replied the cther) 
you are Defcaries, whoie writings have 
thed foch luftre on your coyntry.”? They 
were reciprocally charmed with the conver- 
fation of each other. The Britith Knight, : 
in the courfe of the evening, faid he 
thought the French philofopher would de- 
yore his enquiries to better ufes, if he 
gould difcover the means cf prolonging 
i ; 
life, inftead of wafting the precious ma- 
ments of it in philofophic {peculations, 
that might be fwallowed up in the next 
fathionable fyftem. Defcartes paufed, and 
affured him that he had meditated for fome 
time on that very fubjeét, and that if he was - 
as fuccefsful in his progrefs, as he was in 
his outfet, that he hoped to arrive at the 
fecret of rendering man immortal m his 
prefent ftate; at leaft he was certain, that 
the refult of his purfuit would be to re- 
call the longevity of the patriarchs. It 
is not generally known, that Defcartes flat~ 
tered himfelf that he had difcovered this 
arcanum, and that the Abbé Picot, his 
difciple and martyr, was fo fully affured 
of it, that he could not bring himfelf to 
believe that his majffer had paid the debt 
of nature, when that melancholy event 
was publicly announced. 
DESCARTES. ' ce 
Defcartes having pafied into Sweden, at 
the exprefs invitation of Queen Chriftiana, 
Gu@as wag 
