1810.] Account of the Life and Opinions of the late Dr. Pike. @1 
gonsense is no where to be found in the 
writings of that celebrated bard; 16 might 
be retorted, 
G gentle Polwhele ! sadly push’d for rhyme ; 
For thee, the bells must never ring, but chime. 
J. Bannantine objects to the word 
furnished, in 
a 
<< My banks they are furnished with bees ;” 
but, I think, improperly; that word is 
used in the same sense by some of our 
best poets; for instance: 
——— She hath directed 
How I shall take her from her father’s 
house ; > 
What gold nd ieiels she is furnished with. 
SHAKESPEARE. 
Agvair 
“é Bok fornis, and intellects, 
66 Fiawe furnish’d out three diff’rent sects.’* 
Prior. 
1 once saw an humorous parody on this 
part of Shenstone’s Ballad, and which 
produced in my mind wat such trivial 
imitations are intended to produce; my 
admiration of the charming original 
Seaaharted undiminished: a man 1s not 
less a man, because mimicked by a sickly 
dwarf, 
<* More charms than my cattle unfold :” 
this, (with J. B.) Iused to think faulty ; 
but am now of a different opinion; for, 
on the twentieth of last month, (w hilst 
enjoying that delightful view whieh an 
octagonal seat at the Leasowes in- 
scribed, 
<‘ To all friends round the Wrekin,” 
affords,) T:observed on the lawn-before 
me, bandsome cows, beautiful calves; 
and, in the words of Dr. Watts, 
<¢ the sweet little lambs, 
Were skipping about by the sides of their 
dams.”* 
These cattle truly “unfolded tes charms.” 
Cattle is not confined to cows and oxen, 
(as this gentleman seems to think,) but 
extends to all tame animals not strictly 
domesticated. 
In his criticism on the words 
** Not a brook that is limpid and clear,” 
(he says,) they imply that some of his 
brooks were muddy; the fact is, that 
some of them are so closely shaded with 
trees, as to be neither ‘ limpid nor 
clear,” and yet not muddy. 
I can assure him, that at the Leasowes 
I saw, in great profusion, 
¢¢ Thickets of roses that blow,” 
and from which 
& os may warble their loves.” 
<2 
t 
- shire; 
‘whom he had several children. 
fo 
With respect to the deceitful words of 
Paridel, and those of Corydon, “which 
flow from the heart,” being too much 
alike, I do not think’ exactly with him; 
but, on the contrary, that they exhibit 
great proof of the Hoet’ 5 art, 1D making 
Imitation so much lik e nature, w hilst it 1s 
still apparent to the reader to be only 
imitation, 
Charles-square, Hoxton, —- Your's, &:c. 
July 31, 1809, os 
ee ‘ 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
“sth, 
S your valuable Magazine bas beer 
frequently the vehicle of biogra- 
phical notices of valuable and remarkable 
persons, [ judge that the liberty I take 
in sending you some memoirs of the life 
and opinions of the late Dr. Pike will 
not be unacceptable. 
In early life I was very intimate with 
him, and have often been greatly gratified 
in observing his strong inquisitive turn, 
which was indefatigable in obtaining 
knowledge, and searching for truth. 
His complete beri, and soft urbanity 
of manners towards all persons, or par- 
ties, was @ Conspicuous trait in his cha- 
racter, and gained him much attention, 
IIe was a sedate, modest, virtuous youth ; 
and in his filial ahaiae ter there are nee 
few like him. In after-life, his extreme 
fondness for obscure retirement removed 
him very much from the observation, and 
kind notice, of many who would have 
found great pleasure in lis friendship. 
In those e early days, he gave me th 
particulars of “his faumnly history? s he oa 
me that lis ancestors lived first at: Marl- 
borough, and theil ac Lavington, in Wilt 
that they were country carpenters 
for several generatians ; 
sinall inheritance at Lavington, and lived 
comfortably. ‘That his great grand 
father went up to London in 1667, and 
was engayed for several years in re- 
building the city after the great tire: that 
some years afterwards, this great grand- 
father, when repairing some houses which 
he had at Portsmouth; died suddenty, 
being found by some of his workmen 
dead and stiff, 1m an attitude of prayer, 
on his knees, and leaning against a win- 
dow séat. His son remained at Lavinz- 
ton, and had a numerous family, one of 
whom was the late Doctor’s father. Dr. 
Pike’s father came to London at about 
the age oftwenty. He was already mar- 
‘ried, and he soon engaged in business in 
the parish of St. Ann, Westminster, 
His wife diedin a short ume; and in 1743 
lie married again to a Miss Baxter, by 
The 
Doctor 
that they had a’ 
su - 
