Star.
London, England, 1824-05-04 00:00:00

THE WARRIOR FAIR.

THOM THE MIRROR.

Young Delia once, a soldier's bride,
• Assum'd the soldier's garb ;
But yet not her's the warrior's stride,
Nor her's the snaffled barb :
A cap and feather grac'd her brow,
Her form the Highland plaid—
In vain—bee voice so faint and low
The trembling fair betrayed!
The distant camp her Henry sought
His country's foes t' engage—
d' Why cannot I, delightful thought !"
She cried, " be Henry's page?"
Love urg'd the fond deceit, and Love
First too belied the maid—
The dimpled smile, the chamois glove,
The trembling fair betrayed !
Now bolder grown she moved along,
All-fled Love's sighs and tears—
Unscared beheld the martial throng,
Nor dreamed of future fears;
Yet oft, to arms and camps unused,
She sought the woodland glade,
Whilst o'er her cheek the blush suffueed,
The trembling fair betrayed
And now ai page, her Henry's tent
And arms 'twas her's to guard—.
As he with toil and danger spent
For soft repose prepared :
With Arm and measured step she paced,
Nor asked hlinerva's aid—
But still the foot and taper waist
The trembling fair betrayed!
But hark ! the trumpet sounds from far,
The hostile legions shout—
Forth from its sheath to meet the war
The glittering sword leaps out;
Where now her warrior step, where now
Her look of naught afraid?
Her pallid cheek, and hectic brow,
The trembling fair betrayed!
°The legions join, the battle burns,
Now these, now those prevail,
And many a shriek and shout by turns
Swell on the vesper gale ;
But who is he that stands alone?
" I ken his highland blade,"
"He lives!" she cried, and rwe's fond tone
The trembling fair betrayed! ALP!' rus.

MR. JOHN MURDOCH.

There is a prevalent sentiment that where industry,
frugality, and honesty are united, poverty dares not ap-
proach, and in the ordinary walks of life this may per-
haps be the case; but it is not so among the literary
and more cultivated, where the dignity or pride of the
understanding keeps up appearances, while the sufferer
pines in secret; and we lament that the excellent man,
the subject of this memoir,—who possessed great ta-
lents, indefatigable industry, and was most scrupulously
honest,—illustrates the latter opinion.
Mr. John Murdoch was born at Ayr, in Scotland, on
April sth, 1747, where he received a liberal education,
which was subsequently improved at Edinburgh and
Paris, and he finally established himself as a teacher of
elocution in London. Early in life he taught English at
Alloway, where Robert Burns, the poet, became his
pupil, and to his careful attention to the cultivation of
Robert's talents, his brother Gilbert principally attri-
butes the fame the poet afterwards so deservedly obtained.
Mr. Murdoch next followed his profession at Dum-
fries, and subsequently obtained the mastershil) of the
school at Ayr, where both the Bums again became his
pupils, and he is thus spoken of by Gilbert :—" Thus
you see Mr. Murdoch was a principal means of my bro-
ther's improvement. Worthy man ! Though foreign to
my present purpose, I cannot take leave of him with.
out tracing his future history. He continued for some
years a respected and useful teacher at Ayr, till one
ever.ing, when off his guard, he happened to speak
somewhat disrespectfully of Dr. Dalrymple, the parish
Minister, who had not paid him that attention to which
he thought himself intitled. In Ayr, he might as well
have spoken blasphemy." Mr. Murdoch, in come-
(pence, found it proper to give up his employment, and
went to London; after a short stay there, he went to
Paris, and for several years studied the French lan-
guage, of which he became a perfect master. In 1777,
he returned from France, and in 1779 married Isabella
Henderson, a native of Aberdeen, by whom he had four
children, all of whom died in infancy except one daugh-
ter, who is married and has a numerous offspring. Mr.
Murdoch established himself as a teacher of languages
in Hart-street, Bloomsbury, where he fitted op a circa•
dating library, the care of which principally devolved
on Mrs. M. while he busied himself in teaching ; and
many persons of celebrity are enumerated among his
scholars. Among the refugee Clergy and Nobility of
France, during the Revolution, he had several distin-
guished pupils ; and M. Talleyrand was of the number,
until he was compelled to quit the country by order of
the British Government. The conspicuous part this
celebrated statesman has since played in Europe, some-
times gave rise to inquiries of his manners and convet-
sauon while under tuition, to which Mr. Murdoch bas
replied that M. Talleyrand never strewed attention to
anything but his studies while with him.
In 178 S, Mr. Murdoch published a Radical Vocabu-
lary of the French Language, and in 1788, The Pro-
nunciation and Orthography of the French Language ;
both much valued as elementary books. Mr. Walker,
the celebrated orthoepist, was intimately acquainted
with Mr. Murdoch; and after the decease of the former,
Mr. M. edited the stereotype edition of his Pronouncing
Dictionary, for which task he was peculiarly qualified:
indeed, Mr. M. so much admired and valued the work
of his friend, that he prepared a dictionary upon nearly
the same plan, more extensive in words but without
their meanings correctly accentuated, which has never
been printed. In 1811, he published his Dictionary of
Distinctions,a work more fit for teachers and the curious
in the varieties of our pronunciation than for general
use. Mr. Murdoch's piety prompted him to publish a
tract, a few years since, intitled " A Present for Young
or Old," being the holy decalog.re, with suitable re-
sponses, which it is believed he valued more than any
of his works of greater magnitude. He wished that
every one who professed to be sensible of the benefits
of revelation should act up to its doctrines, and he fre-
quently lamented that common sense was not more
common. He was a truly good and honourable man,
and as the adverse circumstances of his latter years were
no way attributable to himself, we sincerely hope that
the generous and enlightened of all classes v, ill exert
themselves in promoting the subscription so recently
begun in his favour, and thus prevent his aged and re-
spectable
widow from experiencing the miseries of
petrury in addition to her late irreparable loss.—Lite-
raly Chronicle.

AN iitISTI Portscni FT.—ln a trial at Dublin, on
Thursday last, the follow:ag postscript to 1 letter from a ribbon-
luau to his friend, was tc.d—" P.S. Let none read this letter until
Tau burn it."