Disease, nor pain, nor sorrowing The breezy hill-though all alone- Nor groans beneath the cares of state. On a gently rising ground The lovely valley's farthest bound, The cots in thicker clusters stood; I have crossed the ocean-wave On a British hill or brook Haply never more to hear Sounds unto my childhood dear; Bitter thoughts beyond control Soon upon the mental sight Brighter, holier, than the day; And unto that happy mood All seems beautiful and good. Though from home and friends we part, Nature and the human heart Seated on a bank of green, Gazing on an Indian scene, I have dreams the mind to cheer, Ne'er before did sea or stream Ne'er did miser's eye behold On the small waves float and quiver, And to mark the sacred hour, Of lustres ranged in glittering rows; To light the dim depths of the tide ; Though beauteously her regions glow, Never yet hath waking vision. Aught more radiant and serene ! Dearer pleasure to my heart, When Enchantment's magic wand Waves o'er this romantic land! Cossipore, Nov. 1839. This description has reference to the night of some religious festival. THE ATOSSA BRIBE. POPE AND THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. POPE left by his will, the care of his manuscripts, first to Lord Bolingbroke, and, in the event of his death, to Lord Marchmont, undoubtedly expecting, says Dr. Johnson, that they would be "proud of the trust and eager to extend his fame." It appears, however, that some time after Pope's death, Dodsley solicited preference as the publisher, and was told that the packet of papers had not been even looked at, and "whatever was the reason," adds Johnson, "the world has been disappointed of what was reserved for the next age." It is reasonable to suppose that amongst the manuscripts of Pope there must have been many interesting and valuable papers, but nothing of any value has yet appeared. Pope gave Bolingbroke the option of preserving or destroying the manuscripts, and it is probable, from the circumstances I am about to mention, that he chose the latter alternative. They never got into the possession of the Earl of Marchmont. A work entitled "A Selection from the Papers of the Earls of Marchmont," and published in 1831, by Sir George Rose, contains two letters from Lord Bolingbroke that are calculated to injure materially the memory of Pope, if they are not very closely and candidly considered. They are on the subject of Pope's Satire on the Duchess of Marlborough, included in his Epistle "On the Characters of Women," under the name of Atossa. To refresh the memory of the reader I shall here subjoin it. But what are these, to great Atossa's mind? Shines in exposing knaves, and painting fools, So much the fury still outran the wit, The pleasure miss'd her, and the scandal hit. Her every turn with violence pursued, live : A knave this morning, and his will a cheat. Or wanders, heaven directed, to the poor. When Pope first published the Epistle, in which this character now occurs, he informed the public in an advertisement, that it contained no character drawn from the life, an assertion which Johnson insinuates Pope did not wish to be believed. In a note to the poem also, Pope stated that it was imperfect, because a portion of his subject was vice too high to be then exposed. It is certain that the characters of Atossa, Philomedé and Cloe, the only ones which are supposed to apply to particular individuals, were subse |