The insect tribes in myriads pour, And kiss with zephyr every flower; Shall these our icy hearts reprove, And tell us we are foes to Love? Then lads, &c. Epigram on Sleep. [Thomas Warton wrote the following Latin epigram to be placed under the statue of Somnus, in the garden of Harris, the philologist, and Wolcot translated it with a beauty and felicity worthy of the original.] Somne levis, quanquam certissima mortis imago Consortem cupio te tamen esse tori; Alma quies, optata, veni, nam sic sine vitâ Vivere quam suave est; sic sine morte mori. Come, gentle sleep! attend thy votary's prayer, And, though death's image, to my couch repair; How sweet, though lifeless, yet with life to lie, And, without dying, O how sweet to die! To my Candle. Thou lone companion of the spectred night! To steal a precious hour from lifeless sleep. And swells the thundering horrors of the deep. From cloud to cloud the pale moon hurrying flies, Now blackened, and now flashing through the skies; But all is silence here beneath thy beam. I own I labour for the voice of praise For who would sink in dull oblivion's stream? Who would not live in songs of distant days? Thus while I wondering pause o'er Shakspeare's page, I mark in visions of delight the sage, High o'er the wrecks of man, who stands sublime; A column in the melancholy waste (Its cities humbled and its glories past), Majestic 'mid the solitude of time. Yet now to sadness let me yield the hour- I view, alas! what ne'er should die- A form that feels of death the leaden sleep- I view a pale-eyed panting maid; I see the Virtues o'er their favourite weep. Ah! could the Muse's simple prayer A world should echo with her name. Yes, on thy frame Fate too shall fix her seal- In vain thy struggles, all will soon be o'er. Thus shall the sons of science sink away, And thus of beauty fade the fairest flowerFor where's the giant who to Time shall say 'Destructive tyrant, I arrest thy power!' Birthplace of H. K. White, Nottingham. Henry was a rhymer and a student from his earliest years. He assisted at his father's business for some time, but in his fourteenth year was put apprentice to a stocking-weaver. Disliking, as he said, 'the thought of spending seven years of his life in shining and folding up stockings, he wanted something to occupy his brain, and he felt that he should be wretched if he continued longer at this trade, or indeed in anything except one of the learned professions.' He was at length placed in an attorney's office, and applying his leisure hours to the study of languages, he was able, in the course of ten months, to read Horace with tolerable facility, and had made some progress in Greek. At the same time he acquired a knowledge of Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, and even applied himself to the acquisition of some of the sciences. His habits of study and application were unremitting. A London magazine, called the Monthly Preceptor, having proposed prize themes for the youth of both sexes, Henry became a candidate, and while only in his fifteenth year, obtained a silver medal for a translation from Horace; and the following year a pair of twelveinch globes for an imaginary tour from London to Edinburgh. He next became a correspondent in the Monthly Mirror, and was introduced to the acquaintance of Mr Capel Lofft and of Mr Hill, the proprietor of the above periodical. Their encouragement induced him to prepare a volume of poems for the press, which appeared in 1803. The longest piece in the collection is a descriptive poem in the style of Goldsmith, entitled Clifton Grove, which shows a remarkable proficiency in smooth and elegant versification and language. In his preface to the volume, Henry had stated that the poems were the production of a youth of seventeen, published for the purpose of facilitating his future studies, and enabling him 'to pursue those inclinations which might one day place him in an honourable station in the scale of society.' Such a declaration should have disarmed the severity of criticism; but the volume was contemptuously noticed in the Monthly Review, and Henry felt the most exquisite pain from the unjust and ungenerous critique. Fortunately the volume fell into the hands of Mr Southey, who wrote to the young poet to encourage him, and other friends sprung up to succour his genius and procure for him what was the darling object of his ambition, admission to the university of Cambridge. His opinions for some time inclined to deism, without any taint of immorality; but a fellow-student put into his hands Scott's 'Force of Truth,' and he soon became a decided convert to the spirit and doctrines of Christianity. He resolved upon devoting his life to the promulgation of them, and the Rev. Mr Simeon, Cambridge, procured for him a sizarship at St John's college. This benevolent clergyman further promised, with the aid of a friend, to supply him with £30 annually, and his own family were to furnish the remainder necessary for him to go through college. Poetry was now abandoned for severer studies. He competed for one of the university scholarships, and at the end of the term was pronounced the first man of his year. Twice he distinguished himself in the following year, being again pronounced first at the great college examination, and also one of the three best theme writers, between whom the examiners could not decide. The college offered him, at their expense, a private tutor in mathematics during the long vacation; and Mr Catton (his tutor), by procuring for him exhibitions to the amount of £66 per annum, enabled him to give up the pecuniary assistance which he had received from Mr Simeon and other friends."* This distinction was purchased at the sacrifice of health and life. Were I,' he said, 'to paint Fame crowning an under-graduate after the senate-house examination, I would represent him as concealing a death's head under the mask of beauty.' He went to London to recruit his shattered nerves and spirits; but on his return to college, he was so completely ill that no power of medicine could save him. He died on the 19th of October 1806. Mr Southey continued his regard for White after his untimely death. He wrote a sketch of his life and edited his Remains, which proved to be highly popular, passing through a great number of editions. A tablet to Henry's memory, with a medallion by Chantrey, was placed in All Saints' church, Cambridge, by a young American gentleman, Mr Francis Boot of Boston, and bearing the following inscription-so expressive of the tenderness and regret universally felt towards the poet-by Professor Smyth : Warm with fond hope and learning's sacred flame, He told the tale, and showed what White had been; *Southey's Memoir prefixed to Remains of H. K. White. Byron has also consecrated some beautiful lines to the memory of White. Mr Southey considers that the death of the young poet is to be lamented as a loss to English literature. To society, and particularly to the church, it was a greater misfortune. The poetry of Henry was all written before his twentieth year, and hence should not be severely judged. If compared, however, with the strains of Cowley or Chatterton at an earlier age, it will be seen to be inferior in this, that no indications are given of great future genius. There are no seeds or traces of grand conceptions and designs, no fragments of wild original imagination, as in the marvellous boy' of Bristol. His poetry is fluent and correct, distinguished by a plaintive tenderness and reflection, and pleasing powers of fancy and description. Whether force and originality would have come with manhood and learning, is a point which, notwithstanding the example of Byron (a very different mind), may fairly be doubted. It is enough, however, for Henry Kirke White to have afforded one of the finest examples on record of youthful talent and perseverance devoted to the purest and noblest objects. Once on the raging seas I rode, The storm was loud-the night was dark; The ocean yawned-and rudely blowed The wind that tossed my foundering bark. Deep horror then my vitals froze, Death-struck, I ceased the tide to stem; When suddenly a star arose, It was the Star of Bethlehem. It was my guide, my light, my all, It bade my dark forebodings cease; Now safely moored-my perils o'er, The Star-the Star of Bethlehem ! A Hymn for Family Worship. O Lord! another day is flown, Are met once more before thy throne, And wilt thou bend a listening ear And, Jesus, thou thy smiles wilt deign, For thou didst bless the infant train, O let thy grace perform its part, Thus chastened, cleansed, entirely thine, The Sun of Holiness shall shine And thou wilt turn our wandering feet, The Christiad. [Concluding stanzas, written shortly before his death.] Thus far have I pursued my solemn theme, With self-rewarding toil; thus far have sung Of godlike deeds, far loftier than beseem The lyre which I in early days have strung; And now my spirits faint, and I have hung The shell, that solaced me in saddest hour, On the dark cypress; and the strings which rung With Jesus' praise, their harpings now are o'er, Or, when the breeze comes by, moan, and are heard no more. And must the harp of Judah sleep again? Thou who dost listen when the humble pray, The Shipwrecked Solitary's Song.-To the Night. The winds are whistling o'er the wolds, Sweet is the scented gale of morn, That marks thy mournful reign. I've passed here many a lonely year, And I have lingered in the shade, To sing my evening song. And I have hailed the gray morn high To hymns of harmony. But never could I tune my reed, I hailed thy star-beam mild. The day-spring brings not joy to me, And then I talk, and often think And oh! I am not then alone A solitary man. And when the blustering winter winds Howl in the woods that clothe my cave, I lay me on my lonely mat, And pleasant are my dreams. And Fancy gives me back my wife; And all its placid joys. Then hateful is the morning hour JAMES GRAHAME. in the year 1765. He studied the law, and practised The REV. JAMES GRAHAME was born in Glasgow at the Scottish bar for several years, but afterwards took orders in the Church of England, and was successively curate of Shipton, in Gloucestershire, and of Sedgefield, in the county of Durham. Ill health compelled him to abandon his curacy when his virtues and talents had attracted notice and rendered him a popular and useful preacher; and on revisiting Scotland, he died on the 14th of September 1811. The works of Grahame consist of Mary Queen of Scotland, a dramatic poem published in 1801; The Sabbath, Sabbath Walks, Biblical Pictures, The Birds of Scotland, and British Georgics, all in blank verse. The Sabbath' is the best of his productions, and the "Georgics' the least interesting; for though the latter contains some fine descriptions, the poet is too minute and too practical in his rural lessons. The amiable personal feelings of the author constantly appear. He thus warmly and tenderly apostrophises his native country:— How pleasant came thy rushing, silver Tweed! Dear land, thy bonny braes, thy dales, And this oft-pausing heart forget to throb, An anecdote is related of the modest poet connected with the publication of the Sabbath, which affords an interesting illustration of his character. He had not prefixed his name to the work, nor acquainted his family with the secret of its composition, and taking a copy of the volume home with him one day. he left it on the table. His wife began reading it, while the sensitive author walked up and down the room; and at length she broke out into praise of the poem, adding, Ah, James, if you could but produce a poem like this! The joyful acknowledgment of his being the author was then made, no doubt with the most exquisite pleasure on both sides. Grahame in some respects resembles Cowper. He has no humour or satire, it is true, but the same powers of close and happy observation which the poet of Olney applied to English scenery, were directed by Grahame to that of Scotland, and both were strictly devout and national poets. There is no author, excepting Burns, whom an intelligent Scotsman, resident abroad, would read with more delight than Grahame. The ordinary features of the Scottish landscape he portrays truly and distinctly, without exaggeration, and often imparting to his descriptions a feeling of tenderness or solemnity. He has, however, many poor prosaic lines, and his versification generally wants ease and variety. He was content with humble things; but he paints the charms of a retired cottage life, the sacred calm of a Sabbath morning, a walk in the fields, or even a bird's nest, with such unfeigned delight and accurate observation, that the reader is constrained to see and feel with his author, to rejoice in the elements of poetry and meditation that are scattered around him, existing in the humblest objects, and in those humane and pious sentiments which impart to external nature a moral interest and beauty. The religion of Grahame was not sectarian; he was equally impressed with the lofty ritual of the English church, and the simple hill worship of the Covenanters. He is sometimes gloomy in his seriousness, from intense religious anxiety or sympathy with his fellow-men suffering under oppression or misfortune, but he has less of this harsh fruit, Picked from the thorns and briers of reproof, than his brother poet Cowper. His prevailing tone is that of implicit trust in the goodness of God, and enjoyment in his creation. [From the Sabbath.] How still the morning of the hallowed day! With dove-like wings Peace o'er yon village broods: But now his steps a welcome sound recalls: Solemn the knell, from yonder ancient pile, Fills all the air, inspiring joyful awe: Slowly the throng moves o'er the tomb-paved ground; The aged man, the bowed down, the blind Led by the thoughtless boy, and he who breathes With pain, and eyes the new-made grave, well-pleased; These, mingled with the young, the gay, approach The house of God-these, spite of all their ills, A glow of gladness feel; with silent praise They enter in ; a placid stillness reigns, Until the man of God, worthy the name, Opens the book, and reverentially The stated portion reads. A pause ensues. The organ breathes its distant thunder-notes, Then swells into a diapason full: The people rising sing, with harp, with harp, : While liquid whispers from yon orphan band, That homage should be paid to the Most High; Nor yet less pleasing at the heavenly throne, To death-old men, and youths, and simple maids. The upland moors, where rivers, there but brooks, With green sward gay, and flowers that strangers seemn And on the distant cairns, the watcher's ear Of night, save when the wintry storm raved fierce, But wood and wild, the mountain and the dale, Ah me! these youthful bearers robed in white, * 62 |