Dr. Johnson distinguishes between the two performances, by say. ing, that Blenheim' is the work of one who formed his ideas of a field of battle, from the heroic poems of antiquity; whereas, Addison displays the qualities and movements of a modern hero, with great propriety. These are the reasons upon which the superior popularity of the Campaign' has been accounted for; but, even when admitted with all the force they can apply, it may still be asserted, that Philips has been very unjustly treated; for, to a certainty, he has completed his design with a happier manner than his celebrated competitor. His is a better model of blank verse than Addison's is of rhyme; and, upon the greater question of coincidence with nature and fact, there is really no very marked ground of preference between the two. Addison's simile of the Angel has been enormously praised, and is universally known; but the following comparison, by Philips, though less striking, is more probable, and equally appropriate. As a quotation, it has this praise, that it does not rise so superior to the context of the poem, as to be considered not only far better than the rest of it, but also far better than any thing ever written by the same hand :

In equal scale

Long hung the fight; few marks of fear were seen,
None of retreat:-as when two adverse winds
Sublim'd from dewy vapours, in mid sky
Engage with horrid shock, the ruffled brine
Roars stormy; they together dash the clouds,
Levying their equal force with utmost rage:
Long undecided lasts the airy strife ;-
So they incensed, &c.

In the following year he produced his longest composition'Cyder,' a poem, in two parts, which was written upon the plan of Virgil's Georgics,' and was hailed upon its appearance with undisturbed applause. But it is not his most memorable work; though we are told that it continued to be read with kind feelings for a long period that period, however, is now passed, and is not over likely to return. The praise Dr. Johnson bestows upon it is too peculiar to be omitted:-he states, upon practical autho

rity, that the precepts it contains are exact and just; and that it is, therefore, at once a book of entertainment and of science. But then comes the summary character, that, although written with much art, it has few beauties.

Secure of applause, and confident of power, Philips now directed his mind to a higher subject, and formed the design of a poem on the Resurrection, and Day of Judgment; but the state of his health precluded all execution of the work. Habitually consumptive, and oppressed by an acute asthma, his infirmity in the year 1707 grew so delicate, that his physicians advised a visit to Bath. Thither he went, dragging a slow disease along with him; and there he suffered many severe conflicts from it, with a cheerfulness of spirit which did honour to the equanimity of his disposition, and the philosophy of his mind. The summer passed over his head, but no alleviation of the distemper came with it, and he proceeded to Hereford to see his mother. Beneath her roof the few hopes of recovery he brought with him soon vanished; during the course of the winter the asthma seized upon his lungs with redoubled fierceness, and he expired on the 15th of February, 1708. His remains were interred in the cathedral church of Hereford, where a Latin epitaph is inscribed to his memory. For one who has done so little, he enjoys a very high reputation—a fortune which may be ascribed, in a great measure, to personal endearment. He seems to belong to that secondary class of writers, who conceive better than they execute—who hit upon a capital plan, but fail to recommend it by proper shades and varied relief. The 'Splendid Shilling' is more an argument for a poem, than a full and adequate performance; and no reader of his 'Cyder' can help deploring the laborious merit he designed, and the ordinary satisfaction he produces.

SIR THOMAS PICTON, K. B.

LITTLE Comment is required for the parliamentary monument of this officer it stands near the door in the north transept of St Paul's, and altogether is a labour of most insignificant fiction inartificially displayed. Gahagan is the artist from whose chisel it emanated. Genius, personified in the statue of a winged youth, leans on the shoulder of an ancient warrior, who is designed to represent Valour, and stands in the act of receiving a wreath of laurel from the hands of Victory. Behind this group is placed a pillar, surmounted with a bust of the deceased. The inscription is as dispirited as the sculpture :-

Erected at the Public Expense

to Lieutenant-General Sir THOMAS PICTON, K.G.C.B. who, after distinguishing himself in the victories of Buzaco, Fuentes de Onor, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, Vittoria, the Pyrennees, Orthes, and Toulouse, terminated his long and glorious military service in the ever memorable Battle of Waterloo, to the splendid success of which

his genius and valour eminently contributed,
on the xviii of June, MDCCCXV.

Picton was a native of Wales, where his family held ancient possessions, and he entered the army as an ensign, in the 12th regiment of foot, during the year 1771. In 1773 he was quartered at Gibraltar, under Eliot, Lord Heathfield, where he obtained a lieutenancy in 1776, and remained engaged in profitable activity until the year 1778. He got his first company in the