354 HENRY KIEKE WIIITe's REMAINS. 



XXII. 



" So happily flexile man's make. 



So jjliantly docile liis mind, 

 Surrounding impressions we take, 



And bliss in each circumstance find. 

 Tfee youths of a more polished age 



Shall not wish these rude commons to see ; 

 To the bird that's enured to the cage, 



It would not be bliss to be free." 



There is a sweet and tender melancholy pervades the 

 elegiac ballad efforts of Mr Bloomfield, which has the 

 most indescribable effects on the heart. Were the ver 

 sification a little more polished, in some instances they 

 would be read with unmixt delight. It is to be hoped 

 that he will cultivate this engaging species of composi- 

 tion, and (if I may venture to throw out the hint) if 

 judgment may be formed from the poems he has pub- 

 lished, he would excel in sacred poetry. Most heartily 

 do I recommend the lyre of David to this engaging bard. 

 Divine topics have seldom been touched upon with suc- 

 cess by our modern Muses ; they afford a field in which 

 he would have few competitors, and it is a field worthy 

 of his abilities. "VV. 



MELANCHOLY HOURS.— No. VIL* 



If the situation of man, in the present life, be consider- 

 ed in all its relations and dependencies, a striking incon- 

 sistency will be apparent to every cursory observer. 

 We have sure warrant for believing that our abode here 

 is to form a comparatively insignificant part of our ex- 

 istence, and that on our conduct in this life will depend 

 the happiness of the life to come ; yet our actions daily j 

 give the lie to this proposition, inasmuch as we com- 

 monly act like men who have no thought but for the 



* My predecessor, the " Spectator," considering that the seventh 

 part of our time is set apart for religious purposes, devoted every 

 seventh lucubration to matters connected with Christianity and the 

 severer part of morals : I trust none of ray readers will regret that, 

 in this instance, I follow so good an example. 



-J 



