"With him was sometimes joined in silken walk (Profoundly silent--for they never spoke), One shyer still, who quite detested talk; If stung by spleen, at once away he broke To grove of pine and broad o'ershadowing oak. There, inly thrilled, he wandered all alone, And on himself his pensive fury woke: He never uttered word, save when first shone The glittering star of eve--'Thank Heaven, the day is done.'" His medical writings, and his best known poem, "The Art of Health," had he written nothing else, would in all probability have brought him patients, but the licentiousness of "The Economy of Love" effectually precluded him from ever succeeding as a family physician. Amongst Armstrong's poet friends was Grainger, the amiable and scholarly physician who enjoyed the esteem of Percy and Samuel Johnson, Shenstone and Sir Joshua. Soon after the publication of his translation of the "Elegies of Tibullus," (1758), Grainger went to the island of St. Christopher's, and established himself there as a physician. The scenery and industrial occupations of the island inspired him to write his most important poem, "The Sugar-Cane," which, in escaping such derision as was poured on Blackmore's effusions, owed its good fortune to the personal popularity of the author rather than its intrinsic merits. The following sample is a fair one:-- "Destructive on the upland groves The monkey nation preys: from rocky heights, In silent parties they descend by night, And posting watchful sentinels, to warn When hostile steps approach, with gambols they Pour o'er the cane-grove. Luckless he to whom That land pertains! in evil hour, perhaps, And thoughtless of to-morrow, on a die He hazards millions; or, perhaps, reclines On luxury's soft lap, the pest of wealth; And, inconsiderate, deems his Indian crops Will amply her insatiate wants supply. "From these insidious droles (peculiar pest Of Liamigia's hills) would'st thou defen Thy waving wealth, in traps put not thy trust, However baited: treble every watch, And well with arms provide them; faithful dogs, Of nose sagacious, on their footsteps wait. With these attack the predatory bands; Quickly, th' unequal conflict they decline, And chattering, fling their ill-got spoils away. So when, of late, innumerous Gallic hosts, Fierce, wanton, cruel, did by stealth invade The peaceable American's domains, While desolation mark'd their faithless rout; No sooner Albion's martial sons advanc'd, Than the gay dastards to their forests fled, And left their spoils and tomahawks behind. "_Nor with less haste the whisker'd vermin race, A countless clan, despoil the low-land cane._ "These to destroy, &c." When the poem was read in MS. at Sir Joshua's house, the lines printed in italics were not part of the production, but in their place stood--