The Dean, he said that truly,
Since Bluff was so unruly,

He'd prove it to his face, sir,
That he had the most grace, sir;
And so the fight began,

And so the fight began.

When Preb. replied like thunder, And roar'd out, 'twas no wonder, Since gods the Dean had three, sir, And more by two than he, sir; For he had got but one,

For he had got but one.

Now while these two were raging,

And in dispute engaging,

The Master of the Charter

Said, Both had caught a Tartar,

For gods, sir, there was none,

For gods, sir, there was none.

That all the books of Moses,

Were nothing but supposes;

That he deserv'd rebuke, sir,
Who wrote the Pentateuch, sir,

"Twas nothing but a sham,

Twas nothing but a sham.

easy to find, in all the opulence of our language, a treatise so artfully variegated with successive representations of opposite probabilities, so enlivened with imagery, so brightened with illus tations. His portraits of the English dramatists are wrought with great spirit and diligence. The account of Shakspeare may stand as a perpetual model of eucomiastic criticism; being lofty without exaggeration. The praise lavished by Longinus on the attestation of the herds of Marathon by Demosthenes,fades away betore it. In a few lines is exhibited a character so extensive in its comprehension, and so curious in its limitations, that nothing can be added, diminished, or reformed; nor can the editors and admirers of Shakspeare, in all their emulation of reverence, boast of much more than of having diffused and paraphrased this epitome of excellence—of having changed Dryden's gold for baser metal, of lower value though of greater bulk.

“In this, and in all his other essays on the same subject, the criticism of Dryden is the criticism of a poet, not a dull collection of theorems not a rude detection of faults, which perhaps the censor was not able to have com

mitted; but a gay and vigorous dissertation, where delight is mingled with instruction, and where the author proves his right of judgment by his power of performance."

SOUTH.

DR. ROBERT SOUTH, a divine celebrated for his wit as well as his learning, was descended of the Souths of Kelstone and Kielby in Lincolnshire, and born at Hackney in 1633, his father being an eminent merchant. He entered as king's scholar of Westminster school in 1647, under Dr. Busby; and rendered himself remarkable the following year, by reading the Latin prayers in the school, on the day of the martyrdom of Charles I. and by praying for his majesty by name. In 1651, he was chosen student in Christ-church, Oxford.

Having taken his degrees in arts, and entered into orders, the following year, 1659, he was appointed to preach the assize sermon before the judges, in which he displayed a warm

zeal against the Independents, to the great satisfaction of the Presbyterians; though towards the latter end of the year he was no less severe against the hypocrisy of the latter. In 1660, he was chosen public orator of the university; in which office, on the election of the earl of Clarendon as chancellor of the university, he received him with an elegant Latin speech; and addressed another to him on his investiture. Hence he became domestic chaplain to the chancellor: and in 1663, was installed prebendary of Westminster, and soon after created doctor of divinity.

After the earl's banishment in 1667, the doctor was appointed chaplain to James duke of York, and collated to a canonry of Christchurch in 1670, by the king. In 1676, he attended Laurence Hyde, esq. younger son of the earl of Clarendon, in quality of chaplain, on his embassy to Poland; of which country he wrote a brief account in a letter from Dantzic, 1677, to Dr. Edward Pococke, regius professor of Hebrew, and canon of Christchurch. After his return he was presented, in 1678, by the dean and chapter of Westminster, to the rectory of Islip in Oxfordshire. He was also one of Charles the Second's chaplains in