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From pressing Want's calamitous controul,
And Pride, the fever of the ardent soul?
Ah, see, too conscious of her failing power,
She quits her Nursling in his deathful hour!
In a chill room, within whose wretched wall
No cheering voice replies to Misery's call;
Near a vile bed, too crazy to sustain
Misfortune's wasted limbs, convuls'd with pain,
On the bare floor, with heaven-directed eyes,
The hapless youth in speechless horror lies;
The poisonous vial, by distraction drain'd,
Rolls from his hand, in wild contortion strain'd
Pale with life-wasting pangs, its dire effect,
And stung to madness by the world's neglect,
He, in abhorrence of the dangerous art,
Once the dear idol of his glowing heart,

Tears from his Harp the vain detested wires,
And in the frenzy of despair expires!

Hayley.

He, therefore, who early possesses the characteristics of genius, and is desirous of placing before the public eye, its more happy effusions, should be assiduously taught the probability of ridicule, or neglect. Let not his wish to claim admiration be repressed, but let him be trained to expect it from a chosen few, and to despise the malignancy, or the apathy of the many.

The most beautiful works of imagination are the least understood, nor can an author, until he become fashionable from the recommendation of a few leading critics, meet with general applause, nor, indeed, should he either hope for, or value it. Of the multitudes who pretend to admire a Shakspeare, or a Milton, not one in a thousand, has any relish or proper conception of the author, but merely echo the opinion that reaches them, though, by a common operation of vanity, they applaud their own discernment and taste. In general, the most estimable compositions are written for posterity, and are little valued at the moment of their production. The Gerusalemme Liberata of Tasso, the Paradise Lost of Milton, and the Poems of Collins, bear testimony to the truth of the assertion.

It is, also, highly necessary to guard against those delusions which an exclusive study of works of imagination is apt to generate in a mind predisposed to poetic combination. Let the young poet be properly initiated into life, and led to mingle the severer studies with the vivid colourings of the muse, and neither

disappointment, nor melancholy will then, probably, intrude upon his useful and rational enjoyments.

To correct the sanguine expectations which young authors are too apt to form, or to divest of their too enchanting hues the dangerous and delusive pictures sketched in early life, may have its use, but it is little to be apprehended, in the present day, that the wild workings of poetic imagination should lead to that obliquity of idea which may terminate in derangement. Philosophy and science have now taken too deep root for such credulity to recur, nor is the general character of our poetry that of enthusiasm. What we have said may, however, account for the mental irregularities of a Tasso and a Collins, though, perhaps, little applicable or essential to any modern bard. The subject, nevertheless, is curious, and will, probably, be thought not altogether destitute of entertainment.

NUMBER IV.

Can music's voice, can beauty's eye,
Can painting's glowing hand supply
A charm so suited to my mind,
As blows this hollow gust of wind,

As drops this little weeping rill,

Soft trickling down the moss-grown hill,

While thro' the west where sinks the crimson day

Meek twilight slowly sails, and waves her banners

grey?

Mason.

To meliorate the sufferings of unmerited calamity, to enable us to bear up against the pressure of detraction, and the wreck of ties the most endearing, benevolent Providence hath wisely mingled, in the cup of sorrow, drops of a sweet and soothing nature. If, when the burst of passion dies away; if, when the violence of grief abates, rectitude of conduct, and just feeling be possessed, recollection

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points not the arrow of misfortune, it adds not the horrors of guilt; no, it gives birth to sensations the most pleasing, sweet, though full of sorrow, melancholy, yet delightful, which soften and which calm the mind, which heal, and pour balm into the wounded spirit. The man, whose efforts have been liberal and industrious, deserving, though unfortunate, whom poverty and oppression, whom calumny and ingratitude have brought low, feels, whilst conscious innocence dilates his breast, that secret gratulation, that self-approving and that honest pride which fits him to sustain the pangs of want and of neglect; he finds, amid the bitterest misfortunes, that virtue still can whisper peace, can comfort, and can bid the wretched smile. Thus even where penury and distress put on their sternest features, and where the necessaries of life are, with difficulty, procured, even here are found those dear emotions which arise from purity of thought and action; emotions from whose influence no misery can take away, from whose claim to possession no tyrant can detract, which the guilty being deprived of, sicken and despair, and which he who holds. fast, is comparatively blest,

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