prudent matches which generally begin in passion and end in disgust. However, the beginning of this young couple's regards for each other were mutual and sincere, and so continued for several years after. At the usual age for going into orders Mr. Churchill was ordained by the late Bishop of London, notwithstanding he had taken no degree, nor studied in either of our universities, and the first place he had in the church was a small curacy of thirty pounds a year in Wales. To this remote part of the kingdom he brought his wife; they took a little house, and he went through the duties of his station with cheerfulness and assiduity. Happy had it been for him in this life, perhaps more happy in that to which he has been called, if he had still continued here in piety, simplicity, and peace. His parishioners all loved and esteemed him; his sermons, though rather raised above the level of his audience, were however commended and followed. In order to eke out his scanty finances, he entered into a branch of trade which he thought might end in riches, but which involved him in debts the pressed him some years after; this was no oth than keeping a cyder cellar, and dealing in this! quor through that part of the country. A poet but ill qualified for merchandize, where small gains are to be patiently expected and carefully accumulated. He had neither patience for the one, nor

economy for the other; and a sort of rural bankruptcy was the consequence of his attempt.

Upon leaving Wales he came up to London; and his father soon after dying, he stept into the church in which he had officiated. In order to improve his scanty finances, which in this situation did not produce full an hundred pounds yearly, he undertook to teach young ladies to read and write English, and was employed for this purpose in the boardingschool of Mrs. Dennis, where he behaved with that decency and piety which became his profession. Nor should we here omit paying proper deference to a mode of female education which seems new

among us. While in other schools our young misses are taught the arts of personal allurements ouly, this sensible governess pays the strictest attention to the minds of her young pupils, and endeavours to fit them for the domestic duties of life with as much assiduity as they are elsewhere formed to levity and splendor.

While Mr. Churchill was in this situation, his method of living bearing no proportion to his income, several debts were contracted in the city which he was not in a capacity of paying, and a gaol, the continual terror of indigent genius, seemed now ready to close upon his miseries. From this wretched state of uneasiness he was relieved by the benevolence of Mr. Lloyd, father to the poet

of that name, who paid his debts, or at least satis fied his creditors.

In the mean time, while Mr. Lloyd the father was thus relieving Churchill by his bounty, Mr. Lloyd the son began to excite him by his example. The Actor, a poetical epistle, written by this gentleman, and addressed to Mr. Bonnel Thornton, was read and relished by all the judges of poetical merit, and gave the author a distinguished place among the writers of his age. Mr. Churchill soon undertook to write The Rosciad, a work, though upon a more confined plan, yet more adapted to excite public curiosity. It first came out without the name of the author, but the justness of its remarks, and particularly the severity of the satire, soon excited public curiosity. Though he never disowned his having written this piece, and event openly gloried in it, yet the public, unwilling to give so much merit to one alone, ascribed it to a combination of wits; nor were Messrs. Lloyd, Thornton, or Colman left unnamed upon this occasion. This misplaced praise soon induced Mr. Churchill to throw off the mask, and the second edition appeared with his name at length; and now the fame which before was diffused upon many objects, became centered to a point. As The Rosciad was the first of this poet's performances, so many are of opinion that it is his best; and indeed I am inclined to concur in the same sentiment. In it

we find a very close and minute discussion of the particular merits of each performer, their defe&s pointed out with candour, and their merits praised without adulation. This poem, however, seems to be one of those few works which are injured by succeding editions. When he became popular, his judgment began to grow drunk with applause; and we find in the later editions, men blamed whose merit is incontestible, and others praised who were at that time in no degree of esteem with the judicious, and whom at present even the mob are beginning to forsake.

His next performance was his Apology to the Critical Reviewers. This work is not without its peculiar merit, and as it was written against a set of critics whom the world was willing enough to blame, the public read it with their usual indulgence. In this performance he shewed a peculiar happiness of throwing his thoughts, if we may so express it, into poetical paragraphs, so that the sentence swells to the break or conclusion, as we find in prose.

His fame being greatly extended by these productions, his improvement in morals did not seem by any means to correspond; but while his writings amused the Town, his actions in some measure disgusted it. He now quitted his wife, with whom he had cohabited for many years, and reigning his gown and all clerical functions, commenced a coin

plete man of the town, got drunk, frequented stews, and, giddy with false praise, thought his talents a sufficient atonement for all his follies. Some people have been unkind enough to say, that Mrs. Churchill gave the first just cause of separation; but nothing can be more false than this rumour; and we can assure the public that her conduct in private life and among her acquaintances was ever irreproachable.

In some measure to palliate the absurdities of his conduct, he now undertook a poem called Night, written upon a general subject indeed, but upon false principles, namely, that whatever our follies are, we should never undertake to conceal them. This and Mr. Churchill's other poems being shewn to Mr. Johnson, and his opinion being asked concerning them, he allowed them but little merit, which being told to the author, he resolved to requite this private opinion with a public one. his next poem, therefore, of The Ghost he has drawn this gentleman under the character of Pomposo, and those who disliked Mr. Johnson, ailowed it to have merit. But our Poet is now dead, and justice may be heard without the imputation of envy. Though we entertain no small opinion of Mr. Churchill's abilities; yet they are neither of a size nor correctness to compare with those of the author of The Rambler, a work which has in some

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