his reputation stealing its way in a kind of subterraneous current through fear and silence. I cannot but conceive him calm and confident, little disappointed, not at all dejected, relying on his own merit with steady consciousness, and waiting, without impatience, the vicissitudes of opinion, and the impartiality of a future generation.-JOHNSON. After line 62, in the MS. Every object has a bright and a dark side ; and I have endeavoured to look at things as Cicero bas done. By some, however, I may be thought to have followed too much my own dream of happiness; and in such a dream indeed I have often passed a solitary hour. It was Castle-building once ; now it is no longer so. But whoever would try to realise it, would not perhaps repent of his endeavour. Page 11, col. 2, line 42. The day arrives, the moment wished and feared ; A Persian Poet has left us a beautiful thought on this subject, which the reader, if he has not met with it, will be glad to know, and, if he has, to remember. Thee on thy Mother's knees, a new-born child, Smiles may be thine, when all around thee weep. Page 11, col. 1, line 65. Behold him now unbar the prison-door, An allusion to John Howard. “ Wherever he came, in whatever country, the prisons and hospitals were thrown open to him as to the general Censor. Such is the force of pure and exalted virtue!” Page 12, col. 1, line 23. “ These are MY Jewels !" The anecdote here alluded to, is related by Valerius Maximus, Lib. iv. c. 4. 6 Page 11, col. 2, line 3. Long with his friend in generous enmity, Aristotle's definition of Friendship, “one soul in two bodies," is well exemplified by some ancient Author in a dialogue between Ajax and Achilles. “Of all the wounds you ever received in battle,” says Ajax, " which was the most painful to you? ." That which I received from Hector,” replies Achilles.-“But Hector never gave you a wound?"-"Yes, and a mortal one; when he slew my friend, Patroclus.” Page 11, col. 2, line 7. Do what he will, &c. These ideas, whence are they derived ; or as Plato would have expressed himself, where were they acquired ? There could not be a better argument for his doctrine of a preexistent state. L'homme ne sait à quel rang se mettre. Il est visiblement égaré et sent en lui des restes d'un état heureux, dont il est déchu, et qu'il ne peut retrouver. Il le cherche partout avec inquiétude et sans succès dans des ténèbres impénétrables. -Sa misère se conclut de sa grandeur, et sa grandeur se conclut de sa misère.-.PASCAL. Page 12, col. 1, line 25. “Suffer these litle ones to come to me!” In our early Youth, while yet we live only among those we love, we love without restraint, and our hearts overflow in every look, word, and action. But when we enter the world and are repulsed by strangers, forgotten by friends, we grow more and more timid in our approaches even to those we love best. How delightful to us then are the little caresses of children! All sincerity, all affection, they fly into our arms; and then, and then only, do we feel our first confidence, our first pleasure. Page 11, col. 2, line 23. But soon 'tis pastThis light, which is so heavenly in its lustre, and which is everywhere and on everything when we look round us on our arrival here; which, while it lasts, never leaves us, rejoicing us by night as well as by day, and lighting up our very dreams; yet when it fades, fades so fast, and, when it goes, goes out for ever,-we may address it in the words of the Poet, words which we might apply so often in this transitory life: Too soon your value from your loss we learn! Epistles in Verse, ii. Page 12, col. 1, line 27. he reveres The brow engraven with the Thoughts of Years ; This is a law of Nature. Age was anciently synonymous with power ; and we may always observe that the old are held in more or less honour as men are more or less yirtuous, “Shame," says Homer,“ bids the youth beware how he accosts the man of many years." “ Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of an old man.” Leviticus. Among us, and wherever birth and possessions give rank and authority, the young and the profligate are seen continually above the old and the worthy: there Age can never find its due respect. But among many of the ancient nations it was otherwise ; and they reaped the benefit of it. Rien ne maintient plus les meurs, qu'une extrême subordination des jeunes gens envers les vieillards. Les uns et les autres seront contenus, ceux-là par le respect qu'ils auront pour les vieillards, et ceux-ci par le respect qu'ils auront pour eux-mêmes.-MONTESQUIEU, Page 11, col. 2, line 25. like the stone That sheds awhile a lustre all its own, See “ Observations on a diamond that shines in the dark." -BOYLE'S WORKS, I. 789. Page 11, col. 2, line 40. Schooled and trained up to Wisdom from his birth; Cicero, in his Essay De Senectute, has drawn his images from the better walks of life; and Shakspeare, in his Seven Ages, has done so too. But Shakspeare treats his subject satirically; Cicero as a Philosopher. In the venerable portrait of Cato we discover no traces of “the lean and slippered Pantaloon." Page 12, col. 1, line 39. Like Her most gentle, most unfortunate, Before I went into Germany, I came to Brodegate in Leicestershire, to take my leave of that noble Lady Jane Grey, to whom I was exceeding much beholding. Her parents, the Duke and Duchess, with all the Household, Gentlemen and Gentlewomen, were hunting in the park. I found her in her chamber, reading Phædo Platonis in Greek, and that with as much delight as some gentlemen would read a merry tale in Boccace. After salutation, and duty done, with some other talk, I asked her, why she would lose such pastime in the park? Smiling, she answered me; “I wist, all their sport in the park is but a shadow to that pleasure which I find in Plato."-ROGER ASCHAM. с T Page 12, col. 1, line 68. And Milton's self, I began thus far to assent ... to an inward prompting which now grew daily upon me, that by labour and intent study, (which I take to be my portion in this life) joined with the strong propensity of nature, I might perhaps leave something so written to aftertimes, as they should not willingly let it die.-Milton. Page 14, col. 1, line 9. He goes, and Night comes as it never came! These circumstances, as well as some others that follow, are happily, as far as they regard England, of an ancient date. To us the miseries inflicted by a foreign invader are now known only by description. Many generations have passed away since our countrywomen saw the smoke of an enemy's camp. But the same passions are always at work everywhere, and their effects are always nearly the same; though the circumstances that attend them are infinitely various. 1 tha jus but ins Th tbt Page 14, col. I, lines 27, 28. Page 12, col. 2, line 46. 'tuas at matin-time Love and devotion are said to be nearly allied. Boccaccio fell in love at Naples in the church of St. Lorenzo; as Petrarch had done at Avignon in the church of St. Clair. Page 13, col. 1, line 2. Lovely before, oh, say how lovely now ! Is it not true, that the young not only appear to be, but really are, most beautiful in the presence of those they love? It calls forth all their beauty. Page 13, col. 1, lines 46, 47. A thousand melodies unheard before! Xenophon has left us a delightful instance of conjugal affection. The King of Armenia not fulfilling his promise, Cyrus entered the country, and, having taken him and all his family prisoners, ordered them instantly before him. Armenian, said he, you are free; for you are now sensible of your error. And what will you give me, if I restore your wife to you?--All that I am able.-What, if I restore your children ?-All that I am able.--And you, Tigranes, said he, turning to the Son, What would you do, to save your wife from servitude? Now Tigranes was but lately married, and had a great love for his wife. Cyrus, he replied, to save her from servitude, I would willingly lay I down my life. Let each have his own again, said Cyrus; and when he was departed, one spoke of his clemency; and another of his valour; and another of his beauty and the graces of his person. Upon which Tigranes asked his wife, if she thought him handsome. Really, said she, I did not look at him.-At whom then did you look ?-At him who said he would lay down his life for me.-Cyropædia, L. III. Page 14, col. 2, line 22. Soon through the gadding vine, 8c. An English breakfast; which may well excite in othere what in Rousseau continued through life, un godt vif pour les déjeûnés. C'est le tems de la journée où nous sommes le plus tranquilles, où nous causons le plus à notre aise. The luxuries here mentioned, familiar to us as they now are, were almost unknown before the Revolution. Page 14, col. 2, line 50. With honest dignity, He, who resolves to rise in the world by Politics or Religion, can degrade his mind to any degree, when he sets about it. Overcome the first scruple, and the work is done. “ You hesitate," said one who spoke from experience. “Put on the mask, young man; and in a very little while you will not know it from your own face.” Page 13, col. 2, line 42. Through the night, Hers the mournful privilege, “ adsidere valetudini, fovere deficientem, satiari vultu, complexu."-Tacitus. Page 13, col. 2, line 44. She sits silent by, We may have many friends in life; but we can only have one mother ; "a discovery,” says Gray, “which I never made till it was too late." The child is no sooner born than he clings to his mother ; nor, while she lives, is her image absent from him in the Page 14, col. 2, line 52. Like HAMPDEN struggling in his country's cause, Zeuxis is said to have drawn his Helen from an assemblage of the most beautiful women ; and many a Writer of Fiction, in forming a life to his mind, has recourse to the brightest moments in the lives of others. I may be suspected of having done so here, and of having designed, as it were, from living models; but, by making an allusion now and then to those who have really lived, I thought I should give something of interest to the picture, as well as better illustrate my meaning. Page 14, col. 2, lines 54, 55. Careless of ruin “By the Mass !” said the Duke of Norfolk to Sir Thomas More, "By the Mass ! master More, it is perilous striving with princes; the anger of a prince is death.”—“ Is that all, my lord ? then the difference between you and me is but this—that I shall die to-day, and you to-morrow."ROPER'S Life. Page 15, col. 1, line 29. Her glory now, as ever her delight! Epaminondas, after his victory at Leuctra, rejoiced most of all at the pleasure which it would give his father and mother; and who would not have envied them their feelings? Cornelia was called at Rome the Mother-in-law of Scipio. “ When," said she to her sons, “ shall I be called the Mother of the Gracchi?” Page 14, col. 2, line 57. On thro' that gate misnamed, Traitor's Gate, the water-gate in the Tower of London. Page 15, col 1, line 62. And such, his labour done, the calm He knows, At illa quanti sunt, animum tanquam emeritis stipendiis libidinis, ambitionis, contentionis, inimicitiarum, cupiditatum omnium, secum esse, secumque (ut dicitur) vivere?--Cic. De Senectute. Page 15, col. 2, line 3. Watches his bees at hiving-time ; Hinc ubi jam emissum caveis ad sidera cæli Nare per æstatem liquidam suspexeris agmen, Contemplator.–VIRG. 107 Page 14, col. 2, line 60. Then to the place of trial ; This very slight sketch of Civil Dissension is taken from our own annals; but, for an obvious reason, not from those of our own Age. The persons, here immediately alluded to, lived more than a hundred years ago, in a reign which Blackstone has justly represented as wicked, sanguinary, and turbulent ; but such times have always afforded the most signal instances of heroic courage and ardent affection. Great reverses, like theirs, lay open the human heart. They occur indeed but seldom ; yet all men are liable to them ; all, when they occur to others, make them more or ; less their own; and, were we to describe our condition to an inhabitant of some other planet, could we omit what forms so striking a circumstance in human life? Page 15, col. 2, line 21. Immoveable-for ever there to freeze! She was under all her sails, and looked less like a ship incrusted with ice than ice in the fashion of a ship.-See the Voyage of Captain Thomas James, in 1631. Page 15, col, 2, line 41. Page 84, col. 2, line 60. and alone, A prisoner, prosecuted for high treason, may now make his defence by counsel. In the reign of William the Third the law was altered; and it was in rising to urge the necessity of an alteration, that Lord Shaftesbury, with such admirable quickness, took advantage of the embarrassment that seized him. “If I," said he, “who rise only to give my opinion of this bill, am so confounded that I cannot say what I intended, what must be the condition of that man, who, without any assistance, is pleading for his life?" Page 14, col. 2, lines 65, 66. Lo! on his back a Son brings in his Sire, An act of filial piety represented on the coins of Catana, a Greek city, some remains of which are still to be seen at the foot of Mount Ætna. The story is told of two brothers, who in this manner saved both their parents. The place from which they escaped, was long called the field of the pious; and public games were annually held there to commemorate the event. Page 15, col. 2, line 45. From harp or organ! What a pleasing picture of domestic life is given to us by Bishop Berkeley in his letters ! « The more we have of good instruments the better: for all my children, not excepting my little daughter, learn to play, and are preparing to fill my house with harmony against all events; that, if we have worse times, we may have better spirits.” Page 15, col. 2, lines 53, 54. Like that sweet saint who sate by RUSSELL'S side Under the judgment-seat. Lord Russell. May I have somebody to write, to assist my memory? Mr. Attorney General. Yes, a Servant. Lord Chief Justice. Any of your Servants shall assist you in writing anything you please for you. Lord Russell. My Wife is here, my Lord, to do it.STATE TRIALS, II. Page 15, col. 1, line 6. Thrice greeting those who most withdraw their claim, See the Alcestis of Euripides, v. 194. And with assurance sweet her soul revive In child-birth See the Alcestis of Euripides, v. 328. Page 15, col. 2, line 57. Who lives not for another. How often, says an excellent writer, do we err in our estimate of happiness! When I hear of a man who has noble parks, splendid palaces, and every luxury in life, I always inquire whom he has to love; and, if I find he has nobody or does not love those he has in the midst of all his grandeur I pronounce him a being in deep adversity. Page 15, col. 1, line 10. Lo, there the Friend, Such as Russell found in Cavendish ; and such as many ; have found, Page 15, col. 1, line 16. And, when her dear, dear Father passed along, An allusion to the last interview of Sir Thomas More and his daughter Margaret. “ Dear Meg," said he, when afterwards with a coal he wrote to bid her farewell, “I never liked your manner towards me better; for I like when daughterly love and dear charity have no leisure to look to worldly courtesy."-ROPER's Life. Page 16, col. 1, line 1. O thou all-eloquent, whose mighty mind Cicero. It is remarkable that, among the comforts of Old Age, he has not mentioned those arising from the society of women and children. Perhaps the husband of Terentia and “the father of Marcus felt something on the subject, of which he was willing to spare himself the recollection." for instance in the Hind and Panther', and in Page 16, col. 2, line 14. Theodore and Honoria, where he introduces it And stars are kindling in the firmament, three, four, and even five times in succession. If I have erred any where in the structure of An old writer breaks off in a very lively manner my verse from a desire to follow yet earlier and at a later hour of the night. “ But the Hyades run higher examples, I rely on the forgiveness of low in the heavens, and to keep our eyes open any those in whose ear the music of our old versificalonger were to act our Antipodes. The Huntsmen are tion is still sounding?. up in America, and they are already past their first sleep in Persia." i Pope used to mention this poem as the most correct specimen of Dryden's versification. It was indeed written when he had completely formed his manner, and may be Before I conclude, I would say something in supposed to exhibit, negligence excepted, his deliberate favour of the old-fashioned triplet, which I have and ultimate scheme of metre.—Johnson. 2 With regard to trissyllables, as their accent is very here ventured to use so often. Dryden seems to rarely on the last, they cannot properly be any rhymes at have delighted in it, and in many of his poems all: yet nevertheless I highly commend those, who have has used it much oftener than I have done, as judiciously and sparingly introduced them, as such.-GRAY. AN EPISTLE TO A FRIEND. VILLULA, ET PAUPER AGELLE, PREFACE. sighing after the new and the rare; and reminds Every reader turns with pleasure to those pas- us, in her works, of the Scholar of Apelles, who, sages of Horace, and Pope, and Boileau, which not being able to paint his Helen beautiful, deterdescribe how they lived and where they dwelt ; mined to make her fine. and which, being interspersed among their satirical writings, derive a secret and irresistible grace An Invitation—The approach to a Villa described— Its from the contrast, and are admirable examples of Situation - Its few Apartments Furnished with Casts what in Painting is termed repose. from the Antique, &c.—The Dining-room-The LibraryWe have admittance to Horace at all hours. A Cold-bath - A Winter-walk - A Summer-walk --The We enjoy the company and conversation at his Invitation renewed--Conclusion. table ; and his suppers, like Plato's, “ non solum in præsentia, sed etiam postero die jucundæ sunt.” When, with a Reaumur's skill, thy curious mind But, when we look round as we sit there, we find Has classed the insect-tribes of human-kind, ourselves in a Sabine farm, and not in a Roman Each with its busy hum, or gilded wing, villa. His windows have every charm of prospect; Its subtle web-work, or its venomed sting ; but his furniture might have descended from Cin- Let me, to claim a few unvalued hours, cinnatus ; and gems, and pictures, and old marbles, Point out the green lane rough with fern and flowers; are mentioned by him more than once with a The sheltered gate that opens to my field, seeming indifference. And the white front thro' mingling elms revealed. His English Imitator thought and felt, perhaps, In vain, alas ! a village-friend invites more correctly on the subject; and embellished To simple comforts, and domestic rites, his garden and grotto with great industry and When the gay months of Carnival resume But to these alone he solicits our notice. Their annual round of glitter and perfume; On the ornaments of his house he is silent; and When London hails thee to its splendid mart, he appears to have reserved all the minuter Its hives of sweets, and cabinets of art; touches of his pencil for the library, the chapel, And, lo, majestic as thy manly song, and the banqueting-room of Timon. “ Le savoir Flows the full tide of human life along. de notre siècle," says Rousseau," tend beaucoup Still must my partial pencil love to dwell plus à détruire qu'à édifier. On censure d’un ton On the home-prospects of my hermit-cell; de maître ; pour proposer, il en faut prendre un The mossy pales that skirt the orchard-green, Here hid by shrub-wood, there by glimpses seen ; It is the design of this Epistle to illustrate the And the brown path-way, that, with careless flow, virtue of True Taste ; and to show how little she Sinks, and is lost among the trees below. requires to secure, not only the comforts, but still must it trace (the flattering tints forgive) even the elegancies of life. True Taste is an Each fleeting charm that bids the landscape live. excellent Economist. She confines her choice to Oft o'er the mead, at pleasing distance, pass few objects, and delights in producing great effects Browsing the hedge by fits the panniered ass; by small means : while False Taste is for ever The idling shepherd-boy, with rude delight, success. autre." Whistling his dog to mark the pebble's flight; And, when à sage's bust arrests thee there, Which breathes a soul into the silent walls ; 2 Tho' my thatched bath no rich Mosaic knows, When April-verdure springs in Grosvenor- A limpid spring with unfelt current flows. square, Emblem of Life ! which, still as we survey, And the furred Beauty comes to winter there, Seems motionless, yet ever glides away! She bids old Nature mar the plan no more ; The shadowy walls record, with Attic art, Yet still the seasons circle as before. The strength and beauty which its waves impart. Ah, still as soon the young Aurora plays, Here Thetis, bending, with a mother's fears Tho’nioons and flambeaux trail their broadest blaze; Dips lier dear boy, whose pride restrains his tears. As soon the sky-lark pours his matin-song, There Venus, rising, shrinks with sweet surprise, Tho' Evening lingers at the masque so long. As her fair self reflected seems to rise : There let her strike with momentary ray, Far from the joyless glare, the maddening strife, As tapers shine their little lives away ; And all the dull impertinence of life, There let her practise from herself to steal, These eyelids open to the rising ray, And look the happiness she does not feel ; And close, when Nature bids, at close of day. The ready smile and bidden blush employ Here, at the dawn, the kindling landscape glows; At Faro-routs that dazzle to destroy ; There noon-day levees call from faint repose. Fan with affected ease the essenced air, Here the flushed wave flings back the parting light; And lisp of fashions with unmeaning stare. There glimmering lamps anticipate the night. Be thine to meditate an humbler flight, When from his classic dreams the student steals, When morning fills the fields with rosy light; Amid the buzz of crowds, the whirl of wheels, Be thine to blend, nor thine a vulgar aim, To muse unnoticed—while around him press Repose with dignity, with Quiet fame. The meteor-forms of equipage and dress ; And (tho' perchance of current coin possest, Attracts the eye to exercise the mind. And modern phrase by living lips ey prest) Small change of scene, small space his home Like those blest Youths, forgive the tabling page, Who leads a life of satisfied desires. [requires, Whose blameless lives deceived a twilight age, What tho' no marble breathes, no canvas glows, Spent in sweet slumbers ; till the miner's spade From every point a ray of genius flows ! Unclosed the cavern, and the morning played. Be mine to bless the more mechanic skill, Ah, what their strange surprise, their wild delight! That stamps, renews, and multiplies at will ; New arts of life, new manners meet their sight! And cheaply circulates, thro' distant climes, In a new world they wake, as from the dead; The fairest relics of the purest times. Yet doubt the trance dissolved, the vision fled ! Here from the mould to conscious being start O come, and, rich in intellectual wealth, Those finer forms, the miracles of art ; Blend thought with exercise, with knowledge health ; Here chosen gems, imprest on sulphur, shine, Long, in this sheltered scene of lettered talk, That slept for ages in a second mine; With sober step repeat the pensive walk, And here the faithful graver dares to trace Nor scorn, when graver triflings fail to please, A MICHAEL's grandeur, and a RAPHAEL's grace ! The cheap amusements of a mind at ease ; Thy gallery, Florence, gilds my humble walls ; Here every care in sweet oblivion cast, And my low roof the Vatican recalls ! And many an idle hour-not idly passed. Soon as the morning-dream my pillow flies, No tuneful echoes, ambushed at my gate, To waking sense what brighter visions rise ! Catch the blest accents of the wise and great. O mark ! again the coursers of the Sun, Vain of its various page, no Album breathes At Guido's call, their round of glory run ! The sigh that Friendship or the Muse bequeaths. Again the rosy Hours resume their flight, Yet some good Genii o'er my hearth preside, Obscured and lost in floods of golden light ! Oft the far friend, with secret spell, to guide ; But could thine erring friend so long forget And there I trace, when the grey evening lours, (Sweet source of pensive joy and fond regret) A silent chronicle of happier hours ! That here its warmest hues the pencil flings, When Christmas revels in a world of snow, Selected shelves shall claim thy studious hours; O'er the white pane his silvery foliage weaves, 2 Postea verò quam Tyrannio mihi libros disposuit, mens addita videtur meis ædibus.--Cic. 3 Ingenium, sibi quod vacuas desumsit Athenas, apis Matinæ Et studiis annos septem dedit, insenuitque Libris et curis, statuâ taciturnius exit Plerumque .-HOR. a 1 -HOR. |
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