POETICAL POPULARITY. 



143 



peer, and who saw through vulgar 

 externals and humble occupations 

 to the inmost soul of the man, had 

 sufficient provocations to be the 

 satirist of those he idealized. 



'S HABITS OF COMPOSITION. 



We leam from Southey, who had 

 seen his MS. letters, that they 

 " were written as easily as they ap- 

 pear to have been ; they would not 

 otherwise (he observes) have been 

 inimitable ; they are written in a 

 clear, beautiful, running hand, and 

 it is rarely that an erasure occurs 

 in them, or the slightest alteration 

 of a phrase." Cowper himself de- 

 scribes the painstaking attention 

 he bestowed upon his poetical com- 

 position : "Whatever faults I may 

 be chargeable with as a poet, I 

 cannot accuse myself of negligence. 

 I never suffer a line to pass till I 

 have made it as good as I can." 



FATE OF A LYRICAL WRITER. 



As I sit in my garret here (in 

 Washington) watching the course 

 of great men, and the destiny of 

 party, I meet often with strange 

 contradictions in this eventful life. 

 The most remarkable was that of 

 J. Howard Payne, author of Sweet 

 Home. I knew him personally. 

 He occupied the rooms under me for 

 some time, and his conversation 

 was so captivating that I often 



Sent whole days in his apartment. 

 e was an applicant for office at 

 the time consul at Tunis from 

 which he had been removed. What 

 a sad thing it was to see the poet 

 subjected to all the humiliation of 

 office-seeking. Of an evening we 

 would walk along the streets. Once 

 in a while we would see some fa- 

 mily circle so happy, and forming 

 so beautiful a group, that we would 

 both stop, and then pass silently 

 on. On such occasions he would 

 give me a history of his wanderings, 

 his trials, and all the cares incident 

 to his sensitive nature and poverty. 



" How often," said he once, " I have 

 been in the heart of Paris, Berlin, 

 and London, or some other citv, 

 and heard persons singing, or the 

 hand-organ playing, Sweet Home, 

 without a shilling to buy the next 

 meal or a place to lay my head. 

 The world has literally sung my 

 song until every heart is familiar 

 with its melody. Yet I have been 

 a wanderer from my boyhood. My 

 country has turned me ruthlessly 

 from my office ; and in my old age 

 I have to submit to humiliation for 

 bread." Thus he would complain of 

 his hapless lot. His only wish was 

 to die in a foreign land, to be buried 

 by strangers, and sleep in obscurity. 

 Imethim one day looking unusually 

 sad, " Have you got your consu- 

 late V said I. " Yes, and leave in 

 a week for Tunis ; I shall never re- 

 turn." Poor Payne ! his wish was 

 realized he died at Tunis. 



POETICAL POPULARITY. 



One of Campbell's most popular 

 lyrics was the Wounded Hussar. 

 In 1802 it was a street ballad, a 

 fact which was very annoying to 

 the sensitive poet, who was quizzed 

 on this proof of his success by his 

 waggish companions. In after 

 years Campbell regarded his street 

 popularity in a different light. 

 " Coming home one evening to my 

 house in Park Square (narrates 

 Dr. Beattie), where as usual he had 

 dropped in to spend a quiet hour, I 

 told him that I had been agreeably 

 detained listening to some street 

 music near Portman Square.'* 

 "Vocal or instrumental?" lie in- 

 quired. " Vocal ; the song was an 

 old favourite, remarkably i;<>>ul. ;ui,l 

 of at least forty years' standing." 

 " Ha ! " said he, " I congratulate 

 the author, whoever he is." ' 

 so do I it was your own song, the 

 Soldier's Dream; and when I came 

 away the crowd was still increas- 

 ing." "Well," he added, musing, 

 "this is something like popularity !" 



