OLIYEB GOLDSMITH'S LIFE AND TIMES. [BOOK m.

1764. applications of that kind. Yet he was also himself in com-
pile, munication with Grainger's correspondent. Percy was still,
as he had long been, busy with his Reliques; and in the
collection and arrangement of that work, which, more than
any other in its age, contributed to bring back to the study
and appreciation of poetry, a natural, healthy, and passionate
tone, took frequent counsel with Goldsmith. To their inter-
course respecting it, we owe the charming ballad with the
prettiest of opening lines, " Turn gentle hermit of the dale ;"
and Percy admitted many obligations of knowledge and advice,
in which no other man of letters in that day could so well
have assisted him. The foremost of them, Johnson himself,
was indifferent enough to the whole scheme; though at this

•whether as written by Ms request, or at the solicitation of some friend introduced
by Mm to Goldsmith. The epitaph itself is well worth subjoining, as a pointed
and happy specimen of tombstone-literature, aad nobly merited if true. It is
•" On Zachary Bayly, Esq.."

He was a man,

To whom the endowments of Nature
Rendered those of Art superfluous-
He was wise, .
Without the assistance of recorded Wisdom ;

And eloquent,
Beyond the precepts of scholastic Rhetoric.

His study

"Was of Men, and nob of Books;

And he drank of Knowledge,

Not from the Stream, but from the Source.

To Genius, which might have been

Fortunate without Diligence,,

He added a, Diligence, which, without Genius,

Might have commanded Foitune.

He gathered riches with honour,

And seemed to possess them only to be liberal.

His private virtues
Were not less conspicuous than

His public benevolence.
He considered Individuals as Brethren,

And his Country as a Parent.

May his Talents be remembered with respect,

His Virtues with emulation !and let me know all the news, they may