With regard to simplicity, I should hold myself much indebted to any individual who would point out to me, in the whole compass of poetry, one single passage by which, in this respect, the motto of my letter has ever been exceeded. Though the expression be plain and unaffected, there is nothing that borders upon meanness; and, although it is copious, there is nothing redundant-though it is level with the capacity of a child, it extorts admiration from the wisdom of old age.

"Let us now see how excellent is the versification, and how well it is suited to the meaning which the words are intended to convey. The author's purpose was certainly to awaken the finer sensibilities of the soul, to show us how suddenly the life of mortals passeth away, and how many there are who seem to have existed, merely that they might, by their fall, give a lustre to others. How admirably the flow of the verse in consideration is calculated to suggest these ideas, the most undistinguishing and most unpractised ear cannot but discern; for, besides that there is in the general run of the line something most musically mournful and melancholy, the cæsura after the first foot has wonderfully tended to promote this effect. The reader naturally expects, after a dactyl, to rest upon a long syllable, but here he is unhappily deceived, and the ground, which he imagined to be firm, sinks as it were beneath him. How ingeniously does this illustrate the case of mankind, who are apt to regard this life as a permanent possession, but soon find that they have leaned upon a reed.

Lastly, let us consider this line with regard to the pathetic for my own part, I could scarcely ever peruse it without shedding tears. If there be a man

who would feel no emotion in reading over an enumeration of personages, whose existence is never mentioned but once, and that only in order to tell you how it was concluded, I should be apt, against such a one, to exclaim with my favorite author,

duris genuit te cautibus horrens

Caucasus, Hircanæque admórunt ubera tigres.'

Caucasus, with rocks

Horrid, disclosed him from his flinty sides,
And fierce Hyrcanian tigers gave him suck.'

TRAPP.

Supposing, however, that people of this disposition are rarely to be met with, I shall take the liberty of addressing myself to my reader, as to one who will think and sympathize with me; gentle, therefore, and courteous, as I take thee to be, I cannot but imagine that thou art troubled with the same melancholy reflections as I am, whenever thou beholdest a catalogue of persons who are supposed indeed to have existed, but of whom history has left us no trace or memorial except their names. For my part, I must confess that no invention of poets, however artful-no tale of novelists, however tenderno eloquence of orators, however elaborate-no narrative of historians, however tragical-has such power to work upon my affections, as the simple and unadorned pages of a parish register. If I should attempt to account for this effect, I would refer it to two causes; the one, as they tend to inspire us with melancholy and mortifying ideas of human nature itself and the other, as they bring home a painful trnth to the bosom of almost every individual. Considering how small is the number of persons, whose superior qualifications of intellect or body can enable them to survive the lapse of a single century, there

are surely few, whose endowments, whether fancied or real, can prevent them from ranking themselves in the number of those who are soon to be forgotten. In reading those affecting catalogues of the living and the dead, which are to be met with in almost every village of the kingdom, we are apt, upon recollecting the truth of the above observation, to put this simple question to ourselves, Have I any reason to suppose that nature has bestowed upon me such pre-eminence of mind or body, as may rescue my name from that oblivion which is the general lot of humanity?' Here vanity and ambition tempt me to say Yes; but truth, like Tisiphone, stares me in the face till I am compelled to answer No.

"Dreary as this idea may be, perhaps we are little less mortified, when we turn from ourselves in order to survey the world at large, to reflect, that amidst so many millions, so inconsiderable a portion should be able to erect for themselves a memorial of a thousand years-that few have wanted the vanity to aspire to what still fewer have had the felicity to succeed in-that the same end has been attempted by means diametrically opposite-and that the most laborious efforts of virtue and vice, of laudable and perverted ambition, have often been exhausted in vain.

"Indeed, the idea of being utterly forgotten after death is so repugnant to the first and ruling principles of our nature, that I am little surprised at the extravagant audacity of that man, who, resolving to be known to posterity, seized, probably, upon the only method which lay within the reach of his abilities, by setting fire to the magnificent temple at Ephesus. The desire of being distinguished when we are present, and of being remembered when we are

absent, is the first passion which discovers itself in our youth, and the last which adheres to us in our old age. You, sir, must frequently have observed how fond the citizens of your little world are of carving their names upon every form and wainscot in the school. Though this I know is apt to inflame the breast of a master with wrath and indignation, I cannot but confess, that, to my mind, it suggests a number of melancholy and pleasing ideas. The sight of these curious engravings brings naturally to my recollection that I was lately at school myself-that I was engaged in the same amusements and pursuits with those around me-that I took the same methods to immortalize my name which they have doneand that I failed in the attempt, which they too may find to have been the case with themselves hereafter.

"In order to show how firmly this desire of immortality is retained by us in the last period of our existence, I cannot help mentioning Mr. Powel, the fire-eater, whom I remember to have seen when at Eton. This gentleman, after having amused himself with eating lead, brimstone, and sealing wax, melted down together, observed to the company, that he was advancing, by very rapid strides, towards that undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns.' He consoled himself, however, with the idea, that the miracle he was performing upon his body, would be retained with joy in the memories of the spectators at a time when that body should be lying in the dust. Trivial as, to some philosophers, may appear to have been the object of this man's ambition, 1 cannot help thinking that this was the ointment which counteracted the natural influence of the lava which he had been devouring; for it is with

difficulty that I can conceive a person undergoing such painful operations, and contenting himself with such unpalatable food, unless he was instigated by some greater inducement than the trifling emoluments accruing from his exhibitions.

"Here I cannot help staying to pay my tribute of applause to the worth of so great a man. However some people may affect to despise the object of Mr. Powel's ambition, I shall make it my business to show that it was not inconsistent with the dignity of a man, a philosopher, and a Christian. How many stoics have consigned their names to immortality, without any pretensions to those sublime virtues which are conspicuous in the character of Mr. Powel? It was the highest boast of a stoic that he could look with adamantine indifference on the death of his nearest relations;-in how much more amiable, and how much more heroic, a light does the conduct of Mr. Powel appear to us! So far from steeling his heart with the unnatural apathy of a stoic, he exulted in the warm benevolence of a Christian, and submitted to the most fiery trials, merely to entertain those with whom he had not the most distant connexion. By way of corollary, (to use a term in mathematics,) what would not this man have undergone to serve his friends? If we might reason from arguments a fortiori, we should conclude that he would have rejoiced to follow even Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. After what I have said, I should imagine that few will deny to Mr. Powel, the merit of patience the most enduring, combined with a philanthropy the most comprehensive. There is another virtue in which I think the character of Mr. Powel may stand in competition with that of the