Page:Babell, a satirical poem (1830).djvu/16

immorality of the presbyterian clergymen, in satiric verses and scurrilous anecdotes. These were not vented against the clergy alone, but were also fulminated at those laymen, who were inimical to the Stewart dynasty, or the Episcopal religion.

Among the most celebrated of the satirical wits of the day, whose pens were wielded in support of the Jacobite cause, Doctor Archibald Pitcairne, the author of the following poem of Babell, shone with conspicuous lustre. As an eminent physician, his name has been rendered illustrious throughout Europe; and although his fame as a poet has not spread so wide, it has been justly appreciated by his countrymen.

Various biographical accounts of Dr. Pitcairne having already appeared in numerous scientific works, the Editor deems it, therefore, unnecessary, in a publication like the present, to resume the subject of his Life. He, however, cannot resist availing himself of this opportunity to give the following animated sketch of his character and talents, as contained in an unpublished letter (penes Robert Pitcairne, Esq.) written by Dr. John Drummond, Senr. to Dr. Thomas Bower, shortly after his death, which happened on the 20th October, 1713.

"I told you in my last, that Dr. Pitcairne was confined to the house, and I made too sure a prognostic, that he would never come again abroad, for on Friday, the 20th of October, about ten o'clock at night, he died, to the great detriment of learning, and the vast regret, I am sure, of all learned men, both at home and abroad. I was in the country when he died, but I am well informed that all the while