MEMOIR OF SAMUEL ROGERS. THERE seems to be something so repugnant to the pursuits of literature in habits of trade and commerce, that the instances have been very rare in which they have been combined in one individual. The historian of the Medici, and ROGERS the Poet, are almost solitary instances of literary taste and talent being united harmoniously with traffic. Samuel Rogers is a banker in London, and has been for many years at the head of a most respectable firm. His father followed the same business before him, and amassed considerable wealth, both which became the heritage of the Poet, who was born about the year 1762, in London; but little or nothing is known of the way in which he passed his early years. His education was liberal, no cost having been spared to render him an accomplished scholar. That he improved by thought and reflection upon the lessons of his youth, there can be no doubt; and, it is to be presumed, he lost no opportunity of reaping profit from the extraordinary advantages which his station obtained for him. He always kept the best society, both as respected rank and talent, the circle of which in the metropolis of England in his younger days was more than commonly brilliant. His political ideas are what are styled liberal, and no one has ever been able to reproach him with the abandonment of a single principle with which he ori ginally set out in life. Over most of his early friends and companions the grave has now closed, and they included among them many great names. With a strong attachment for the Muses, after the excellent education Rogers received, it is not surprising that he ventured before the public. His first work was an "Ode to Superstition, and other Poems," which appeared in 1786. This was followed by a second publication, "The Pleasures of Memory," when he had passed the greenness of youth, having attained his thirtieth year. In 1792 this poem was received by the public with universal applause. The subject was happily chosen, coming home to the business and bosom of all; it was executed with great care, and various passages display uncommon felicity. As a whole, perhaps its chief defect is that it wants vigour, but the deficiency in this quality is made up in correctness and harmony. Rogers is one of the most scrupulous of the sons of the lyre in his metre, and he too often sacrifices that harshness which sets off the smoother passages of a writer's works, and prevents sameness and monotony, to mere cold purity of style. Perhaps no poem of equal size ever cost its author so many hours |