embark for Portugal. He was among the first who perished before the walls of St Sebastian. I do not know how, upon a subject which I began with treating half seriously, I should have fallen upon a recital so eminently painful; but this theme of poor relationship is replete with so much matter for tragic as well as comic associations, that it is difficult to keep the account distinct without blending. The earliest impressions which I received on this matter are certainly not attended with anything painful, or very humiliating, in the recalling. At my father's table (no very splendid one) was to be found every Saturday the mysterious figure of an aged gentleman, clothed in neat black, of a sad yet comely appearance. His deportment was of the essence of gravity; his words few or none; and I was not to make a noise in his presence. I had little inclination to have done so for my cue was to admire in silence. A particular elbow-chair was appropriated to him, which was in no case to be violated. A peculiar sort of sweet pudding, which appeared on no other occasion, distinguished the days of his coming. I used to think him a prodigiously rich man. All I could make out of him was, that he and my father had been schoolfellows a world ago at Lincoln, and that he came from the Mint. The Mint I knew to be a place where all the money was coined, and I thought he was the owner of all that money. Awful ideas of the Tower twined themselves about his presence. He seemed above human infirmities and passions. A sort of melancholy grandeur invested him. From some inexplicable doom I fancied him obliged to go about in an eternal suit of mourning; a captive-a stately being let out of the Tower on Saturdays. Often have I wondered at the temerity of my father, who, in spite of a habitual general respect which we all in common manifested towards him, would venture now and then to stand up against him in some argument touching their youthful days. The houses of the ancient city of Lincoln are divided (as most of my readers know) between the dwellers on the hill and in the valley. This marked distinction formed an obvious division between the boys who lived above (however brought together in a common school) and the boys whose paternal residence was on the plaina sufficient cause of hostility in the code of these My father had been a leading mountaineer; and would still maintain the general superiority, in skill and hardihood, of the above boys (his own faction) over the below boys (so were they called), of which party his contemporary had been a chieftain. Many and hot were the skirmishes on this topic-the only one upon which the old gentleman was ever brought out-and bad blood bred; even sometimes almost to the recommencement (so I expected) of actual hostilities. But my father, who scorned to insist upon advantages, generally contrived to turn the conversation upon some adroit by-commendation of the old minster; in the general preference of which, before all other cathedrals in the island, the dweller on the hill and the plain-born could meet on a conciliating level, and lay down their less important differences. Once only I saw the old gentleman really ruffled, and I remember with anguish the thought that came over me-'perhaps he will never come here again.' He had been pressed to take another plate of the viand which I have already mentioned as the indispensable concomitant of his visits. He had refused, with a resistance amounting to rigour, when my aunt, an old Lincolnian, but who had something of this, in common with my cousin Bridget, that she would sometimes press civility out of season-uttered the following memorable application: Do take another slice, Mr Billet, for you do not get pudding every day.' The old gentleman said nothing at the time-but he took occasion in the young Grotiuses. course of the evening, when some argument had intervened between them, to utter, with an emphasis which chilled the company, and which chills me now as I write it- Woman, you are superannuated.' John Billet did not survive long after the digesting of this affront; but he survived long enough to assure me that peace was actually restored! and, if I remember aright, another pudding was discreetly substituted in the place of that which had occasioned the offence. He died at the Mint (anno 1781), where he had long held, what he accounted, a comfortable independence; and with five pounds fourteen shillings and a penny, which were found in his escrutoire after his decease, left the world, blessing God that he had enough to bury him, and that he had never been obliged to any man for a sixpence. This was—a Poor Relation. WILLIAM SOTHEBY. WILLIAM SOTHEBY, an elegant and accomplished scholar and translator, was born in London on the 9th of November 1757. He was of good family, and educated at Harrow school. At the age of seventeen he entered the army as an officer in the 10th dragoons. He quitted the army in the year 1780, and purchased Bevis Mount, near Southampton, where he continued to reside for the next ten years. Here Mr Sotheby cultivated his taste for literature, and translated some of the minor Greek and Latin Wales, of which he wrote a poetical description, poets. In 1788 he made a pedestrian tour through published, together with some odes and sonnets, in 1789. Two years afterwards the poet removed to tific society of the metropolis, and was warmly London, where he mixed in the literary and scienesteemed by all who knew him. In 1798 he published a translation from the Oberon of Wieland, which greatly extended his reputation, and procured him the thanks and friendship of the German poet. fame. In 1799 he wrote a poem commemorative of ¦¦ He now became a frequent competitor for poetical the battle of the Nile; in 1800 appeared his translation of the Georgics of Virgil; in 1801 he proBritish School of Painting; and in 1802 a tragedy duced a Poetical Epistle on the Encouragement of the on the model of the ancient Greek drama, entitled Orestes. The threatened invasion of the French roused the military spirit of Sotheby, and he entered with zeal upon the formation of a volunteer corps. When this alarm had blown over, he devoted himself to the composition of an original sacred poem, in blank verse, under the title of Saul, which appeared in 1807. The fame of Scott induced him to attempt the romantic metrical style of narrative and description; and in 1810 he published Constance de Castille, a poem in ten cantos. In 1814 he republished his Orestes,' together with four other tragedies; and in 1815 a second corrected edition of the Georgics. A tour on the continent (during which Mr Sotheby was absent for eighteen months) gave occasion to another poetical work, Italy, descriptive of classic scenes and recollections. He next began a labour which he had long contemplated, the translation of the Iliad and Odyssey, though he was upwards of seventy years of age before he entered upon the Herculean task. The summer and autumn of 1829 were spent in a tour to Scotland, during which he visited Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford, and explored some of the most interesting of the Highland districts. The following verses, written in a steamboat during an excursion to Staffa and Iona, show the undiminished powers of the veteran poet :- Staffa, I scaled thy summit hoar, I passed beneath thy arch gigantic, That hour the wind forgot to rave, Then the past age before me came, When 'mid the lightning's sweep, And every column wreathed with flame, When 'mid Iona's wrecks meanwhile O'er sculptured graves I trod, Where Time had strewn each mouldering aisle Yet, Staffa, more I felt his presence in thy cave Than where Iona's cross rose o'er the western wave. Mr Sotheby's translation of the Iliad was published in 1831, and was generally esteemed spirited and faithful. The Odyssey he completed in the following year. This was the last production of the amiable and indefatigable author. He still enjoyed the society of his friends, and even made another tour through North Wales; but his lengthened life was near a close, and after a short illness, he died on the 30th of December 1833, in the seventyseventh year of his age. The original poetical productions of Mr Sotheby have not been reprinted; his translations are the chief source of his reputation. Wieland, it is said, was charmed with the genius of his translator; and the rich beauty of diction in the Oberon, and its facility of versification, notwithstanding the restraints imposed by a difficult measure, were eulogised by the critics. In his tragedies, Mr Sotheby displays considerable warmth of passion and figurative language, but his plots are ill constructed. His sacred poem, 'Saul,' is the longest of his works. There is delicacy and grace in many of the descriptions,' says Jeffrey, 'a sustained tone of gentleness and piety in the sentiments, and an elaborate beauty in the diction, which frequently makes amends for the want of force and originality.' The versification also wants that easy flow and melody which characterise Oberon. Passages of Sotheby's metrical romance are happily versified, and may be considered good imitations of Scott. Indeed, Byron said of Mr Sotheby, that he imitated everybody, and occasionally surpassed his models. [Approach of Saul and his Guards against the Hark! hark! the clash and clang Of chariots rolled with each an armed band; Of solemn entry. Round about the king, Arrayed; save on their shields of solid ore, [Song of the Virgins Celebrating the Victory.] Shout ye! and ye! make answer, Saul hath slain His thousands; David his ten thousands slain. Sing a new song. I saw them in their rage; I saw the gleam of spears, the flash of swords, That rang against our gates. The warders' watch Ceased not. Tower answered tower: a warning voice Was heard without; the cry of wo within: The shriek of virgins, and the wail of her, The mother, in her anguish, who fore-wept, Wept at the breast her babe as now no more. Shout ye! and ye! make answer, Saul hath slain His thousands; David his ten thousands slain. Sing a new song. Spake not the insulting foe? I will pursue, o'ertake, divide the spoil. My hand shall dash their infants on the stones; The ploughshare of my vengeance shall draw out The furrow, where the tower and fortress rose. Before my chariot Israel's chiefs shall clank Their chains. Each side their virgin daughters groan; Erewhile to weave my conquest on their looms. Shout ye! and ye! make answer, Saul hath slain His thousands; David his ten thousands slain. Thou heardst, O God of battle! Thou, whose look Our limbs with floating crimson. Then rejoice, Such the hymned harmony, from voices breathed There, many a wife, whose ardent gaze from far There, many a beauteous virgin, blushing deep, The Winter's Morn. Artist unseen! that, dipt in frozen dew, Hast on the glittering glass thy pencil laid, Ere from yon sun the transient visions fade, Swift let me trace the forms thy fancy drew! Thy towers and palaces of diamond hue, Rivers and lakes of lucid crystal made, And hung in air hoar trees of branching shade, That liquid pearl distil: thy scenes renew, Whate'er old bards or later fictions feign, Of secret grottos underneath the wave, Where nereids roof with spar the amber cave; Or bowers of bliss, where sport the fairy train, Who, frequent by the moonlight wanderer seen, Circle with radiant gems the dewy green. EDWARD LORD THURLOW. EDWARD HOVEL THURLOW (Lord Thurlow) has published several small volumes of poetry: Select Poems (1821); Poems on Several Occasions; Angelica, or the Fate of Proteus; Arcita and Palamon, after Chaucer, &c. Amidst much affectation and bad taste, there is real poetry in the works of this nobleman. He has been a source of ridicule and sarcasm to various reviewers and not servedly; yet in pieces like the following, there is a freshness of fancy and feeling, and a richness of expression, that resemble Herrick or Moore. unde Song to May. May! queen of blossoms, And fulfilling flowers, With what pretty music Shall we charm the hours? Thou hast no need of us, And many thousand more With new desire. Thou hast thy mighty herds, In the deep rivers; When with the jacinth Coy fountains are tressed; And for the mournful bird Greenwoods are dressed, That did for Tereus pine; Then shall our songs be thine, To whom our hearts incline: May, be thou blessed! The Sun-Flower. Behold, my dear, this lofty flower, That now the golden sun receives; No other deity has power, But only Phoebus, on her leaves; As he in radiant glory burns, From east to west her visage turns. The dial tells no tale more true, Than she his journal on her leaves, When morn first gives him to her view, Or night, that her of him bereaves, A dismal interregnum bids Her weeping eyes to close their lids. Forsaken of his light, she pines The cold, the dreary night away, Till in the east the crimson signs Betoken the great god of day; Then, lifting up her drooping face, She sheds around a golden grace. O Nature, in all parts divine! What moral sweets her leaves disclose! Then in my verse her truth shall shine, And be immortal, as the rose, Anacreon's plant; arise, thou flower, That hast fidelity thy dower! Apollo, on whose beams you gaze, Has filled my breast with golden light; And circled me with sacred rays, To be a poet in his sight: fidelity, no less than their poetical beauty. The Sweet Moon! if, like Crotona's sage, To make thy disk its ample page, And write my thoughts, my wishes there; And all my heart and soul would send Even now, delusive hope will steal Pursues the murmurers of the deep, I often think if friends were near, How should we feel and gaze with bliss Upon the moon-bright scenery here! The sea is like a silvery lake, And o'er its calm the vessel glides, Gently, as if it feared to wake The slumber of the silent tides. The only envious cloud that lowers Hath hung its shade on Pico's height, Where dimly 'mid the dusk he towers, And, scowling at this heaven of light, Exults to see the infant storm Cling darkly round his giant form! If in jail, all the better for out-of-door topics; For a dramatist, too, the most useful of schools- Aristotle could scarce keep him more within rules, And of place he, at least, must adhere to the unity. Any lady or gentleman come to an age To have good Reminiscences' (three score or higher), Will meet with encouragement-so much per page, No matter with what their remembrance is stocked, * Funds, Physic, Corn, Poetry, Boxing, Romance, The material within of small consequence is; That Horace, as clearly as words could express it, The warmth of the young poet's feelings and imagination led him in these epistles to make some In 1813 Mr Moore entered upon his noble poetislight trespasses on delicacy and decorum, and a cal and patriotic task-writing lyrics for the ancient second publication of poems, two years afterwards, music of his native country. His Irish Songs disunder the assumed name of Thomas Little-a playful played a fervour and pathos not found in his earlier allusion to his diminutive stature-aggravated this works, with the most exquisite melody and purity of offence of his muse. He has had the good sense to diction. An accomplished musician himself, it was be ashamed of these amatory Juvenilia, and genius the effort, he relates, to translate into language the enough to redeem the fault. Mr Moore now became emotions and passions which music appeared to him a satirist not strong and masculine, like Dryden, to express, that first led to his writing any poetry nor possessed of the moral dignity of Pope-but lively worthy of the name. 'Dryden,' he adds, 'has hap and pungent, with abundance of humorous and witty pily described music as being "inarticulate poetry;" illustration. The man of the world, the scholar, and and I have always felt, in adapting words to an exthe poetical artist, are happily blended in his satiri-pressive air, that I was bestowing upon it the gift of cal productions, with a rich and playful fancy. His Twopenny Postbag, The Fudge Family in Paris, Fables for the Holy Alliance, and numerous small pieces written for the newspapers on the passing topics of the day, to serve the cause of the Whig or liberal party, are not excelled in their own peculiar walk by any satirical compositions in the language. It is difficult to select a specimen of these exquisite productions without risk of giving offence; but perhaps the following may be found sufficiently irreproachable in this respect, at the same time that it contains a full proportion of the wit and poignancy distributed over all. It appeared at a time when an abundance of mawkish reminiscences and memoirs had been showered from the press, and bore the title of Literary Advertisement.' Wanted-Authors of all work to job for the season, No matter which party, so faithful to neither; Good hacks, who, if posed for a rhyme or a reason, Can manage, like *******, to do without either. · articulation, and thus enabling it to speak to others all that was conveyed, in its wordless eloquence, to myself.' Part of the inspiration must also be attributed to national feelings. The old airs were consecrated to recollections of the ancient glories, the valour, beauty, or sufferings of Ireland, and became inseparably connected with such associations. Of the Irish Melodies, in connection with Mr Moore's songs, nine parts have been published in succession: they are understood to have been materially useful to the poet's fortunes. Without detracting from the merits of the rest, it appears to us very forcibly, that the particular ditties in which he delicately hints at the woes of his native country, and transmutes into verse the breathings of its unfortunate patriots, are the most real in feeling, and therefore the best. This particularly applies to When he who adores thee,' Oh, blame not the bard,' and 'Oh, breathe not his * According to the common reading, 'Quodcunque infundis, acescit.' |