MOORE, BOWLES, AND CKAEBE. 



149 



for Love with a tender address, 

 that is now, perhaps, worth re- 

 printing : 



" TO CAROLINE BOWLES. 



" Could I look forward to a distant day, 



With hope of building some elaborate 

 lay, 



Then would I wait till worthier strains 

 of mine 



Might have inscribed thy name, Caro- 

 line ! 



For I would, while my voice is heard on 

 earth, 



Bear witness to thy genius and thy 

 worth. 



But we have been both taught to feel 

 with fear 



ITow frail the tenure of existence here; 



What unforeseen calamities prevent, 



Alas ! how oft, the best resolved intent ; 



And, therefore, this poor volume I ad- 

 dress 



To thce, dear friend, and sister poetess ! 



" ROBERT SOUTUET. 

 " Keswick, Feb. 21, 1829." 



The laureate had his wish; for 

 in duty he was bound to say, that 

 worthier strains than his bore in- 

 scribed the name of Caroline con- 

 nected with his own ; and, more- 

 over, she was something more than 

 a dear friend and sister poetess. 



"The laureate," observes a writer 

 in Prase? s Magazine, "is a fortunate 

 man his queen supplies him with 

 butts (alluding to the laureateship), 

 and his lady with Bowls : then may 

 his cup of good fortune be over- 

 flowing." , 



MOORE, BOWLES, AND CRABBE. 



Thomas Moore writes in his diary 

 as follows, showing his excessive 

 love of praise : 



"January 21, 1825. The grand 

 opening to-day of the Literary In- 

 stitution at Bath. Attended the 

 inaugural lecture by Sir G. Gibbs, 

 at two. "Walked about a little 

 afterwards, and to the dinner at 

 six Lord Lansdowne in the chair. 

 Two bishops present; and about 

 108 pei'sons altogether. Bowles 

 and Crabbe of the number. Lord 

 L. alluded to us in his first speech, 



as among the literary ornaments, 

 if not of Bath itself, of its precincts ; 

 and in describing our respective 

 characteristics, said, beginning with 

 me, 'the one, a specimen of the 

 most glowing, animated, and im- 

 passioned style,' &c. ; this word 

 'impassioned' spoken out strongly 

 in the very ear of the Bishop of 

 Bath and Wells, who sat next him. 

 On the healths of the three poets 

 being given, though much called 

 for, I did not rise, but motioned to 

 Crabbe, who got up and said a few 

 words. When it came to my turn 

 to rise, such a burst of enthusiasm 

 received mo as I could not but feel 

 proud of. Spoke for some time, * 

 and with much success. Concluded 

 by some tributes -to Crabbe and 

 Bowles, and said of the latter, that 

 ' his poetry was the first fountain 

 at which I had drunk the pure 

 freshness of the English language, 

 and learned (however little I might 

 have profited by my learning) of 

 what variety of sweetness the music 

 of English verse is capable. From 

 admiration of the poet, I had been 

 at length promoted into friendship 

 with the man, and I felt it particu- 

 larly incumbent upon me, from 

 some late allusions, to say, that I 

 had found the life and the poetry 

 of my friend to be but echoes to 

 each other ; the same sweetness and 

 good feeling pervades and modu- 

 lates both. Those who call my 

 friend a wasp, would not, if they 

 knew him better, make such a mis- 

 take in natural history. They 

 would find that he is a bee, of the 

 species called the apes neatina, and 

 that, however he may have a sting 

 ready on the defensive, when at- 

 tacked, his native element is that 

 garden of social life which he 

 adorns, and the proper business and 

 delight of his life are sunshine and 

 flowers.' In talking of the ' springs 

 of health with which nature had 

 gifted the fair city of Bath,' and of 

 her physicians, I said, ' it was not 



