LETTERS. 231 



whether to commit to the flames, or at some future op- 

 portunity to finish. The subject is the death of Christ. 

 I have no friend whose opinion is at all to be relied on 

 to whom I could submit it ; and perhaps, after all, it 

 may be absolutely worthless. 



With regard to that part of my provision which is de- 

 rived from my unknown friend, it is of course additional ; 

 and as it is not a provision for a poet, but for a candi- 

 date for orders, I believe it is expected, and indeed it 

 has been hinted as a thing advisable, that I should 

 barter the Muses for mathematics, and abstain from 

 writing verses at least until I take my degree. If I find 

 that all my time will be requisite, in order to prepare for 

 the important office I am destined to fill, I shall certainly 

 do my duty, however severely it may cost me ; but if I 

 find I may lawfully and conscientiously relax myself at 

 intervals with those delightful reveries which have 

 hitherto formed the chief pleasure of my life, I shall, 

 without scruple, indulge myself in them. 



I know the pursuit of truth is a much more important 

 business than the exercise of the imagination ; and amid 

 all the quaintness and stiff method of the mathematicians, 

 I can even discover a source of chaste and exalted plea- 

 sure. To their severe but salutary discipline, I must 

 now " subdue the vivid shapings of my youth ;" and 

 though I shall cast many a fond lingering look to Fancy's 

 more alluring paths, yet I shall be repaid by the antici- 

 pation of days when I may enjoy the sweet satisfaction 

 of being useful, in no ordinary degree, to my fellow- 

 mortals. 



* * » * 



TO MR SERC4EAXT ROUGH. 



Nottingliam, 24th July 1804. 

 Dkar Sir, 



* * * * 



I think Mr Moore's love poems are infamous, because 

 they subvert the first great object of poetry, — the en- 



