with more deliberate critics), to pounce only on such passages as ministered to the laughing humor that possessed us. In this sort of hunt through the volume, we at length lighted on the discovery that our host, in addition to his sincere approbation of some of its contents, had also the motive of gratitude for standing by its author, as one of the poems was a warm, and, I need not add, well-deserved panegyric on himself. We were, however, too far gone in nonsense, for even this eulogy, in which we both heartily agreed, to stop us. The opening line of the poem was, as well as I can recollect, When Rogers o'er this labor bent.' And Lord Byron undertook to read it aloud; but he found it impossible to get beyond the first two words. Our laughter had now increased to such a pitch that nothing could restrain it. Two or three times he began; but no sooner had the words' When Rogers' passed his lips, than our fit burst forth afresh, till even Mr. Rogers himself, with all his feeling of our injustice, found it impossible not to join us; and we were, at last, all three in such a state of inextinguishable laughter, that, had the author himself been of the party, I question much whether he could have resisted the infection." Byron always entertained and expressed an elevated opinion of Rogers as a man of taste and genius. In one of his letters to Moore he says, "I wrote to Rogers the other day, with a message to you. I hope that he flourishes. He is the Tithonus of poetry, immortal already. You and I must wait for it." Again he says, " Will you remember me to Rogers? - whom I presume to be flourishing, and whom I regard as our poetical papa. You are his lawful son, and I his illegitimate." So in his journal, under date of November 24, 1813, Byron writes: "I have not answered W. Scott's last letter, but I will. I regret to hear from others that he has lately been unfortunate in pecuniary involvements. He is, undoubtedly, the Monarch of Parnassus, and the most English of bards. I should place Rogers next in the living list (I value him more as the last of the best school); Moore and Campbell, both third; Southey and Wordsworth and Coleridge; the rest, οι πολλοι thus: W. SCOTT. ROGERS. MOORE, CAMPBELL. SOUTHEY, WORDSWORTH, COLERIDGE. THE MANY. Rogers seems to have cultivated the kindest personal relations with most of his distinguished poetical contemporaries. He was on the most friendly terms with Campbell, who speaks with cordial warmth of the generosity and kindliness of his nature, and his constant search for opportunities of manifesting his benevolence of disposition. With Crabbe, also, he was intimate. This "sternest painter" of nature was introduced to the family of Landsdowne by Bowles, the friend of his latter days; and here he became the acquaintance and friend of Rogers, who invited him to pay a summer visit to London. "He accepted this invitation, and, taking lodgings near his new friend's residence, in St. James' Place, was cordially welcomed by the circle distinguished in politics, fashion, science, art and literature, of which Mr. R. was himself the brightest ornament." The following memoranda from Crabbe's diary show how largely he was indebted to the attentions of Rogers for the enjoyment of his London visit: "June 24, 1817.—Mr. Rogers, his brother and family. Mr. and Mrs. Moore, very agreeable and pleasant people. Foscolo, the Italian gentleman. Dante, &c. Play, Kemble in Coriolanus. "20th.—Mr. Rogers, and the usual company, at breakfast. Lady Holland comes and takes me to Holland House. * * Meet Mr. Campbell. Mr. Moore with us. Mr. Rogers joins us in the course of the day. "27th. — Breakfast with Mr. Brougham and Lady Holland. Lord Holland to speak at Kemble's retiring, at the meeting at Freemason's Tavern, to-morrow. Difficulty of procuring me an admission ticket, as all are distributed. Trial made by somebody, I knew not who,failed. This represented to Lady Holland, who makes no reply. Morning, interview with Mr. Brougham. Mr. Campbell's letter. He invites us to Sydenham. I refer it to Mr. Rogers and Mr. Moore. Return to town. The porter delivers to me a paper containing the admission ticket, procured by Lady Holland's means; whether request or command, I know not. Call on Mr. Rogers. We go to the Freemason's Tavern. The room filled. We find a place about half-way down the common seats, but not where the managers dine, above the steps. By us, Mr. Smith, one of the authors of the Rejected Addresses. Known, but no introduction. Mr. Perry, editor of the Morning Chronicle, and Mr. Campbell, find us, and we are invited into the committee room. Kemble, Perry, Lord Erskine, Mr. Moore, Lord Holland, Lord Ossory, whom I saw at Holland House. Dinner announced. Music. Lord Erskine sits between me and a young man whom I find to be a son of Boswell. Lord Holland's speech after dinner. The ode recited. Campbell's speech. Kemble's — Talma's. We leave the company, and go to Vauxhall to meet Miss Rogers and her party. Stay late. "28th.—Go to St. James' Place. Lord Byron's new works, Manfred and Tasso's Lament. "29th.-Breakfast at the coffee-house in Pall Mall, and go to Mr. Rogers and family. Agree to dine, and then join their party after dinner. "30th.- First hour at Mr. Murray's. A much younger and more lively man than I had imagined. A handsome drawing-room, where he receives his friends, usually from two to five o'clock. Pictures by Phillips of Lord Byron, Mr. Scott, Mr. Southey, Mr. Campbell, Rogers (yet unfinished), Moore, by Lawrence (his last picture). Mr. Murray wishes me to sit. Advise with Mr. Rogers. He recommends. 66 Dine with July 1st. I foresee a long train of engagements. Mr. Rogers. Company: Kemble, Lord Erskine, Lord Ossory, Sir George Beaumont, Mr. Campbell and Mr. Moore. Miss R. retires early, and is not seen any more at home. Meet her at the gallery in Pall Mall, with Mr. Westall. "2d. Duke of Rutland. List of pictures burned at Belvoir Castle. Dine at Sydenham with Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, Mr. Moore and Mr. Rogers. Poet's Club. “4th.—Morning view, and walk with Mr. Heber and Mr. Stanhope. Afterwards, Mr. Rogers, Lady S., Lady H. A good picture, if I dare draw it accurately; to place in lower life would lose the peculiarities which depend upon their station; yet, in any station. Return with Mr. Rogers. Dine at Landsdowne House. Sir James Mackintosh, Mr. Grenville, elder brother to Lord Grenville. * * "6th. Call at Mr. Rogers', and go to Lady Spencer. Go with Mr. Rogers to dine at Highbury with his brother and family. Miss Rogers the same at Highbury as in town. Mr. Rogers says I must dine with him to-morrow, and that I consented when I was at Sydenham; and now certainly they expect me at Hampstead, though I have made no promise. "7th. — Dinner at Mr. Rogers', with Mr. Moore and Mr. Campbell, Lord Strangford and Mr. Spencer. bury. 14th. - Go to Mr. Rogers', and take a farewell visit to High- Dine there, and purpose to see Mr. Moore and Mr. Rogers in the morning when they set out for Calais. "15th. — Was too late this morning. Messrs. Rogers and Moore were gone. Go to church at St. James'. The sermon good; but the preacher thought proper to apologize for a severity which he had not used. Write some lines in the solitude of Somerset House, not fifty yards from the Thames on one side, and the Strand on the other; but as quiet as the sands of Arabia. I am not quite in good humor with this day; but, happily, I cannot say why." The dinner at Sydenham, alluded to under the date of July 2d, made a lasting impression on more than one of the party; and Moore has immortalized it in one of his most graceful and exquisite poems, the Verses to the Poet Crabbe's Inkstand. We transcribe the stan zas in which the poet describes the subject of this sketch : "How freshly doth my mind recall, 'Mong the few days I've known with thee, One that most buoyantly of all Floats in the wake of memory! "When he, the poet, doubly graced In life, as in his perfect strain, "Who in his page will leave behind, Pregnant with genius though it be, Where Sense o'er all holds mastery: "Friend of long years! of friendship tried Through many a bright and dark event; "He, too, was of our feast that day, And all were guests of one whose hand Around the lyre of this great land; "In whose sea-odes 3-as in those shells In 1819 Rogers appeared again before the world of letters, with the poem entitled Human Life, which found a friendly critic in the accomplished editor of the Edinburgh Review. From his beautiful article we copy the following extracts: “These are very sweet verses. They do not, indeed, stir the spirit like the strong lines of Byron, nor make our hearts dance within us, like the inspiring strains of Scott; but they come over us with a bewitching softness that, in certain moods, is still more delightful, and soothe the troubled spirits with a refreshing sense of truth, purity, and elegance. They are pensive rather than passionate; and more full of wisdom and tenderness than of high flights of fancy, or overwhelming bursts of emotion; while they are moulded into grace at least as much by the effect of the moral beauties they disclose, as by the taste and judgment with which they are constructed. "The theme is HUMAN LIFE! not only the subject of all verse,' but the great centre and source of all interest in the works of human beings, to which both verse and prose invariably bring us back, |