share of the patent three years after, and bade a final adieu to the stage. The two or three weeks before he retired, he went through some of his principal characters with undiminished spirit, and confirmed the reputation he had gained. The last part which he performed was "Felix," in the Comedy of "the Wonder." When the play was ended, he stepped forward under extreme emotion; and after a short struggle, addressed the audience in such pathetic terms as drew tears from every eye, as well as his own. "This," said he, "is to me a very awful moment, it is no less than parting for ever with those from whom I have received the greatest kindness and favours, and upon the spot where that kindness and those favours were enjoyed." Having concluded his parting harangue, in which every heart sympathized, he made a profound bow, the curtain dropped, and he retired amidst the regret and acclamations of the most brilliant audience that had ever been collected in an English theatre.

Some time after his retirement from the stage, Garrick was introduced at St. James's, and received in a manner peculiarly flattering. He had been long previously solicited by his friends to offer himself for a seat in parliament; but this he constantly declined, from a persuasion, as he said, that he could perform his part better at Drury Lane than at Westminster.

In August 1777, Garrick, accompanied by his neighbour and friend, Mr. Henry Hoare, of the Adelphi, made a visit to Mr. Hoàre, of Stourhead, in Wiltshire. Being particularly charmed with the Grotto, he said he should like it for his burying-place; upon which one of the company wished him to write his own epitaph, which, as soon as he returned to the house, he did, extempore, and was as follow:

Tom Fool, the tenant of this narrow space,

He play'd no foolish part to chuse the place

Hoping for mortal honours, e'en in death.

Thus spoke his wishes with his latest breath.

"That Hal,* sweet-blooded Hal, might once a year,

"Quit social joys to drop a friendly tear;

"That Earl, with magic sounds that charm the breast,

66

Should, with a requiem, teach his soul to rest;

Full-charged with humour, that the sportive Rust,+

"Should fire three vollies o'er the dust to dust,

"That honest Benson,§ ever free and plain,

For once should sigh, and wish him back again,
"That Hoare, too, might complete his glory's plan,
"Point to his grave, and say-I lik'd the man."

During the Christmas holidays of 1778, being on a visit in company with Mrs. Garrick at the country seat of Earl Spencer, he was seized with a disorder, from which having partially recovered, he returned to his house in the Adelphi but next day the attack returned, and the arts of medicine proving ineffectual to relieve him, a stupor came on, and increased till the moment of his dissolution, which happened four days after, without a groan,

* Henry Hoare, Esq. of the Adelphi.

↑ John Earl, Esq. one of the company, who sang exceedingly well. Edward Rust, Esq. also one of the company, remarkable for sportive humour. § One of the company. || Mr. Hoare, of Stourhead.

in the sixtieth year of his age. Many of the faculty attended him with affectionate assiduity

A monument is erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey, under which is the following epitaph:

To paint fair Nature, by Divine command,

Her magic pencil in his glowing hand,

A Shakspeare rose :-then to expand his fame
Wide o'er this "breathing world," a Garrick came.
Though sunk in death the forms the poet drew,
The actor's genius bade them breathe anew:
Though, like the bard himself, in night they lay,
Immortal Garrick call'd them back to day:
And till Eternity, with power sublime,
Shall mark the mortal hour of hoary Time;
Shakspeare and Garrick like twin stars did shine,
And earth irradiate with a beam divine."

S. J. PRATT,

Considered as a dramatic writer, his fame is only subordinate. His compositions of every kind are rather the temporary effusions of an elegant playful mind, than finished productions. But universal excellence is not the lot of man. He reached the summit of excellence as an actor; and, what is more to his credit, he performed with respectability his part in private life. He was greedy of money and of praise; of the former, however, he made a charitable use, and the latter was justly due to his supereminent abilities. Courted and flattered as he was, he must have been somewhat more than man to be absolutely devoid of vanity. It has been said of Garrick. "that he was only natural on the stage;" yet his private friends loved him well, and have paid many honourable testimonies to his social worth: among which was the following monody to his memory:

"The grace of action, the adapted mien,
Faithful as nature to the varied scene,

Th'expressive glance, whose subtle comment draws
Entranc'd attention, and a mute applause;

Gesture that marks, with force and feeling fraught,
A sense in silence, and a will in thought;
Harmonious speech, whose pure and liquid tone
Gives verse a music scarce confess'd its own.

-As light from gems assumes a brighter ray,

And, cloth'd with orient hues, transcends the day;-
Passion's wild break and frown, that awes the sense,
And every charm of gentler eloquence;

All perishable, like th’electric fire

But strike the frame, and as they strike expire:
Incense too choice a bodied flame to bear;

Its fragrance charms the sense, and blends with air."

J. M. T.

F

PERICLES.

Ew men have so well served their country as Pericles. He was great in war, but still greater in peace. Placed in the first rank among the Athenians, by his eloquence, his talents, and his virtues, an enlightened protector of the arts, ambitious of every species of glory, he well deserved that posterity should distinguish, by his name, the age to which he was so illustrious an ornament.

Pericles devoted himself to the study of philosophy from his earliest years. Anaxagoras, of Clazomenæ, his master, guarded him in his infancy from all destructive prejudices; but the talent which Pericles cultivated with the greatest care, because he considered it as the most necessary acquirement in any one desirous of influencing the people, was that of public speaking. He gave, to use the words of Plutarch, "to the study of philosophy the colour of rhetoric. The most brilliant imagination seconded all the powers of logic. Sometimes he thundered with vehemence, and set all Greece in flames; at other times, the goddess of persuasion, with all her allurements, dwelt upon his tongue, and no one could defend himself from the solidity of his argument and the sweetness of his discourse."

Pericles, by birth, had some title to the confidence of the people: Xanthippus, his father, had beaten at Mycale the lieutenants of the Persian king. He was grand nephew, by Agariste his mother, of Calisthenes, who expelled the Pisistratidæ, and re-established the popular government in Athens. The old men who had known Pisistratus, fancied they saw in Pericles the same personal qualities, the same talent for elocution and sweetness of voice. He also resembled him in point of character. He was, like him, tender and moderate; but, like him, he thirsted for power. His riches, his illustrious birth, his powerful friends, his talents, and his virtues, would have subjected him to Ostracism, had he at first meddled in