they fall fhort of other paffages, in that flowing melody of found which fo few others have been able to imitate *. Mr. Aikman having profecuted his ftudies for fome time in Britain, found that to complete them it would be neceffary to go into Italy, to form his tafte on the fine models of antiquity, which there alone can be found in abundance. And as he perceived that the profeflion he was to follow, could not permit him to manage properly his paternal eftate, fituated in a remote place near Arbroath in the county of Forfar in Scotland, he at this time thought proper to fell it, and fettle all family claims upon him, that he might thus be at full liberty to. act as circumstances might require. In the year 1707 he went to Italy, and having refided chiefly at Rome for three years, and taken instructions, from, and formed an acquaintance with the principal artifs of that period, he chofe to gratify his curiofity by travelling into Turkey. He went first to Conftan tinople, and from thence to Smyrna. There he became acquainted with all the British Gentlemen of the Factory; and finding them a very agreeable ict of people, he made a longer ftay than he had intended. They had even nigh engaged him to forfake the pencil and to join them in the Turkey trade: but that fcheme not taking place, he went once more to Rome, and pursued his former ftudies there, till the year 1712, when he returned to his native country; there he followed his profethon, of painting for fome time, applauded by the difcerning few; though the public, too poor at that period to be able to purchafe valuable pictures, were unable to give adequate encouragement to his fuperior merit. John Duke of Ar. gyll, who equally admired the artist and effeemed the man, regretting that fuch talents fhould be loft, at length preVailed on Mr. Aikman to move with all his family to London, in the year 1723, thinking this the only theatre in Britain where his talents could be properly difplayed. There, under the aufpices of the Duke of Argyll, who honoured Mr. Aikman with particular marks of his friendship, he formed anew habits of intimacy with the firft artifts there, particularly with Sir Godfrey Kneller, whofe ftudies and difpofitions of mind were very congenial to his own. In this fociety he foon became known to and patronized by people of the first rank, and was in habits of intimacy with many of them; particularly the Earl of Burlington, fo well known for his tafte in the fine arts, efpecially architecture. For him he painted, among others, a large picture of the Royal Fa mily of England, for the end of a parti cular room in his houfe: in the middle compartment are all the younger branches of the Family on a very large canvas, and on one hand above the door a half length of her Majesty Queen Caroline; the picture of the King was intended to fill the niche oppofite to it, but Mr. Aikman's death happening before it was begun, the place for it is left blank. This picture is now in the poffefiion of the Duke of Devonshire, whofe father married Lady Mary Boyle, daughter and only child to the Earl of Burlington. This was perhaps the laft picture finithed by Mr. Aikman, and is in his beft ftile, which like that of Raphaci went on continually improving to the laft. His country had the misfortune of lofing him too, like Raphael, at a very carly age. Towards the clofe of his life he painted many other pictures of people of the first rank and fashion in England. At Blickling in Norfolk, the feat of Hobart Earl of Buckinghamshire, in a gallery there, are a great many full length pic. tures by Mr. Aikman, of Noblemen, Gentlemen, and Ladies, relations and friends of the Earl. Thefe, with the Royal Family above named, were his laft works; and but a few of the number he painted in London. Mr. Aikman was the particular friend of Mr. William Somerville, the author of The Chace, Hobbinol, and fe veral other performances of merit, from whom he received an elegant tribute of the Mule, on his painting a full length portrait of him in the decline of life, carrying him back, by the affiftance of another portrait, to his youthful days. This pocin was never published in any Thefe lines are inferted complete at the end of this account. The laft eight lines only, which doubtles are the beft, are all that have been ufually inferted in Thomfan's works; but the whole deferves to be preferved, uot only on account of the poetry, but as an original portrait of a worthy man who has not been fufficiently known. edition edition of that Gentleman's works, it is therefore alfo inferted at the end of this account. The fubject of this Memoir was the only fon of William Aikman, of Cacrney, Efq. Advocate, by Margaret fifter of Sir John Clerk, of Pennycuick, Bart. He was born on the 24th October 1682. He married Marion Lawfon, daughter to Mr. Lawfon, of Cairnmuir in Tweedale, by whom he had one fon named John, who died at his houfe in Leicester-ids, London, on the 14th January 731. Mr. Aikman himself having died foon after, both father and fon were buried in the fame grave at the fame time *. The following Epitaph, written on that mournful occafion by Mr. Mallet, who was another of Mr. Aikman's intimate friends, was engraven on their tomb in the Grey Friars church-yard, Edinburgh, but is now fo much obliterated as not to be legible. It is printed in that author's works. DEAR to the good, and wife, difprais'd by none, Here Aeep, in peace, the Father and the Son; The Son fair rifing, knew too short a date; Allan Ramfay, who had the misfortune to furvive his friend, paid also a poetical tribute to his memory t. Mr. Aikman left behind him two daughters-Margaret, married to Hugh Forbes, Efq. Advocate, lately one of the principal Clerks of Seffion in Scotland, and brother to the gallant General Forbes who took Fort Du Quefne from the French in the war 1758; and Hen. fietta, married to William Carruthers, Efq. of Dormont in Galloway. In his ftile of painting Mr. Aikman feems to have aimed at imitating nature in her pleafing fimplicity: his lights are foft, his fhades mellow, and his colouring mild and harmonious. His touches have neither the force nor harshness of Rubens; nor does he feem, like Reynolds, ever to have aimed at adorring his portraits with the elegance of adventitious graces. His mind, tranquil and ferene, delighted rather to wander, with Thomfon, in the enchanting fields of Tempe, than to burst, with Michael Angelo, into the ruder fcenes of the terrible and the fublime. His compofitions are diftinguished by a placid tranquillity and cafe rather than a ftriking brilliancy of effect, and his portraits may be more readily mistaken for those of Kneller than any other eminent artift; not only becaufe of the general refemblance in the dreffes, which were thofe of the times, they being contemporaries, but alfo for the manner of working, and the fimilarity and bland mellowness of their tints. There are feveral portraits painted by Mr. Aikman in Scotland in the poffeffion of the Duke of Argyll, the Duke of Hamilton, and others. There is alfo a portrait of Mr. Aikman in the gallery of the Grand Duke of Tufcany, painted by himself, and another of the fame in the poffeffion of his daughter, Mrs. Forbes, in Edinburgh, whofe only fou now reprefents the family of Aikman. John Aikman died in Leicester fields, London, on the 14th of January O. S. 1731, and as his father propofed going to Scotland that year, and intending to fend down his fon's remains, they were, in the mean time, depofited in a vault belonging to a friend in St. Martin's church. Mr. Aikman dying the 7th of June thereafter, they were brought from thence and fent down along with his father's, and were interred in the fame grave on the fame day, Mr. Aikman died in the 49th year of his age, and his son in the 17th of his. ↑ An Eclogue to the memory of Mr. William Aikman, our celebrated painter, published in his works. See alfo in Boyle's poems a compliment to Mr. Aikman. VOL. XXV. The game he fprung foon felt the fatal lead; With his improving hand, thy works divine. Now from my zenith I decline apace, And pungent pains my trembling nerves unhrace; Nor love can charm, nor wine, nor mufic please; Loft to all joy, I am content with ease. And pil'd on heaps the mangled carnage lies.- Or, if they reach the foe, but flightly wound. Defert my theme, and thy unfinish'd praise : Dennis che Critic. 'Twas Nature call'd, unknowing I obey'3; POEM ON THE DEATH OF MR. AIKMAN, THE PAINTER, БУ MR. THOMSON. O! COULD I draw, my friend, thy genuine mind, Jnft, as the living forms by thee fign'd! Still as you turn them, a revolving glow: Gay converse bleft, or in the thoughtful grove, Mufe? Yet pay we must acknowledgment to Heav'n, Though fnatch'd fo foon, that AIKMAN c'et was giv'n. Graefu! from Nature's banquet let us rife, Sunk in the luftre of eternal light; "As those we love decay, we die in part; "String after itring is fever'd from the heart, "Till loofen'd life at last-but breathing clay, "Without one pang is glad to fall away. Unhappy he who lateft feels the blow; "Whose eyes have wept d'er every friend laid low; "Dragg'd ling'ring ou from partial death to death, "And, dying, all he can refign is breath.” + The laft eight lines are all that are given in the editions of Thomfen's Works. TABLE TABLE TALK; DR. PAUL HIFFERNAN.-Concluded. WHEN Hiffernan refufed accepting credit for fix months for a number of books, which he could very well difpofe of amongft his friends-we can very well fee the price he fet on keeping bis lodging a fecret. The fale of the books would be a ready-money traffic to him during the time;-the tranfla. tion would likewife gain him fome reputation; and as to the payment of his note, that could be fettled in his ufual way, viz. for fome time by promifes, and at length by a frank acknowledg mant of total incapacity:-yet all these advantages were foregone fooner than "divulge the fecrets of his prifonhoute"-There he was alike impene trable to friend and foer The next thing of any confequence that engaged our Author's attention, was a work called" Dramatic Genius"which he dedicated to Garrick, his friend and patron through life. This work is divided into five books. The first delineates a plan of a perinattent temple to be erected to the memory cf Shakespeare, with fuitable decorations and infcriptions. The fecond invefti. gates the progrefs of the human mind in inventing the drama; and conducting it to perfection; with a candid difquifi tion of the rules laid down by critics. The third exhibits a philofophical analyfis of the pre-requifites of the art of acting. The fourth difplays the criteria of Dramatic Genius in compofition, and the beautiful and fublime of acting; and the fifth treats of architecture, paint. ing, and other arts, fo far as they are accelfary to Theatrical reprefentation. There is in this, as in most of Hiffernan's writings, a mixture of science and abfurdity—He had not taste fufficient to fet off his learning, and his familiar life was fuch as to fhut out all improvement. The characters of the feveral plays of Shakespeare given in this work are in Latin as well as in English; and as the Doctor piqued himself on his Latinity, the reader will judge for himfelf, what excellence he poffeffed in that language from the following fpecimen of the character of Richard the Third. Ricardus Tertius. Rex fato opprimitur-Victori cedere regnum The fubfcriptions he gained by this work were very confiderable, as Gar. rick exerted himself amongst his friends for the author, and who could refufe Garrick on the fubject of the stage? And yet, though thefe exertions might have done credit to the friendship of our Engiith Rofcius, they did not ferve his delicacy very much, as the praises fo lavishly beftowed on him thould have in fome refpect withheld his perfonal interference befides, they were too fulfome in themfeives to add any degree of credit to fuch established abilities. The amount of thefe fubfcriptions we do not exactly know, but should fuppofe to be from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty pounds ;-a temporary mine to fuch a man as Hiffernan, who lived fo much with the public-and who in his interior life, there is every reafon to fuppofe, practifed a rigid economy. With this money he emerged a little more into life, quitted the old English drefs (as he used to call his feedy clothes) for a new fuit of black, and knocked at the doors of his friends with all the confidence of a fuccefsful author. In this progrefs, our author fome. times felt l'embarras du richelle, in a manner that was laughable enough. Dining one day at a friend's houfe, and feeling the confequence and novelty of a full pocket, he wanted the change of a twenty-pound bank note; the gentleman faid he had not quite fo much money A a 2 in in the house, but as his fervant was going on a meffage to Fleet-ftreet after dinner, he should take it to Mr. Hoare his Banker, and bring him the change. This did very well, and foon after Hiffernan gave the note to the man for the above purpose. So far the object of felf-confequence and vanity were fufficiently difplayed, and our author joined in pushing about the bottle with great fpirit and conviviality. After an hour or two fpent in this manner, Hifferuan enquired after the man the bell was rung-but no man was as yet returned:--he dropped his jaw a little upon this-but faid nothing... In about an hour afterwards he enquired again-but no man.--Here our author began to lofe a little patience, and turning round to the gentleman of the houfe, very gravely exclaimed, " By the living G, I'm afraid your man has run off with the money."" Upon my word, Doctor,fays the other (fmoking him), I must confefs it has an odd ap pearance; but if the fellow should have gone off-it is with your money-not mine.""My money!" exclaimed Hiffernan, ftarting from his chair, and raifing his voice- Sir, I would have you to know, that I know law as well as you in this particular, and I know that if I gave my money to your fervant by your direction, the act of the fervant is the act of the mafter. Here an altercation on the point of law for fome time took place, when the Doctor was most happily extricated out of all his fears by the arrival of the fervant with the moncy, and who was only prevented from returning in time, by a number of other meffages which he had to deliver from his mistrefs. The next production of the Doctor's was a thing which he called "The Philofophic Whim," and which he ironically dedicated to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. This is fuch a jumble of nonfenfe, that there is no reading or defining it; if it aims at any thing, it appears to be a laugh against fome branches of modern philofophy-but fo miferably executed, as to warrant a fuppofition, that the man must be mad, or drunk, who wrote it. The publication however anfwered his purpofe, for as he was very heedlefs of his literary reputation-or perhaps did not always know when he was degrading it—he as usual fubfcribed it among his friends-and generally wherever he went to dine, taxed his hoft from half-a-crown to a guinea (juft as he could get it) for this pamphlet. Hugh Kelly, who had previously feen it at a friend's houfe, generously fent him a guinea for a copy-but confoled himfelt at the fame time, that he was under no obligation to read it. Talking of this ftrange publication at that time, gave rife to one of the last flashes of poor Goldfinith." How does this poor devil of an author, fays a friend, contrive to get credit even with his bookfeller for paper, print, aud advertifing?"-"Oh! my dear fir, fays Goldfmith, very cafiiy-be steals the brooms ready made.' The next year, 1775, Doctor Hiffer, nan appeared as a Dramatic author, by the introduction of a tragedy at Drury Lane Theatre, under the title of " The Heroine of the Cave."-The history of this piece is as follows:-After the death of Henry Jones, the author of the tragedy of the Earl of Effex (a man fuperior to Hiffernan in point of genius, but very like him in his want of prudence and difcretion), this piece was, found amongst his loofe papers by the late Mr, Reddish, of Drury Lane Thea tre, who foon after brought it out for his benefit.Hiffernan and Reddif living in clofe habits of intimacy, the latter, after his benefit, gave it to the Doctor, and fuggefted to him that he might make fomething of it by extend ing the plot, and adding fome new characters, Hiffernan undertook it, and brought it out the next year for the benefit of Mifs Younge (now Mrs. Pope), with a new prologue, epilogue, &c. &c.— and by the very excellent and impaffioned performance of that capital ac trefs, who played the Heroine, it went off with confiderable applaufe. The title Jones gave to this piece was, "The Cave of Idra,"-The plot is taken from a narrative in the Annual Register, and had the original author had time and cool nefs to finish it, it is probable he would have fucceeded in making it a refpecta ble tragedy. Even in Hiffernan's hands the plot and incidents buoyed him up above his ordinary thinking-and if he gave no graces, he avoided any great blemishes. The Doctor lived upon the profits of this tragedy for fome time-but, as ufual, never made a calculation what he was to do next, till poverty preffed him to do fomething. After cafting about for fome time (and occafionally damning the book fellers for their want of tafte in not encouraging learning, and the per formers |