CONTENTS. 7 On the report of a monument to be erected in West- minster Abbey, to the memory of a late author Song, in imitation of Shakespeare's 'Blow, blow, thou Epitaph for a Sheriff's messenger, written and published 228 234 MEMOIR OF BEATTIE. BY THE REV. ALEXANDER DYCE. "Heard you that Hermit's strain from Scotia borne, The Pursuits of Literature. HE subject of this memoir was born on the 25th of October, 1735, at Laurencekirk, in the county of Kincardine, Scotland. His father, James Beattie, who kept a small shop in the village at the same time that he rented a little farm in the neighbourhood, was a man of considerable talents and acquirements:* his mother, too, was distinguished for her abilities. Our author, James, A jour *"At his leisure hours he cultivated the muses. nal kept by him, as well as some specimens of his poetry, are still in the possession of his descendants. This last circumstance is the more worthy of being noticed, as it proves that Dr. Beattie derived his poetical turn from his father."Bower's Life of Beattie, 1804, p. 2. |