QUEEN VICTORIA AND THOMAS CAMPBELL. 



147 



CRABBE. 



When the poet Crabbe once pre- 

 sented one of his poems to the late 

 Lord-Chancellor Thurlow, his lord- 

 ship said, " I have no time to read 

 verses ; my avocations do not per- 

 mit it." Crabbe instantly retor- 

 ted, " There was a time when the 

 encouragement of literature was 

 considered to be a duty appertain- 

 ing to the illustrious situation which 

 your lordship holds." Thurlow 

 frankly acknowledged his error, 

 and nobly returned it. He ob- 

 served, "I ought to have noticed 

 your poem, and I heartily forgive 

 your rebuke." In proof of his sin- 

 cerity he presented him with one 

 hundred pounds, and subsequently 

 gave him preferment in the church. 



COWPER'S AMUSEMENTS. 



"Amusements (he writes to Wm. 

 Umvin) are necessary in a retire- 

 ment like mine, especially in such a 

 sable state of mind as I labour under. 

 The necessity of amusement makes 

 me a carpenter, a bird-cage maker, 

 a gardener, and has lately taught 

 me to draw, and to draw too with 

 such surprising proficiency in the 

 art, considering my total ignorance 

 of it two months ago, that, when I 

 show your mother my productions, 

 she is all admiration and applause." 

 To Mr. Newton he writes : " I 

 draw mountains, valleys, woods, and 

 streams, and ducks, and dab-chicks. 

 I admire them myself, and Mrs. 

 Tin win admires them, and her praise 

 and my praise put together are 

 fame enough for me." The pleasure 

 he derives from his pursuits he thus 

 describes: "I never received a 

 little pleasure from anything in my 

 life ; if I am delighted, it is in the 

 extreme. The unhappy consequence 

 of this temperament is, that my 

 attachment to any occupation sel- 

 dom outlives the novelty of it. 

 That nerve of my imagination, that 

 feels the touch of any particular 



J amusement, twangs under the en- 

 ergy of the pressure with so much 

 vehemence, that it soon becomes 

 sensible of weariness and fatigue." 

 Adverting in another letter to his 

 amusements, he says : " Poetry 

 above all things is useful to me in 

 this respect. While I am held in 

 pursuit of pretty images, or a pretty 

 way of expressing them, I forget 

 everything that is irksome." The 

 remark may remind us of one of his 

 verses : 



1 There is a pleasure in poetic pains, 

 Which only poets know." 



QUI 



2N VICTORIA AND THOMAS 

 CAMPBELL. 



The following story narrates 

 the most graceful compliment and 

 delicate return ever made by 

 royalty : 



" I was at her Majesty's corona- 

 tion, in Westminster Abbey," said 

 Campbell, " and she conducted her- 

 self so well, during the long and 

 fatiguing ceremony, that I shed 

 tears many times. On returning 

 home, I resolved, out of pure esteem 

 and veneration, to send her a copy 

 of all my works. 



" Accordingly. I had them bound 

 up, and went personally with them 

 to Sir Henry Wheatly, who, when 

 he understood my errand, told me 

 that her Majesty made it a rule to 

 decline presents of this kind, as it 

 placed her under obligations which 

 were unpleasant to her. 'Say to 

 her Majesty, Sir Henry,' I replied, 

 ' that there is not a single thing the 

 Queen can touch with her sceptre 

 in any of her dominions which I 

 covet ; and I therefore entreat you, 

 in your office, to present them with 

 my devotion as a subject.' But the 

 next day they were returned. 



"I hesitated," continued Camp- 

 bell, " to open the parcel ; but, on 

 doing so, I found, to my inexpres- 

 sible joy, a note inclosed, desiring 

 my autograph on them. Having 

 complied with the wish, I again 



