"And of late years, when the day account of the bank had not come quite right by the usual hour of closing, and it seemed necessary to carry on business late into the evening, he would sometimes come up wearied to his room, saying: 'Well, we've got it all right but a shilling, and I've left my boys' (as he called the younger clerks) 'to puzzle that out.' But even then he would get up from 'Rob Roy' or the 'Antiquary' every now and then, and go to peep through the curtain of a window that opens upon the back of the bank, and, if he saw the gas-lamp flaming within, announce, with a half comical sympathy, that 'they were still at it'; or, when the lamp was at last extinguished, would return to his chair, more happily, now that his partners were liberated."

A tribute to William Roscoe reveals the younger poet's indebtedness to the older for sound and encouraging advice. Here is a stanza:

Thou knew'st, whether fame crown'd his efforts or not,
That love of the Muse might enliven his lot;

That poesy acts like a magical balm,

Which in seasons of sorrow can silently calm.

"At Sixty-four," composed the year before his death, is distinctly autobiographical. Here is a stanza showing the serene setting of a simple life which many a multimillionaire might envy:

Friends well tried, and kindred dear,
Filial love are left to cheer;
Sweetest memories of the past,
Fondly cherish'd to the last;

Hopes that soar, and thoughts that climb,
Far beyond the verge of time;
Healing influence round thee pour,

And call for thanks!--at Sixty-four.

A

IX

SAMUEL ROGERS

1763-1855

BIOGRAPHER of Samuel Rogers, "the banker-poet of England," suggests a reason why there are so few poets among bankers. He says that Rogers' greatest hindrance as a poet was his continuous prosperity! "From the beginning to the end of his life he was quite too comfortable for poetic thrills." If this theory be correct, then all the banker needs is a succession of black Fridays and blue Mondays to develop the thrills essential to poetic creation! But I remain of the opinion that poets are born -not made, and that, while Rogers was born with fine sensibilities and keen appreciation, it was not in him, either as poet or banker, to set the world on fire. Rogers wanted to be a Presbyterian minister, but his father made him a banker. He dutifully obeyed his father, though secretly bent on taking to the woods and becoming a poet. His literary career began in 1781, when, in his nineteenth year, he became a contributor to the "Gentleman's Magazine." At twenty-four he published anonymously his first book of poems. At twenty-nine he published anonymously the