AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE. 821 



He sings very pleasantly of domestic affections; liis allusions 

 to the wife he had lost are pathetic ; his humorous outbursts 

 of democratic feeling are sometimes clever, and a few of the 

 pieces have an autobiographic ring which gives them an 

 interest of their own. 



Michael's next venture was " John Cumberland,'' which 

 next to " Ranolf and Amohia" is the longest poem of 

 Austrahan origin, and is, I think, absolutely the longest poem 

 ever printed in Australia. It purports to be a poet's auto- 

 biography. I would recommend it to those who have time 

 to spare, for though by no means of prime value, it is 

 interesting in its way. Silly in some respects, weak as a 

 rule, it is nevertheless marked by poetical passages, and in its 

 transparent simplicity one finds a certain reflected interest in 

 observing the character of the author through the pages of 

 his book. 



Michael published other volumes, and drowned himself in 

 the Clarence ; the latter event eliciting considerable public 

 attention, which the former had entirely failed in doing. 



Michael and Harpur were the poetical godfathers of 

 Kendall, who spent some years of his youth and early man- 

 hood as clerk in Michael's office in Grafton. He lived in the 

 house with his employer, and had the use of his library. 

 Michael also encouraged his youthful efforts at versification, 

 and sent some of his earliest verses to Sydney newspapers. 

 But Harpur was much the better poet of the two. and it was 

 he whom Kendall regarded as having truly tuned the "harp 

 Australian." Kendall always regarded himself as the puj)il 

 of Harpur. 



There are other names that occur to one in speaking of the 

 pioneers of Austrahan hterature, — Henry Halloran, Henry 

 Parkes, and so on, — but these do not recall any recollections of 

 lives that were spent in the service of literature, and more or 

 less sacrificed to the production of books which were sure of 

 an ungracious reception in countries too young for the 

 appreciation of such eftorts. The names of those who were 

 in their way martyrs in a good cause have been already 

 recorded in this paper. 



