this state of things. His letters are indeed occasionally filled with indications of a sorrow that lies deep; but it is at least a chastened and submissive sorrow. He is drawn out by his religious friends, rather than impelled from within, first into a participation in the external ordinances, and afterwards into the active duties of Christianity. At length, great part of his time is occupied in the public advocacy of missions to the heathen, and of catholic charities at home. His catholicity is exemplary, and was doubtless powerfully felt by the various bodies of religionists who competed for, and easily obtained, his assistance. He was also occupied, as chairman and member of local committees, with the business of every important social and sanitary improvement in Sheffield. The "Iris " appears to have grown a greater source of anxiety to him as he rose in spirit high above the level of local and petty controversies. In 1825, he disposed of the newspaper, and gave himself the liberty he had long required. He afterwards appeared as a public lecturer at the leading literary institutions throughout the country. In 1835 his Lives of Dante and Ariosto were issued in Lardner's "Cabinet Cyclopedia." In the same year he received unexpectedly, as the very last act of the retiring minister of opposite politics, Sir Robert Peel, a royal pension of L.150 a-year. Next year he removed his residence from the old house in the Hartshead, where the bookselling business of the Misses Gales, and the printing and publishing of the "Iris," had so long been carried on, to a new and greatly superior residence at "The Mount." Two of the Misses Gales still remained, and these, with the poet and their domestics, formed the household. One of the ladies was so helpless and invalid as to be a great burden to the other, and a source of trouble to the tender sympathy of the poet. "Here," he says, " at the Mount, we are creeping up, or shall I say down, the 'Hill of Difficulty.'" Hia language is still sometimes very doleful. He cannot forget how much better his life might have been; and yet he speaks and writes cheerfully in respect of the better hope. In 1841 he visits Scotland. His appearance at that time is thus portrayed by the master-hand of the "Witness:"—" His appearance speaks of antiquity, but not of decay. His locks have assumed a snowy whiteness, and the lofty and full arched coronal region exhibits what a brother poet has well termed the 'clear bald polish of the honoured head;' but the expression of the countenance is that of middle life. It is a clear, thin, speaking countenance; the features are high, the complexion fresh, though not ruddy, and age has failed to pucker either cheek or forehead with a single wrinkle B CONTEXTS. Miscellaneous—(Continued.) Page Lines written under a Drawing of Yardley Oak, 272 Song—"When friendship, love, and truth abound," 273 Religion—" Through shades and solitudes," &c, 274 The Joy of Grief—"Sweet the hour of tribulation," 275 The Battle of Alexandria—" Harpof Menmon," &c, 277 The Pillow—" The head that oft this pillow," &c. To the Memory of Joseph Browne of Lothersdale, The Thunder Storm—" O for evening's," &c, Ode to the Volunteers of Britain—"O for the," &c, 289 The Vigil of St Mark—" Returning from," &c, 292 Hannah—" At fond sixteen my roving heart," 297 A Field Flower—" There is a flower, a little flower," 299 The Snowdrop—" Winter retire," . . 300 The Harp of Sorrow—" I gave my harp to," &c, 309 Pope's Willow—" Ere Pope resign'd his," &c, 311 A Walk in Spring—" I wander'd in a lonely glade,' The Swiss Cowherd's Song in a Foreign Land, The Oak—" The tall oak towering to the skies," The Dial—" This shadow on the dial's face," The Roses—" Two roses on one slender spray," To Agnes—" Time will not check his eager flight," 322 An Epitaph—" Art thou a man of honest mould," 322 The Old Man's Song—" Shall man of frail," &c, The Glowworm—" When evening closes," &c, Bolehill Trees—"Now peace to his ashes," &c, The Molehill—['Tell me, thou dust beneath," &c, 327 The Castaway Ship—" A vessel sail'd from," &c, 333 „ The Sequel, " He sought his sire," MS. To the Memory of a Female—" My song," &c To Ann and Jane—" When the shades," &c, Ode for Royal British System of Education,. A Daughter to her Mother—" This the day," &c, On Chatterton—" A dying swan of Pindus sings," A Night in a Stage Coach—" I travel all," &c, The Reign of Spring—" Who loves not," &c, „ Summer—" The hurricanes," dec, Incognita—" Image of one who lived of yore," The Little Cloud—" The summer sun," To Celia—" Where sorrow and solitude reign," On the Death of the Royal InfarV!—"A throne," &c, Command Thy blessing from above, . Jesus, our best beloved friend, Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, Thus far on life's perplexing path, The God of nature and of grace, In a land of strange delight, . The morning dawns upon the plaoe, . What are these in bright array, What is the world? a wildering maze, Heaven is a place of rest from sin, . |