THE "AUTHOR OF LACON." 87 



But whatever might have been the success of Mr. Colton on parti- 

 cular occasions, the result was uniformly and unappily that he lost all 

 his gains, and was frequently reduced to a state bordering upon dis- 

 tress ! He now became more than ever negligent of his dress and per- 

 son ; and has been constantly seen walking in the public promenades 

 with all the appearances of extreme misery ! It was about this period 

 he formed an acquaintance with one Hamilton, who subsequently be- 

 came his confidant, and acted as his amanuensis. This man is re- 

 ported to have been the prototype of the character of Logic, in the 

 farce of " Tom and Jerry." The expedients to which Mr. Colton 

 was reduced to replenish his shattered finances rendered Hamilton a 

 valuable coadjutor. If an English personage of wealth arrived in 

 Paris, Hamilton was despatched with a letter, enclosing adulatory 

 verses, or it was accompanied by a copy of " Lacon," a work dear to 

 Fame. Among those persons selected for this species of contribution 

 were her Grace of St. Alban's, the Duke of Northumberland, the 

 Earl of Bridgewater, and Dr. Goodall, the early tutor of Mr. Colton. 

 Hamilton's address was generally successful, and he has been heard 

 to say, that two hundred pounds were realized in this way in the 

 space of one year. 



We have alluded to these incidents from a desire of furnishing our 

 readers with a correct statement of some of the leading features of the 

 unfortunate deceased, while we feel both affectionately and religiously 

 disposed to throw a " veil" over his errors. As sincere admirers of 

 genuine literary worth, happy had we been to have scattered garlands 

 over the unforgotten tomb of genius, rather than break the silence of 

 its repose by the murmur of detraction. These considerations have 

 also additional weight with us, inasmuch as we know that, for some 

 time previously to the disastrous and unforeseen close of Mr. Colton's 

 wayward and reckless life, his bodily sufferings were almost in- 

 tolerable, and life became a burthen, which he frequently expressed his 

 intention of quitting. No one also felt more sensibly the accumulated 

 horrors of an abandoned and isolated position, and a " clouded name." 

 He has been known to be whole days in bed, drawing from the fruit- 

 ful resources of his mind that abstraction and relief which he had 

 sought in vain among his fellow-men ; his apartments, consisting of 

 two dark and unwholesome rooms in the Rue de Chartres, exhibited 

 a striking picture of neglect and wretchedness. It was in this 

 pitiable state that he was sometimes discovered by persons who had 

 known him in happier and intellectual days ; and it was only by some 

 such circumstance, that he would be induced to rise from a state of 

 miserable seclusion. In the moments of social intercourse, his con- 

 versation afforded a rich banquet of classic enjoyment ; on which oc- 

 casions he would read portions of his own composition in MS, illus- 

 trating each passage with a piquancy and eloquence that gave proofs 

 of an intellect replete with all the graces of literary refinement. 



Among his unpublished works, we remember to have seen 

 several highly-wrought specimens of brilliant thought and epi- 

 grammatic point, especially a translation into Latin hexameters of 

 a portion of Gray's Elegy and it is no exaggeration to say, that this 



