ADDISOX AND THE POETASTER. 



157 



umpli, which friends and circles, 

 and the confined literary world of 

 that day in this country, could fur- 

 nish, a whole age, and a whole 

 country, and a whole world, the 

 extended republic of letters, con- 

 firm. 



"At the age of thirty-seven, 

 Pope declares that henceforward 

 he will write from, as well as to, his 

 own mind. The Essay on Man 

 follows. It expresses that graver 

 study of the universal subject, MAN, 

 which appeared to Pope, now self- 

 known, to be, for the time of poeti- 

 cal literature to which he came, 

 the most practicable for his own 

 ability the aptest ; and it embodies 

 that part of anthropology which 

 doubtless was the most congenial 

 to his own inclination the philo- 

 sophical contemplation of man's 

 nature, estate, destiny. 



" The success of this enterprise 

 was astonishing. Be the philo- 

 sophy what and whose it may, the 

 poem revived to the latest age of 

 poetry the phenomenon of the first, 

 when precept and maxim were mo- 

 dulated into verse, that they might 

 write themselves in every brain, 

 and live upon every tongue." 



HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. 



We know of nothing which, in 

 few words, gives more information 

 concerning this distinguished Ame- 

 rican poet than the following anec- 

 dote. 



"About the year, 1837, Long- 

 fellow," says a Dublin paper, 

 "being engaged in making the tour 

 of Europe, selected Heidelberg for a 

 permanent winter residence. There 

 his wife was attacked with an illness 

 which ultimately proved fatal. 



" It so happened, however, that 

 some time afterward there came to 

 the same romantic place a young 

 lady of considerable personal at- 

 tractions. The poet's heart was 

 touched he became attached to 

 her; but the beauty of sixteen did 



not sympathize with the poet of 

 six-and-thirty, and Longfellow re- 

 ;urned to America, having lost his 

 leart as well as his wife. 



" The young lady, also an Ame- 

 rican, returned home shortly after- 

 wards. Their residences, it turned 

 out, were contiguous, and the poet 

 availed himself of the opportunity 

 of prosecuting his addresses, which 

 lie did for a considerable time with 

 no better success than at first. 

 Thus foiled, he set himself reso- 

 lutely down, and instead, like 

 Petrarch, of laying siege to the 

 lieart of his mistress through the 

 medium of sonnets, he resolved to 

 write a whole book ; a book which 

 would achieve the double object of 

 gaining her affections, and of estab- 

 lishing his own fame. Hyperion 

 was the result. 



" His labour and his constancy 

 were not thrown away : they met 

 their due reward. The lady gave 

 him her hand as well as her heart ; 

 and they now reside together at 

 Cambridge, in the same house 

 which Washington made his head- 

 quarters when he was first ap- 

 pointed to the command of the 

 American armies. These interest- 

 ing facts were communicated to us 

 by a very intelligent American 

 gentleman, whom we had the plea- 

 sure of meeting in the same place 

 which was the scene of the poet's 

 early disappointment and sorrow." 



ADDISON AND THE POETASTER. 



Addison, the sublime moralist, 

 elegant critic, and humorous de- 

 scriber of men .and manners, whose 

 works furnish instruction to youth, 

 amusement to age, and delight to 

 all who peruse them, was remark- 

 able for his taciturnity. Conscious 

 of his talents as a writer, he ac- 

 knowledged his deficiency in con- 

 versation. " I can draw,'' said he, 

 "a bill for a thousand pounds, al- 

 though I have not a guinea in my 

 pocket." 



