round the common circle of modish travels, he returned with them to
London, where, by the influence of the family in which he resided,
he naturally gained admission to many persons of the highest rank,
and the highest character--to wits, nobles, and statesmen. Of his
works, I know not whether I can trace the series. His first
production was, "William and Margaret;" of which, though it contains
nothing very striking or difficult, he has been envied the
reputation; and plagiarism has been boldly charged, but never
proved. Not long afterwards he published the "Excursion" (1728); a
desultory and capricious view of such scenes of nature as his fancy
led him, or his knowledge enabled him, to describe. It is not
devoid of poetical spirit. Many of his images are striking, and
many of the paragraphs are elegant. The cast of diction seems to be
copied from Thomson, whose "Seasons" were then in their full blossom
of reputation. He has Thomson's beauties and his faults. His poem
on "Verbal Criticism" (1733) was written to pay court to Pope, on a
subject which he either did not understand, or willingly
misrepresented; and is little more than an improvement, or rather
expansion, of a fragment which Pope printed in a miscellany long
before he engrafted it into a regular poem. There is in this piece
more pertness than wit, and more confidence than knowledge. The
versification is tolerable, nor can criticism allow it a higher
praise.

His first tragedy was Eurydice, acted at Drury Lane in 1731; of
which I know not the reception nor the merit, but have heard it
mentioned as a mean performance. He was not then too high to accept
a prologue and epilogue from Aaron Hill, neither of which can be
much commended. Having cleared his tongue from his native
pronunciation so as to be no longer distinguished as a Scot, he