roperly used many different kinds of metre." The review in the
_Monthly_ (vol. 39, p. 316, in the monthly catalogue for October),
written by John Langhorne, as Professor Nangle's _Index_ shows, was less
favorable. "There is great variety in the numbers of this ode; but, in
our opinion, they are not combined in such a manner as to produce a
natural or agreeable harmony. There is sometimes, too, a falling off,
not far removed from the Bathos. Thus, when the Author says his poetical
ideas

Resistless on the rous'd imagination pour,
And paint themselves as lively as before;

we cannot help feeling the weakness of the latter verse. Yet there is
poetry, there is enthusiasm, there is energy in this piece, on the
whole, though it is not without many defects." That these reviews
appeared in May and October 1768 is compelling evidence for dating the
pamphlet, in spite of Mr. Griffin, 1768. Walpole once more proves
himself a reliable source. Why the publication was delayed for over a
year will probably remain a mystery.

F. W. H.

INTRODUCTION

Apart from the few papers relating to him that have survived since his
death in 1778, little more is known of the Rev. Thomas Morrison of Great
Torrington in Devon than the main facts of his life; among those papers,
however, are some letters--written by Sir Joshua Reynolds and
others--about his literary pursuits, in which Dr. Johnson was at one
time briefly concerned.

He was born on March 26, 1705, at Midhurst in Sussex, the elder son of
Thomas Morrison of that place and Sarah Bridges. As to his ancestry, the
family seems to have claimed kinship with the Morrisons of Cassiobury
Park in Hertfordshire. At the age of twelve he was entered as a scholar
upon the foundation at Winchester, where he remained until his election
in 1723 to a probationary fellowship of New College, Oxford; his
admission as a full fellow followed in 1725. Having received his
Bachelor's degree in 1727, he became M.A. in 1731, took orders, and was
presented to the college living of Steeple Morden in Cambridgeshire.

It may also have been in 1731, though possibly earlier, that he went
down into Devon to act as tutor to John Basset of Heanton Court near
Barnstaple--a step which was, as things turned out, to make him a
resident of that county for the rest of his life. His pupil's father had
died in 1721, leaving a widow, Elizabeth, the only daughter and eventual
heiress of Sir Nicholas Hooper, Sergean