| Citation |
FJ.783.054
30 Jul 1783:22 (3/119)
Mr. Bailey, I should be obliged to you to insert the
following little poem into your paper. It may be agreeable
perhaps to some of your readers. It was written by Dr.
Beattie the celebrated author of the Essay on the Nature and
Immutability of Truth. It was set to music by Giordani, and
was highly admired in England. It is probable that the
author alludes to himself under the feigned character of the
hermit, whom he represents poetically as becoming a
christian after having been a deist. For though Dr. Beatie
has done extensive and permanent good to society, by
exposing the pernicious principles of Mr. Hume and other
sceptical writers to detestation; and though he is now a man
of unblemished purity of manners, yet he was once I believe
inclined to infidelity and somewhat of a sensualist. He
seems to intimate this in his noble poem of the Minstrel, or
the Progress of Genius.
Blest be the hour I left the wrangling crew;
From Pyrrho's maze, and Epicurus fly,
And held high converse with the Godlike few,
Who to th'enraptur'd ear, and heart, and eye,
Teach beaty, virtue, truth, and melody.
I am, sir, your humble servant, [signed] Classicus.
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