ive, and equally susceptible of the embellishment which his genius or his enthusiasm can impart to the delineation of them.

The country by which Dr. M'Henry was surrounded in his new residence, did not, in its entire appearance, combine all the attributes of grandeur which the enthusiastic votary of stern and savage nature requires to form his scenes of perfect sublimity and romance. But it was sufficiently wild and sequestered to be adapted to his poetical taste; and the leisure which he frequently enjoyed from the performance of his professional duties, enabled him to indulge his attachment to general literature. But it is not the visible aspect of nature which always suggests the best themes for poetical contemplation. It may, indeed, when the mind is predisposed to poetical feelings, increase the ardour with which they are indulged, or impart strength and fervency to the inspiration from which they derive their existence. Although the grand and nobler features which nature displays, may, in some degree, produce this effect on those by whom they are properly appreciated, they rarely or never exercise so much influence over the mind of the poet, as to subject it entirely to them, or to create the high and sublime conceptions from which the immortal productions of poetry deduce their origin. It is the deep and secret sources of his own thought, the glowing and involuntary outpourings of his genius, that produce the intense and indefinable emotions, which, when embodied in appropriate language, possess so

many charms for the unsophisticated heart, and exert such resistless power over the discriminating mind. The internal springs by which his reflections and feelings are set in motion, frequently obey the mysterious impulses which they receive from the sublime and beautiful conformations of outward objects, with which his own nature sympathizes, and to which he traces many of his purest and loftiest contemplations. But some of the most splendid and popular poetical works which have appeared in ancient or modern times, have no doubt been suggested by adventitious circumstances. Such circumstances, in themselves unimportant, but acting on minds peculiarly constituted, and enabled, by the vivacity and promptness of their action, to render them subservient to their purposes, have been eagerly seized and appropriated to the service of the muse, to which intellectual capacity less vigorous or less alert would not have considered them adapted.

It is to one of these accidental circumstances that the production of "The Pleasures of Friendship" is to be ascribed. The inconsiderable village in which the author lived, contained a population too small to afford much of that species of social intercourse which he wished to enjoy. In the year 1819, before he had established an intimacy with even those few inhabitants whose acquaintance he was desirous of cultivating, both he and his wife were, at the same time, attacked by severe indisposition. His disease, which was a violent rheumatism, continued

for several weeks. The only domestic whom he had been able to procure, suddenly abandoned his service, and he was left in his helpless condition, with a sick wife, and two young children, destitute of necessary household assistance. Had he been residing in his native country, his friends and relatives and neighbours would have hastened to offer him their sympathy and their benevolent offices. But in the wild and sequestered region to which he had recently removed, he was almost an entire stranger, and was destitute of many of the resources which more enlarged and refined society affords, and of the sympathies by which his physical and mental sufferings might have been alleviated. In the desponding state of mind which his forlorn situation induced, and after all the limited means of amusement which the little village where he lived afforded, were exhausted, his thoughts often reverted to the home of his nativity, and to the scenes of happiness which he had there enjoyed. He was thus insensibly led to the consideration of the pleasures which are derived from the mutual attachment of intimate friends. To divert his attention from the gloomy reflections which preyed upon him, and to engage his mind in more agreeable employment than they afforded, he wrote the poem of "The Pleasures of Friendship," the subject of which was so appropriate to his feelings, and so congenial to the sentiments which his situation naturally suggested. The first edition of this work, which consisted of only five hundred copies, was published at Pittsburg, with

no expectation of its circulation ever extending beyond the vicinity of that place. The poem, although thus first presented to public attention in a remote inland town, where general literature and poetical taste were but little cultivated, soon became known, and in proportion as a knowledge of it extended, its popularity increased. Since its first appearance in 1822, nine editions of it, including those issued on both sides of the Atlantic, have been published.

During his residence in Butler county, Dr. M'Henry, besides "The Pleasures of Friendship," wrote the novels of "O'Halloran" and "The Hearts of Steel." Several occasional poetical pieces, which he wrote at the same place, have been published in the volume that contains his principal poem. He remained at Harmony about four years, and then removed to Pittsburg, which he left in 1823, for Philadelphia, where he now resides. His poem of "Waltham," and his novels of "The Wilderness" and "The Spectre of the Forest," were written in Pittsburg. "The Wilderness" was published in New York, in the spring of 1823, and "The Spectre of the Forest," in the writing of which only seven weeks were occupied, first appeared in that city, in the autumn of the same year.

Not long after Dr. M'Henry's removal to Philadelphia, the proprietor of the American Monthly Magazine, a periodical work published there, engaged his services as its editor. He soon terminated his connexion with it, in consequence of a visit to Ireland, which was rendered necessary by business that re

quired his attention, and the publication of the Magazine was discontinued. Subsequently to his return from that country to Philadelphia, which occurred in the spring of 1826, he wrote in that city the tragedies of "The Usurper" and "Wyoming," and the novels of "The Betrothed of Wyoming" and "Meredith."

Both of the tragedies were performed in Philadelphia. "The Usurper," and the two novels last mentioned, were published in the same city.

The first poetical effusion of Dr. M'Henry, which appeared in public, was that entitled "The Maid of Tobergell." This piece was published in 1804, in a Belfast newspaper, and attracted the attention of the celebrated Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, who was so much pleased with it, that he invited the author to his house, encouraged him to persevere in his poetical pursuits, and induced him to publish in Belfast, a small collection of poetry, under the title of "The Bard of Erin, and other Poems." This publication procured for the author much attention, and many warm friends among the admirers of poetical literature in the north of Ireland. He was then, however, too deeply engaged in professional studies, to pursue a poetical career. At least, he appears, for a number of years following, to have sought no poetical notoriety. It was about this period, that he became acquainted with the lady to whom he alludes in many of his poetical pieces, under the name of Ellen, and of whose character and destiny he has given an account in the tale entitled "Ellen Stanley, or the Victim of