Directress of the brave and just,

O guide us thro' life's darksome way, And let the tortures of mistrust

On selfish bosoms only prey.

For shall thine ardours cease to glow When souls to blissful climes remove, What raised our virtue here below

Shall aid our happiness above.

RICHARD GLOVER.

London-1712-1735.

Richard Glover was a man of liberal education, and considerable talents, who devoted himself to commercial pursuits, without neglecting the refinements of taste and literature. A Poem inscribed by him, to the memory of Sir Isaac Newton, is prefixed to Dr. Pemberton's View of the Newtonian Philosophy, published in 4to. 1728. The Epick Poem, Leonidas, appeared in 1737, and drew from Lord Lyttelton such praise, as it is grateful to receive from a patriot, a scholar and a critick. The song, Hosier's Ghost, and London, or the Progress of Commerce, came out in 1739; they were written in order to excite the publick resentment against the misconduct of the Spaniards. In 1751, he was a candidate for the Chamberlainship of London, but yielded to the superior interest of his antagonist with dignity, grace, and modesty. He produced the Tragedy of Boadicea, in 1753, which saw only three nights at Drury Lane, and in 1761, another called Medéa. Leonidas was republished VOL. II.

in 1770, and augmented from nine to twelve books. From this period Glover dedicated himself to the more active and ordinary occupations of life, till about the year 1775, when he retired to the enjoyment of literary leisure, in which he died.

The life and soul of poetry were not in Glover; but he loved liberty with fervour, worthy of a Greek or of an Englishman; and Leonidas will continue to be read, in spite of its bad language and dis jointed versification, because the whole history of mankind furnishes no other subject so animating and so ennobling. His Athenaid wants this moral dignity-Themistocles is the chief personage; and it is impossible to conceal, that Themistocles was rather a Statesman than a Hero, Still the poem is a very pleasing one; it deserves to be better known, and should always accompany the Leonidas; Glover thought it the best of the two; it was the work of his old age, and in the vanity of an honest heart, he would sometimes boast that it was longer than the Iliad.

He was on a visit at Stowe, when he wrote his ballad of Admiral Hosier's Ghost, the most spirited of all his productions. The thought occurred to him during the night, he rose early, and went into the garden to compose; in the heat of composition he got into the tulip-bed, and, unfortunately having a stick in his hand, hewed, the and slashed all round him without mercy. Some of company who had seen him from the windows, and Buspected how his mind was occupied, asked him at

breakfast, how he could think of destroying Lady Temple's favourite flowers. The Poet, perfectly unconscious of what he had done, pleaded not guilty. There were, however, witnesses enough to convict him; he acknowledged that he had been composing in the garden, and was easily forgiven, when he recited his ballad.

ADMIRAL HOSIER'S GHOST.

As near Porto-Bello lying
On the gently-swelling flood,
At midnight with streamers flying
Our triumphant Navy rode,
There while Vernon sat all glorious

From the Spaniards late defeat,
And his crew with shouts victorious,
Drank success to England's fleet;

On a sudden, shrilly sounding,

Hideous yells, and shrieks were heard ;
Then each heart with fear confounding,
A sad troop of Ghosts appear'd

All in dreary hammocks shrouded,
Which for winding-sheets they wore,
And with looks by sorrow clouded

Frowning on that hostile shore.

On them gleam'd the moon's wan lustre,

When the shade of Hosier brave
His pale bands was seen to muster,
Rising from their watery grave:
O'er the glimmering wave he hied him,
Where the Burford rear'd her sail,
With three thousand Ghosts beside him,
And in groans did Vernon hail.

" Heed, O heed our fatal story,
"I am Hosier's injured ghost,
"You, who now have purchased glory
"At this place, where I was lost,
"Though in Porto-Bello's ruin

"You now triumph free from fears,
<<<When you think on our undoing,
"You will mix your joy with tears.

"Whose wan cheeks are stain'd with weeping

These were English captains brave;