complete victory over the captain, seeing that you are
several sheets a-head of me; but times may alter, and when I resume my
adventures, you will find yourself sorely defeated; believe me,

Yours sincerely,

ANDREW ERSKINE.

* * * * *

LETTER XXX.

New-Tarbat, May 25, 1762.

Dear BOSWELL,--It has been said, that few people succeed both in poetry
and prose. Homer's prose essay on the gun-powder-plot, is reckoned by
all critics inferior to the Iliad; and Warburton's rhyming satire on the
methodists is allowed by all to be superior to his prosaical notes on
Pope's works. Let it be mine to unite the excellencies both of prose and
verse in my inimitable epistles. From this day, my prose shall have a
smack of verse, and my verse have a smack of prose. I'll give you a
specimen of both--My servant addresses me in these words, very often--

The roll is butter'd, and the kettle boil'd,
Your honour's newest coat with grease is soil'd;
In your best breeches glares a mighty hole,
Your wash-ball and pomatum, Sir, are stole.
Your tailor, Sir, must payment have, that's plain,
He call'd to-day, and said he'd call again.

There's prosaic poetry; now for poetic prose--Universal genius is a wide
and diffused stream that waters the country and makes it agreeable; 'tis
true, it cannot receive ships of any burden, therefore it is of no solid
advantage, yet is it very amusing. Gondolas and painted barges float
upon its surface, the country gentleman forms it into ponds, and it is
spouted out of the mouths of various statues; it strays through the
finest fields, and its banks nourish the most blooming flowers. Let me
sport with this stream of science, wind along the vale, and glide
through the trees, foam down the mountain, and sparkle in the sunny ray;
but let me avoid the deep, nor lose myself in the vast profound, and
grant that I may never be pent in the bottom of a dreary cave, or be so
unfortunate as to stagnate in some unwholesome marsh. Limited genius is
a pump-well, very useful in all the common occurrences of life, the
water drawn from it is of service to the maids in washing their aprons;
it boils beef, and it scours the stairs; it is poured into the
tea-kettles of the ladies, and into the punch-bowls of the gentlemen.

Having thus given you, in the most clear and distinct manner, my
sentiments of genius, I proceed to give you my opinion of the ancient
and mode