POETRY AXD POETS. 



transmitted the books to her Ma- 

 jesty ; and, in the course of a day 

 or two, received in return this 

 elegant engraving, with her Ma- 

 jesty's autograph, as you see below." 

 He then directed particular atten- 

 tion to the royal signature, which 

 was in her Majesty's usual bold and 

 beautiful handwriting. 



CANNING. 



When Canning was challenged 

 to find a rhyme for Julianna, he 

 immediately wrote 



" Walking in the shady grovo 



With my Julianna, 

 For lozenges I gave my lore 

 Ip-e-cac-u-an-ha." 



There might be now as much fact 

 as there was then fiction in the 

 verses. Ipecacuanha lozenges are 

 now sold by the apothecaries. 



MISS LANDOX L.E.L. 



"We quote the following from 

 William Howitt: 



" On the other hand, in mixed 

 companies, witty and conversant 

 as she was, you had a feeling that 

 she was playing an assumed part. 

 Her manner and conversation were 

 not only the very reverse of the 

 tone and sentiment of her poems, 

 but she seemed to say things for 

 .the sake of astonishing you with 

 the very contrast. You felt not 

 only no confidence in the truth of 

 what she was asserting, but a strong 

 assurance that it was said merely 

 for the sake of saying what her 

 hearers would least expect to hear 

 her say. 



" I recollect once meetiag her in 

 company, at a time when there was 

 a strong report that she was ac- 

 tually though secretly married. 

 Mrs. Holland, on her entering the 

 room, went up to her in her plain, 

 straightforward way, and said, 'Ah ! 

 my dear, what must I call you ? 

 Miss Landon, or whom V 



"After a well -feigned surprise at 

 the question, Miss Landon began 



to talk in a tons of merry ridicule 

 at this report, and ended by de- 

 claring that as to love or marriage, 

 they were things that she never 

 thought of. ' What, then, have you 

 been doing with yourself this last 

 month ?' 



" ' O, I have been puzzling my 

 brain to invent a new sleeve ; pray, 

 how do you like it 1 ' showing her 

 arm. 



" ' You never think of such a 

 thing as love !' exclaimed a senti- 

 mental young man ; ' you, who have 

 written so many volumes of poetry 

 upon it !' 



" ' O that's all professional, you 

 know,' exclaimed she, with an air 

 of merry scorn. 



"' Professional! 'exclaimed a grave 

 Quaker who stood near ; ' why dost 

 thou make a difference between 

 what is professional and what is 

 real? Dost thou write one thing 

 and think another 1 Does not that 

 look very much like hypocrisy ? 



" To this the astonished poetess 

 made no reply, but by a look of 

 genuine amazement. It was a modo 

 of putting the matter to which she 

 had evidently never been accus- 

 tomed. And, in fact, there can be 

 no question that much of her writ- 

 ing was professional. She had to 

 win a golden harvest for the com- 

 fort of others as dear to her as her- 

 self ; and she felt, like all authors 

 who have to cater for the public, 

 that she must provide, not so mucli 

 what she would of her free-will 

 choice, but what they expected 

 from her." 



MRS. SOUTHEY. 



And who was Mrs. Sou they? 

 who but she who was so long known, 

 and so great a favourite, as Caroline 

 Bowles ; transformed by the gal- 

 lantry of the laureate, and the grace 

 of the parson, into her matrimonial 

 appellation. Southey, so long ago 

 as the 21st of February, 1829, pre- 

 faced his most amatory poem of All 



