no sons to bear their father's honors-lineage and name again merged in the undistinguished mass of mediocrity. In his domestic life, Moore appears to have been peculiarly happy. The sacred ties of love and home seem never to have been rudely torn apart; and though, doubtless, many of their links have been severed by death, and, one by one, dear and venerable forms have been consigned to the grave, yet in the holy tears that embalm their memories the bitterness of death is not-and to use the poet's own beautiful thought, visible in Rogers and Moore) now remain, been peculiarly grating to the sensitive mind of Moore, who, after returning thanks for the toast of "Thomas Moore and the Bards of Ireland," took occasion to say he observed that his Honorable friend in the chair had several times during the evening, when speaking of Scotland's noblest Bard, characterized him as the distinguished peasant, the illustrious ploughman. "But, gentlemen!" said he, kindling as he spoke, "it signifies nothing to genius whether it is Byron the PEER, or Burns the PLOUGHMAN! for, to use his own energetic language, (striking his breast, and throwing his arm quivering and indignantly upward,) "the rank is but the guinea stamp; the man's the gowd!" then pausing, while the immense hall rang with such plaudits as it never did before, he sat down without another word, well knowing, that he could not surpass the electric effect already produced, which had evidently thrilled the inmost heart of his hearers. "You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." Mrs. Moore, the beautiful Miss Dyke of his theatrical days, still survives, sharing with her husband the peaceful cottage near Devizes, hallowed by long years of wedded happiness. Byron, in one of his gay postscripts to Moore, May 20, 1812, says, "My best wishes and respects to Mrs. Moore,-she is beautiful. I may say so even to you, for I never was more struck with a countenance." In his own person, Moore was small, well-proportioned, and compact; with head erect, countenance florid and animated, and eyes full of the genuine Milesian fire and brilliancy. When excited, the energy of his manner, the spirit which beamed in every feature, the varying tones of his expressive voice rendered him perfectly irresistible-a person once seen who must ever afterwards be remembered with admiration and interest. On one occasion, at a splendid banquet in London, got up for the purpose of obtaining subscriptions to erect a monument at Ayr to the memory of Burns, at which the Duke of Sussex presided, and which was numerously attended by many of the nobility and most distinguished literary and scientific men of the day, Sir James Mackintosh, after the departure of His Royal Highness, took the chair, and frequently during the evening, when speaking of Burns, designated him as the distinguished peasant the illustrious ploughman, with an iteration that was any thing but pleasing to many of the company, and must have The mental powers of Moore were of the highest order, sensibilities the most acute, boundless imagination, sparkling wit, keen judgment, and knowledge the most varied and extensive, the whole enriched by cultivation, and adorned by all the delicacies and refinements of art. The fascination of his poetry consists in the power it possesses of touching the tenderest chords of the heart, of awakening its finest sensibilities and its holiest fires. The grandeur of his ideas is everywhere apparent; while in the melodious flow of his verse, the exquisite beauty and variety of his similes, the polish and harmony of his numbers, he has never been surpassed. To gifts and acquirements like these was united a noble and generous nature, a heart full of kindly affections and benevolent purposes, which, although continually thwarted by the proverbial waywardness of fortune to her poetic sons, he yet found means perpetually to ex ercise and gratify. Mr. Burton, the inimitable comedian of New York, whose name instantly converts the gra vest American countenance into a comic mask, relates, with a feeling that does him honor, the following anecdote. "Many years ago, while travelling in the south of England, a violent attack of fever and ague compelled him to remain some time at the inn at Devizes, celebrated as being the birthplace and early home of Sir Thomas Lawrence, the distinguished artist, whose father was formerly its landlord. Here, in the very room in which the great painter was born, did the unlucky traveller experience for many weeks, the scorching and shuddering alternations of his torturing malady. In the intervals of the paroxysms, with just strength enough to crawl from the bed to the window; he would there sit for hours, listlessly gazing, with blank and melancholy visage, on the passers-by, vainly longing to recognise among them some familiar facehis spirits weighed down by that dreadful nervous depression which is one of the most horrible accompaniments of the disease. The library of the landlady, although entirely at his service, consisted but of two books, which, soon cast aside, left him even more hopeless and desponding than before. The poor little window and dull street, with its unknown passengers, being after all, the only links that seemed to connect him with the living. One rainy day, while seated as usual gloomily ruminating on all the misfortunes that had ever befallen him, he saw a short farmer-looking personage, closely buttoned up in a rough duffel coat, and mounted on a strong little pony, briskly trotting up to the door; dismounting, he ascended the staircase, and soon made his appearance in the chamber, kindly shaking the invalid by the hand, and introducing himself by saying the landlady had informed him a sick gentleman was in her house who wished for some books; these he had called to offer, and any thing else which might be acceptable. Overcome with such unexpected kindness, it was some time before Mr. Burton could summon sufficient strength to utter more than a few unconnected sentences; but the honest countenance, and frank manner of his new guest, added to the unmistakable signs of a mind and heart which needed 'not the guinea stamp' to heighten their lustre, soon banished all reserve, and a lively conversation ensued that for some time flowed on most agreeably. At length the visitor rose to depart, and was disappearing through the doorway ere Mr. Burton had recollected to ask his name. This he now did, and as his new friend with a merry twinkle of his eye, said, 'Oh, my name is Moore, and I live close by, at Sloperton,' the pleasurable surprise of the announcement may be readily imagined; as likewise that so agreeable an incident, followed up as it was by many succeeding interviews, in which Moore played and sung to him, besides a thousand little acts of generosity and goodness, did more towards banishing the fever and ague than could have been accomplished by the whole College of Physicians." In this little anecdote is made evident that rare union of fine qualities which gave to his manner that inexpressible charm which made so deep an impression on all with whom he associated. Scott says, "There is a manly frankness about Moore which is delightful. Not the least touch of the poet or the pedant. His countenance is plain, but the expression so animated, especially in speaking or singing, that it is far more interesting than the finest features could have rendered it. Byron says, "Moore is the only poet I know whose conversation equals his writings; he comes into society with a mind as fresh and buoyant as if he had not expended such a multiplicity of thoughts on paper, and leaves behind him an impression that he possesses an inexhaustible mine equally brilliant as the specimens he has given us. No one writes songs like Moore, and I know no greater treat than to hear him sing his own compositions; the powerful expression he gives to them, and the pathos of the tones of his voice, tend to produce an effect on my feelings that no other songs or singers ever could." James Hogg, that most unsophisticated of mortals, had no such love or admiration for Erin's bard, but as Scott relates, "opines with delightful naivete, that 'Muir's verses are far owre sweet,'-answered by Thomson, that Moore's ear or notes, I forget which, were finely strung. 'They are far owre finely strung,' replied he of the forest, 'for mine are just right.'' NOTES. (1) Some confused notion of this fact has led the writer of a Memoir prefixed to the "Pocket Edition" of my Poems, printed at Zwickau, to state that Brinsley Sheridan was my tutor : -Great attention was paid to his education by his tutor, Sheridan." Appointed Provost of the University in the year 1799, and made afterwards Bishop of Ossory. (3) When the monument to Provost Baldwin, which stands in the hall of the college of Dublin, arrived from Italy, there came in the same packing-case with it two copies of this work of Spaletti, one of which was presented by Dr. Troy, the Roman Catholic Archbishop, as a gift from the Pope to the Library of the University, and the other (of which I was subsequently favored with the use) he presented, in like manner, to my friend, Dr. Kearney. Thus, curiously enough, while Anacreon in English was considered—and, I grant, on no unreasonable grounds-as a work to which grave collegiate authorities could not openly lend their sanction, Anacreon in Greek was thought no unfitting present to be received by a Protestant bishop, through the medium of a Catholic archbishop, from the hands of his holiness, the Pope. (4) Fragments of Voyages and Travels, vol. ii. chap. vi. (5) A representation of this calabash, taken from a drawing of it made on the spot, by Dr. Savage of the Royal Artillery, has been introduced in the vignette prefixed to the second volume of the edition in ten volumes. (6) The Commodore of the Lakes, as he is styled. (7) The first two sentences of the above paragraph, as well as a passage that occurs in the subsequent column, stood originally as part of the Notes on one of the American Poems. (8) Introduced in the Epistle to Lady Charlotte Rawdon, vol. ii. p. 155 of this edition. (9) This brave and amiable officer was killed at Queenston, in Upper Canada, soon after the commencement of the war with America, in the year 1812. He was in the act of cheering on his men when he fell. The inscription on the monument raised to his memory, on Queenston Heights, does but due honor to his manly character. (10)It is singularly gratifying," the author adds, " to discover that, to this hour, the Canadian voyageurs never omit their offerings to the shrine of St. Anne, before engaging in any enterprise; and that during its performance, they omit no opportunity of keeping up so propitious an intercourse. The flourishing village which surrounds the church on the 'Green Isle' in question owes its existence and support entirely to these pious contributions." (11) Bolingbroke himself acknowledges that "both parties were become factions, in the strict sense of the word." (12) Vol. iii. p. 342. (13) The Standard, August 24, 1835. (14) (15) "The same fauteuils and girandoles- The same bright river, 'mong the dishes, (It being rather hard to raise Fish of that specie now-a-days) Some sprats have been, by Yarmouth's wish, And gudgeons (so Vansittart told Twopenny Post-Bag. "Ante fores stabat Jovis Hospitis ara." OVID. (16) Edinburgh Review, No. cxxxv., George the Fourth and Queen Caroline-When the Prince entered upon public life, he was found to have exhausted the resources of a career of pleasure; to have gained followers without making friends; to have acquired much envy and some admiration among the unthinking multitude of polished society; but not to command in any quarter either respect or esteem...... The portrait which we have painted of him is undoubtedly one of the darkest shade and most repulsive form." (17) "There is no doubt whatever that The Book, written by Mr. Perceval, and privately printed at his house, under Lord Eldon's superintendence and his own, was prepared in concert with the King, and was intended to sound the alarm against Carlton House and the Whigs."— Ed. Review, ib. (18) Twopenny Post-Bag. I avail myself of the mention here of this latter squib, to recant a correction which I too hastily made in the two following lines of it : "And, though statesmen may glory in being unbought, In an author, we think, sir, that's rather a fault." Forgetting that Pope's ear was satisfied with the sort of rhyme here used, I foolishly altered (and spoiled) the whole couplet to get rid of it. 66 (19) See, for instance," says Mr. Lockhart, "the Epistle of Lady Cork; or that of Messrs. Lackington, booksellers, to one of their dandy authors: "Should you feel any touch of poetical glow, We've a scheme to suggest:-Mr. Scott, you must know, (Who, we're sorry to say it, now works for the Row,) Having quitted the Borders, to seek new renown, Is coming, by long Quarto stages, to Town; And beginning with Rokeby (the job's sure to pay) Means to do all the Gentlemen's Seats on the way. Now, the scheme is (though none of our hackneys can beat him) To start a fresh Poet through Highgate to meet him; (27) Of the depth and extent to which Hudson had involved himself in the conspiracy, none of our family had harbored the least notion; till, on the seizure of the thirteen Leinster delegates, at Oliver Bond's, in the month of March, 1798, we found, to our astonishment and sorrow, that he was one of the number. To those unread in the painful history of this period, it is right to mention that almost all the leaders of the United Irish conspiracy were Protestants. Among those companions of my own alluded to in these pages, I scarcely remember a single Catholic. 1 (28) In the Report from the Secret Committee of the Irish House of Lords, this extension of the plot to the college is noticed as "a desperate project of the same faction to corrupt the youth of the country by introducing their organized system of treason into the University." (29) One of these brothers has long been a general in the French army; having taken a part in all those great enterprises of Napoleon which have now become matter of history. Should these pages meet the eye of General ** they will call to his mind the days we passed together in Normandy, a few summers since ;-more especially our excursion to Bayeux, when, as we talked on the way of old college times and friends, all the eventful and stormy scenes he had passed through since seemed quite forgotten. (30) There had been two questions put to all those examined on the first day,-" Were you ever asked to join any of these societies?" and "By whom were you asked ?"—which I should have refused to answer, and must, of course, have abided the consequences. (31) For the correctness of the above report of this short examination, I can pretty confidentially answer. It may amuse, herefore, my readers,--as showing the manner in which biographers make the most of small facts,-to see an extract or two from another account of this affair, published not many years since by an old and zealous friend of our family. After stating with tolerable correctness one or two of my answers, the writer thus proceeds:-"Upon this, Lord Clare repeated the question, and young Moore made such an appeal, as caused his lordship to relax, austere and rigid as he was. The words I cannot exactly remember; the substance was as follows:-that he entered college to receive the education of a scholar and a gentleman; that he knew not how to compromise these characters by informing against his college com .... panions; that his own speeches in the debating society had been ill construed, when the worst that could be said of them was, if truth had been spoken, that they were patriotic. that he was aware of the high-minded nobleman he had the honor of appealing to, and if his lordship could for a moment condescend to step from his high station, and place himself in his situation, then say how he would act under such circumstances, it would be his guidance."-HERBERT's Irish Varieties. London, 1836. (32) "When, in consequence of the compact entered into between government and the chief leaders of the conspiracy, the State Prisoners, before proceeding into exile, were allowed to see their friends, I paid a visit to Henry Hudson, in the jail of Kilmainham, where he had then lain immured for four or five months, hearing of friend after friend being led out to death, and expecting every week his own turn to come. I found that to amuse his solitude he had made a large drawing with charcoal on the wall of his prison, representing that fancied origin of the Irish harp which, some years after, I adopted as the subject of one of the Melodies.""-Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, vol. i. (33) Quarterly Review, vol. xli. p. 294. (34) The following is a specimen of these memorandums, as given by Foscolo:-" I must make these two verses over again, singing them, and I must transpose them-3 o'clock, a. m. 19th October." Frequently to sonnets of that time such notices as the following were prefixed:-" Intonation per Francum""Scriptor dedit sonum." (35) The late Rev. William Crowe, author of the noble poem of "Lewisden Hill," was likewise a musician, and has left a Treatise on English versification, to which his knowledge of the sister art lends a peculiar interest. So little does even the origin of the word "lyric," as applied to poetry, seem to be present to the minds of some writers, that the poet, Young, has left us an Essay on Lyric Poetry, in which there is not a single allusion to Music, from beginning to end. (36) Life by Lockhart, vol. vi. p. 128. (37) "We went to the theatre together, and the house being luckily a good one, received T. M. with rapture. I could have hugged them, for it paid back the debt of the kind reception I met with in Ireland." (38) Written by Mr. Benson Hill. (39) The writer was here mistaken. There was one lady of our party; but neither Mr. nor Mrs. Lockhart was present. (40) It appears certain, notwithstanding, that he was, in his youth, wholly insensible to music. In speaking of him and his brother, Mr. Murdoch, their preceptor, says, "Robert's ear, in particular, was remarkably dull, and his voice untunable. It was long before I could get him to distinguish one tune from another. (41) I know not whether it has ever been before remarked, that the well-known lines in one of Burns's most spirited songs, "The title's but the guinea's stamp, The man's the gold for a' that," may possibly have been suggested by the following passage in Wycherley's play, the "Country Wife :"-" I weigh the man, not his title; 'tis not the king's stamp can make the metal better." (42) I cannot let pass the incidental mention here of this |