her attendance at the lectures, and was known to, and upon terms of friendship with, most of the professors. She used to take very full notes of the lectures; and was in the habit, on her return home, of writing out, from those notes, aided by her excellent memory, the entire lecture; so that she accumulated a vast mass of scientific matter; imprinted upon her mind a great deal of valuable information; was a good geologist, mineralogist, and theoretic chemist; and, in fact, with the exception of mathematical knowledge, became familiar with almost the whole circle of science and literature. She was also no mean draughts-woman; although her efforts that way were principally confined to making architectural outlines for her father; many of which were of great beauty. Nor did Miss Porden neglect those qualifications which are more peculiarly feminine. She could ply her needle with great dexterity, both usefully and ornamentally; and some crystals formed by the candied syrup of a of a pineapple of her preserving were thought worthy of being introduced in a lecture by Mr. Professor Brande, at the Royal Institution. It is a little singular that, although her ear was nicely sensible of the harmony of poetical numbers, she had not the slightest relish for, or knowledge of, music. Not only was she unable to distinguish one tune from another; but she never remarked any change in time or measure. In dancing, she regulated her steps by counting; any variation in the time, or any error in playing the tune, she was wholly unconscious of; and would go on with the figure, counting away till she reached the end of the dance; to the great amusement of her young friends.

But it was by her poetical genius that Miss Porden was especially distinguished. It developed itself at a very early age. A number of his literary and scientific friends used to assemble at Mr. Porden's house once a fortnight. The recollection of the amusement which "The Salt-Box" had afforded at Eaton, induced Mr. Porden to establish a similar mode of collecting the fugitive productions of this social party, but under the name of " The Tea-Chest;" which name, in con

sequence of Lord Elgin's having presented Mr. Porden with some of the Greek fir that formed the packages in which the Elgin marbles had been brought from Athens, of which fir a neat little box was constructed for the purpose, was afterwards changed to that of "The Attic Chest." Miss Porden was the editor of "The Tea-Chest," and the "Attic Chest," and a paper consisting of the selected contributions was read by her at every meeting. Her own compositions, however, which were both of a lively and of a serious character, were the chief support of the society. Those of her friends who were competent to judge of their merit, and she was so fortunate as to enjoy the acquaintance of many such, were delighted with the spirit and feeling which she displayed, and with the ease and elegance of her versification.

When about seventeen years of age, Miss Porden wrote her poem called "The Veils; or the Triumph of Constancy," as a contribution to "The Tea-Chest." It met with such applause from her friends, that she was induced to revise and enlarge it; and in 1815 to publish it in six cantos, with a dedication to Lavinia, Countess Spencer. The preface, relating the origin and explaining the nature of the poem, is as follows:

"A young lady, one of the members of a small society which meets periodically for literary amusement, lost her veil (by a gust of wind) as she was gathering shells on the coast of Norfolk. This incident gave rise to the following poem, which was originally written in short cantos, and afterwards extended and modelled into the form in which it is now respectfully submitted to the public. The author, who considers herself a pupil of the Royal Institution, being at that time attending the lectures given in Albemarle-street, on chemistry, geology, natural history, and botany, by Sir Humphry Davy, Mr. Brande, Dr. Roget, Sir James Edward Smith, and other eminent men, she was induced to combine these subjects with her story; and though her knowledge of them was in a great measure orally acquired, and therefore cannot pretend to be extensive or profound, yet, as it was derived

from the best teachers, she hopes it will seldom be found

incorrect.

"The machinery is founded on the Rosicrusian doctrine, which peoples each of the four elements with a peculiar class of spirits, a system introduced into poetry by Pope, and since used by Darwin, in "The Botanic Garden;" but the author believes that the ideal beings of these two distinguished writers will not be found to differ more from each other, than from those called into action in the ensuing poem. She has there endeavoured to show them as representing the different energies of nature, exerted in producing the various changes that take place in the physical world; but the plan of her poem did not permit her to exhibit them to any considerable extent. On the Rosicrusian mythology, a system of poetical machinery might be constructed of the highest character; but the person who directs its operations should possess the scientific knowledge of Sir Humphry Davy, and the energy and imagination of Lord Byron and Mr. Scott.

"In personifying the metals and minerals, and the agency of fire, the author has generally taken her names from the Greek language; but as it was impossible to avoid the nomenclature of modern chemistry, she requests, on the plea of necessity, the indulgence of her readers for what she fears will be felt as a barbarous mixture."

This extraordinary work possesses a combination of scientific knowledge and poetical beauty, which, we believe, is entirely unparalleled. Miss Porden operated upon her apparently stubborn, and sometimes even repulsive materials, with a masterly hand; and proved that the most unpromising topics of dry, experimental fact, passing through a mind of taste and feeling, become susceptible of receiving all the graceful decoration which would seem to be peculiar to subjects of pure imagination and fancy.

Three years afterwards appeared an interesting little poetitical tribute, under the name of "The Arctic Expedition," to the gallant adventurers who were engaged in one of the most perilous enterprizes by which the present age has been dis

tinguished. The subject had long been a favourite one with Miss Porden; but the immediate poem in question was suggested by a visit to the Isabella and Alexander, discovery ships; and this circumstance led to the acquaintance with Captain Franklin, which terminated in marriage. Another effusion of Miss Porden's muse was "An Ode on the Coronation of His Most Gracious Majesty George the Fourth, in July 1821;" the circulation of which we believe was rather private. This Ode, and another which Miss Porden addressed to Lord Belgrave upon his marriage with a daughter of the house of Stafford, show the extensive acquaintance which she possessed with the early history of her own country, as well as her judgment in the application of her knowledge.

But Miss Porden's grand work, " Cœur de Lion; or the Third Crusade;" a poem, in sixteen books; and which is certainly one of the greatest efforts of a female pen in the annals of English literature, was published in 1822. It is dedicated, by permission, to His Majesty; a distinction which it richly deserves. The subject, as was justly observed in the "Literary Gazette," is certainly one of uncommon interest, and one also which offers every facility for the display of poetical powers. Religion, love, war, chivalry, romance, superstition, Oriental splendour, and European adventure; the camp, the ocean, scenery the most diversified, and passions the most varied, all combine into one grand whole, and demand the noblest soarings of the muse. But Miss Porden has herself described both the attractions and the difficulties of her undertaking, in the following Preface, which also briefly narrates the chief occurrences that were the precursors of the action of the

poem.

"The greatness of an enterprize, while it increases the dif fidence of an author, almost destroys the right of apology. If, in attempting to celebrate the heroic achievements of Richard Cœur de Lion in Palestine, and the events of the Third Crusade, I have ventured beyond my strength, I can only say that my fancy was captivated by the chivalrous and romantic

spirit which breathes from every page of their history; and that in the wish to see them poetically treated, I forgot my own deficiences, and also that much of the necessary information was to be derived from sources almost inaccessible to a female.

"The character of Richard has, I think, been a little unfairly delineated; and especially as respects his engagements in the Holy War. It is absurd to try the justice or the prudence of the crusades by the feelings and opinions of the nineteenth century, and it is almost impossible to estimate what were or were not the advantages which Europe ultimately derived from its consequent intercourse with Asia. Every page of our old chronicles bears record of the darkness and ignorance which then enveloped even the most civilized nations of the West. Fanaticism and valour were the ruling spirits of the middle ages; and while we deplore the myriads of human victims that were sacrificed for the temporary possession of a narrow territory in Asia, we ought to remember that many of them would otherwise have fallen in feudal and intestine war; and that when the sword of bigotry reposed for a moment from the task of exterminating the followers of Mahommed, it was never without an object of persecution among the heretics of Europe. If Richard drained his kingdom of its bravest warriors and richest treasures to lose them both in Palestine, in a contest which advantaged neither himself nor his realm, we must not forget that it was for the attainment of all which was then believed most precious; in obedience to an authority which he was taught to consider infallible, and to the still stronger voice of universal enthusiasm, which pointed out the pilgrimage to Palestine as the atonement for the greatest crimes; the certain path of salvation. The bravest princes of Christendom were his comrades and his rivals; and had he only remained in Europe, his contemporaries would not have applauded his prudence, but have reproached him as a coward, and as a traitor to his honour and his God. He has been accused of showing more of the brutal courage of a soldier than the skill of a leader; but personal prowess was then