of those who knew him, he determined to remain in Ireland. This resolution was owing to the influence of his wife, who apprehended that his political zeal, among his English friends, might lead him to some intemperate publication. Brooke, however, had too much of the politician to lose it by returning to his native soil. In the year of the rebellion, he addressed his "Farmer's Letters" to his countrymen, and they were supposed to have had a beneficial influence on their temper, at a critical period. He was also, to his honour, one of the earliest advocates for alleviating the penal laws against the catholics. Their pacific behaviour, in 1745, had certainly furnished him with a powerful argument in their behalf. He wrote thirteen dramatic pieces, of which "Gustavus Vasa," and the " Earl of Essex," were the only two that ever reached the English stage. The rest were not heard of in England, till his collected works were published in 1778; but his novel, "The Fool of Quality," gave some popularity to his name. In Ireland, Lord Chesterfield gave him the appointment of a barrack-master, which he held till his death. The accounts of his private circumstances, in that kingdom, are given rather confusedly by his biographers; but it appears, upon the whole, that they were unfortunate. He supported an only brother in his house, with a family as numerous as his own; and ruined himself by his generosity. At last the loss of his wife, after an union of fifty years, the death of many of his children, and his other misfortunes, overwhelmed his intellects. Of this imbecility there were indeed some manifestations, in the latest productions of his pen. THE REPTILE AND INSECT WORLD. LIKE Nature's law no eloquence persuades, And, O Supreme! whene'er we cease to know Then must all faculty, all knowledge fail, And more than monster o'er the man prevail. Not thus he gave our optic's vital glance, Amid omniscient art, to search for chance, Blind to the charms of Nature's beauteous frame; Nor made our organ vocal, to blaspheme: Not thus he will'd the creatures of his nod, And made the mortal, to unmake his God; Breath'd on the globe, and brooded o'er the wave, And bid the wide obsequious world conceive: Spoke into being myriads, myriads rise, And with young transport gaze the novel skies; Glance from the surge, beneath the surface scud, Or cleave enormous the reluctant flood; Or roll vermicular their wanton maze, And the bright path with wild meanders glaze; The reptile first, how exquisitely form'd, With vital streams through ev'ry organ warm'd! External round the spiral muscle winds, And folding close th' interior texture binds; Secure of limbs or needless wing he steers, And all one locomotive act appears; His rings with one elastic membrane bound, The prior circlet moves th' obsequious round; The next, and next, its due obedience owes, And with successive undulation flows. The mediate glands, with unctuous juice replete, Their stores of lubricating guile secrete; Still opportune, with prompt emission flow, And slipping frustrate the deluded foe; When the stiff clod their little augers bore, And all the worm insinuates through the pore. Slow moving next, with grave majestic pace, Tenacious snails their silent progress trace; Through foreign fields secure from exile roam, And sojourn safe beneath their native home. Their domes self-wreath'd, each architect attend, With mansions lodge them, and with mail defend: But chief, when each his gint'ry portal forms, Then peeps the sage from his unfolding doors, Assur'd he glides beneath the smiling calm, And oft, amphibious, course the neighb'ring shores; Or who nor creep, nor fly, nor walk, nor swim, And buoy'd upon their own inventions rise; Shoot forth the twine, their light aerial guide, Like warriors stride, oppress'd with shining mail, His bright endorsement, and compact attire, |